[The Land of Wind]
A vast desert, the blazing sun hanging high. Even though it was winter, standing in the desert for just a moment would still make your whole body sweat from the heat.
In such weather, over a hundred people stood under the scorching sun, holding iron shovels, scattered as they dug the ground, planted trees, and filled in the soil.
They were prisoners locked up in the Land of Wind's prison.
Many of these prisoners had once been leaders of financial groups or high-ranking government officials. They knew very well what planting trees in the desert meant.
In twenty or thirty years, the trees would block wind and sand, becoming a natural barrier, and would create more fertile soil.
In fifty or sixty years, villages would be built on that fertile soil.
In a hundred years, villages would become bustling cities.
The Land of Wind would become the country with the greatest gap between rich and poor, partly due to the political system of its government, ever since Tokugawa Shingen, from top to bottom they were profit-seeking merchants.
And secondly, because of this cruel desert.
The strong remain strong, the weak have no room to develop. Over a long period, this would only make the rich richer and the poor poorer.
Ryosuke rewrote the political structure of the Land of Wind, and now he was going to change the environment, overturning the fate of this country from its roots.
You could say these prisoners were bad people, but no one could say they were stupid.
They clearly understood Ryosuke's goal, but precisely because they understood, the prisoners felt this whole thing was extremely absurd.
Wasting manpower and resources now for something a hundred years from now?
You had to know, these trees had been modified by the research institute, possessing absurdly strong drought resistance and salt-alkali tolerance. Same for the fertilizer.
If they had time to research this, wouldn't it be better to research ninjutsu or weapons?
Because of the hot weather and tiring work, most prisoners only worked at the minimum standard. Whenever the guards weren't around, they'd slack off and chat, and in between chatting, their eyes would occasionally fall on a slender figure in the distance.
While admiring her waist and curves, they casually threw out one word, "Idiot."
The woman carried thirty or forty saplings on her shoulder, the saplings covering her face. Drops of sweat fell one by one, landing by her feet and forming a line.
She was the only person present who was working wholeheartedly.
In other people's eyes, such attention-seeking behavior naturally made her an "idiot."
As the woman placed each sapling into the deep pits she had dug, her face gradually became visible.
Kurotsuchi.
Just as Ryosuke had promised back then, Kurotsuchi and Akatsuchi's work in prison was to use their Earth Release techniques to plant land.
The two worked in different zones, rarely encountering each other, though they occasionally exchanged letters.
When she first arrived at the prison, Kurotsuchi's mood was extremely bad. She hated the feeling of losing her freedom, and hated the daily, monotonous work even more.
But as time passed, seeing the little forests she planted with her own hands, Kurotsuchi's heart gradually calmed down.
She wasn't very smart, maybe a bit too straightforward, but she truly didn't have room for many things in her heart.
A job that was busy, tiring, but extremely fulfilling helped lessen the pain of her father's death. In a way, that was a good thing.
Moreover, because the work was tiring, prisoners in the Land of Wind received high-temperature subsidies. With Kurotsuchi's performance, these subsidies were enough for her to buy some "luxury goods."
Like ice cream, candy, books, and she could also exchange it for the service of writing letters to her family.
Akatsuchi had long written to the village, reporting he was safe.
He asked Kurotsuchi if she had written to old man Ōnoki yet.
Kurotsuchi scratched her head, "I want to write a lot, but as soon as I pick up the pen, I don't know what to write… You know I'm not good at this stuff."
And so, the matter of writing a letter kept getting delayed, until one day the guard suddenly summoned both Kurotsuchi and Akatsuchi.
"Twenty-five KM away, a sandstorm is happening. It's expected to reach a nearby village tonight."
"I'm confirming with you two now, are you willing to go help resist it? Of course, we won't make you take risks for nothing. After it's over, I'll submit a request to reduce your sentences."
This kind of good deal, Kurotsuchi naturally wouldn't refuse.
That night she and Akatsuchi followed the guard to the village.
The sandstorm was even bigger than they expected. It lasted a whole day and night. When it finally passed, Kurotsuchi and Akatsuchi collapsed to the ground, the feeling of having their chakra completely drained leaving them miserable.
Right then, a village child brought over a steaming bowl of milk tea.
"Big sister, have some tea."
On the other side, a tall village man pulled Akatsuchi up, eyes red, gave him a big hug, and kept saying "thank you."
Of course he should thank them.
If not for these two helping, all the village's cattle and sheep would have been swept away, and at least a dozen villagers would have died.
It was Kurotsuchi and Akatsuchi who saved this village.
The village chief called the villagers to slaughter cattle and sheep, brought out wine, and wanted to treat their group. The leading guard naturally wouldn't kill the mood and nodded in agreement.
The celebration lasted until late at night. The next morning, before they left, a young villager found an old roll-film camera and said he wanted to take a commemorative photo.
All the villagers gathered around, surrounding Kurotsuchi and Akatsuchi in the center. With a click, the flash went off, forever capturing that moment.
On the returning vehicle, Kurotsuchi took out her notebook and borrowed a pen from the guard.
"To Grandfather, personally…"
Akatsuchi peeked.
"Planning to write to the old man?"
Kurotsuchi nodded.
In truth, she didn't even know what she wanted to write. She just felt "it's time," and once the pen touched the paper, the words would naturally flow out.
After returning to the prison, she finished the letter and handed it to the guard, asking him to send it.
With one burden lifted from her heart, Kurotsuchi felt great.
But just two days later, the guard came to her again and returned her letter.
Kurotsuchi frowned slightly.
"I didn't write any forbidden words, and didn't say anything inappropriate. It's just an ordinary family letter..."
The guard smiled and shook his head. "It's not because of any forbidden words. It's because you don't need to send it."
"Someone bailed you out."
"You and Akatsuchi can leave."
The guard brought them to retrieve their personal belongings from when they were imprisoned. When they changed and came out, Ōnoki was waiting for them.
Ōnoki's lips trembled slightly, but he still walked over, patted his disciple's arm, then looked at his granddaughter, "You're tanned. But you look healthier."
"Let's go."
As they walked out of the prison, Kurotsuchi looked back at the gate one last time. Her emotions were complicated; the one month she spent in prison felt like a dream.
"Old man, how did you bail us out?" Akatsuchi asked.
Ōnoki said, "I made a deal with Ryosuke. Starting today, we'll go to the research institute and help with the aerospace project."
Akatsuchi had a big heart. Planting trees or research, it didn't matter, work was work. As long as everyone was alive, it was fine.
Earlier, he had truly been afraid that once they got out, the old man would've been killed by Ryosuke.
Riding the aircraft sent to pick them up, the three first returned to Iwagakure, took some commonly used ninja tools and scrolls, rested for a day, and then set out again, arriving at the research institute at dawn the next morning.
Samui brought them to Ryosuke's office.
"Please sit."
Ryosuke stood and poured each of them a cup of tea, then placed a stack of documents on the table. Sitting on the chair opposite them, he said, "The reason I asked you three to come, I've mentioned it before, it's to resolve the difficulties of the aerospace project."
After the sky battleship broke through Earth's gravity and flew above the atmosphere, it lacked sufficient power to travel to the moon.
Holding his teacup, Ryosuke said, "This involves two system modules."
"Power and flight."
"Your Earth Release techniques are the key to optimizing the flight system."
Ōnoki, who had already discussed this with Ryosuke in the Land of Demons, was well aware. Akatsuchi nodded, saying it was fine, but Kurotsuchi furrowed her brow.
"Is there a problem?" Ryosuke asked.
"It's not a problem, I just don't understand."
Kurotsuchi said, "You only need the old man for this. Maybe Akatsuchi can help too, but you didn't need to call me."
Hearing this, Ōnoki and Akatsuchi's expressions changed.
Was this girl truly stupid or pretending?
Why did he call her?
Wasn't it obvious?
It was to give Ōnoki face, like granting preferential treatment to family members of high-tech personnel.
This kind of thing should be something everyone understood privately. Saying it aloud, wasn't that embarrassing Ryosuke?
If Ryosuke was embarrassed, would things end well for them?
Seeing their expressions change, Samui shook her head slightly from the side.
Forget others.
They really underestimated Ryosuke.
If he were someone who would compromise on something like this, Ai wouldn't be lying in a hospital bed, the Five Great Nations wouldn't be at war with him, and Samui herself wouldn't be following him like this.
Kurotsuchi's eyes fell on Ryosuke.
He gestured for her to wait, then returned to his desk, took a photo from the drawer, placed it on the coffee table, and slid it toward her.
In the photo, she and Akatsuchi stood surrounded by laughing villagers, with a few dogs joining the fun at the edges.
Ryosuke lightly tapped the photo with his finger, "I received this photo two days ago, along with a letter thanking you. You two saved a village of two hundred people."
"Afterward, I asked the Land of Wind's prison. In the month you were imprisoned, you planted over seventy-four thousand trees in total, that's ten years of work for ordinary prisoners."
"That is the reason."
"Besides, after arriving at the research institute, your work is no different from what you did in prison... "
Ryosuke said seriously, "To work toward reclaiming an unknown, barren universe."
"This is a job with no known end. Before it's finished, I cannot let you leave."
"In fact, in the long run, if you had kept serving your sentence in prison, you might've gained your freedom earlier and gone on to do what you want."
Ryosuke looked at each of the three in turn.
"If you want to give up now, it's still not too late."
Kurotsuchi stared at the photo. After thinking for a long time, she suddenly stood up.
She bowed deeply to Ryosuke.
"Please allow me to take part in this work."