When we arrived at Amigasa Village, I was really surprised by how bad this village was. I couldn't even call these buildings houses. They looked more like shacks with patches here and there.
Everyone here was just as malnourished as Takeshi and they also wore worn out clothes with patches just like him. They are also very dirty, which was very understandable. These people are very poor, so hygiene would be their last concern.
Takeshi's house, or hut, or shack, was also badly damaged. But it was actually on the good side compared to most houses we passed by. He lived with his sick father by themselves since his mother died years ago.
"Dad, I'm back."
Takeshi took me to his dad who could only lay in bed. I've learned some medical skills because it was necessary for people like me and Akatsuki members as we couldn't get doctors easily, especially me who needed to hide my identity very seriously.
But even those with no medical skills would know that Takeshi's father was in a very bad condition. He was already very sickly and I was also very sure he didn't get enough nutrition, making his condition worse.
"Takeshi, you're home. Oh? Who is this young boy?" Takeshi's father's voice was very weak.
"I found him on the shore. He was stranded, washed by the sea current."
"Poor boy. We should help him. *COUGH! COUGH!* "
"Calm down, dad. That was my plan, so you don't need to worry. Now eat your medicine."
Takeshi grabbed the pouch on his left waist and took out some fresh herbs. I never saw these herbs in any books I've read, so I don't know if they were the correct herbs for his father's condition or not.
He just gave the fresh herbs to his father who ate them as they were. I was quite speechless because usually medicinal herbs needed to be crushed into paste before eaten at the very least. So I asked them and their answer was not what I expected.
"Crushing them with our mouths is no different than using mortar and pestle, right?"
Certainly, the end product was the same, so I couldn't rebuke that. I just thought they should use only the useful parts and use the correct amounts of each herb.
After all, they seemed like they didn't use any proportions for each herb because Takeshi just gave his father everything in his pouch. It was also unlikely he only gathered the perfectly correct amount, and I even saw some that I have no doubt to be normal grass mixed there.
But I knew that this was quite normal for poor people to do this. They often thought the more medicinal herbs they ate, the better they would be. I even suspected that these herbs had nothing to do with the illness and Takeshi just picked any herbs he knew.
People often thought that any herb was good for their conditions because all herbs could improve their health. So even if they used herbs that weren't the cure for their illnesses, those herbs would still make their body healthier and help them fight those illnesses.
That might be true for common herbs used to improve health. But sometimes there are herbs that could worsen the condition instead if taken wrongly. Even the wrong doses could lead to death in extreme cases.
I needed to talk to Takeshi after this, but I didn't have any solution yet. Besides, I didn't know if I could fully trust them or this whole situation yet. Sorry to say, but I had a hard time trusting new people because of my experience even though they saved my life.
There might be hidden motives and I needed to check if I could trust them all before I helped them. Besides, without any solution, I would just give them false hope which sometimes was worse because it could really lower their morale and sometimes living without hope is worse than death.
Instead of trying to help with no knowledge of the medicinal herbs around here, I should get help from people who knew, real doctors around here. But they wouldn't be able to afford it and I surely didn't have any money.
Well, I could find ways to get money. Even with no chakra, the skills and knowledge I've got from years of being a shinobi wanted by almost all countries were real. I could steal if needed or do other shady things to get money fast.
But first, I needed to find out if I could trust Takeshi's family. I would check who they truly were before deciding if I should help them or not. They might be hiding something that could endanger me, after all.
"Meal's done. Here, eat it."
When I was thinking of my plans, Takeshi gave me a bowl of rice. There was no side-dish, but I couldn't complain because with his economic condition, being able to buy rice was good enough.
I ate the rice because I was very hungry and he only looked at me with a warm smile. He didn't eat and said he has eaten in when looking for firewood before.
While I ate, Takeshi went to the back, so I checked after finishing my meal. He was actually making charcoal using the wood he gathered before. He said he would sell them later to exchange for food.
"How much can you make?" I asked while checking the charcoals that were ready to sell. They were really good.
"I could only make around 3 baskets of charcoal per day. We got a bowl of rice for every 3 baskets of charcoals, so I barely reached the quota. When my dad was healthy, we could make 9 baskets because we split the jobs."
"What?!" 3 baskets of charcoal just for 1 bowl of rice? Isn't that ridiculous?
Wait! He gave me a bowl of rice. Didn't that mean he gave me his whole day of salary meant for him and his dad to eat?
"Hahaha, don't worry. We could hold it for a day or two. But you almost died and I'm sure you haven't eaten anything for days when you were floating around in the sea. That's why I need to apologize to you. I don't think I can give you as much food as today because we'll need to split the rice for 3 people."
"!? You plan to let me stay here and even feed me?" Could there really be someone this kind? Helping people when they have nothing.
"You have nowhere to go, right? Then I'll help you. I'm not heartless enough to abandon a child in need."
Oh, right, I was turning into a child, so I didn't look like I could take care of myself.
"... I'll help you. I couldn't eat for free."
"Uh, I appreciate the help, but this is not an easy job."
"It's fine. I will help as much as I can. Though I doubt I can make as many charcoal as you do."
Takeshi smiles. "Even a little surplus in production is a good thing. We can save them until they can fill 3 baskets so we can exchange them."
That said, I needed to know how he made the charcoal. So I watched his work to understand the procedures. It was also a good chance to know more about him and this country.
He didn't have too much to say about himself because he was just an ordinary person with no achievement. But he has a lot to say about this country though.
First, the leader of the country was called a Shogun and a regional leader was called Daimyo. It was quite different from the Elemental Nations where the leaders of the Countries are Daimyo with no one above them.
Second, the Shogun throne usurper, Kurozumi Orochi was working together with outside power, a pirate named Kaido who was very powerful. Their alliance was powerful enough to defeat Kozuki Oden, the true heir to the throne who was also the strongest in Wano at the time.
Though it seemed they used underhanded tactics using citizens as hostages so Oden would give up. Takeshi told me that people didn't know this and used to resent Oden until they found out too late. Oden was boiled alive already when they found the truth and they couldn't save him.
While his name sounded funny to me, his spoil did scare me. He survived being boiled alive for more than an hour to make the enemies spare his people's lives even though they kept increasing the temperature.
Honestly, I didn't know anyone who could survive being boiled alive for an hour. Their whole bodies would have been cooked thoroughly already, so they won't survive. Hmm, maybe someone with super regeneration like Hashirama could survive, but I wasn't sure as well.
It doesn't seem like Oden has regeneration power as well. He simply has a ridiculously strong body and his body might be stronger than even the 3rd Raikage.
Takeshi also was stronger than he looked, so maybe this world didn't have chakra because their physiques were their main power. But then, how could I break this Genjutsu if there was no chakra here?
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