To prepare for the harvest, Shingetsu placed an urgent order with Cat Granny for several winnowing fans.
A winnowing fan was a farming implement that used airflow to separate the husks from milled grain, removing chaff and shriveled kernels.
To use it, one simply poured the milled rice into the hopper on top while someone beside it turned the handle on its body, driving the fan inside. Under the airflow, the plump grains fell by gravity into the basket at the bottom, while the lighter chaff and debris were blown out, separating the rice from its husks.
Compared with the traditional method of winnowing by hand with a basket, this implement not only saved time and effort, but also eliminated the need to wait for windy weather.
During the autumn harvest, every moment counted. Reaping, drying, processing-none of these tasks could afford even a moment's delay. With the bad luck of a rainy day, more than half the harvest might be lost.
So, even though Cat Granny would fleece her again, Shingetsu gritted her teeth and decided to buy several.
These useful farming implements had actually appeared in the Shinobi World long ago and won widespread praise among farmers. Yet even in the prosperous Land of Fire, this technology, which could hardly be called complicated, was gradually disappearing.
Shingetsu could not understand how such useful technology and tools could end up being lost. As far as she understood it, convenient, advanced things like these should have been welcomed and quickly spread among the people!
What she did not know was that farmers exploited by crushing taxes could not even afford farming tools. They had to mortgage the hoes they depended on for food, their oxen, their iron plows, and even themselves. How could they possibly have spare money for something like this?
That night, countless cats still occupied the rooftops and streets of the Uchiha Clan Compound.
The vast majority of these cats were ninja cats that had signed Summoning Contracts with the Uchiha Clan.
They appeared to be lazily licking their paws, but in fact, they were watching their surroundings vigilantly, always on guard against possible intruders.
These little cats, spoiled into willfulness by the Uchiha, were not to be underestimated. Though these cunning, adorable hunters were of little use in combat, they were exceptionally skilled at gathering intelligence and concealing their movements.
A large black cat carrying an enormous scroll slipped quietly into the Uchiha Clan Compound. She emerged gracefully from the shadows, her body as agile and alert as a leopard's as she darted along the eaves, lightly leaping past her lazy fellows. The Uchiha's ninja cats merely raised their heads to give this outsider a wary glance before returning to licking their paws.
Like a proud, regal queen, the large black cat was graceful and captivating in every movement. As she raised her head haughtily and strolled across the rooftops without a sound or trace, she looked like a queen surveying her domain.
At last, she stopped before Hōkaku's residence.
When the black cat leaped gracefully through the window that had been opened well in advance, Shingetsu was sitting quietly on the tatami, awaiting her little messenger.
The instant she saw the familiar black cat, Shingetsu's beautiful black eyes lit up.
"Kana, you're here!"
"Meow, Shingetsu, have you got my present ready, meow?"
The large black cat Shingetsu called Kana nimbly jumped onto the tatami. Looking at the little human before her, she haughtily opened her small feline mouth, but what came out was human speech rather than a meow.
This cat was, of course, also a ninja cat, but she served Cat Granny of the Vacant District Ruins rather than the Uchiha Clan.
Every time we meet, she demands a present. If she doesn't get one, she not only gets angry, she won't even let me hold her.
Shingetsu thought indignantly that Kana was such a snobbish, naughty kitty!
Her body, however, was perfectly honest as she pulled a bottle of Silver Vine she had prepared beforehand from her pocket.
"Here, it's your favorite kind of Silver Vine."
"Meow! Hooray! I love you most, Shingetsu, meow!"
The moment Silver Vine appeared, even the most aloof, prickly cat would melt into a puddle.
Watching Kana sway as though she were drunk, Shingetsu seized the opportunity and immediately reached out with her little hand to stroke Kana's silky black fur.
This feels absolutely amazing!
Stroking the satin-smooth fur, Shingetsu felt as satisfied as if she had eaten a hundred candies. She hurriedly gathered the dazed black cat into her arms, contentedly petting her and smoothing her fur.
Utterly content, Shingetsu grinned from ear to ear and sighed in satisfaction:
Petting cats is just so much fun!
"Hey, Kana, why don't you ditch Xiaoling and become my summoning animal? I can give you Silver Vine every day!"
At the promise of Silver Vine every day, Kana, who had been dazed as though drunk, suddenly widened her golden feline eyes. Her tail swished nonstop, clearly betraying her temptation. But soon, her tail drooped, and her whole body sagged in dejection.
"Meow, I can't do that. Granny and Xiaoling would get angry, meow."
The thought of Cat Granny and Xiaoling angry made Kana's hair stand on end, every strand of fur instinctively threatening to bristle. It freed her from the trap woven by Silver Vine and Shingetsu's gentle strokes, reminding her just in time that she was only here to make a delivery.
If I get back any later, that jealous Xiaoling is going to explode!
"Meow, let go of me, meow! I have to go back!"
"Huh? It's still early! Stay a little longer, Kana!"
Ruthlessly jumping out of Shingetsu's arms while she was happily petting her, Kana leaped and dodged nimbly. Her four paws sliced through the straps, and as she shook Shingetsu off, she also dropped the scroll on her back onto the floor.
Leaping atop the wardrobe, Kana looked down upon the insignificant human named Shingetsu. Without the Silver Vine, she had returned to her usual haughty aloofness.
What a moody, naughty kitty!
Shingetsu cursed inwardly.
"There's what you wanted. Where's the money, meow?"
"...All right, it's here."
Shingetsu took out the money and scroll she had prepared beforehand and counted the money in front of Kana to show that the full payment was there. Then she stored the money in the scroll, strapped it to Kana's back, and hung the bottle of Silver Vine from a cord around the ninja cat's neck.
Just as the black cat jumped onto the windowsill, about to vanish into the night, Shingetsu reluctantly gave her fluffy head a gentle stroke.
"Goodbye, Kana. Remember to say hello to Cat Granny for me. If you ever decide to ditch Xiaoling, you can come to me anytime!"
"Summoning Technique!"
In the Vacant District Ruins, a girl wearing black cat ears, with the tip of her nose colored like a cat's, pressed her bloodstained palm against the concrete ground. Beside her, an astonishing number of cats gathered affectionately around an old woman who also wore cat ears, treating her sleeves and arms as toys and endlessly pawing at them.
The old woman and the girl were Cat Granny, who ran a black-market business in the Vacant District Ruins, and her granddaughter, Xiaoling.
They were black-market merchants contracted with ninja cats, specializing in supplying weapons, intelligence, and assorted tools to shinobi, particularly the Uchiha Clan. Though their prices were high, their quality was absolutely guaranteed, and their family had maintained close ties with the Uchiha Clan for generations.
After a puff of smoke, Kana, who had just been in the Uchiha Clan Compound, appeared within the summoning circle. Xiaoling unfastened the scroll from her back and tossed it to Cat Granny, then circled the nervous Kana, inspecting her from every angle, seemingly investigating whether this naughty kitty had betrayed her and fled into Shingetsu's arms.
"Not bad. That girl Shingetsu is still quite generous."
Taking the money out of the scroll, Cat Granny carefully counted the stack from beginning to end. Once she confirmed it was correct, she exhaled a satisfied puff of white smoke.
"Of course she's generous! It's not her money she's spending. All of it belongs to that Madara Uchiha!"
By now, Xiaoling had found the bottle of Silver Vine Shingetsu had given Kana, and her face flushed red with anger. Hands on her hips, she fiercely scolded Kana for siding with an outsider while making sure to bad-mouth Shingetsu in front of her grandmother.
That awful Shingetsu is always trying to steal my cat!
And yet Grandma likes her so much! She's always praising her and helping her out!
"Grandma, why do you help that silly girl?"
"I'm not helping her."
Cat Granny narrowed her eyes in disagreement and tapped her granddaughter on the head with her pipe.
Finding Shingetsu the things she wanted was simply fulfilling their transaction, nothing more than her duty as a merchant. It hardly counted as helping.
"Have you forgotten? Guarantee quality, choose our customers, and never flatter them for business. That's our family's way of doing business."
"Then why did you give her those precious seeds? You could have made far more money selling them to a merchant or straight to the nobles!"
Clutching the red lump swelling on her head, Xiaoling held back tears of pain and protested, still unconvinced.
"Oh, you mean those."
Cat Granny took a deep drag on her pipe, recalling that she had indeed sold Shingetsu a large quantity of rice seed four or five months earlier. After carefully calculating the time, she realized that those seeds had already reached harvest season.
That little girl Shingetsu should be finding out soon. The seeds I gave her were the rarest of the rare.
What Shingetsu did not know was that the rice seed she had spent a fortune in gold to obtain had actually been cultivated by the hands of a reclusive shinobi clan.
The people of this clan were close to nature, but had unusual constitutions. When their emotions ran high, they would go berserk, and their bodies would undergo terrifying, uncontrollable changes. As savage as monsters, they were feared and loathed.
To avoid other people, they had always lived in seclusion in places ordinary people could scarcely reach, leading self-sufficient lives.
Though cut off from the world, they had thereby escaped the wars of the Warring States period. For many years, they had lived pastoral lives of men farming and women weaving, unlike the other shinobi clans.
Though they were feared and discriminated against, the fabrics and crops they produced were beloved by nobles. The most popular of all was the rice they cultivated.
Whether it was due to their unique constitutions or their closeness and familiarity with nature, over the long years, the rice seed cultivated by generations of this clan had developed not only plump, crystalline white grains that tasted wonderfully sweet, but also the exceptional advantages of high yields and vigorous growth.
However, because this shinobi clan lived in isolation, their rice rarely appeared on the tables of the Shinobi World and was entirely absent from its farmlands. Yet that very scarcity and uniqueness were what nobles and daimyō sought, making it immensely popular among the upper classes. Even daimyō could be said to scramble for it.
Originally, Cat Granny had procured this batch of precious seeds because a merchant in the Land of Fire had offered a high price for rice seed, intending to grow rare rice exclusively for noble consumption.
But on the eve of the transaction, Shingetsu came to her and said she also wanted to buy a batch of rice seed. After pondering for three days, Cat Granny changed her mind and decided to give Shingetsu all the superior seeds she had gone to such great lengths to obtain.
True, Shingetsu had paid a high price to take the rice seed off Cat Granny's hands. But compared with the wealthy merchant's offer, Cat Granny had suffered not merely a heavy loss, but a crushing one. Xiaoling had never forgotten that painful loss.
She did not understand what was so special about Shingetsu that her grandmother, a merchant, would forgo profit.
"Well, if I'd kept them here, they'd have ended up either in your belly or in some noble's. Giving them to her was more interesting."
Taking a deep drag and exhaling a cloud of white smoke, Cat Granny imagined those rice seeds ripening and suddenly chuckled softly. Her raspy laughter made the cats around her bristle one after another.
"I never imagined I'd live to see the Uchiha Clan take up farming."
"The world really has changed."
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