Naruto: I have an attribute panel

Chapter 64 The Shocking Truth

Chapter 64 The Shocking Truth (Bonus Chapter)

Upon hearing Taiyi mention force, the village chief's pupils constricted sharply.

"There's no force involved, it's just a matter of paying money to avoid disaster." The village chief said with a sorrowful expression. "Every time they come, they steal a large amount of grain. Maybe it's because they don't want to be discovered too early. After they steal the grain, they won't do anything else to the village."

"But now it's all good. Those bandits have all run away, and we can finally live in peace again." The village chief said to Taiichi with a smile, "Speaking of which, we have to thank you for this. If they hadn't heard that Konoha was sending ninjas, they wouldn't have been in such a hurry to escape."

"I'm so glad you're not upset that we're late, sir," Taiyi replied politely. "By the way, sir, do you know anything about the village on that mountain over there?"

"That village, it's been seven or eight years since then," the village chief recalled. "Back then, a group of bandits occupied that mountain, and the village was built at that time. Later, the bandits were wiped out, and the village was abandoned."

"What, are you interested in that village?" the village chief asked curiously.

"We investigated that village before and found it completely deserted; the traces left behind were from more than ten days ago."

"In that case, the bandits might have indeed escaped!" Taiyi echoed the village chief's words.

"Oh, that's good. The village can finally be at ease."

"Alright, sir, since the bandits have all fled, we won't stay here any longer. We'll head back to report," Taiyi said to the village chief after glancing at the sky.

"Oh, is it too tiring? It's getting late. Why don't you stay at my house for the night before you leave?" the village chief said, trying to persuade them to stay.

"No, sir, traveling in the dark won't affect us much." With that, Tai stood up and led Yangping and Saori away, ignoring the village chief's attempts to persuade them to stay.

After leaving the village chief's house, Taiyi and his two companions headed straight out of the village. When they had run far enough that the village was no longer visible, Taiyi stopped and turned to his two teammates: "What do you two think about what just happened?"

Yangping, usually so carefree, suddenly changed his tune: "Taiyi, I think there's something wrong with that village. Everyone's acting strangely. The village chief said the villagers were scared by bandits, but I feel like they're even more afraid of us."

"Yeah, I feel the same way," Saori agreed. "And I've also noticed that there seem to be a lot of men in this village. I wonder if the women are all staying home."

Tai looked at Saori and thought to himself, "Girls are so observant; I hadn't noticed that before."

"I met a family before who told me that their village wasn't afraid of bandits, but the village chief said it was to avoid trouble by spending money." Taiyi looked at the two of them and said what he had discovered: "The two of them have completely opposite stories."

"Maybe that family is just bragging," Yangping offered a different opinion.

"That's possible," Taichi said. "Saori, do you remember the unusual traces found at the scene of the battle?"

"You mean the kind with a row of small holes?" Saori thought for a moment and said carefully.

"Yes, I think I know what caused it."

"What is it?" Yangping and Saori asked excitedly. It's no wonder they were like that; once they knew what kind of weapon it was, they might be able to find out who was using it.

"Pitchfork".

"A pitchfork?" Yangping and Saori asked in confusion, clearly not knowing what a pitchfork was.

"Yes. It's a tool used by ordinary people to fork and turn grass, with a long handle and several sharp teeth on the head," Taiyi affirmed. "More importantly, almost every household in the village has one. And I found a piece of porcelain in one of the houses that shouldn't be here at all; it was quite exquisite."

Yangping and Saori stared at Taiichi in shock. They were clearly startled by what Taiichi was trying to say.

"Taiyi, you mean that village—" Yangping asked hesitantly.

"It's still unclear, but in the best-case scenario, the villagers are protecting those bandits." Taiyi was certain of his thoughts.

"So what do we do now?" Saori tapped her finger, thinking about what to do next.

"Wait," Taiyi said. "While we were in the village, I left a shadow clone to keep an eye on the village chief's house. If they really have a problem, there will definitely be some activity after we leave."

"Haha, Taiyi, you've thought of everything!" Yangping clapped his hands happily.

"Let's rest for a bit and have something to eat. There might be a lot to do tonight," Tai said meaningfully.

In the village.

Not long after Taiyi and the other two left, there was another knock on the door of the village chief's house.

As if knowing guests would be coming tonight, the front door was left open, and a voice drifted out from inside, "Come in!"

Two men and one woman entered, with the man in the lead being the one who had offered Taiyi water earlier.

"Wada, Hideto, Reiko, what are you three doing here so late?" the village chief spoke first.

The leading man, Wada, was getting impatient: "Village chief, aren't you just asking a question you already know the answer to? We need to figure out what happened with those three ninja brats who came today. Who can sleep if we don't get to the bottom of it?"

"Yes, yes, those kids were asking around the village today, we were worried about them." Another man, Xiu Ren, quickly agreed. Despite his name, Xiu Ren was a big, burly man.

"Village chief, do you think we've been exposed?" Lingzi asked anxiously at the end.

"Shut up!" the village chief roared. "I'll say it again, we're just ordinary villagers, not bandits. That's the same answer no matter who asks us."

"Yes, yes, village chief, please calm down," Lingzi pleaded sweetly to the village chief. "We've been villagers here for generations, and we've only been bandits for a little over six months!"

"You still dare to talk back!" This time, the village chief was truly enraged. He pointed at the woman's nose and began to curse, "Damn it, we'll all die because of your mouth sooner or later!"

"I won't say it anymore, I won't say it anymore. I accidentally said something wrong, village chief, please calm down." Lingzi quickly begged for forgiveness.

"Village chief, do you think ninjas are really that powerful? I think the youngest of those three kids isn't even as big as my child," Wada, the leader, changed the subject. "When he was at my house before, I even considered tying him up. He's got such soft skin, he could fetch a lot of money!"

"Pfft!" The village chief, who had just taken a sip of water to catch his breath, spat out all the water he had just put in his mouth, followed by a violent cough.

"Cough cough cough cough cough cough cough, each cough felt like it was going to cough up my lungs."

"You you you you"

He pointed at Hotan for a long time without saying a word.

This startled the three men, who rushed forward, some patting the village chief's back, others offering him water. After much effort, they finally managed to calm him down.

"I'll be driven crazy by you guys sooner or later," the village chief said, having caught his breath. "Those are ninjas, monsters in human skin. Even the lowest-ranking ninja is beyond our capabilities."

"Village chief! Are they really as powerful as you say? When the whole village attacked together, we wiped out those caravans. What are we afraid of, a few kids?" Lingzi started saying the things the village chief least wanted to hear.

"you"

After pausing for a while, the village chief finally sighed and said, "You all need to behave yourselves for now. Once those three brats report the news from here, we'll be safe."

It's not really their fault for being ignorant. These people have spent their entire lives in one place, and they don't even know how to read. How can you expect them to understand what a ninja is? Little did they know that when Haku awakened his Ice Release in the future, he was only three or four years old, and wasn't he still considered a monster?

"You can all go back now. Remember, keep your mouths shut and don't go around talking about it," the village chief said, dismissing them.

After the three people left, the room fell silent, and after a while, even the lights were turned off.

At this moment, a dark figure that had been hiding in the corner of the roof slowly got up, silently left the house, and disappeared with a "bang" after being some distance away from the house.

Taiyi, several kilometers away, suddenly opened his eyes and thought to himself, "They've arrived!"