Amegakure
Rain poured endlessly from the sky, pounding against the muddy roads with dull thuds.
A man and a cat trudged slowly through the dim forest, each step sinking into the soft mud.
Renya tugged at the collar of his straw raincoat. The icy rain seeped through the gaps, sliding down his back, bringing with it a bone-chilling cold.
"Tch, the geography of Amegakure is even worse than I imagined."
He knew it rained all year in Amegakure, but he hadn't expected conditions to be this harsh.
Living in such a country was already miserable, and to make matters worse, the great nations had tacitly agreed to use it as a battleground. No wonder Hanzo the Salamander would one day wage war against the three great nations, and the Akatsuki would rise with the dream of bringing peace to the shinobi world.
It seemed they had been forced down that path…
Ninja from the great nations never cared about the lives of small-country residents. Such was the shinobi world—where the strong could twist and crush the weak at will.
If one wanted to change this reality, the only option was to strike back with even greater power. But the reason small countries remained small was precisely because they rarely produced powerful ninja.
Without strong ninja to lead them, they could never stand against the great nations.
Perhaps this was the sorrow of the small countries.
Even if other villages turned Amegakure into their battlefield, they could only endure silently.
"They told us not to come here, nya. My fur's all soaked through," Scar grumbled. Ever since they entered Amegakure, the cat had been complaining nonstop to Renya.
Even with the specially made straw hat and raincoat, the rain had flattened its once-fluffy fur into soaked strands, making it look very much like a drowned chicken.
It shook itself, spraying droplets everywhere, but was quickly drenched again by the fresh downpour.
"Endure it. We'll reach Amegakure soon." Renya didn't stop walking, glancing at the map in his rain-soaked hand.
They were less than 15 kilometers away from Amegakure itself.
Signs of battle appeared along the roadside. A large tree had been cleaved in half, its charred stump clearly the result of a Fire Release technique.
Not far away, a kunai was lodged into a rock, its metallic surface already rusting.
On the ground were several craters about two meters wide, their edges split in radial cracks—likely left behind by exploding tags.
This place had clearly been the site of a recent battle between ninja.
Scenes like this were everywhere in Amegakure. Every major village treated it as their battlefield, and sometimes you could still catch glimpses of shinobi from other villages moving through the forests.
Though the war had officially ended, small-scale skirmishes between nations still continued.
And Amegakure remained the place where the great villages' shinobi fought their proxy wars.
Scar leapt over a puddle, raising his tail high to avoid the mud.
"Looks like plenty of fights happened around here…"
Renya's ears twitched slightly. He suddenly raised a hand, signaling the fat cat to stay quiet.
"Someone's here." His expression turned serious, his hand already on his sword hilt.
Scar stiffened instantly, fur standing on end, tail rigid.
The sound of faint metal clashing came through the rainfall.
Renya signaled Scar to stay silent. The man and cat stealthily crept toward the source of the sound.
They pushed through a thick patch of bushes—and the sight before them made Renya frown.
Five corpses lay sprawled in the mud, rainwater washing over their wounds, diluting their blood into red streams.
Judging from the headbands, one was from Sunagakure, while the other four were from Amegakure.
Rain splattered against the muddy ground. Hidden behind a crooked tree, Renya and Scar quietly observed the confrontation unfolding in the clearing.
Five shinobi stood facing each other, several dozen meters apart, the air thick with killing intent.
Three Amegakure genin stood back-to-back in a defensive formation. Leading them was a boy of about fifteen. His left arm hung uselessly at his side, blood steadily dripping from his shoulder and staining most of his body red.
His two companions weren't much better off.
One had his right hand pierced through by a kunai, forcing him to kneel on one knee. Another had a blood-soaked bandage wrapped around his stomach, breathing heavily.
On the other side, the two Sunagakure ninja looked relatively unharmed, their faces full of victorious arrogance.
Renya noticed that the older Sunagakure ninja held three senbon between his fingers, their tips clearly laced with poison.
"You've gone too far, daring to attack us here in Amegakure's territory!" the injured Ame youth spat through clenched teeth, his voice trembling with pain.
The younger Sunagakure ninja sneered, sliding a hand across his ninja pouch.
"The weak deserve to be killed by the strong!"
He turned to his companion. "Captain, let's finish this. This damned rain is driving me crazy."
The older Sunagakure ninja narrowed his eyes. "The weak should obediently accept death."
Before his words even faded, the three poisoned senbon whistled through the air, aimed straight at the Ame-nin's vital points.
The Ame youth forced his uninjured hand to move, flinging his last three shuriken in an attempt to intercept. He managed to deflect two.
The third grazed his cheek, leaving a bloody cut.
"Watch out!" cried the wounded Ame ninja with the bandaged stomach. He formed hand seals desperately. "Water Release—Water Wall!"
A thin wall of water rose from the ground, just barely blocking the next volley of shuriken from the Sunagakure shinobi.
But the moment he finished the technique, the Ame-nin collapsed, his blood-soaked bandages fully drenched.
"Want me to step in, nya?" Scar asked softly.
Renya shook his head. "Let's keep watching."
His hand was already inside his ninja pouch, fingers brushing against a kunai.
These fighters were nothing more than genin and chūnin. To him, they posed no real threat.
The younger Sunagakure ninja seized the moment to rush forward, dual short swords flashing as he lunged toward the kneeling Ame-nin.
"Die!"
The wounded Ame-nin couldn't rise in time. He barely raised a kunai to block. The clash of metal rang sharp and clear against the rain.
The Sunagakure's short sword pressed down hard against the kunai, inch by inch forcing its way closer.
At that instant, the Ame-nin who had seemed exhausted suddenly exploded into action, pulling out a lit exploding tag and hurling it at the older Sunagakure ninja who was watching.
"Captain, look out!" the younger one shouted, quickly retreating.
Boom!
The explosion sent mud flying, but since the distance was great, the older Sunagakure ninja wasn't badly hurt.
His hands flew through seals. "Wind Release—Great Breakthrough!"
A violent gust scattered the rain curtain itself, blasting the three Ame-nin off their feet.
The lead boy slammed into a tree, coughing up blood. The other two crashed into the mud, instantly losing their ability to fight.
The younger Sunagakure shinobi sneered, walking toward the incapacitated Ame-nin. He spun his short sword, twirling it into a flashy flourish.
"Told you, you rain-country trash…"
At that moment, a kunai shot out of nowhere, striking him at lightning speed and burying itself deep in his body.
The young Sunagakure ninja collapsed, stiff as a board, eyes wide in disbelief. To his last breath, he never realized there had been someone else lurking in the shadows.
"Who?!" the older Sunagakure ninja barked sharply, turning toward the direction of the kunai.
"Is bullying the weak that fun?"