Opening: Narrow at First

The next day, Shūichi went to the Theatre Troupe with the Young Clan Head Tetsuya and the others.

The morning light had just spilled over from the eastern mountain ridge, turning the thin mist that hadn't yet dissipated in the village into a pale gold hue.

When I entered the Rehearsal Ground where the Theatre Troupe was stationed, most of the people had already arrived.

The Props Team was loading the rolled-up curtain onto a cart, and several actors stood in the corner warming up their voices, which rose from low to high, like birds trying to sing.

Ryo stood at the front of the line, holding a piece of white paper with a route map drawn on it, while Sarutobi Sasuke was confirming the formation of the personnel.

Ryo saw Tetsuya waving from afar, Tetsuya quickened his pace to walk over.

"Ren, Shūichi, over here." Uchiha Hinata waved to him.

Shūichi took Rei from behind the butler and walked with her toward the group of children.

The group quickly assembled and walked along the main road out of the village.

Once outside the village, the road is no longer lined with houses and stone slabs; instead, trees and shrubs line both sides, and the road is no longer as smooth.

They were heading to the main road leading from the Land of Fire to Konoha.

This road is the only route Ninjas take when they go out on missions.

Back then, the road was lined with trees on both sides, a vast expanse of wild forest crowded together, the canopies interlocking, completely blocking out the sky.

Looking up, you can't see the sun; only a few beams of light leak through the gaps in the leaves, slanting across the ground.

If you walk halfway down the road and want to look back at the village, all you can see is deep green and even deeper darkness.

Things are completely different now.

It's as if a giant hand has unzipped this land.

The trees on both sides of the main road, extending several dozen paces in depth, had all been removed.

Now this is a wide, flat area, with scattered flowers and plants on both sides of the road.

It was done by someone who knew how to escape. Shuichi witnessed this scene from the sidelines a few days ago.

Several middle-aged Ninjas using Earth Release formed hand seals and placed their palms on the ground, causing the entire ground to ripple like the surface of water.

The tree roots were squeezed out and moved away along with the clump of soil.

There were people specifically responsible for moving the trees that had been removed to other locations and planting them properly.

Izuna watched the whole time, holding construction blueprints in his hand. He would look up and say a few words to the leading Ninja, and occasionally take a few steps back, squinting to indicate the direction of his gaze.

The Land of Fire is a land of forests.

Apart from towns and reclaimed fields, the rest of the area was covered by forests.

The trees are towering, their trunks so thick that two or three people cannot encircle them, and their canopies intertwine to form a dense, impenetrable canopy dozens of feet above the ground.

Sunlight filtered through the gaps in the leaves, sifting into fine beams that slanted across the pile of decaying leaves.

Walking inside feels like walking through a pitch-black tunnel.

Above you are layers upon layers of branches and leaves, under your feet are tangled roots, and all around you are tree trunks, identical trunks, stretching as far as the eye can see.

Occasionally, birdsong would fall from above, unable to penetrate the thick layer of green, only to be muffled and echoed beneath the tree canopy.

The chirping of insects mingled with the sound of footsteps as they walked close to the ground, making it impossible to distinguish which sound came from the insects and which from the sound of boots crushing dry branches.

If you walk on such a road for too long, you'll forget what the sky looks like.

The group had been traveling for four full days from the Capital City to Konoha.

Every day, when I open my eyes, I see trees; when I close my eyes, I see trees; even when I eat or rest, trees are still overhead.

At first, the entourage of the Daimyo would chat a few words while traveling, but after a few days they all fell silent, leaving only the muffled sounds of horses' hooves and Wheels rolling over the dirt road, echoing back and forth between the tree trunks.

Wakako lay listlessly on the soft couch of the carriage, asking dejectedly, "Aren't we there yet?"

Yuan Yusheng was reading a book and did not notice his wife's question.

Wakako could only seek help from Long outside, "Long--"

"It'll be soon," Long said casually. "We should arrive in about an hour."

An hour was nothing compared to the waiting of the past few days, but Wakako was getting impatient. "Sigh, only one hour left..."

Yuan Yusheng looked up at her, shook his head helplessly, and continued reading.

The group suddenly stopped after climbing a gentle slope.

Without issuing any warnings, the line simply came to a stop.

Yuan Yusheng lifted the sedan curtain in confusion.

"What happened...?"

The light rushed in first, and he squinted for a moment before opening his eyes wide.

His eyes had grown accustomed to the green wall always cutting off his view two or three hundred paces away. But now, the sedan curtain was lifted, and the world was opened up again.

The road begins to slope down slightly from here.

The dirt road underfoot follows the slope down, through a gentle grassy area, then through the dense canopy of trees below, and stretches into the distance.

The giant trees that had been blocking the view had disappeared, as if someone had used a giant comb to cut a hole in the middle of the entire forest.

It's spacious enough to allow the view to extend all the way to the horizon.

On the horizon, the outline of Konoha emerged from the morning mist.

Before setting off from the Capital City, Yuan Yusheng had imagined what Konoha would look like countless times.

A Ninja village is roughly a few rows of simple wooden houses surrounding a rammed earth Training Ground, much like the strongholds of Shinobi Clans Warring States Period.

His staff said the same thing.

But at this moment, a huge circular town sits beneath that giant rock in the distance.

The rooftops stand in rows, their tiles tinged with a warm yellow by the morning light. The direction of the streets is faintly discernible among the buildings, with several main roads converging towards the center of the village.

Greenery is interspersed throughout. Birds startled from the nearby treetops take flight, skimming overhead before gliding leisurely into the distance.

The wind, carrying the fresh scent of grass, swept away the stale air that had lingered inside him for four days in the sedan chair.

Yuan Yusheng watched all this for a while before recovering from his shock. He smiled, turned his head, and looked at the convoy behind him.

He saw that all the people from other countries were sticking their heads out, their expressions exactly the same as his—a blank stare.

He muttered to himself, "What a brilliant tactic."

"Lord Yuan?" Wakako leaned out of the sedan chair, her voice tinged with drowsiness, "Why did you stop?"

He didn't answer, but simply gestured for her to come out and look.

Wakako peeked out and saw the beautiful scenery before her, she was stunned for a moment, and then her eyes gradually lit up.

"Is this Konoha?" she asked.

"Yes." Yuan Yusheng squeezed his wife's hand, straightened up slightly, and said in a high voice, "Let's keep going!"

Only then did the attendants come to their senses, and the sedan chair began to move again, its Wheels leaving two shallow ruts on the dirt road as it headed towards Konoha.

This time, their speed was noticeably increased.

And this is the first act of the performance.

Hyuga Tetsuya stared at them from outside his perception range, his Byakugan open.

The veins at the corners of his eyes bulged slightly, and his vision stretched beyond the forest, taking in the entire scene that had just unfolded.

A moment later he closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, his pupils had returned to normal.

He turned around and said to Izuna standing behind him, "The Daimyo has been looking out from behind the palanquin curtain for a long time, and people from other countries are also peeking out. Now the caravan is moving forward again, at a faster speed than before."

Izuna stood in the makeshift command post set up by the Theatre Troupe, listened to Tetsuya's report, and clapped his hands.

"Very good, next scene."

In the distance, the daimyō's Procession from the Daimyo of the Land of Fire was slowly advancing.

They had just left the open hillside and re-entered the forest.

The tree canopy closed over my head again, filtering the sunlight into dappled patterns, and the path returned to a dirt track, no different from the forest trail I'd been walking on for the past few days.

The envoys in the sedan chairs sat back down on the soft couches, the attendants straightened their robes that had been blown askew by the wind, and the procession resumed its original pace.

Just then, a young voice came from deep within the woods—

"The mission is finally over! I'm going to get a good night's sleep and then have a really good meal when I get back!"

The voice belonged to a young man, carrying the weariness and relief of someone who had just finished work, with the last syllable rising in the air, as if he were looking forward to it.

Before the person inside the sedan chair could react, another, more childish voice rang out. "I need to take a good shower. I smelled for three days after that mission."

The first child seemed a little disgusted, "It hasn't been that long. If you ask me, you smell much better now than before. Before, you wore so much perfume that it made me want to eat all the time."

"Hmph, you're the one who should be filthy. You haven't showered in days, you're all dirty. Stay away from me."

"What did you say!"

The last child's voice was noticeably more composed, with a hint of helplessness in it. "Alright, we can't rest yet. We need to hand over the mission first, remember? And we still have to write the mission report. Only after we finish that can we get our money."

The first voice immediately screamed, "Ugh--I hate writing that-- Shikamaru --please write it for me~"

"You write it yourself, I don't like writing at all, ugh, it's such a hassle."

"Then let me copy it after you finish writing it."

"I also!"

"You two! Can't you use your brains for a second?!"

A grown man's voice chuckled reassuringly, "Alright, I'll treat you to barbecue when we get back."

The three children cheered at the same time.

The heartwarming daily life of the team is vividly presented to everyone through their voices.

Only then did they emerge from the forest.

The first one to appear was the adult man.

He was dressed in Konoha's standard Ninja uniform, with his Forehead Protector neatly placed on his forehead and a scroll hanging from his waist.

Three boys followed behind him.

A little girl with blond hair, a little boy with a pigtail sticking up, and a chubby little boy.

They all carried backpacks on their backs, were covered in dust, and had leaves and dirt stuck to the corners of their clothes, indicating that they had been in the wild for quite some time.

Along the edge of the backpack, the hilt of a machete peeked out; it was a common weapon used by bandits in the nearby mountains.

This state of affairs makes one wonder if they have just returned from wiping out bandits.

Adults naturally stop when they step onto the side of the road.

He turned to the side, gently placed one hand on the shoulder of the boy in front, and led him to the side of the road.

The three children froze simultaneously when they saw the massive convoy in front of them.

The adult bowed slightly towards the direction of the convoy, his voice calm and respectful. "Daimyo lord, and all of you."

His tone was so natural, as if he had known all along that the convoy would pass through here.

The three teenagers, however, were not as composed as he was.

The first one to react was the most composed; he abruptly tugged at his companion's sleeve, and the three of them hurriedly bent down.