Chương 46: Bound for Port Hema

Exactly how many nations comprise the shinobi world? It is a question likely beyond anyone's reckoning. Unless, of course, one were to drag the departed Hagoromo Otsutsuki from the fringes of the Pure Land and demand he provide a daily update on the ever-shifting borders. The Five Great Nations anchor the four cardinal directions and the center, their territories interspersed with a chaotic patchwork of medium, small, and microscopic states.

Among the more prominent are the Lands of Rain, Grass, Frost, Waterfall, and Bear—nations formidable enough to maintain their own independent hidden villages. Possessing a hidden village often births an ambition in these smaller nations to ascend as the "Sixth Great Power," much like the perennial dream of certain nations in my past life to secure a permanent seat on the Security Council. The Land of Waterfall once enjoyed a fleeting era of hegemony, even managing to secure a Tailed Beast—the Seven-Tails, Chomei.

However, they grew much humbler after the legendary Kakuzu used their entire hierarchy as a personal farm for experience points. Now, they huddle in their geographically isolated corner, occasionally emerging only to scavenge for crumbs of profit. Then there was the Land of Rain, which produced a "Demi-God" in Hanzo of the Salamander.

He attempted to seize the title of the Sixth Great Power by invading his neighbors, effectively igniting the Second Shinobi World War—only to be soundly thrashed by the combined forces of the Sand, the Stone, and the Leaf. They, too, have learned the value of silence and prayer. Other nations, like the Lands of Rivers, Rice Fields, and Demons, possess vast territories but lack hidden villages of their own. Consequently, they outsource all their military commissions to the surrounding Great Nations.

Together, these entities form the current geopolitical landscape. Since the establishment of the "One Country, One Village" system, the successive world wars—as brutal as they were—have done little to alter the fundamental territorial map. What the average person fails to realize is that squeezed between these larger players are countless "speck-sized" nations: the Lands of the Eye, Claw, Fang, and Vegetables. Some are no larger than a single city.

These tiny states are born and extinguished daily, and no one cares. When famous shinobi like Sasori of the Red Sand boast of toppling an entire nation single-handedly, they are usually referring to these. It sounds terrifying on paper, but in truth, plenty of shinobi within the Five Great Villages are capable of the same feat. The Great Nations bully the small, the small bully the tiny, and the tiny... have no one left to bully. They either endure in silence or amuse themselves by exploiting their own citizenry.

Among them all, the Land of Fire—home to Konoha—is not the largest in area, but it possesses the finest natural conditions. Most of the country is blanketed in lush forests and abundant resources. With its ideal rainfall, fertile soil, and thriving commerce, it is a land of immense wealth. Little wonder it is the primary target in every conflict. In a world of starving men, the one dressed in silk is always the first to be robbed. Is the shinobi world vast? To an ordinary person, yes. But to a ninja, it is small.

As Uchiha Madara once famously and arrogantly put it: "The world is too small for me to spread my wings." Within the depths of the Land of Fire's forests, four figures flickered through the canopy. They moved at a blistering pace, their soles meeting the bark with faint, rhythmic thuds. This was the shinobi way of travel: high-speed, efficient, and utterly indifferent to the complexity of the terrain.

Ninja do not possess the "lightness techniques" of wuxia legends; their leaps are powered by explosive bursts of chakra. Consequently, their landings inevitably generate sound. The stronger the shinobi—and the more perfect their control over both chakra and physique—the quieter those echoes become. The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Today, however, one of the four figures stood out with a distinctively different aesthetic.

He moved like a stray breeze—elegant, effortless, and lightning-fast. When his feet touched a branch, there was no sound at all. This unique style belonged, naturally, to Dongye Zhen. Wind-natured chakra possesses the properties of lightness and flow. Driven by a childhood desire for flight, Zhen had invested immense effort into mastering this nature transformation, aided by the superhuman chakra control granted by his natural energy integration. He had even categorized his progress into three distinct stages.

Stage One: Wind Style – Light Step. Utilizing the weightless flow of wind, he could accelerate his movement while maintaining absolute silence. Stage Two: Wind Style – Levitation. This allowed him to remain suspended in mid-air for short durations and execute complex aerial maneuvers, catching enemies off guard. It was the preliminary realization of his dream of flight, allowing him to move with the ghostly silence of a wraith. He currently operated at this level.

During his recent spar with Yunmi Gekko, he had used it to great effect. Hanging in the air right before Yunmi's eyes with no leverage to move, he had seemed an easy target—only to suddenly vanish and reappear behind his teacher, nearly scoring a counter-kill. Stage Three: Wind Style – Sky Dance. The name was a tribute to the legendary martial arts world of Dragon Ball. At this level, one could fly as freely as a bird.

Zhen theorized that this stage would function as a Wind Style Chakra Mode, analogous to the Lightning Chakra Mode utilized by the successive Raikage. Yunmi Gekko led the way, his expression unreadable. Behind him, Yugao Uzuki and Hayate Gekko watched Zhen's ethereal movements with unconcealed envy. It was cool, and they wanted it. Zhen hadn't been stingy with his knowledge, but understanding a technique is one thing—possessing the talent to execute it is quite another.

There are limits to how much an average person can control their chakra. Even as a Jonin, Yunmi had secretly tried to replicate it, only to find it maddeningly difficult. He realized it would take a decade just to reach Stage One. His disciple wasn't human; he was a chakra monster. But then, if it were easy, every shinobi from the Sand and Stone would be in the sky, and war would be a very different game. Thud, thud, thud. Yunmi led the descent to the forest floor.

"We'll rest here for a moment. When traveling in the field, never exhaust your chakra unnecessarily. You must always be ready to resist an ambush." Yugao wiped the sweat from her brow and nodded in agreement. This was her first time traveling at such high intensity, and she was genuinely exhausted. Hayate wasn't sweating, but his breathing was heavy and labored; his constitution remained a severe anchor on his potential, a congenital issue with no immediate cure.

Only Zhen landed as light as a feather, looking as though he had merely taken a stroll. The other three spared him a glance but chose to say nothing. Yunmi shot Zhen a look. The boy scanned the perimeter with his sensory perception before returning a "clear" signal. Yunmi nodded and addressed them.

"Though this is officially a bandit suppression mission, remember that we are at war. Countless rogue ninja and foreign intelligence squads are prowling the world. We must remain hyper-vigilant. A C-rank mission can escalate to B-rank or higher in an instant."

"Do bandits really dare to stir up trouble in the Land of Fire?" Yugao asked curiously.

"Don't they fear death?" Yunmi sighed softly.

"Most are from the neighboring small nations. With Konoha's forces spread thin by the war, they think they can seize the opportunity to make a quick profit." There was another point he didn't mention: some were desperate citizens of their own nation who had turned to brigandage to survive. The shinobi world was a distorted place; it appeared to have entered an age of electricity and advanced technology, yet its core remained a feudal system of Daimyos and Lords.

Some lords treated their subjects as less than human, which naturally birthed waves of outlaws. It was a dark reality—one his young disciples didn't need to grasp just yet. Once rested, the four set out again. After traveling for the better part of the day, they arrived at dusk at the southwestern corner of the Land of Fire—a coastal port city named Hama. Hama was a vital deep-water port, bordering the Land of Rivers to the west.

Through the sea lanes of Tea Island Bay, it connected to the Land of Oun in the ocean, the Land of Tea and the Land of Merchants on the peninsula, and the Land of Wind to the far west. It was one of the Land of Fire's most critical southern gateways to the sea.