Naruto: From Novice to Grave

Chapter 94 - Battle of Yuren Village (Part 094)

Around noon, in a small fishing village in the Land of Hot Water.

This place is nestled between two mountains, with a small, flat area. However, the nearby seawater is too shallow and the beach area is too small to serve as a trading port. Fishermen have gathered here and formed a village, making a living by fishing.

But today, they have lost their fishing boats, which they depend on for a living.

All the boats, large and small, were gathered together and burned to the ground.

The villagers gathered together, watching the fire without daring to resist. The children looked at Higashino and his companions with a clear mixture of fear and envy.

Ordinary people can never deal with ninjas. Even if there were ten times more ninjas than a hundred, they would still be slaughtered if they dared to resist.

Even if you equip them with weapons, it won't make a difference; the gap between ninjas and ordinary people is just that big.

Uzuki Yugao worked silently, not daring to look the fishermen in the eye. At that moment, she felt that in their eyes, she was probably a terrifying female devil.

But there was nothing they could do; their orders were to destroy all the boats along the coast—everything, including fishing boats.

Fortunately, among the five great ninja villages in the ninja world, Konoha still has some integrity and behaves like a decent human being.

After negotiating with the old village chief and settling accounts, Yueguang Yun handed over a sum of money and instructed him, "This is compensation for you. Remember, do not buy materials to build ships in the near future. If you are robbed, Konoha will not be responsible."

The old village chief nodded repeatedly. "We know, Ninja-sama. Don't worry, everyone will buy them after this war is over. It's always been like this, we all understand."

Their skill is truly impressive.

The fishermen turned their attention away from the fire and focused on the banknotes in the old village chief's hand. This money was their livelihood for the next few days.

The four of them left after completing their mission.

On the way, the little girl breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Luckily there was compensation, otherwise we would have been the bad guys."

Higashino Makoto silently added, "Actually, in the eyes of ordinary people, we ninjas have never been good people. Yugao, you don't actually think being a ninja is a righteous profession, do you?"

"Perhaps not exactly righteous, but surely he can't be a villain?"

"Didn't you see the look in those fishermen's eyes? Fear mixed with disgust, even after we gave them compensation."

Moonlight Gale said, "But I also saw envy, not just in the children, but in many adults as well."

Higashino smiled and said, "Of course, there's no contradiction. After all, ninjas represent power. Given the chance, they would naturally want to become powerful. Who wouldn't? Especially those kids, their eyes have never left us."

At this moment, he was actually glad that he had been reborn in Konoha Village, and that both his parents were ninjas, so he was born to be a ninja trainee.

If he were reborn in this fishing village, it would be a huge problem. Forget about learning ninjutsu; he might just be mistaken for a stray dog ​​by a fleeing Cloud Ninja and easily killed.

None of the three seemed to care about the money.

Since it's not from my own pocket, I can get reimbursed by the village, and the village will send the bill to the daimyo of the Land of Hot Springs.

As for whether the daimyo of the Land of Hot Water will increase taxes to make up for his losses, that's none of their business.

After leaving the fishing village, Moonlight Cloud stopped, took out a map, spread it on the ground, and after confirming it, said to the three, "Our team's assigned area has been cleared. Next, we'll head to the agreed location to meet up with the others."

"Yes!"

In a forested ravine east of Tangren Village, Higashino and his companions spent some time arriving at the designated location.

Dozens of Konoha ninjas have already been stationed here. They are not small teams sent out to sabotage coastal ships, but rather teams that came here in advance to scout the area.

After a brief exchange of signals and coded messages about the operation, the two sides continued to hide back into the forest.

The light inside the dense forest was much dimmer than outside. The four of them ate dry rations in the trees to recover their chakra and prepare for battle.

This place is not too far from the guard line set up by the Cloud Ninja in the eastern part of Tangren Village, so it is impossible to allow cooking with fire, otherwise it would be easy to be exposed and cause the operation to fail.

At the same time, this distance was far beyond the perception range of the Cloud Village ninja.

Each of the five great ninja villages has its own trained sensory ninjas, but most of them are ordinary, and it is extremely difficult for them to produce top-notch masters like Kirigakure's Chukichi and Higashino Makoto.

Subsequently, more and more teams carrying out the same mission as Higashino Makoto and his group gathered here, but they all hid in the forest, resting silently and recovering their chakra.

No one spoke; for a ninja, stealth was a fundamental skill.

Time passed slowly, and around 5 p.m., the agreed-upon time for the attack arrived.

All the ninjas gathered here had opened their eyes. They prepared their ninja tools, exuding murderous intent, and dispersed to attack towards the direction of Yugakure.

On the way, while rushing forward, Uzuki Yugao suddenly asked, "Sensei, what should we do if we encounter ninjas from Yugakure?"

Gekko Unkan said directly, "Before the battle ends, kill all the enemies you can see. Remember, never trust any surrendering Yugakure ninja."

This is a lesson learned in blood by our predecessors.

The two sides soon met on the outer defensive line of the village, and the battle broke out instantly.

Higashino Makoto led his team of three towards a defensive stronghold they sensed, from which four ninjas also rushed out.

Judging from their headbands, three of them were Tang Ninja, and only one was a Yun Ninja.

However, when the three ninja from the hot springs saw the Leaf Village ninjas, they did not show any gratitude for the arrival of the heavenly soldiers. Instead, they raised their weapons and charged forward.

It's completely upside down! The relationship between Konoha and Yugakure has always been quite good, but now they look so fierce, as if the Cloud Ninja are their half-brothers.

This is normal. Small ninja villages are always divided into several factions because of which major power they want to align with. The Cloud Ninja occupied the Hot Spring Ninja Village as their command center for attacking Konoha. Naturally, some people opposed it, while others welcomed it. Those who welcomed it might even be dreaming of making a contribution and joining the Cloud Ninja Village as a ninja of the Five Great Ninja Villages.

Those willing to defend this place with the Cloud Ninja are clearly determined to be close to the Land of Lightning.

Then don't blame Konoha for taking drastic measures.

Higashino Makoto's body tumbled and flipped in mid-air like a feather, dodging the incoming kunai. Then, another wind blade cleaved another kunai wrapped with an explosive tag in two.

Then, without any leverage in the air, it suddenly accelerated and swept past Tang Ren, the short knife already slicing open his throat.

At the same time, Moonlight Cloud also dealt with the soup ninja in front of him.

The last person faced Gekko Hayate and Uzuki Yugao. He was blinded by Yugao's illusionary sword light and was taken down by Hayate with a single strike.

The ninjas from the small ninja village, though called Chunin, were only about as good as Genin from Konoha.

Seeing his subordinates defeated so quickly, the last Cloud Ninja cursed inwardly that the entire Tang Ninja Village was useless before turning and running away.

He wasn't afraid of death; he just wanted to bring back the information about Konoha's attack.

Battles have broken out everywhere, and he's not stupid; he knows what's happening.

But by then Higashino had already rushed up behind him, and the Cloud Ninja had no choice but to hastily engage in battle. After exchanging two blows, the Cloud Ninja was cut down along with his sword.

He annihilated his opponents here, but there are always some lucky ones who escape back. News of the attack cannot be stopped, but it doesn't matter. The encirclement is complete. Now, let's see how much damage the Cloud Ninja can inflict on Konoha before they die.

Inside Tangren Village, the commander of the Cloud Ninja, Teoshi, had already received the news.

This was a middle-aged ninja with fair skin and blond hair, who bore a striking resemblance to Slihi, whom Higashino had previously killed. He asked the Cloud Ninja who had returned with the news, "Are you sure those bastards from Konoha attacked from the south?"

"Yes, Lord Theoshi, the defenses have been breached. What should we do next?"

Before he could answer what to do, another Cloud Ninja came running to report that Konoha ninjas were attacking from the north.

Then the ninjas returning from the eastern defense line reported the same situation.

Teoshi was taken aback. They were surrounded by Konoha. It seemed that their plan to steal Konoha's Byakugan yesterday had not only failed, but had also made the other side determined to eliminate them.

Although Troy was the strongest here, he only ever thought about fighting and didn't like to think about tactics.

He said, "Theoshi, time is running out. Fight or retreat?"

"Let's go, or we'll all die here. We must bring back as many of our comrades as possible."

"Break through? Head west? It seems like that's the only place where we haven't encountered any Konoha ninja."

Teoshi was speechless: "That's the direction of the Land of Fire. Is breaking out there just suicide?"

"That's true. So, which direction do you suggest?"

"Konoha must have deployed a large force in the north to prevent us from joining forces with headquarters, and the south is definitely dominated by the Hyuga clan. It's not easy to escape under the Byakugan."

7

After a brief analysis of the situation, Theoshi made a decision: "Pass down the order, assemble immediately, and break out to the east."