Thump, thump!
At the entranceway, Shikamaru had just neatly arranged his shoes when a broad shoulder blocked the light from behind him.
"You're back?" Nara Shikaku asked softly.
"Yeah, I'm back."
"If you have doubts in your heart, feel free to speak them. Resolving doubts is also part of a father's duty." Nara Shikaku stepped aside, clearing the path.
Shikamaru's steps faltered. After a moment, he asked, "Dad, can you play a game of shogi with me?"
"Certainly." Nara Shikaku nodded slightly.
In the courtyard, father and son sat facing each other across the shogi board.
Shikamaru made the first move. "Dad, who exactly is Naruto?"
That cold winter, the reason he had met Naruto was actually because his father had left him there. He used to think it was fate, but reflecting on it now, it was riddled with suspicious points.
"He is the child of the Fourth Hokage. He is a hero. He carries within his body the Nine-Tails that brought disaster to Konoha back then. It's just that certain people with ulterior motives have twisted this fact," Nara Shikaku explained the whole story.
"…Is that so." Shikamaru nodded, but the slight tremor in his arm showed that his heart was not as calm as his surface appearance. "Quite ironic."
"Indeed, it is ironic. But this is politics." Nara Shikaku turned his head to look at the ancient pine tree in the courtyard and sighed faintly.
"What about the Fourth Hokage's inheritance? Naruto's living conditions are a far cry from affluent, aren't they?" Shikamaru asked, thinking of Naruto who often had to find his own food. He couldn't believe that the estate of a dignified Hokage wouldn't be enough to support one child.
"The Fourth Hokage's residence was reclaimed by the village, the given reason being the need to avoid exposing the jinchuriki's identity. Later, it was bestowed upon Sarutobi Shinnosuke for meritorious service."
"The assets of the Fourth Hokage and his wife, upon Advisor Koharu's suggestion, were used to cover the village's financial deficits from those years."
Shikamaru held a shogi piece, unable to place it for a long time. He suddenly discovered that the Konoha he loved so dearly seemed to have some problems.
Whoosh!
A fierce wind swept through. Billowing clouds of yellow sand rose from the ground, seeming to obscure the entire sky.
"The dust storms in the Land of Wind are as immense as ever!" In the middle of the merchant caravan, an old man with a goatee chuckled.
"Old Master Kahiko, do you often travel this route?" Naruto asked curiously. His head was wrapped in white cloth, leaving only his eyes exposed. This was a piece of survival wisdom for the people of the Land of Wind; the white cloth wrapped around the head could both ward off the venomous sunlight and effectively defend against the encroachment of wind and sand.
"I come this way once every two or three years, perhaps," Kahiko said, stroking his beard. "But our clan has been merchants for generations. I myself have probably traveled this road five or six times."
"Then Old Master must have been to many places?" Naruto asked. He had joined this merchant caravan by a stroke of luck. Originally, he had planned to travel alone, making his way towards Sunagakure while exploring. But he happened to encounter Old Master Kahiko's caravan. After a chance conversation, they found they had similar interests and the same destination, so they decided to travel together.
"Of the Five Great Nations, apart from the Land of Water, which is separated by the ocean and I haven't visited, I've been to all the other countries," Kahiko said with a proud smile.
"Could you tell me more in detail?" Naruto eagerly sought to learn from his experience.
"Of course, I can." Kahiko laughed heartily. Sharing one's glorious past was something every old person thoroughly enjoyed. "Among the Five Great Nations, the Land of Wind and the Land of Earth have very similar climates and terrains. The Land of Fire has the most pleasant climate. The Land of Lightning has the most unique topography; Kumogakure, in particular, is built upon towering cliffs…"
Once he started talking about his past, it was as if Kahiko had opened a floodgate of stories, one tale flowing into another without end. When he was young, a woman from the Land of Lightning had taken a liking to him, and he had nearly been tied up and taken back to her home to be a live-in son-in-law. While doing business in the Land of Earth, he had a blade held to his neck by local ronin samurai. There was also a marvelous hot spring journey in the Land of Hot Water…
Naruto listened intently, nodding from time to time, which further fueled the old man's desire to continue speaking. At the same time, he secretly committed the places the old man mentioned to memory, hoping to visit them if he had the chance.
Just as the two were deep in conversation, a young woman riding an ostrich twice the size of a person galloped over.
"Grandfather, there's a group of ronin ninjas causing trouble up ahead," the young woman said.
"Causing trouble? What about the hired ninjas?" Kahiko's brow furrowed. As a seasoned merchant, encountering bandits was inevitable, so hiring ninjas to protect the cargo had become a necessary expense for the caravan.
"Those Suna ninjas are currently negotiating with those ronin ninjas," the young woman said helplessly.
"…" Kahiko frowned. Though inwardly displeased, he could only sigh in resignation. Both the Suna ninjas and the ronin ninjas were after money. If the money could be earned amicably, no one would be willing to engage in a life-or-death struggle.
After a long while, the lead wagon at the front of the caravan slowly began to move. Evidently, the Suna ninjas and those ronin ninjas had reached an agreement.
Naruto watched the Suna ninjas return to the caravan, inwardly shaking his head. As someone with a ninja background himself, he naturally understood the intricacies of such dealings. Dealing with these ronin ninjas wouldn't have been a problem for Sunagakure at all. But what then? Even Sunagakure, one of the Five Great Ninja Villages, needed to sustain itself. With so many people under their charge, how could they possibly survive solely on the military funds allocated by the daimyo? A stable volume of missions was the very foundation of a hidden village's existence. If Sunagakure, or any other hidden village for that matter, were to wipe out all these ronin ninjas who survived by robbery and plunder in one go, then who would hire the village's ninjas for protection?
However, a hidden village was ultimately a nation's military force; allowing these people to run rampant wasn't an option either. Therefore, how to maintain the number of bandits within a country at a reasonable level was a required lesson for every hidden village. Some hidden villages even deliberately allowed ronin ninjas to appear in order to ensure a steady supply of missions for the year. Though shameful, this behavior was an unspoken rule understood by all the hidden villages.
"Ninjas truly are detestable existences…" Kahiko muttered under his breath. Having been a merchant his entire life, he naturally understood the convoluted ways of the hidden villages. But it was precisely because he understood that he felt so helpless.
"The ninjas from the Five Great Ninja Villages are somewhat better. As long as you hire them, there usually won't be any major problems. But those smaller hidden villages are different. Even if you hire them, they'll still collude with those ronin ninjas to squeeze you for more, all while claiming it's to 'avoid greater losses, so you should just give them some money'… Disgusting!" Kahiko explained in a low voice, perhaps thinking Naruto might not understand.
Naruto was taken aback; this was something he genuinely didn't know. "Truly, like a whore demanding a monument to her chastity."
After a moment to process, Kahiko understood what he meant and nodded in agreement. "Exactly like that."
"Old Master, I see you're not raising some ninja beasts yourselves?" Naruto asked. In his perception, many of the mounts in this caravan possessed some chakra and were capable of being combat units.
"They are merely the last resort," Kahiko shook his head. "If you don't hire these ninjas, the ronin ninjas you encounter won't be just this one group."
"For safety's sake, it's still better to spend a little money to hire ninjas."
"Is that so." Naruto nodded slightly. "Old Master, how much longer until we reach Sunagakure?"
Kahiko estimated the distance. "We should be able to arrive by tomorrow."