This Country Is Weeping

"Bang!" "Bang bang!"

After their daily beating, Chiba and the others helped each other stand up.

"Sigh, looks like our luck wasn't very good today."

"Woof—"

Little Dot nodded in agreement, showing how human-like he was.

"Well, these things are unavoidable."

Yahiko shrugged nonchalantly.

"Come to think of it, the new tactic I devised was actually quite effective. As long as the four of us huddle back-to-back, we reduce the surface area for getting hit. It didn't even hurt that much this time."

"Haha, let's keep doing that next time."

"Mm-hmm, I think there's still a lot of room for improvement in our strategy."

"Woof—"

The group walked toward home, finding joy in their misery.

Suddenly, halfway there.

A massive explosion erupted right behind them.

"Bang!"

Accompanied by a flash of fire, a large portion of the street was instantly engulfed in the blast.

Many people lay on the ground, their fates unknown, while a few had even turned into human fireballs, screaming as they ran aimlessly.

"Th-this is..."

Chiba and the others stared at the sudden catastrophe in shock, unable to react for a long moment.

A moment later, a Konoha ninja emerged from a half-destroyed tavern.

Not far across from him, a Rock Ninja stood watching him quietly.

"Heh heh, I didn't expect to run into a Konoha jonin here. My hands got a bit itchy, so I couldn't help but send a little gift."

"A gift, you say? In that case, I'll return the favor."

"Bang!"

Another explosion rang out.

The two quickly engaged in a fierce battle.

Soon, the two combatants clashed rapidly as they moved further into the distance.

Only then did Chiba and the others finally snap out of their stupor.

Yahiko's expression shifted, and he was the first to rush forward.

"Hurry, save the survivors!"

As body after body was dug out from the rubble, Yahiko and the others grew increasingly silent.

The brief clash between the two ninjas, even without any intent to target civilians, had already caused massive casualties.

Although they had been living here for over a year and inevitably got beaten up whenever they stole things, there were some kind-hearted stall owners who would simply pretend not to see them. Some would even offer Chiba and his friends help every now and then.

Among the dozens who died today, some of those very people were included.

Their deaths left the group feeling exceptionally miserable.

At night, after a busy day, Yahiko and his group returned to their cave, exhausted.

Sitting quietly around the campfire, they remained silent, still unable to recover from the oppressive atmosphere of earlier.

In fact, this was not the first time something like this had happened.

In a chaotic place like the Land of Rain, even in the relatively peaceful town where they lived, being caught in the crossfire of ninja battles was a common occurrence.

It was just that the previous times hadn't been as tragic or bloody as today.

The more Chiba survived in this world, the more he understood that ninjas were by no means kind-hearted, nor were they as upright and gentle as depicted in the animation.

Otherwise, war orphans like Yahiko, Konan, and the others wouldn't exist.

Even in the original animation, didn't Orochimaru and Tsunade fight in a busy city? Didn't Jiraiya encounter ninjas who took pleasure in slaughtering entire villages of ordinary people during his travels?

Compared to the rampages of ninjas, the only thing civilians could do was silently endure.

"Damn it!"

Yahiko suddenly stood up and slammed his fist hard against the wall with a dull thud.

Immediately, blood began to drip from Yahiko's knuckles.

"Yahiko!"

Chiba and the others stood up in succession, staring at Yahiko in shock.

"What exactly do they take our Land of Rain for?"

Yahiko's eyes were filled with a rage that seemed almost ready to ignite.

"What right do those great nations have to do this?"

"Yahiko."

Chiba watched Yahiko in silence.

In truth, as the most tragic nation in the entire Ninja World, the Land of Rain was deserving of the title.

The original purpose for the existence of small and medium-sized nations was to serve as war buffers for the great powers.

Unless under special circumstances, wars between the great nations were always fought within the borders of other, smaller countries.

Whenever a war ended, the small nations were left in ruins while the great nations remained unscathed; this was the so-called relative peace they maintained.

This was the tragedy of the small nations.

And the Land of Rain, without a doubt, was the tragedy among tragedies.

As the only small nation wedged between three great powers, the cruelty of the wars here naturally far exceeded that of other countries.

Especially since the Land of Rain's own strength was not considered weak.

Because of this, whenever war broke out, the Land of Rain almost always faced the most brutal Ninja World wars between four nations.

Regarding all of this, limited by his current experience, the original Yahiko naturally did not understand much.

But after Chiba slowly explained it to him clearly, Yahiko naturally understood many more things.

And it was precisely because of this that he became increasingly furious.

"Did you hear that? Konan, Chiba, Nagato."

Quietly watching the heavy rain outside, Yahiko was suddenly moved to speak.

"Hear what?"

The others looked at Yahiko in confusion.

Gently reaching his hand out into the rain, Yahiko's tone turned somber.

"This country is weeping! I can clearly hear it crying."

"Yahiko."

"I want to save it, to save this nation that can no longer see any hope. And to achieve that, we must possess power. Therefore."

As he spoke, Yahiko turned around and looked at them with determination: "We must become ninjas."

"Become ninjas."

"That's right, we must become ninjas!"

Yahiko looked at them firmly: "Prepare yourselves. In a while, we will set out to find a way to become ninjas."