Tonight is cloudy.
A sliver of a dark moon hangs in the sky, its weak light further obscured by layers of thick clouds. By the time it reaches the ground, it can't even illuminate the way home.
"Why aren't the streetlights on?"
A little girl, held in her father's arms, points at the rows of dark streetlights.
"If they were on, we could see the road!"
Her father glances up at the sky, unsure how to explain the complex reasons to his child. After a long pause, he offers an explanation suitable for a child:
"Because there have been thieves stealing 'light' in the sky lately. If we turn on the lights, these thieves will find us, so we have to hide the lights well."
The little girl nods, as if she understands, and follows her father's gaze upwards.
Just then, the cool breeze of late autumn blows away a patch of cloud that was blocking the moon.
A faint, silvery-white glow shines down, revealing a...
person flying in the sky.
The little girl's eyes widen slowly, clear and bright, exceptionally beautiful.
She raises her small hand, pointing at the person in the sky.
"Daddy! Is this the 'light-stealing thief' you were talking about?"
Her father lifts his head, following his daughter's pointing finger.
Figures flying in the sky tear through the clouds.
They take signal flares from their belts and throw them down. The dazzling spheres of light fall with long trails of flame, like giant, beautiful fireflies.
His daughter claps her hands excitedly.
Her father's expression turns ashen white.
"They're here... these guys are here..."
Amidst his daughter's laughter and clapping, he hugs her and runs with all his might, his eyes glancing up at the sky.
With the help of the flares, the ninjas flying in the sky can clearly see the city layout below. One by one, they take explosive tags and kunai from their belts and throw them into the city.
A few seconds later.
The girl's laughter disappears.
It turns into crying.
A few seconds after that.
The crying also vanishes.
Amidst the burning, explosions, screams, and death, palm-sized papers slowly drift down from the air.
...
Linto picks up a crumpled piece of paper.
It's not large, about the size of an adult's palm. It has a drawing on it: airplanes dropping weapons, with ordinary people hiding below.
Text is written on both sides of the drawing:
"Face reality, Konoha cannot protect you."
"Think carefully, all these Awakened Ideologies are toxic."
"This is actually quite neat. Why no horizontal inscription?"
Linto can tell this is clearly a propaganda poster used during wartime to be dropped on enemy civilians and soldiers to induce surrender.
During World War II, the Americans and British often did this. The one Linto has is considered more "proper."
In 1944, a propaganda poster dropped by the Americans on Japan depicted a Japanese lady in a state of undress lying on a chair.
The accompanying text stated that Japan was militaristic, its people lived in poverty and hardship, and ordinary women were forced into prostitution to make a living, all aimed at lowering the morale of soldiers fighting on the front lines.
Jiraiya points at the propaganda poster and says:
"These have appeared over the past month. A group of people, appearing and disappearing without a trace, are indiscriminately attacking villages and cities within the Land of Fire."
"Appearing and disappearing without a trace?" Linto asks.
One of the reasons Konoha village, or any ninja village, can exist is by assisting their country's Daimyo as an armed force to protect the nation.
Now that towns within the borders are being attacked, Konoha's ninjas must be deployed.
Given the mobility of ninjas, even if they can't win, can't they at least keep up?
Jiraiya explains: "Because these people only operate at night, and they always choose cloudy weather.
They drop explosive tags from the sky, and after they're done, they hide back in the clouds. Even if you want to pursue them, you don't know which direction to go.
To prevent airstrikes, many cities within the Land of Fire have been forced to deliberately turn off their lights at night, to prevent the enemy from finding them."
Linto shakes his head.
Mere "air superiority" isn't enough.
Jiraiya nods and says: "Of course, besides air superiority, they are also truly fearless.
Once hit by Ninjutsu, rather than be captured, these madmen will detonate all their explosive tags and bombs, falling like human bombs."
Their high speed and maneuverability make it impossible for ninjas to set up a large-scale ambush.
Their fearlessness makes it impossible to capture them and extract information about their base.
Linto roughly understands. After a moment of thought, he asks, "Are the main targets for these madmen flying in the sky schools and factories?"
"That's right."
Jiraiya picks up his wine flask and refills Linto's cup, saying:
"Because it increases productivity, many schools within the Land of Fire have voluntarily taught your curriculum—of course, an adjusted version.
But some people, after learning it, want to learn the original. Others have even gone to the Land of Water to buy books and, disregarding school rules, have secretly formed clubs."
Jiraiya sighs and says: "The guys flying in the sky are launching what they call 'cleansing airstrikes' precisely because of this situation, demanding the cancellation of relevant courses nationwide.
Of course, it's not just targeting your Awakened Ideologies, but also Konoha. Since the cleansing attacks began, Konoha's commission tasks have dropped significantly, after all..."
If a so-called "powerful ninja village" can't even catch the enemy's tail, who would trust Konoha?
Before Jiraiya returned to Konoha to teach Linto the Rasengan, he was investigating these guys flying around in the sky.
"Do you need help?" Linto asks.
To help him with his Golden Whirlwind training, Jiraiya returned, and old man Yamanaka was exhausted.
Since they had put in so much effort, Linto wouldn't be stingy with his help.
Jiraiya raises his wine cup and slowly shakes his head: "If it were a personal matter, I would definitely ask for your help, but involving the village..."
He doesn't finish his sentence, but Linto understands.
If Konoha itself cannot solve the problems within the Land of Fire, they would need to seek help from outsiders...
Let alone other countries or villages, how would the people of the Land of Fire view Konoha village?
How would they see the recently appointed Tsunade?
"Being a leader is really not easy," Linto says.
"It is."
"Luckily, I can be a hands-off manager, just saying 'Good work' now and then is enough."
"It is."
Linto is referring to Oda Ieyasu, and Jiraiya is referring to Tsunade.
The two exchange a glance, gently clink their cups, and drink.
Jiraiya reaches for the wine flask again, about to pour Linto some more. He finds it empty and says to Uncle Ichiraku, "Another pot, please. And some appetizers too."
He glances at the time.
"It won't affect your closing time, will it?"
Uncle Ichiraku waves his hand, "As long as you want to eat, I'll serve until however late. However—"
He gestures towards the entrance.
A masked Anbu ninja stands at the door, bowing slightly to Linto and Jiraiya. His voice betrays his urgency:
"Jiraiya-sama, Tsunade-sama requests your presence at an emergency meeting."
"Is it urgent?" Jiraiya asks.
"Very."
The Anbu ninja enters the ramen shop and pulls out several printed photographs from his coat.
"A town 150 miles away was subjected to a 'cleansing airstrike' just half an hour ago, and the enemy left a new message."
Jiraiya takes the photos.
The city in the photos is a horrific sight, filled with dead and wounded bodies and destroyed buildings.
It's hard to imagine that just half an hour ago, this was a bustling metropolis.
In the last photo is another flyer distributed by the enemy. Unlike the previous ones, this one has a line of large characters at the bottom:
"In three days, we will attack Konoha. Let the world witness."
"How fragile the so-called ninja village is."
This time, there is finally a signature below the poster—
"The Sky Ninja Corps."
---
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