"He's in the Hidden Leaf now. But why do you both speak of him with such joy?"
"Because he is a hero of our village," the woman replied clearly and firmly.
"A hero? Really?"
The woman started to explain, then caught sight of the three curious faces staring at her and stopped herself. "Never mind that. Anyway, you've completed your mission. Are you about to leave soon then?"
Hayate Gekko put down a magazine, speaking kindly, "Not quite. Although the mission is done, I still need to give them some training, so we'll be staying for a while."
"Can't the training be done in your own village?"
"It can, but certain kinds of training simply aren't possible in a peaceful environment."
"What kind of training?" The woman leaned forward slightly, her shapely chest pressing against the counter, shifting into different curves.
"Killing — and that's not a word I use lightly." Hayate Gekko uttered the word indifferently, yet paired with his long-preserved cold demeanor due to illness, the word cut through like a blade—sharp and precise.
The woman seemed startled. She stepped out from behind the counter and moved into the sheltered doorway, where she picked up an umbrella.
"I'll go buy you all some food."
Shiki sighed inwardly, knowing full well that Hayate was testing her again. Something seemed off about everyone in this village.
He quickly reached out and caught the innkeeper's hand — it felt soft and oddly weightless in his grip.
"Our Hayate-sensei can be pretty brief with his words at times. What he actually meant was, we want to help deal with some bandit threats around here."
The woman suddenly shivered but turned back with a forced smile, saying, "Oh, is that all? You nearly scared me to death. Anyway, we all need to eat sooner or later. Since the menu here is limited and you might not know what to pick, I'll just order for you."
The trio naturally had no objections, so the innkeeper quickly disappeared into the rain under the cover of her umbrella.
The room soon grew eerily quiet, occasionally interrupted by Hayate Gekko's coughing.
"Do you have any thoughts?" Hayate picked up the old magazine again, flipping through its pages as he asked.
"She's got a great figure — very tempting shape — and surprisingly beautiful too, plus..."
"Be serious." Hayate gave Shiki a stern look, frowning.
Shiki shut his mouth. Under this kind of stare, probably only Jiraiya and the Third would keep listening with genuine interest.
"This village has a lot of dirty business going on, and most of the villagers might be mixed up in it. And yet they're all hiding it from outsiders deliberately."
Seiji Ito calmly expressed his opinion. A flash of lightning momentarily illuminated the room, reflecting off his blade and giving his gaze an especially sharp appearance.
Hayate offered no clear agreement. "If that's the case, should we interfere?"
"Why wouldn't we? Don't you find something this intriguing worth exploring?" Shiki Uzumaki sat across from Seiji Ito, a faintly playful expression curling his lips.
But in truth, his thoughts weren't nearly as light as his words suggested.
In addition to his curiosity about the matter, Shiki also felt a sense of responsibility.
He had a vague feeling that beneath the surface of this flourishing Nikamura village lay something dark and twisted.
Yet, these villagers occasionally revealed genuine kindness through small unintentional gestures.
This strange mix of kindness and cruelty confused Shiki.
"No," Seiji Ito shook his head. "As Ninja, we shouldn't interfere with other villages' affairs. Besides, there's no direct evidence. It's also possible they really do have some secret they can't reveal."
Hayate Gekko closed his magazine and summarized, "As representatives of Konoha Village, we indeed have no right to interfere here. We still need to stay for some time. As long as they don't provoke us, we shouldn't intervene."
Everyone knew Hayate Gekko's words were completely correct, since powerful countries often used smaller nations' mistakes as justification for annexation.
Over time, non-interference in other countries became a hidden rule followed by every nation.
Otherwise, it would be considered expansionist behavior.
Moreover, Nikamura lay on the borderlands. As members of Konoha, they needed to exercise even greater restraint.
Unless... enemy blades had already begun to swing toward them
[Chapter 104] Konoha-style Swordsmanship
Training in the Land of Rain was incredibly frustrating. Previously everyone had assumed it wouldn't be anything out of the ordinary—just the occasional encounter with Bandit Threats. None expected the incessant rain becoming their greatest obstacle during cultivation.
For Ninja, physical strength gradually strengthened over time. However, catching colds remained unavoidable.
Even if you weren't bothered by the occasional cold, no one really wanted to train in the rain unless they had no choice.
Fortunately, this village had rather complete facilities, including a specialized sword training dojo.
Almost all children from Nikamura trained here, over a hundred of them in total.
Additionally, Nikamura seemed to possess wealth far exceeding what ordinary villages should have, so the dojo had been constructed especially large.
After negotiation, the dojo owner eventually agreed to rent them this training hall.
However, the condition was that none of the facilities inside the training room could be damaged; otherwise double compensation would be required.
But money was rarely an issue for Ninja.
Therefore, everyone conducted focused training here.
Seiji Ito fell heavily from midair again. Fortunately, he moved with exceptional agility, landing firmly on his feet.
"Seiji, you're being too impatient," Hayate Gekko mildly criticized.
"Yes sir," Seiji Ito acknowledged, immediately charging again to sprint up the wall.
Actually, practicing wall-running techniques proved significantly harder than tree climbing training.
Compared to tree trunks covered in rough bark, smooth walls were a far greater challenge.
Yet this kind of training produced better results.
The key, of course, is actually mastering it. If someone keeps falling like Seiji Ito does, it's practically a waste of time.
Yet Seiji Ito kept at it—again and again, climbing up only to fall back down.
These days, he had grown even more determined, because not only had Shiki Uzumaki succeeded, even Yuuma Akimoto managed to perform a handstand on the ceiling after just one or two days of training.
Seiji Ito crashed down onto the smooth wooden floor once more. Shiki Uzumaki couldn't help but wonder how much extra flooring cost they'd end up paying by the end of their training session.
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