The Seeds of War

The two men around him also found something amiss. Huh? Shouldn't this be the scene of a fanboy seeing his idol? How did it turn into this? As they were wondering, Hanzo suddenly asked, "Who sent you, and was your mission to shake the morale of our troops?" "Huh?" Hearing Hanzo's words, the two men below immediately understood that this kid was a spy sent by someone else. Then they saw them directly grab Zhou Yang by each arm, pull senbon out from goodness knows where, and plunge them straight into Zhou Yang's left and right arms. After that, they yanked open Zhou Yang's clothes and rummaged through them thoroughly, letting out a long sigh of relief only after seeming to find nothing. Then Hanzo withdrew a little of his terrifying aura, seemingly giving Zhou Yang a chance to speak. To everyone's surprise, Zhou Yang blurted out, "You guys were checking to see if I had any explosive tags on me, weren't you?" The two men narrowed their gaze at those words. Could it be that their search just now hadn't been thorough enough, or did the target have some secret technique to hide things right under their noses? They had experienced many such incidents before. Because Hanzo was too powerful, quite a few people naturally wanted to get rid of him. But since they were no match for Hanzo, those people often used various tricks to assassinate him. They had previously encountered human-bomb kids like this, and because of their ignorance back then, they had lost an important teammate. Therefore, their very first reaction today was that this kid was here to cause trouble. Just as the two were about to execute and suppress this kid right then and there, the child changed the subject. "I'd like to buy that stuff too, but I don't have the clearance, and it costs a fortune besides. Furthermore, if you're so scared of explosive tags, wouldn't it be better if you just stayed away from me? Looking like this, what else could possibly hurt you besides an explosive tag?" However, the two men did not leave immediately. Instead, they looked toward Hanzo on the main seat. Just then, another person entered. Unlike the previous duo, this person did not walk in, but simply appeared directly behind Hanzo. Yet Hanzo showed not the slightest reaction. Zhou Yang, who was staring fixedly at the main seat, happened to witness this scene, but he had no intention of giving a warning—if Hanzo were to be assassinated just like that, then all these years he had lived would have been in vain. Just when Zhou Yang thought Hanzo was going to display his strength, the ninja wrapped almost entirely in shadows suddenly leaned close to Hanzo, whispered something, and then handed him a scroll. Oh~ So this guy is Hanzo's subordinate. Zhou Yang thought to himself. Then Hanzo abruptly stood up, waved his hand at the two men below, and slowly walked out from the shadows. As the light from the window illuminated him, Zhou Yang slowly managed to make out his appearance. He wore a helmet bearing the exclusive insignia of Amegakure and a respirator over his mouth. On his upper body, he wore gray ninja garb; the protruding collar made the garment look rather thick. Armor covered his shoulders down to his elbows, and his lower body was even simpler—a pair of gray pants plus bandages covered his entire lower half, paired with a set of ninja shoes. This was his basic attire. Receiving the order, the two men released their grip, but they did not pull out the senbon stuck in Zhou Yang's arms. Those two pieces of senbon had been inserted with great precision, so even though the two ninjas let go of his arms, he still couldn't move them at all. After that, Zhou Yang saw Hanzo looking at him with a very strange expression. Although most of his face was covered by the respirator, Zhou Yang could still tell from the corners of his eyes. Hanzo then tossed the scroll in his hand to the subordinate called Rain. Accepting the scroll with Hanzo's consent, Rain opened it up and began to read. Soon, his expression turned rather colorful: first looking somewhat incredulous, he then seemed to reveal that same strange look. Afterward, he began to read aloud. "Zhou Yang, appeared inexplicably on the outskirts of Amegakure seven days ago. Subsequently rescued a girl, killed a rogue ninja who trafficked children, and then lived on the outskirts together with a girl named Nan, eating creatures caught from the sea by day. Note: This person has astonishing lung capacity; at his present age, he can hold his breath underwater for about five minutes. "As for the nights, he always wails not far from home. According to observations, this person should be suffering from a special affliction that causes him extreme agony when it flares up, with the flare-ups occurring at night. During these episodes, the subject's strength has been found to be abnormally immense. Finally, it appears Zhou Yang and this girl are already married." The ninja's tone shifted slightly at the final sentence, sounding somewhat disbelieving, while the other man beside him stared dumbly at Zhou Yang. In this unstable era, this kid was actually chatting up girls, and the crucial part seemed to be that he'd actually scored. How were ordinary single guys like them supposed to handle this? Hearing that everything he had done was known in such detail, Zhou Yang felt no surprise. As an unknown entity, it would be a miracle if he weren't investigated. At this point, Hanzo asked from his lofty perch, "Where on earth do you come from, and what is your purpose in coming to Amegakure?" His voice was somewhat low, but the tone within it was thoroughly chilling—it seemed that if he didn't speak the truth, only death awaited him. Then Zhou Yang suddenly sat down hard on the floor. It wasn't out of fear, but rather because he felt this position made him much more comfortable. "I don't know where I'm from either. Ever since I can remember, I've been by myself, and after that, I've just been wandering around the Ninja World." "Wandering? Hahaha, based on what you look like, you think you can wander the Ninja World?" Hanzo didn't believe Zhou Yang's statement at all. How could he possibly believe that a child could survive for so long in the Ninja World? "Yeah, wandering. Because my constitution is pretty good, I've survived until now." Naturally, Hanzo couldn't be convinced by a mere "constitution is pretty good." He needed more proof. Seeing that look, Zhou Yang knew that wasn't enough. Fine, you need more proof, right? I'll give it to you. "Among the Five Great Nations, the Fire Country is the largest and most prosperous. Next in the second tier are the Earth and Water Countries, while the remaining ones are in the third tier. Amegakure lies right at the intersection of the three great nations of Earth, Wind and Fire. Because wars between the three great nations are incessant, as their neighbor, this place naturally gets implicated as well. Therefore, Amegakure only looks peaceful; beneath the surface, undercurrents are surging." "That was the past. Nowadays, relations among the great nations are relatively stable." Hanzo spoke, and it was clear he was starting to believe him a little. "Stable? Yes, it looks quite stable, but how long can this kind of stability last? You must know that the seeds of conflict were planted between nations long ago!" Before Hanzo could voice his reply, Zhou Yang continued, "Don't tell me you don't know about this conflict." Hanzo fell silent for a long time, as if deep in thought, before uttering two words: "Environment." That's right, the environment. This was also the issue that troubled Hanzo the most, and perhaps the reason why Hanzo would participate in the war later on. The root cause was that he also wanted to expand their territory slightly to facilitate the development of Amegakure—at the very least, he could secure some resources, couldn't he?