Konoha was the same.
Every day, dozens of merchant caravans would leave the village under the protection of ninjas.
It could be said that the chaos in the ninja world had, ironically, made life more comfortable for the ninjas of the five great villages. What recourse did the ninjas of the small countries have?
However, they were powerless to change the situation.
They fought amongst themselves to plunder resources for survival.
But the chaos created by their conflicts only made the goods transported by merchants to their countries and villages more expensive.
The merchants would not do business at a loss.
If they had to spend hundreds of thousands of Ryo to hire ninja escorts, they would need to earn several million in return to be satisfied.
This meant that the wealth plundered by the ninjas of the small countries could not even keep up with the rising prices.
The Daimyo and nobles of the small countries were fine; they could pass all these costs onto their citizens. Let the people suffer a little, and their own lives would remain as colorful as ever.
But the ninjas of the small villages did not have such power.
In order to survive, they had no choice but to launch more campaigns, creating even more chaos and falling into a vicious cycle.
The busyness of Konoha did not have much of an impact on Li Anshi's life.
Normally, with such a high volume of missions, Konoha would be using its Genin as Chunin, its Chunin as Jonin, and its Jonin as Elite Jonin, determined not to miss a single mission posted to the village.
It was not uncommon for a D-rank collection mission like Li Anshi's to be delayed for three to five days, or even a week, before someone completed it.
However, some ninjas in Konoha knew his true identity.
They could give up other high-level, high-reward missions, but they dared not let Li Anshi's mission be delayed.
If his mission went unaccepted for more than an hour, someone would immediately take it, collect the softwood at the fastest possible speed, and deliver it to his shop.
This was his privilege in Konoha.
After posting today's mission, Li Anshi returned to his shop.
To his surprise, Tsunade had not taken the money from the drawer today. Instead, she was resting her chin on her hands, lost in thought.
Has she turned over a new leaf?
Shaking his head, Li Anshi thought that was impossible.
He would sooner believe in world peace than believe Tsunade would quit gambling.
"What's wrong, Tsunade?"
"Did you make a bet with someone today and lose all your money?"
Hearing this, Tsunade rolled her eyes at him.
"Anshi, in your eyes, is gambling all I ever do?"
"Isn't it?"
After retorting, Li Anshi sat down at the table and opened the drawer.
To his surprise, the money was untouched.
He glanced at Tsunade in astonishment, almost getting up to check if she had a fever.
"Alright, what's wrong? Did something happen?"
A month ago, the Uzumaki clan had been escorted to Konoha by its ninjas.
Unsurprisingly, they had been given a residence next to the Senju clan compound.
Even the two Uzumaki who had been in Konoha before, Michio and Fusō, had moved in with the children.
Under Mito Uzumaki's care, the children had developed a considerable degree of acceptance for their new home.
The thirty-odd children sent by the Uzumaki clan all had ninja potential.
Under Hiruzen Sarutobi's personal supervision, the dozen or so children over the age of six had been assigned to various classes at the Ninja Academy.
The children under six, led by Nawaki Senju, ran wild throughout the village all day, mixing in with the other kids.
In a way, these younger children had integrated into Konoha faster than the ones in the Academy, gaining the acceptance of many of the villagers and their children.
During this time, because she had to take care of the Uzumaki children, Tsunade had little time for the casino, aside from her training.
Every time she came to Li Anshi's place, she would grab the money and leave in a hurry, as if afraid to waste a single moment of her joyous time at the gambling den.
To see her waiting here like this today was a rare sight indeed.
"Yes."
Tsunade nodded.
"Not long ago, a merchant caravan we were escorting was intercepted by ninjas from a small country."
"Our teacher wants us to go and see what's going on, and to recover the losses for the caravan."
Normally, if a ninja died protecting the mission objective, as long as the mission was ranked correctly, there was no need to compensate the caravan.
However, because of the recent surge in missions, Konoha had dispatched three Chunin to escort this A-rank mission.
With Konoha's name as protection, the ninjas of the small villages, fearing retaliation, would not dare to rob a caravan escorted by ninjas from one of the five great villages.
But this time, the ninjas of the Land of Sky had done just that.
According to the intelligence provided by the returning ninjas, the Daimyo and nobles of this "Land of Sky" had abandoned their people during the Great Ninja War and had fled to the Land of Fire for refuge.
To this day, they had not returned to their country to govern.
The ones currently in charge were the country's ninjas. They called themselves "Sky Ninjas" and held no goodwill towards the five great villages that had thrown the world into chaos.
This time, upon encountering a caravan escorted by Konoha entering their country, they had simply ignored the Konoha ninjas and attacked the caravan.
Although the three Chunin had resisted with all their might, the Sky Ninjas had the ability to fly, and they attacked from above. The three Chunin could not protect the caravan.
In the end, at the cost of one dead and two wounded, they had only managed to bring the merchants back to Konoha.
If Konoha did not punish the first small village to dare to attack a caravan under its protection, would it be seen as a soft target in the eyes of the other small villages?
After all, in the First Great Ninja War, Konoha had only appeared on the battlefield for two years before ceasing hostilities. Those in the know understood that Konoha had beaten the Sand, Stone, and Cloud into submission, making them afraid to provoke the village and forcing them to fight amongst themselves.
But those who didn't know might think Konoha was afraid of the other four great villages and didn't dare to join the war.
The fame of Li Anshi's Little Li's Flying Dagger was great, but the only ones who had truly seen him in action were the ninjas of the four great villages.
In the battle at the Land of Whirlpools, a small number of ninjas from the smaller villages had also witnessed his terror.
But their numbers were just a drop in the ocean in the grand scheme of the ninja world.
In particular, his battle record was so horrifying that many ninjas didn't believe it was real.
Perhaps it was just a rumor deliberately spread by Konoha as a diversion?
If so, didn't that prove Konoha was all bark and no bite?
This time, the Sky Ninjas had dared to act against Konoha, partly because they would not survive if they didn't plunder these resources, and partly because, compared to the four warring great villages, the uninvolved Konoha did not present a great deterrent to them.
Presumably, the other villages were also watching to see how Konoha would respond.
If Konoha sent a Jonin, although they could easily resolve the incident, they would be laughed at by the other great villages.
But if they sent ordinary Chunin, their performance would not be much better than the three who had been on the mission before.
Therefore, the ones being sent to deal with the Sky Ninjas this time were Tsunade, Jiraiya, and Orochimaru.
In terms of status, they were the disciples of the Third Hokage, and could represent Konoha in all their actions abroad.
In terms of rank, they were still Chunin.
However, in some respects, their strength was already comparable to, or even surpassed, that of a Jonin.
The three of them united could even kill a Jonin.
What's more, all three of them had now successfully signed contracts with the three great sage regions and could summon powerful beasts. Let alone a Jonin, even an Elite Jonin was not an unbeatable foe.
Li Anshi could also understand this.
If he were Hokage, he would have sent the three of them out in such a situation.
However, what surprised him was that a small village would actually dare to pluck the tiger's whiskers at this time.
Not counting himself, Konoha still had an idle Kage-level powerhouse in Sakumo Hatake.
And behind them, the generation after him and Sakumo, which included Shinku Yūhi, Shinnosuke Sarutobi, Shisui Uchiha, and Kōmei Gekkō, had also begun to mature.
Furthermore, being five years older than Tsunade, Jiraiya, and Orochimaru, they all already possessed Jonin-level strength.
They were still in their period of rapid growth. Perhaps in a few more years, they could reach the level of Elite Jonin.
It could be said that the current Konoha, apart from lacking an existence like the First Hokage, was even stronger than it had been during the reign of the Second.
After the death of the First Hokage, besides Tobirama Senju, the Second Hokage, Konoha only had Sasuke Sarutobi at the Kage level, and Hiruzen Sarutobi, Danzo Shimura, Torifu Akimichi, and a few Elite Jonin from the Uchiha and Hyuga clans.
Now, all these people were still alive.
The older generation was still present, the new generation had begun to mature, and the next generation, like Tsunade, was about to become the pillars of the village.
It could be said that the current Konoha was in a state of flourishing prosperity.
Missing a few years of war with the other three great villages had indeed slowed the growth of the new and next generations a bit.
However, the reason geniuses were geniuses was that they could gradually grow even without the baptism of war.
Li Anshi was also very satisfied with the current state of Konoha.
Compared to rapid growth through heavy losses in war, he preferred to let these children have more time to train, perfect their abilities, and ultimately have greater resistance when facing a crisis.
"Well, the three of you have been Chunin for a while now. It's indeed time for you to go out and handle these kinds of matters."
"When are you leaving?"
After learning this, Li Anshi no longer found it strange that Tsunade hadn't gone to the casino today.
Although, like the First Hokage, she loved to gamble, she would only do so when there was no serious business to attend to.
If there was a mission, she was still very principled.
"Well, that depends on whether you have time."
"Hm?"
Li Anshi was taken aback.
"What does this have to do with me?"
"That's what Master Hiruzen said."
"He said that although the three of us have been Chunin for some time, we are still lacking in what it takes to be independent ninjas."
"This trip to deal with the ninjas from the small country will be a test for us."
"If we can resolve it perfectly, we will no longer take missions as a team, but will start completing them independently, or become squad-leading Chunin."
"And you, Anshi, will be our examiner for this mission."
"Whether we pass the assessment will be up to you to decide."
"So, for this mission, we need you to come with us."
"The Third Hokage said that?"
"Yes."
Li Anshi glanced at Tsunade and nodded in understanding.
If it were anyone else, he could just let the three of them go.
But Tsunade was not just anyone.
She was the granddaughter of the First Hokage, the princess of Konoha.
Although this mission posed no real danger to the three of them, that was no reason for Hiruzen to be lax.
Better safe than sorry.
If anything were to happen to Tsunade, he would probably become a sinner in the eyes of Konoha.
Putting aside what Lady Mito might think, at the very least, Hiruzen was certain that if something happened to Tsunade, Li Anshi would definitely come after him with his daggers.
Rather than risk that, it was better to just bring him along and make him their "examiner."
With him there, the three of them would be truly safe.
"Alright."
"Just let me know when you're ready."
"Okay, I'll go and tell the other two. We'll meet at the main gate in half an hour!"
…
"Lord Anshi."
"Lord Anshi."
Half an hour later, Tsunade, Jiraiya, and Orochimaru gathered with Li Anshi at the main gate of Konoha.
Upon seeing him, both Jiraiya and Orochimaru bowed and greeted him.
"Hello to you both."
Li Anshi also greeted them with a smile.
The future three legendary Sannin of Konoha, in terms of talent and ingenuity, were all geniuses among geniuses.
Tsunade had the blessing of the Senju bloodline, and with the numerous data left by the Second Hokage, she had eventually become the strongest medical ninja in the world.
Jiraiya and Orochimaru were both commoner ninjas.
But Jiraiya had good luck. He was chosen by the Great Toad Sage and became the representative of Mount Myoboku, the second person after the First Hokage to successfully master Sage Mode.
Orochimaru had neither Tsunade's background nor Jiraiya's luck.
However, of the three, he was the one with the greatest achievements.
Driven by his love for ninjutsu, he had learned numerous forbidden techniques, supplemented them with scientific methods, modified his own body, and step by step, had grown...