It was a while before the two gradually stopped vomiting, though their faces remained deathly pale. Seeing this, Kyuushin also greeted Grand Craftsman Sekine and urged them to set off, quickly leaving the area of the bloody confrontation.
Aside from some swords and knives, the bandits had nothing on them except for a small amount of money on the leader. After Kyuushin plundered it, he didn't bother with anything else. When they reached a forest a safe distance away, he motioned for Sekine's party to stop and rest. He fetched some water, boiled it using the cooking utensils Minato had brought, and gave a cup to each of them. Nawaki and Minato's hands were still trembling slightly, but after drinking some hot water, their complexions gradually turned rosy.
"Thank you," Minato's voice was still a bit hoarse.
Kyuushin patted their shoulders, not offering any words of comfort. Since they chose to become ninja, killing was an inevitable part of the job. They needed to overcome this hurdle themselves. Fortunately, neither of them was fragile. Nawaki seemed boisterous but was very thoughtful and had long been prepared for this day. Minato appeared gentle, but that was only towards people from his own village; when it came to taking action against enemies, he wouldn't hesitate. As for Kyuushin himself, he had already overcome this barrier in his previous world, allowing him to remain unfazed, even though he knew that killing was never the right thing to do.
However, in this world, if he didn't kill, he couldn't be a ninja. And ever since he was reincarnated, he never really had a choice. Even if he had a choice, he might still become a ninja. If he didn't kill, he would be killed by others. Compared to the latter, he had no choice but to become the former.
He shook his head, forcibly stopping his wandering thoughts. He looked at Minato and Nawaki, finding their expressions had returned to normal, though they were still a bit silent. He decided to say something to break the tension. After a moment of thought, he suddenly remembered something. "Oh no, I forgot to retrieve the kunai and shuriken I threw earlier." This was true; he remembered looting the bodies but had forgotten about the ninja tools he had used.
Minato's mouth twitched upon hearing this. These ninja tools were originally given to him by Kyuushin and Nawaki. Now that they were lost, Minato, who was always thrifty, found it even harder to accept. "How about... we go back now?" he asked, a bit unwilling to let them go.
Nawaki was somewhat speechless, but he knew Kyuushin was trying to lighten the mood. "Forget it. I don't want to throw up again. Besides, we brought plenty of ninja tools, and we can restock if we find a town later."
Kyuushin nodded. He also didn't want to backtrack, so he took out the money he had found on the bandit leader and counted it. "I found some silver notes on them, a total of over five thousand ryo. We can split it among us as extra income."
"Alright!" Nawaki had always received a fixed amount of pocket money from Mito, which was often taken by Tsunade. This money was entirely his. Minato's eyes also sparkled, but he was still a bit embarrassed. "These were all captured by Kyuushin; you don't have to give me any."
"What are you talking about? We're a team, so naturally, everyone gets a share of the spoils. Isn't that right, Kyuushin?" Nawaki said.
"Of course," Kyuushin nodded, immediately dividing the money into three portions and giving one to each of them. With the money distributed, the previous somber atmosphere naturally vanished. It seemed money really could solve a lot of problems.
After a while, Minato suddenly asked, "Why do you think there are bandits?"
"Naturally, because robbing is a quick way to make money," Nawaki said without thinking.
"But there were dozens of them, and they only had a little over five thousand ryo."
"I don't know about that," Nawaki waved his hand, never one to ponder such complex questions. So Minato turned his gaze to Kyuushin.
"They became bandits because they couldn't get enough to eat, so they took desperate measures," Kyuushin said.
"But why couldn't they get enough to eat? I saw plenty of fields along the road. Self-sufficiency should be enough, right?" Minato asked again.
However, Kyuushin didn't answer directly. Instead, he asked, "The ninja world isn't peaceful right now, and various countries have friction. You know about this, right?" Minato nodded.
"The friction between major powers happens in these smaller countries. To give you the simplest example, if ninja from two countries fight in a certain farmland, their ninjutsu destroys the fields, and the crops are gone. Then, the family who owns that farmland will have no food and will starve, right?" Kyuushin said.
"Is it just because of that?"
"Of course, it's not just that. The example I gave is the most direct. There are also cases where some merchants, seeing the country in turmoil, raise the price of food for their own profit. What then do people who can't afford food do?" Kyuushin gave another example. "Or some high-ranking officials and nobles, seeing the complex domestic situation, hoard a lot of grain. When they hoard more, there's less on the market. When goods are scarce, prices go up, and even more people can't afford food. In short, once a country is in turmoil, some people will inevitably be unable to survive. Since they can't survive, they can only take desperate measures."
Minato and Nawaki listened, somewhat understanding and somewhat confused. After a while, Nawaki asked, "Since this kind of situation happens, why do the major powers have to fight?"
"This question is both simple and very difficult," Kyuushin replied. "Let's take the Land of Fire and the Land of Wind as examples. We all know the Land of Fire has a very good climate, which is favorable for growing grain, and it has a large surplus every year. Although the Land of Wind has the largest territory, its land is barren and full of sand. Only a few oases can grow grain. Therefore, their grain supply is often insufficient, so they must use real gold and silver to buy grain from the Land of Fire."
"Right, what's wrong with that?" Minato asked in confusion.
"Of course, it's wrong, because in this way, the money the people of the Land of Wind work hard to earn will eventually flow into the pockets of the Land of Fire, and they have no way to earn it back. Over time, the people of the Land of Wind will become unwilling. They will think, 'Why can you live so comfortably with your fertile land, while we have to work desperately, and our harvest is still not as good as yours?' So, someone will get an idea: 'Since you rely on fertile land, why don't we just seize it?' But think about it, would the Land of Fire be willing? 'Why should our land be given to you?' Thus, conflict becomes inevitable, and war breaks out."
Finally, he concluded, "Although what I've said is only one aspect, this one reason alone is enough. The start of wars, the friction between major powers, is often caused by an imbalance of interests. If it were you, do you have a solution?"
Nawaki and Minato looked at each other, and finally, both sighed.
"So, if what you say is true, do the major powers have no chance of peaceful coexistence?" a new voice asked from a nearby tree.
The three looked up, exclaiming in surprise, "Jiraiya-sensei?!"
Since leaving the village, Jiraiya had been following them. Their adaptability earlier had pleased him greatly, and he was relieved to see them quickly recover from the bandit incident. But now that Kyuushin had brought up this issue, he was very interested. His dream was to change the ninja world, but he had never had a clear idea of how to do so. The example Kyuushin just gave was flawless, yet even he seemed helpless in the face of this problem. Therefore, he revealed himself and asked the question that was on his mind.