Tsunade, who looked like a little girl, pushed through the crowd and walked up to the brother and sister.
She spoke to the two siblings in front of her in a childish voice:
"Were you harmed by ninjas? We're not bad people, just travelers passing through, and we'd like to ask for lodging in the village for the night."
Tsunade took out a storage scroll, retrieved two chicken legs, and handed them to the siblings.
"Here you go. Can you tell us what happened?"
The siblings looked at the chicken leg Tsunade offered, their throats bobbing. The younger brother turned to look at his sister, who shook her head and instead hugged him even tighter.
Tsunade frowned, extended her chubby left hand, and slammed her fist into the ground. With a loud thud, the ground cracked from the powerful impact.
The siblings were trembling with fear, but they gritted their teeth and dared not utter a sound.
"Now you see, we can hurt you anytime we want. We're giving you two choices to make a big deal out of this."
Eat these two chicken legs and tell us what happened; or I'll smash your bodies to pieces with my fists.
The girl tremblingly took the chicken leg from Tsunade and handed one to her younger brother. Perhaps they had been hungry for a long time, because the two of them wolfed it down.
After they finished eating, the two realized that nothing unexpected had happened, and the older sister's eyes were filled with surprise.
"Yes, I'm sorry, Ninja Master. We misunderstood you."
"Where are the rest of the villagers?" Tsunade asked.
"They've taken me away," the girl said.
"Who are they?"
"They are ninjas, powerful ninjas." The girl's eyes were filled with terror.
Naruto waved his fist and shouted:
"Big sister, don't get into the habit of closing doors behind you. I'm a very skilled ninja, I'll definitely help you rescue them."
The girl looked at the group of people in front of her, who were all teenagers. She finally fixed her gaze on Kakashi, whose tall and mature figure gave her confidence.
"I believe in you, Ninja Master."
As the girl recounted her story, everyone understood the reason behind it.
Although the village was poor, most people lived a peaceful life.
A band of bandits had been entrenched in the mountains a few miles away. They would occasionally come down from the mountains to rob the village of some grain, but the villagers mostly united and drove them away.
So the bandits and the villagers agreed that if the bandits paid a tribute of grain each year, they would stop robbing the villagers.
The village chief felt that it was better to give the bandits some food than to sacrifice the lives of the villagers. At worst, they could work harder to reclaim more wasteland.
The bandits were few in number, and they were unable to break through the combined forces of the villagers.
In addition, since they were mostly composed of lazy people, they had lived in relative peace for many years after receiving the food.
Until recently, a red-haired woman came to the mountain and taught the bandits some Ninjutsu.
Faced with the bandits' renewed attack, the villagers' combined efforts were no match for theirs, and the attack was quickly thwarted.
Then, many villagers were arrested and never returned.
Only the siblings escaped the calamity because their father, who was the village chief, hid them in this secret room, and they have survived to this day on the remaining food of the villagers.
"That's outrageous!" Naruto clenched his fists angrily. He solemnly said to the girl, "Big sister, I will definitely save the villagers! I keep my word, that's my ninja way!"
The girl stole a glance at Kakashi, then stood up solemnly, her eyes brimming with tears, and bowed to everyone in gratitude, saying, "Thank you all."
The girl looked troubled. "But we don't have the money to hire ninjas."
Tsunade stretched out her short arm, waved her hand, and said in a childlike voice with great enthusiasm, "The hiring fee is waived for you. Could you please boil some water for us?"
The girl thanked everyone again, then left the secret room to boil water for them.
The group from Konoha also arrived in the hall.
Tsunade patted Shinsei on the shoulder. "What are you waiting for? Hurry up and cook!"
Faced with Tsunade's command, Shinsei dared not disobey at all.
Naruto and Sasuke also Earth Flow outside, one to collect wood and the other to prepare clean water.
Ever since Tsunade ate Kakashi's cooking, she has stripped him of his right to cook, and the responsibility of cooking has fallen on Shinsei's shoulders.
Naruto and Sasuke quickly brought wood and water.
Shinsei set up a campfire and placed an iron pot inside the house. He put the remaining wild boar meat in, along with seasonings and flatbread.
Before long, a pot of fragrant meat soup was ready.
Tsunade watched the siblings standing in the corner, having developed the habit of closing doors behind them, and beckoned to them with her finger:
"Come over."
The siblings walked over, Tsunade took out bowls and chopsticks and placed them in their hands.
"Thank you, Ninja Master."
Perhaps it was because Shinsei's cooking was delicious, or perhaps the siblings hadn't had anything good to eat in a long time, but they devoured their food without a care for their image.
Sakura put down the soup bowl in her hand, turned to Tsunade, and asked, "Sensei, there are bandits here, why haven't any officials come to deal with them?"
Tsunade took a sip of soup, exhaled a puff of hot air, and replied:
"Those nobles only care about collecting taxes; how could they possibly care about their lives?"
Naruto, angered, shouted, " Granny Tsunade, aren't you going to do anything about this, you're the Hokage?"
Kakashi placed his hand on Naruto's shoulder and said solemnly:
" The Lord Hokage is merely the military leader of the Land of Fire; he cannot interfere in these political matters."
Shinsei couldn't help but grin.
Tsunade slapped Shinsei on the shoulder:
"Just say what you want to say, stop making that weird face."
"Teacher, you're the one who told me to say this," Shinsei replied with a smile.
Tsunade frowned and asked, "What are you trying to say?"
"Teacher, don't you think this world is strange? People without power hold the world's power, and people without talent govern the country."
The world is vast and rich in resources, yet there are always those who feel they haven't taken enough and still wage war.
Despite possessing immense power, ninjas didn't use it to aid production; instead, they used it to slaughter their own people.
Teuchi Shinsei, saying slowly and deliberately, "Do you want to learn from Madara Uchiha?"
"Oh, teacher, did Madara Uchiha say anything?" Shinsei asked in return.
He only knew the general outline of Madara Uchiha, but he didn't know the specifics of what Madara Uchiha had said.
Tsunade scoffed, "He wants to unify the Shinobi World!"
"Unify the Shinobi World? Why can't we unify the Shinobi World?"
"If Lord Hashirama and Madara Uchiha had unified the Shinobi World back then, would we still have all these wars now?" Shinsei countered.
Tsunade put down the soup bowl in her hand, turned to look at Shinsei, her eyes filled with danger:
"Do you also want to unify the Shinobi World?"