Soon, Gekko Yun Jian led the team to a Village called Yoshida Town and met the client for this mission.
An old man named Yoshida Inamori, with white hair and beard, leaning on an old, well-worn cane; he was the head of this Village.
Village Head Yoshida was still quite energetic. He greeted the four members of the team happily, and after completing the mission handover, he led everyone to the farmland outside the Village.
A small river meandered along, surrounded by forests like walls, and many low hills by the river were dotted with layers of terraced fields of varying heights.
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Wheat was planted in the dry fields on higher ground. At this time of year, the wheat seedlings had already headed, but they hadn't turned golden yet, showing a lush green and vigorous growth.
Along both banks of the river on the lower ground were continuous paddy fields, all leveled and looking like mirrors embedded in the earth. In many of these fields, farmers were already busy.
Indeed, the mission for Higashino Shin and the other two today was: transplanting rice seedlings.
According to Village Head Yoshida, there were several families in the Village where the elders were old and the children were out in the world, resulting in a labor shortage. Every year during the busy farming season, they would go to Konoha to post some d-rank missions to ask Ninja for help.
Although the price of a d-rank mission was expensive for them, Ninja were very efficient; one person could do the work of ten, making it quite a bargain.
Of course, Konoha wasn't stupid either and wouldn't use Genin like cattle. After assessment, clearing a fixed amount of acreage was counted as one d-rank mission. Today's request from Yoshida Town totaled five mission units.
Letting Ninja who possessed extraordinary power farm? If this were some dark cultivation world, these commoners would probably have been turned to ash on the spot.
I am a Cultivator after all. Even if I farm, I should be growing Spirit Rice for Foundation Establishment experts.
But this was the unique Ninja World. A mission was a mission. A Ninja was one who endures all.
Village Head Yoshida left after introducing the range of farmland they were to serve. There was no need to say more; he had seen much over the years and knew that Ninja had incredible learning abilities, even if they seemed like just children.
Higashino Shin actually didn't need to learn. He was born in the countryside in his previous life and knew about rice seedling cultivation and transplanting; he had done it before.
However, he still pretended to stand in the field with Hayate and Yūgao to learn from the farmers, only to find it was no different from his previous life.
There wasn't much to say after that: pulling seedlings, bundling them, and carrying them to the edge of the field to be tossed.
A Ninja was a Ninja; the difference from ordinary people could be seen in the details.
The three were extremely fast. Through their observations just now, they had calculated how far a bundle of seedlings could be planted. When tossing them, they even used shuriken techniques. Every bundle landed precisely where it should, as if measured with a ruler.
When people are extremely busy, they always say they are stretched thin, but the problem is, Ninja actually know the Clone Jutsu, and Gekkō Hayate and Yūgao Uzuki themselves could use the Shadow Clone.
So the three formed Hand Seals. Hayate and Yūgao only dared to create two Clones, unlike Higashino Shin, who created over a dozen with a series of 'poof, poof, poof' sounds.
Therefore, letting Ninja do farm work wasn't just a metaphor that one person could do the work of ten; it was a fact.
To save Chakra, Hayate and Yūgao didn't use the Water Walking technique. Instead, they took off their shoes and stepped directly into the paddy fields, not minding their feet getting covered in mud at all.
Yūgao Uzuki, this fair and pretty young girl, didn't say anything either. She didn't even frown before stepping into the field.
Ninja never considered themselves noble Cultivators. For a thousand years in this world, no one had ever instilled such a concept in them. On the contrary, the idea of Ninja being tools was deeply rooted in people's hearts.
Higashino Shin had no interest in changing this mindset. Or rather, he didn't need to; the change had already begun.
Since the establishment of the One Village, One Country system decades ago, the era of Ninja being tied to their Family ended, and a large number of civilians without families began to become Ninja.
The subsequent wars produced a large number of Rogue Ninja. These people didn't have the courage to confront Ninja Villages, but they certainly had the courage—and a lot of it—to run to the world of ordinary people and act like tyrants.
Then everyone realized, 'Damn, so Ninja can live happily like this too.'
Is it fun for a Ninja to bully defenseless ordinary people?
Those Rogue Ninja who have women in both arms and rake in piles of money would tell you: 'You can't imagine my happiness.'
At some unknown point, when civilians in the Ninja World saw a Ninja, they had to fearfully address them as Lord. This change was a good thing for Ninja, but for ordinary people, it was a disaster.
But that's just how the world is. Even the ordinary world of Higashino Shin's previous life couldn't achieve so-called equality for all, let alone this Ninja World that possessed extraordinary power.
Any attempt to promote the concept of equality for all in this world, or the idea that Red could change the world, was very unrealistic.
---
The villagers of Yoshida Town once again witnessed the efficiency of Ninja, even though they saw it several times every year.
In the mirror-smooth paddy fields, over a dozen figures moved with lightning speed. Green seedlings were rapidly planted into the fields, and the paddy fields were turning into rice fields at an exaggerated pace.
A week's worth of work for a whole Family could be finished by a single Ninja in less than a day.
Every time they saw this spectacular sight, the villagers would sigh in their hearts: 'It's such a pity that Ninjutsu isn't used for farming.'
This mentality was similar to: 'The Emperor must use a golden shoulder pole to carry manure.'
Everyone understands the logic, but it's never realistic; the Emperor doesn't need to carry manure.
For Higashino Shin and the other two, transplanting seedlings in the field was completing a Village mission. Not only did they have no resistance in their hearts, but they also found it quite interesting and full of novelty.
Higashino Shin even found the feeling of being in the field with his father in his previous life. Those were truly nostalgic childhood years.
But if someone wanted them to do this every day, year after year...
That would be a different story. Whoever suggested that would be asking for death.
Soon, with the efforts of the three, the task was completed by around 3 PM. This made Higashino Shin sigh; Chakra was truly great, truly wonderful. After working for most of the day, he didn't even feel any back pain.
Even Gekkō Hayate and Yūgao Uzuki were only a little tired.
You should know that in his previous life as a child, when he followed his Family to transplant seedlings, his back couldn't take it after a short while, and his whole body felt like it was breaking after a day.
Gekkō Hayate was about to suggest going to wash off the mud, but Yūgao Uzuki looked at the villagers who were still working: 'Hey, since it's still early anyway, let's keep helping them so they can finish and go home sooner.'
Hayate looked at Higashino Shin, who shook his head slightly and said nothing.
Yūgao was a kind girl, but sometimes, being warm-hearted isn't a good thing, especially for a Ninja.
Gekko Yun Jian had disappeared after assigning the tasks in the morning and only reappeared in the evening. When he returned, he saw Yūgao Uzuki and the others receiving praise from the villagers.
The continuous paddy fields by the river, which had been smooth as mirrors in the morning, were now planted with seedlings. Dots of green grew in the silvery-white water, looking beautiful and pleasant.
After confirming the completion of the mission with Village Head Yoshida and getting his signature, Gekko Yun Jian led his Disciples away from Yoshida Town.
On the way, Yūgao Uzuki happily told her teacher about the team's good deeds.
After hearing this, Gekko Yun Jian didn't praise her immediately. Instead, he glared at Higashino Shin and Gekkō Hayate. The two immediately looked away, admiring the fiery clouds of the sunset.
"Yūgao, you did very well, but don't do it again next time!"
Gekko Yun Jian didn't explain further but instead stood in the forest outside the Village, seemingly waiting for something.
Gekkō Hayate whispered: "If we help every time, it will cause the villagers to develop some unnecessary little schemes when they post missions in the future, bringing losses to the Village.
At the same time, it will also make it very difficult for comrades who perform the same mission in the future."
Yūgao didn't quite understand, but she knew she seemed to have done something stupid.
After about seven or eight minutes, Gekko Yun Jian finally spoke: "Alright, let's go. Since it's not far anyway, we'll walk back slowly."
A quite strange decision.