Thick snow accumulated on the ground, and animals preparing for winter hid in their warm nests.
This winter was quieter than usual, but the Village was as lively as ever.
Children chased and played in the snow, throwing snowballs at each other, shouting "Eat my Kunai!", and playing their usual Shinobi games.
Busy adults toiled at their respective lives; business in winter seemed a little busier than usual.
The Village's Police Force Shinobi were on their daily patrols, while others had some free time.
Compared to the seemingly endless missions during regular days, winter was a low season.
Once a year, it was rare to have time to relax and rest properly.
The liveliest places at this time were the gambling dens and the izakayas.
After that, it was the hot spring street.
If you had a girlfriend, you could also go on a date to the cinema or something.
But for most Shinobi, enjoying a small drink in winter was undoubtedly a comfortable thing, though they had to hide this from the tigers at home.
Single young men, however, didn't have this worry.
Shinobi wearing green vests gathered together, sharing interesting stories they had heard during the day.
Like encountering suspicious individuals during patrol, only to find out it was a misunderstanding after questioning.
Or which unlucky rookie Genin got accidentally injured when defeating and dispersing dangerous beasts.
Or encountering a troublesome client during an escort mission.
"I killed several bandits again this year."
And things like delivering goods, letters, or meals.
Shinobi missions are closely related to daily life; anything imaginable can be commissioned at a Shinobi Village.
Therefore, they often encounter seemingly incredible missions.
From sweeping streets to cleaning sewers, from delivering takeout to accompanying conversations, anything is possible.
Thus, Shinobi aren't as cool as they appear.
As they chatted, the topic gradually became serious.
"Arai from next door seems to have died," an old veteran said with a sigh.
Shinobi like him were the most common in Konoha.
They had rich experience, graduated at twelve, worked for seven or eight years, experienced a fair number of Shinobi skirmishes, and possessed excellent combat skills in all aspects.
From fixing pipes to tightening screws, capable of fighting and taking care of children, they were well-rounded and excellent, knowing a bit of everything.
Without any particularly outstanding advantages or glaring weaknesses, they could be considered elite Chunin. After years of hard work, they had established homes and careers.
This was Konoha's most significant middle-class stratum of commoners.
Compared to the Jonin class, who were like pillars, they only lacked one particularly outstanding ability.
But they were not weak.
Even one or two Jonin encountering a squad of four elite Chunin would feel their heads buzzing and be ready to die at any moment.
Although Jonin and Jonin are different.
Many of them were veterans who retired from the first war.
Many possessed the strength of Jonin but were not promoted to Jonin.
The position of Jonin cannot be explained in just a few words.
The main reason was that the Village was poor and couldn't afford more Jonin; the pie was only so big, and there were too many mouths to feed.
Therefore, Jonin were always selected from the best of the best.
In summary, the Chunin of the Five Great Villages, who seemed to have little presence, were not to be trifled with.
And in the past decade or so of recuperation, each Village had accumulated a very substantial foundation.
"It's not just Arai," another Shinobi said, "Yuji from next door also died."
Both Arai and Yuji were somewhat well-known Shinobi in this circle.
To put it humbly, these two guys were not weaker than me, they were my equals, and in a death match, I might even die.
The Village is only so big; among tens of thousands of Shinobi, everyone knows each other, except for the newly joined ones.
But if even guys like that died, it meant I could die too.
"Many people have died this year," a Shinobi said, exhaling smoke. "I heard a while ago that a squad of Genin went on a mission and all died at sea; even the Jonin in charge didn't escape."
"Only teenagers, how tragic," another person echoed. "I heard it was Hidden Mist who did it."
"Who else could it be if not them? Land of Whirlpools?"
Though they said that, there was no proof.
Hidden Mist had never responded, so what could Konoha do? Go to war?
"Next mission, let's go to the Land of Water and show those fishermen on the water a thing or two," a Shinobi said fiercely. "We Konoha are not to be trifled with."
So, the friction would gradually escalate.
"The recent situation is not right, everyone calm down," a Shinobi seemed quite sober.
But what he said was just nonsense.
The situation was beyond their control.
"The situation is indeed not right, too many people have died," a young man, who looked about seventeen or eighteen, said, "Compared to missions in previous years, this year feels especially dangerous. The last escort mission I took, it felt like Iwagakure Ninja had gone crazy, I almost died there. The mission ultimately failed, and the captain ordered us to retreat. What's going on lately?"
In previous years, if Konoha received an escort mission, the opposing party's mission was usually to assassinate Konoha's client, never getting too entangled with Konoha's Shinobi to avoid losing personnel.
Training a Shinobi was not easy and cost real money; there was no need to fight desperately over such small issues when an assassination mission only paid a few coins.
Anyway, the Village didn't suffer much loss.
If it could be completed, great; if not, so be it!
As a Great Nation, their reputation was guaranteed, and it wasn't that they didn't work hard, but that Konoha was also difficult to deal with.
It was an act of God, and there were plenty of excuses to cover up mission failures.
They weren't worried about mission failure causing a collapse of reputation and no more missions.
Besides, such missions were not impossible to complete; there were many successful assassinations without excessive entanglement with the opposing Shinobi.
Therefore, in daily skirmishes, Shinobi from various countries maintained a certain degree of restraint to save face and ensure good relations in the future.
Once a mission failed, they would retreat without hesitation.
Nor would they suddenly feel benevolent and do extra things for the client, such as taking down local bullies or dark forces.
The Five Great Villages are not charities.
They are mercenary organizations that get paid to do jobs.
Normally, throughout the year, the Five Great Nations would seemingly fight fiercely abroad over missions, but few people would die, and everyone maintained restraint.
Therefore, only people outside the Five Great Nations suffered, with the Land of Rain being a typical example.
Its special location made it a battleground for several Shinobi factions, constantly affected by Shinobi wars, leading to numerous civilian casualties.
Ninjutsu released in battle don't have eyes.
If you got hit, you could only blame your bad luck.
Therefore, most other small countries in similar situations chose to lie flat.
Domestic nobles turned a blind eye to the actions of the Five Great Nations.
"You fight your wars, just don't bring them to my estate."
Or like River Country, if they couldn't beat them, they joined them, kowtowing and playing both sides.
The most unique among them was the Land of Demons, whose leader, the Priestess, commanded respect from all Five Great Nations.
"I heard Iwagakure can barely afford its massive Shinobi force anymore," a Shinobi said in a low voice.
"How many people? Can't afford them?" another Shinobi asked.
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