The creature in front of me, called a 'girl,' was emitting a foul odor, and her clothes were tattered and worn.
Her hands were clasped behind her back, seemingly nervous. However, her eyesight seemed poor, as she constantly squinted at the woman who had saved her.
Her once golden hair had turned dull gray from lack of washing.
Could this girl be Minato's sister, who disappeared years ago?
If so, this would be a huge joke. I'd probably be killed by Minato.
Tatsumi scrutinized her for a long time, trying to find any resemblance to Minato on her face.
Fortunately, other than the hair color, there was no similarity whatsoever.
Nevertheless, Tatsumi couldn't help but admire her.
The courage to pull off these petty thefts under the noses of ninjas was indeed commendable.
But it also carried immense risk. If she encountered a ninja with a bad temper, no one would say anything even if they killed her.
No one cared about the life of a commoner.
However, looking at her sallow and emaciated appearance, Tatsumi could easily understand why.
She was simply too hungry.
Perhaps due to malnutrition, this kid's real age might be a bit older than she appeared.
In this era, commoners lived very hard lives.
Oppression from nobles and landlords, and the occasional ninja passing by who might dislike you and give you a kunai.
For a ninja, unless they intentionally killed a large number of innocent civilians, accidentally killing a few commoners wouldn't incur any responsibility.
But, coming back to the point, none of them had any intention of killing this kid.
Besides, the woman had already pleaded for her.
Orochimaru's golden eyes turned to the woman, "You wouldn't be planning to send her..."
"That's right," the woman nodded.
"Coming from that place, you should know how cruel it is there. Haven't you always wanted to escape from there? You actually want to send her in?" Orochimaru chuckled in a hissing voice.
"It's better than the current situation. If she wants to survive, she can only go there!" The woman shook her head.
Tatsumi and the others were completely bewildered, not knowing what these two were talking about.
Damn, what's with all this 'here' and 'there'? I know you two have a story, stop pretending. As if no one else knows how to use code words. Tatsumi clicked his tongue.
He began to speculate about the woman's identity.
"Get lost," Orochimaru said to the kid.
"Wait!" Mikoto suddenly called out to the girl.
She placed some of her own clothes and some money in the girl's hands.
The girl looked at Mikoto and the others, but didn't take it.
"Take it. You stole these things with your own ability, why don't you want them?" Tatsumi said, although he had already put his own wallet in his pocket.
Huh, that seems to make sense! The kid thought for a moment, then picked up the items and jumped out of the window.
For them, this was just a small matter.
Anyway, they would probably never encounter this kid again, probably.
After resting for a whole night, Orochimaru and his group resumed their mission.
According to Tatsumi's observation, at their current speed, it would only take about two days to reach their destination.
However, Tatsumi wasn't completely idle either.
He began to ask Orochimaru about Wind Release Chakra Nature Transformation.
He had been able to easily master Lightning and Fire Release before.
But he encountered trouble when it came to Wind Release.
It seemed that his level nine ninjutsu attributes weren't high enough. But he was currently broke and didn't have any ninja points to upgrade.
Fortunately, he had an all-rounder like Teacher Orochimaru by his side.
Having a teacher is indeed much more convenient.
Like having a walking encyclopedia.
"Where have you progressed?" Orochimaru asked.
Ever since leaving the hotel, he had been somewhat sullen, radiating an aura of 'do not disturb.'
"I've only just started to get a feel for it. I'm still far from the first step," Tatsumi indicated the leaf in his palm, which had already been cut open.
"There's no need to use a leaf right now. Leaves are more difficult, the chakra conductivity is too low," Orochimaru said in a deep voice.
Then, he took out a crumpled piece of white paper from his pocket.
A stream of chakra extended from Orochimaru's hand, transforming into sharp Wind Release chakra the moment it left his body.
Instantly, the white paper was cut in half.
With a shake of Orochimaru's hand, the white paper shattered into pieces.
Impressive, very powerful.
Tatsumi nodded.
"You can try it first. The chakra conductivity in paper is much stronger than in leaves."
"Yeah, but where am I going to find this kind of paper?"
"Doesn't Nawaki have a H-manga in his bag? Just take it and use it. Anyway, Tsunade will discover it in a few days and sell it. Might as well put it to good use now," Orochimaru said.
Tatsumi nodded, glancing at Nawaki, who was still asleep.
Anyway, Nawaki has already read it five or six times, he's already familiar with the plot, there's probably no need to specifically say hello to Nawaki about this little thing, right?
Then, Tatsumi quietly took the manga.
Hoh hoh hoh!
This plot is the kind that Tatsumi likes!
It's a pity to tear it up like this.
He suddenly felt a little reluctant to do it.
But in the face of Mikoto's cold smile, he had no choice but to tear it up immediately.
Tatsumi followed the method given by Orochimaru and tried it on the manga paper.
Sure enough, the cut was much larger than with the leaf.
The next two days were as calm as a placid lake.
Tatsumi and Mikoto chatted when they felt like it.
When bored, Tatsumi would lie down and temper his chakra, or practice Wind Release Chakra Nature Transformation.
In this slightly monotonous journey, two days quickly slipped through their fingers.
They finally reached their destination.
"It's unexpectedly big."
Tatsumi had originally thought that this place would be a dilapidated town.
Outside the town, while Orochimaru dismounted to handle the entry procedures, Tatsumi opened the curtain of the carriage, looking at the high-built walls and the ninjas standing guard on top, and sighed.
The structure here is very similar to Konoha Village.
It seems that this is the bridgehead for the Konoha war.
The Land of Fire is very large, and once the war breaks out, the distribution of various supplies will be very slow.
So a large amount of supplies will be concentrated here in advance. Waiting for the war to break out and then sent to various battlefields, this will save a lot of time.
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