Naruto: From Novice to Grave

Soon, Tsukikage led the team to a village called Yoshida-cho, where they met the person who had commissioned the mission.

An old man named Yoshida Inamori, with white hair and beard, leaned on an old, well-worn cane; he was the village chief.

Village Chief Yoshida was in good spirits and greeted the four members of the team happily. After handing over the tasks, he led everyone to the farmland outside the village.

A small river meanders through the area, surrounded by forests that form a wall around it. Terraced fields of varying heights are scattered across many low hills along the riverbank.

The dry fields on higher ground are planted with wheat. At this time of year, the wheat seedlings have already formed ears, but they haven't turned golden yet; they are a vibrant green and thriving.

Along the lower reaches of the riverbanks are continuous paddy fields, all of which have been leveled and resemble mirrors embedded in the earth. In many of these fields, farmers are already busy at work.

Yes, the task for Higashino and his two companions today is: to plant rice seedlings.

According to Village Chief Yoshida, several families in the village are elderly, and their children are working away from home, so there is a shortage of labor. Every year during the busy farming season, they go to Konoha to post some D-rank missions and ask ninjas for help.

Although D-rank missions are expensive for them, ninjas are very capable; one person can do the work of ten, which is quite cost-effective.

Of course, Konoha wasn't stupid; they wouldn't use genin like cattle. After evaluation, sweeping a fixed amount of farmland counted as a D-rank mission. Today's Yoshida Town commission had a total of 5 missions.

Let ninjas with extraordinary powers farm? If this were some dark fantasy world, these peasants would probably be turned to ashes on the spot.

I am, after all, a cultivator. Even if I were to farm, I would be growing spirit rice for Foundation Establishment cultivators.

But this is a peculiar ninja world, where a mission is a mission, and a ninja is someone who endures everything.

After introducing the farmland area to the group, Village Chief Yoshida left. The rest is self-explanatory; he has seen a lot over the years and knows that ninjas have an extraordinary learning ability, even if they look like just children.

Higashino Makoto didn't actually need to learn; he came from a rural background in his previous life and knew about and had done rice seedling cultivation and transplanting.

However, he still pretended to stand in the fields with Jifeng and Xiyan and learn from the farmers, only to find that it was no different from his previous life.

There's not much else to say: pull up the seedlings, tie them up, and carry them to the edge of the field to scatter them.

A ninja is a ninja; you can tell the difference between them and ordinary people from the details.

The three moved with incredible speed. Based on their observations, they had already calculated how far a bundle of seedlings could be planted. When they scattered the seedlings, they even used the technique of throwing shuriken. The landing point of each bundle of seedlings was perfect, as if it had been measured with a ruler.

When people are extremely busy, they often say they can't be in two places at once, but the thing is, ninjas really do have the ability to create clones. Hayate Gekko and Yugao Uzuki are examples of ninjas who can create shadow clones.

So the three of them formed a hand seal. Jifeng and Xiyan only dared to use two seals, unlike Dongye Zhen, who used more than ten seals with a series of "bang bang bang".

Therefore, having ninjas do farm work is not just a figure of speech; it's a fact.

To conserve chakra, Hayate and Yugao didn't use the water-walking technique, but instead took off their shoes and went into the paddy field, not caring at all about getting their feet covered in mud.

The fair-skinned and pretty young girl, Uzuki Yugao, didn't say anything, and didn't even frown before going to the fields.

Ninjas have never considered themselves noble monks. For thousands of years, no one in this world has instilled such a concept in them. On the contrary, the idea that ninjas are tools is deeply ingrained in people's minds.

Higashino has no interest in changing this mindset, or rather, the change would have already begun long ago without him having to.

Since the establishment of the one village, one country system decades ago, which ended the era when ninjas were bound by clans, a large number of commoners without clans began to become ninjas.

The subsequent wars produced a large number of rogue ninjas. These people did not have the courage to fight against the ninja villages, but they not only had the courage, but also a great deal of courage to run rampant in the world of ordinary people.

Then everyone realized, damn, so ninjas can live such happy lives.

Is it fun for ninjas to bully ordinary people who have no power to fight back?

Those traitors who have women on their left and right and rake in huge sums of money tell you: My happiness is beyond your imagination.

I don't know when it started, but ordinary people in the ninja world have to respectfully address ninjas as "sir" when they see them. This change is a good thing for ninjas, but a disaster for ordinary people.

But that's just how the world is. Even in the ordinary world of Higashino Makoto's previous life, the so-called equality of all people was impossible, let alone in this ninja world that possesses extraordinary power.

Any attempt to promote the concept of equality for all in this world, or the idea that red can change the world, is unrealistic.

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The villagers of Yoshida witnessed the efficiency of the ninjas once again, even though they saw it several times a year.

In the smooth, mirror-like paddy field, more than a dozen figures moved with lightning speed, quickly planting green rice seedlings into the field, transforming the paddy field into a rice paddy at an astonishing pace.

What would take their whole family a week to do, a ninja could do in a day.

Every time they see this spectacular sight, the villagers can't help but sigh: It's such a waste that ninjutsu isn't used for farming.

This mentality is similar to the idea that the emperor must have used a golden carrying pole to carry manure.

Everyone understands the principle, but it's never realistic; even emperors don't need to shovel manure.

Take Higashino and his two friends as an example. Planting rice in the fields was a task to be completed in the village. They not only did not feel any resistance, but also found it quite interesting and full of novelty.

Makoto Higashino even found the feeling of working in the fields with his father in his past life, which was a truly nostalgic childhood.

But if someone were to make them do this every day, every year.

That's a completely different matter; anyone who brings it up is doomed.

Soon, thanks to the efforts of the three, the mission was completed around 3 p.m. This made Higashino Makoto exclaim that chakra is good, chakra is wonderful. After working for most of the day, he did not feel any back pain.

Even Gekko Hayate and Uzuki Yugao were only a little tired.

You know, when he was a child in his previous life, he went to the fields with his family to plant rice seedlings. Not long after, his back couldn't take it anymore, and by the end of the day, his whole body felt like it was broken.

Just as Gekko Hayate was about to suggest washing off the mud, Uzuki Yugao looked at the villagers who were still working and said, "Hey, it's still early, let's go help them so they can finish and go home sooner."

Hayate glanced at Higashino Makoto, who shook his head slightly but said nothing.

Yugao is a kind-hearted girl, but sometimes being enthusiastic isn't a good thing, especially for a ninja.

Tsukiko Kumo disappeared after giving out the task in the morning and didn't reappear until evening. When she returned, she saw Uzuki Yugao and the other two receiving praise from the villagers.

The paddy fields along the riverbank, which were as smooth as a mirror in the morning, are now planted with rice seedlings. Dots of green sprout in the silvery-white paddy fields, creating a beautiful and pleasant scene.

After confirming the mission's completion with Village Chief Yoshida and obtaining his signature, Tsukikage Unmi left Yoshida Town with her disciples.

On the way, Uzuki Yugao happily told her teacher about the team's good deeds.

Upon hearing this, Moonlight Cloud did not immediately praise her. Instead, it glared at Higashino Makoto and Moonlight Hayate, who immediately looked away and began to admire the fiery clouds of the sunset.

"Xiyan, you did a good job, but don't do it again next time!"

Moonlight Cloud saw that he didn't explain further, but instead stood in the forest outside the village, seemingly waiting for something.

Moonlight Gale whispered, "If we help them every time, it will cause the villagers to have some unnecessary ulterior motives when issuing tasks in the future, which will bring losses to the village."

At the same time, it will make things very difficult for comrades who will be carrying out the same mission in the future.

Uzuki Yugao didn't quite understand, but she knew she seemed to have done something stupid.

After about seven or eight minutes, Moonlight Cloud finally spoke: "Alright, let's go. It's not far anyway, we can walk back slowly."

A rather strange decision.