Pakura was gravely injured.
However, Lucas's medical ninjutsu was no joke. Under his treatment, her wounds healed at an astonishing speed, and soon, she regained consciousness.
Her eyes fluttered open, taking in the scene around her—the bodies of the Kirigakure ninjas scattered across the ground, and the mysterious man standing over her.
"You… saved me?"
Lucas gave a casual nod.
Before he could say anything, Pakura suddenly bowed her head in gratitude.
"Thank you! I swear I will repay this life-saving debt in the future!"
Lucas smirked.
"Repay me? Sure, just follow me."
Pakura's expression faltered for a moment.
She then looked around, noticing the sheer number of fallen Mist Shinobi. "You killed all of them?"
Lucas shrugged.
"They tried to kill me, so I returned the favor."
Pakura studied him carefully. To wipe out so many Kirigakure shinobi with such ease—this man had to be at least Kage-level. Yet, she had never heard of him before.
"Who are you? A shinobi of your level shouldn't be unknown, yet I've never heard your name before."
Lucas chuckled.
"You sure ask a lot of questions." He crossed his arms. "The name's Lucas. I've only been in this world for a few days, so it makes sense that you haven't heard of me."
Pakura misunderstood his meaning. Instead of thinking of him as an outsider from another world, she assumed he was a mysterious rising force in the ninja world.
Lucas continued, "To answer your earlier question, those Kirigakure shinobi attacked you, so I stepped in. But then they tried to kill me, so I dealt with them."
Pakura frowned. "You must've known that saving me would make you a target. Why did you do it?"
Lucas paused, then spoke with a straight face. "Because you look beautiful."
"Huh?"
Pakura's face flushed red at the unexpected answer.
Lucas remained indifferent. "If you were some ugly old man, I probably wouldn't have bothered. But you're a beautiful woman—it would've been a waste to let you die here."
His nonchalant tone carried a brutal truth—this was a world where appearances mattered.
Pakura's mind spun.
Did he just imply that she should repay him with her body?
Lucas, unaware of her inner turmoil, finished his treatment. "That's as much as medical ninjutsu can do. You'll need some time to fully recover."
As he turned to leave, he casually threw out one last remark.
"By the way, if you're thinking about taking revenge on Sunagakure's higher-ups, don't. You're not strong enough."
Pakura's eyes sharpened.
"What do you mean?"
Lucas smirked. "I'll be dealing with Sunagakure soon. If you want revenge, just wait."
Before she could ask more, he disappeared into the distance, heading toward Kirigakure.
Chat Group
Senju Tobirama: "Lucas, are you planning to use her to control Sunagakure?"
Senju Hashirama : "Why do you think that, Senju Tobirama?"
Senju Tobirama: "Because Pakura has both the prestige and strength to become Kazekage. If Lucas wipes out the current leadership of Sunagakure, she would be the perfect candidate to take over."
Uchiha Shisui: "Ah! Since there are no Sunagakure spirits in our chat group, Lucas can't use Reanimation Jutsu to control the village. So he's grooming Pakura instead! This was planned all along!"
Uchiha Madara: "Of course. The group leader always knows things we don't. Poor woman—she thinks Lucas saved her because she was pretty. Hah!"
Lucas sighed.
Lucas :"Can you guys stop turning everything into a conspiracy? I really did save her just because she was good-looking!"
Lucas: "It's normal to appreciate beauty. When something beautiful is about to be destroyed, normal people want to stop it. That's all I did. Quit overthinking it!"
Kirigakure
Lucas arrived at Kirigakure, a village shrouded in thick mist.
Compared to the bustling streets of Konoha, Kirigakure was eerily quiet and lifeless.
Inside the chat group, Senju Hashirama burst into laughter.
Senju Hashirama: "Hahahaha! And here I thought Konoha was bad. But after seeing Kirigakure, maybe Konoha isn't so terrible after all!"
Gengetsu Hōzuki : "How did my village end up like this?! Back in my day, Kirigakure was lively! Now, there aren't even pedestrians on the streets!"
Senju Tobirama : "Looks like there's trouble brewing here. Let's find out what's going on."
Lucas grabbed a lone Kirigakure ninja, using a genjutsu technique to force information out of him.
The truth poured out like a broken dam.
The Fourth Mizukage, Yagura, ruled with an iron fist.
His brutal policies crushed opposition.
Many ninja clans rebelled, but were swiftly executed.
The Bloodline Purge wiped out numerous bloodline limit clans.
The infamous "Blood Mist Policy" created a reign of terror.
As the ninja spoke, Senju Tobirama couldn't help but smirk.
Senju Tobirama: "@Gengetsu Hōzuki, how do you feel now? You were laughing at Konoha's problems before. Now it's your turn!"
Golden Lion Shiki: "Are all the ninja villages in this world just obsessed with killing their own people?"
Lucas: "It's normal. The ninja leadership and the ninja population have a fundamental conflict of interest. That struggle never truly ends."
The Brutal Reality of Ninja Villages
The higher-ups in ninja villages didn't actually like ninjas.
Ninja clans held too much power and could threaten the village's leadership.
The best way to control them was to weaken them through infighting.
Keeping the ninja forces divided meant the leadership retained absolute power.
Lucas sighed.
"The ninja world isn't ruled by strength. It's ruled by politics and betrayal."
The root cause of conflict in the ninja world was simple: ninja clans and ninja villages were never truly aligned.
Ninja clans prioritized their own interests over those of the village.
They obeyed the orders of their clans over the orders of the Hokage.
From the perspective of the village leadership, ninja clans were dangerous—powerful, independent, and difficult to control.
If a ninja village was a country, then the ninja clans were warlords within it.
They were essential for power but also a threat—often bargaining for their own benefits rather than acting in the village's best interest.
Because of this, it was only natural for village leadership to suppress or even eradicate ninja clans whenever possible.
The ideal scenario for village leaders?
Dissolve the ninja clans entirely.
Replace them with loyal, trained shinobi.
However, human nature made that nearly impossible. People naturally gathered based on blood ties and common interests, making complete dissolution difficult.
And so, the conflict between ninja clans and the village leadership was never-ending.
Chat Group Discussion
Gengetsu Hōzuki: "Fourth Mizukage Yagura… is he insane?! Look at these policies—he's leading Kirigakure straight to its own destruction!"
The former Mizukage felt like his heart was bleeding.
Before, when he heard about how Konoha's Senju clan was destroyed, he had been a little smug.
But now?
Now, the Hozuki Clan—his own clan—was practically erased from history.
According to information from the Kirigakure ninja Lucas captured, there was only one survivor left—a kid named Suigetsu Hōzuki, and his whereabouts were unknown.
That level of destruction… was on par with the Senju clan, which was reduced to only Tsunade.
Gengetsu Hōzuki, once Mizukage, now understood the bitter reality.
Gengetsu Hōzuki: "I always wondered how the Senju clan, Konoha's strongest, could be reduced to a single member… Now I get it. Because the same thing happened to my clan."
After all, the Hozuki Clan was as prestigious in Kirigakure as the Senju Clan was in Konoha.
And yet—both had been erased.
Gengetsu Hōzuki: "Group leader, I want you to go see Fourth Mizukage Yagura. I need to know why he made these insane decisions."
Senju Tobirama : "Yes, I'd like to meet this 'genius' myself. Compared to him, Sarutobi Hiruzen and Danzo were nothing!"
Hiruzen and Danzo's internal conflicts were limited to:
Killing specific individuals.
Suppressing certain ninja clans.
But Yagura?
He turned the entire village against itself.
He wiped out dozens of ninja clans.
He made infighting the norm through the Blood Mist Policy.
Even Sarutobi Hiruzen and Danzo wouldn't dare implement something this extreme.
Golden Lion Shiki: "How did he get away with this? No one in Kirigakure stood up to kill him?"
Whitebeard: "That's what I don't get. In this world, even the strongest can be killed by a well-planned ambush. So why is this guy still alive?"
Pirate King Roger: "Exactly! If they hate him so much, why not just assassinate him?"
After all, Pakura was a Kage-level ninja, but she was nearly killed by a sneak attack.
If a strong Kage-level shinobi could be taken down like that, then why hadn't someone done the same to Yagura?
Lucas sighed.
Lucas: "You guys are overthinking this. Who said no one tried? The rebels in Kirigakure have been fighting against Yagura for years. If I hadn't intervened, they would have eventually succeeded in assassinating him."
Gengetsu Hōzuki: "But that's not fast enough! Every day he lives, Kirigakure suffers. We can't afford to wait!"
Gengetsu Hōzuki: "Lucas, you said you were going to help Kirigakure with a major problem. Now's the time!"
Lucas: "Alright! Since you insist, let's go meet Fourth Mizukage Yagura."
Lucas: "Trust me—you're going to be shocked."
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