Uchiha Akaishi Tour

Chapter 167 Samurai and Ninja

Chapter 169 Samurai and Ninja

August 18, Konoha Year 36, Western part of the Land of Iron, Dange Castle.

Orochimaru's team arrived outside the city.

Duan Yue City is situated between two mountain ranges, with towering mountains to the north and south, resembling a city that has severed the mountains.

Although it is called a "city", it is actually more like a pass.

Of course, for ninjas, the "barrier" did not completely block their advance route.

Although this mountain is high, even a low-ranking ninja can climb it.

The greater purpose of this barrier is that it contains a "Sealing Interference Curse Seal" set up by the ancestors of the Land of Iron at great cost. Bypassing this barrier would cause a ninja to consume a large amount of "Sealing Scrolls".

Therefore, Hanzo would not dare to bypass this area and directly launch a full-scale attack on the eastern part of the Land of Iron.

Otherwise, their supply lines will inevitably be cut off, and the pressure on their resupply will increase significantly.

Standing beneath the city walls, Akaishi wore an expression of poetic inspiration, and exclaimed, "Duan Yue City truly lives up to its reputation as the formidable fortress of the Iron Kingdom!"

"If you can't come up with something more cultured, you don't have to say anything," Lan Wu remarked from the side.

Akaishi:————

Although Duan Yue City is now under heavy guard, news of the "Konoha ninjas" coming has already reached this place, and several samurai are waiting outside.

"You must be Orochimaru and Jiraiya, the Jonin from Konoha? Thank you for saving the people of the Land of Iron. Several great swordsmen have been waiting for you. Please follow me!" The leading samurai said, extending his arms to lead the way.

"We just happened to run into each other while escorting goods for a transaction," Orochimaru said with a slight smile.

Since he realized that the other party still didn't seem to be formally requesting help, Orochimaru proceeded with the original plan, treating it as simply "escorting supplies."

The group entered Duan Yue City —

This was also the first time that Akaishi and the others had entered a town since arriving in the Land of Iron.

The architecture of the Land of Iron is bold and expansive, mostly made of bluestone and cast iron. This Broken Peak City is a mountain fortress. Unlike the brightly colored architecture of Konoha, the walls and gates here are rarely painted. Only on the lintels of some large buildings can you see some simple patterns that resemble family crests.

"Hmm? Are these the ninjas—no, the samurai families of the Land of Iron?" Akaishi asked curiously.

These buildings are too small to be called "tribal lands," but too large to be called ordinary family residences.

"No, we samurai don't usually talk about families. These are dojos of Bushido, which are places that recruit samurai apprentices. The patterns on them represent different schools of martial arts." The samurai who was leading the way explained a few words when he saw that the little ninja was interested.

"I see—" Akashi was somewhat surprised to hear this, then proudly raised his head. No wonder you guys are no good, it's because you don't have a great clan like our Uchiha to support you!

Of course, the Iron Country model is not without its advantages.

In terms of the number of samurai, the number of samurai in the Land of Iron is roughly the same as the number of ninjas in the Five Great Hidden Villages.

However, the proportion of foot soldiers and samurai is greater than that of genin and chunin, and the strength of sword masters and great sword masters cannot compare with that of jonin.

The samurai led the group to the gate on the west side of Duan Yue City. It seemed that the great swordsmen and sword masters of the Iron Kingdom were stationed here.

Upon arriving at the gate, they saw a samurai in his thirties standing in front of it, seemingly waiting for them.

This samurai wasn't wearing armor, only two plates on his shoulders, but judging from his demeanor, he didn't seem like a foot soldier. Just like genin and jonin don't wear chunin vests, but the former wouldn't dress up extravagantly and strike a pose in front of the Hokage's building—

"The swordsman Mifune." Upon seeing this, the samurai stepped forward and bowed.

As expected, the newcomer was a swordsman.

Swordsmen hold a higher status in the Land of Iron than Konoha Jonin do in the Land of Fire—although their strength is not as great as Konoha Jonin, their numbers are also fewer. More importantly, the ninjas of the Five Great Nations do not actually govern their countries.

"Are they the ninjas of Konoha?" Mifune asked scrutinizingly from the steps.

"That's right, it's the Three-Eyed Great Swordsman. Please invite them in," the samurai said sheepishly.

Akaishi's gaze swept over the two men—it sounded like the "Three-Eyed Great Swordsman" and the "Mifune Swordsman" in front of him didn't get along, and the former was currently in charge here.

Mifune ignored the samurai's attempts to decline and walked straight towards the five Konoha members—Mifune's face was serious, with only a tuft of goatee on his chin, giving him an air of ill intent.

Snap—

As Mifune took a few steps forward, he slowly bent down, and when he reached the five people, he knelt down in a standard dogeza (a traditional Japanese kowtow).

"On behalf of the people of the Land of Iron who were saved, I thank you all for your great kindness!" Mifune said solemnly and sincerely.

Jiraiya instinctively wanted to stop him, but seeing out of the corner of his eye that Orochimaru wasn't making a move, he took a half-step back and remained silent.

As for the four members of the Red Stone Clan, they had no right to speak.

Orochimaru paused for a moment before saying, "There's no need for that. We were just responding appropriately to the attack on the caravan."

After hearing Orochimaru's humble words, Mifune stood up and then asked, "When you all killed those beasts from the Land of Rain, did you seize any supplies they had looted from the villages of the Land of Iron?"

Jiraiya frowned, and Akaishi stared at the goatee with an even more hostile gaze.

Do you want your spoils back?

Regardless of where the Rain Village's items came from, as Konoha ninjas, they clearly have no obligation to return them. If they were hired by the Land of Iron to suppress bandits, then these should be returned—but that's not the case.

Orochimaru, who was always a hawk, remained expressionless and simply nodded, saying, "Hmm, a small success."

Immediately, Mifune unfastened his sword and gestured, saying, "This is Kurosawa, a famous sword from the Land of Iron, worth millions. I would like to use this sword to exchange for the supplies that the Rain Ninja plundered in the Land of Iron."

"what?"

The samurai standing to the side looked surprised and anxiously glanced at "Kurosawa"—clearly, either he was a accomplice, or—this "Kurosawa" was indeed very valuable.

Orochimaru then took it first, drew "Kurosawa" and examined it—

"It is indeed a fine sword—however, we ninjas have no use for it, so we will not take what belongs to others." Orochimaru said, and handed it back.

Seeing this, Mifune looked disappointed and somewhat anxious, but he didn't say anything more and simply took "Kurosawa".

Ninjas do not not use swords, and Orochimaru obviously did not make the exchange because of other considerations or simply felt it was not worth it.

Mifune stepped aside and stopped blocking their way. The samurai who had been there earlier quickly led the five people back into the castle tower.

Upon arriving at the meeting place inside the city gate, one finds several great swordsmen and sword masters already waiting.

The samurai who had led the way then stepped forward and whispered something to the three-eyed great swordsman sitting at the head of the table.

According to Akaishi's lip reading, it must be about the "Mifune" incident.

Mitsukoshi first showed disdain when Mifune was mentioned, but then nodded solemnly when he heard that "the Konoha ninja did not agree".

"Orochimaru, Jonin; Jiraiya, Jonin, I've heard so much about you! You've finally arrived!" Sanmu said in a tone that said, "I've missed you so much."

Sanmu was older than Mifune, with a square head, a large face, and many scars. He looked fierce, but when he saw the Konoha ninjas, he forced a smile.

"Not at all, we also wanted to complete the transaction as soon as possible, but the situation in your country is currently chaotic, which is why it has been delayed for a few days."

Orochimaru smiled slightly.

Akaishi also realized that Orochimaru was practicing Gentle Fist.

The other party's three eyes were clearly not referring to a "transaction," but Orochimaru pretended not to understand.

"The trade isn't urgent. What's pressing now is that those bastard ninjas from the Land of Rain, in order to take a route to attack your country, asked my general from the Land of Iron for passage. After my general refused, these bastard ninjas brazenly invaded our country—"

The Three Eyes clearly wanted to emphasize that the Land of Iron was fighting the Land of Rain for the sake of Konoha and the Land of Fire!

and----

It's clear that Sanmu harbors a deep resentment towards ninjas, deliberately calling them "bastard ninjas" to their faces; it's hard to say it wasn't intentional.

"General, you are wise. The Land of Rain is just a small country. How could it possibly have the ability to conquer our country? It's just a pretext to attack us." Orochimaru smiled slightly.

Sanmu paused upon hearing this, clearly not expecting the ninjas who had come this time to be so difficult to deal with.

But he couldn't refute it.

We can't really lend our passage to the Land of Rain, can we?

Sanmu winked at a bald, narrow-eyed swordsman beside him, who immediately spoke up: "Orochimaru, let's not beat around the bush. Our Land of Iron has always maintained neutrality, but now we've been forced into your ninja's conflict. We're fighting desperately against the Land of Rain's ninjas on the front lines, and countless civilians have died in the rear. Doesn't Konoha have anything to say about this?"

"?" Akashi asked in confusion.

"Akaishi-kun, is there anything you want to say?" Orochimaru wasn't angry at the people of the Land of Iron, but simply asked Akaishi.

"Captain Orochimaru, when we're on missions in the Land of Fire, we often encounter those guys who are causing trouble in the villages—are they wandering samurai? Could those bastard samurai have some connection to the Land of Iron?" Akaishi asked with a puzzled tone.

"Nonsense!"

"How could we do something like that?"

"They're not warriors at all!"

"Is this the etiquette of Konoha?"

The swordsmen of the Land of Iron present could no longer sit still.

Faced with their questioning, Orochimaru calmly replied, "Those damned samurai have nothing to do with the Land of Iron; they're just called 'samurai'."

Although Orochimaru refuted Akaishi's words, he clearly did not intend to reprimand Akaishi for being impolite.

The group of samurai then understood what the Konoha ninja meant: "You are fighting the Rain Ninja, what does it have to do with Konoha?"

If you don't want to fight, you can surrender!

"Of course, as long as your country has sufficient supplies, I can decide to convert all the previously captured materials into chakra metal at their value," Orochimaru said reasonably.