Chapter 80: The Unfortunate Village Plagued by Red Hair
Asuka stared at the long paragraph of text displayed by the system and fell silent.
Love had arrived.
What exactly did it mean to fall in love?
If he remembered correctly, the current timeline seemed to be approaching the period when the Uchiha clan would rebel, right?
Uchiha Itachi, Fugaku's filial son, would eventually destroy the entire clan.
With that thought, he looked at the mission displayed beneath the system.
[Because of the appearance of your sister-in-law, your path to success may suffer a major setback.]
[A brother in love may affect your normal life, work, family harmony, and your relationship with him.]
[Break your brother's romantic delusions, restore him to his former state, and have him continue to serve as the target you need to surpass in the short term.]
[This mission may be abandoned.]
[Mission Rewards: Sharingan Awakening Progress +1; a sumptuous dinner personally prepared by your mother; one sweet encounter (not the Haruno Sakura version).]
After quickly reading through the mission, Asuka's eyes settled on the rewards.
After a moment of silence, he reached out and selected the second reward.
[A sumptuous dinner personally prepared by your mother: A lavish meal personally prepared by the host's mother that can improve the atmosphere within the family. Regardless of how many conflicts exist beneath the dinner table, the atmosphere will become exceptionally harmonious while enjoying this meal.]
[Note: The harmonious atmosphere will automatically disappear after the meal is finished.]
A sumptuous dinner personally prepared by his mother!
Asuka silently stared at the reward for a while before finally speaking.
"Accept."
The moment he finished speaking, the system automatically shut down.
Bang!
He pushed open the window and looked at the clear blue sky outside.
There was neither joy nor sadness on his face.
In truth, he was also rather interested in that sweet encounter.
Unfortunately, the system had shut down too quickly.
---
The following afternoon.
Iruka and the other two looked at their teacher as he walked ahead of them, humming an unfamiliar tune.
They had no idea what had happened, but their teacher had been in an unusually good mood all day.
And he refused to share the reason with them.
"Teacher, are we almost there?"
Hearing the question from behind him, Asuka looked around before taking out the map and comparing it with their surroundings.
He pointed toward the small black dot at the end of the road.
"We're almost there."
Seeing their teacher say they were almost there, the three immediately hurried forward.
As the three children ran past him, Asuka slipped the map back into his pocket and looked at the small black dot at the end of the road.
He had visited this nearby village twice several years ago.
There was nothing particularly special about it.
Several decades ago, a group of ordinary displaced people had built this village four or five days away from Konoha in order to stay safe from bandits.
Unexpectedly, what came for them wasn't bandits.
It was human traffickers.
When Asuka led the three children into the village, he suddenly raised his hand and signaled them to stop.
"Teacher, what's wrong?"
Seeing the unusual expression on Asuka's face, Hyūga Hanabi instinctively activated her Byakugan and surveyed the surrounding area.
"Nothing."
Asuka frowned and walked into the village.
The village was extremely desolate.
It was completely different from what he remembered from several years ago.
The amount of vegetation covering the ground had clearly increased.
The roads frequently used by villagers shouldn't have so much vegetation growing along both sides.
Such lush vegetation could only mean one thing.
Human activity had decreased, and the number of livestock being raised had also declined.
When he had come here several years ago, the village hadn't exactly been bustling with activity, but at least every household had smoke rising from its chimney, and the houses had been well maintained.
Now, roofs had collapsed.
Weeds covered the courtyards.
Some houses didn't even have doors anymore.
At this moment.
At an intersection, several sallow, emaciated children spotted Asuka and the other three.
Especially when they noticed the ninja headbands on their foreheads.
After a brief moment of shock, the children ran into the village.
"Ninjas! They're ninjas! Ninjas have come!"
The moment the words fell, the doors of the relatively intact houses opened.
Numerous villagers with sallow complexions and frail bodies, looking as though they had been starving for a long time, emerged.
They gathered in front of Asuka and the others, staring at them with numb expressions.
Just then, a frail old man hurried over.
He glanced at their forehead protectors and immediately fell to his knees, bursting into tears.
"Konoha ninja-sama! You're finally here!"
After the old man knelt down, the remaining villagers followed one after another.
The sound of crying continued without end.
---
Outside the village chief's house.
Asuka sat on the steps and glanced back at the empty house before looking at the group of villagers wolfing down their food.
He gave them some advice.
"Eat slowly. Don't eat too much at once, or you'll upset your stomach."
"Mmm! Mmm!"
The villagers nodded frantically while slurping down their noodles, but their hands showed no sign of slowing down.
Uzuki Yūgao and the other two watched the villagers devour their noodles.
A strong and peculiar smell filled the air, making the corners of their mouths twitch involuntarily.
When one person ate something like this, the strange smell would usually disperse into the air.
But when an entire group of people ate it, why didn't the smell disappear?
"Burp~"
The village chief was the first to burp.
He put down his plastic bowl and smacked his lips, his face filled with lingering satisfaction.
Those thirty thousand ryō hadn't been wasted after all.
He never expected the ninja-sama not only to provide them with food, but to make sure they ate until they were full.
Everyone in the village had eaten their fill.
The thirty thousand ryō had been well spent.
With that thought, his eyes immediately grew moist.
"Ninja-sama, thank you. We haven't had a proper meal in a very long time."
"You're welcome."
Asuka waved his hand at the old man.
Strictly speaking, shinobi had no obligation to protect these villagers.
Whether they could eat their fill depended largely on the daimyō.
If they encountered a kind-hearted shinobi, that shinobi might give the villagers some food.
If they encountered an ordinary shinobi, they might not even spare them a glance before leaving.
If they encountered an evil one, their entire village might be destroyed.
Seeing that the old man had put down his utensils, Asuka interlaced his fingers and rested his chin on them.
"Logically speaking, although this isn't harvest season, things shouldn't have deteriorated to the point where you're starving like this."
"And there don't seem to be any bandits or rogue shinobi around Konoha either."
The moment he finished speaking, bitterness filled the old man's face, and tears immediately welled up in his eyes.
"That's right. It wasn't like this before."
"Three years ago, our village was actually one of the wealthier villages in the surrounding area. Everyone here had enough food and clothing."
As he spoke, he pointed toward the mountain behind him, fear filling his eyes.
"Everything changed after a group of red-haired monsters appeared in those mountains."
"Red-haired monsters?"
Asuka frowned.
Where had these red-haired monsters come from?
Did such things even exist in the shinobi world?
Seeing the fear on the faces of the other villagers, Asuka rubbed his chin and asked in confusion,
"What kind of red-haired monsters? Were the children kidnapped by those monsters as well?"
"No!"
The village chief shook his head and raised two fingers toward Asuka.
"Those are two separate matters."
"Oh~"
Asuka nodded.
He took the mission scroll from his clothes and showed the old man the mission description for a moment before speaking.
"Then tell me about the missing children first. Since those red-haired monsters haven't eaten you yet, we can put that matter aside for now."
The village chief was stunned.
Looking at the serious expression on the ninja-sama's face, he sighed inwardly before speaking in a low voice.
"Our village has been terribly unlucky."
"First, those red-haired monsters appeared, and a group of people left."
"Then, for some inexplicable reason, the children started disappearing, and another group of people left."
"That's why the village looks so deserted now."
"It's all because of those red-haired monsters! If they hadn't brought misfortune to our village, how could a village that had been stable for more than forty years have ended up like this?"
"Hmm."
Seeing the old man mention the red-haired monsters again, Asuka casually dug at his ear and came up with an excuse.
"Your village has existed for more than forty years. It's not young anymore."
"Occasionally encountering something unlucky—or being troubled by red-haired monsters—is perfectly normal."
The old man stared blankly at Asuka.
"That's normal?"
Asuka nodded.
He closed his eyes and leaned against the doorframe.
"Then let's continue discussing the case of the missing children."
"For now, we'll put the red-haired monsters aside."
"But, but…"
The old man hesitated before looking at Asuka.
His voice became somewhat stammering.
"Ninja-sama, I think those missing children have something to do with the red-haired monsters."
"You damn old man."
Asuka immediately opened his eyes and glared at the old fellow in front of him.
Why did this old relic keep dragging him back to those red-haired monsters?
He didn't want to see those hairy red monsters either.
They sounded extremely ominous.
At this moment.
The atmosphere became somewhat tense.
Asuka looked at the village chief instinctively stepping backward.
He saw the fear in his eyes and remembered the starving, numb villagers he had seen earlier.
Asuka sighed.
Then he spoke.
"Tell me about the red-haired monsters."