Chapter 317: Yamato

With the meeting over, the atmosphere within the Hidden Cloud Village began to grow strange.

Ordinary civilians carried on as usual, but anyone with even a hint of status or influence immediately began scrambling for connections and pathways.

The reason was simple!

Since the entire Hidden Cloud leadership had decisively chosen to join the Hidden Leaf, their future status and position within the Hidden Leaf would depend entirely on how they maneuvered during this period.

Precisely because of this, the Hidden Leaf Anbu under Yamato’s command, after receiving Uchiha Jin’s approval, began slowly shifting from shadow to light, appearing openly in the Raikage Building.

Along with this came a flood of visitors.

Clearly, everyone understood that once the Hidden Cloud was fully absorbed into the Hidden Leaf, their future posts, identities, and status would all require approval from the Hidden Leaf’s high command.

And now?

These Hidden Leaf Anbu standing before them were the only channel they could grasp.

“Gentlemen, I’m sorry.”

“I understand your intentions, but I cannot offer any guarantees.”

“I’m merely an Anbu member—our Hidden Leaf high command won’t listen to me.”

“Of course, I can guarantee this!”

“Our Hokage will assess everyone comprehensively; any talent will be given proper use.”

“Listen to me—go back home!”

“...”

In the Hidden Cloud Building, next to the Raikage’s office.

This had once been the office of the Raikage’s secretary, but it was now temporarily assigned to the Hidden Leaf Anbu.

Officially, the excuse was to facilitate smoother communication between the Hidden Cloud and the Hidden Leaf, offering guidance for the Hidden Cloud’s upcoming tasks and ensuring a smoother transition.

But in reality,

it was more a gesture of allegiance, proving the Hidden Cloud had no tricks up its sleeve and was truly preparing to submit completely to the Hidden Leaf.

Not long after,

once all the visiting Hidden Cloud ninja had left, Lei Huche couldn’t help speaking: “What a bunch of pragmatists—during the meeting, they opposed more fiercely than anyone.”

“Only a few days after the meeting, and now they’re more obsequious than even our surrender faction.”

Yamato’s lips twitched, but he said nothing more.

He was never good at small talk; frankly, if the Hidden Leaf hadn’t stretched itself so thin and suffered such severe shortages across all areas of talent, he would never have been sent here to handle a diplomatic task like this.

Come on!

I’m just an Anbu!

I know nothing but killing!

But there was no choice!

The Hidden Leaf was like a clockwork machine—there was simply no room to spare a professional diplomat, so they handed the entire matter over to the Northern Front.

But the Northern Front?

Even worse off in personnel!

Compared to the minor matter of the entire Hidden Cloud joining the Hidden Leaf, Tsunade had to manage not only the Northern Front’s traditional sphere of influence but also extract manpower to handle administration, governance, and all supporting services for the newly occupied Land of Lightning.

Diplomatic personnel?

She was desperately short of them too!

She had nearly been driven mad, and in the end, helplessly turned to Tobirama Senju.

In the end,

Tobirama Senju procured a batch of criminals and reanimated a large number of Hidden Leaf dead, barely preventing the Northern Front from collapsing entirely.

No choice!

Although Tsunade knew this was morally dubious—back then, she would have never agreed to disturb the dead’s rest.

Now, things were different!

Compared to being worked to death or seeing the Northern Front collapse, disturbing the dead’s rest was already pushed far behind her mind.

So why prefer Edo Tensei over seeking help from other fronts?

Hah!

Because the other fronts are short on people too!

Although the Hidden Cloud was the first to be breached, everyone with eyes could see this was only the first step—once the Hidden Cloud was fully absorbed, problems with the Hidden Stone, Hidden Mist, and Hidden Sand were inevitable…

Since the other fronts had sensed this, they naturally needed to cultivate administrative talent in advance, preparing to receive other nations.

If they lent personnel to Tsunade, what if they later needed them back? Could they really demand them from her?

So, hah.

Don’t even think about it!

It was precisely under these unique national circumstances that Yamato, the Northern Front’s Anbu leader, had no choice but to play diplomat.

Sigh.

After a weary sigh, Yamato spoke seriously.

“Lei Huche, hurry up.”

“I’ll tell Itachi this plainly: the better Itachi perform now, the brighter your future will be.”

“With the Land of Lightning joining the Hidden Leaf, and other nations soon following, the Hidden Leaf is now desperately short of talent—everywhere, they’re starving for people.”

“Don’t Itachi see even an Anbu like me is forced to play diplomat?”

“So, work hard.”

“After all, Itachi’re a Hidden Leaf spy, and Itachi’ve already earned merit on this mission.”

“If Itachi ensure the Hidden Cloud’s smooth integration, your contributions will be substantial—and given the Hidden Leaf’s current talent shortage, Itachi’ll surely secure a decent position.”

His words were logical and grounded.

In truth, Yamato had never spoken so much before; as a former Root member and current Anbu, his dark past had made him incapable of being cheerful.

But damn it.

The current reality forced him to be cheerful—even now, he could barely sketch a crude pie in the sky for Lei Huche.

Though the pie was rough, for Yamato, this was already a huge effort.

He knew his own limitations, and Lei Huche, having grown up in the Hidden Cloud, understood its inner workings far better than he did—so he now needed these Hidden Cloud spies to help him.

As for results? Very effective!

While seasoned veterans wouldn’t swallow this pie, Lei Huche and others were willing to eat it.

The reason was simple: utter fear, and profound uncertainty about the future.

Though nominally Hidden Leaf personnel, these spies had grown up entirely in the Hidden Cloud—they had no basic understanding of the Hidden Leaf at all, and now they were suddenly told to return to it…

No matter how calm they appeared on the surface, inwardly they were terrified.

So,

they were eager to keep busy—not to earn recognition, but simply to distract themselves; if idle, they feared their minds would spiral into chaos.

Lei Huche nodded, then spoke seriously.

“Alright, no problem!”

“I’ll go oversee things myself, so these fools don’t mess things up.”

“I hope this whole affair ends soon!”