A gentle yet slightly raspy voice interrupted Hyuga Aokawa's thoughts.
He snapped back to reality and saw Keiko's hands resting on the knot of his robe, her eyes filled with concern.
"Your wound... it's opened up again."
Keiko explained softly, her tone carrying a mix of guilt and heartache.
Hyuga Aokawa looked down and realized that the bandages on his body were already stained with quite a bit of bright red.
The combat and exertion from earlier had worsened his injuries.
"Sorry to trouble you."
He nodded and relaxed his body, letting Keiko get to work.
Keiko's movements were gentle and professional as she carefully untied the blood-stained clothing and removed the old bandages.
"I still don't know your name, Ninja Lord."
Keiko's hands didn't stop as she struck up a conversation.
"Hyuga Aokawa. You can just call me Aokawa."
"Yes, Lord Aokawa."
Keiko followed his lead but still maintained the honorific, then she asked out of concern:
"How did you end up crossing paths with that beast and getting such heavy injuries?"
"There was an accident during a mission."
Hyuga Aokawa glossed over it vaguely and asked in return:
"How did you end up living here at the foot of the mountain by yourselves? And you know how to treat wounds."
Hyuga Aokawa found it a bit strange, seeing how skilled her technique for applying medicine was.
Keiko's movements paused slightly at his words, and she let out a sigh.
"My husband and I... we used to practice medicine in a nearby Village. Life was quite good back then."
"But in the last two years, for some reason, the local bandits have become more and more rampant."
"A few months ago, the small Village we were in was massacred by bandits. The entire Village was gone."
"Eri and I only escaped because we were out gathering herbs, but my husband..."
At this point, Keiko's expression grew mournful, her eyes clouded over, and tears silently slid from the corners of her eyes.
"I had no choice but to bring Eri here to hide in these mountains. At least... it's safe here for now."
Hyuga Aokawa realized the situation and felt a chill in his heart: "Bandits rampant on the border... this is clearly a sign that a major war is about to break out."
Calculating the timeline, the prelude to the Third Shinobi World War was likely about to begin.
In this war, the Land of Fire would face a 1v4 situation and was nearly pushed back to its doorstep, resulting in heavy casualties among the new generation.
At this point in time, various countries were likely already making moves. Once the fighting started, the border would become a meat grinder.
"This place is no longer habitable."
Hyuga Aokawa suddenly spoke with absolute certainty.
Keiko froze for a moment and subconsciously looked at the dilapidated house: "Yes... yes, the house is already like this. It needs to be repaired before..."
"I mean you should move to the central region of the Land of Fire."
Hyuga Aokawa interrupted her, his face serious.
"Move... move? To the central region?"
Keiko was a bit lost. "But... but we don't know anyone there..."
Hyuga Aokawa looked at her: "You have medical skills. You should have no problem making a living anywhere."
"Just as long as you don't stay too close to Konoha Village..."
"Eh?" Keiko was completely confused.
"Shouldn't Konoha be the safest place? There are so many Ninjas there."
"That is exactly why it's the most dangerous place," Hyuga Aokawa said.
Just in the Third Shinobi World War alone, people fought their way to the doorstep twice.
After that, there was the Nine-Tailed, Orochimaru, Pain, the Ōtsutsuki... and if you add in the events from other side stories that weren't in the main plot.
In the short span of twenty to thirty years, Konoha would be destroyed about a dozen times.
It could be considered a land of many disasters.
Being the protagonist isn't easy either!
However, there was no need to tell Keiko all this.
Fortunately, she didn't ask further and nodded as if she half-understood.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
A series of somewhat dull thumping sounds rang out, catching their attention.
The two of them looked toward the source of the sound.
They saw little Eri sticking her small bottom out, laboriously swinging a Kunai that was much larger than her tiny hand.
She was hitting the forehead of the bald brute on the ground over and over.
She kept muttering: "Bad man... bad man, how dare you bully Mama."
"Kill you..."
The little girl's round-headed, dead-serious appearance was truly adorable.
Hyuga Aokawa couldn't help but chuckle softly.
Keiko, on the other hand, helplessly put a hand to her forehead, both annoyed and amused.
"Eri-chan, come here. Why are you playing with just anything?"
"Eri isn't playing." The little girl looked up, her face solemn as she spoke in a milky voice: "Eri is helping Mama vent her anger."
"Alright, alright, thank you for your hard work then, Eri-chan. Come over as soon as you're done venting, okay?"
"Two more hits, then I'm done..."
...In a dense forest thirty kilometers outside Konoha Village.
"Aren't they here yet?"
A shrill voice spoke from the bushes.
"I haven't sensed anything, Big Brother! How about we come out first? It's uncomfortable lying here."
"Shut up! Endure it!" the shrill voice scolded in a low tone.
"But Big Brother, there are so many bugs in the grass. My butt is itchy... they're crawling all over."
The simple and slow voice replied, accompanied by the sound of rustling and scratching.
The shrill voice was silent for a moment before saying: "Then... then let's come out first."
The bushes shook for a while, and then two goofy-looking figures emerged.
One was short and small, with a round face scattered with a few freckles and eyes that betrayed confusion and ignorance.
The other was tall and thin, with small eyes, high cheekbones, and several scrolls tucked into his waist.
The tall, thin one was Ichū Jin, and the short, chubby one was Ichū Bu. The brothers made a living through banditry and bounty missions.
As soon as they stepped out of the bushes, Ichū Bu saw his brother holding a mission scroll, checking something with a solemn expression.
He carefully leaned in: "Big Brother, we haven't been tricked, have we?"
Ichū Jin waved his hand.
"Don't worry, I spent a hundred thousand Ryo to buy the whereabouts of this Ninja Academy Student. The Black Market wouldn't do something so disreputable."
"A hundred thousand Ryo?"
Ichū Bu cried out in surprise: "A hundred thousand Ryo just for news on a Ninja Academy Student? How much is the kid even worth?"
"Look at how short-sighted you are."
Ichū Jin gave him an annoyed glare and stuffed the scroll into his arms.
"See for yourself. Capturing a student with the Byakugan is a net profit of 900,000 Ryo. This is way better than selling a few orphans."
Ichū Bu clumsily unfurled the scroll, his eyes instantly bulging and his breathing becoming rapid: "Big Brother, we're going to be rich..."
"You bet!" Ichū Jin said proudly. "Listen up, when the fight starts, kill everyone except the one with the white eyes."
"White eyes?" Ichū Bu looked blank.
"Yes, the eyes of the Hyuga Clan are different from normal people, they're white. Don't kill him; he's worth nothing if he's dead."
"Oh!" Ichū Bu nodded simple-mindedly.
Then he suddenly blinked his confused little eyes and stared blankly toward a certain direction in the forest.
"Big Brother, it seems like there really is someone with white eyes. Whoosh... they just ran past."
"What ran past?" Ichū Jin frowned, not quite hearing his brother's mumbling.
Ichū Bu scratched his head: "In my perception, that white-eyed kid you mentioned just seemed to run past on that small path over there."
"Small... small path?" The surprise on Ichū Jin's face instantly froze and turned into bewilderment.
"Where the hell is there a small path?"