Just now, he had been observing the Grass Ninjas from the corner of his eye. Obito truly couldn't fathom why a group of people would be so enthusiastically discussing tea. Could it be that the Grass Village is a Ninja Village with a tea-drinking culture?
Looking at Obito's clear and innocent eyes, Kakashi ultimately decided not to tell him the truth. It's not bad to be a little naïve.
"Let's go see somewhere else." Kakashi was prepared to investigate outside the main city area.
This was, after all, an S-level war mission, and Kakashi had long anticipated no results on the first day.
For tasks of this level, it's normal to spend one or two months on it.
The group continued to investigate the Grass Village, gradually reaching the area where the village handled refugees.
Kakashi and the others spotted the crowd gathered from afar, with ninjas wearing Grass Village headbands shouting loudly to maintain order.
"If you want to eat, then register properly. Write down any special skills or knowledge you have. Ninjas can register first, and if you perform well, you can become a ninja of the Grass Village," the Grass Ninja shouted to maintain order.
The Grass Village itself wasn't very wealthy, so it certainly couldn't unconditionally support those war refugees. Useful ones could stay and work, while the useless ones were driven out.
As for what happens to those who are driven out, that's not their concern, as some of these people aren't even from the Land of Grass.
Kakashi watched as seven Grass Ninjas controlled thousands of refugees, lost in thought.
Although with a ninja's superhuman strength, maintaining public order is no problem, but in terms of work efficiency, handling so many people would require more than ten to twenty ninjas to be effective.
"High task intensity, few ninjas..." Kakashi vaguely caught a hint of inspiration.
But then Kakashi shook his head. The known information was still too little to draw any conclusions.
"Rin, look, there's actually a red-haired person over there," Obito, scanning aimlessly, suddenly noticed a rare hair color and quickly informed Nohara Rin.
Hair of various colors wasn't uncommon in the Ninja World. Among the people Obito had seen, black hair was the most common, while red hair was the rarest. The only naturally red-haired person he'd seen was Kushina.
"Yeah, and the color is somewhat similar to Kushina's," Nohara Rin nodded and said.
Hearing this, Kakashi also directed his gaze towards the red-haired figure Obito mentioned.
"Could they be a survivor of the Uzumaki Clan?" Kakashi subconsciously wondered in his mind.
Red hair is a significant trait of the Uzumaki Clan. If the hair is red and they have potent Chakra, then they're likely an Uzumaki clan member.
Kakashi quietly moved closer and activated the Transparent World.
Under the effect of the Transparent World, the red-haired figure's body transformed in Kakashi's view, exposing the vast Chakra within.
Kakashi looked surprised.
The Uzumaki Clan all have red hair, but that doesn't mean all red-haired individuals are from the Uzumaki Clan. There are also regular people born with natural red hair.
But when paired with potent Chakra, it's a solid indicator.
"Name, age, special skills. Speak up quickly. If you don't, stand to the left," the registration Grass Ninja said impatiently.
Even when it comes to preferred jobs, doing them continuously can become tiresome, not to mention this monotonous, repetitive task. If it weren't for this being a mission from the Leader of Grass Village, the ninja would have already slacked off.
"Karei, twenty, sewing... does that count as a special skill?" Uzumaki Karei cautiously asked.
"Stand to the left," the registration Grass Ninja ordered, without answering Uzumaki Karei's question.
Such meager skills obviously wouldn't allow her to earn a living in today's Grass Village; even for brick-moving, they considered her too weak.
Uzumaki Karei, seeing no other option, obediently moved to the left line, feeling a bit lost.
The left line would be driven out of the Grass Village; several groups had already been expelled earlier.
Since she couldn't stay in the Grass Village, where could she go? The war had made the Land of Grass chaotic and dangerous; the Grass Village was one of the safest and most prosperous places in the entire Land of Grass.
The other similarly safe and prosperous place is the Capital of the Land of Grass, but living there without money is impossible—in a sense, survival there is even harder than in the Grass Village.
Actually, Uzumaki Karei had a way to be accepted by the Grass Village, as her strongest skill wasn't sewing but her unique Uzumaki Constitution.
However, Uzumaki Karei dared not reveal it because she knew the entire Ninja World currently harbored deep malice towards the Uzumaki Clan. When outside, Uzumaki Karei never dared to say her surname.
Uzumaki Karei wanted a stable, peaceful life. If she exposed her abilities, she couldn't enjoy a calm, stable life. This contradiction ultimately led Uzumaki Karei to choose concealment.
"I'll try my luck outside," Uzumaki Karei sighed internally.
She had no grand dreams of restoring the Uzumaki Clan—she just wanted to live peacefully into old age. Even such a simple wish was a luxury in today's Ninja World.
"Take them out," the leading Grass Ninja ordered the nearby Grass Ninjas once the left line had accumulated enough people.
Kakashi began to step back, preparing to create a Shadow Clone to follow them.
Although this unknown Uzumaki had no direct link to the current mission, the Uzumaki Clan had always been Konoha's closest allies. If they were in trouble, Kakashi would be willing to help a bit.
"Wait, what's going on here?" Yokokawa Tsutomu, coming for an inspection, casually asked as he saw the group heading towards the village's entrance.
He was worried that his subordinates might slip up and be detected by the Grass Flower, so he came to take a look.
"Leader, sir, they're people who can't contribute to the Grass Village. We're about to send them out," the Grass Ninja explained respectfully.
Yokokawa Tsutomu nodded, seeing nothing amiss.
"Hey, that red-haired person, stop," Yokokawa Tsutomu, about to leave, showed an intrigued expression.
As the Leader of the Grass Village, Yokokawa Tsutomu wasn't as ignorant as an ordinary Grass Ninja.
Hearing Yokokawa Tsutomu's voice, Uzumaki Karei's mind momentarily froze, realizing someone might have noticed something.
However, as someone who hadn't undergone ninja training, there was no way she could escape among several ninjas, so Uzumaki Karei obediently stopped.
Feeling the envious, jealous stares around her, Uzumaki Karei sighed. This was not a good thing.
Uzumaki Karei could only do her best to control her facial expression, silently praying her identity wouldn't be discovered.
Yokokawa Tsutomu approached Uzumaki Karei, gathering Chakra to activate a secret technique to sense her Chakra.
This sensing secret technique had a short range, making it useless in combat, but it was handy for detecting Chakra in regular situations.
"You can stay," Yokokawa Tsutomu smiled slightly, sensing the Chakra in Uzumaki Karei. He hadn't expected such a pleasant surprise.
With the traits of an Uzumaki Clan member, if he sacrificed Uzumaki Karei to the Box of Bliss, she'd be worth a hundred ordinary ninjas.
After speaking, Yokokawa Tsutomu instructed the Grass Ninja briefly and left.
The next batch of corpses was nearly due, and he planned to handle Uzumaki Karei alongside the ninja corpses then.
Yokokawa Tsutomu's arrival disrupted Kakashi's plans. To avoid affecting the mission, Kakashi refrained from acting recklessly.
He intended to report the information to Teacher Mokgetsu and let Mokgetsu decide whether to contact this Uzumaki survivor.
By evening, Kakashi's team returned to the inn after a day of investigation.
"Today we didn't do anything but wander around. We must be the group with the least gains, Kakashi; as team leader, you have to take responsibility," Obito tried to pin the blame on Kakashi.
Kakashi looked at Obito speechlessly, "If you just said less, others wouldn't think our team didn't gather any intelligence."
Every time Kakashi was about to see Obito in a better light, Obito had to speak.
"Alright, Teacher Mokgetsu and the others seem to be back. Let's go over," Nohara Rin smiled helplessly, acting as the peacemaker.
Seeing Nohara Rin intervene, Obito chose not to further dwell on Kakashi's sarcasm and followed towards the room.
PS: Sorry, updates might be less frequent in the coming days as Xiao Ju is adjusting to some health issues.
Once my eyesight recovers, I'll definitely get back to frequent updates. Lately, I've been writing until four or five in the morning. Do you think I'm the type not wanting to write?
To an author, updates mean money—more work, more money. Xiao Ju needs money and certainly wants to earn more, but my health currently doesn't allow it. I hope brothers can understand.