[Land of Waves]
Over the next few days, Rengoku took a few of the kids wandering around the various towns in the Land of Waves.
To get a deeper understanding of how ordinary people outside the ninja villages actually lived.
The lifestyles of ordinary people and ninjas were completely two different worlds.
And low ranking ninjas and high ranking ninjas were also two different worlds.
Civilian born ninjas and noble clan ninjas were separated by yet another world.
With so many worlds cut off from one another, they had no idea how ordinary people lived at all.
Risking wind and waves to go out to sea to fish, just to earn money to live.
Gathering medicinal herbs on extremely dangerous cliffs.
Stealing, robbing, cheating, doing whatever it took in order to survive.
But even so, many still fell by the roadside, barely clinging to life.
Within Rengoku's group, Sasuke was from a noble clan, Hinata once was as well, and Gaara had been the son of the Kazekage.
Not to mention that they never had to worry about food or clothing.
But when Naruto and Karin were little, it had been incredibly difficult for them just to find something to eat.
Seeing people starve to death by the roadside, Karin and Naruto both felt complicated.
'Shishou, if I hadn't met you back then, I probably would have escaped from Grass Ninja Village, then starved to death…'
Back then, if Rengoku had arrived just a little later, Kasui would definitely have been squeezed to death by the people of Grass Ninja Village.
Based on Karin's own estimate, the greatest possibility was that she would have tried to find a chance to escape Grass Ninja Village.
But with no survival skills at all, she would most likely have starved to death.
Karin lifted her head and looked at Rengoku's profile, a little dazed.
She hugged Rengoku's arm and leaned her whole body against him, finding a bit of comfort in her heart.
"What are you thinking about?", Seeing Karin a little absent minded, Rengoku asked.
Karin snapped out of her thoughts, "Shishou, are there always people starving to death in the ninja world?"
"Yes. In fact most of these ordinary people can't live long."
"This Land of Waves is already doing well. At least they can still fish. Some places are even poorer, and their supplies are even more scarce."
"If they could, many people would want to flee to our Land of Fire, but usually they can't make it."
The ninja world was full of towering mountains, and in the Land of Fire, rich in resources, there were all kinds of venomous snakes and fierce beasts, and even beasts on the level of summoned animals.
If an ordinary person wanted to settle down in the Land of Fire, they first had to make it there alive.
The Land of Fire didn't have that many broad roads leading everywhere.
Any caravan doing business here brought plenty of guards, and even had to hire ninjas for the journey.
Don't look at how ninjas could cross a whole country in a few days. Ordinary people couldn't do it even in a lifetime.
"It's hard for ordinary people to stay alive."
Karin seemed to recall the days when she never knew if she would eat or go hungry, and sighed like that.
Rengoku patted Karin's hair, "It's alright. Once our Konoha becomes strong, we'll strive to develop civilian technology."
"In the future, in the Land of Fire, no one will starve."
"Heehee! Shishou, when that time comes, we'll take these countries into the territory of our Land of Fire, and then they'll be able to live well."
Karin naturally thought of that as the way to save these people.
"Alright. At that time we'll unify the whole ninja world, so none of the people will starve."
Rengoku said this with a squinting smile.
At this moment, Tazuna came running from not far away, panting, "Lord Rengoku!"
"Gato… Gato is back!"
"He gathered several hundred people and has already occupied the bridgehead of the Great Bridge. You need to go take a look."
Rengoku patted Tazuna's shoulder, "Don't worry. I'll deal with it now."
With that, he made a hand gesture. The six of them moved, and all vanished.
———
On the Great Bridge in the Land of Waves.
Gato was negotiating with two ninjas from Grass Ninja Village.
"Just two kunoichi from Konoha. Don't worry, they're not very strong."
"One of them is even a child."
The two Grass ninjas discussed it with each other.
"He probably ran into a teacher taking students out for training."
"Konoha can hardly take care of itself now, facing the encirclement of Cloud, Rock, and Sand. They could also be ninjas who came out to seek refuge."
Not all ninja villages had such well informed intelligence.
These two Grass ninjas clearly didn't know that Cloud had already been beaten back by Rengoku.
Even Rock and Sand had retreated as well.
The two exchanged a look, "Since they're Konoha ninjas, we want five million."
Gato's face twisted in pain, but ninjas weren't easy to find. He could only grit his teeth and agree, "No problem!"
"That kid is yours to deal with however you want, but you have to tie up the woman and hand her to me."
Gato's shoulder was wrapped in bandages, his face full of viciousness.
Once he caught that red haired woman, he would make sure she couldn't live or die.
If time weren't so tight, he wouldn't want to hire these official ninjas at all.
Missing ninjas were the cheapest.
Of course, if these two Grass ninjas and the targets killed each other, and even better, got injured, it would save him plenty of money and time.
Once Gato and the others finished discussing, they prepared to go into the small town to look for people.
They only needed to hold the bridge. Anyone inside couldn't escape except by boat.
Suddenly there came waves of commotion from outside.
"Lord Gato, the two people who attacked us in the warehouse last time are here, and they brought their companions."
"Hahahaha! They're really courting death!"
Gato immediately gathered his men, waiting for the enemy to arrive.
When Rengoku brought the five kids over, Gato had three to four hundred people on his side.
And Tazuna and the others had been told by Rengoku not to step on the bridge, so the difference in numbers was huge.
"See, I told you. Just some kids and only two adults."
"Grab that woman for me. The rest are yours to deal with!"
Gato let out a shrill laugh, his gaze toward Karin full of cruelty and malice.
By now Rengoku was just a dozen meters from Gato.
Even though there was some sea mist, both sides could already see each other clearly.
When the two Grass ninjas saw the Uchiha clan clothes Rengoku was wearing, their minds froze.
"Uchiha?", A sharp scream startled Gato.
Gato stared blankly for two seconds, then suddenly remembered what the Uchiha clan was.
"What? He's from the Uchiha clan?"
Gato's face turned a little pale. He swallowed.
"It's fine. We have the numbers. They're just a few kids."
When the Grass ninjas got a clear look at Rengoku's face, both their knees gave out.
"Go, run!"
One of the Grass ninjas pinched his own thigh hard, not caring about Gato at all, and leapt up, trying to escape.
Whoosh!
A handful of sand rose up, wrapped around their feet, and dragged them right to Rengoku.
Falling to the ground didn't hurt. But the moment they saw Rengoku's face, they froze, then trembled all over in terror.
"Spare us! Lord Hokage, spare us!"
"We were just passing by! We didn't know you were here!"
"Lord Hokage, spare us!"
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