Since the establishment of Konohagakure, Fūmori Masaki and the others had never left the place; the land allocated to Konohagakure by the ruler of the Land of Fire was quite vast and rich in resources, so there was absolutely no need to leave the Village to purchase daily necessities.
Furthermore, after the unification of the Land of Fire, the territory was stable, and there was no need for them to carry out national missions; they had always lived, played, and trained within the Village, so, all things considered, this was their first time going out.
Although it was their first time leaving the Village, the group was not at a loss; as Ninja, they had long since learned various skills and could handle the situation perfectly.
Just as Hashirama said, this mission was very simple, far easier compared to missions during the Warring States Period, so he did not arrange for any elders to lead the group on the mission.
Hashirama and Tobirama had high hopes for the seven disciples under their tutelage; if they could not handle even such an easy mission on their own, it would be an insult to the training they had provided.
The Ninja moved with extraordinary speed; as their Chakra circulated, the seven could easily leap onto trees, their bodies moving with incredible lightness as they darted through the forest.
Fūmori Masaki had never thought there was anything wrong with Chakra before, but his experience living in another world made him realize just how miraculous an energy Chakra was; in terms of its manifestations, it violated many theories from the other world, making it seem almost like a miracle.
However, Fūmori Masaki did not think that Chakra was truly unscientific; the correct way to put it was that it did not conform to the known scientific theories of the other world.
Originally, the definition of science was a theory capable of correctly reflecting the essence and laws of the world; the world was unimaginably vast, and even in the other world, one could not guarantee that the theories they had discovered were the entirety of the world; in fact, there were many mysteries that even the scientists of that world could not explain.
However, the reason these mysteries appeared must surely be that they followed some kind of law, only that the scientists of the other world had not yet discovered this law; this was a very normal thing, because they had not discovered a theory that could be applied to any field, and things like those mysteries or Chakra were very likely in fields that were not yet understood.
It was just like a hundred years ago in that world, where theories called classical could not explain situations within a specific field, while a hundred years later, newly established theories could explain the phenomena in that field.
This was precisely because the theories of that world only held true under certain relative conditions, and a theory that could absolutely adapt to any situation had not yet appeared.
Fūmori Masaki believed that Chakra certainly had its own theoretical system, but for the Ninja World where scientific thought had not yet emerged, everyone valued practicality and did not study the essence of Chakra; most people could not even understand why their Doton formed in that specific way.
Hashirama had created the Wood Release Secret Technique through his own talent, but he could not teach the Wood Release Secret Technique to others; the reason behind this was that Hashirama could not systematically summarize the Wood Release Doton, relying mainly on his own experience, and the difficulty of this far exceeded the learning of ordinary Doton; if one did not have the same aptitude as Hashirama, it was feared that no one could learn the Wood Release Secret Technique on their own.
Upon realizing this, Fūmori Masaki finally understood why the Bloodline Limit families in this Ninja World were all isolated branches, and why other Bloodline Limits with the same Secret Technique had never appeared—geniuses capable of creating Secret Techniques were rare in the first place, and how could one ensure other geniuses would have the same train of thought and walk the same path? Under such selection and elimination, the situation of those Bloodline Limit families was understandable.
In a situation where theory could not support it, if others wanted to obtain the power of a Bloodline Limit, they could only start from the perspective of bloodlines; even Orochimaru, who was called a scientist by readers of the other world, could not escape this framework, and despite paying a huge sacrifice, there was only one experimental subject who successfully mastered the Wood Release Secret Technique.
Based on the historical experience of the other world, Fūmori Masaki believed that to let the Ninja World move toward a new stage, it was necessary to establish a theoretical system for Chakra, but the process would surely be very long; even someone like Orochimaru could not establish a clear system, and Fūmori Masaki did not dare to guarantee whether he could see the emergence of this system in his lifetime.
Even so, every system had a primitive process; Fūmori Masaki acknowledged that he did not have the aptitude and consciousness of a scientist, but he could push others to try to establish a primitive system, and then let those in future generations who were smarter and more capable than him and Orochimaru perfect and expand it, thereby establishing a scientific theory for Chakra.
Fūmori Masaki could imagine that by then, not only Ninja, but even ordinary civilians could master the power of Chakra, and this world would truly welcome a new era, a brand new world that even Hashirama, Tobirama, and the others could not imagine.
At this moment, the seven had slowly approached the Village mentioned by Ichiro; this Village was very small, and the people lived very peacefully; after Hashirama assisted the ruler of the Land of Fire in unifying the chaotic country, following the principle that great order follows great chaos, the country tended toward stability, and the wars of the past never occurred again; if it were during the Warring States Period, such a small Village would have long since perished in the chaos.
Likewise, under the atmosphere of peace, some chaos would also quietly breed, and this Village had unfortunately encountered trouble.
The seven did not act immediately; gathering intelligence was a principle for Ninja; they carefully observed the situation in the Village, and when they saw those "bandits" carrying weapons appear, they were surprised to discover that the true identity of the other party was actually Ronin.
During the Warring States Period, Samurai held a revered status and enjoyed immense glory, and the Ninja who lived in the shadows at that time could not compare to them, but as Hashirama led the Ninja to assist the ruler of the Land of Fire in completing the great cause of unification, the ruler of the Land of Fire officially made the Ninja group the military force of the country, and the Samurai gradually declined—
Samurai who were unwilling to associate with Ninja left the country to live in another nation; other Samurai attached themselves to feudal lords and monarchs, becoming their private armies; there were also some low-level Samurai who were not accepted by anyone, and they could only live in poverty; this type of Samurai was called Ronin.
Although these people in front of them looked very much like bandits, Fūmori Masaki and the others were not ignorant about Samurai; they could confirm that these people were indeed Samurai, or rather, Ronin among the Samurai; judging by their appearance, it was probably because they could not make a living that they had turned to banditry.
"A bunch of scumbags, they really insult the name of Samurai." Utatane Koharu cursed with a look of disgust.
The families of Utatane Koharu and Homura Mitokado were not powerful, and there were very few people who could become Ninja; when they were adopted by Hashirama, they had not even learned Ninja knowledge.
And during the Warring States Period, what destroyed both of their families were the exiled Samurai who had lost their masters in the national strife; at that time, they looked just like a group of thieves.
Toward true Samurai, although Utatane Koharu did not have any good feelings, she would acknowledge the other party, after all, their character was indeed very good, but for this group of scumbags, there was only disgust; they had originally come only because of the mission, but now she felt some sympathy for this Village, as if she could see the shadow of her own family.
"Although the identity of the other party is somewhat special, it is not a big deal." Hiruzen Sarutobi said, "Since they intend to engage in this business, then they are no different from bandits; let's just follow what Mr. Ichiro requested and drive them away."
"Just drive them all away?" Fūmori Masaki suddenly said, "They are clearly Samurai, yet they have fallen to this point; I have heard that although Ronin exist, their numbers are not very large, and they cannot even find a single master, which shows that their own problems are very serious. Although they don't seem to be too excessive now, it might be hard to say in the future."
"Masaki, what do you mean?" Hiruzen Sarutobi was stunned.
"Just kill them all." Fūmori Masaki's eyes were somewhat cold; the experience of living in another world made him hate these guys who robbed and plundered.
Although the Samurai class in the country was declining, it was not completely without a place to go; even if no one in the country accepted them, they could go to the Land of Iron, which was now known as the place where Samurai belonged; it was very welcoming to Samurai, and he had never heard of them being refused, but these people chose to turn to banditry, which could be said to be malicious in nature, and letting them go would only cause them to harm other places.
"Uh—" Hiruzen Sarutobi hesitated after hearing this; he also did not have any good feelings for these Ronin, and Lord Hashirama had also said that they could handle it at their discretion; after thinking about it, he asked the others: "What do you think?"
Utatane Koharu was the first to choose to support it, and the others had no objections; Hiruzen Sarutobi nodded and said, "Okay, then let's do it that way."