"Five times?!"
The villagers opened their mouths wide.
"Sir! Five times... Aren't you trying to kill us?"
"Kill you?"
Sanjuan Wolf chuckled. "Your lives aren't worth much. If you have money, pay it. If you don't have money, pay with grain. If you have neither, pack your things and come with me."
The events at Mirage Town were widely talked about, even in the remote Snowfall Village they had heard about the human trafficking business. Someone cried out:
"Are you going to sell us?!"
The second brother walked over and kicked the speaker in the stomach.
"Say 'sir.' You really are troublemakers, don't understand any manners."
Sanjuan Wolf waved his hand, keeping a friendly smile. "Don't be like that. As Lord Morimura says, you are 'productive resources.'
Everyone, it's not selling, it's inviting you to work in a place where you can earn more money.
This village limits your potential so much that you can't even come up with a little bit of tax money. I will send you to a place where you can show your worth."
Like...
A coal mine.
"You have one night to gather the money. Go."
The villagers left, running back to their homes. At first, there were arguments and crying, but soon there was robbing and fighting.
These were families that couldn't raise the money, stealing food and money from other families.
The so-called years of being fellow villagers all became meaningless in the face of a real life-or-death crisis.
Sanjuan Wolf sat in the carriage, squinting, and treated the wailing, cursing, and screaming as a snack to go with his drink. He tapped his fingers lightly on the sword sheath, drinking and singing, very happy.
The remaining four brothers surrounded the outskirts of the village, making sure not even a bird could fly out.
The chaos lasted from dusk until the next morning.
Some people came up with money and grain.
Some people accepted their fate.
And some people died.
Sanjuan Wolf drank the last of his wine and threw away the bottle.
"Fifth and Fourth, you take them back to the county first. I'll wait two more days. If that 'Doctor Lin' hasn't returned, I'll go back."
"Yes, Big Brother!"
The Fifth drew a long whip from his waist and cracked it, driving the villagers forward like cattle.
Among them, the Haku family of three could be seen.
Just then, a carrier pigeon flew in and landed in Sanjuan Wolf's hand.
He glanced at the secret message, raising an eyebrow.
"Wait a minute."
"What's wrong, Big Brother?"
"I'll take them back myself."
Sanjuan Wolf licked his dry lips. "Lord Morimura says that two of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen have arrived. I need to hurry back and entertain them."
Yagura's deal with the Land of Water Daimyo, the status of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen, County Chief Morimura's career... Many thoughts flashed through his mind. Sanjuan Wolf's intuition told him—
The time had come.
The time for County Chief Morimura to soar above the Blue sky had come!
He had to go back and be a witness.
As for Linto?
Sanjuan Wolf didn't believe his remaining four brothers couldn't handle it.
One Jonin, three Chunin, that was enough.
The carriage had three horses. Sanjuan Wolf rode one away, taking forty or fifty people back to the county.
Now Snowfall Village had fewer than twenty people left. Some of them had paid enough taxes, and some were not worthy of being taken back.
Like old men and women who couldn't work, or people with disabilities.
They were left in the village to die.
Blade Gramps stood by the window, looking at the desolate village, his hand holding the hammer, veins popping out.
If his right arm hadn't been injured.
If he were thirty years younger.
He would have smashed those bastards' heads himself.
"Knock knock—"
The door was knocked on.
Blade Gramps walked over, opened the door, and saw the cripple.
His wife had been taken away again.
This time, without Linto to stick up for him, he could only watch Sanjuan Wolf's whip strike his wife, taking her away like cattle.
The cripple knelt at the door.
"Blade Gramps, I beg you, lend me a knife."
He was thin and handsome. Many people said he was effeminate, a coward hiding behind his wife.
But today, there was determination in the cripple's eyes.
"You want to risk your life?"
"I want to bring my wife back."
Blade Gramps shook his head.
Not even a normal person with all their limbs could beat a ninja, let alone a cripple.
He was silent for a long time, then drew a short knife from his waist and threw it in front of the cripple.
"Leave the village, go north. Before you freeze to death or get killed by a bear, find Linto and bring him back. That's the way for you to risk your life."
"Me? But—"
The cripple looked at his broken leg. "Blade Gramps, wouldn't it be better for you to go?"
Blade Gramps held the hammer tightly, relighting the furnace.
"I have to make a knife for him so he can kill people when he comes back."
The cripple understood.
He picked up the knife from the ground and limped away.
The village blockade had been lifted. Anyway, the valuable things and the people who could work had been taken away. Whether the remaining people left or stayed was none of their concern.
The cripple's figure disappeared into the snow, accompanied by the sound of Blade Gramps's hammering.
...
Terumi Mei sat on the shore, grilling fish.
Sasuke and Momo-chan were happily practicing close combat next to her. With the help of breathing techniques, the two children were fighting powerfully. A faint glow was appearing in their punches and kicks.
As for Linto—
Terumi Mei looked at the frozen lake and turned to Sasuke. "That guy's been down there for almost twenty minutes. He's not going to drown, is he?"
After getting to know him for more than ten days, Terumi Mei roughly understood Akatsuki and what they called Ripple, which was the power between each breath.
Linto had sunk into the ice lake. How could he breathe?
"I believe in Brother Shou!" Sasuke said.
Terumi Mei rolled her eyes. That brat, all he knew was blind hero worship.
Rumble—
She heard thunder and looked up.
The sky was gloomy, but anyone with common sense knew that thunder and lightning were almost impossible during the snowy season of midwinter.
Terumi Mei quickly noticed that the thunder wasn't coming from the sky.
It was coming from the bottom of the lake.
Streaks of glittering golden electricity appeared on the thick ice. Another thunderclap, and the ice collapsed and shattered, the lake water surging.
Sasuke and Momo-chan came over and stood next to Terumi Mei.
They saw the lake water rising and falling, flowing to both sides, actually forming a staircase made of water.
Linto stepped onto the staircase, walking up step by step. Not a single drop of water could be seen on his body.
Terumi Mei handed over the grilled fish. "Did you master some amazing skill?"
"Amazing skill... Where did you learn that term?"
Terumi Mei raised her hand and pointed at Little Sasuke.
"Almost there," Linto said.
Crimson, greenish-blue, and silver-white. Linto was already very familiar with these three Ripple properties. Only the most powerful golden-yellow Ripple could he not truly transform into.
To train, Linto left Snowfall Village and came to this ice lake that was frozen all year round, using the daily cold to train his Ripple power.
The cold lake water covered his skin, forcing Linto to fight against it, allowing him to shift from breathing with the outside world to focusing on the flow of air within his body.
This wasn't a comfortable process.
Linto would explore his limits during each suffocation, and perceive the flow of Ripple at the moment of those limits.
But there was still something missing.
He still needed an opportunity.
Linto took the grilled fish Terumi Mei handed over and ate it in large bites, replenishing his lost strength.
"Why are you training so hard?" Terumi Mei asked.
Linto asked in return, "Do you need a reason to become stronger?"
In his memory, besides the few lazy ninjas, most ninjas were either training or on their way to a mission, almost never stopping.
"Of course you do. Ninjas train either to protect their village, become famous, or earn money... There's always a purpose to drive you to do something that's not comfortable."
Terumi Mei stared at Linto. "What's your purpose?"
Linto didn't belong to a village.
He didn't lack money .
If he wanted to become famous... With his power, he could join Lord Daimyo's service at any time and become a retainer.
Terumi Mei had been observing Linto for a long time. She found his personality to be very simple, very direct, with no complicated twists and turns.
But even with this simple, straightforward man, she couldn't see through him.
"Purpose..."
Linto looked at the lake surface that had returned to calm. "I guess it's the hope that I and the people around me have the power to 'choose' no matter what difficulties we face."
The opposite of "the power to choose" is "submitting to fate."
Linto didn't want a day to come when:
A friend was captured, and because he couldn't fight back, he accepted his fate.
A relative was seriously ill, and because he had no money, he accepted his fate.
Terumi Mei said, "So, you are being pushed forward by the fear in your heart."
"The forces that drive people forward are divided into fear and desire. I thought someone like you would have a clear desire.
But Linto, have you ever thought that some people don't want the power to choose?
When they face choices, they become afraid, and even actively ask their superiors to take away their right to choose, and whip them like livestock.
Only then will they feel safe in their pain."
Linto looked at Terumi Mei in surprise. "Are you sure you're not talking about some terrible fetish?"
"Pervert!"
Terumi Mei's cheeks flushed, but she quickly recovered.
"When you rescued the survivors at Mirage Town, you said 'Stand up, don't kneel.' Isn't that also a kind of taking away their power to kneel?"
Linto thought for a long time. Just when Terumi Mei didn't think he would answer, he said:
"People have to stand up first, to see the world from a human point of view.
After that, whether they stand, kneel, or happily go to their death, that is their choice.
I just can't stand some people and some things always压on top of people's heads. I just want to overturn all these things I can't stand."
Terumi Mei chuckled. "So, what you want to overturn is this ninja world."
Linto didn't laugh.
"Who knows."
A silence fell between them, leaving only the soft cracking of the branches of the campfire used to grill the fish.
Terumi Mei hugged her knees, looking at Linto's profile.
The man in front of her was different from everyone she had met.
Very different.
"If it's him... Maybe he really can."
Terumi Mei took a deep breath. "Linto, you—"
"Doctor Lin!"
A voice coming from the forest interrupted Terumi Mei.
Linto got up and looked. He saw the cripple stumbling towards them.
His arm was gone, and there was a deep scratch on his chest. Terumi Mei recognized it at a glance. It was from a bear.
His cotton-padded coat was gone, and he was only wearing a thin shirt.
This was a full eighty miles from the village. No one knew how the cripple had made it here.
Seeing Linto, the cripple fell into the snow with a thud.
Linto rushed over, picked him up, and channeled Ripple into him, stimulating his vitality.
It had no effect.
All the way here, the cripple had already drained all his energy.
"Doctor Lin, please... Save the village..."
"Okay."
Hearing Linto's answer, the cripple finally smiled and closed his eyes.
Many people laughed at the cripple for not being a man, for hiding behind his wife all his life.
At this moment, he fulfilled his duty as a man.
The cripple was dead.
Linto stood up.
But the dead today were definitely not just him.
---
You can read 50 Chapters ahead on my
pat reon.com/GMadman