In Konoha's Ninja Academy education, every mission emphasized avoiding harm to civilians whenever possible, let alone actively attacking them. Other ninja villages were not so particular; at most, they might feel some restraint toward their own civilians.
As for those small ninja villages, they probably never had any notion that "ninja battles must not harm ordinary people."
After all, during the Warring States Period, the average ninja lived only into their teens. They could barely keep themselves alive—who would care whether ordinary people lived or died?
Konoha had been founded because Hashirama and Madara both wanted to protect children. Other ninja villages, however, had been founded—essentially because Konoha had been established.
Seeing a village reduced to only four children so suddenly still left Akaseki with a heavy feeling in his chest.
Akaseki searched several houses. When he came back out, he saw that the four children were breathing steadily now. It seemed the "Detoxification Technique" had taken effect.
"How was it?" Jiraiya asked, with a hint of testing in his tone.
"The villagers all died from poisoning. Most of them were outside, scattered around, with no signs of external injury. The few bodies inside the houses looked as if they had been hiding, and many homes still had half-eaten meals on the table.
"Judging from the stiffness of the corpses, poisonous mist must have suddenly drifted into the village around dinnertime last night. The mist was lethal, but not fast-acting, so the villagers still had time to get outside.
"Also, the rice jars and vegetable cellars of every household had been ransacked. I infer that the ninja who released the poisonous mist killed them in order to obtain supplies." Akaseki reported the results of his investigation.
Jiraiya nodded at this. "That's right. There's another point—so many villagers lived at varying