Konoha: This Uchiha is extremely sneaky

Chapter 193 Misery

The next morning.

The rain, which had been falling for a full day and night, finally stopped.

The sky also revealed a hint of dawn.

After a whole night of rest, most of the members of the tribe had recovered well.

Except for a few individuals.

For example, Uchiha Shisui.

At this moment, he had large dark circles under his eyes, and he was absent-minded while eating breakfast, looking completely lost.

Clearly, he was disturbed by Toshiro's remarks last night and didn't get enough rest.

"Toshiro, are you going alone again this time?"

Looking at Toshiro, who was wearing an oversized cloak that covered his entire body and had a hood, Uchiha Tetsuya asked a question.

"Okay! I'll go alone! You guys be careful. If anything unexpected happens, just send a signal, and I'll be there quickly..."

Toshiro, who had originally planned to go to his destination alone as planned, saw Uchiha Shisui in a sleepwalking state and immediately changed his mind, saying:

"Shisui, come with me! It'll be good for you to see more of the world!"

As he spoke, he pulled out an identical cloak and tossed it to Shisui, gesturing for him to put it on.

"???"

Seeing the question in the other person's eyes, Toshiro didn't answer immediately, but smiled mysteriously and kept it a secret.

Not only Toshiro, but also Tetsuya, Homura and the others all showed the same expression, looking at Uchiha Shisui with a face full of question marks.

They had this "you'll know once you get there" attitude.

It must be said that the village's ninja training was very successful. Faced with the captain's completely incomprehensible request, he did not continue to investigate, but instead began to put on his uniform without saying a word.

However, the oversized cloak, paired with his 'petite' figure, appeared unusually loose and bulky. Even though he had used some special methods to make his height appear no different from that of an adult.

From a distance, it still looks a bit comical, but Toshiro didn't make too many demands.

Once the other person was dressed, Toshiro tossed a bottle of special potion into Shisui's arms, letting him apply it himself.

Then he turned around and, with Shisui in tow, headed toward a deserted village in the distance.

Shisui, on the other hand, played the role of a subordinate very well. After seeing that Toshiro had no intention of explaining things to him, he silently followed behind him.

As they got closer, this abandoned village revealed a side of itself that no one had ever known.

Feeling the gazes that kept sweeping over him, Shisui didn't say anything on the surface, but the doubts in his heart were growing stronger.

He was unaware that this abandoned village, which appeared deserted from afar, held some unknown secrets beneath its desolate exterior.

Just getting close is enough to attract so many curious glances.

What followed shocked him deeply. At only eight years old and naturally kind, he never imagined that such a tragic thing could happen in this abandoned corner.

As they ventured deeper into the area, they arrived at the heart of the place, where rows of sparsely populated 'shops' were open for business.

Every now and then, one or two pedestrians, dressed similarly to the two of them and covering their entire bodies with wide cloaks, would come and go from these 'shops'.

The goods in those shops were also incredibly diverse.

Antiques, grains, firearms, medicinal herbs, and even kunai and shuriken used by ninjas are all available for sale. Even explosive tags and large repeating crossbows used by ninjas are sold here.

What he found most unacceptable was that the "goods" sold in a few shops were actually living, breathing human beings.

Whether intentionally or unintentionally, Toshiro-senpai took him around these places and even chatted with the owners to learn about the "market rates".

This gave him a general understanding of the prices of these "goods".

The most expensive were the pretty girls, around thirteen or fourteen years old. Next were the strong young men, followed by the slightly older women, though these women usually had one or two children with them, so they weren't very popular.

As for the elderly and infirm, he didn't see a single one. According to senior Toshiro, these people had basically disappeared on the road.

The senior didn't explain the so-called 'disappearance' in detail, but only gave me a meaningful look.

Although he hadn't seen it with his own eyes, after just a little thought, he already understood what his senior meant by "disappearance".

This made the young man increasingly taciturn, and afterwards he could only mechanically follow behind his senior Toshiro, silently observing everything around him.

After wandering around the black market for a while and eliminating several shops that might belong to major ninja villages and were used for intelligence gathering, Toshiro led the bewildered Shisui into a shop that didn't look very big.

Based on his observation, this place is very likely a gathering place for local forces from the Land of Grass, specifically used to collect resources.

Ignoring the saleswoman who was trying to sell him a beautiful young woman, he handed a sealing scroll directly to a middle-aged man who was smoking in the store.

In Toshiro's perception, this middle-aged man of medium build, wearing an ordinary black kimono and with a sorrowful face, had chakra reactions approaching those of a Chunin.

Judging from the attitude of the women who were being used as merchandise towards him, they seemed to be very familiar with each other. Toshiro judged that the two of them must have known each other for a long time, but were forced to do so by the pressures of life.

He was also sighing with emotion!

The more chaotic the place, the more likely such things are to happen. For example, that beautiful young woman just now had a great figure and looks, but the baby she was holding made her less popular.

With an infant still in swaddling clothes, she, a woman, especially one with some beauty, could not possibly survive in this chaotic country.

She could only turn herself into a commodity, hoping to gain protection from others by virtue of her beauty, and her only request was that the other party would not let her abandon her child.

If they don't do this, not only her, but even her child, might not live more than a month before becoming a skeleton by the roadside.

This is the tragic reality of being citizens of small countries...

And he couldn't help the other party at all.

(End of this chapter)