Chapter 130: Issuing Equipment
"Forget it. Staying here won't reveal anything. I should head back and report to Lord A!"
With that thought, Yugito Nii stood up quickly from her chair, a look of resignation on her face.
"Alright, I understand."
She waved her hand at the Hidden Frost ninja, dismissing them as if shooing away a swarm of disgusting flies.
Then, she strode out of the room, heading rapidly toward the Hidden Cloud Village.
"I hope this doesn't trigger a war... or at least, don't let the Cloud be the ones to take the first hit!"
A trace of fear lingered in Yugito's eyes.
Since the establishment of the village system, those who started wars rarely met good ends. It was always more profitable to be the one picking up the pieces at the end!
Land of Rain.
It was still drizzling, the entire sky a heavy, oppressive gray.
But amidst the rain, the roar of battle—sounds unique to ninja warfare—echoed from multiple locations. It was the sound of ninjutsu and exploding tags detonating.
Even with the sound of rain, the explosions were clearly audible.
Rainwater couldn't mask the sound, nor could it stop exploding tags from igniting. Unless it was a torrential downpour, this light drizzle couldn't prevent chakra from detonating the tags.
Boom, boom, boom!
The roar of exploding tags continued, but the sound of ninjutsu explosions gradually lessened.
This indicated a simple fact: the ninja on both sides were running out of chakra. What followed would be a battle of taijutsu.
The fighting was confined to a five-hundred-meter radius but was split into seven or eight smaller skirmishes, each involving a dozen or so ninja attacking each other.
A closer look at their forehead protectors revealed that Konoha and Hidden Stone ninja were clashing here. Not far away, innocent civilians of the Land of Rain could be seen fleeing their homes in panic.
It was ironic. The ones fighting to the death inside the Land of Rain weren't Rain ninja at all!
The rain falling from the sky couldn't wash away the battle intent and rage of the combatants. As for the Rain civilians forced to flee their homes due to the fighting? What did that have to do with these foreign ninja?
The civilians should be thanking the ninja for their "mercy" in not killing them to claim false military merits back at their villages!
Fighting for the village? For family? To avenge fallen comrades? For the Will of Fire?
No, no, no! Those weren't the reasons they fought here.
They fought because it was a ninja's fate. They just wanted to survive. And if there was a better option, it was to survive while killing a couple of enemy ninja to exchange for rewards back home.
While the Konoha and Stone ninja fought, a group of people not far from the battlefield were evacuating the Rain civilians who were running like stray dogs.
They wore straw conical hats common in the Land of Rain and transparent raincoats.
It was the Akatsuki.
They looked less destitute than when Kael had seen them before.
They all shared the same dream and persisted in striving for it, hoping only that peace would glance upon this pitiful country.
But right now, Yahiko was incandescent with rage.
"Those bastards! Do they really not care about the lives of these ordinary people at all?"
Even the usually gentle Konan had a face as cold as frost. She was trembling with anger, her chest heaving.
"Are ninja from the great nations all such heartless monsters? Why must they fight and kill in our country, forcing these people to abandon their homes and become refugees?"
Her eyes were full of pain. Seeing the panic-stricken civilians fleeing, she felt as if she were seeing her past self, standing amidst the ruins of her own home.
Hidden Hot Water Village.
Kael began to distribute "welfare" to his elite ninja!
In the large open space behind his house—usually a playground for his summons—a dense crowd of people had gathered. There were no fewer than two or three hundred ninja.
Kael stood at the very front, behind several tables.
To his left stood Watanabe Musashi, who was half a head shorter than him. Behind them stood the silent, stoic ANBU members.
"Lord Leader, everyone is here!" Saburo whispered, stepping up to Kael's side.
Kael nodded slightly, cleared his throat, and spoke.
"When I call your name, come up one by one..."
One by one, the ninja whose names were called came to the tables to receive their items. These items were, in fact, the Ruyi Worm and the Black-Hearted Slug, accompanied by an instruction manual.
The Hidden Hot Water Village didn't have many ninja yet, so Kael chose to handle this personally.
A few years later, when the academy expansion led to a population boom of ninja, Kael wouldn't bother doing this himself.
"Rei!"
Kael called out the name calmly.
Rei walked out of the crowd and stood before Kael.
She was wearing a Hidden Hot Water forehead protector. The gazes of the surrounding ninja fell upon her, a mix of curiosity and amusement.
Although no one spoke, the intense scrutiny made Rei's small face flush red.
She quickly reached out and took her items from the table: two bean-sized worms and a manual, just like everyone else.
Rei looked curiously at the slug and worm crawling slowly on her palm. Unlike most girls who would find bugs disgusting, she found them cute.
After all, Kael gave them to her.
Even if... they weren't only for her...
The moment she made contact, she felt as if her entire being had been energized. Her body felt full of inexhaustible strength and chakra.
She knew it was partly an illusion caused by the sudden boost, but the amplification was real.
If a medical-nin like her felt such a strong boost, the effect on combat ninja would be even more astonishing!
It took ten minutes for everyone to come up and receive their items.
Kael, who had found a chair to sit on at some point, remained seated as he spoke slowly to the crowd.
"There have been rumors in the village that I intended to increase everyone's combat capabilities. So, I don't need to say much; you should all be feeling the changes in your bodies..."
He paused slightly, then continued in a deep voice.
"Although you can feel it, you may not understand what these two things represent.
"The Ruyi Worm! It is a support-type Summoning Beast I cultivated. It specializes in increasing a ninja's combat ability and can change the attribute of the chakra cloak it provides according to your will. I won't go into detail about the functions of the chakra cloaks here; it's in the manual. You can experiment and experience it for yourselves when you go back.
"The Black-Hearted Slug is a healing-type Summoning Beast. I don't need to explain its healing abilities; just place it wherever you are injured. It will also automatically heal internal injuries. But the most crucial part is its life-saving ability. In a critical moment, the Black-Hearted Slug can split its own cells to block a fatal blow for its carrier.
"In other words... this thing can save your life when it matters most!"
Kael scanned the shocked faces of the Hidden Hot Water ninja, his voice growing serious.