Chapter 57: Completely Unprepared
Raging flames soared skyward, as if even the heavens had been scorched red!
"It's a fire—put it out! My house, my house!"
Brother Wang wailed like a madman. Others hurriedly grabbed him and tried to console him. "Brother Wang, don't be rash. As long as there's life, there's hope—where there's green hills, there'll be firewood to burn!"
After great difficulty, they finally managed to calm Brother Wang down. Then, all of a sudden…
The entire village began to catch fire.
The sudden flames couldn't be put out, and no source could be found.
"Ow! My house!"
"Damn it, mine's on fire too!"
"Hurry, put it out! My house—!"
In an instant, the crowd that had just been relatively calm erupted into panicked shouting…
Seeing this, Brother Wang suddenly froze. He stopped crying altogether and instead burst out laughing. "Hahaha! Old Li, Xiao Jiang, don't be rash—where there's life, there's hope!"
What a dramatic scene…
The fire in Wolveshame Village grew larger and larger. No matter how reluctant the villagers were to abandon their belongings, they could only flee far away. Towering flames and rolling smoke surged into the sky—so conspicuous that they could be seen clearly even from several hundred li away!
At the same time, more than fifty kilometers from Wolveshame Village, inside a rocky cave…
"Captain, something seems to be happening in Wolveshame Village, fifty li away!"
"Hm?"
Tu Fei Fengta, a seasoned chūnin of the Sand Village, raised his eyebrows in confusion. "It looks like a fire, but we can't completely rule out that it's some trick by Leaf Village ninja…"
After pondering for a long time, Tu Fei Fengta decided to send someone to check it out.
"Matsukawa Koichi, you go take a look!"
Matsukawa Koichi was the defensive specialist of their squad, highly proficient in Earth Release techniques. Although he was only a genin, an average chūnin would still need to put in serious effort to take him down.
And that amount of time would be more than enough for him to send out a warning…
"Yes!"
Matsukawa Koichi not only looked honest and simple, his personality was equally straightforward. Upon receiving the order, he said nothing, turned around, and walked out of the cave. Chakra surged through his legs as he rushed toward the distant Wolveshame Village. In just ten minutes, Matsukawa Koichi arrived…
"What's going on here?"
In just ten minutes, an entire village couldn't possibly have burned to the ground. The villagers could only watch from afar, not daring to approach.
"We don't know. The houses just caught fire for no reason, and the flames wouldn't go out no matter what…"
Brother Wang sat on the ground in a daze, staring blankly around him. "Then the whole village started burning!"
Hearing this, Matsukawa Koichi frowned.
He had originally thought it was just a simple accidental fire, but judging from this account, it didn't sound like a mere accident…
But why would Leaf Village ninja set fire to civilian homes? Aside from escalating the situation, what benefit would that bring to the Leaf?
Matsukawa Koichi couldn't figure it out, and naturally decided to enter the fire scene and investigate for himself…
"Water Release—Water Shroud!"
Chakra flowed, and two winding columns of water quietly circled around Matsukawa Koichi. This was a simple D-rank technique, barely sufficient to fend off some burns. Carefully avoiding the fiercest flames, Matsukawa Koichi caught a clear scent of chakra…
These flames were definitely not ordinary fire, but fire produced by ninjutsu.
"Waa—waa~"
Just as Matsukawa Koichi was thinking, a sudden baby's cry interrupted his thoughts.
"What's this?"
Following the sound, Matsukawa Koichi discovered a one-year-old infant huddled in a corner of the inferno, wailing loudly. The baby was incredibly lucky—three thick roof beams had crossed together and were burning fiercely, yet they had perfectly formed a small pocket of survivable space.
Seeing this, Matsukawa Koichi almost instinctively walked over.
This had nothing to do with the distinction between ninja and civilian—just a basic human reaction. Survivors of great disasters were always especially pitiful…
What's more, this was a citizen of the Land of Wind. Without these civilians, ninja like them wouldn't enjoy such comfortable lives. Or rather, the reason the Five Great Ninja Villages were the Five Great Ninja Villages was precisely because the Five Great Nations were the Five Great Nations.
Without wealthy, resource-rich countries, it would be impossible to support the enormous expense of maintaining ninja villages…
"Little guy, you're really lucky!"
Matsukawa Koichi smiled as he reached out and lifted the infant from the flames. "Don't cry anymore, little one. What's your name?"
"My name is—"
Li Jie xuan sobbed as he tightly grabbed Matsukawa Koichi's hand, then suddenly split his mouth into a ferocious grin. "Sand ninja grandpa!"
"What?!"
Matsukawa Koichi's eyes widened, and his hands instinctively moved to form hand seals.
But before he could make any move at all, a sharp kunai pierced straight through his heart!
With a "thud," Matsukawa Koichi collapsed stiffly onto the ground…
Even in death, he couldn't understand how a two-year-old baby could wield a blade and kill him!
Prying open Matsukawa Koichi's stiff hands, Li Jie xuan curled his lip in disdain. After waiting so long, only a single genin showed up. What a waste of this young master's acting skills…
At the same time, several kilometers away, Hyuga Yizhen swallowed hard. "It's done…"
Completely unprepared—no one would ever be on guard against an infant who had survived a disaster.
Matsukawa Koichi had, for all intents and purposes, delivered himself straight onto Li Jie xuan's kunai…
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