Chapter 237: Sudden Great War

The Grass Country is a small country located northwest of the Fire Country.

Unlike the Rice Country and the River Country that Muyue had visited before, the Grass Country not only has its own ninja village, the Kusagakure, but is also considered relatively strong among small countries in the ninja world.

However, the awkward position of the Grass Country makes it impossible for its small strength to be put to any use.

The Grass Country borders four countries in total: two small countries and two great countries.

The two bordering small countries are the Waterfall Country and the Rain Country. The Waterfall Country lies to the northeast of the Grass Country, and due to its special terrain, the Grass Country has no way to expand toward it. The Rain Country is easier to attack, as half of the Grass Country's land borders it, but the Rain Country is the strongest ninja village beneath the Five Great Ninja Villages, and its strength is too tough to bite into.

The two bordering great countries are the Earth Country and the Fire Country. There's no need to say more—they simply cannot be provoked, so the Grass Country can only flatter them as a subordinate.

During the Second Shinobi World War, Amegakure proved to the ninja world the power of the Five Great Ninja Villages. Even if there was some parity in top-tier combat strength, small ninja villages would be crushed by the Five Great Ninja Villages in other aspects, ultimately leading to defeat.

As a small country, the Grass Country's survival method is to side with whoever wins. Therefore, Konoha, which always wins, became its steadfast ally.

Of course, the Grass Country cannot completely lean toward Konoha. While playing the role of Konoha's little brother, it also shows goodwill to Iwagakure to avoid being cleaned up along the way during war.

Although the Grass Country has tried hard to maneuver, it still cannot avoid becoming the battlefield of the great powers, because its geographical location is too good.

Now the best battlefield for Iwagakure and Konoha to clash is the Grass Country, and there is no alternative.

Actually, the Rain Country has an even better location, but because of that, it is more troublesome. If Iwagakure attacks the Fire Country through the Rain Country, they would not only face the not-weak Amegakure but also provoke the vigilance of the Wind Country, since the Rain Country also borders the Wind Country.

Iwagakure has no intention toward the Wind Country, so even though the Rain Country is better positioned, for them the Grass Country is the optimal route to invade Konoha.

Perhaps because the frontline situation was good, this escort mission went exceptionally smoothly. They encountered no attacks along the way, and didn't even meet any bandits.

Muyue thought about it—it made sense. Ordinary bandits seeing such a large convoy would, with a little thought, realize that ninjas must have been hired as guards.

Of course, it might also be because during wartime, bandits don't dare to wander around recklessly, afraid of being caught in a ninja battle.

"Hey, no enemies have shown up for so long. Could it be that Kakashi was right this time?" Obito sat atop the carriage, looking left and right but seeing no trace of enemies, said somewhat disappointedly.

"I told you, it was just bad luck before. There's no way we'll have accidents four times in a row." Kakashi said calmly.

He felt this was normal—this was what a C-rank mission should look like. The previous few times were truly exceptional, the first and third missions could easily have been S-rank without any problem.

Once, two jonin appeared; another time, even the Raikage's candidate showed up—so exaggerated that Kakashi wondered if he really did bring bad luck.

"How about a youthful and passionate race?" Might Guy invited enthusiastically.

"I'll have to decline." Kakashi refused immediately. During a mission, he didn't want to engage in such meaningless physical exertion.

"Better not." Obito also declined Might Guy's proposal, because he felt he simply couldn't win.

Obito wasn't keen on participating in such a meaningless contest that he was sure to lose.

If it were a match against Kakashi, Obito would be happy to accept.

"What a pity." Might Guy said regretfully, then jumped off the carriage and started running at the same speed as the wagon.

Muyue didn't stop Might Guy. This amount of exercise was nothing to him, just a warm-up.

Moreover, after leaving Konoha, Muyue would occasionally use a sensory jutsu to ensure there were no enemies nearby.

If he could keep the Byakugan activated continuously, it wouldn't be so troublesome, but that would consume too much chakra and be very inefficient.

With no enemies around, the bored Obito went around chatting with people from the supply convoy, talking about everything—work, life, family, all within the scope.

"How much money do you earn for completing a mission?" Obito asked curiously.

"Mission?" The worker asked was a bit confused at first, then realized Obito might be asking about wages.

"When there's plenty of work, maybe about seven thousand ryo a month. Usually around five thousand ryo." The worker thought for a moment and answered.

"Do you work very few hours each month? How come you only make five thousand ryo a month?" Obito scratched his head and asked in confusion.

The minimum fee for a D-rank mission was five thousand ryo, and that minimum D-rank commission was tax-free. Muyue would split the reward evenly, so Obito could earn five thousand ryo by doing four D-rank missions, which usually took only one afternoon.

Obito's words left the worker speechless; he didn't know how to answer for a moment.

Few working hours? Of course not—they worked basically every day, and sometimes when they earned more, they were busy day and night.

"We ordinary people naturally can't compare to you noble ninja." The worker finally said.

This was the disparity of the world. The amount a ninja spends each month on purchasing ninja tools might be an expense that an ordinary family could not reach in a whole year.

Obito couldn't quite understand the difference—why such a huge gap existed—and he couldn't figure it out.

When the convoy reached the border of the Fire Country and was about to enter the Grass Country, Muyue made the disciples return to the carriage and issued a warning.

"Next, we're going into the Grass Country. It's extremely dangerous right now, so you need to stay alert at all times." Muyue reminded them with a serious expression.

"Thousands of ninja are currently fighting in this country, and anything could happen."

Then Muyue spent half an hour lecturing, explaining the cruelty of war to his few disciples.

Muyue was capable of protecting himself and his three disciples during the war, but he didn't want Obito and the others to underestimate war because of that.

All wars are brutal; they cost many lives and destroy many beautiful things.

Even the most unruly Obito now wore a cautious expression and didn't voice any doubts.

After entering the Grass Country, it felt as if the very air had become more murderous, and the roadside scenery began to change as well.

Muyue and his group gradually started encountering ninja — either Konoha ninja on their side or Grass Country ninja, who were considered allies.

Based on the atmosphere of the ninja he saw, Muyue guessed the situation wasn't too bad; otherwise, their expressions would have been much more serious.

"Will I finally get my first normal C-rank mission?" Muyue thought to himself.

They had done three C-rank missions but had no completed C-rank records on their resume — there really was no other team like theirs.

As they got closer to the mission's destination, Muyue sensed more and more ninja through his sensory jutsu.

So Muyue switched to using the Byakugan, because sensory jutsu could only detect chakra, while the Byakugan could directly see who it was.

Every hour, Muyue would open his Byakugan to look around; all ninja within a radius of one and a half kilometers were completely exposed under his Byakugan.

In the end, the supply convoy led by Muyue arrived at Konoha's camp on the Grass Country battlefield without suffering a single attack.

"Muyue, why are you on the battlefield?" Minato asked in surprise when he saw the somewhat familiar figure.

In Minato's understanding, Muyue couldn't possibly be here, because Muyue was a teacher, and it was still the period when the Ninja Academy was in session.

Unless Konoha was at a life-or-death moment, they wouldn't send an excellent Academy teacher like Muyue to the battlefield.

"I'm a trainee teacher, actually, pretty much the same as a squad leader jōnin. This time I'm leading the students on a C-rank war mission." Muyue explained with a smile.

"I see, a logistics mission." Minato looked at the supply convoy and roughly guessed what kind of mission Muyue had taken.

"Muyue, try to keep your students inside the camp and don't let them wander around. Iwagakure has been quiet for two weeks, so they might be planning a large-scale offensive." Minato warned; this camp was considered the rear of the front lines and was quite safe.

He knew that Muyue's team included two students from the Ninja Academy, so he was a bit worried.

"We won't run around," Obito said, feeling underestimated.

"That's good. Only by listening to your teacher's orders can you become excellent ninja." Minato didn't mind Obito's words and instead responded with a friendly smile.

"When this guy smiles, he really looks a lot like Teacher Muyue," Obito couldn't help complaining inwardly, and the thought that Muyue and Minato might be long-lost brothers surfaced in his mind again.

"Looks like there won't be any surprises on this mission," Kakashi thought, relieved.

They had essentially completed the mission at this point. All that was left was to unload the supplies, take a short rest, and then return to Konoha.

Crack!

Suddenly, a bursting sound rang out, and a flare shot up in the distance, blooming in the sky.

Boom!!

Immediately afterward, a violent explosion erupted. The fire was so intense that it was clearly visible even from a great distance.

"Damn, Iwagakure has launched a large-scale surprise attack!" Minato's expression turned serious.

That signal was Konoha's highest-level combat alert on the battlefield; every Konoha ninja who saw it had to prepare to join the battle.

Kakashi stared at the signal in the sky in shock. Even Academy students knew what this signal meant.

"Am I really cursed to bring bad luck?" Kakashi felt a lack of confidence in himself — the moment they reached the battlefield, the highest-level alert was fired.

Muyue was also a bit surprised; he knew the meaning of that signal too.

"Who will the enemy be? The Third Tsuchikage? Probably not. Could it be…" Muyue's eyes flickered as he guessed the main combat force behind Iwagakure's offensive.

Not feeling well today, only one chapter. I'll update more depending on my condition tomorrow.