Escape From Konoha

"Dad, the banditry at the beach has been a bit serious recently. If you can avoid fishing there, it's best not to go there."

While eating breakfast, I received advice from my daughter Tsunami.

She looked at her father, Tatsuna, with worried eyes.

As the leading bridge-building expert in the Land of Waves, he is very skilled in construction, so he is not only good at building bridges, but also building roads and houses. Because of these abilities, courage, responsibility, and willingness to help others, Dazna is very famous in the local area and is a celebrity.

However, as a small country, the Country of Waves does not have ninjas as military protection.

Although the big countries don't care about the internal environment of the Country of Waves, the outbreak of war between the ninjas of the big countries often leads to various serious banditry in the surrounding small countries.

These bandits are most likely made up of homeless people in war zones. They cannot survive and can only survive by robbing.

But in this way, the people of the Country of Waves will suffer.

The daimyo and nobles did nothing, and the combat effectiveness of their soldiers was also very weak. As a result, pirates plundered the coastal towns of the Land of Waves and became increasingly rampant.

Even people who went fishing at sea were greatly affected, and their lives gradually became depressed.

"This kind of thing doesn't matter, Tsunami. Besides, fishing at sea is also a job. Although I am a famous bridge builder, I must also consider my family's livelihood."

Tatsuna said to his daughter Tsunami while eating pickled cucumbers and holding a steamed bun in his hand.

"But……"

"There is no way. The only person in the family who can go out to work now is me. When Inari grows up, he can take over my job and support the family."

Dazna said earnestly, but also full of helplessness.

Inari was the son of his daughter Tsunami, and he was supposed to have a complete childhood. However, in order to target the pirates at sea, the daimyo and the nobles imposed forced conscription in the country. Many young people were recruited to fight against the pirates.

His son-in-law died in the battle against pirates.

There are many such examples. Young men from many families have unfortunately died in battles against pirates.

As a result, those who stay at home are basically the elderly, women, and young children.

"Then be careful."

"Don't worry, there are many workers who came with me. Even if we encounter pirates, so many people can protect themselves."

Tatsuna nodded and accepted his daughter Tsunami's kindness.

After all, in recent years, fewer and fewer businessmen have entrusted him with building bridges in Wave Country. He cannot do his full-time job and can only rely on fishing to support his family's livelihood. After all, this is a job that supports a family.

Just then, there was a knock on the door, attracting the attention of Tatsuna and Tsunami.

"What are you doing? It's not time to go fishing on the sea yet. Are you here so early?"

Dazna put down the steamed bun in his hand and couldn't help complaining.

There should be still an hour left before the agreed time to prepare.

Before Tazuna could stand up, Tsunami stood up first.

"I'll do it, Dad."

With that said, he walked through the corridor and walked towards the entrance.

After a while, there was no movement.

Tatsuna felt strange and shouted: "Tsunami, why is there no sound?"

Not long after, Tsunami came back with a strange look on her face.

"What's wrong? Who's here?"

Dazna asked curiously.

"They didn't say it."

"them?"

"Well, they are dressed very formally. They want to see you, dad. They have something to talk about. Maybe it's a commission."

Tsunami said with a smile.

If so, that would be great. After all, it is too dangerous to go fishing at sea. Even if you go with other workers, you will inevitably suffer casualties if you are targeted by pirates.

If Tazuna falls, Tsunami really doesn't know what to do.

"Entrustment? This country is so poor, how can anyone come here..."

Although he said this, Tazuna still stood up from his seat sincerely, and under the leadership of Tsunami, they walked to the entrance together.

The door there was open, and five people could be seen standing outside.

The leader was a very young girl, about twelve or thirteen years old, with long black hair as gorgeous as silk, a slight smile on her face, and her clothes looked of the highest quality.

Behind her, there were four adults, both men and women, wearing uniform and standard clothes, wearing black coats, maintaining a solemn and majestic atmosphere.

Is she some noble lady traveling? Such confusion appeared in Dazuna's heart.

"Hello, miss, may I ask, what do you want to do with me, this bad old man?"

Tatsuna knew that the girl in front was the leader, so he asked her.

"Hello, Mr. Tazuna, my name is Chiba Kazuhime, from the country of ghosts."

"The country of ghosts?"

Listening to the girl's story, Dazna was slightly stunned.

Only then did he notice that the black coats of the four guards behind Yi Ji were embroidered with some kind of floral pattern.

That's an aster flower.

It is the national flower of the kingdom of ghosts.

This term's miko is also named after the aster flower.

"Why do people from the Kingdom of Ghosts come to my place? It's the daimyo who owes money, and it has nothing to do with a commoner like me."

Darzner said so.

It is not uncommon in China for a daimyo to owe money.

The Kingdom of Oni owns the Aster Flower Chamber of Commerce, which has the strongest commercial strength in the ninja world. Its industries are spread all over the ninja world, and it also provides loan business to daimyo and nobles of various countries. The Daimyo of the Land of Waves was targeted by debt collectors from the Land of Demons because he failed to pay his debts on time.

"You are joking, Mr. Dazuna. I came here today just to pay you a simple visit."

"visit?"

"That's right. I heard that you are an expert in building bridges and a famous celebrity in the local area. And I want to recruit some workers here in the country of Waves to do some work for me. I think if I have Mr. Dazuna's help, , it should be a lot easier to recruit workers.”

"Recruiting workers? Do you want to do some projects in the Country of Waves?"

Dazna looked at Kazuki strangely.

As we all know, the Country of Waves is a small island country with extremely scarce resources. Even though it is surrounded by the sea, the fishing and shipping industries are also greatly restricted due to the prevalence of pirates around it.

"We'll discuss the specific plans later. Then I won't disturb Dazna's breakfast. Goodbye."

Yiji bowed slightly, turned around and left with four guards.

"What a strange little girl, but she comes from the country of ghosts..."

Things in the Kingdom of Ghosts have been very violent recently.

Even the country of Waves, which is not well-informed, has also obtained some rumors.

War with a big country or something like that was completely beyond the reach of a humble citizen like him.

Watching Ichiji and others leave, Dazuna stood at the door and fell into deep thought.

"That, Dad..."

"What's the matter, Tsunami?"

"That lady seems to have brought a gift."

Tsunami pointed to the exquisite gift box that was placed at the door at an unknown time.

"Uh...how did you accept it?"

Dazna frowned suddenly.

If you accept this gift, rejecting many things will not be as easy as imagined.

He now has no idea what the purpose of Yiji's visit to him was.

Although he is indeed a famous bridge-building expert in the Land of Waves, his so-called fame is just that the working class can speak more.

But among the upper class of the Country of Waves, he has no so-called authority at all.

The aura of Ichiki always gave him a more majestic feeling than the Daimyo of Wave Country.

Can such a big shot value the meager personal resources he has?

Various places are full of sense of disobedience and weirdness.

"I couldn't help it. I didn't find out until they left."

Tsunami smiled wryly.

"That's it, then just accept it, but don't open it. If what she wants to do for me is too troublesome, it will be easy to refuse when the time comes."

Although Dazuna didn't know what was in the gift box, it was definitely a valuable treasure that a construction worker like him would never see in his lifetime.

Because of this, if he really opens the contents, and if things become complicated later, he won't even have a way out to regret it.

"Don't worry, Dad, it's not the first time I've seen this happen. I will keep it carefully and don't open it casually."

Tsunami also knows the difficulties of her father Dazna.

Behind the seemingly famous person, there are also many sad experiences.

Especially when dealing with people from the upper class, you have to be even more careful to avoid being plotted.

"well……"

Dazna sighed, looking at the morning sun.

Life is getting harder and harder. He felt so emotional in his heart.

◎

After visiting Dazuna, Kazuhime was not in a hurry to return to the sea cruise ship as her temporary residence. Instead, she went to the towns of the Land of Waves and began a practical investigation.

When it comes to practical inspections, Ichiki has always liked to do it herself, and having studied in Konoha and Kirigakure, she also has her own set of practices, rather than simply following the book and calling all cognitions the truth.

Don’t trust everything in the textbooks. Things that are too beautiful may sound like heaven. But if you don’t pay attention to the actual situation and just carry out changes blindly, it’s best to come up with something completely different, which may be far away from hell. even closer.

Any system is actually just a transitional product.

The so-called progress means constantly moving forward with new ideas, rather than clinging to the glory of the past and indulging in the vanity of the past.

The Uchiha of Konoha were defeated by the complicated political environment within Konoha, but on the other hand, the Uchiha of Konoha would not be reused in the Kingdom of Demons. The core values ​​are completely different, how can they be integrated? That will take a long time to transform.

As for the genocide murderer Uchiha Itachi, Kazuhime just felt a little emotional and sighed for a while.

Walking in the towns of the Land of Waves, even in the center of the town, the crowds are very sparse, not to mention the types of shops, giving people a feeling of the Great Depression.

In hidden corners, you can also see some shady shops operating in pink clubs.

The vicious gangsters, with weird hairstyles and colorfully dyed hair, holding iron rods and knives and guns in their hands, were in the dark alleyways, staring at the people passing by on the street like greedy evil spirits, seemingly looking for suitable prey for them to attack. . Next to it is a garbage dump.

Black market, gambling, pornography, you can feel this atmosphere even during the day.

Not just pirates, there are also bad-natured groups such as gangs in this country, which have become powerful local snakes and rely on various illegal enterprises to obtain funds and territory.

It wasn't until the sun set in the evening that Yiji ended the day's practical inspection.

But we only inspected one town. There are many such towns in the country of waves. We need to inspect them one by one to know what this country really looks like.

Back on the cruise ship at sea, in the lounge, Yiji took the information collected in her hand, flipped through the pages, and began to think about the next strategy.

"Special clubs, casinos, gangs... There are so many internal problems in this country, and I'm afraid it won't be solved in a short while."

Yi Ji frowned in distress.

She knew that the situation in the Kingdom of Waves might not be as good as she imagined, but she never expected that such a huge evil industrial chain could be secretly accumulated, which was deeply rooted in the Kingdom of Waves.

"Miss."

After knocking on the door and getting permission, a ninja from the Kingdom of Ghosts walked into the lounge and said respectfully to Kazuhime.

"What's up?"

"President Cardo is back."

"Oh? It seems that something happened with him. Let him come over."

Cardo has been visiting the Daimyo of the Land of Waves since yesterday morning. There must be an explanation over there as the day goes by.

Moreover, she also wanted to know more about the situation of the daimyo and nobles of Wave Country.

"yes."

Not long after the Ghost Country ninja went down, the door was knocked again.

"Come in."

As Ichiji finished speaking, the door of the lounge was pushed open.

A short, middle-aged man wearing black formal clothes walked in.

He has a mustache and a pair of round sunglasses, and you can faintly see the sharp eyes hidden under the sunglasses, which is very aggressive.

He also held a black iron cane in his hand, which he needed to use to move.

Cardo.

is the name of this middle-aged man.

She was a veteran who followed her father Shiraishi in the early days. She once served in the senior management of Ziyuanhua Chamber of Commerce and led the development of Ziyuanhua Pharmaceutical Technology Company. Later, she transferred to the shipping company under the Chamber of Commerce as the president. He has strong personal connections in various countries and is a business talent with very powerful means.

"How is it? How is the situation with the daimyo? Is there still no way to collect the debt?"

After Kado came in, Yiji glanced at Kado and asked him.

"I'm very sorry, miss. The daimyo of Wave Country is unable to repay his debt. He hopes that we can give him a little more grace."

Cardo told the truth.

This has already been confirmed, and Cardo went over this time just to confirm it again.

In other words, it was to say hello to the country of waves.

"As expected, so what exactly did they use the funds they borrowed from the Chamber of Commerce?"

Yiji continued to ask.

"They claim that it will be used for the construction of the country and the army, as well as the development of the domestic shipping industry and fishery."

The country of Nami is an island country surrounded by the sea and has a good environment for the development of the ship industry and fishery. This is why the Aster Flower Merchant Association was willing to grant loans to the daimyo of the country of Nami.

After all, the purpose of the Chamber of Commerce is to make money. If it cannot repay its capital, it will not have anything to do with the Daimyo of Wave Country from the beginning.

As for what Cardo refers to as speaking, it is a rather vague concept.

"In the end, it turned out to be secretly funding pirates at sea, robbing business travelers passing through the Country of Waves, and using it to develop black businesses in the country, right?"

Yi Ji seemed to have seen through something and spoke.

"Does the eldest lady already know?"

"The combat effectiveness of that group of pirates is too strong, and their weapons are also very sophisticated. The average person cannot raise such a fat pirate. Moreover, in the dark places in the territory, the black business is so rampant. As a result, there is no turmoil in the country, but it remains A stable balance...it is obviously facing external and internal troubles, which is a bit abnormal no matter how you look at it."

Yi Ji expressed his guess.

Cardo nodded, with a smile that looked very sinister to outsiders.

"Indeed, with normal development, there is no way to make money faster than from profiteering industries such as pornography, gambling and drugs. This is a hugely profitable thing."

Although the Country of Waves has a good foundation for developing the shipping industry and fishery, these industries require huge long-term investment of capital.

Moreover, there is no guarantee that it will bring tangible benefits to oneself.

After all, the Country of Waves is a small country with a very small territory, and not many people usually come to this country.

In order to gain more benefits, we can open up some special industry privileges to some businessmen in the ninja world, and they can make money while lying down.

As for the pirates at sea, it might be the forces under the daimyo of the wave country, or some big figures, and the army funded privately was just under the banner of pirates.

At the same time, this also shows that the country of Waves is in a difficult situation, making people feel that they really can't come up with money to repay their debts.

"Find the treasury hidden by the daimyo and those nobles as soon as possible. They must have hidden the collected funds somewhere in this country."

This time she came to the Land of Waves, and there were ninjas from the Hyuga clan in her team.

In front of Byakugan, those treasures can never be hidden.

It would be difficult for a small country like Wave Country to recruit powerful ninjas, so just be careful and deal with it.

"yes."

"In addition, find someone to publicize this matter and strive to have a certain influence among the people of the Country of Waves. Let's warm up the atmosphere first."

Kazuki made another suggestion.

The reason for doing this is just to arouse public opinion among the people, make them question the upper class of the Kingdom of Waves, deepen conflicts, and lay the groundwork for future reform plans.

The Country of Waves is very close to the Country of Fire. She has to pay attention not only to the forces within the Country of Waves, but also to the external forces.

Because of this, she needs to win over working-class forces like Dazna.

As long as the Kingdom of Ghosts does not take the initiative to intervene, there is no reason for the Kingdom of Fire to intervene.

As for how to operate in secret, it depends on each person's ability.

At least the balance on the bright side cannot be destroyed.

◎

After Kakashi's hard work for many days, the police department was finally successfully activated again.

Since Konoha's Uchiha clan has been wiped out, the new guard team is temporarily divided into Anbu's department and becomes another special force to manage various violations of law and discipline within Konoha.

In this way, Hokage's power has also been expanded in a new round, and the root's reaction to this is still very calm, without the slightest targeted action, as if acquiescing to such behavior.

Although Mitomon Yan and Zhuanju Koharu, who are the consultant duo, have some criticisms about this, and proposed to separate the security force from Anbu, but this proposal was rejected by the Third Hokage.

Therefore, under the resolute promotion of the three generations of Hokage, a new guard team was established to replace the functions of the Uchiha Guard Team in the past to manage various violations of law and discipline within Konoha, and was temporarily replaced by Hatake Kakashi, the new minister of Anbu management position.

"Did Tsunade-sama still not give an accurate reply?"

As the captain of Konoha's Jonin squad, Shikaku is now more concerned about the candidate of the next Hokage than the formation of the police force.

Judging from the many difficulties Konoha is currently facing, the third generation of Hokage is obviously insufficient, and a more courageous Hokage is needed to wipe out Konoha's decline.

And whether it was Hiruzen or him, the Jonin squad leader, the perfect candidate in his mind was Tsunade, one of the three ninjas.

Senju's direct family, the granddaughter of the first generation of Hokage, the advocate of medical reform, etc. After considering various factors, there is no more suitable candidate for Hokage than Tsunade among Konoha.

"Jiraiya is working hard to persuade, but there is no guarantee when it will succeed."

Hiruzen took a puff from the cigarette rod and exhaled softly, his words full of helplessness.

Once upon a time, Konoha was full of talents, and powerful ninjas emerged in an endless stream to intimidate all countries, so that enemy countries did not dare to act rashly.

But as time went by, and with the outbreak of the Third Ninja War, these advantages of Konoha were lost.

Bai Fang committed suicide, Chiba Shiraishi, Uchiha Ruri, and Hinata Ayane's original Bai Fang team defected collectively, Tsunade left the Konoha political center, Minato died unfortunately, Orochimaru defected from the village, Jiraiya traveled around the world, He also chose to stay away from the political center of Konoha...

Hiruzen had also imagined that if he had not made any mistakes in the past, could he have undone all this tragedy?

No matter what, it would not bring Konoha to the embarrassing situation it is in now.

The kingdom of ghosts has risen, and the Uchiha and Hyuga branches have started anew there, and the development has been impressive, but there are many people who maliciously mock Konoha's incompetence and weakness behind the scenes.

When people get old, they always like to get stuck in the memories of the past, and Hiruzen as Hokage is no exception.

Perhaps it is because there are so many regrets and regrets that it is easier to fall into such unrealistic fantasies.

Shikaku nodded. He just asked casually to understand the situation.

"There is no need to worry too much about the security team. As for the response, it will take a while to know. But according to my guess, the problem should not be big."

After all, he and Kakashi handpicked the members of the guard team. They screened and screened from the comprehensive aspects of strength, character, and the degree of belief in the will of fire. It can be said that they are all ninjas who are loyal to Konoha and Hokage.

They will never act against the interests of the village.

"I've seen it too. The members are very good. As long as it can be put on the schedule as soon as possible. By the way, there is one more thing I want to discuss with you."

Hiruzen took out a scroll from the drawer and put it in Shikaku's hand.

After Shikakuna took it apart, he frowned when he took it apart.

"Settling in the country of waves? What does the country of ghosts want to do?"

The content on the scroll is that a ship from the Kingdom of Ghosts is docked at the port of the Kingdom of Waves. There are a number of ninjas and debt collectors on board, all of whom are dangerous elements with powerful force.

As the neighboring country of the Country of Fire, the Country of Waves is now being invaded by forces from the Country of Ghosts who have come from afar. Things are a bit unusual no matter how you look at it.

"On the surface, they are using debt collection as an excuse, but secretly they may be planning to stay in the Country of Waves for a long time and cause some trouble."

There was a warning look in Ri Zhan's eyes.

Lu Jiu pondered.

Hiruzen said, taking out another photo, which was a full-body photo of a character.

A twelve-year-old girl with a three-magatama Sharingan appears in the photo with stern eyes, long black hair, and a sheathed blade on her waist.

"I remember this girl..."

"Her name is Chiba Kazuhime. She is the daughter of Chiba Shiraishi and Uchiha Ruri. She once changed her name to Mahiru Kazuhime and entered the Konoha Ninja School as the princess of the Demon Country. From the fact that she possesses the three Magatama Sharingan From one point of view, she has perfectly inherited the power of the Uchiha clan. She is the leader of the Demon Country troops who entered the Land of Waves. Her strength... is probably the best among the Jonin."

Hiruzen told the information he had obtained.

Lu Jiu frowned deeper and deeper, obviously feeling that the matter was difficult.

"What did the daimyo say?"

"He hopes that Konoha will hold its troops temporarily and let their officials control the situation."

As soon as Hiruzen finished speaking, Shikaku understood the truth and said meaningfully: "It seems that the situation over there is more complicated than we imagined. However, I still suggest sending an ANBU team to deal with this matter. Conduct an investigation. Based on the power of the daimyo alone, I think it is very likely that we will not be able to survive in the end. In this way, if the situation is bad, our side will not be in a passive position."

"You should forward this order to Kakashi, and ask him to select a class of elite Anbu as soon as possible to sneak into the Kingdom of Waves to investigate. This is likely to be a new conspiracy in the Kingdom of Ghosts, and we have to guard against it."

"Yes, then, I'll go down first, Hokage-sama."

Lu Jiu nodded solemnly, turned and left.

After Shikaku left, Hiruzen stood by the window with his hands behind his back, looking at the village scenery outside the window with cloudy eyes. A look of melancholy appeared on his old wrinkled face again, and he sighed.

(PS: Chapter 2 when it’s too late tonight...)