Naruto: From Novice to Grave

Chapter 93 - Let's Make Dumplings Together

The Land of Hot Water is located in the northeastern corner of the Land of Fire. Together with the Land of the Moon, it forms a buffer zone between the Land of Fire and the Land of Lightning. The Land of Hot Water is deeply influenced by the Land of Fire, while the Land of the Moon is controlled by the Land of Lightning.

This is the fate of all small countries caught between powerful nations.

However, it is only the ordinary people of small countries who suffer. As for the daimyo, the loss is at most financial. Under the influence of the daimyo of their respective countries, the five great ninja villages have reached a tacit understanding that they will not attack any daimyo.

At least not openly.

Because most of the daimyo in the ninja world are actually relatives, one family, after countless years of intermarriage.

They are the rulers of the ninja world, a special class, and theoretically can be considered as Celestial Dragons who do not possess supernatural powers.

The threats to them are often rogue ninja, traitors, wandering samurai, and rebellions by underworld figures. If they cannot handle these situations with their own guards, one of the five great ninja villages that receive the request for help will send ninjas to help them resolve the issue.

Ninjas were both a power they feared and wanted to control, and a tool to maintain their rule. Their extraordinary power prevented any so-called peasant uprisings or dynastic changes.

Regarding this point, Makoto Higashino once saw a very interesting record in some unofficial historical materials, which surprisingly coincided with some folk myths and legends.

Legend has it that many years ago, the world experienced a dark period in which the human population dwindled, nations collapsed, and disasters struck the land, leaving the survivors to live a life worse than death.

Later, someone saved the world by founding the Ninja Clan and restoring order.

People call him a living god, the immortal of the six realms.

Someone, under the instruction of the Sage of Six Paths, gathered people and rebuilt a country in a fertile land. Because of the presence of the Sage of Six Paths, the ruler could not call himself the Son of Heaven and was demoted to a daimyo.

As time went by, the land gradually recovered, and the sons of the daimyo were enfeoffed in various places. After countless years of evolution, people forgot history, and the ruling nobles in various places no longer obeyed the single ruler. They became independent and put the title of daimyo on their own heads.

Even if the territory under their rule consists of only one city, they dare to call themselves a great name, since no one cares anyway.

Subsequently, the world entered the Warring States period, and through hundreds of years of war and annexation, the current world order gradually took shape.

In other words, the daimyo of all the ninja countries actually came from the same ancestor.

In the past, when Higashino Makoto was studying in the library, he would read these fragmented historical anecdotes as stories. Now, people in the ninja world regard the Sage of Six Paths as a mythical figure, and some even believe that he is a completely fictional existence.

But Higashino really knew that this guy was real. In folk myths and legends, apart from some outrageous and obviously fake events, some stories are also true.

For example, the dark years of the past were most likely during the later period of Kaguya Otsutsuki's tyrannical rule, when she arbitrarily sacrificed humans to the Divine Tree to produce White Zetsu. Her two sons fought against their mother due to differences in ideology, shattering the land and naturally leading to frequent disasters.

Unfortunately, the people of the ninja world did not have the habit of recording history, or rather, even if someone did record it, it would be deliberately erased by some little black devil who had lived for a thousand years, so everything was forgotten by people.

Unlike the Land of Fire, which is mainly composed of plains and hills, the Land of Hot Water, although not at a high overall altitude, is dominated by dense mountain ranges rising abruptly from the plains, and is rich in geothermal resources.

With its beautiful environment and numerous hot springs, this place is a great place for tourism and relaxation.

In fact, the entire ninja world is rich in geothermal resources. The Land of Fire itself has many famous hot springs, and even the Land of Wind, which is mainly desert, has hot springs on some oases. It's just ridiculous.

Sometimes, Makoto Higashino even speculated that the battle between those three back then damaged the continental shelf, which led to the current phenomenon of geothermal eruptions everywhere.

Coastal area of ​​Yu-no-kuni (Hot Land).

Waves crash against cliffs, and towering mountains block the sea. There is little flat terrain suitable for building excellent harbors. This is the characteristic of the coastline of the Land of Hot Springs.

Their unique geographical environment prevented them from engaging in large-scale maritime trade, leaving them with only the option of developing distinctive hot spring tourism.

At dawn, Higashino Makoto, who was on night watch, sat on the edge of the cliff, opened his eyes, and ended his training.

A glimmer of light appeared in the east; soon, the sun would rise.

Watching the sunrise from a high cliff by the sea must be an extremely beautiful sight, but unfortunately he didn't have time to wait for the sun to rise.

Seeing that the three had woken up and had prepared a simple breakfast, Moonlight Cloud and the four of them continued their journey towards the Moon Kingdom along the coastline after eating.

After returning to the command post yesterday afternoon, they didn't get much rest and were assigned a mission to leave that evening.

According to reliable intelligence, the Cloud Ninja, who were fighting Konoha in the southeast of the Land of Hot Water, did not establish a base. They quickly occupied Hot Water Village in the early stages, which not only provided them with a ready-made base, but also allowed them to coerce the Hot Water Ninja into attacking Konoha ninja.

That's how it is in small ninja villages; they have no choice whatsoever, and if they don't obey, they die.

The Hidden Stone Village did the same thing. Would the Hidden Grass Village dare to resist? If they dared to utter even half a word of dissent, the entire village would be wiped out.

Although the ninja were forced to go to the battlefield, they didn't dare to really fight Konoha to the death. The only way for the small ninja village to survive was to be a fence-sitter.

Their secret contact with Konoha has always been maintained. According to the intelligence they have sent out, the Cloud Ninja did not leave after yesterday's failed attack on Konoha, and they seem to still be determined.

In order to secure their rear and ensure victory in the final battle, Konoha decided to completely eliminate this threat lurking in the Land of Hot Springs.

The Northern First Command would secretly send people into the Land of Hot Water to cut off the retreat of this part of the Cloud Ninja, preventing them from joining the main force of the Northern Cloud Ninja. Meanwhile, the Hyuga Hiashi Second Command would advance from the southeast of the Land of Hot Water toward the northwest.

Meanwhile, Higashino Makoto and his team with sensory abilities had already set off beforehand, heading towards the coastline of the Land of Hot Springs. Their mission was to destroy all ships and Cloud Ninja outposts they saw, preventing them from escaping back to the Land of Lightning by sea.

Ninjas can indeed walk on water, but would you really walk on the vast ocean? If you can reach land before your chakra runs out, then you're truly awesome.

Ninjas are not perpetual motion machines; in fact, 99% of ninjas have very limited chakra reserves. If they dare to try to escape by wading through the sea, their only fate is to fall into the sea, drown, and become fish food.

This was the annihilation plan devised by Konoha's Northern First Command after learning of the Cloud Ninja's intention to seize the Byakugan.

The three forces joined forces to encircle and crush the Cloud Ninja, who were holed up in the Hot Spring Village in the central part of the Land of Hot Springs.

In the stone forest outside the coastal cliffs, Higashino Makoto carefully sensed the surroundings and said, "There is a base here, guarded by two people. The situation is the same as before."

Moonlight Cloud said, "Then let's use the old method and finish this quickly!"

"Yes!"

Under the cover of Higashino's true senses, the four quietly followed the secret passage repaired by the Cloud Ninja and made their way to the base below.

This is one of the escape routes prepared by the Cloud Ninja, intended as a precaution in case the war is lost and for their comrades who are scattered and fleeing.

Upon reaching the target location, Tsukikage Unmi and Higashino Makoto stormed into the secret base to eliminate the enemy, while Uzuki Yugao and Tsukikage Hayate's mission was to go to the dock and destroy all the ships.

Perhaps the Cloud Ninja were overconfident and thought that this escape route was unlikely to be used, so the ninjas who stayed at the base were more relaxed.

It's easy to see that those who can do such hard work aren't exactly experts, and the quality of ninjas isn't that high. Their first reaction upon seeing the enemy was actually shock.

Moonlight Cloud took down one of them as soon as he went up. If Higashino had been gentler, he would have just knocked the opponent unconscious with one punch and then channeled natural energy into the opponent's body.

Yunren seemed to be in great pain while unconscious, his brows furrowed and his body trembling violently, but he soon became still.

There were no visible injuries, but the person was indeed dead.

"Are you experimenting with your new trick again?"

"Yes, teacher, since I'm going to kill anyway, let me make use of this trash."

Moonlight Cloud thought for a moment but didn't say anything. As long as Higashino really wasn't using innocent people to do these things, that was fine.

A series of explosions rang out outside; Gale and his team had used explosive tags to blow up the ship. Sure enough, the two of them arrived shortly afterward to rendezvous.

Moonlight Cloud said, "Let's go, continue the mission."

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