Entering the Village

Before long, we arrived at Uzushio Village. The two guards at the entrance spotted several people approaching from a distance and immediately tensed up, raising their weapons and pointing them at us as if facing a formidable enemy.

Seeing this, Jiraiya hurried forward to explain the situation to the two guards.

"Don't be alarmed. We've come to see your Village Chief about something. Please let us through."

The two guards exchanged a glance, apparently confirming something with their eyes.

A moment later, they noticed our Konoha Forehead Protectors and seemed to realize we meant no harm. One of them stayed behind to keep watch over us while the other turned and went into the village to find the Village Chief.

As the seconds ticked by, the guard who had gone to report our arrival finally came running back, carrying an elderly man on his back.

Many red-haired members of the Uzumaki Clan followed close behind him, evidently drawn over by the commotion.

The old man slowly climbed down from the guard's back. Then he fumbled in his sleeve for an old, battered pair of reading glasses and shakily perched them on his nose.

Once his vision cleared, he looked at us and asked in confusion,

"What do you want with me, people of Konoha?"

Without a word, Jiraiya quickly took a letter from the bag he carried and handed it to the old man.

After taking the letter, the old man carefully removed his glasses, breathed on the lenses, and wiped them clean with the hem of his clothes. Only then did he put them back on and read the letter.

As he finished reading, the expression on his face gradually softened.

It turned out that Lady Uzumaki Mito had sent these people to take the girl away. Once the old man understood the situation, he smiled and gestured for the guards beside him to lower their weapons, then cheerfully invited everyone into the village.

"Um, Grandpa Village Chief, do you have anyone here who knows medicine? My friend seems to be suffering terribly from seasickness."

Earlier, when Jiraiya had gone to speak with the guards, he had asked Hyuga Shinichi to look after Nawaki.

Now, seeing that the two sides were getting along peacefully, Hyuga Shinichi checked on Nawaki. He was so weak he could barely stand, and had already passed out. So Shinichi asked the Village Chief of Uzushio Village,

"We do, we do. Just wait a moment."

The Village Chief replied to Hyuga Shinichi, then immediately called out loudly,

"Michiko! Are you here?"

As soon as he finished speaking, a girl who looked to be in her teens stepped out of the crowd.

"Village Chief, I'm here! What do you need?"

The girl, who had been called Michiko, answered.

"Michiko, sorry for the trouble, but could you look after this guest? He's feeling unwell from seasickness."

The Village Chief asked earnestly.

"Of course, Village Chief. Leave him to me."

Uzumaki Michiko readily agreed, then walked up to Hyuga Shinichi and said softly,

"Let me take him."

However, Hyuga Shinichi didn't hand Nawaki over. Instead, he said,

"I'll keep carrying him. You can just show us the way."

Seeing this, Uzumaki Michiko didn't press the matter. She simply walked ahead to lead the way.

Hyuga Shinichi quickly turned and called loudly to Jiraiya,

"Jiraiya, you go on ahead. I'll take Nawaki to get treated, then come find you later."

With that, he adjusted Nawaki on his back and followed Uzumaki Michiko. The others went with the Village Chief to his home to rest and recover.

As they walked, Hyuga Shinichi kept observing the area around them. He was struck by how few people there were—there seemed to be only a little over a hundred.

How could such a large village have so few people? And there were hardly any men; most of the villagers were women. Uzumaki Michiko, walking ahead of him, noticed his behavior and asked,

"What's wrong?"

"Um..."

"Oh, I haven't introduced myself yet. I'm Uzumaki Michiko."

"I'm Hyuga Shinichi. It's nice to meet you."

After introducing themselves, the two of them found it easier to talk.

"Um, Miss Michiko, why are there so few people in the village? Have the others gone somewhere?"

"Ah..."

Michiko sighed and fell silent for a moment before continuing.

"Our village used to have a lot of people. Everyone lived happy, fulfilling lives. But over the past few years, many unknown forces have suddenly begun coveting the Sealing Jutsu we possess. They've attacked us repeatedly, trying to steal our techniques.

"Although we've always managed to repel the enemy in these brutal, fierce battles, many of our clan members have still been killed or injured.

"As time went on, our population gradually dwindled. Now, most of our people have been sent to patrol the stretches of coastline where ships come and go..."

After hearing this, Hyuga Shinichi felt a surge of sympathy deep in his heart.

He recalled the story from his previous life. It seemed that the fall of the Land of Whirlpools had happened just like this, without much explanation. Online, some people blamed Sarutobi Hiruzen's inaction for its destruction.

Ever since arriving in this world, Hyuga Shinichi had known that Uzumaki Mito wielded enormous influence and authority in Konoha. If she had wanted to, she should have been able to direct Sarutobi Hiruzen to take action.

The most likely explanation, then, was that Konoha itself was facing problems at the time and simply couldn't spare enough troops to aid the Land of Whirlpools.

According to various reports, the Land of Whirlpools had already begun to decline and was eventually destroyed sometime before the Second Shinobi World War broke out.

As everyone knew, the Second Shinobi World War hadn't erupted everywhere all at once without warning. Instead, it had been preceded by a lengthy period of preparations.

During this period, the villages sent large numbers of shinobi to their borders to conduct reconnaissance and gather information about hostile forces.

In fact, the Eye-Nose-Ear Team had already begun receiving many missions to gather intelligence along the borders.

The leaders of every village knew that after such a long period of peace in the Shinobi World, the nations must have developed unevenly.

Once that imbalance reached a certain point, even the smallest incident could spark a war.

When the call to arms sounded, Konoha would need to send troops to two crucial fronts. At the same time, it would have to keep enough personnel on hand to remain wary of the other nations that weren't involved in the fighting.

In that case, would Konoha still have enough manpower to send aid to the Land of Whirlpools?

Various signs also suggested that the destruction of the Land of Whirlpools was connected to Kumogakure and Kirigakure, the two villages that hadn't participated in the Second Shinobi World War.