Chapter 114: The New Konoha Occupying the Magpie's Nest

The Blood Wasteland, which had been suddenly breached, brought a sense of shock to all players from the sudden raid.

Even though the Shinobi World War had broken out in reality and chaos had begun, leaving all players unable to attend to anything else—causing the Ninja Novice Village to be somewhat lifeless—it was instantly ignited by this announcement.

"Who was it that secretly hunted down the Vampire Baron?"

"When I was hunting low-level vampires, I ran into a Vampire Baron; that kind of terrifying blood Magic could never be hunted by a single person, it must have been some major faction."

"Didn't they say it? A player named Paper Flower participated in the hunt and even received a Resurrection Coin reward for outstanding contribution."

"Paper Flower... is the Leader of the Dawn Organization; I heard they are a noble from the Land of Rain."

"I'm so envious, I never expected that it wouldn't be the ninjas from the Five Great Ninja Villages who breached the wasteland, but the weak Land of Rain."

"The Five Great Ninja Villages are practically beating each other into a pulp in reality; they have no energy left to hunt Pollution Sources."

"Resurrection Coins are rule-based items, they've already been removed from the Game Mall. I'm so envious, if I had a Resurrection Coin, I could resurrect my daughter who was killed by wandering ninjas. Also, let me correct you, it's the Four Great Ninja Villages and the Land of Fire now; Konoha is already gone."

Chaotic and noisy voices.

Players were both envious of the Dawn Organization's decisive action in seizing the first-kill reward of the entire Lord-level Boss at the most opportune moment.

And they were gloating over the collapse of Konoha in reality.

Most players were commoners who did not live in the prosperous Capital City, nor did they live in ninja villages free from the harassment of mountain bandits.

Ordinary commoners, while bearing the heavy taxes to support ninjas, also had to worry about having all their property stolen and their lives taken by wandering ninjas and mountain bandits.

Most commoners had no affection for ninjas at all, simply regarding them as a privileged class that oppressed them just like the nobles.

Therefore, there were not many who sympathized with the downfall of Konoha.

Of course, most players were still more concerned about the content of the announcement, especially the new map mentioned in it.

Hot Water Village,

barely considered a prosperous village, with rows upon rows of terraced wooden houses. Standing inside the tallest Tangren Dalou, one could clearly see the misty hot spring vapors rising from several large hot spring inns.

The streets were cold and desolate, with only passing merchants.

A giant flag hung above the rooftop of the Tangren Dalou; the flag bearing the Konoha emblem replaced the original Hot Water Village emblem.

Inside the brand-new office,

Hiruzen Sarutobi sat in the main seat. His somewhat dark face was now covered in various scars, no longer possessing his original kindly appearance.

There were knife scars and burn marks; the dense, crisscrossing scars caused the flesh to turn outward, looking extremely ferocious and ugly.

Those present were the Elite ninjas who, some time ago, had broken into the prison in Konoha Village—now the new capital of the Land of Fire—to rescue Hiruzen Sarutobi.

"What are your thoughts on the new announcement issued by the Samsara Game?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi tapped his pipe and took a puff, his brows slightly furrowed.

The climate in the Land of Hot Water was humid, with baths and natural hot springs everywhere, causing the pipe to get damp quickly, and the taste of the tobacco had also changed.

Nara Shikaku, sitting in the seat on the right, pondered steadily before saying: "First, there is the newly opened Blood-Colored Ancient Castle. It should be a dungeon like the Sihun Yingdi, capable of producing large amounts of materials and Reward Points."

"What needs to be noted is that when the Sihun Yingdi first opened, Uzumaki Naruto was lucky enough to have two hearts drop, but he sold them at a low price before figuring out their use. This time, we need to hoard the rare materials from the Blood-Colored Ancient Castle."

After Nara Shikaku finished speaking, he waited for Hiruzen Sarutobi's decision.

The Silver Material that Uzumaki Naruto had dropped back then was sold by the short-sighted Hiruzen Sarutobi for immediate petty gains; he never expected it to be a precious material for unlocking a Family Token.

Hiruzen Sarutobi thought of the mistake he had once made and instinctively reached out, but did not touch his legs.

Under the seat,

the Ninja Hero who once dominated the shinobi world had his legs severed by prison inmates because he refused Yan Zhaoxiong's proposal to take responsibility for Konoha's various atrocities as the former Hokage, and refused the promise to repent and disband the Konoha ninja village.

He would rather be tortured by severe punishment, and even suddenly lash out to personally crush the throat of his old friend, Shimura Danzou, who had wanted to agree to the other party after being tortured by cruel punishments, than betray Konoha, let alone disband Konoha as Hokage.

Hiruzen Sarutobi nodded expressionlessly, signaling for Nara Shikaku to continue.

"Then there is the resource map of the Blood Wasteland."

Nara Shikaku's face was full of regret as he said: "The Rock, Cloud, and the insidious Mist can produce excellent Reality Equipment and cultivate life-ninjas; these resource maps that can continuously produce materials have contributed significantly."

"It was also my negligence that I failed to foresee the preciousness of the resource maps in advance."

His face was full of remorse.

The smarter a person is, the more complex they think; he had been worried that the Samsara Game had a conspiracy and ulterior motives, until he finally missed the auction for the resource maps.

This also indirectly led to the fact that after the war began, facing enemy ninjas of equal strength, the Konoha ninjas who had been trained by the Ninja Academy and should have had the upper hand were beaten back step by step.

He paused and said: "It's just that we were too hasty when we left the Land of Fire. The ninja troops dispatched by Orochimaru kept pursuing us, and there were also Hyuga Byakugan ninjas tracking us, so we couldn't carry a large amount of supplies at all."

"Excluding the normal operations within the village, the remaining funds will probably only be enough to buy one small map."

This was still thanks to the game troops led by Asuma, who had previously auctioned a piece of Ghost Iron Ore in the game.

However,

after arriving in the Land of Hot Water, Asuma frequently questioned the various decisions of the Hokage, leading to a sharp deterioration in the relationship between father and son.

Now, the atmosphere in the New Konoha, rooted in the Land of Hot Water, was very subtle.

Beside Hiruzen Sarutobi, the re-appointed Third Hokage, were the Ino-Shika-Cho ninja clans, the resurrected Fourth Hokage Namikaze Minato, the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, and a group of commoner ninjas led by Might Guy who still believed in the Will of Fire.

On the other side, surrounding Asuma were members of the Hyuga Clan led by Hyuga Hiashi, Sasuke Uchiha who had awakened the Mangekyo Sharingan, and the game troops with considerable combat power.

The remaining Jiraiya and Tsunade were free agents, maintaining a subtle balance between the two sides.

"If things continue like this..."

Nara Shikaku thought to himself, but did not say it out loud; after all, the best way during such a sensitive period was to play dumb.

Thinking of the powerful ninja village that once had tens of thousands of ninjas, now reduced to barely scraping together two thousand people, like a low-class group of wandering ninjas, even with Hiruzen Sarutobi's shrewdness, he felt a heart-wrenching pain.

He took a puff of his damp pipe and said: "I have already sent Minato as an envoy to negotiate with the Daimyo and nobles of the Land of Hot Water; the funds will be replenished soon."

"How are the mission requests?"

Nara Shikaku reported: "We just replaced the Hot Water Village ninjas, and the villagers don't know much about the background of the Konoha ninjas, so there are relatively few mission requests."

This matter was not glorious.

Under the leadership of Hiruzen Sarutobi, they used thunderous means to control the high-level officials of the Hot Water Village, and after a purge, they completely took control of the Hot Water Village.

The Hot Water Village, which upholds pacifism, has very weak overall strength; even a Konoha Ninja Clan weakened after the death of many clansmen is not an existence they can withstand.

Sarutobi Hiruzen thought for a moment and said, "The Land of Hot Water is a tourist destination, and merchants come and go everywhere; although their strength is weak, even the Hidden Sand cannot compare to them in terms of abundant funds."

Speaking of this, he recalled how things used to be, revealed a helpless smile, and said, "First borrow some from the villagers, and pay them back with added interest once the village is better off."

The once radiant Third Hokage had a smile that made people feel as if they were bathed in a spring breeze.

But after being disfigured, this expression of his looked exactly like a malicious ghost crawling out of Hell.

(End of this chapter)