[Naruto] Survival Records of the Warring States Period

The moist air after the rain dampened the kitten's hair.

The white, small cat curled up on the verandah, its green eyes reflecting the clear blue water in the courtyard.

"Nyanosuke, Nyanosuke..." The girl's anxious call came from outside the winding corridor.

The kitten's ears moved slightly and it meowed softly.

Obviously, this weak cry could not reach the other side. The girl's voice on the other side also became farther and farther away.

He hesitated for a moment, then landed lightly on the bright wooden floor and walked up to the kitten.

The snow-white cat raised its head and stared at the huge alien in front of it.

"Nyanosuke?" he asked.

The taciturn young ninja stretched out his hand expressionlessly and picked up the cat.

Qingshui Cong opened his eyes suddenly. It was windy and rainy outside, and the shoji door was slapped by the wind.

You can't tell the day when the atmosphere in the town started to change.

Maybe it’s when people around you smile less and less.

It could also be when more and more ninjas appear in the town.

It may also be a time when there is no rice to buy in the market.

……

Or maybe it was when my colleagues were discussing at work that day whether the Kingdom of Wind would start fighting with the Kingdom of Fire again.

When you realize something is wrong, the town without walls has been blocked by ninjas hired by unknown parties, and everyone can only move around in the town or castle.

The farmland output from outside the town cannot be transported in, and the filth in the town and castle cannot be sent out. The food in the market is quickly robbed, and even the next-door neighbors no longer sell their own inventory.

A lingering stench surrounds the town, and you feel like you're being soaked in the smell just by living there. The shortage of supplies began to cause riots, and people from the execution office mobilized to maintain the shaky public order in the town.

This is the first time you have encountered this situation since time travel. This is no longer something that war can bring about.

In the war three years ago, the battlefield was far away in the country of Sichuan. Compared with today, the situation at that time could be considered normal.

The system of ninjas participating in wars strangely maintains the normal life of civilian living areas during wartime. What's more, your town is located in the capital of the center of the Land of Fire, so the current situation should not occur at all.

To put it bluntly, if even the country becomes like this, the Fire Country will not be far from being destroyed.

Affected by the blockade and shortage of supplies, most of the shops in the city are no longer open for business. The publishing house also had a holiday, few people went out, and the whole city was in panic.

You and your family stayed in the store, the door curtains rustling in the dry wind from the street, but no customers came to the door.

You held a few stones in your hand and passed the time by practicing throwing and catching them. The sound of the pebbles hitting everyone in the quiet room seemed to hit everyone's heart.

There is no work to do, but you are uncomfortable with idleness.

I'd rather go to work.

you think.

pat, pat.

The gravel collided with each other.

You keep repeating the movements on your hands.

"Sister, do whatever you want, don't throw it away." Finally, Taro couldn't bear it and said.

You stopped what you were doing and sighed deeply.

I still have some food stored at home, so I don’t have to worry about running out of food for a few days, but it will be hard to tell as time goes by.

Who knows what happened in the Country of Fire, this situation feels like it is coming to an end.

Look at your mother, she is drawing clothes; look at A Cai and Tai Lang, A Cai is reading a book, and Tai Lang is sewing clothes.

It seems that I am too idle.

You thought for a while and decided to follow Miss Keiko's advice. You took out a paper and pen and prepared to write something to relieve stress.

"..."

You stared at the white paper, unable to write a single word, and ended up drawing a mandala.

You don't need to use your brain to draw these, it's all about feeling. The more you draw, the more focused you become, gradually forgetting about external objects.

Straight lines and curves, circles and sawtooth, black and white.

The white paper was gradually filled with certain regular shapes. A Cai glanced at the paper in your hand, put down the book and lay aside curiously to watch.

Just when you were about to fill in the last blank space in the picture, the voice of "Excuse me" came from outside the store door, interrupting your smooth thinking and painting process.

You looked at the painting with no added pattern in the upper right corner, feeling a little uncomfortable and looking towards the door.

"Search for traitors." The person came and opened the door curtain with the handle of a knife. The leader was wearing the clothes of the monastery, but you had never seen him before.

"Who is in charge of your store?" He glanced around your family. I don't know if it was your imagination, but his eyes seemed to pause on you for a moment.

Aqin's mother stepped forward to be questioned, and he signaled to the five or six people following him, and the others immediately dispersed to search the store.

While you were listening to the sound of rummaging through boxes and cabinets in the store, you were listening to the people at the practice asking your mother questions.

The questions were very detailed, including when did you move into your home, what did you do before, and what did your children do in their daily lives?

"Sir, has something happened?" Aqin's mother asked uneasily.

"Don't ask about things you shouldn't ask about." The other party gave Aqin's mother a cold look and began to check the things in the store.

For some reason, you always think back to the way he looked at you when he came just now, and you feel an indescribable uneasiness in your heart.

Now when you are looking at the mandala painting you just finished, the untouched white corner suddenly comes into view, making your heart beat a little out of order.

Something wrong must have happened.

What did he just say? Search for the traitor - who is the traitor? Why a traitor and not an enemy spy? Does the lockdown these days have anything to do with this? What's the situation in the city now?

……

Suddenly, you see the person who went to search come out with a stack of familiar manuscripts, send them to the leader, and whisper a few words.

Your heart suddenly feels like falling into an ice cave, and your hands and feet are cold.

A Cai seemed to notice something strange about you, pulled your finger and asked in a low voice: "Sister?"

You came back to your senses, looked down at Ah Cai, pursed your lips and pulled away from Ah Cai's hand: "It's okay."

The leader quickly looked through the things in his hands, then stopped at the end of the manuscript and remained motionless for a long time.

He walked up to you, threw the manuscript on the table, looked at you again, then turned around and ordered: "Take them all back."

Your heart was beating fast. In a flash, you understood something. You grabbed the manuscript on the table and shouted with a pale face: "Wait a minute!"

"This is mine and has nothing to do with anyone else." You held the manuscript and looked at them.

[The ninja was gathered together with other paper figures to work during the day, and at night he was assigned to serve in the home of a middle-aged man.

The so-called prosperous and peaceful Taoyuan Township does not exist.

After the ninja became a paper man, he finally understood this truth.

Exquisite jades, delicious meals, and abundant harvest land are all obtained through the hard work of paper figures.

You are not allowed to go out at night. If you go out, you will become a paper man.

He already understood the reason for this prohibition.

So what about the reason for the other ban?

What was the ban on ninjas for that day?

What is the so-called god in this village?

And what about the old man who suddenly turned into a clay sculpture?

Now unable to communicate with other paper figures and unable to get clues about where his body is, the ninja has to repeatedly recall everything he experienced after arriving in the village.

Then he remembered what the paper people said to him the night he turned into a paper man.

So, if he has consciousness, do the other paper figures also have the consciousness they had when they were still humans?

While polishing jade in the darkroom, he tried it and asked the paper people around him: "Were you people before?"

No one answered him.

]

"Those paper figures were people before, right?"

Boss A Cong, who was locked up next to you in the damp cell, asked.

"The ninja turned from a human into a paper figurine, so must the other paper figurines also turned into human beings?" You asked.

"So they have always been paper figures?" Boss A Cong asked while laughing, and then started coughing.

You thought he was choking, but you realized something was wrong when you heard his coughing getting worse and worse and couldn't stop it. You patted the railing next door: "Boss, are you okay?"

The boss didn't answer you. He huddled in the corner farthest from you, burying his head and coughing, sounding like he was about to cough out his lungs.

"Is there anyone there? Someone is sick!" You no longer expect the boss to answer you, but instead bang on the cell door to attract the guard's attention.

But I don’t know if your cell is located at the end, too far away from them and no one can hear you, or if they don’t care about the life and death of the prisoners in the cell. You shouted for a long time and no one came.

In the end, your boss stopped you and said, "I'm fine. I'm having an old problem. I'll just cough for a while."

You turned to look at him. His face was hung in the shadows and could not be seen clearly. You could only see his too pale hands and a thin figure that was completely different from before.

You were silent for a while: "Tell me something else. Boss, did you already know this?"

The boss was slightly stunned: "What do you know?"

"You asked me to leave here and go to Tanshu Town..." You looked at him, "Also, you and I were both caught."

"My arrest has something to do with you, boss, right?"

Boss A Cong seemed to be frozen, motionless. After a long moment, he sighed: "You should burn it like you said."

Boss Acong is referring to the reason for your arrest this time, the novel manuscript that you didn’t have time to deal with before.

Because you encountered the incident with Ahao's family at that time, and you were busy moving later, you even forgot about it in the end, and you didn't expect to be searched by people from the execution center.

"I didn't have time, it's too late now." You said.

"And even if I don't have this thing, I will still be arrested, right?"

You recall the looks in the eyes of the people who came to search that day, and now you are sure that they came for you: "Boss, did you offend someone?"

Boss A Cong hummed.

You didn't expect him to admit so frankly. You were stunned for a moment and then asked: "Since I have been implicated by you, can you let me die and understand?"

"...You won't die." The boss suddenly said firmly.

you:?

"Then...for the sake of me coming in to accompany you?" You asked again.

The boss suddenly laughed: "Excessive curiosity can lead to death."

These words sound familiar to you. Your boss warned you this way three years ago.

So you answer as before: "It's more terrible to die of hunger than to die out of curiosity. Boss, can you still pay me wages in the future?"

"My family's expenses are getting bigger and bigger. My younger brothers and sisters are still waiting to go to school. Without the boss's salary, my family may have to move back to the original longhouse."

"Who can say for sure about this kind of thing?" The boss smiled bitterly, "You should have guessed it before, I used to be a ninja."

You: "No wonder boss, you asked me before if I had any ill intentions towards ninjas."

You recalled that you didn't hear much about the ninja family named Shimizu in the original novel.

"Qingshui is not my surname either. My original surname is Shui Wuyue." [1]

Wow.

After you marveled, you vaguely remembered that there was a ninja in Konoha also named Minazuki, and continued to listen to the boss's story.

Satoshi Shimizu was originally named Satoshi Minazuki.

His parents gave him this name because ninjas who are smart enough can survive long on the battlefield.

His parents wanted him to survive as long as possible in a war-prone world.

But he left the battlefield and gave up everything he had as a ninja.

Surname, appearance, tribe, hometown.

He came to the Land of Fire with just the name his parents gave him.