Naruto's civilian cannon fodder starts with the three-body technique

Chapter 273 Land Annexation
In the heart of the Land of Winds, the scorching sun bakes the boundless desert.

Amidst these golden fiery mountains, a small oasis, like an emerald gem, is nestled within.

At the edge of the oasis, two dusty Sand Ninja were walking slowly. They were wearing standard Chunin uniforms, their headbands gleaming coldly in the sunlight. Their faces showed the weariness and vigilance of a long journey. The man in the lead had a stern face and a faint scar on his right cheek. The other man was taciturn and had a short sword at his waist.

These two were none other than Umino Sasuke and Hatake Sagumo, who had ventured deep into the heart of the Land of Wind. They had already changed their clothes and even their appearances.

Umino Sasuke had already used the Face-Changing Technique to change Hatake Sagumo's appearance; they were now genuine Sand Ninja.

After penetrating deep into the heart of the Land of Wind, they did not directly attack the Daimyo's residence. Instead, they lingered along the southeastern supply line of Sunagakure, gathering intelligence while waiting for an opportunity to cut off this vital supply line.

"Stop! Who are you?"

At the entrance to the oasis, several guards dressed in magnificent robes saw two figures walking through the sandstorm and shouted questions.

"The Sand Ninja need supplies and rest when they are on patrol."

Disguised as a Sand Ninja, Umino Sasuke pulled out a mission scroll bearing the Kazekage's seal that he had prepared beforehand. He merely waved it in his hand, showing no intention of letting them handle it, and his attitude was quite arrogant.

Upon seeing that they were Sand Ninja, the guards exchanged glances and immediately changed their tune, becoming extremely obsequious. One of them even hurriedly ran towards the luxurious tent in the center of the oasis.

Soon, a fat middle-aged man, surrounded by attendants, strode over. He wore a silk robe specially made by the Land of Fire, embroidered with gold thread, and all ten of his fingers were adorned with colorful gemstone rings.

"Oh my, welcome, my dear Sand Village lords!"

The obese man's face was plastered with smiles and fawning, his fat cheeks bunched up. "I am Habebi, the chief of this oasis. Please come in. Men, prepare the best date wine and roasted lamb leg."

Sasuke Umino's lips curled up slightly. The effect of the Face-Changing Technique was quite good, completely replicating the weathered marks on the Sand Ninja's body. Even these noble chieftains who had dealt with the Sand Ninja for many years could not see the slightest flaw.

His current disguise is that of Sunagakure Chunin named "Suna Tetsuo," while Hatake Sagumo uses the alias "Baki."

Inside the tent in the center of the oasis, there were exquisite carpets from the Land of Lightning, and gold and silver utensils glittered in the candlelight. It was even more extravagant and luxurious than the nobles of the Land of Fire. Apart from the food being a bit simple, it was definitely aristocratic.

Chief Habebi eagerly offered a drink: "You two have worked hard. Recently, those damned sand bandits have become more and more rampant. It is all thanks to the lords of Sand Village that they have maintained order."

"Sand bandits?" Sasuke Unno asked casually, "What exactly is the situation?"

"Sigh!" Habebi sighed dramatically, gritting his teeth, "They're just a bunch of ungrateful bastards. We give them jobs, food, and even precious water, but they repay kindness with enmity, insisting on escaping the oasis to become bandits. The Daimyo Prefecture should send Sand Ninja to wipe out these ungrateful bastards every month."

Then, he waved his thick hand and said angrily, "Especially those blacksmiths, they stole the technology and ran away. Now, in the northwest of my area, a group of bandits have created a small oasis. They are simply lawless and disregard the law, treating the laws of Daming Prefecture like toilet paper!"

Sasuke Umino nodded in agreement, interjecting appropriately: "Yes, that's right. They simply don't understand the boundless grace of Heaven. How hard-won are these peaceful days. They are all ungrateful bastards."

After a few rounds of drinks, Habebi, still drunk, continued to curse the bandits: "Hiccup... those lowly people just don't know how to be grateful. We control the water resources so that they can be distributed fairly, and they actually dare to say that 'the underground water resources are the common property of everyone, and everyone has the basic right to freely draw water', hiccup... what a joke! Without our management and control, these lowly people would have squandered the water resources long ago and died of thirst!"

Umino Sasuke continued to nod in agreement: "That's right, the lower classes should act like the lower classes."

"Hiccup... You understand this principle, so it seems you must come from a prestigious family in Sunagakure to have such a high level of understanding of everyone's identity. Cheers!"

Habey, drunk and staggering, held up a tall, gold-plated glass, clearly quite incoherent.

Umino Sasuke and Hatake Sakumo exchanged a glance, and under the pretext of going on patrol, they left the banquet tent and began to explore the oasis.

But the sight before them made them increasingly horrified.

Beside the dried-up ditches, emaciated civilians lined up, waiting to receive wastewater that had already been used; under the breadfruit trees, armed guards brandished whips, monitoring the laborers picking the fruit; at the entrance to the mining area, ashen-faced miners hunched over, carrying people in and out, their coughs echoing incessantly.

Meanwhile, the civilians with festering sores on their hands and feet were picking various poisonous scorpions and herbs in exchange for the sewage and food they needed to survive.

"Is this what they call a blessing?"

Hatake Sagumo lowered his voice, his brows furrowed, and the knuckles of his fingers gripping the short sword turned slightly white.

Umino Sasuke comforted him, "Take it easy. This kind of thing is the same everywhere. It's just that it's a little better in other places but in a different form. Even if there's more water than you can eat and food piled up like mountains, there will always be people who don't have enough to eat. They work like cattle and horses every day just to get a bite of food from the masters."

"I get the feeling you're implying something."

Hatake Sagumo stared intently at Unno Sasuke, his gaze carrying a hidden meaning.

"Maybe." Umino Sasuke shrugged, indicating that he hadn't said anything and that someone was overthinking things.

In the dead of night, the two evaded patrols and sneaked into a dilapidated civilian tent. The old man inside, seeing the two disguised as Sand Ninja, trembled with fear: "S-Sir, we really didn't hide any water..."

The old man became confused halfway through his sentence, clearly under the control of Umino Sasuke's genjutsu.

Under the influence of the illusion, the old man recounted everything he knew.

It turned out that the oasis's water source and breadfruit trees were all controlled by noble chieftains and elders. If commoners wanted to drink the sewage they used for washing and daily life, they had to engage in deadly and dangerous work such as poison mining and mining. Those commoners who could not bear the oppressive rule and fled miraculously found new water sources in the desert and survived by chance, but were slandered as so-called desert bandits.

After the start of the Ninja War, the rule of the Land of Wind began to loosen. Half a year ago, a blacksmith escaped from the mining area and even created a water pump. He led a group of free sand people to establish a new oasis in the mountains northwest of the oasis. As a result, the people in the neighboring oasis are now restless, and the noble chieftains are plotting to send the sand ninja to suppress the bandits.

"It seems that those so-called bandits are actually just a group of free mountain people."

Sasuke Umino crouched down and marked a small red cross on the map route, making a simple information marker.

"Damn aristocratic tricks!"

A cold glint flashed in Hatake's eyes, clearly indicating that he was not so calm.

"It's just a common land grabbing tactic. You get used to it after seeing it so many times. The land annexation in the Land of Fire is just a different form, not necessarily much more sophisticated than in the Land of Wind." Sasuke Umino chuckled. "These new oases aren't officially registered and don't pay taxes, so naturally they don't receive official recognition or protection. So what if the nobles collude with Sunagakure and seize them under the guise of bandit suppression? The nobles get the oases, and Sunagakure gets their mission rewards—a win-win situation. Hmm? How does our Land of Fire operate in this regard?"

Hatake Sagumi stared into Umino Sasuke's eyes and kindly reminded him, "Sasuke, your idea is dangerous."

"Hey, hey, hey, I didn't say anything. Are you overthinking it?"

Then, Umino Sasuke muttered to himself, "After the noble lords occupy these oases, it seems they won't obediently pay taxes to the Daimyo's prefecture. They'll hide populations and land, and mine privately. It seems our Land of Fire does the same thing. When that happens, it will cause public resentment, and the noble lords will have to spend money to hire ninjas to clean up the mess—"

"Sasuke! Watch your words!"

Hatake Sagumi wished he could sew up Unno Sasuke's mouth to stop him from saying anything more, but these words, like the resounding toll of a bell, opened up a new world for him, making him uneasy.

During the subsequent intelligence gathering journey, Hatake Sagumo was somewhat absent-minded, often sitting quietly by himself, wiping his white dagger.

Umino Sasuke was genuinely worried that Hatake Sagumo might develop psychological issues and delay the mission. Fortunately, after a period of intelligence gathering, coupled with Yamashiro Midoriya's improvements to the intelligence database, they finally pinpointed the location of a Sunagakure puppet production base.

"First, we'll destroy this puppet production base, then we'll cut off this logistics supply line for the Sand Village front."

Umino Sasuke nailed his kunai to the red circle on the map, his eyes filled with murderous intent.

"Yes." Hatake Sagumo nodded in agreement.

It took the two of them less than a day to reach their destination.

This is a sandstone rift valley deep in the heart of the Land of Wind, far from the main oases.

The moonlight was cut into pale stripes by the towering rock walls, projecting onto a massive, nascent complex of buildings. This was not a traditional oasis in the Land of Wind, but a hybrid of steel, gears, and bizarre puppets.

"This is somewhat different from the intelligence."

Sasuke Umino put down his monoculars and said in a deep voice, "It's much larger than the scale shown in the intelligence."

"There was a strong stench of corpses and blood."

Sasuke Umino and Saito Hatake were both quite skilled, and they sneaked in silently. The air was filled with the smell of engine oil, rust, and an indescribable stench, similar to formaldehyde mixed with rotting flesh.

The sight before them caused their pupils to shrink involuntarily. Nearly a hundred humanoid puppets were mechanically working on an assembly line. Chakra green light flickered in their eye sockets, and human muscle tissue that had not yet been fully puppetized could be seen at their exposed joints. More importantly, the chest cavities of these puppets were still rising and falling slightly, clearly retaining some signs of life.

Instead of moving parts on the assembly line, there were living people with empty eyes, fixed on mechanical supports. Their limbs were replaced by exquisite puppet prosthetics, and their spines were connected to pipelines that transported chakra. Driven by chakra, they numbly repeated the actions of assembling puppet parts. Beside them, real Sunagakure puppeteers, like overseers, coldly adjusted the equipment.

"Living dead? Human puppets?"

Sasuke Umino's face was ashen, his eyes filled with murderous intent.

Just as he was preparing to explore the core area further, a suppressed argument came from there.

"Lan, that's enough! Look at what you've done!"

Ruri's voice was filled with anger and disbelief as she pointed to the scene on the production line outside the window, "Those are people, living people! You actually practiced forbidden techniques and turned them all into human puppets!"

Her gaze fell on Sha Tielan's exposed mechanical arm.

"Forbidden techniques? Ruri-gyoku, you're so outdated! Look at this power, and look at the puppet production efficiency!"

Sha Tielan's once handsome face now carries a kind of obsessive fanaticism, and the metallic half of his face reflects a cold, hard luster under the light.

Then, his eyes turned dangerous and greedy: "Ruri, you should also undergo the transformation. Then you will understand the fragility of flesh and blood and the power of the transformed mechanical body. We will surpass mortals and become the true pillar of Sunagakure. The position of Kazekage will be within our grasp!"

He suddenly took a step forward, his mechanical arm flashing with energy, attempting to forcibly grab the glass jade.

"Lan, stop right there!"

Ebizo, who had been silent all along, shouted loudly. Although he had also undergone some degree of physical modification, he was not as fanatical as Sa Tetsuran. "We seek power to avenge ourselves against the White Blood Demon and for the future of Sunagakure, not to become monsters, and certainly not to use it on our own people."

Upon hearing this, Sha Tielan paused, the fervor in his eyes replaced by a struggle, but his obsession remained undiminished.

He stared intently at Ruri: "Uncle, you don't understand. Ruri is a destabilizing factor. If she talks nonsense to the Third Kazekage—so she has to understand, she has to stay with us!"

However, Ebizo's prestige remained firmly in place, preventing Satielan from achieving his goal.

Just as this family drama came to a halt.

Umino Sasuke made a gesture to Hatake Sagumo, and the two of them unleashed their power simultaneously.

"Water Release·Water Breaking Wave!"

Sasuke Umino's target for the sneak attack was Ebizo.

A high-pressure water jet, compressed to its maximum, silently sliced ​​towards Ebizo's nape at incredible speed.

Meanwhile, Hatake Sagumo transformed into a streak of silver-white lightning, hurtling straight towards Sand Iron Mist.

The moment the short sword White Fang was drawn, its chilling light seemed to freeze the air, pointing directly at the core energy component modified by Sand Iron Storm.

At the same time, he separated a wisp of sword energy and locked onto the nearby Luliyu.

(End of this chapter)