Due to the appearance of the Man in Black Robes, Iwagakure, Sunagakure, and Amegakure all sent peace requests to Konoha, fearing another encounter with that terrifying Man in Black Robes. As for Kumogakure, it made no statement, and Kirigakure did not participate in the war at all.
Thus, the Second Great Ninja War ended, but small-scale conflicts still continued. Before the official signing of a complete agreement, there were still constant frictions between the various Ninja Villages.
However, because of the Man in Black Robes, all the Ninja Villages were very restrained in large-scale battles, fearing that if another target of the Man in Black Robes appeared among their combat personnel, they would suffer a great loss, a terrible loss!
After a week of reorganization, most of Konoha's Ninja were to return to the Village to report, leaving only those guarding the border, awaiting notification from the Village for personnel rotation.
Tsunade was also preparing to return to Konoha; she still had to properly arrange Nawaki's remains. Orochimaru also had to return to the Village to report war merit statistics and casualty figures to the Third Hokage.
"What! You're not planning to return with the main force?" Tsunade reached out her fair hand, intending to pinch Lin Yu's ear.
Lin Yu subtly dodged, grabbed Tsunade's small hand, and pretended to say seriously, "I want to go to the Land of Rain to see. Due to the war, many innocent people suffered misfortunes. I want to see it with my own eyes so I can better understand the true meaning of peace."
Tsunade's small face flushed, and she withdrew her hand, saying, "But if you go to the Land of Rain alone, what if..."
"I'll go with him. It just so happens I also want to see that country and gather intelligence along the way," Jiraiya, whose injuries had fully healed, volunteered with a grin.
"Two months. You must return to Konoha after two months." Orochimaru gave Lin Yu a deep look, then walked away without looking back. As for safety, he wasn't worried at all. The Man in Black Robes' strength, if not the strongest in the Ninja World, was certainly among the strongest. A small Land of Rain could easily be wiped out by him.
That's right, he had already concluded that there was a connection between Lin Yu and the Man in Black Robes, which was why he gave him special treatment. Otherwise, according to strict orders, they had to return to Konoha to report, and severe cases could even be treated as Rogue Ninja. As for Jiraiya, Hiruzen Sarutobi was already used to him, so ignoring him was fine.
It must be said that Orochimaru at this time still had quite a bit of human touch. Lin Yu also looked at Orochimaru with slight gratitude. Well, when he recruits him in the future, he'll go a bit easier on him.
With Orochimaru to deal with the Third Hokage and resolve their worries, Lin Yu and Jiraiya no longer delayed. After bidding farewell to Tsunade, they entered the Land of Rain.
It took half a month for Lin Yu and Jiraiya to travel through most of the Land of Rain, witnessing countless families shattered by war, with homeless civilians visible everywhere on the streets.
With Hanzo dead, the Amegakure Ninja, freed from his restraint, wantonly burned, killed, and plundered in the Land of Rain. Ordinary people were powerless to resist the strength of Ninja.
They could only watch their homes destroyed and loved ones killed, feeling deep hatred and fear towards Ninja from the bottom of their hearts.
After staying in the Land of Rain for half a month, Lin Yu's mission system also refreshed a round of missions. Fortunately, they were just simple tasks of healing civilians and daily pranks on Jiraiya. In return, he received three basic rewards: Kunai Mastery, Taijutsu Mastery, and Basic Genjutsu Mastery.
Sigh, I've traveled through most of the Land of Rain, yet I still haven't encountered Nagato's trio. Is this a lack of destiny?
Lin Yu and Jiraiya walked through a town in the Land of Rain, laden with small bags. These were gifts of gratitude from the civilians Lin Yu had healed along the way, and the two of them were called the "俠客 Duo," specializing in dealing with Ninja who bullied civilians.
Jiraiya also deeply detested Ninja who preyed on ordinary people and showed no mercy in his actions. After half a month of getting along, he had developed a great fondness for Lin Yu, a young man who appeared gentle and sunny on the outside, and whose heart was also full of passionate kindness. Of course, this was Jiraiya's own perception of Lin Yu.
Lin Yu's goal, however, was only to find Nagato and his companions. Helping these civilians was somewhat incidental, and he also hoped to attract Nagato and his group this way, but alas, things didn't go as planned... *Bang!*
"Thief! Catch the thief!" On the street, a burly man with a coarse face roughly shoved a dirty, blue-purple-haired child.
This remote town had fortunately avoided the war, and many wandering refugees had gathered there.
"You're lying! I bought this!" Underneath the blue-purple-haired girl's dirty little face, a hint of delicate beauty emerged. She clutched a roll of bread tightly, allowing the burly man to shove her to the ground, yet carefully protecting the food in her arms.
"Hmph, where would a wandering little girl like you get money? You clearly stole it when I wasn't looking!" The burly man reached out his large hand to snatch the food from the girl's arms.
"No! Please, this was bought with everyone's hard-earned money, it's everyone's food for three days. Please don't take it!" The little girl hugged the food tightly, refusing to let go even if it meant death, her small body slowly dragging a mark on the ground.
The burly man grew impatient and was about to kick the little girl away, but before his leg could lift, his arm was grabbed by a fair hand. He turned his head to see a pair of eerie, blood-red eyes, and then he collapsed to the ground.
"Whoa, whoa, he's just a civilian, there's no need to use Sharingan," Jiraiya complained from the side, arms crossed. After more than half a month together, he already knew that Lin Yu had Uchiha blood and had awakened the Sharingan. According to Lin Yu, he awakened it on the night of the Land of Whirlpools' destruction. Lin Yu hadn't intended to hide his Sharingan and casually offered a believable reason, trusting that certain people would fill in the gaps themselves.
The person who stopped the burly man was Lin Yu. Lin Yu, with an icy expression, kicked the money in the burly man's pocket. "Jiraiya, look at the coins in his pocket."
"Hmm?" Jiraiya walked forward with some confusion and looked. "Three of them are a bit dirty, but the others are clean as new. That little girl wasn't lying, she bought this."
"To even cheat a little girl out of her money, let him stay in genjutsu for a while." Lin Yu didn't say that even after the genjutsu ended, this burly man would become an idiot. Lin Yu had no mercy whatsoever. If he hadn't been there today, the little girl and her companions would have suffered who knows how much torment to fill their stomachs.
And... blue-purple hair, light orange-yellow pupils, a delicate and lovely face, it was Konan!
Finally found her! Lin Yu picked up Konan, who had fainted from exhaustion, and carefully stroked her hair.
"How is she?" Jiraiya, understanding the situation, no longer paid attention to the burly man on the ground and gently asked about the little girl in Lin Yu's arms.
"She's been hungry for too long, and her emotions fluctuated greatly just now. Her body is overdrawn; fainting is the body's self-protection." Lin Yu's palm glowed with a faint green light, sweeping over Konan's small, fragile body, helping to treat some easily infected wounds. Sigh, he didn't know how much this girl had suffered.
"Jiraiya, perhaps we'll have to stay here for a while." Lin Yu carried Konan towards the restaurant ahead.
Jiraiya pouted and mumbled, "You should call me Jiraiya-sensei, you impolite brat." But he didn't care about these trivialities and stepped to follow.
"These, these, and those few sets, I'll take them all, and also pack up all of these." Lin Yu sat in the restaurant holding Konan, pointing at the menu, saliva flying. The waitress next to him recorded with sparkling eyes—this was a big spender!
Soon, the table was filled with all sorts of delicious food. Even Jiraiya, sitting opposite, felt his appetite stimulated. If it weren't for the fact that the rich kid Lin Yu hadn't started eating yet, he would have long since dug in. He was sick of soldier pills for the past half month!
"Hmm... what happened to me? I remember that bad man was trying to steal my bread, and then... that's right, the bread!"
Konan's previously hazy eyes instantly widened. She quickly looked down at her arms, and after finding the bread still there, she finally let out a sigh of relief.
Then she realized that her current situation seemed a bit off. She seemed to be in someone's arms. She slightly raised her small head and met a pair of gentle eyes looking at her. A flush suddenly spread across her somewhat pale little face.