Chapter 361: Waterfall Village
Following the border line between the Land of Rain and the Land of Rivers back to the Land of Fire, then turning due north, traveling through the fields of the Land of Fire, straight up to the Land of Waterfalls, the journey was about the same distance as from Konoha to the Sand, also taking about three days.
Leaving the ninja villages and towns and walking in the fields of the countryside was like returning to the feudal era from the modern world. Dilapidated and scattered villages, dusty and bumpy paths, and prosperous towns and wide, flat streets seemed to exist in two different worlds.
The unbalanced development of the ninja world was evident, no less than the gap between rural villages in the western mountainous areas and Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen in her previous life.
Because these areas could not afford the remuneration for mission orders, they were undoubtedly transparent and non-existent in the eyes of ninja villages. Bandits and robbers were usually active in such places, endless and impossible to eradicate completely. This phenomenon was not just because of poverty; the reasons behind it were worth pondering.
Haruno Sakura previously led her class on a mission to eradicate bandits. Neither the ninja village nor the ninja received a request for the mission, nor was it possible to receive remuneration from those villagers who were so poor that their pockets jingled (with nothing). So whether this counted as voluntary labor or the ninja village fulfilling its duty to protect the citizens was also a very subtle matter.
Sakura knew very well that the relationship between the country and the village at this stage was very twisted.
Taking herself as an example, although she also considered herself a person of the Land of Fire, her sense of identity with the village was obviously stronger. Basically, ninja's loyalty to the ninja village was much higher than their loyalty to the country. Even many Konoha ninja equated the Land of Fire with Konoha and a few nearby big cities, and didn't care about these backwaters at all.
On the other hand, in fact, the ones who truly held power and could determine the direction of the country were still the ninja villages possessing the vast majority of ninja power. Taking Konoha as an example, the Guardian Shinobi Twelve protecting the Daimyo were Konoha ninja to begin with, and the army belonging to the Daimyo had no combat power when facing ninja.
When she and Gaara discussed the world situation, they didn't consider the Daimyo's stance at all. The original intention of establishing the ninja village system was for the ninja village to be subordinate to the country. In reality, how could a ninja village holding power be controlled by ordinary people without power? It was already giving them a lot of face that the Daimyo wasn't controlled by the ninja village using genjutsu.
Some small countries with ninja villages simply didn't have a Daimyo, and the supreme leader commanding the country was directly the "Kage" of the ninja village. Several countries around Konoha were like this.
The Land of Waterfalls was a typical example where the Takikage concurrently served as the Daimyo.
The twisted relationship could not last long. The ninja village system would eventually be reformed to adapt to the situation of a strong village and a weak country.
A few days later, Haruno Sakura and Sasuke entered the Land of Waterfalls. The two deliberately slowed down their pace, marching in a way that saved physical strength, not rushing. Gaara's reminder was not unreasonable. It was possible to encounter members of the Akatsuki on this trip, so consuming a large amount of physical strength on rushing was very dangerous.
Fortunately, the journey was peaceful, and Sakura safely entered the territory of the Land of Waterfalls. The quiet villages and towns here didn't seem to show that the shadow of the Akatsuki had already shrouded them.
Land of Waterfalls, in front of a huge waterfall.
Water cascading down from a very high cliff obscured the only entrance to the Waterfall Village, forming a natural barrier.
The Waterfall Village was hidden behind the waterfall, located in a valley behind the cliff. The entrance to the village passed through a natural underground river in a cave behind the waterfall. Finding such a hidden place to build a village must have taken painstaking efforts.
"No matter how hidden the entrance is, it can't hide from a ninja's reconnaissance." Sasuke stood in front of the waterfall and said dismissively.
No matter how hidden, clues would be left behind. Ninja of the Inuzuka clan could distinguish the footprints and scents they left when entering and exiting. The Byakugan and ninja hawks could see the valleys and villages behind the mountains. Even an ordinary Anbu could track the ninja of these small countries to find their village.
In the ninja world, hiding a huge village was almost impossible. As long as there was contact with the outside world, traces would be left, exposing oneself.
"Moreover, if the ninja village is too hidden, how can it attract clients to entrust missions?" Haruno Sakura also shook her head and said a little speechlessly. "People who want to entrust missions can't even find where to go to issue missions to them. The Waterfall Village won't receive mission orders in a lifetime. This kind of place is good for seclusion, but using it to build a ninja village is simply brain-dead."
"Pursuing safety excessively is putting the cart before the horse." Sasuke scoffed at this.
However, perhaps the Waterfall Village just liked such idle days without missions? Anyway, the Land of Waterfalls was also under their jurisdiction, so they used taxes to support a group of idle ninja.
It's just that without the training of missions, how much combat power ninja raised like this had was also a mystery.
In short, in the end, they neither successfully hid themselves nor made the village strong.
The only benefit was that because their village had little combat power and the Land of Waterfalls had little profit to offer, they were spared from many threats of war.
"Let's go." The girl didn't say much, chuckled, and rushed into the entrance behind the waterfall.
Diving into the underground river from the cave passage behind the waterfall, accelerated by Sakura's Water Style, the long underground journey of several miles passed in a flash. Soon, the two surfaced and appeared on the lake by the Waterfall Village.
What came into view were the old-style wooden buildings of the Waterfall Village and the Waterfall ninja.
"Welcome, envoys from Konoha." The Takikage stood on the shore and said with a complex expression, "You arrived very punctually."
He said welcome, but from his eyes and tone, Sakura only sensed perfunctory flavor.
The unwelcoming intent of the Waterfall ninja was simply written on their faces. Their vigilant and nervous expressions clearly showed their distrust of Haruno Sakura and Sasuke.
Fortunately, Sakura's appearance was very deceptive. Seeing that the visitor was just a pretty girl, the Waterfall ninja unconsciously relaxed their expressions a lot.
It seems she is just a weak girl with poor combat power.
Some Waterfall ninja thought so.
What they didn't know was that Haruno Sakura was silently evaluating in her heart how long it would take her to conquer this village...
One hour?
Or less?
Anyway, it seemed that these ninja, whether in terms of vigilance, strength, or observation, could not be considered the best among ninja, probably because they had experienced too few life-and-death struggles. It was normal for the Waterfall Village, which had been at peace for a long time, not to produce any powerful ninja.
In short, a bunch of weaklings.
The girl walked over gracefully, came to these weaklings, and shook hands with the Takikage: "Hello, Lord Takikage."
The Takikage nodded, the expression on his face still noncommittal. His hand touched the girl's and separated immediately, and then he led the two to a magnificent building.
Takikage's Office.
"So, what business does Konoha have with our Waterfall Village?" The Takikage sat high on a luxurious chair and said listlessly, looking like he wanted to send them away as soon as possible.
Haruno Sakura could probably understand their feelings after discovering that their hiding place had been noticed. Looking at them, they probably thought they were hidden perfectly, right? But they didn't expect that the five great ninja villages could find their mouse hole at any time with a little effort. This psychological gap was all shown on the Takikage's face, who was not very shrewd.
As the saying goes, the temple is small but the evil wind is strong, the pool is shallow but there are many turtles. In such a closed village, the Takikage could actually get this kind of backrest chair customized with precious wood, and place it on a higher step, putting on a high and mighty appearance. Even the Kage of the five great villages didn't have his airs.
Coupled with that squinting look and strength at most equal to Sasuke's, it was simply laughable.
"This is the invitation letter for the Chunin Exams. This year's summer Chunin Exams will be held in Konoha." Sakura criticized him inwardly while calmly taking out a scroll from her pocket and handing it over.
"It's about the Chunin Exams, let me see..." The Takikage squinted and looked the girl up and down, glanced at the scroll and said, "Is the quota still three Genin accompanied by a squad leader?"
"Then let Ryoko Shiraishi's team go this year." He pondered for a while and said. Then he closed the scroll and put it aside, and asked again, "Weren't invitation letters in previous years delivered by ninja hawks? Why did your village send someone specially this time?"
"Yes, because the situation has changed a bit this year." The girl nodded and said bluntly, "In this year's Chunin Exams, the Mist Village will also join, and dignitaries from the Land of Water will also come to observe. The scale of the exam will be unprecedentedly large, and the competition will also be quite fierce, so please make preparations."
She intentionally emphasized the words "make preparations." The implication was, don't bring out crooked melons and cracked dates to embarrass yourselves. Otherwise, at that time, it wouldn't be Konoha losing face!
The Takikage understood her subtext. The expression on his face stiffened slightly, his smile froze, and he replied, "Envoy, please rest assured, the students in Ryoko's team are all excellent..."
Sakura saw his eyes flicker a few times, and his tone sounded a bit stiff upon careful listening. Did this guy think about sending a team with average strength to deal with it casually before?
Small ninja villages were actually quite awkward.
It wasn't that they didn't want to send out excellent ninja to show off on the stage of the Chunin Exams, gain the attention of the audience, especially those nobles, and win more mission orders for the village. It was just that the Genin cultivated by small ninja villages were generally weaker than those of large ninja villages. Their excellent seeds were only at the upper-middle level outside, and it was not easy to fight for a good ranking; if they lost troops in the fierce competition of the Chunin Exams, it would be a serious loss.
Even with maximum effort, it was difficult to achieve good results. Instead, one might accidentally let their geniuses perish in other countries. Considering these issues, over time, small ninja villages also began to realize that they were just playing supporting roles in the Chunin Exams, and the ninja sent out were mostly to make up the numbers. The ones truly capable of competing were still the Genin of the large ninja villages.
Haruno Sakura made no comment on this muddled-along mentality; the survival way of small ninja villages was probably just this helpless.
Seeing through it but not saying it, she had no intention of piercing the paper window regarding such unspoken rules.
The Takikage could see from the girl's moving eyes that she somewhat understood his meaning. Although he was secretly annoyed, the other party had Konoha standing behind her after all. Even if her tone was a bit heavy, it was right for the superior country to lecture.
Dissatisfied? Hold it in!
"Ahem." He quickly corrected his mentality, cleared his throat and said, "Is that all?"
Sakura shook her head: "There is one more important thing."
"Please speak."
"I wonder if you have heard... that the Akatsuki organization has recently shown signs of activity near your village?" Haruno Sakura stared at him closely. "That is to say, after a year of silence, the Akatsuki organization's activities have resurfaced, and it is very likely that their purpose this time is no longer limited to gathering intelligence..."
The Takikage's face truly froze this time.
"This matter..."
❃❃❃
⤑ Show your support with Power Stones!
⤑ Unlock a Bonus Chapter every time we hit 400 Power Stones!
❃❃❃
♕ Get early access to 30+ advanced chapters on Patreon!
🔗 https://www.pat-reon.co-m/c/Hollowborn
(Just remove the hyphen (-) to open the link!)
💬 Enjoying the story? Drop a review!
Your support really helps the series grow—thank you!