Chapter 121 Road to the Demon Country (3)

Chapter 121 Road to the Demon Country (3)

After six o'clock, the sky became much darker, and in the twilight, the frozen white sky in the distance could be vaguely seen.

The weather in February is still very cold, and the country of Demons is not a rich country. In the city, only a very small number of people can use a stove. In the countryside, there is no need to use a stove for heating. Just find an open space in the house and pile a pair of firewood to keep warm.

The villagers in the Demon country here survived the winter in this way.

In many poor and small countries, winter nights are sometimes more terrifying than ninjas in times of war.

There are no houses for winter and heating tools, so it is easy to freeze to death at night.

Especially those homeless wandering in war-torn areas.

Facing the old lady's warm hospitality, Shiraishi and Ayane stayed for dinner.

The wooden house is not very beautiful, but it is strong enough to be used as a shelter from wind and rain.

Close the door and windows tightly, and you can only hear the whistling sound of the cold wind hitting the solid wood.

The content of dinner is very simple, only steamed buns and pickles, and very thin rice porridge.

Shiraishi could tell that this was already the best food the old woman could produce.

If it wasn't for a Them, She would probably be reluctant to take it out and eat it.

The ingredients in the house are also some wild vegetables and radishes that can be seen everywhere. The life of the elderly living alone may be simpler, but it can almost be seen that the living conditions of this village can barely solve the problem of food and clothing.

The name of this old woman is Kaede, and she is currently living alone. Her husband passed away due to illness a few years ago.

There is a son who works in a port town in the country of Demons. He is a sailor and has already married and started a business. Every December and January, He will bring his wife and children back here to celebrate the New Year, and then he will return to the port town to work.

"That is the statue of the priestess."

While eating, Shiraishi's eyes caught sight of the pedestal in the room, on which was enshrined a clay statue of a witch.

"It's Miko-sama."

Grandma Kaede showed a smile on her face.

"I saw statues of witches in many places. In other words, this country is really devout to witches."

It is two different feelings to understand literally and experience it personally.

The belief of the witch can even affect such a remote and impoverished village, and has been integrated into the daily life of the people of the Demon country.

"Of course, the peace in this country is due to the Miko-sama. I want to thank the Miko-sama for bringing us peace."

Grandma Kaede clasped her hands together and bowed in the direction of the

witch statue.

During the meal, Granny Kaede told Shiraishi and Ayane the story of the witch slaying demons.

Twenty years ago, not long after the first Ninja World War ended, the kingdom of Demons suffered a terrible disaster. A terrifying monster was born and spread death across the land of the kingdom of Demons.

"That's really scary, those terracotta warriors..."

Grandma Kaede recalled the past and said in a sigh.

At her age, it is likely that she has personally experienced that terrible nightmare.

"Terracotta Army?"

When Shiraishi heard this name, his voice suddenly became louder, as if he felt incredible because of this name.

"What's wrong? Is there something wrong with the name?"

Ayane was listening with interest, and looked at Shiraishi suspiciously.

"Ah, no, how do you say this name...it sounds a bit weird. Granny, go on, what happened to those terracotta warriors?"

Shiraishi didn't know where to start complaining.

Terracotta Warriors... The name is really special. (Extra info this may be the reason by he behaved like this way- The Ghost Army is seemingly based on the Terracotta Army, stone soldiers, numbering over 8000, buried with the tyrannical Chinese Emperor Qin Shi Huang who desired an army to guard him, as well as having servants to rule over, in the afterlife. The fact that Mōryō is a demon sealed away with his "Ghost" army in the cavern that Yomi claimed to be of the other world further makes this connection.)

"Those terracotta warriors are said to be stone demons sleeping in the kingdom of the underworld. They are three meters tall and hold huge stone blades in their hands. They are an army of immortal demons. They are called the "Ghost Army" by many people. They are controlled by that monster, bringing death and disaster."

Grandma Kaede didn't pay attention to Shiraishi's increasingly weird expression, and continued to dictate her story.

"Are the surrounding countries not managed?"

Shiraishi showed curiosity.

"I remember that ninjas came to deal with it, but it didn't seem to have any effect. Many people died, because it was an undead army."

Grandma Kaede didn't know the specific situation, but saw a lot of ninjas trying to stop the Ghost Army. As a result, many people died. There were ninja corpses on the road, and they were killed by the Ghost Army.

"So what happened in the end?"

"Finally? Of course it was Miko-sama who took action to quell the chaos of demons... But that seems to have happened in the previous generation of Miko, and I can't remember many things clearly. I only remember that after sealing the monster, Miko-sama died together with monster."

Grandma Kaede said regretfully.

"Well, that monster's name is..."

"Mōryō. The name of that monster is Mōryō."

Grandma Kaede said the name of the monster that caused the root cause of the disaster, and she remembered it very clearly.

After eating, Grandma Kaede planned to rest.

After all, she is very old, and her energy is far less vigorous than that of young people.

Shiraishi didn't bother, but borrowed a woodshed, and went there with Ayane to rest for a night.

The two sat down in an open space in the firewood room, lit the firewood, and dispelled the darkness and coldness around them.

"I didn't expect there to be such an interesting story in the kingdom of Demons, the battle between monsters and ninjas, and finally the witch quelled the chaos..."

Ayane obviously took what Grandma Kaede said as a story in the picture book( fairy tale).

"It's not necessarily a fake. In the Konoha Library, there are indeed records of similar events. Twenty years ago, a great disaster did occur in the kingdom of Demons. It should be the Demons and monsters that Grandma Kaede tell us."

"But isn't that a monster? There should be no Demons in this world, right?" Ayane felt that the topic was a bit intrusive.

"The witch Maitreya is surrounded by very mysterious natural energy, but it seems to be different from the natural energy we practice, and something else has been added."

"Anything else?"

"I don't know what it is, but it is definitely not the sage art after chakra fusion, but another special art. It should be the inheritance of the witch."

Shiraishi said so.

Shiraishi recalled that the peace and kindness he felt when he went to meet the maiden Maitreya before was probably influenced by the power of the maiden.

"Besides, Mount Myōboku, Toad's lair, even has the means to bring the dead back to life. The special ability of the witch doesn't seem so unacceptable."

Shiraishi folded his hands in front of his chest. Although he couldn't believe everything that Granny Kaede said, the Mōryō might be real.

It's a pity that he came to the Demon country for a short time, and he doesn't know much about many things.

And regarding the matter of undead monsters, the more core secrets should be in the hands of the witch herself, and ordinary people only know this much.

"Namikaze Minato is really not dead?"

Ayane also heard Shiraishi talk about this matter, and felt incredible that the dead can also be resurrected. If this is true, then Mount Myōboku's ability is too magical.

"There were people in Konoha Hospital that I arranged to enter, and afterwards, I asked Gato's people who stayed in Konoha to investigate. Namikaze Minato, who was fatally hit by me, was indeed still alive. Not long after that, there was an old green-skinned toad who visited Konoha Hospital and took something from Minato's body."

Shiraishi said to Ayane as if he had witnessed that scene with his own eyes.

"That's really powerful. If you encounter it in the future, it seems that you need to be more cautious."

"Don't worry too much. If there is such a means of resurrection from the dead, it can only be a forbidden technique. The operator himself will bear huge risks and costs."

Shiraishi didn't believe that Mount Myōboku's method of bringing the dead back to life would allow him to cast spells at will without paying any price.

And there is no need to worry about Konoha's pursuit at this stage. In order to deal with Sand Village and Rock Village, Konoha has almost done his best, and there is no other power to deal with Them.

The most important thing now is to strengthen the power in your hands.

"It's almost time to rest, Shiraishi-kun, I'm a little tired now."

Ayane yawned.

"Go to bed first, I still need to think about something."

"Really? Good night, then."

Ayane rested her head on Shiraishi's lap very naturally, closed her eyes and slept, with a smile on her lips.

"It's too cold on the ground, so you can keep warm."

Ayane, who closed her eyes, went out of her way to explain something.

"I didn't say anything to you."

"That's right, because Mr. Shiraishi is a pervert. He would come to peep at my body while I was sleeping."

"Don't worry, I will not do it."

Shiraishi said affirmatively.

"Don't you have any thoughts in your heart?"

"Why do you say that?"

"Whatever it means, dominating my body. I said it a long time ago, I don't want to leave Shiraishi-kun's side. You can use it however you want."

Ayane said so.

"Don't worry, I won't abandon you."

Shiraishi said so, and sighed.

"Scumbag."

Ayane softly spit out these two words.

"What did you say!"

Ayane shrank her body, her breathing became much lighter, as if she had fallen into a deep sleep.

Shiraishi looked at the quiet Ayane and sighed.

This is not the first time the idea of making a promise to a woman has sprouted.

But two people are irreplaceable existences for me, and I only cherish the one person in front of me. This is too difficult and painful to do.

So, to Ayane, to Ruri, I have a heart of indebtedness.

Sometimes I wonder if I am a little too selfish?

•••

When I woke up the next day, the weather was still very cold, and my body was a little stiff when I woke up, and it got better after a little exercise.

Ayane went to help Granny Kaede make breakfast. After eating breakfast, her body became much warmer.

People in the village also get up early to work. People here live a very ordinary life, working at sunrise and resting at sunset, every day and every year.

Under the protection of the witches, the comfort and peace of this country is something that many countries cannot help but to envy.

Not only because of the Miko, but also because the strategic location is not very important.

A fertile land like the Land of Fire, coupled with Konoha's weak diplomatic attitude, will inevitably fall into an embarrassing situation of fighting everywhere.

Shiraishi began to investigate in this village, which has a combined population of about two hundred people. They are all old people, women and children, and there are very few young and strong people staying here. According to the chat, it can be known that these young and middle-aged people have left the village and went to work in larger towns to support their families.

The general education level is very low, most adults know limited characters, and there is no school in the village, and there is no unified educational institution.

Shiraishi also asked them on the sidelines, what most adults think about sending children to school is dispensable.

Adults don't have that kind of awakening consciousness, and the economy is backward, and they don't need to be able to read and write at ordinary times. They only need to be able to do farm work and work hard, so they can eat and drink enough.

These abilities are the only things they can teach their children.

"I feel that the thinking of these adults is really backward."

Ayane said so.

Following Shiraishi to visit so many villagers, this is the only thought in her mind.

"This is their truest thought. What they need is a job that can support their families, not how to read and learn some knowledge that is useless to them."

In this era of very low productivity, the grain and vegetables grown by ordinary farmers are only enough to eat after paying taxes.

Places like schools, in their subconscious mind, are places that only exist in cities, and only nobles can study, and farmers should do farm work well to support themselves and their families.

This kind of thinking, in Shiraishi's view, is naturally wrong, backward and ignorant. But starting from the actual situation in the village, these farmers' ideas are correct.

Something in a big city, it doesn't fit their situation.

Just like ninja learning materials, ordinary people don't need them. If they are given to ordinary people, ordinary people can't learn them and they can't be applied in practice.

"This is also the reason why I came to practice the investigation. If a school is established here and the textbooks are distributed uniformly, the villagers will definitely be disgusted and hated, because the textbooks in big cities do not tell the knowledge they need."

If something is not in line with the interests and needs of farmers, they will naturally reject it and their thoughts cannot be unified.

"It sounds very troublesome." Ayane's head hurts, but seeing Shiraishi's swearing, she feels that he is very masculine.

"Everyone's needs are different, and the development of a force is inseparable from talents from all walks of life. The future ninja world must be based on talents. The so-called talents are the result of great waves washing sand. If you want more and more talents, you must expand the 'base'. The ninja way of life is beyond the reach of ordinary people."

Therefore, Shiraishi wants to distinguish the education methods of ninjas from ordinary people.

Among ordinary people, due to factors such as geography, education level, economic environment, etc., there will be great differences in the schools set up and the teaching materials provided to students.

In poor places, we should teach them the knowledge that can make them rich, and quickly solve the problem of food and clothing.

In rich places, there is no need to worry about food and clothing. Therefore, the probability of talent birth is far greater than in poor areas.

The present world is the age of ninjas.

ignores the role of ordinary people.

In the final analysis, ninjas are also selected from ordinary people.

Placing emphasis on the power development of ninjas while ignoring ordinary people at the bottom is itself an arrogant mistake.

Through this village, Shiraishi can roughly understand the living environment in the non-urban areas of the Land of demons. There must be a small number of wealthy villages, and most villages still struggle with food and clothing.

Next, Shiraishi spent a few more days to learn more about the situation in this village, and then bid farewell to Grandma Kaede and went to other places to conduct actual investigations.

When I returned to the headquarters of the organization, it was a month later, that is, the arrival of spring in early March.

During this month, Shiraishi sometimes spent time with Ayane in the cave, and sometimes spent nights at the villagers' homes.

There are many problems, but the advantages are also obvious, that is, there is no chaos, the order is stable, and the rest is just to slowly find a way to solve the problem. Shiraishi feels that there is no need to worry about this kind of thing.

When I returned to the headquarters, the ninja teaching area for cultivating ninjas had already been built.

This school can accommodate hundreds of people at the same time to learn ninja skills, the scope is very large, and there is enough space for them to conduct actual combat training.

The source of the students, Shiraishi intends to select from the country of Demons, and the other part is provided by the Uchiha clan, the Hyuga clan and the Uzumaki clan to provide school-age children.

The last thing is to find young orphans in the ninja world and bring them back for training.

Natural energy cultivates ninjas, no chakra qualifications are required.

As long as the body has no particularly serious defects, it can form combat effectiveness. No matter how badly it uses physical skills, it is not something ordinary people can resist.

The disadvantage is that the probability of cultivating top-level powerful ninjas is very low; the advantage is that the quantity can make up for the quality problem, and there will be no shortage of fighters.

After all, there are homeless orphans everywhere in the ninja world, and if you pick them up casually, you can bring back hundreds of orphans.

According to the report, there are more than 400 orphans collected so far, and ninja training will be officially carried out in April next month.

It will be officially put into use, no accident, it will be nine years later.

"Master Shiraishi, this is a letter from Konoha."

While Shiraishi was observing the school area, a man wearing a windbreaker embroidered with an aster flower logo appeared with a teleportation technique and handed a letter to Shiraishi.

Shiraishi opened the letter and simply scanned it.

In the last year, he asked the people here to negotiate a cooperation agreement with Konoha to train medical ninjas on their behalf.

Aster Flower Company will pay part of the drug materials, and Konoha will train some medical ninjas for them.

The official cooperation will be in April next month, which is also the time when Konoha Ninja School starts.

Now it's just late March, so I really have to arrange this matter.

The content of the letter is probably that they are allowed to send 20 to 30 students with medical ninja talents to receive six years of medical ninja training at Konoha Ninja School. Konoha will bear half of the six-year teaching materials and accommodation costs, and Shiraishi will pay the other half.

But Konoha will not bear the cost of materials used in the experiment, and Shiraishi will pay for it all.

Shiraishi nodded, the request was very reasonable and basically satisfied him.

"How many people are currently learning medical ninjutsu here at the headquarters?"

Shiraishi asked.

"A total of forty-one people."

The man thought for a while to answer.

"Pick out twenty-five people and send them to Konoha safely the morning after tomorrow. Take the sea route to the country of tea, and then go to the country of fire."

Considering that the Land of Rain, the Land of Grass, and the Land of Rivers may all become war zones, it would be very dangerous to walk on land, and it would be troublesome if you accidentally get involved in a war.

"Yes. By the way, Master Shiraishi, there is a very strange rumor in the ninja world recently."

Thinking of something, the man lowered his voice and spoke very carefully.

"Strange rumor?"

"This rumor has not been confirmed to be true or false, but it is said that the third Kazekage of Sand Hidden Village seems to have disappeared."

The man spoke in a low voice, because this matter was too important. The sudden disappearance of a ninja, one of the five kage, was no small matter.

When Shiraishi heard the news, he was also surprised immediately.

"Kazekage is missing?"

"Yes, and it seems that he disappeared at the end of January. The ninja war has broken out for more than a month, and the third Kazekage has not shown up once, and he hasn't even made a move. Now many people are increasingly doubting that this news is true."

After hearing this, Shiraishi showed suspicion on his face.

Three generations of Kazekage disappeared at the end of January, but in February, Sand Village launched a war against Konoha. So, who is responsible for mobilizing Sand Village's troops? Are those sand village higher-ups?

Originally thought that the disappearance of Third Kazekage was something after the war was launched, but now it seems that this is not the case.

But...how could Kazekage, one of the five contemporary kages, suddenly disappear?

Could it be Sand village's conspiracy?

"Master Shiraishi, should we send someone to investigate this matter?"

Shiraishi shook his head and said: "No, it has nothing to do with us. Our current role is to sell medicine, so don't do unnecessary things. Ninjas fight, we just need to be responsible for making money."

Although he was surprised by the disappearance of Kazekage, Shiraishi thought about it carefully and realized that it had nothing to do with him.

Regardless of Kazekage's presence or absence, Sand Hidden Village will purchase medicines from itself, and will not cut off cooperation because of Kazekage's disappearance.

If you intervene rashly, it will expose your own traces and make Sand Village suspicious.

During this war, selling medicine to make money is my job, and I don't need to meddle in my own business.

After the man went down, Shiraishi continued to wander around the school. When he was about to go back, the ground began to bulge, and General Earth began to appear in human form.

General Earth just handed a note to Shiraishi. Shiraishi looked at the contents of the note and frowned.

"That strange white creature started sneaking into Konoha again, heading to the Uchiha clan?"

General Earth nodded, indicating that this was indeed the case.

"It's endless, what are these people trying to do?"

Shiraishi couldn't understand it.

To be honest, Shiraishi is very afraid of the people behind this group of mysterious white creatures.

The pressure that Sharingan put on me was too terrifying, and I still remember it.

But this group of people must be planning something, otherwise it would be impossible to sneak into Konoha again and again and investigate the Uchiha Clan.

Aiming at Konoha... No, the conspiracy against Uchiha is even bigger.

Who is the target?

These are things Shiraishi doesn't know.

"This time you follow these people and see where they end up."

As he spoke, a snake-like stream of water suddenly emerged from Shiraishi's sleeve, attached to General Earth's body, and disappeared.

"Be careful, if you find something wrong, leave immediately. Just make sure where they are, and try not to go deep."

Shiraishi was very worried that General Earth would meet the mastermind behind the scenes when investigating this group of mysterious guys, so he asked the water avatar to follow General Earth to avoid being too late to retreat when encountering a crisis.

General Earth nodded and dived into the soil again to investigate the group of mysterious white creatures.

(end of this chapter)