After six o'clock, the sky was much darker, and in the twilight, the frozen white sky in the distance could be faintly seen.

The weather is still very cold in February, and the country of ghosts is not a rich country, and only a few people in the city can use a stove, and here in the countryside, you don't want to use a stove to keep warm, just find an open space in the house and pile a pair of firewood to keep warm.

This is how the villagers of the Oni no Kuni survive the winter.

In many small, impoverished countries, winter nights can sometimes be more terrifying than the ninjas of war.

Houses that don't have winter use and heating tools can easily freeze to death at night.

Especially those who are homeless in war-torn areas.

Faced with the old woman's hospitality, Shiraishi and Ayane stayed for dinner.

The cabin isn't pretty, but it's sturdy enough to shelter from the elements.

Close the doors and windows tightly, and all you can hear is the whistling sound of the cold wind beating against the solid wood.

The content of dinner is very simple, only steamed buns and pickles, and very thin rice porridge.

Shiraishi could see that this was already the best food that the old woman could come up with.

If it weren't for the visitor, I guess I would be reluctant to take it out and eat it.

The ingredients in the house are also some wild vegetables and radishes that can be seen everywhere, and the life of the elderly living alone may be simpler, but it can almost be glimpsed that the living conditions in this village can only barely solve the problem of food and clothing.

The old woman's name is Yezi and she is currently living alone, and her husband died of illness a few years ago.

There is a son who works in the port town of Oni no Kuni, is a sailor, and has started a family. Every year in December and January, he returns here with his wife and children for the Chinese New Year, after which he returns to work in the port town.

"It's a shrine maiden statue."

While eating, Shiraishi's eyes focused on the shelf of the room, on which a clay statue of a shrine maiden was enshrined.

"It's a shrine maiden-sama."

Granny Ye had a smile on her face.

"I can see statues of shrine maidens in many places, and I say that this country is really devout to shrine maidens."

Literally, and experiencing it are two different feelings.

The belief of the shrine maiden can affect even such a remote and poor village, and has been integrated into the daily life of the people of the Oni Country.

"Of course, the peace in this country is due to the work of the shrine maiden. I would like to thank the shrine maiden-sama who brought us peace. ”

Granny Ye folded her hands and bowed in the direction of the clay witch.

During the meal, Granny Ye Zi told the story of the witch slaying the demon and destroying the demon in front of Shiraishi and Ayane.

More than 20 years ago, not long after the end of the First Ninja War, the country of ghosts suffered a very terrible disaster, and a terrible monster was born out of thin air, spreading death in the land of the country of ghosts.

"That's terrible, terracotta warriors......"

Granny Ye recalled the past and said in a sighing tone.

At her age, it is likely that she had personally experienced that terrible nightmare.

"Terracotta?"

When Shiraishi heard this title, he suddenly raised his voice a little louder, as if he felt incredible because of this title.

"What's wrong? Is there anything wrong with the name? ”

Ayane was listening with relish, looking at Shiraishi suspiciously.

"Ah, no, what do you say about the name...... Sounds a little weird. Mother-in-law, you continued, what happened to those terracotta warriors? ”

Shiraishi didn't know where to start complaining.

Terracotta Warriors...... It's a really special name.

"Those terracotta warriors and horses are said to be stone demons sleeping in the country of Huangquan, three meters tall, holding a huge stone knife in their hands, that is an army of demons that will not die, called by many people 'ghost army', controlled by that monster, with death and disaster."

Granny Ye didn't care about Bai Shi's increasingly strange face and continued to tell her story.

"Aren't the surrounding countries governed?"

Shiraishi looked curious.

"I remember that there were ninjas who came to deal with it, but it didn't seem to work, and a lot of people died, because it was an undead legion."

Granny Ye didn't know the specific situation, but she saw a lot of ninjas going to stop the ghost legion, and as a result, many people died, and the road was full of ninja corpses, killed by the ghost legion.

"So what happened in the end?"

"Finally? Of course, it was the shrine maiden-sama who took action to quell this demon rebellion...... But it seems to have happened during the last generation of shrine maidens.,I don't remember a lot of things clearly.,I just remember that after sealing the monster.,The shrine maiden and her followers sacrificed together.。 ”

Granny Ye said regretfully.

"Well, the monster's name is ......"

"Spirits. The monster's name was 魍魉. ”

Granny Ye said the name of the demon that caused the disaster, and she remembered it very clearly.

After eating, Granny Ye planned to rest.

After all, she is very old, and her energy is far less vigorous than that of young people.

Shiraishi didn't bother, but borrowed a firewood room and went there with Ayane to rest for the night.

The two of them found an open space in the firewood room and sat down, and set the firewood on fire to dispel the darkness and coldness around them.

"I didn't expect there to be such an interesting story in the country of ghosts, the battle between demons and ninjas, and finally the witch quelled the trouble......"

Ayane obviously took the incident that Granny Ye said as a story in the picture book.

"It doesn't have to be fake. In the Konoha Library, similar events are indeed recorded, and more than twenty years ago, there was indeed a great disaster in the country of ghosts. It should be what Granny Ye said. ”

"But isn't that a demon? There should be no ghosts in this world, right? Ayane felt that the topic was a bit infiltrating.

"There is a very mysterious natural energy haunting around Maitreya, but it seems that it is different from the natural energy we cultivate, and something else has been added."

"Something else?"

"I don't know what it is, but it's definitely not the immortal art after fusing the chakra, but another special technique, and that should be the inheritance of the shrine maiden."

Shiraishi said.

Shiraishi recalled that when he went to visit Maitreya the shrine maiden before, the peace and kindness he felt were probably influenced by the power of the shrine maiden.

"Besides, the toad's nest, Miaomu Mountain, even has the means to bring the dead back to life, and the shrine maiden's special abilities don't seem to be so difficult to accept."

Bai Shi clasped his hands in front of his chest, although he couldn't believe all the things that Granny Ye said, but the monster might be true.

It's a pity that he has only been in the country of ghosts for a short time, and he doesn't know a lot of things.

And the matter related to the undead demons, the more core secrets should be in the hands of the shrine maiden herself, and there is only so much that ordinary people know.

"Is Bo Feng Shuimen really not dead?"

Ayane also heard Shiraishi talk about this, and felt incredible, the dead can also be resurrected, if this is really the case, then Myoki Mountain's ability is too powerful.

"There are people I arranged to go in in Konoha Hospital, and afterwards, I asked the people who stayed in Konoha on the side of Cardo to investigate, and the Bo Feng Shuimen who suffered my fatal blow is indeed alive. Soon after, an old green-skinned toad visited Konoha Hospital and took something from Watergate. ”

Shiraishi seemed to have seen that scene with his own eyes, and said to Ayane.

"That's amazing. If you encounter it in the future, it seems that you need to be cautious. ”

"Don't worry too much, if there is really such a means of resurrection, it can only be a forbidden technique, and the practitioner himself will have to bear huge risks and costs."

Shiraishi doesn't believe in the means of bringing Miaomu Mountain back to life, and he can cast spells at will without paying any price.

And at this stage, there is no need to worry about Konoha chasing and killing, in order to deal with Sand and Iwakuin, Konoha has almost tried his best, and there is no rest of the strength to deal with him.

The most important thing now is to build up the power in your hands.

"It's almost time to rest, Shiraishi-kun, I'm a little tired now."

Ayane yawned.

"You go to sleep first, I still need to think about something."

"Really? Well, good night. ”

Ayane naturally rested her head on Shiraishi's knees, closed her eyes and slept, with a smile on her lips.

"It's too cold on the ground, so you can get warm."

Ayane, who closed her eyes, also made a point to explain.

"I didn't say anything about you."

"Yes, because Shiraishi-kun is a big pervert. While I'm sleeping, it's a feeling of peeking into my body. ”

"Don't worry, it won't."

Shiraishi affirmed.

"Don't you have any thoughts in your heart?"

"Why do you say that?"

"Whatever, dominate my body. As I said a long time ago, I don't want to leave Shiraishi-kun's side. You can use it however you want. ”

Ayane said.

"Don't worry, I won't abandon you."

Shiraishi said and sighed.

"Scumbag."

Ayane softly spat out the two words.

"Hey!"

Ayane shrunk her body, breathing much lighter, as if she had fallen into a deep sleep.

Shiraishi looked at Ayane, who had quieted down, and sighed.

It's not the first time the idea of making a promise to a woman has sprung up.

But two people are irreplaceable existences for themselves, and they only cherish the person in front of them, which is too difficult and painful to do.

So, for Ayane and for Ruri, I have a sense of indebtedness.

Sometimes I wonder if I'm a little too selfish.

◎

When I woke up the next day, the weather was still very cold, and my body was a little stiff when I first got up.

Ayane went to help Granny Ye make breakfast, and after eating breakfast, her body warmed up a lot.

The people in the village also get up early to work, and the life of the people here is very ordinary, working at sunrise and resting at sunset, every day, every year.

Under the protection of the shrine maiden, the comfort and peace of this country are the envy of many countries.

Not only because of the shrine maiden, but also because the strategic location is not very important.

A fertile land like the Land of Fire, coupled with Konoha's weak diplomatic attitude, will inevitably fall into the embarrassing situation of fighting everywhere.

Shiraishi began to investigate the village, which had a combined population of about 200 people. They are all old people, women and children, and there are very few young people who have stayed here, and from the chat, it can be known that these young men have left the village to work in larger towns to support their families.

The level of education is generally low, most adults know a limited number of words, and there are no schools in the villages, and there are no unified educational institutions.

Shiraishi also knocked on the side and asked them what they thought about letting their children go to school, and most adults had a dispensable attitude.

Adults don't have that kind of awakening consciousness, and the economy is backward, and they don't need to read and write, they only need to be able to do farm work and work hard, so they can eat and drink enough.

These are the only abilities they can teach their children.

"I feel like these adults are really backward in their thinking."

Ayane said.

After following Shiraishi to visit so many villagers, this is the only thought in her heart.

"That's what they really think, what they need is a job to support their families, not how to read and learn something that is useless to them."

In this era of low productivity, the grain and vegetables grown by ordinary peasants, after paying taxes, are only enough to eat.

A place like a school, in their subconscious, is a place that only the city can have, and only the aristocracy will study, and the peasants should do the farm work well to support themselves and their families.

In Shiraishi's view, this kind of thinking is naturally wrong, backward and ignorant. But in view of the actual situation in the village, these peasants' ideas are correct.

Something in the big city, does not fit their situation.

It's like a ninja learning textbook that ordinary people don't need, and if you give it to ordinary people, ordinary people can't learn it, and you can't apply it in practice.

"That's why I came here to practice the investigation, if a school is established here and the textbooks are distributed uniformly, the villagers will definitely dislike and hate them, because the textbooks in the big cities don't tell the knowledge they need."

If it does not conform to the interests and needs of the peasants, it will naturally be rejected and the ideology will not be unified.

"Sounds like a lot of trouble." Ayane's head hurts, but seeing Shiraishi swear so much, I think he has a very masculine charm.

"Everyone's needs are different, and the development of a force is inseparable from talents from all walks of life. The ninja world of the future will definitely be talent-oriented. And the so-called talent is the result of the big waves. If you want more and more talents, you must expand the 'base'. The lifestyle of a ninja is not accessible to ordinary people. ”

Therefore, Shiraishi has to distinguish the way ninjas are educated from ordinary people.

However, among ordinary people, due to the influence of region, education level, economic environment and other factors, there will be great differences in the schools they set up and the teaching materials they provide for students to learn.

In poor places, we should teach them the knowledge to get rich and quickly solve the problem of food and clothing.

Wealthy places do not need to worry about food and clothing, so the probability of talent birth is far greater than that of poor areas.

The world is the age of ninjas.

The role of ordinary people is ignored.

At the end of the day, ninjas are also selected from among ordinary people.

Valuing the development of ninja power while ignoring the ordinary people at the bottom is a mistake in itself.

Through this village, Shiraishi can get a general understanding of the living environment in the non-urban areas of the Oni no Kuni, and the wealthy villages are bound to be a minority, and most of the villages still have to struggle for food and clothing.

After that, Shiraishi spent a few more days learning more about the situation in the village before saying goodbye to Granny Ye and going to another place to conduct an actual investigation.

When I returned to the organization's headquarters, it was a month later, in early March.

During this month, Shiraishi sometimes spends time in a cave with Ayane, and also spends the night in a villager's house.

There are many problems, but the advantages are also obvious, that is, there is no chaos, order is stable, and all that remains is to slowly find a way to solve the problem, this kind of thing, Shiraishi feels that there is no need to rush at all.

By the time I returned to the headquarters, the ninja education area for ninjas had already been built.

This school can accommodate hundreds of people at the same time to learn the skills of ninjas, the range is large, and there are enough venues for them to conduct actual combat training.

The source of the students, Shiraishi intends to start selecting from within the country of Oni, and the other part is to provide school-age children from the Uchiha clan, the Hyuga clan, and the Uzumaki clan.

Finally, I searched for young orphans in the ninja world and brought them back for training.

Natural energy cultivates ninjas, and no chakra qualifications are required.

As long as there are no particularly serious defects in the body, it can form combat effectiveness, and no matter how bad the physical skills are, it is not something that ordinary people can resist.

The downside is that the probability of cultivating a top-notch powerful ninja is low; The advantage is to compensate for quality with quantity, there will be no shortage of fighters.

After all, homeless orphans are everywhere in the ninja world, and if you pick them up, you can bring back hundreds of orphans.

According to the report, more than 400 orphans have been collected so far, and ninja training will be officially conducted in April next month.

It will be nine years before it is officially put into use.

"Lord Shiraishi, this is a letter from Konoha over there."

While Shiraishi was observing the school area, a man in a trench coat embroidered with an aster flower mark appeared in an instantaneous technique and handed a letter to Shiraishi.

Shiraishi opened the letter and scanned it briefly.

In the previous year, he asked the people here to negotiate a cooperation agreement with Konoha to train medical ninjas on his behalf.

The Aster Flower Company pays for some of the drug information, and Konoha wants to train some medical ninjas for their side.

The official collaboration is in April next month, which is also the time when the Konoha Ninja School will begin.

It's just late March, and it's time to arrange this.

The content of the letter probably said that they were allowed to send twenty to thirty students with medical ninja talents to receive six years of medical ninja training at the Konoha Ninja School, and Konoha would bear half of the costs of teaching materials, accommodation, etc., and the other half would be paid by Shiraishi.

However, the cost of the materials used in the experiment, Konoha will not bear it, and all of it will be paid by Shiraishi.

Shiraishi nodded, his request was reasonable, and he was basically satisfied.

"How many people are currently studying medical ninjutsu here at the headquarters?"

Shiraishi asked.

"Forty-one people in all."

The man thought for a moment and replied.

"Pick out twenty-five people, and send someone to deliver them safely to Konoha the morning after tomorrow. Take the sea route around to the land of tea, and then to the land of fire. ”

Considering that the land of rain, the country of grass, and the country of rivers may all become war zones, it will be very dangerous to walk on land, and it will be troublesome if you accidentally get involved in a war.

"Yes. By the way, Lord Shiraishi, there has been a very strange rumor in the ninja world recently. ”

Remembering something, the man's voice lowered and he said very carefully.

"Strange rumors?"

"This rumor has not yet been confirmed whether it is true or not, but it is said that the three generations of Kazekage of Sand Hidden Village seem to be missing."

The man spoke in a very small voice, because this matter was too important, and the sudden disappearance of one of the ninjas of the Five Shadows was not a trivial matter.

Shiraishi, who heard the news, was also immediately surprised.

"The Wind Shadow is missing?"

"Yes, and it seems to have disappeared at the end of January. It's been more than a month since the Ninja World War broke out, and the three generations of Kazekage haven't shown up once, and they haven't even made a move. Now many people are increasingly skeptical that this news is true. ”

When Shiraishi heard this, a look of suspicion appeared on his face.

At the end of January, the third generation of Kazekage disappeared, but in February, Sand Hide started a war against Konoha, so who is the person responsible for mobilizing Sand Hide's troops? Those high-rise sand hiaters?

Originally, I thought that the disappearance of the three generations of Kazekage was after the start of the war, but now it seems that it is not like that.

But...... How could Kazekage, one of the five contemporary shadows, suddenly disappear?

Could this be a conspiracy by the sand hidden?

"Lord Shiraishi, should we send someone to investigate this matter?"

Shiraishi shook his head and said, "No, this has nothing to do with us, our current role is to sell medicine, don't do some superfluous things." Ninjas fight, we take care of making money. ”

Although he was surprised by the disappearance of the Wind Shadow, Shiraishi thought about it carefully, and it had nothing to do with him.

Regardless of whether the Wind Shadow is there or not, the Sand Hidden Village has to buy medicine from its own side, and it will not cut off cooperation just because the Wind Shadow is missing.

rashly intervening in it will expose his traces and make Sha Yin suspicious.

During this war, selling medicines to make money is the job on my side, and there is no need to meddle with things.

After the man went down, Shiraishi continued to wander around the school, and when he was about to go back, the ground began to bulge, and Shogun Earth began to appear in human form.

General Tu just handed a note to Shiraishi, who looked at the contents of the note and frowned.

"Did that strange white creature start to sneak into Konoha again, into the Uchiha land?"

General Tu nodded, indicating that this was indeed the case.

"It's endless, what the hell are they trying to do?"

Shiraishi was puzzled.

To be honest, Shiraishi is very jealous of the people behind this group of mysterious white creatures.

The pressure on himself from that writing wheel eye was too terrifying, and I still remember it vividly.

But this group of people must be planning something, otherwise it would be impossible to sneak into Konoha again and again and investigate in the Uchiha clan.

For Konoha ...... No, the conspiracy against the Uchiha is even greater.

And who is the target?

None of this is known to Shiraishi.

"This time you follow these people and see where they land."

As he spoke, a snake-like stream of water suddenly appeared from the sleeve of Shiraishi's coat, attached to the body of the earth general, and disappeared.

"Be careful, if you find something wrong, you have to leave immediately. Just determine where they're and don't go deep. ”

Shiraishi was very worried that General Tu would investigate this group of mysterious people and encounter the mastermind behind the powerful Sharingan eye pupil power, so he asked the water clone to also act with General Tu to avoid having time to retreat in the event of a crisis.

The Earth General nodded, and dived back into the soil to investigate the mysterious white creatures.