The Collapse of the Land of Rivers
Three days after the collapse of the Land of Rivers, on the border of the Land of Rivers.
A carriage moved forward unhurriedly, with three armored samurai following.
Lin Ke stood on the edge of the carriage, leaning against the back of the carriage. He wore the Konoha Village's conspicuous green vest, and his Forehead Protector was worn perfectly straight.
"Ever since we left Tanzaku Street, someone has been following us..."
Gaara, who was following beside him, suddenly spoke, "Should I kill them?"
"No." Lin Ke denied his subordinate's idea, saying, "Let them follow for now, and we'll deal with them all at once later."
Due to the chaos in the Land of Rivers and the purpose of this trip, the Daimyo's son couldn't find any ordinary attendants willing to enter the war-torn zone with him. Only three samurai from the Land of Rivers followed, making it look much more shabby.
But precisely because of this, their target was much smaller. A carriage with seven guards, and the Daimyo's son only needed to stay inside the carriage.
Even on the roads of the Land of Fire, the roads in the wilderness were mostly dirt roads sandwiched between forests and wastelands, with potholes being common. The carriage couldn't maintain a comfortable speed at all.
Of course, no matter how dilapidated the road was, it was still a proper road that could be traveled on. Carriages passed back and forth, and most of the road looked normal. Occasionally, they could see civilians from the Land of Rivers fleeing into the Land of Fire in a panic.
After all, the Land of Rivers had already entered a state of war.
After about half an hour, the carriage finally rumbled past Kikyo Castle. This was once a place where the Sand Ninja Village and Konoha Village had fought, creating quite a few war orphans. This castle, originally intended as a defensive structure, was abandoned in peacetime.
Similar to Tanzaku Castle.
The people of the Naruto World seemed to have long been accustomed to days of complete peace or complete war.
Since the abandoned Kikyo Castle didn't have residential functions, basically only patrolling Anbu would be stationed there.
It was only a little after ten in the morning, and the group didn't stay there for long. Shortly after leaving Kikyo Castle, they stepped into the territory of the Land of Rivers.
Actually, there wasn't much difference. It was still a vast expanse of forests, rivers, and mountains.
Was there really no one patrolling the border?
Lin Ke thought. For small countries, the border wasn't as fixed as it was on Earth, especially in places bordering large countries. A piece would often mysteriously disappear, but symbolic defenses were somewhat necessary.
Infiltration might be impossible to stop, but if there was no defense against a proper invasion, it wouldn't be far from national destruction.
Oh, right, what was happening in the Land of Rivers now was no different from national destruction.
Anyway, the previous few times he had entered the Land of Rivers, he could feel ninjas belonging to the Land of Rivers spying on them. This time, it was truly like entering an uninhabited land.
After passing through a forest, the group could reach the city closest to the border by passing through a canyon.
"Many people are coming." Gaara covered one eye with one hand, his expression calm.
Were they planning an ambush in the canyon? Lin Ke wasn't surprised, but simply said, "I'll leave it to you. Is that okay?"
"Mm." Gaara responded, and his sand Body Flicker Technique disappeared on the spot, drawing wary gazes from the three samurai.
About a few minutes later, the carriage was still swaying in the canyon, and he returned unscathed.
He didn't know where those people came from, but anyone who harbored ill intentions towards the client deserved to die.
Lin Ke nodded at his subordinate. Even without Shukaku, Gaara's strength was absolutely not to be underestimated. He was at the level of a Special Jonin in terms of Ninjutsu and seals, and his Chakra was enormous. If he wasn't too specialized, he wouldn't have even been able to pass the shadow.
The group calmly left the canyon, and by noon, they had reached the town.
"Crackle~"
From afar, they could see some houses in the town still smoking, and there were no civilians in sight.
Compared to wars between ninjas, this kind of internal strife undoubtedly caused the most damage to the lower levels. Gangs, Ronin, and criminals were the most ruthless towards civilians. On the contrary, the ninjas with the highest combat power were more likely to ignore civilians. Even in war, they rarely left the war zone to massacre other towns.
Lin Ke asked the Daimyo's son and decided to bypass the town. Since it had become like this, there was probably no official or temporary lodging place that could accommodate him.
They took a slightly longer detour, and in an open space near the town, a raging fire was burning. The unpleasant smell of charred corpses, clothing, and some plastic products filled the air.
Two monks sat on the ground, hands clasped together, facing the flames, chanting words.
They were monks from the Ninja Temple. It seemed that due to the war, many monks from the Ninja Temple had begun to appear here, probably all from the Land of Fire.
This explained why there was a bloody smell everywhere, but no corpses were seen. They must have been collected, cremated, and given a proper send-off.
Lin Ke exchanged glances with one of the monks, nodded to show his respect, and left along the edge of the open space.
The three samurai clearly looked much more depressed, their expressions serious. In any case, this was their homeland, and even the border was in such a state. What about the other places...
At the Daimyo's son's instruction, the carriage's pace quickened somewhat, but by evening, they still hadn't reached the next town and had to camp in the forest.
Mainly, the samurai, having worn armor all day, were visibly exhausted, and continuing to travel at night was definitely out of the question.
...
—Meanwhile, in Konoha Village, inside a spacious building.
"Does Orochimaru not dare to come see me?" Shimura Danzo's tone was extremely cold. After receiving a large amount of financial support and political leverage recently, he was gradually regaining the feeling of being the darkness of the ninja world from many years ago.
Yakushi Kabuto removed his hood, tossed the scroll in his hand over, and said, "Long time no see, Danzo-sama..."
"It's you." Shimura Danzo smiled. "I didn't expect you to be working for Orochimaru now." A Root member next to him took the scroll and retreated to the side.
He had already developed murderous intent in his heart. The other party had once been a sharp knife in his hand, possessing too much information detrimental to Konoha.
Following his gaze, Root members gradually emerged from the shadows, surrounding Yakushi Kabuto and the hooded figure behind him.
"According to the terms of the deal..."
Yakushi Kabuto seemed completely oblivious to the murderous intent, continuing on his own, "Next, will Danzo-sama continue to provide information about Lin Ke-kun as agreed?"
Shimura Danzo's expression didn't change. He hesitated to order his subordinates to attack. The information Orochimaru provided regarding the Cursed Seal was truly tempting. Should he tear up the fragile agreement with Orochimaru here for the sake of the village?
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