The core of the dried fish formula is the medicine prescription, which was carefully prepared by Uchiha Yu and obtained with great difficulty after more than fifty ninja cats tested the medicine on themselves.

Apart from what was hidden in Uchiha You's heart, there was only a scroll recording the prescription. The small scroll was treasured by Mao You in the cracks of his claws, and it could not be stolen without killing him.

Uchiha You demonstrated the preparation process to Maoyou, from frying and crushing the dried fish, to preparing the medicinal materials, to mixing in the main filler flour, and then shaping and frying it.

Thirty-one transparent fish weigh only 430 grams after frying, but 500 kilograms of flour were used. The finished products piled up like a mountain.

Maoyou and the other ninja cats divided the finished dried fish into small portions and carefully sealed them into 534 sealing scrolls, using up 80% of the stock of Cat Castle, a veteran arms dealer.

The ninja cats did not feel bad about this at all, they knew that the dried fish was much more valuable than the sealing scrolls, and if it was not stored properly, resulting in deterioration and loss, even if only one kilogram was lost, its value would far exceed so many scrolls several times.

But Maoyou gave Uchiha Yu and Miwa Masayo a full 200 kilograms without even raising an eyebrow, and no ninja cat thought it was wrong, they even thought they could give more.

Uchiha You used too much and they couldn't carry all the dried fishes with them, so they convinced the ninja cats by saying they could come back and enjoy them anytime they wanted.

All the dried fish were packed up and it was time to say goodbye.

Maoyou personally sent Uchiha You and Miwa Masayo several kilometers away before they said goodbye to each other.

The huge white cat's fur is snow-white all over, without a single stray hair or scar. The mane on its neck is thick and dense, swaying gently in the breeze.

The majestic Maoyou is now beautiful and majestic, and looks like a real white lion no matter how you look at it.

Suddenly he took out a small dried fish, put it into his mouth, chewed it with a crunching sound, and then swallowed it with a happy look on his face. Feeling the fullness brought by digesting the extraordinary food, he laughed with contentment.

"Young men, work hard! Whoever achieves enough merits can exchange them for dried fish from me."

"From today on, as long as they work hard enough, all ninja cats will have the opportunity to master fairy arts, and may even become cat fairies!"

The ninja cats have shared the dried fish in different sizes according to their own strengths, and have deeply experienced the magic of the magical food.

When they heard Maoyou's words and thought about how the recipe was adjusted to produce 500 kilograms of dried fish, every ninja cat was full of confidence in the future of the Cat Castle.

The Ninja Cats are full of fighting spirit and work hard to complete the construction of the Ninja Cat Fortress as soon as possible.

But the first thing to be built is the lakeside villa promised by Lord Maoyou. It is the reward given to Miwa Masayo and Uchiha You. It is located on a protruding rock on the west side of the valley and is the first corner of the entire valley to welcome the sunlight.

Uchiha You chose to go south downstream, taking advantage of the speed of the rapids in the Land of Rivers, which could save one-third of the time in the long journey.

Soon they passed the ruined Kyumori Village and continued south for about a hundred kilometers. Uchiha Yuu and Miwa Masayo parted ways. According to the plan, they went to Kawanoto and Sand Village respectively.

"Set the time. 72 hours from now, you will reverse summon me in the Sand Village."

"Okay, meow, You have to make sure to light the eternal lamp in time, meow."

"Rika-chan, be careful when you are in the Kingdom of Wind. If you are in danger, run away immediately, whether it's back to the Cat Castle or to Konoha Village."

"Stupid Yuu, is there any ninja in the ninja world who can keep up with my flame jump, Miwa Masashi?"

"In short, safety first."

"Same to you meow."

Sanlun Masayo pretended to be relaxed and took out the dried fish. He ran westward at a very fast speed while chewing it and soon disappeared behind the hillside.

Uchiha You shook his head and smiled, then continued to flow south along the river.

After parting with Miwa Masayo, Uchiha You activated natural energy. On the turbulent water, every step he took would release a weak natural energy to shape, and then inject chakra to stimulate the effect of ninjutsu.

This technique, which was so simple that it could not even be called a ninjutsu, caused an orange-red flower of fire to bloom on the water.

This flower of fire was a derivative structure created by the evaporation of a large amount of water vapor by the fire escape, under the control of the wind escape, and had extremely powerful thrust. With the help of the thrust, Uchiha You's speed suddenly increased, leaving behind a row of water columns several people high, and disappeared at the end of the valley.

With the help of water flow, ninjutsu and reverse thrust, Uchiha You's speed soared to 110 kilometers per hour. The various obstacles in the river became his biggest threat. He could only rely on the Sharingan to maneuver and avoid accidents.

His biggest regret at this time was his lack of control.

If his control was ten times stronger, Uchiha You would be able to manipulate chakra through natural energy, use the power of wind and fire jutsu to shape a turbojet structure, and turn himself into a jet cruise missile, soaring into the sky.

Flying is naturally faster than ground travel, and the tracks are more secretive. There is no need to worry about avoiding obstacles. It is the most worry-free way to travel.

After more than twenty hours of running, Uchiha You completed a journey of nearly two thousand kilometers and approached his destination, the River Capital of the River Country.

The city is located on the alluvial plain in the south of the River Kingdom, at the estuary of hundreds of rivers, blocking the road connecting the Wind Kingdom and the Fire Kingdom.

There are countless tributaries in the alluvial plain of Kawakuni, and thousands of bridges have been built, so Kawakuni is also known as the City of a Thousand Bridges.

In the samurai era, the capital of Kawai was a place that was easy to defend and difficult to attack. In addition, the land was flat and fertile, there was abundant water for convenient irrigation, and the grain yield was high, making it a place that military strategists must fight for.

But in the age of ninjas, river bridges were no longer able to stop the passage of ninjas, and the river capital became easy to attack and difficult to defend, so that no one would defend the city anymore.

During the two Ninja World Wars, Kawatoshi changed hands no less than thirty times, and not a single siege took place.

The unexpected peace preserved the city's vitality and made it the largest commercial city in the South.

After the last war, Konoha Village, Kirigakure Village and Sand Village simply signed a contract to make Kawa-no-Toku a permanently neutral city and prohibited the construction of any military facilities.

The three ninja villages jointly guaranteed that no matter who actually occupied the capital of Kawa-no-Toku, the ninja organizations of the other two must be allowed to continue to exist.

Faced with the agreement of the three major ninja villages to control their capital, the king of Kawanokuni dared not say a word, and the original small ninja village moved away obediently and relocated to the mountains in the north, changing its name to Valley Village.

Because of the abandonment of the mission of the capital, the Valley Hidden Village gradually declined.

However, the River Capital has flourished, surpassing all cities in the Wind Kingdom and the Water Kingdom. Even in the most economically developed Fire Kingdom, only Konoha Village and the Fire Capital can compare with it.

By the way, the gambling mecca Tansho Street is located in the outer satellite town.

When Uchiha You approached to about 200 kilometers away from Kawatoshi, crossing a messy area of ​​​​boulder piles, he felt the prosperity. The villages along the river were next to each other, and there were boats coming and going on the river, it was bustling and busy.

Uchiha You stopped the operation of ninjutsu, stepped on the water and passed through large and small ships, continuing to move south.

By the time we saw the silhouettes of city buildings in the distance, the density of ships had reached a congested level, with a large number of ninjas coming and going between the ships.

It took Uchiha You two full hours to enter the Konoha Village stronghold in Jingchuan Town.

The middle-aged ninja who received Uchiha You was an acquaintance. They were all subordinates of the old captain and got along quite well with each other.

During a mission, the team clashed with the Iwagakure ninja, and one of the middle-aged ninja's arms was injured by the explosion. When he returned to the village, it was already severely rotten, and he had to undergo amputation to save his life.

If one loses a hand, one will not be able to perform hand seals, and ordinary Chunins will lose their ninjutsu and be forced to retire.

The middle-aged ninja smiled and asked, "Why did you go to the south to hand in the mission? Wouldn't it be faster to return to the village?"

Uchiha You explained: "I came here along the river, it didn't take much longer."

"And I completed an additional urgent task from the task issuer. I got the certification documents and task bonus. The task of River Country needs to be confirmed by you. I don't know when I will be able to return to the village."

"Haha, you're right. We should come here to check out the mission of River Country. It's been a big delay on the way back and forth."

The administrative ninja took the certificate issued by the head of Kyumori Village and compared it with the secret records kept in advance in the database to confirm the authenticity of Uchiha You's completion of the task. He then collected part of the bonus as a fee and added relevant task records to him, which meant that the task handover was completed.

Before leaving, the middle-aged ninja asked, "How is Captain Funagami now?"

Uchiha You glanced at him and replied, "Just like you, I retired and became an administrative ninja, working at the mission center of Konoha Village."

"I thought the captain would be able to retire in good condition, but he finally retired." The middle-aged ninja raised his right arm that disappeared at the elbow and said with great regret, "Except for those in power in the big families, I have not seen any retired ninjas yet."

"It will happen. It will happen."

Seeing that it brought up the sad memories of his old teammate, Uchiha You left quietly after saying a few words of comfort.

…

The economy of Kawatoshi is booming and the workload is heavy. Uchiha You soon received a new mission: hunting swordfish.

This is a species unique to the southern waters of the Ninja Realm. It is ferocious and strong, and swims very fast, so its meat is firm and rich in fat, making it the best ingredient.

Swordfish are extremely difficult to catch and only live in ocean currents far out to sea, so even if you catch them, it's hard to bring them back to land before they rot.

As a result, it became the most sought-after ninja bounty mission, but also the least popular mission among ninjas.

It’s not that ninjas can’t catch swordfish, but completing this task depends on luck.

The swordfish intelligence obtained was brought by the crew, usually a few days ago, with coordinates hundreds of kilometers away. Swordfish can move 90 kilometers per hour, so the intelligence is worthless.

Ninjas usually don't accept such missions, but if they encounter swordfish while performing other missions as a team, they will hunt them.

If the hunt fails, everyone will just pretend nothing happened and it will not affect the completion of the original mission.

If the hunt is successful, a team member will be assigned to bring the spoils back to Chuanzhidu to hand in the task, which is considered an unexpected income for everyone.

Uchiha You didn't know the twists and turns at first, because the mission was highly flexible and difficult to be monitored in a targeted manner, so he accepted it.

After understanding the problem, he didn't care. He didn't care about money or the task completion rate anyway.

The most important thing now is to go out to sea as soon as possible, find a remote enough island, and prepare to go to the Sand Village.

…

Miwa Masayo was not bragging, ninja cats are indeed a desert species.

The moment she left the canyon of River Country and stepped onto the scorching yellow sand, the desert survival skills inherited in the ninja cat's bloodline were revived.

Miwa Masayo discovered that he could determine the direction in the desert by intuition, could smell the scent of water a hundred kilometers away, could walk steadily on the soft sand with his plum blossom toes, and his thick and soft long hair could block the sunlight during the day and protect his body temperature at night.

Most importantly, she also naturally mastered the art of collecting dew, so that she could satisfy her needs even if she couldn't find an oasis.

As a cat fairy who masters the fire fairy chakra, she can endure 300 degrees high temperature, and 70 degrees in the desert during the day is just a sprinkle of water.

The real problem that bothers Miwa Masayo is that she doesn't know where the Sand Village is.

The dried fish distracted her and she forgot to ask for information about the owner before leaving.

Due to the need for confidentiality, the tabby cat could not ask anyone, so it had to determine the direction of the desert water veins based on a series of oases and check the intersection points of the water veins one by one.

Miwa Masayo ran wildly in the desert day and night, relying on dried fish to maintain sufficient physical strength. At noon on the third day, he was lucky enough to find the Sand Village.

When the 72-hour deadline arrived, she successfully summoned Uchiha Yuuni.

It’s really not easy.

After recovering from the dizziness caused by the time-space conversion, Uchiha You couldn't help but exclaimed: "Oh, my poor Lihua-chan, why are you like this?"

The tabby cat in front of me had tangled fur and yellow sand covering its stripes. It looked like a ball of mud and looked extremely miserable.

Miwa Masayo complained angrily: "You forgot to tell me where the Sand Village is. I had to search back and forth in the desert. I ran for three whole days!"

"... Let's go to the South Sea quickly. I have prepared hot water and food in the cave."

Uchiha You smiled and said to her: "There are freshly grilled crabs, rock plate squid, bonito rice balls, and the coconut water you want..."

"Great, meow."

"Go over there, take a shower, eat a few rice balls to fill your stomach, and then you can perform reverse telepathy again."

"So anxious, meow?"

"This is a large desert. I'm approaching the Sand Village from underground. It's not difficult to dig a passage. After all, I don't need to go through the rocks to get into the village. It will only take a quarter of an hour to release fireworks from outside towards the Sand Village."

"Then the entire Sand Village will be in chaos. I won't be able to hold out for long if I'm surrounded by a single ninja village."

Miwa Masayo looked him up and down and said, "So you're ready for a fight. No wonder you're dressed like you were when you were chasing Umino Keisuke."

"If I can't master spatial abilities, I have to consider redundancy. I don't want to fight, but I must be prepared for battle."

"And I'm dressed differently this time. I don't have goggles."

"…Aren't the goggles under the mask? How can I see that, meow?"

"I'm not going to pay attention to you. I'm leaving, meow."

Miwa Masayo shot out a ball of fire, and after sensing it for a while, he muttered, "It's really quite far away."

Then the tabby cat went into the flames and disappeared.

Uchiha Yuya then sank into the ground and took action.

Ten minutes later, outside the natural rock wall of the Sand Village, sand leaked out from the endless sand and five dark caves appeared.

In the pitch-black night, the Sand Village ninjas on guard on the rocky mountain had no night vision and could not see the cave, which was only forty centimeters in size.

Until... a red light appeared in the cave.

After receiving the alarm, the patrolling Sand Village ninjas immediately ran over to check the situation, but before they got close, accompanied by five dull explosions, five corpses flew out of the cave, flying high into the sky above the Sand Village with a little fire.

The hostility was clearly revealed this time, and even though the Sand Village ninjas did not feel any chakra fluctuations, they still sounded the alarm.

"Enemy attack!!"

"alert!!"

When the ninjas were all moving to guard against the attack, five brilliant fireworks exploded in the sky, illuminating the entire Sand Village for a moment.