Inside the Land of Hot Water, Hyūga Taiki's squad had been trimmed down. From the original ten members, only five remained: Captain Hyūga Taiki, squad members Rokuro, Uchiha Izumi, Inuzuka Hana, and a civilian-born ninja—future headmaster of the Ninja Academy, the great Imperial Tutor, Umino Iruka.
Perhaps Rokuro's unexpected arrival had changed the course of events, or perhaps the time simply had not yet come—either way, Iruka had not yet joined the academy as a teacher. Right now, he was still a chūnin-level shinobi.
People often said that the reason Naruto did not fall into darkness later on was largely because of Iruka. For that fact alone, the entire shinobi world owed Iruka a debt of gratitude.
If the Naruto world had someone blessed with the "Face-Fruit" ability, then Iruka would be the rightful wielder of it.
Hyūga Taiki led the squad swiftly through the Land of Hot Water, explaining the mission as they moved.
"Yugakure has occupied the entire Land of Hot Water and has enslaved its citizens. Our task is to destroy an ironworks facility that they've converted into a weapons factory. It's producing large quantities of ninja tools, and the civilians are being forced into heavy labor."
Inuzuka Hana frowned after hearing this.
"Captain Hyūga, if we're going to destroy the factory, what about the civilians inside? Using large-scale ninjutsu might cause massive civilian casualties!"
"We must never harm civilians. If we do that, we're no different from the shinobi of Yugakure. We'll evacuate the civilians first."
Iruka immediately voiced his opinion. Hana turned to look at him.
"But if we evacuate them beforehand, there's a high chance Kumogakure ninja will notice. If a fight breaks out then, the casualties will be even worse!"
"T-Then… then we'll think of a way to avoid being discovered! No matter what, we must never target civilians!"
Iruka held firmly to his principles and looked to Hyūga Taiki again.
"This operation isn't just our squad. There are nine other teams—totaling exactly fifty people. Our targets are not only the weapons factory, but also a military ration-pill processing plant. Even more civilians are forced into labor there. The order from above is to destroy both facilities at all costs."
Hyūga Taiki emphasized the words "at all costs." Iruka's expression darkened.
Seeing the atmosphere grow heavy, Tahara Rokuro spoke.
"Large-scale ninjutsu bombardment consumes a huge amount of chakra and might not even completely destroy the facilities. If the mission is to disable the factory, that means the real goal is stopping its function, right?"
Hyūga Taiki nodded.
"They're mass-producing shuriken, kunai, and other thrown weapons. Their consumption is extremely high in wartime. Once this war drags into a prolonged phase, Kumogakure will gain a massive advantage by replenishing their supplies on the spot. So we must destroy this facility and cut their supply chain."
Rokuro smiled.
"Exactly. The heart of a weapons factory is the steel-refining furnace. If we destroy that with precision, the entire facility becomes unusable. No need for large-scale jutsu. That way we complete the mission, minimize civilian casualties, and—most importantly—save our chakra."
"Because once the fighting starts, Kumogakure will definitely send large numbers of ninja after us. If we drain all our chakra in the destruction, we won't even have the strength to escape."
Hyūga Taiki accepted the suggestion, and Iruka looked at Rokuro with gratitude. Only Uchiha Izumi remained silent, lost in his own thoughts—perhaps once again pondering the meaning of existence.
Because this was an infiltration mission, the fifty-man force split into ten small squads, though Hyūga Taiki remained the overall commander.
After entering the Land of Hot Water, everyone strictly followed the plan.
Both targets—the weapons factory and the ration-pill plant—were located in the capital.
The five of them did not dare enter recklessly and instead settled in a village outside the city.
When they pushed open the gate of one courtyard, a faint smell of blood drifted out. A large dried pool of it lay in the center.
Uchiha Izumi crouched down, examining it.
"Human blood. Signs of struggle. The residents are probably dead."
At that moment, the three Haimaru brothers ran in and barked lightly at Inuzuka Hana.
"They say the entire village is empty."
Hyūga Taiki frowned.
"Looks like everyone here was taken into the city as laborers. That means we need to keep quiet while resting. If we're too loud, Yugakure scouts might find us. Izumi, Rokuro—circle the perimeter. Make sure no scouts are nearby."
Tahara Rokuro and Izumi sprinted out, circling the village. At the foot of a distant mountain, they found a cave.
Izumi signaled and his Sharingan—two tomoe—spun to life.
Rokuro had already opened his sensory technique; he detected people inside, but not ninja—chakra too weak, not even academy level.
Izumi stepped carefully into the cave and found two filthy children.
Seeing him, they shrank back in terror. Izumi loosened his grip on his sword.
"Rokuro, give them some of the food you brought."
"Not meat. They look starved for days—heavy foods like meat will upset their stomachs."
Rokuro unsealed a scroll, took out two bowls and a packet of instant fried noodles, dissolving it with clean water.
"Eat. Don't worry, we're not from the Land of Lightning."
Though terrified, hunger overcame fear. The children approached cautiously. Rokuro pulled Izumi back toward the entrance. When they saw the two leave, they hurriedly gulped down the noodles.
"Emergency aid only. We have a mission—we can only help this once. After this, their survival depends on themselves."
Rokuro placed another two kilos of dried fried noodles at the entrance and walked away.
Izumi followed in silence. After a long while, he spoke.
"…This is the life of commoners in the shinobi world? No matter how hard they work, when war comes, they can only be slaughtered like livestock?"
Rokuro sighed.
"In troubled times, a human life is sometimes worth less than a steamed bun. But why are you suddenly emotional? Aren't you already in the Anbu? Haven't you seen things like this before?"
Rokuro gave Izumi a sideways glance—hard to connect this boy with the one who would one day murder his own parents.
"Anbu missions are mostly assassinations and intelligence gathering. We rarely encounter common civilians."
"Ah. I see. No wonder your worldview is twisted and self-important—you've seen too much deception and think you understand the world. But really, you've just been living at the bottom of a well. The Land of Hot Water is a living hell now. Keep your eyes open—you'll see a lot more like this."
END OF CHAPTER
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