Land of Hot Water, Strange Village, New Template

Clop! Clop!

Amid the crisp sound of hooves came a noisy, complaining voice.

"Huff! Boss, huff! Are we there yet? I, I feel like I'm about to drop dead!"

"You're already panting like a dog after walking just a few steps off the horse. Looks like your usual training load still isn't enough. How about we double it from the original baseline when we get back?"

"Huh?! I, I'm not tired! Who said I'm tired!"

Yahiko, trudging on foot, gasped for air as he spoke. In contrast, Yun Chuan and Nagato, riding their horses, looked far more relaxed.

Three days had passed since they crossed the border and entered the Land of Fire.

"Idiot, quit complaining. If it weren't for big brother drawing the Konoha people away, we wouldn't even have made it past the Land of Fire's border. Then we'd have to take a boat and go around by sea."

"But then again, with your useless constitution, a few days on a boat would have you puking until you're half-dead. A bit of a shame to miss that sight, really."

Whether to vent his own stress or simply because he couldn't stand Yahiko, Nagato rode his horse alongside him, tossing out sarcastic remarks that made Yahiko glare at him.

Before he could fire back, however, a horse's neigh rang out. Yun Chuan, dressed in plain clothes, pulled on the reins, and his mount came to a halt.

Seeing Yun Chuan, their guide, stop suddenly, Yahiko instinctively looked up ahead. His face lit up with tears of joy. "Wah! After walking all day, we finally found a village!"

Not far ahead of them, the endless wild grass and tangled woods gave way to a path stretching into the distance. Faint outlines of buildings could be made out—all thatched huts with earthen walls and straw roofs to keep out the rain, exuding a rustic, old-fashioned charm.

The most striking and incongruous structure was a tall building with a massive dome and buttresses, built entirely of brick and stone. Yun Chuan gave it an extra glance.

With his enhanced vision from the Jōgan, he could make out a symbol on the building. It seemed to be a circle with a triangle inside?

Beyond that, both sides of the path were lined with large stretches of barren fields. A few short, thin figures could faintly be seen. They wore short shirts and carried iron spades, as if filling in soil.

As soon as Yun Chuan and the others stepped onto the path, they looked up.

"Hey!" Yahiko hopped and waved at them, shouting loudly, "Old man, can we borrow a room to rest?"

Yun Chuan didn't stop his rash behavior. He simply narrowed his eyes and looked at the distant figures.

As if they'd heard the call, three people walked over.

"I'm the village chief. May I ask where you're all from?" The leader was an old man leaning on a cane, seemingly in his forties or fifties. His weathered face was lined with wrinkles, but his smile and tone were kind.

Yet, as he looked at them, Nagato frowned. These people were in much better shape than the refugees from the Land of Rain. Their faces were ruddy and healthy, nothing like the gaunt, sallow look of typical refugees.

But based on everything they'd seen and heard along the way, this should be the border of the Land of Hot Water. Neither protected by the Land of Fire nor favored by the Land of Hot Water, how could they be eating well in the current chaotic state of the shinobi world?

"..." Though Nagato noticed many suspicious points, he didn't think his big brother had missed them. Since his brother said nothing, he wisely chose to stay silent.

"Old man, we're from the Land of Fire, heading to the port in the Land of Hot Water." Yun Chuan patted Yahiko, who was about to speak, and said in a gentle, apologetic tone, "This kid's just reckless like that. I hope you don't mind his rudeness."

"How much farther is it to the port?"

"The port? That's far." The old man shook his head, pointing east, and sighed. "Even riding horses, it'll take you a day or two. The nearest village is still half a day's walk away, and the road isn't great."

He paused, then looked at Yun Chuan and the others with a smile. "I can see you're bringing two kids, so you're probably not bad people. If you don't mind, you can stay the night at my place and head out at dawn."

A place to stay? No more sleeping in trees?

Hearing this, Yahiko's eyes lit up. But his recent training had taken effect—he didn't impulsively agree like before. Instead, he looked up at Yun Chuan expectantly.

He might get carried away easily, but he wasn't stupid enough to forget who was in charge.

"Can't turn down the old man's kindness." Yun Chuan didn't even glance at him, a faint smile on his lips. "Then we'll trouble you, old man."

And so, the four of them and two horses headed toward the village.

"Old man, why are all these fields abandoned?"

"Ah, they used to grow tea here, but the harvests have been bad. No one dares to pick it—if you do, you have to pay taxes, and the land rent takes sixty percent of the income. In the end, you'd be losing money."

Hearing this, Yahiko, who had no concept of such things, turned his gaze back to Yun Chuan on the horse. Especially as the old man kept grumbling on, it began to change his understanding of Yun Chuan.

The greedy landlords dare to demand sixty percent of the harvest as rent!

And even normal landlords take forty percent of the harvest as rent.

By comparison, Yun Chuan only taking thirty percent of the harvest makes him practically a philanthropist.

Moreover, almost every landlord uses a larger measure to take in grain and a smaller one to lend it out—when lending grain to farmers, they use a small measure, but when collecting rent, they use a large one.

Even if you're lucky enough to encounter a benevolent noble, their household servants will still play tricks, and in the end, it makes no real difference.

For the first time, Yahiko so deeply felt Yun Chuan's "benevolence and kindness."

"By the way." The old man walked very slowly, asking casually, "If you don't mind me asking, what business do you have at the harbor?"

"Ah, that's a long story..."

Hearing Yun Chuan sigh with emotion, the old man assumed he was about to make a long story short and wore a listening expression with a smile on his face. But then he heard Yun Chuan's tone suddenly shift:

"Since it's a long story, let's just drop it. But you, old uncle, what's your name?"

Gah?

At these words, Yahiko let out a snort, his left foot tripping over his right, nearly throwing his back out.

Then he looked up at Yun Chuan in horror, unable to believe he could actually crack such a cold joke.

But wasn't this way of changing the subject a bit too forced?

"..." The smile on the old man's face also froze, his wrinkled skin looking quite comical.

But he quickly regained his composure, shook his head with a smile, and said, "Your aura clearly marks you as a noble, so please don't tease an old man like me. The villagers all call me Uncle Koshiyama."

Yun Chuan smiled but made no comment, and they walked all the way into the village like this. Passing dozens of tightly shut houses, they arrived at a fairly clean little courtyard, where he led them into a side room.

Inside the room, aside from two beds, there was nothing else.

"I hope you can have a pleasant night here."

The old man, having opened the door, turned to look at Yun Chuan, a sincere smile spreading across his wrinkled face.

"And I hope you have a sweet dream tonight." Yun Chuan returned the same gentle smile.

Watching the old man close the door and slowly disappear, Yun Chuan shook his head and looked around the room.

It was clearly a temporary lodging reserved for outsiders.

Obviously, they weren't the only group of outsiders who had stayed here.

As for those who came before them...

"Whoohoo!"

Yahiko threw himself directly onto the bed, rolling around in satisfaction.

But the next second, Yun Chuan grabbed him by the collar and lifted him up.

"That stench of decay that even perfume can't cover up—can't you smell it at all?"

Nagato sneered, then walked over to the bed and gently lifted it.

Yahiko, who had been flailing around, instinctively looked down, and his pupils instantly contracted. The foul odor that hit him turned his face green.

Beneath the bed was a hollow layer.

It was piled high with pale, horrifying skeletons, and a few corpses hadn't even fully rotted yet, their shriveled, pallid faces still faintly visible.

"It looks like we've run into a den of thieves."

Yun Chuan let out a soft laugh, then raised his eyes to look out the window.

In the distance, over the wilderness, the sun was slowly setting. Unlike the lofty feeling of a hanging sun, the red sun above the barren land was enormous—so large that it instantly stirred a sense of loneliness in anyone who saw it.

Its backdrop was nothing but the boundless sky and the endless earth, and the sun sinking toward the village was like falling into a massive grave in the land.

And that towering stone structure was the solitary, desolate tombstone on this grave.

That symbol...

"The Heretic God Cult?"

Yun Chuan murmured softly. With a thought, he sank his consciousness deep into his mind.

[Defeated Tsunade [Youth], triggered by chance, obtained new template]
[Name: Carnage [Initial Symbiote]]
[World: Marvel]