The Right Way to Use Ninjutsu

"This world won't let us live. What are we supposed to do?"

Lu Zeming swept his gaze over the crowd below. The same question rose in everyone's mind. Yes, what were they supposed to do?

Lu Zeming gave them an answer.

"Are you willing to let someone steal and squander the fruits of more than half a year's labor? Are you willing to live in fear of war, generation after generation? Are you willing to be treated as slaves and see your children and grandchildren suffer the same fate?"

"If not, then stand up and fight! Fighting is our only way to survive. They're no better than us. Cut them, and they bleed. They feel pain. Faced with death, they beg and cry. So don't be afraid. They aren't gods. They're people like us, and they can be killed!"

"Now tell me, which path will you choose? Will you stay here and fight beside me, or go down the mountain and become their obedient subjects?"

The crowd fell as still as stagnant water.

Amid that deathly silence, Kumi Uzumaki and Listening Yuka were visibly stirred.

They raised their hands and shouted almost at the same time.

"Fight! Fight! Fight!"

Then the fifteen young ninjas joined in, their voices just as firm.

"Fight!"

More and more people joined them. More and more arms rose, their movements shifting from awkward to practiced, then from practiced to fierce. It was as though countless iron hammers were striking the sky, determined to smash straight through this rotten world.

"Fight! Fight! Fight!"

The three Jonin watching from a distance wore looks of utter disdain.

They didn't believe Lu Zeming could change anything. Nor did they believe these barely literate peasants could accomplish anything great!

Lu Zeming didn't need them to believe it. He only needed to put his head down and follow his plan.

Once the crowd's emotions had been stirred, Lu Zeming spoke again.

"Fighting takes strategy. We're still too weak, so we must build our strength!"

"How do we do that? It's simple. We work. We produce. We clear more land and grow enough food to feed more people. We welcome refugees and bring in those who've suffered just as we have."

"I believe that as we grow stronger, as more people stand with us, we can change this world! I believe in the strength of every one of you. I believe a single spark can set the prairie ablaze!"

At that moment, light shone in everyone's eyes. They were no longer numb. Like torches lit one by one, they illuminated this small corner of the world.

After the assembly, two enormous noticeboards went up in the center of the village.

At the top, they announced that the village had officially been named Flower Village, with the peony as its emblem.

Below was a list of planned work, explaining the purpose of each job and the pay it offered.

For every mu of land cleared, the worker would earn 20 Work Points. In Flower Village, five Work Points could buy one dou of fine grain, enough to feed a family of three for five days.

Building a house earned 30 Work Points, along with first right to purchase it. With what? Work Points, of course.

Anyone with Work Points could buy almost every daily necessity in Flower Village.

There was plenty of work: digging canals, leveling roads, building workshops, and more. Anyone willing to work could live quite well in Flower Village.

Alongside the jobs for ordinary people, there were jobs for ninjas.

In Flower Village, ninjas were no longer killing machines. They were part of the working people, and they had to labor too.

Ninjas could help clear land, build houses, and repair roads.

They could also choose jobs too dangerous for ordinary people, such as clearing fierce beasts from the mountains, searching for rare herbs, or gathering intelligence on nearby bandit groups.

The difference was that ninjas earned Merit Points!

Besides buying daily necessities, Merit Points could be used to learn Ninjutsu.

The newly established Ninjutsu Hall held Ninjutsu ranging from C-rank to A-rank. Ninjas who wanted to learn had to pay the required Merit Points for each rank.

Weapons and armor of various grades also had to be bought with Merit Points.

The two noticeboards, or perhaps task boards, greatly increased everyone's enthusiasm for work.

In their eyes, this grueling labor was no longer just a way to put food on the table. It had a clear purpose.

By working, they could make the village stronger, keep others from bullying them, and change their own fate—even the fate of their descendants.

With that belief in mind, Yota cleared eight mu of fields in a single day.

Yota was only thirteen. He hadn't originally qualified to become a ninja. Only after Lu Zeming had opened up his meridians had he barely managed it.

A ninja like him, made through later intervention, had limited talent and little room to grow!

Even so, he was deeply grateful to Lu Zeming. He knew his fate had changed the moment he became a ninja.

Among the fifteen young ninjas, he had ordinary aptitude and no special abilities. But he worked harder than any of them. He wanted to repay Lu Zeming, and even more, he wanted to prove that an ordinary person could shine in his own way.

When Lu Zeming had chosen people to go to Kusagakure, Yota hadn't been picked. He had been disappointed for quite some time.

He had wanted to protect Lu Zeming too. Even taking a Kunai for him would have been an enormous honor in Yota's eyes.

Fortunately, Lu Zeming had returned safely and brought back many things, including Chakra test paper.

Yota had tested himself. His affinity was earth.

Lu Zeming had patted him on the shoulder and said an earth affinity was excellent for building the village.

Yota had been overjoyed. Lu Zeming's praise had filled him with energy.

So the moment the task board went up, he accepted a land-clearing job.

Yota didn't rush straight into it. First, he went to the Ninjutsu Hall and learned the lowest-ranked C-rank Ninjutsu on credit: Earth Release: Cracking Earth Palm.

In fact, everyone could learn on credit, but only C-rank Ninjutsu. It was a special allowance for the young ninjas while the Merit Points system was still new.

After learning Cracking Earth Palm, Yota hurried to the clearing site on the mountain behind the village.

Many people were already there. Some used Wind Release to fell trees; others used Fire Release to burn away roots and weeds.

Yota's job was to turn the ash-covered slope into level fields ready for planting.

Cracking Earth Palm originally used Chakra to split the ground, throwing enemies off balance and disrupting their formation.

In Yota's hands, though, it became a powerful land-clearing tool. As it reshaped the terrain, it also broke up the hard-packed soil, leaving it loose and airy.

Even an old farmer with years of experience couldn't stop giving Yota a thumbs-up. He said crops planted in the fields Yota cleared would surely grow better than any others.

Yota just smiled and went back to work. On his first day, he cleared less than half a mu. On the second, he improved sharply, reaching three mu.

As his Chakra steadily grew through repeated depletion and recovery, his use of Ninjutsu became more practiced too.

Yota's efficiency soared. By the fourth day, he could clear a full eight mu of land.

He had broken the village's record for land cleared by one person.

An adult man working by hand could clear at most 0.2 mu in a day. Yota had done forty days' worth of that work in one.

At that evening's study meeting, Lu Zeming praised Yota publicly.

He said Yota had made an immense contribution to building the village, and that everyone should applaud him.

Amid the crowd's thunderous applause, Yota found meaning in his life.