Half a Year of Changes (Part 2)

In a small town within the territory controlled by Kirigakure in the Land of Whirlpools, a group of children chased each other happily through the streets.

They shouted loudly, their faces beaming with joyful smiles.

Even the adults watching them play couldn't help but smile involuntarily.

"Slow down, don't trip and fall."

Some adults said this with a smile, though it was clear they were genuinely happy to see the scene before them.

One had to remember, half a year ago, their faces had held nothing but anger and sorrow!

Six months ago, when that group of ninjas claiming to be from Konoha arrived, everything here began to change.

At first, they didn't believe these Konoha ninjas could truly change much; after all, there were so few of them.

But as these people settled into the town, everything started to shift in unexpected ways.

Under the command of a boy who looked only thirteen or fourteen but served as the leader of this group of ninjas, they began to continuously take in refugees fleeing from other areas.

Then, they began teaching them how to use weapons, how to keep a low profile, and how to cause trouble for the Mist Ninja!

Although these commoners knew full well that such training and instruction wouldn't grant them the strength to truly stand against ninjas.

Driven by an indelible hatred for Kirigakure, they chose to learn and train anyway, and soon they discovered that such training was indeed effective.

During one of their breaks while out hunting, they suddenly discovered a Kirigakure unit in the distance.

Based on the knowledge they had learned, they judged the unit's direction and personnel composition, immediately sending word to the Konoha ninjas while rushing to set traps along the unit's path.

In the end, this small squad of over thirty Mist Ninja was surrounded and wiped out by them!

This left them feeling incredibly excited and gave them immense confidence; after all, this could be considered avenging themselves.

With this event, they were filled with gratitude and trust toward these Konoha ninjas, and as a result, they began to work even harder and more actively.

Slowly, the number of people in the village grew, and even local resistance organizations began to cautiously make contact with them.

This further strengthened their combat power and gave them even more confidence!

"Alright, stop watching."

Just then, one of the adults watching the children play spoke up.

"There is still training today; for the sake of their smiles, we must work even harder!"

"That's right, what we have now is far from enough, we must strive for more!"

"Let's move out and aim to coordinate with the Konoha ninjas soon to drive these damned invaders out of our homeland!"

These civilians were full of passion, while in a house within the town, Nara Rukawa was currently struggling to gather and process various matters.

To be honest, the reason he preferred executing combat missions was precisely because he disliked doing this kind of work.

But he never calculated that he would encounter members of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist and be captured, only to end up doing this work again after being rescued and shuffled around.

Yet he had no way to object, because among the many Konoha ninjas behind enemy lines, only a few were capable of handling these tasks.

Of course, he didn't trust anyone else to handle such important matters, so he had to grit his teeth and accept it.

However, as time went on, he truly began to regret it.

At first, when there were fewer people, the information they needed to gather and the matters to handle were relatively few, but now, as resistance organizations kept coming to their door.

Combined with the prisoners they had rescued based on their intelligence, and the Konoha ninjas who were intercepted and brought back to execute missions in the rear, their numbers had become very, very large!

Altogether, there were over a hundred people!

Although most were Chunin and Genin, with only two or three Jonin, such a configuration could actually launch a small-scale campaign.

With so many people, it was naturally impossible to cram them into such a small town, and Uchiha Sou had provided a solution.

"Split up those of us who have the capability."

At a meeting of the Konoha ninjas, Uchiha Sou, acting as the 'commander' behind enemy lines, spoke directly.

The Jonin among them had been rescued, and they also suspected whether this was an order from Orochimaru; Uchiha Sou and his group certainly wouldn't reveal the truth.

Plus, since Uchiha Sou and his team were doing a great job, these Jonin had no intention of seizing power.

As for the proposal to split the group, all the Konoha ninjas were a bit worried at first, but upon reflection, it seemed like the best method.

This town was already far beyond its capacity, and keeping everyone concentrated in one place didn't align with their plan to strike at the Mist Ninja.

Therefore, going to other places to train civilians, or taking command of resistance forces and training them, truly became a good and practical choice.

After some discussion and selection, their group of over a hundred ninjas was divided into several teams and sent to other locations.

However, their headquarters remained in this nameless town, Uchiha Sou remained the commander-in-chief, and because of the headquarters, Nara Rukawa and his people stayed behind to handle these affairs.

They also had to be thankful that among the prisoners they rescued were some ninjas from the Inuzuka Clan and Aburame Clan, which allowed them to rely on insects and summoning techniques to transmit intelligence.

Otherwise, once they split up, it would have been very difficult for them to stay in contact.

"Are the documents gathered?" After finishing the paperwork in his hand, Nara Rukawa couldn't help but turn to look at Uchiha Shizuka.

After half a year of recuperation and treatment, Uchiha Shizuka had basically recovered.

Even now, she was incredibly amazed that she had actually managed to survive.

Back then, in such a desperate situation, she had been unwilling to let Shisui, whom she regarded as a younger brother, die on the soil of the Land of Whirlpools, which was why she had blocked that blade with the resolve to die.

Yet, she had not expected to be saved by another Uchiha, and this Uchiha was also a genius of the clan—the one who rarely interacted with his clansmen, Uchiha Sou!

Given such a personality, Uchiha Shizuka had once assumed he was a cold and arrogant person.

However, after chatting with Shisui, she discovered that Uchiha Sou did not seem to be that way at all.

According to Shisui, he was a person full of wisdom, kind-hearted, and possessed of formidable strength.

Moreover, during these six months of recuperation, she had essentially watched this nameless town undergo earth-shaking changes, which made her very curious about this genius of the clan.

But it was a pity they had never met; her condition had not been good, and Uchiha Sou had been too busy.

Now that she had recovered, she wanted to do something within her power, and she eventually passed the assessment of Nara Rukawa to come to this place.

"It has been processed. This is the summary of the intelligence, as well as the training situation in other areas."

Hearing Nara Rukawa's words, Uchiha Shizuka immediately replied while handing over the documents, though after handing them over, she could not help but ask.

"Mr. Rukawa, are we about to make a move? This intelligence..."

"That is not something we can decide, not even a jonin can decide that, because the commander here is Uchiha Sou."

Nara Rukawa shrugged and said, then he walked directly toward the outside, though he seemed to have thought of something and spoke up.

"However, remind the others to keep their state up in the near future. We have prepared for so long, and if we don't move soon, I'm afraid we won't have any good results when we go back."

After saying this, Nara Rukawa headed all the way toward the back of the town, and it did not take long for him to arrive at his destination.

But when he arrived, he happened to see two figures locked in combat in this open space.

Their speed was truly too fast; even to Nara Rukawa, all he could see were afterimages.

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