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

Chapter 306 Divine Tree Timber?

The deafening roar of the self-destruction finally subsided, leaving only the burning remains of the puppet and the acrid smoke that permeated the Gobi Desert.

The wind whipped up the charred sand and gravel, making a wailing sound.

On the battlefield, apart from Umino Sasuke, Hatake Sagumo, Ruri Mecha-hime, the nine floating mecha puppets, and the giant stitched-together puppet, only a handful of Mito clan members remained standing among the Konoha ninja.

They were all wounded and exhausted, their eyes filled with a mixture of relief at surviving a disaster and an undisguised hostility, resentment, and deep fear when they looked at Umino Sasuke.

After a brief silence came suppressed breathing and hushed discussions.

"You survived?" A Mitomon ninja's voice was hoarse as he looked around at the horrific state of his companions and the corpses of his clansmen lying in the distance. His face showed little joy, only a heavy numbness.

They were forcibly brought here to "respond" by a single order from Umino Sasuke, which was essentially sending them to their deaths as cannon fodder. If it weren't for the extraordinary combat power of Umino Sasuke and Hatake Sagumo, they would probably have been wiped out by now.

"We won, but our people..."

The other man stared at the corpses of his clansmen, his fists clenched, his eyes filled with grief and indignation. They naturally blamed Umino Sasuke, who had given the order, for this blood debt.

"This should be considered an S-rank mission achievement, right?" someone muttered to themselves.

This might be the only consolation, but looking at the valuable puppet remains scattered all over the ground, the mission merit points seemed rather insignificant.

According to Elder Mitokado, who privately revealed that the Mitokado clan is now facing a great calamity and will soon be implicated by Elder Mitokado En's heinous crimes, they urgently need a large sum of money to cultivate connections with various Konoha ninja clans and nobles of the Land of Fire in order to preserve their family during the purge. Isn't this enormous wealth a lifeline?
"Look at these puppets, this is definitely most of Sunagakure's wealth accumulated over decades!" Someone's gaze couldn't help but greedily sweep across the battlefield as they muttered to themselves, "If only I could get even a little bit—"

"Share? Don't even dream about it!" Someone immediately poured cold water on the idea, their tone filled with deep resentment and helplessness. Their gaze swept over Umino Sasuke, who was quickly cleaning up the battlefield. "Do you think the White Blood Demon would share the spoils he's already got his hands on with us? Don't forget who forced us here to die. He'd love for us all to be dead!"

The Mitomon ninjas were quite envious of these puppet spoils, but under Mitomon's stern gaze, they suppressed their impulses. Not one of them dared to reach out and clean up the battlefield. They could only suppress their anger, take care of the wounded, or silently treat their own wounds.

At this moment, Hatake Sagumo stood at the edge of the battlefield, his White Fang short sword sheathed. He sat cross-legged on the ground, recovering his chakra and stamina. Looking at the mountain of puppet remains, a rare, genuine smile appeared on his usually aloof face, a smile tinged with greedy satisfaction.

Having experienced the baptism of the Oasis "liberation" operation, Konoha's White Fang, who once had no concept of money, finally deeply understood the importance of "money power" in raising his son. The rich spoils brought by this victory made him feel such pure joy once again because of getting rich.

Hatake Sagumo couldn't help but calculate in his mind that all this spoils, converted into money, would be more than enough to buy Kakashi a chakra short sword. No, one wouldn't be enough! He needed two! Add to that the best ninja tool set made of lightning-conducting metal, new ninjutsu scrolls, and ideally, a flying summoning beast mount…

The one who moved the fastest and was in the best mood throughout the entire event was none other than Umino Sasuke.

He seemed oblivious to the hostility in the eyes of the Mitomon ninja, or rather, he simply ignored it. He surveyed his sea of ​​spoils, a slight smile playing on his lips.

On the battlefield, over 99% of the puppets were captured by him, or rather, by his puppet army. According to the unspoken rule of the ninja world: whoever kills the puppets gets the spoils.

This mountain of wealth almost entirely belonged to him. Hatake Sakunosuke, having restrained Chiyo, needed to share some of the spoils with his comrades. As for the Mitokado clan ninjas, they still dared to harbor resentment towards him. The fact that they were allowed to live and gain some merit was already a favor, considering that these tools still had some value.

"We've struck it rich! This time it's for real!"

Sasuke Umino felt incredibly exhilarated. The Sand Village's decades of accumulated knowledge, the essence of puppetry techniques, rare materials... the value of these spoils was immeasurable.

He quickly directed the Stitched Monster puppets to scatter, and together with the Glass Mech Princess, they rapidly cleaned up the battlefield, packing up any relatively intact puppets or core components with ultra-large capacity sealing scrolls and taking them away.

The first to be targeted were naturally the Chikamatsu Ten Puppet Masters puppets left behind by Chiyo.

As Sasuke Umino personally cleaned up the Chikamatsu puppets, when he touched the Kongo Chikamatsu puppet, his fingers lightly brushed over the spot where the Thunder God Sword had struck, and his brows couldn't help but twitch slightly.

"Huh?" he exclaimed in surprise.

On the heavy arm shield, where the incomparably sharp sword energy of the Thor's Sword had struck, it was not cut open or left with a deep mark as expected, but only a shallow, almost invisible white mark.

"How is this possible?!" Sasuke Umino's eyes sharpened instantly.

He knew all too well the sharpness of the Thunder God Sword; ordinary steel was like tofu in front of it, and even high-strength alloys could be left with deep cuts.

He carefully examined the material of the arm shield, and it was clearly made of some kind of dense wood, like planks of wood shavings from the roots of an ancient tree.

"Wood? Its physical defense is comparable to or even surpasses that of high-strength alloys? And it has such strong resistance to Lightning Release chakra?"

Sasuke Umino was even more surprised.

He immediately began to examine the puppet more closely, channeling chakra into his fingers and sensing the texture of the wood and the flow of internal energy.

"Hiss..." He took a breath.

He discovered that these special wooden panels that made up the main body of the puppet not only had amazing physical defense, but also resistance to ninjutsu far beyond his imagination.

More importantly, this wooden board is quite old, and it still contains an extremely rare active power.

This active force carries an extremely tenacious vitality, as if the tree itself has not completely "died," and is even slowly resisting the erosion of time and the impact of chakra energy. It also has a faint corrosive quality, not the violent radiation corrosion of meteorites, but a more gentle and lasting corrosive characteristic of life assimilation.

"These wooden planks are no ordinary pieces!"

Sasuke Umino was deeply shocked, his eyes gleaming. "This is no ordinary wood from the ninja world. Chiyo's ability to become a top-tier puppeteer is indeed due to her unique skills. The value of the wood alone is priceless for these ten Chikamatsu puppets!"

Without hesitation, he regarded these ten Chikamatsu puppets as the most important spoils of war, and carefully stored them away separately using the highest-grade sealing scrolls.

Next, Sasuke Umino began to collect the remains and core components of other puppets on a large scale and almost plundering basis, recalling one after another super-large capacity sealing scrolls, and taking all the "gold and silver mountains" on the ground into his pocket.

Seeing this, the Mitomon ninjas could no longer contain their suppressed rage.

"Umino Sasuke!" A hot-tempered special jonin couldn't help but shout. He pointed at the almost completely cleared battlefield, his facial muscles contorted with rage: "What do you mean by this? Are you going to keep all the spoils for yourself?"

Another Mitomon ninja stepped forward, pointing angrily at the corpses of his clansmen: "Our Mitomon clan suffered such heavy casualties, did we die in vain? Not even a little compensation? Shouldn't some of these spoils be distributed among the families of the fallen?!"

Some even went so far as to openly criticize Sasuke Umino's orders.

"You ordered us to come and die, and now that we've won, all the benefits are yours? What kind of logic is that?!"

"Yes! This is so unfair!"

"Hand over what's rightfully ours!"

The crowd was outraged, and long-suppressed hostility and resentment erupted like a volcano.

If they weren't wary of Umino Sasuke's terrifying strength and the menacing mecha puppets beside them, they probably would have already charged forward.

Just then, Mito Kadota stepped forward, standing between the angry clansmen and Umino Sasuke.

"Shut up, all of you!" he roared, his voice booming like thunder, instantly drowning out the noisy protests.

His face was ashen, his eyes sharp as knives as he surveyed the enraged members of his tribe.

The tribesmen were stunned by his sudden shout. They stared at him in astonishment, their eyes filled with confusion and a hint of anger at being betrayed. Why was their Great Elder siding with an outsider?

Mitomon took a deep breath, suppressing his apprehension and fear of Umino Sasuke. It wasn't fear of his strength, but rather that the other party held leverage that could destroy the entire clan. The clan desperately needed the wealth before them, but the survival of the clan was the paramount priority. If the clan members were to be foolish and anger Umino Sasuke, causing him to change his mind and no longer promise the Mitomon clan a way out, that would be a true catastrophe. Therefore, he had to stabilize the situation.

He turned abruptly to face Umino Sasuke, bowed deeply, his posture extremely low, and his voice carried a deliberate air of respect and fear.

"Lord Sasuke! Please calm down. Our clansmen have suffered heavy casualties and are in agitated. They have spoken rudely and offended you. Please be magnanimous and do not stoop to their level!"

He straightened up, not immediately turning to face his clansmen, but speaking with profound meaning, "This victory was entirely due to Lord Sasuke's unparalleled divine might and his ability to turn the tide. If it weren't for Lord Sasuke's thunderous methods in killing the powerful enemy and crushing the puppet army, we wouldn't even be able to share any spoils of war. We would already be dead under the Sand Ninja swords, our bodies left to rot in the wilderness. How could we be alive to stand here and speak?"

His words, ostensibly a compliment to Umino Sasuke, were actually a reminder to his clansmen to face reality: Umino Sasuke had saved them, which also meant that he had the ability to eliminate them at any time.

Then, Mitomonda slowly turned around, facing the still indignant clansmen, his tone becoming stern, carrying an unquestionable authority:
"As for the spoils of war? Hmph! Are you all blind? Every single puppet in this desert of yellow sand was captured by Lord Sasuke and his puppet army. Sand Iron Storm, Ebizo, Chiyo—weren't they all formidable enemies personally defeated by Lord Sasuke? According to the ironclad rules of the ninja world, these are naturally Lord Sasuke's spoils of war. How Lord Sasuke disposes of them—whether he keeps them all or shares them with others—is entirely his freedom and right. We, the Mito clan, are already incredibly fortunate to have survived such a glorious victory alongside Lord Sasuke! How dare we harbor any further ambitions?!"

He deliberately emphasized the words "preserve life," his gaze sweeping across several core clan members who were leading the protests, especially those die-hards who were loyal to Mitokado Yan and unaware of the true crisis facing the clan.

He took a step forward and whispered, almost in a voice only a few of his closest confidants could barely hear, "Wake up, all of you! Think about our current situation, think about the mess Elder Yan has made, how much trouble he's caused our family! They still have evidence of his crimes in their hands! Do you think we can bargain with them? Hmph! Do you want to die?!"

Look at his strength, look at his methods. Do you really think he wouldn't dare leave us all here? Don't forget, this is the border desert of the Land of Wind.

If the Mito ninja were ambushed by a straggler from Sunagakure, resulting in their annihilation, who can prove that it wasn't Sunagakure who did it?
Think of those ninjas and assassins from Elder Yan's lineage who died 'accidentally' on the retreat route. Don't you also want to become heroes on the memorial tablet without knowing why?
Or are you suggesting that you drag your entire family down with Elder Yan?!

His words were spoken in a low voice, carrying a chilling fear and a blatant threat of death.

These words were like ice water under the scorching sun, instantly extinguishing the anger in the eyes of those core clan members, replacing it with a deep-seated fear and a deathly pale face.

Only then did they recall the strange "accidental" deaths they had just witnessed, and the crimes that the elder had privately revealed about Mitokado Homura, crimes that could bring the family to its doom. A chill ran from their feet to their heads, making them feel icy cold all over. They dared not look at Umino Sasuke again, and even forcibly suppressed their anger, leaving only fear and obedience.

Seeing that the intimidation had worked, Mito Kadota felt somewhat relieved. He straightened his back, faced Umino Sasuke, and his voice returned to its "normal" respect, even carrying a hint of obsequiousness:
"Lord Sasuke! Please take the spoils. Our Mito clan has no objection to your distribution. It is our greatest honor to have followed you to such a glorious victory. These few spoils are nothing to us! We only ask to atone for our mistakes and serve Konoha!"

He pronounced the words "to atone for one's sins" with exceptional clarity, as if signing an invisible pledge of allegiance, implying his willingness to cooperate in bringing down Mitomon En in exchange for the survival of his family.

After he finished speaking, he bowed deeply again.

Behind him, the Mitomon ninjas, no matter how unwilling, fearful, or angry they were, could only suppress their humiliation and resentment under the elder's stern rebuke and the silent threat of death. They lowered their proud heads deeply, suppressing all their resentment in their hearts, and dared not show it even a little bit.

The air was thick with a suffocating sense of oppression and humiliating submission.

Sasuke Umino watched the scene of apparent "submission" with a blank expression. His gaze lingered on Kazuta Mito for a moment, and he began to value Mito's "advantages" of being flexible, pragmatic, and knowing when to advance and retreat even more.

He thought to himself, "Mitomonda is indeed a smart man. If the Mitomon clan can maintain this sense of pragmatism after defeating Mitomon Homura, and is on the verge of collapse under the encroachment of various Konoha ninja clans, then the Umino clan might as well lend a helping hand and take them as vassals."

The idea quickly took shape in his mind. After all, the Mitomon clan was once a strong second-rate ninja clan in Konoha, and its foundation was still intact. Even a fallen camel is bigger than a horse. Although the Shiranui and Gekko clans had a close relationship with him and had even intermarried, and their strength was not bad, their population was not large enough. Moreover, the relationship between the two clans and the Umino clan was more of a factional alliance and a mutually beneficial relationship, rather than a complete master-servant relationship. Many dirty and tiring jobs that could not be seen in the light of day were not suitable to be assigned to them.

If the Mitomon clan could be subdued and completely incorporated into their vassal state, their former foundation and remaining power would not only greatly enhance the Umino clan's political weight and influence in Konoha, but also provide them with a formidable force specializing in handling shady matters.

In any case, once Mitomon En's crimes are exposed, the Mitomon clan's reputation will be ruined. If they want to survive in Konoha, what better option do they have than to cling to the emerging Umino clan and rely on his whims?

This investment seemed quite worthwhile. Unno Sasuke's fingertips unconsciously tapped lightly on the super-large capacity sealing scroll, and a preliminary plan about how to "digest" and "incorporate" the Mitomon clan began to take shape in his mind.

Just then, Hatake Sagumo sheathed the White Fang short sword in his hand back on his back, stood up, and his chakra had been mostly restored.

He walked over to Umino Sasuke, looked at the almost completely cleared battlefield, and exclaimed sincerely, "Sasuke, this battle was a great victory, you deserve the most credit!"

Umino Sasuke snapped out of his thoughts, a smile spreading across his face. He said, "Senior Sasuke is too kind. If you hadn't kept Chiyo occupied and prevented her from having any other thoughts, I wouldn't have been able to kill Sand Ironstorm so easily and wipe out the entire Sand Village puppeteer force. As for the spoils, it's the same as before; I'll give you 30%."

Upon hearing this, Hatake Sagumo immediately waved his hand, his expression sincere: "Thirty percent? That's too much. I only held Chiyo back; I didn't kill the main force of the powerful enemy. One percent is enough for me."

Umino Sasuke insisted, "Senior Sagumo, there's no need to refuse. Without your restraint, the battle wouldn't have gone so smoothly with the combined efforts of the three Kage-level powerhouses, Sa Tetsuran, Chiyo, and Ebizo. You deserve the 30%."

After some back and forth, Hatake Sagumi finally gave in and compromised, saying, "How about this, two floors it is. I'd really be embarrassed to take any more. Besides, the greatest value of these puppets to me is that I can exchange them for money to buy equipment for Kakashi. Any more would be a waste."

(End of this chapter)