Sorry, We Are Late

"Captain So, it's right here."

After crossing through numerous obstacles, eliminating several patrol squads along the way, rescuing a handful of Konoha captives, and witnessing countless beasts baring their fangs, the group led by Uchiha Sou finally arrived before a small town.

Looking at the town before him, Uchiha Sou finally let out a sigh of relief, though a sense of melancholy couldn't help but stir in his heart as he glanced at the men beside him.

Still, he had to admit that this Nara Rukawa was truly no simple character.

He honestly hadn't expected that after merely dropping a hint, this guy would not only figure out what he was planning to do, but even guess that this wasn't an order from Orochimaru!

However, as his brain carefully mulled over the situation, it took only a moment to arrive at an answer that made the corner of his mouth twitch.

"Does Konoha have designs on the Land of Whirlpools?"

"Don't put it that way; Konoha is merely protecting this place."

Sure enough, Uchiha Sou cursed inwardly: Damn it all, crows are black the world over!

In truth, the reason was simple, and it all came down to those commoners.

Uchiha Sou wanted those commoners to help, perhaps even to resist the Kirigakure ninja to a certain extent, which meant they had to do one thing.

Train these civilians.

If civilians wanted to gather intelligence or help them sabotage Kirigakure in certain areas, this step was absolutely indispensable.

Even if they couldn't help in direct combat, it would at least reduce the risks for these civilians and help them survive.

Or, at the very least, they would learn how to use things like explosive tags, right?

But this was precisely the fatal flaw: once you trained these civilians, even if they weren't ninjas, they would at least be warriors filled with a spirit of resistance and rich experience!

When the war ended and Konoha packed up and left, trying to come back wouldn't be such a simple matter anymore!

"The Land of Whirlpools has always been considered ownerless land, and its geographical location and resource reserves are extremely important to Konoha, so..."

Nara Rukawa saw that Uchiha Sou had fully caught on, but he still spoke to him in a low voice.

Clearly, a Land of Whirlpools without teeth, one that relied entirely on Konoha, was the only kind of Land of Whirlpools that was truly "good"!

In reality, the major nations and hidden villages of the ninja world truly didn't hold these small countries in any regard.

These small countries were not only buffers between them and other major villages, but also zones for demarcating their respective spheres of influence.

After all, the major ninja villages needed money and resources, too; they consumed these things to train ninjas and forge ninja tools.

Relying solely on local production and aid from the daimyo was sometimes truly insufficient, especially when it came to mission quotas, which had to be fought for and seized through one's own influence.

The reason Sunagakure caused trouble for Konoha, even going so far as to incite the Third Shinobi World War, was essentially no different from that demigod Hanzo during the Second War.

To put it bluntly, their development had hit a bottleneck, and they could only achieve better growth through expansion.

In that wretched place of theirs, filled with nothing but wind and sand where every resource had to be imported, how could they develop and become self-sufficient without swallowing the fertile land of the Land of Rivers?

But as luck would have it, the other half of the Land of Rivers was Konoha's territory.

Clearly, the situation with the Land of Whirlpools followed the same logic.

Uchiha Sou even began to suspect that when Kirigakure landed during the Second War, Konoha's inaction—watching as Kirigakure wiped out the Uzumaki Clan—was perhaps for this very purpose?

If that were the case, the Uzumaki Clan would truly be "overjoyed"; having a brother like Konoha was truly a blessing earned over eight lifetimes!

But whether it was true or not didn't matter; what mattered was the present.

Facing this situation, Uchiha Sou was burning with anxiety. A living man couldn't be stifled by his own urine; he desperately needed a breakthrough in the Land of Whirlpools.

However, he soon thought of something: "Chunin Rukawa, I wonder, when you were in school, did you ever study the Will of Fire?"

"The Will of Fire?" Nara Rukawa pondered for a moment. "Do you mean the version of the Will of Fire adapted by the Third Hokage?"

The book The Will of Fire had always been a textbook, and Uchiha Sou had studied it back when he was in school.

But after finishing it, he only had one thought—what a ruthless method of brainwashing and pyramid-scheme indoctrination!

At first glance, the book seemed quite decent and reasonable, analyzing famous quotes like "Where the leaves dance, the fire burns."

But then you look at the six or seven-year-olds graduating, and the fact that he himself was sent to the battlefield as cannon fodder at ten.

Is this using the lives of the young to illuminate the older generation?

However, he dared not voice these thoughts. He didn't even have the Mangekyo yet; how could he afford to be so bold?

"That's right, that's the one."

Uchiha Sou nodded affirmatively, smiling as he whispered.

"Chunin Rukawa, think about it: if we make them constantly study and read books similar to The Will of Fire while we train them..."

"It could strengthen their cohesion and their spirit of resistance!"

Nara Rukawa was very quick on the uptake; hearing this, his eyes couldn't help but twitch slightly.

"And with just a few slight modifications, they could..."

"They could firmly remember Konoha, even after we've left!"

Uchiha Sou finally gave his summary, and at this moment, the way Nara Rukawa looked at him changed slightly.

Uchiha Sou was a genius; Nara Rukawa knew this. They were all part of the bloodline ninja circle, so naturally, rumors would circulate about anything of note.

However, he was very clear that Uchiha Sou's genius was manifested in combat, not in strategy.

This made him somewhat curious; how did a talent like this emerge from that group of Uchiha who only knew how to use their fists? It didn't seem to match what he had heard at all.

But that was someone else's business and had nothing to do with him. He only knew that the most critical problem seemed to have been solved just like that.

At first, he thought he had boarded a pirate ship and was destined to be thrown into the sea no matter how he looked at it, but now it seemed the situation wasn't as bad as all that!

"Since that's the case, I think I can rest easy, and I can also provide some small assistance."

Having confirmed these matters, Nara Rukawa also burst forth with unprecedented enthusiasm.

Moreover, this guy was relatively familiar with the Land of Whirlpools. With his cooperation, Uchiha Sou finally finalized their destination, and in the end, they successfully arrived at this small town.

"Let's go, everyone is tired." After carefully observing the entrance of the town, Uchiha Sou finally gave the order.

The group of over fifty people stepped forward quickly, yet the moment they stepped into the town, they could all inexplicably feel an aura of sorrow spreading.

The people in the town looked at them in terror, and many children began to cry at this moment.

Before long, all the men in the town, regardless of their age, ran out.

They herded all the women and children on the streets back into their homes, standing before Uchiha Sou and the others with faces full of fear yet determination.

"Ninja-sama, how many people and how much food are you going to take away this time?" an old man asked in a muffled voice, the sorrow in his tone particularly jarring.

"I think you have mistaken us for someone else; we are not Kirigakure ninjas."

Uchiha Sou sighed slightly, then walked toward them under the terrified and incredulous gazes of the villagers, stopping only when he was two or three meters away.

"We are Konoha ninjas. I'm sorry, we are late."

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