Unrest in the Land of Rice

"Hey, stay there and don't move! There are soldiers on a mission ahead!"

Two men dressed as soldiers pointed their naginata at two girls walking towards them.

Behind them, thick smoke rose from the village, and flames could be vaguely seen burning on the rooftops.

The Land of Rice is a country without ninja villages; the soldiers under the command of the daimyo are the strongest armed force here.

"Oh? What happened up ahead?"

The girl with short black hair who was walking ahead stopped on her own initiative; her face, hidden under the hood, looked exceptionally delicate.

However, the other person's voice clearly had a somewhat neutral tone.

"Just a bunch of rebels. Get out of here. Someone like you shouldn't be here."

Although the two soldiers didn't know who the girl in front of them was, they could tell from her clothes and speech that she was definitely not an ordinary civilian.

Therefore, my tone unconsciously carried a hint of respect.

"I see. But I heard that those causing trouble there are just ordinary people who can't stand the exorbitant taxes and levies."

The girl's words left the two soldiers speechless for a moment.

The matter began with the Shinobi Alliance's investigation of the Ōtsutsuki Ruins within the Land of Land of Rice.

There are no ninja villages in the Land of Rice, and the daimyo of all time have despised those who are called ninjas.

In their view, Hashirama's proposal of one country, one village was essentially a rebellion by ninja groups against the upper echelons, an attempt to seize some power from the daimyo.

Therefore, the Land of Rice never managed to establish a true ninja village.

Not long ago, when the despicable ninjas announced that they would enter the Land of Rice to investigate the newly discovered Ōtsutsuki Ruins, the Daimyo wanted to object, but what stood in front of him was the Shinobi Alliance established by the five great ninja villages.

For the Land of Rice, which can only rely on samurai and government troops to fight, the enemy only needs to send out one shadow to wipe them all out.

Therefore, the daimyo of the Land of Rice reluctantly approved their entry.

But he was unhappy and needed to vent his frustration, so a grand banquet was announced without any reason, and the people were required to donate their own supplies for the daimyo and nobles to enjoy.

This led to some ordinary people who had just paid their taxes being unable to afford it. What started as a verbal abuse escalated into pushing and shoving, and eventually turned into a bloody incident.

But just as the daimyo dared not defy the ninjas, the common people dared not oppose the daimyo either. In the end, the unrest was confined to a few villages, and the government troops, under the daimyo's orders, began a bloody suppression.

After a brief silence, the soldiers pointed their naginata directly at the men before them. "When they raised their weapons and rebelled against the daimyo, they ceased to be civilians, they became traitors!"

"Oh, really?"

The girl standing in front stopped talking and turned away in front of the two soldiers.

"Let's go, little girl, don't linger."

The soldiers breathed a sigh of relief when they saw the other side turn around.

"Um?"

The girl suddenly turned her head and glared at the two of them with a fierce look.

Before they could react, two invisible attacks struck their abdomens, causing them to uncontrollably vomit a mixture of saliva, gastric juices, and other liquids, their eyes rolling back as they lay on the ground.

"Who's the little girl? I'm a boy, a boy."

After kicking the two poorly littering guys twice, the "girl" lifted her hood, finally revealing her true appearance: the Fifth Hokage Shimura Kazashiro.

"Hmph, didn't you say I should use my Sharingan to take care of these two guys, little... girl?"

Uchiha Hikari looked at Kazashiro, who was still not completely venting his anger, with undisguised provocation on his face.

"Whispering sound."

Kazashiro ignored Uchiha Hikari's sarcastic remarks and instead shifted his gaze from the two unfortunate souls to the burning village.

"Enough talk, let's see what kind of scene lies ahead."

Not long after leaving Ryūchi Cave, the two of them arrived in the Land of Rice.

It's said that this should be a country full of pastoral charm.

But the moment they set foot on the land, all they saw were emaciated commoners forced to work under the whips of the nobles' henchmen.

These are mostly tenant farmers who do not own land.

And the lives of ordinary people who owned land were not much better.

Besides the necessary offerings, the officials who frequently visited also forced them to pay countless miscellaneous taxes.

Today is the daimyo's birthday, tomorrow is the daimyo's concubine's birthday, and the day after tomorrow is even more outrageous—the daimyo's divine dog, the Great General, is going to take a concubine...

Yes, Great General Divine Dog is a dog, just like its name suggests.

It can neither speak nor fight; it's an ordinary dog, even cuter than Parker.

"Please, please save me..."

He casually knocked out several soldiers who were about to swing their butcher knives. At Kazashiro's feet, a woman with a stab wound to the abdomen struggled and pleaded for mercy.

"Alright, it's alright now, your injuries will heal."

For Kazashiro, this level of injury is easy to treat.

"Summoning Technique."

The Katsuyu was summoned.

"Oh my, Xiao Kazashiro, it's great to see you again."

As soon as it emerged, the Katsuyu eagerly jumped to Kazashiro's side.

Because her size was now comparable to that of an adult man when she was summoned this time, she couldn't jump onto Kazashiro's shoulder.

"Lord Katsuyu, thank you for treating the civilians here. As for the soldiers, leave them to me."

That being said, the number of civilians who survived was far fewer than the number of corpses lying on the ground.

"Okay, I understand. But Kazashiro, you've really grown! You've actually mastered Natural Energy to this extent..."

After a brief exchange of pleasantries, the Katsuyu began her work, and at the same time, she noticed the changes occurring within Kazashiro's body.

"I'm not yet proficient in wielding this power, so I'll use these soldiers as my test subjects."

Kazashiro had already sensed that there were still twenty-one soldiers left in the village.

As his figure disappeared from the sight of the Katsuyu and Uchiha Hikari, the soldiers who had been swaggering around the village soon found themselves in darkness.

In a very short time, without relying on Space-Time Ninjutsu such as Flying Thunder God, Kazashiro knocked out the soldiers one by one using only his speed.

"You damned bastard, stop babbling and swing that blade down! Or is it that you, who have slaughtered so many innocent lives in the village, have something to do with—"

With one leg severed and blood still flowing from the wound, Tayuya lay on the ground, cursing the commander wielding a katana before her with every vicious word she could think of.

The vulgar words ignited the samurai's anger, and Tayuya finish speaking, he swung down the blade he had prepared.

Blood spurted out and splattered on Tayuya's face.

"You..."

However, this is the blood of the samurai before us.

"I knew it, this power was getting a little out of control. Um, sorry about that."

Kazashiro looked at the headless warrior before him and felt apologetic for not being able to control his power for a moment.

"Um, Lord Katsuyu, is there any way to save this one?"

The moment the headless corpse fell, a Katsuyu clone appeared at Tayuya's feet.

"Well..."

Looking at the remaining tissue on the other's neck, the Katsuyu pondered for a moment, then slowly crawled onto Tayuya's wound, demonstrating to Kazashiro that the samurai was beyond saving.

"I thought so too. Hey, don't move around, I'll put your leg back on right away."

Kazashiro crouched down. The last enemy in the village was the one lying at his feet. At this moment, there were no enemies left in the entire village.

"I..."

Tayuya know what to say, and could only stare blankly at Kazashiro's profile.

Soon, the wound Tayuya herself thought was beyond healing, was completely restored with the help of the Katsuyu.

Seeing this, Kazashiro did not linger, but got up to prepare to meet up with Uchiha Hikari.

"Um, you, no, may I ask who you are...?"

Tayuya facing Kazashiro, afraid that she might suddenly say something outrageous.

"Well, we'll tell you about this when the injured villagers are all gathered together."

Kazashiro twitched the corner of his mouth, only then did he notice Tayuya's appearance.

That pink hair... that's weird. It reminds me a bit of one of the Sound Four. What was their name again?

Such minor characters, who don't have many highlights, certainly wouldn't appear on Kazashiro's list of Kekkei Genkai collect. Therefore, after accepting Tayuya's gratitude, Kazashiro didn't express much of a response.

Of the entire village, thirteen people survived.

There's no need to investigate the number of survivors; Kazashiro can tell you that himself.

What are you planning to do?

Uchiha Hikari looked at the devastation of the village, memories of the Warring States period flooded back into his mind.

"Let's send it to Konoha."

The Land of Rice borders the Land of Fire, so sending them to Konoha wouldn't be difficult.

Kazashiro turned his head and glanced at the soldiers who were tied up.

They were still unconscious, and it was unclear whether they had used too much force.

In short, his skull is relatively intact, and he should be out of danger.

"What should we do with these guys? I've already taken care of two of the troublemakers."

Noticing Kazashiro's gaze, Uchiha Hikari asked for Kazashiro's opinion.

"Killing them all would probably trigger a national manhunt. Could we use Illusion Technique to change their memories? Hmm, let's change it to say that they encountered Ōnoki, and that their injuries and the deaths of their companions were all done by Ōnoki."

Kazashiro was preparing to shift the blame onto Ōnoki.

"Your changes will only make things more complicated!"

Unsurprisingly, this proposal was firmly rejected by Uchiha Hikari.

Uchiha Hikari is no longer the naive and ignorant girl she was when she was first rescued by Kazashiro. Now, she has her own views on the situation in the Shinobi World.

Kazashiro's actions will only attract the intervention of Iwagakure, thus exposing the fact that this was Illusion Technique Uchiha.

"Oh..."

Kazashiro nodded weakly, surprised that Uchiha Hikari had grown into such a reliable ninja...

"So let's change it to say that it was done by the White Snake Sage and her Hime."

Before Kazashiro could even voice his thoughts, he was interrupted by Uchiha Hikari's words.

"You're the one who made things more complicated, aren't you?!"