Living your daily life in a shonen anime seems to be wrong.

Even due to the defeat, it was difficult to continue training a new generation of ninjas on a large scale, and they had to take the elite route, distributing limited resources to those children with more potential.

As for the others, they can only be crudely made.

But who has potential and who doesn't?

This is hard to say.

It is difficult for a child to receive attention when they do not have any outstanding performance.

Children from ordinary families are generally better off, but some orphans, who are not valued and do not have parental care, have a more difficult life.

Although she had only been out for less than an hour, Qi Ye saw many young children helping with heavy physical labor just so they could have something to eat.

Hyuga Hanabi was probably seeing this situation for the first time. In Konoha, even orphans, except for Naruto Uzumaki, at least had no worries about food and clothing.

In reality, Naruto Uzumaki should have been well-off, but because of the villagers' hostility, even if he had money, they might not sell him anything. Even if they did, it would be expired items, and they might even charge extra for them.

Were all those villagers bad people?

Nor is it.

They are generally cheerful and get along well with their neighbors.

However, when dealing with Naruto Uzumaki, the "evil" side of human nature seems to be fully exposed.

Good and evil are only relative.

"Brother Qiye, why do those young men and women do jobs that only adults do?"

"It's for survival."

"Where are their father and mother?"

"He probably died in the Fourth Shinobi World War, or maybe it was for some other reason."

Those children might be orphans of martyrs, or they might have been brought back from outside.

All ninja villages are pretty much the same; of course, the orphans of martyrs must be raised, otherwise people's hearts will be chilled. Only Konoha does this best.

Besides the orphans of martyrs, most of the orphans found outside are also taken back, provided with food, clothing, shelter, and even sent to ninja schools to study.

Then, I'll sell my life to the ninja village.

This is a kind of transaction; otherwise, those orphans might have turned into bones long ago.

"The Ninja World War? Why would there be a war?"

"Yeah, because we had nothing to eat or wear, we had no choice but to rob."

During the Fourth Shinobi World War, several major ninja villages coveted Konoha's wealth, seeing them as beggars in comparison, so they resorted to plundering it.

However, I could never win the bid.

"Then why is there no food or clothing?"

"Because of the war."

"Then why do wars happen?"

"Because we have nothing to eat and nothing to wear."

"..."

Hinata Hanabi remained silent.

Perhaps their little brains can't yet comprehend such things.

Food and clothing, to put it bluntly, are about interests. People at the bottom live for food and clothing, while people at the top live for interests and ambitions.

Then war broke out.

Of course, at its core, all struggles are about survival.

Animals have no choice but to hunt other animals for food in order to survive.

In order to survive, humans initially struggled against the heavens and the earth, and against all kinds of ferocious birds and beasts.

Later, humans multiplied and thrived, becoming the most powerful species, and other creatures could hardly threaten their survival.

And so humanity began to fight amongst itself.

"War is awful!"

Hinata Hanabi pouted, but didn't say anything more.

Nanaya simply smiled at this.

When dealing with children, we should allow and cherish their innocence, rather than recklessly attacking and mocking them.

Because they may represent humanity's last vestige of innocence.

Chapter 53: Yukata

Sunagakure has already discovered the two uninvited guests, Nanaya and Hinata Hanabi.

The secret service first discovered them, but failed to report it.

It was so bizarre. I clearly saw it, but it suddenly disappeared the next second, as if it had never existed. It was like I was seeing things.

It wasn't until the Anbu ninjas who witnessed Nanaya and Hinata Hanabi exchanged information and confirmed that many others had seen it that they reported the incident.

One or two might be mistaken for something else, but so many people have seen it, so it can't be fake.

A skilled fighter has infiltrated Sunagakure.

This surprised the high-ranking officials of Sunagakure, who couldn't understand how the other party had gotten in.

It is important to know that each of the major ninja villages possesses some kind of barrier technique, and usually there is a huge detection barrier covering the entire village.

This barrier doesn't prevent entry or exit, but it can detect when, where, and what enters.

However, the barrier did not react at all.

So how did they break through the barrier and get in? Did they dig a hole underground like a rat and sneak in?

Do not make jokes.

The higher-ups have already gathered to discuss countermeasures.

It was within Qi Ye's expectations that he would be discovered, after all, his presence was too obvious, whether it was the white coat or his closed right eye, they were his trademarks.

The Sand Village ninja might not be able to figure out his true identity right away, but his unique appearance is still very easy to attract attention.

Once they noticed this, they realized they had never seen or heard of such a person before, so they naturally suspected that the person had come from outside the village.

But none of that matters, since the other side can't find Shichiya anyway.

She still carried Hinata Hanabi on her back and bought some small trinkets as souvenirs.

Originally, Shichiya was also planning to leave.

But something happened that made him change his mind.

It was a young girl.

Or perhaps, it's a little girl.

It was discovered in a remote place when it was around six or seven years old.

Sometimes Qiye wondered if he was particularly suited to be a weird uncle, because he always seemed to encounter young girls who interested him.

Or perhaps, he'd be better suited to be a sunny, approachable older brother next door?

Of course, that's not important.

Nothing happened to the little girl, so Qi Ye couldn't save her like a hero.

Although rescuing a damsel in distress is troublesome, it's also the fastest way to increase favorability.

The prerequisite is that you have to be a handsome guy, or at least have to be reasonably good-looking.

The surrounding houses are quite dilapidated, perhaps because they haven't been repaired in a long time.

This also exists in Konoha, but it's much better there. Although the ones in Konoha are old, they don't look dilapidated.

Much of the wallpaper here has peeled off, and there's graffiti and scribbling—children's pranks.

When Qi Ye saw the little girl, she was squatting in the corner, her eyes wide open, looking at something.

"Brother Qiye?"

When Nanaya stopped moving forward, Hyuga Hanabi, who was on his back, looked at him strangely and blinked.

But Qiye did not respond, and continued to look in that direction.

So he followed Qiye's gaze and looked over there.

"What is that girl looking at?"

"Okay, let's go take a look."

Qi Ye responded.

Without giving Hinata Hanabi a chance to object, he lifted his foot and walked over there.

However, Hinata Hanabi did not object. Anyway, she was with Nanaya, and although she hadn't seen her parents these days, she hadn't complained about wanting to go home.

I walked quietly to the little girl who was squatting in the corner.

Without disturbing the little girl, he simply tilted his head, walked around her body, and looked at the spot by the wall.

There, two unidentified insects were fighting each other.

One of them was already badly injured, but it didn't give up because there was a small insect behind it.

Did we encounter a predator?

Maybe.

In nature, the strong prey on the weak.

Of course, if you don't hunt prey, you will starve to death, so it's not a question of who is right or wrong, but rather that you were born into the wrong species.

But what's so interesting about two insects fighting?

Seven Nights said he didn't understand.