"Naruto: Ice God"Chapter 106: This Is the Shinobi World
Just as the lead Rain ninja expected, the civilians only whispered among themselves for a while before resignedly bowing their heads and falling silent.
"As usual, families with Amegakure ninja receive a fifty percent reduction in protection fees. If there have been casualties, the protection fee is waived for three years!"
Seeing the crowd quiet down again, the lead Rain ninja recited a policy he'd announced countless times before. Without caring whether everyone had heard clearly, he turned and leaped off the platform, leaving several expendable-looking Rain ninja to collect the fees.
"Those with money on hand can pay now. Remember, the collection point operates for only ten days. After ten days, if you haven't paid your protection fee, you won't be dealing with reasonable people like us, but with the punishment squad from the central tower!"
A Rain ninja with a handlebar mustache placed his hands on his hips and shrilly threatened the crowd, then retreated to the crude collection booth under a rain shelter, waiting for the civilians to act.
Some with ready cash, hoping to avoid unnecessary trouble, resignedly walked over to pay. More people shook their heads and sighed as they left the platform area, preparing to return home for money.
"Protection fee—what's that supposed to be?"
Hiding in an alley and observing the entire scene, Obito shook his head, flicking off rainwater that had accumulated from standing motionless too long, and asked Feng Bai in his characteristically dim-witted tone.
"It's just like a commercial tax, only with a different name."
Feng Bai answered Obito while keeping his body angled sideways. Seeing that the Rain ninja showed no signs of noticing their direction, he prepared to lead the group to the next area.
"My son clearly died fighting at the border—why doesn't that count as a sacrifice?!"
Just as Feng Bai and the others turned to leave, a sharp cry rang out behind them.
Turning around, they saw a middle-aged woman pressing both hands against the collection booth's table, her face flushed red, neck rigid, glaring furiously at the Rain ninja who sat before her with his legs crossed.
"Heh, a sacrifice?"
Leaning backward to avoid the woman's spittle, the Rain ninja looked at her with disgust and arrogantly pointed to a thin sheet of paper on the table.
"Look carefully. Your son Ryūsen went missing after stepping on an explosive tag. Missing—do you understand what that means?"
"How could someone go missing after stepping on an explosive tag?!"
Hearing her son's death described in such dismissive terms, the woman could no longer contain herself. Blinded by rage, she reached out to grab the ninja's collar.
"Get away from me! You dare lay hands on a ninja?!"
A Rain ninja standing nearby, who had been watching the spectacle, kicked out just as her hand was about to touch his comrade's clothing, sending the woman flying three meters away.
Dazed from the kick, the woman clutched her stomach and lay on the ground, unable to rise from the pain, left to endure the falling rain.
"Who knows if your son used stepping on an explosive tag as an excuse to defect from the Land of Rain? Lord Hanzō has shown tremendous mercy by not pursuing your son's status as a rogue ninja. Instead of showing gratitude, you dare attack a ninja. It seems you want to take a trip to the punishment facility!"
Flexing his wrist, the Rain ninja slowly approached the fallen woman, a mocking smile on his face. "Troublemakers like you who show no gratitude—we encounter many every year. Do you know what ultimately happens to them all?"
"My son had a body—it was personally delivered by his comrades..."
"A body? Oh, you mean that leg? How can you prove that leg belonged to your son?"
He kicked her again, cursing at her. When the woman stopped arguing, he spat viciously on the ground before turning back to the collection booth.
"That bastard!"
Watching the Rain ninja treat a civilian so brutally, Obito—who had never witnessed such scenes—clenched his fists, experiencing his first real glimpse of life in the shinobi world beyond Konoha.
"Stay calm."
Feng Bai reached out to restrain the agitated Obito, fixing him with a warning glare. "This is the Land of Rain, not Konoha. Don't forget our mission."
Though his own expression was grim, Feng Bai, having lived in the Land of Water for a period, knew that most countries in the shinobi world operated this way. Such incidents occurred frequently in the Land of Fire as well—they were simply kept out of public view.
Strip away the passionate exterior of the shinobi world, and its core was nothing but filthy survival of the fittest.
"Let's move."
No longer looking at the woman weeping in the rain, Feng Bai and the others avoided the crowd and proceeded to their next destination.
After leaving the town's boundaries, as they walked through the forest, Obito suddenly spoke in a subdued voice: "Why can't we change this kind of shinobi world? Ninja conflicts shouldn't involve civilians."
Obito's words made Feng Bai halt in his tracks.
"That sort of thing should be left to those with the capability to do it."
After pondering for a long time, Feng Bai finally managed this response.
Changing the shinobi world couldn't be accomplished through passion alone.
Feng Bai considered himself merely an ordinary ninja—enjoying his clan's resources and fighting desperately for those resources during wartime was already his maximum contribution.
As for changing the shinobi world?
Unfortunately, he currently lacked such motivation.
Or rather, he didn't yet possess that kind of power.
Despite his words, Feng Bai's mind uncontrollably replayed the recent scene—the woman's weeping, the ninja's arrogance, the pattering rain, the overcast sky.
Wanting to change this shinobi world was incredibly difficult.
Nagato sought to use pain to intimidate the shinobi world, thereby preventing warfare.
But that couldn't bring happiness to civilians.
Ninja and nobles would still stand above the common people.
Uchiha Madara wanted to use Infinite Tsukuyomi to trap everyone in an illusion, but that was merely a false dream that would transform everyone into White Zetsu, handing the shinobi world over to Ōtsutsuki Kaguya.
Naruto aspired to achieve peace, but after becoming Hokage, the Land of Rain remained plagued by constant warfare, civilians still went hungry, and the daimyō continued to reign supreme.
To change the shinobi world required the determination to shatter everything and rebuild it anew, consigning classes like nobles and ninja clans to the dustbin of history.
"However, Obito, you're right—conflicts between ninja truly shouldn't spill over onto civilians."
Seeing Obito fall silent, Feng Bai tentatively agreed with his philosophy. As for action...
They'd complete their current mission first.
Perhaps stimulated by the earlier scene, during the remainder of their journey, Feng Bai's group encountered a squad of Rain ninja. According to their previous mission planning, they should have avoided these enemies, but ultimately Obito struck first. Feng Bai tacitly approved of his action, cooperating with Kakashi to eliminate these small fry whose strength barely exceeded that of genin.
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