Return to Camp

After several days of recuperation, Mo Jingxian's body had recovered to its original state.

Perhaps due to the principle of breaking and then establishing, his control over elemental chakra had become even more adept.

It could be considered a blessing in disguise.

They had arrived as a group of six, but only he and Ayako Hyuuga remained for the journey back.

He did not know what had become of the others; this mission had been shrouded in suspicion from the very beginning.

Even though the two of them had already pieced together the general outline, they still wanted to return to confirm the details.

On the day they set off, Ayako Hyuuga carefully packed away the only memento left by Shinju Ishikawa, and the two embarked on the road home.

"Xian." Ayako Hyuuga watched a mother pull her child's hand as they passed by: "I hate war. Do you think there is any land in the Ninja World without war?"

She posed the question, though in her heart, she already had the answer.

"Normal people all hate war, I suppose." Mo Jingxian said: "But war has always happened; it has never stopped."

"Yes, it has never stopped." Ayako Hyuuga withdrew her gaze.

After walking in silence for a stretch, she still refused to give up, asking with great earnestness:

"Xian, tell me, if someone appeared who was so powerful they were unrivaled, could they eliminate war?"

"Hashirama Senju." Mo Jingxian provided the answer: "To eliminate war, he single-handedly created the Hidden Village system, and yet... you have seen the results."

He knew what Ayako wanted to ask, so he continued:

"Do you know about the Warring States period?"

Ayako nodded.

"During the Warring States period, the average lifespan of a ninja was only 25 years. The Hidden Village system has only existed for 50 years, and currently, the average lifespan of a ninja has reached 33 years. This is progress."

The answer was far beyond Ayako's expectations; Mo Jingxian offered no criticism, nor did he use any extreme language.

He simply placed a set of cold numbers before her, yet it left her unable to refute him.

"But... but..."

Ayako Hyuuga stammered for a long time, unable to utter a single word of rebuttal.

Since the war began, she had witnessed too many human tragedies.

There were those of the enemy, and those of her own people in Konoha.

She often wondered, these were living, breathing people; what was the reason that made them turn blades against one another, locked in a struggle that forgot life and death?

Ayako Hyuuga, in particular, could not forget the look in the eyes of the Sand ninja who had faced her. There was clearly no hatred between them, and it was even the first time they had seen each other.

Yet, what kind of eyes were those? They hid the most venomous curses in the world, wishing to kill her on the spot.

Ever since Shinju Ishikawa was torn to pieces to save her, hatred had begun to sprout in her heart.

She hated Sasori of the Red Sand, she hated the Sand ninja, and she even hated herself for not being stronger.

The hatred was spreading.

She was afraid, desperately wanting to find someone to talk to, hoping to hear something different from Mo Jingxian's lips.

She was afraid that she, too, would become one of those ninjas in the battlefield, fighting with bloodshot eyes.

"There is no 'but'." Mo Jingxian turned his head back: "The progress of the system cannot be denied, but it should not be deified, nor should one become hopelessly lost in a grand narrative."

Ayako Hyuuga's eyes brightened; she seemed to understand something.

"People can constantly grow, and so can systems. There is no perfect system in this world, just as there is no perfect person."

The glimmer of dawn in Ayako's mind grew clearer, and she asked excitedly:

"Then what? What kind of system would be without war?"

At this moment, she was like a devout believer, placing almost all her hope in the words that would follow from Mo Jingxian.

This girl has fallen into a mental trap, Mo Jingxian guessed to himself.

No, I have to pull her out, otherwise the consequences will be very serious.

The Ninja World had no research records on this type of psychological illness, but in his past life, there was a very fitting name for this problem:

PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder).

Glancing at Ayako Hyuuga, Mo Jingxian cleared his throat.

"I don't know what kind of system would not produce war, but let me tell you about a civilization far removed from us..."

Mo Jingxian began to speak of his past life, from the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods all the way to humanity entering an interstellar civilization.

At first, Ayako Hyuuga didn't pay much attention, but as the story unfolded, those tumultuous histories, the unyielding struggles, and the fearless spirit that dared to compete with the heavens all deeply shocked her barren soul.

By the time he finished, there were some things she could not imagine no matter how hard she tried.

Even though Mo Jingxian described them in great detail, she still could not sketch them out in her mind.

Weapons capable of world-ending destruction, where a single one could wipe Konoha off the map.

A group of mortals without chakra, capable of reaching the sea of stars by relying on tools.

Especially a nation that could maintain peace for nearly a hundred years, with a population reaching over a billion.

She had no concept of how much food was needed to sustain over a billion people, but it was certainly a vast, staggering amount.

"And then?" Ayako Hyuuga suddenly grabbed Mo Jingxian's arm, her movements entirely natural.

"Quick, tell me more. What kind of country is that? Can people really live without slaughter? Are there really people everywhere in their seventies and eighties?"

The two passed through the town and stepped into the wilderness, heading east.

Ayako Hyuuga had turned into a curious child, her barrage of questions never ceasing.

It started off fine, with her asking questions of some depth, but later on...

Would women not feel ashamed wearing only three-piece swimsuits on the beach?

Did perfume really come in dozens of different floral scents?

Why did the men there like black stockings, and by the way, what exactly were black stockings?

Heh!

Women.

Regardless, as long as she wasn't obsessing over dead ends, it was better than anything else.

As for her focus, let her be; it was just for amusement anyway.

The midnight campfire illuminated a small patch of ground, with Mo Jingxian and Ayako Hyuuga sitting around it.

"Get some sleep."

Mo Jingxian took the initiative to shoulder the night watch.

During the time he was unconscious, he owed it to Ayako for her constant, day-and-night protection.

"Mm." Ayako was very obedient—perhaps only in front of Mo Jingxian did she appear so.

"Xian."

"What is it?"

"Everything you said..." Ayako Hyuuga lay flat in her sleeping bag, her hands folded over her chest.

Watching the vast, star-filled sky, she slowly closed her eyes: "Thank you, Xian."

Mo Jingxian smiled, tossing a handful of dry twigs and grass into the fire.

The fire crackled occasionally, sparks sputtering out before vanishing in an instant.

After a night of rest, if things went smoothly, they would enter the Land of Rain tomorrow; they were getting close.

The night wind brought a hint of chill, and the firelight cast shifting shadows across the girl's profile.

Mo Jingxian gathered his thoughts, continuing to deconstruct the logical architecture of Water Release: Water Severing Wave.

"Aggregation, acceleration—that's easy to understand, but why add the dispersion runes..."

The journey back was relatively peaceful, and the two successfully entered the Land of Rain.

While passing through a town to replenish supplies, however, they heard an unexpected piece of news.

Konoha had been defeated, and now the entire territory of the Land of Rivers had been placed under the protection of the Land of Wind.

They called it protection, but in reality, it was colonial in nature—just a different way of putting it.

But such was the tragedy of small nations; two great powers fought to the death on their soil, only for the land to end up as a prize to appease the victor.

War did nothing but destroy; it never made the cake any bigger.

It was just that with fewer people to share the cake, the conflicts would be buried until the next time they erupted.

The two stayed there for two extra days to gather some intelligence.

It was said that on the day of the great battle, a mushroom cloud over a hundred meters high rose above the Konoha camp.

There were all sorts of rumors: some said the heavens were enraged and had sent down divine punishment to discipline the ninjas of the two great nations;

Others claimed Konoha and the Sand ninjas had perished together, with the experts on both sides fighting to a mutual destruction;

The most absurd rumor was that Hanzo, the pillar of the Land of Rain, had been unable to bear the sight of such suffering and had stepped in to teach both Konoha and the Sand ninjas a harsh lesson.

Regardless, the rumors were circulating within the Land of Rain, and as long as they were happy, that was all that mattered.

With the intelligence gathering mostly complete, Mo Jingxian and his companion set off once more.

They could no longer travel through the Land of Rivers, so they changed their route to the Land of Grass, intending to return to the Land of Fire from there.

Although the gathered intelligence was quite ridiculous, if one stripped away the hazy, mystical claims, useful information could still be extracted.

For instance:

Currently, Konoha was massing troops on the border between the Land of Rivers and the Land of Fire, while the Sand ninjas were advancing across the board.

Yet, strangely, the intensity of the Sand ninjas' offensive had plummeted, as if they had suddenly lost interest.

Both sides traded blows along the border, eventually returning to a stage of mutual probing, as if they were putting on a show for the entire Ninja World to see.

The various schemes hidden beneath the surface remained unknown to all, but for now, the situation seemed to have returned to its established track.

The new Konoha base was stationed behind a turbulent river, with the land of the Land of Fire at its back.

Every time the Sand ninja attacked, they had to cross this river, allowing the Konoha ninja to use the terrain to strike them while they were halfway across.

When they retreated, they had to cross the river once more.

This made things incredibly difficult for the Sand ninja, causing the intensity of their attacks to drop sharply and dragging the war into a rhythm of attrition.

Since the last major battle, Konoha had dispatched an additional 2,500 ninja to the front lines, sent in two separate waves of reinforcements.

Currently, the base held nearly 4,000 resident combatants.

Facing the 8,000 Sand ninja, while still at a numerical disadvantage, they had at least stabilized the front.

Orochimaru had withstood the pressure, contributing to Konoha's ability to free up troops to counter the Earth and Lightning nations.

Now, three of the Five Great Nations had entered the fray, while the Land of Lightning remained in a wait-and-see posture.

As for the Land of Water, no one knew what they were thinking; the thought process of a madman was impossible to follow, yet they could not afford to let their guard down.

"Jingxian, I saw Hayama Shirakumo."

Ayako Hyuuga lifted the tent flap, entered, and sat down beside Mo Jingxian.

"Is he doing alright?" Mo Jingxian began re-sorting the sealing scrolls. "Did we guess correctly?"

Three days had passed since the two of them returned to the new base.

There had been no mission debriefing, nor had any new orders been issued.

It was as if they had been forgotten, left to gather dust in a corner of the camp.

"He's alive and kicking." Ayako Hyuuga joined in the sorting, wrapping the categorized scrolls in cloth.

"I have some bad news for you: Jonin Lutai didn't make it back. He was killed in action."

Mo Jingxian's movements faltered.

"A pity," he said. "It seems he couldn't jump off the chessboard either."

As he spoke, Mo Jingxian shook his head, as if trying to shake the lingering emotions from his mind.

"Tell me, what other information did you gather?"

Ayako Hyuuga stacked the bundles neatly and sat down.

"Six teams," she said, holding up her hand. "Fewer than ten people made it back."

"Mm, go on."

"Isn't it laughable?" Ayako Hyuuga stared intently into Mo Jingxian's eyes. "Someone once told me about the 'Will of Fire,' but that's not how it was described."

Mo Jingxian blinked, meeting her gaze for a moment. "The dragon slayer!"

"Eventually becomes the evil dragon."

Ayako Hyuuga finished the sentence with ironclad certainty.