novelraw Page 107
Page 107
Seeing this, Shirahoshi stopped and looked curiously down the slope, wanting to see how the students of Kumogakure trained.
The Cloud Village ninjas didn't care about Shirahoshi's actions. They figured it didn't matter if others saw them, since it wasn't like they were practicing any kind of ninjutsu.
Tread-tap-
Heavy footsteps approached, and in Shirahoshi and Samui's sight, a dark-skinned boy, under the blazing sun, took heavy steps, dragging a rock half his height behind him. And then, one after another, more appeared...
"What the hell?!"
"Your training as Cloud Village ninjas is way too rigorous..."
Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed the solemnity on Shirahoshi's face. The Cloud Village ninja in charge of maintaining the assessment had a smug look on his face: "These are our Cloud Village ninja academy students."
"An outstanding ninja who will soon inherit the Will of Lightning!"
Shirahoshi: "???"
Are you treating your own kids like foreigners?! No wonder your kids, even genin, can go to the battlefield, that's impressive.
"So cool! I want to be a ninja like that in the future!" Samui said in a sweet, childlike voice.
Bai Xing, holding a UV-protective umbrella, glanced down at Samui and thought to herself, "Aren't you afraid of getting heatstroke and turning into a little black girl...?"
Before Shirahoshi could finish speaking, a child on the slope ahead couldn't hold on any longer. He braced himself on the ground with his hands, and the stone at his waist began to pull him down. The Cloud Village ninja glanced at the timer in his hand, waited for about ten seconds, and then appeared behind the boy, pressing down on the stone.
"Alyi, you're eliminated."
"How could this be?! Examiner, please give me another chance!" Al-Yi said through gritted teeth, lying on the ground.
"Failure is failure! Don't bring shame to the village!" After the Cloud Village ninja stabilized the stone, he pressed on the mountain wall. The next second, an internal passage came into view, which surprised Shirahoshi: So your stones can be recycled?
After all the senior Cloud Village students had left, the Cloud Village ninja spoke to Shirahoshi and his companion:
"If you want to go down this path now, you can go now. But you can't go up there."
"No, no. Let's take another route." Bai Xing waved his hand, inwardly complaining that if a rock rolled down, he would be the one suffering.
The Cloud Village ninja didn't say anything more, but chased after them to continue performing his duties as examiner.
When they returned to Milie's house that evening and had dinner, Shirahoshi asked Milie, who had just finished her mission and was resting at home, about the assessment.
"Oh~ that~ I really miss it~"
"Back when I was in the Ninja Academy, I won the prize money almost every time!"
"Let me tell you..."
At the dinner table, Milie kept boasting that he was an excellent student during his time at the Ninja Academy and that he always won the prize money for this competition: those who persevered to the halfway point could get 50,000 Thunder Coins; those who persevered to the top of the mountain could get 200,000 Thunder Coins.
Based on what Milie said, he only managed to climb to the top of the mountain a month before graduation, which already makes him one of the very few people to achieve this.
As Shirahoshi sipped his tea and ate peanuts after his meal, he thought to himself that the ninjas of Kumogakure were truly freakish.
The main focus is on training physical techniques, which involves rigorously honing the body and squeezing out the chakra within, thereby improving the basic quality and control level of chakra.
Compared to gentle training like climbing trees and wading through water in Konoha, this method is all about speed: it trains both chakra and physical strength.
"Pulling the boulder definitely requires using chakra to strengthen the body, so for each step forward, it is necessary to rationally allocate how much chakra to use."
At the same time, if chakra is insufficient, one must use it more meticulously to strengthen the body, in addition to its normal use.
This led to the development of chakra nature transformations, using each nature to enhance physical strength or alter the environment for acceleration.
Whether it's the cellular stimulation from the lightning, giving the body more strength to pull the boulder; or the gentleness of the wind, reducing friction between the stone and the body and the surrounding air, increasing speed...
Both are viable methods. However, it seems that the Cloud Village's assessment currently focuses primarily on training physical strength and chakra control, without addressing chakra nature development and mastery, which makes it seem somewhat lacking.
Shirahoshi didn't express her opinion, but silently kept Milie company while she chatted. Milie was drinking shochu, and after drinking too much, she couldn't help but blurt out some information, such as the recent harassment of the border by Iwagakure Village becoming more and more serious, and the suspicion that information about the village's Eight-Tails Jinchuriki had been leaked.
After hearing this, Bai Xing silently pretended to be deaf.
None of his business.
He only became a 'nanny' out of interest; he'll do it once and never do it again.
It was definitely not because you gave me 500,000 taels of silver and provided me with food and lodging that I did it.
Time flies, and three months have passed in the blink of an eye. Many things have happened in Cloud Village, but for Bai Xing, he has simply become a skilled childcare enthusiast, familiar with children's characteristics and better able to soothe them...
What the hell is that useful!
"Time flies, Bai, are you really leaving?" Seeing his wife gradually recovering her health, Milie finished paying the remaining balance for Bai Xing, her tone somewhat reluctant.
“Millie, we’re just business partners, and these past three months have left me quite exhausted.” Bai Xing had thought Milie would introduce him to some patients seeking treatment, but frankly, there were no patients at all. Everyone with a medical condition went to the Cloud Hidden Hospital; nobody wanted to see him.
Ultimately, compared to an unlicensed doctor like him who has no name or identity in the ninja world, the local hospital is more reliable.
"That's it."
"It's because Samui is too clingy."
“This child has always been like this.”
"I imagine she'll be heartbroken for a long time after hearing the news of your departure," Milie said helplessly.
After counting the money and confirming that everything was correct, Shirahoshi smiled slightly and said, "If fate allows, we will meet again somewhere in the ninja world sooner or later."
"Too."
"Then I won't try to stop you. I wish you all the best in the future. Mr. Haku, I hope we can still be friends when we meet again in the ninja world."
Milie extended her right hand, and Shirahoshi, seeing this, stuffed the money into her coat and shook Milie's hand, saying, "Long live friendship."
Snow began to fall in Kumogakure around November, and now in December, heavy snow was falling, with thick snow covering the rooftops, eaves, and streets.
Milie watched Shirahoshi leave with her pack on her back, her heart filled with conflict. This was because during a mission, she had come across a piece of intelligence: a list of famous ninjas from the recently concluded World War II.
Shirahoshi, 21 years old.
Code name: Black Ghost.
At the level of a Konoha genin, he perfectly executed intelligence missions in the Land of Rain during World War II, achieving a 100% success rate.
—At that time, many other intelligence squads failed to complete their missions, resulting in mission failures, and there were even cases where an entire squad of dozens of people was wiped out.
"Hopefully we won't meet on the battlefield next time." Milie knew that this intelligence was actually something the village had found out and specifically given to him, but since the other party hadn't specifically collected information about the village, he could only report it like this.
Raikage Building.
In the Raikage's office, the Third Raikage narrowed his eyes slightly after hearing Milie's report:
"Millie, are you sure there's no possibility that the other side isn't gathering intelligence?"
"It's possible the other side overheard some information unintentionally, but that's far less than what a real spy would know, so I didn't take action..."
"Miri, you've disappointed me greatly. If someone is an enemy, you should take them down without hesitation. That's what a Cloud Village ninja should do!"
Upon hearing this, Milie, who had been bowing her head and shrugging her shoulders, trembled involuntarily, then gritted her teeth and asked, "So, what does Lord Raikage mean?"
The Third Raikage's gaze sharpened: "This is the only time. Don't bring any more unfamiliar ninjas into the village next time."
"You're being punished by being put in charge of guarding Bee. If Bee loses control and leaks the tailed beast's chakra, report it to the village immediately!"
"Yes!" Milie was deeply moved that her leader didn't blame her for her mistake and even assigned her an important task, so she accepted the assignment.
A while after Mili left the office, Ai, emerging from behind the office wall, couldn't help but ask, "Father, didn't you say that Shirahoshi was favored by the Daimyo of the Land of Fire, was preparing to marry the daughter of a high-ranking official and become a noble, and that we should seize the opportunity to win her over and see if we could invest in Kumogakure or something? Why do you sound like you're threatening Mili with the death penalty..."
The Third Raikage glanced at his son: "If I hadn't learned the name Shirahoshi from the newspaper and matched the characteristics to realize that he was Shirahoshi, the Konoha genin known as the Black Ghost on the battlefield of the Land of Rain during World War II..."
We had no idea that Konoha ninjas would dare to be so blatant!
"You think you can get away with anything by not wearing a headband after entering our Hidden Cloud Village?!!"
"It takes real courage for a genin to enter Kumogakure." A scratched his cheek. Even a rough man like him wouldn't dare to infiltrate Konoha if he were the son of the Raikage and had a reputation for fighting prowess in the ninja world.
If you go, you'll be arrested on the spot.
Unless you have a legitimate reason to enter someone else's village, there's a greater than 90% chance you won't get caught.
"Since Shirahoshi appeared in the Land of Lightning and did not marry the daughter of that high-ranking official from the Land of Fire, it is only natural that she will continue to be a ninja."
"Let's talk about winning them over another time. After all, we've already made the necessary connections."
As soon as the Third Raikage finished speaking, A felt like he was about to grow a brain. He thought to himself, "My father's been rambling on and on, couldn't he just be straightforward?!" But as the Raikage's son, even if he didn't understand, he had to maintain a serious expression and nod.
"I understand, Father. If there's nothing else, I'll head down now!"
"Ah."
-
After leaving Kumogakure, Shirahoshi's journey was not over. After experiencing the sights and sounds of several towns in the Land of Lightning, she traveled to the next country: the Land of Rice Fields.
This is a tragic country that was once tricked by Orochimaru into establishing a ninja village, which ultimately emptied the national treasury and turned the local ninjas into experimental subjects.
Fortunately, it wasn't as bad as Amegakure, at least Boruto has Otogakure.
"As expected of Naruto, they can't afford houses in the city, so they build them in the wilderness. That way, if the ninjas start fighting, they won't care who you are." Shirahoshi took a bite of the dry bread he bought from the Land of Lightning. He was now dressed as the surgeon he used to be, wearing a rabbit mask, a short sword at his waist, and a small bag inside his robe that could hold all his previous supplies.
Before the young man lay a village, which, according to the map, was not too far from the border, only about fifty kilometers away.
In addition, the weather here in February is quite good. At least it won't be like the Land of Rain, where it's windy and rainy all day long, or the Land of Lightning, which is at a high altitude and is currently experiencing snow and cold weather.
It at least gives people a feeling of spring, and you can see fields and mountains in the environment.
Hello, is anyone here?
Shirahoshi finished eating her bread and walked in. As Shirahoshi approached, the villagers all ran back into their houses, fearing that she was a ninja and they would be killed without cause.
"Nobody here?" Bai Xing tossed the plastic bag aside casually. Anyway, it wasn't the city, and there weren't any trash cans to throw it in. Then, she put her mask back on and said coldly:
"Well then, I'm going to start searching the house now! Whatever I find is mine."
As soon as the words were spoken, a young man from the nameless village ran out of the house and knelt on the ground begging for mercy:
"Sir Ninja, spare my life!"
"We have no money here, and this year's crop harvest was not good, so we have no surplus food. Please, ninja sir, spare us!"
The man kept begging and kowtowing, but Bai Xing calmly removed her hand from the hilt of her knife, ignoring what the man said, and asked directly, "Which direction is the nearest town to the village? Or, do you know where the nearest black market is?"
The man kowtowed a few times, then raised his head and pointed in a direction, saying, "Over there, there's a town called Gucheng. As for the black market, I don't know where it is. Perhaps you could go to the town and ask, sir?"
"That's good." Shirahoshi activated her chakra eye, scanned the surroundings, and found nothing unusual. Just as Shirahoshi was about to leave, a little girl with light blue hair suddenly walked towards her from the road in front of her.
The girl was carrying a bamboo basket filled with several flowers of various shapes and colors. Seeing the man kneeling on the ground, she walked over quickly and said proudly, "Daddy, look how many beautiful lotus flowers Lian'er picked today!"
"Lian'er is such a good girl, hurry, hurry back to the house, Daddy and the Ninja Master are discussing something." The man gently stroked Honglian's head, then pushed Honglian towards the house. The young Honglian looked at her father and then at Baixing with some confusion: "Daddy, what are you discussing that you have to kneel down to discuss? Can't you stand up and talk?"