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Everyone's movements froze.
Who?
Who dared to contradict them at a time like this?
Asuma spun around, searching for the source of the voice.
It was Kazuma who spoke.
He stood not far away, a hint of fear on his face, but his eyes were incredibly bright.
Asuma raised an eyebrow, sizing up Kazuma. The usual kindness in his tone was gone.
"Oh? Then what do you think this is? Is it glory?"
Kazuma felt a bit uncomfortable under his gaze, but he still mustered the courage to say, "Yes! I think it's glory!"
He pointed to the construction sites. His voice trembled slightly.
"I... I lived in a shantytown outside the village since I was a child. Our house was drafty on all sides, and every time it rained, my mother would cough all night long..."
"For me, having a house that doesn't leak is a dream my father fought for his entire life."
He looked at his companions. His eyes grew brighter.
"You might not understand. To you, this is just a pile of dirt and stones."
"But to the thousands upon thousands of civilians in the Land of Fire, like me..."
"Every wall built here is a home that can shelter us from the wind and rain!"
"It's a haven where children can sleep soundly, without being woken up by the cold in the middle of the night!"
"With ninjutsu, we can accomplish in one day what they can't do in a lifetime!"
"Isn't this a greater glory than completing an S-rank mission?!"
Kazuma's words were forceful and resonant.
After he finished speaking, the scene fell silent.
Natsukawa nodded vigorously behind him. His eyes were red-rimmed.
Even Great Master Chiriku cast an approving glance at him.
However, Asuma scoffed. "That sounds really good."
He walked in front of Kazuma. His head was taller than the other, creating a strong sense of pressure.
"Don't forget your place, Kazuma."
"You are also a shinobi."
"A shinobi's duty is combat, it's killing! Our ninjutsu is for taking enemy lives, not for mixing mud and building walls!"
"Your little bit of sympathy is useless on a real battlefield!"
"I..." Kazuma was choked by the pressure. His face turned beet red.
"What?" Asuma pressed on. "Put away your ridiculous theories. Civilians do need protection, but not by building houses for them."
"For you to become a shinobi and stand here is a gift from Konoha!"
"You should be thinking about how to contribute to the village, not empathizing with bricklayers here!"
Kazuma retorted, "So you'd rather sacrifice your life than build houses for them?"
Asuma sneered. "Otherwise? Civilians should just be civilians. Don't bother us!"
"No, it shouldn't be like this!" Kazuma was finally enraged. He suddenly lifted his head. Fear was replaced by anger.
"If you're unwilling to do even this small thing, then how can anyone believe you're willing to give your life for others?"
"You...!"
Asuma's fury instantly ignited. He grabbed Kazuma by the collar. His chakra exploded. "A good-for-nothing from civilian background dares to lecture me?!"
"Stop!"
A cold shout came.
A figure instantly appeared between the two.
One hand grabbed Asuma's wrist, unmoving.
It was Hyuga Hizashi.
Those pure Byakugan made Asuma's heart clench. He felt an irresistible force from his wrist.
"Let him go." Hizashi's voice was calm.
On the other side, the Nara clan shinobi also walked over and placed a hand on Asuma's shoulder.
"Asuma, that's enough."
"If you cause any more trouble, you'll be bringing disaster to Konoha."
"Don't forget, we are here representing the daimyo's will."
The word "Konoha" instantly extinguished most of Asuma's arrogance.
Before their departure, his father had laid bare Konoha's predicament.
No matter how rebellious he was, he knew what was important.
Asuma's face turned pale then flushed. He finally let go with a huff, glaring at Kazuma, and turned to walk away.
A conflict seemed to have subsided, but a rift had already appeared among the Guardian Shinobi Twelve.
Kazuma straightened his collar and bowed gratefully to Hyuga Hizashi and the Nara clansman.
Hyuga Hizashi nodded slightly, then returned to his original position. He continued to close his eyes and rest, as if nothing had happened.
The Nara clansman, however, gave Kazuma a deep look.
What exactly did the daimyo want them to understand?
His mind was racing.
Shinobi.
Civilian.
Ninjutsu.
Construction.
Words that seemed unrelated collided and connected in his mind.
Why? Why did the daimyo want them to see this scene?
Suddenly, he trembled all over. A flash of lightning tore through all the fog in his mind!
He got it!
He understood the daimyo's purpose in doing this.
In an instant, the Nara clansman felt his hands and feet turn cold.
A feeling that overturned his perceptions made him tremble uncontrollably.
Hyuga Hizashi immediately noticed his unusual state. His eyes snapped open.
The wisdom of the Nara clan was well-known in Konoha.
He must have realized something.
Hyuga Hizashi stepped forward and asked in a deep voice, "What did you realize?"
The Nara clansman looked at Hyuga Hizashi, letting out a long breath. "I think I understand... the intention of the daimyo arranging us here."
His words instantly attracted everyone's attention.
Even Asuma, who had walked away in a huff, turned back sharply, unable to resist asking, "What intention?"
"Don't you find it strange?" The Nara clansman's voice was extremely low. "The daimyo reactivated the Guardian Shinobi Twelve, and then painstakingly transferred us from Konoha..."
"Was it just to make us come here and be supervisors?"
Asuma immediately frowned. Of course, he found it strange.
Hyuga Hizashi felt something was off, but he was accustomed to obedience, accustomed to not asking why.
The Nara clansman continued to analyze. "This is illogical, completely illogical!"
"Look at those shinobi. In terms of loyalty and execution, they are stronger than us."
"Supervising construction, if left to them, they would certainly do a better job than us."
"But the daimyo specifically sent us here, and then left us hanging, saying nothing, only letting us watch, letting us think..."
He paused, seemingly organizing his thoughts.
"He is not humiliating us."
"He is teaching us."
Teaching us?
Asuma couldn't help but press. "What do you mean? Explain it clearly!"
"Think carefully, what is the value of a shinobi?" The Nara clansman's speech was very fast. "In Konoha, our value is mission rank, the number of enemies killed, the protection of bloodlines."
"But here, in the capital, in the eyes of the daimyo..."
"It's not just missions and killing enemies!"
He pointed to the bustling construction site.
"What did he make us see? He made us see how we, these elite shinobi, with powerful earth release, can't even align the dimensions of a single wall!"
"He made us see how the craftsmen fret because of the shinobi's crudeness."
"He is telling us in the most direct way..."
At this point, the Nara clansman swallowed. His voice was filled with shock.
"He wants us to see with our own eyes how inefficient, how foolish, how utterly useless our proud killing techniques are when it comes to building a nation!"
"What he wants to shatter is not our bodies."
"It's the deeply ingrained arrogance of the shinobi in our minds!"
Silence.
All the shinobi present were stunned.
The Nara clansman took a breath, but what he said next was even more astonishing.
"He wants to reshape our values! To make us understand that the true use of shinobi power is to bring overwhelming efficiency to this country, an efficiency that mortals cannot achieve!"
"Infrastructure! Transportation! Medical care! Agriculture! Anywhere chakra can be used!"
"These are the S-rank missions in the daimyo's eyes!"
"And we, the Guardian Shinobi Twelve, are the first batch of samples he is introducing to the entire shinobi world!"
"This test is not about our strength. It's about whether we..."
The Nara clansman took a deep breath, enunciating his final conclusion word by word.
"...can put aside our ridiculous pride, understand his will, and integrate into the new order he wants to establish!"
After saying all that in one breath, he was covered in sweat.
No one spoke at the scene.