"Yagyu, let's go for a walk outside!"
"The Land of Fire is the most prosperous of the Five Great Nations, and Konoha Village is much better than our Hidden Mist."
Yagyu had barely entered his room and hadn't even had time for a cup of afternoon tea when Terumi Mei came running over excitedly.
"A walk around Konoha? Not a bad idea."
Yagyu thought for a moment and readily agreed to Terumi Mei's proposal.
To use a slightly inaccurate term, the Land of Fire was the only
"developed country"
among the Five Great Nations.
Calling it a developed country might not be entirely appropriate, but it was enough to illustrate the gap between the Land of Fire and the others.
The Land of Wind was full of deserts, the Land of Earth was full of rocky wastelands, the Land of Lightning was a high plateau... Only the Land of Fire was situated on plains, teeming with fertile land suitable for farming.
The Land of Water didn't need much explanation; a country composed of countless islands was considered the weakest among the Five Great Nations.
Although the other countries had poorer geographical environments, they were at least unified domestically.
Only the Land of Water, due to poor transportation and scattered territory, hadn't even achieved complete domestic unification.
It was precisely for this reason that the Land of Fire's economy was the most developed among the Five Great Nations.
Without a developed economy to provide logistical support, Konoha Village wouldn't possess the terrifying strength to fight one-against-four and nearly take on the whole world alone.
That's right!
In this era, Konoha could fight one-against-four. Of course, they couldn't sustain it for too long, and they would certainly lose eventually if they tried to fight everyone at once forever.
But if they fought in stages or sequences, disregarding casualties, Konoha would have no problem fighting other nations to a draw.
However, these matters had little to do with Yagyu. The only thing he wanted to do right now was take a good stroll around Konoha Village.
The Hidden Mist's economy wasn't developed, and coupled with heavy internal conflicts, it wasn't a good environment for business; the village barely had any shops.
In terms of economic level, the Hidden Mist was comparable to a third or fourth-tier small city. Its primary function was that of a military barracks.
"Yo! Yagura, are you going out too?"
Yagyu and Terumi Mei walked out the door and happened to see Yagura about to leave, so Yagyu greeted him in passing.
Yagura huffed, turned his head away coldly, and started to walk off.
Yagyu pursed his lips, a mischievous smile appearing on his face. He called out loudly,
"I heard there are many beautiful women in the Konoha bathhouses. You wouldn't be planning to use your body size to take advantage of the situation, would you?"
Yagura, who was walking ahead, stumbled. He turned around, his face flushed red, and shouted indignantly at Yagyu,
"What nonsense are you spouting?!"
Yagyu put on a puzzled expression.
"Eh? Seeing you in such a hurry, I thought you were planning to disguise yourself as a child to peep in the women's bath! Did I guess wrong?"
Yagura's mouth twitched, several clear black lines appearing on his face. He yelled unhappily,
"I... I would never do such a boring thing!"
Yagyu picked his ear, speaking dismissively,
"The way you said that... didn't sound very confident."
Yagura huffed indignantly and raged,
"Just you wait! Once we get back to the Mist, I'll show you!"
Yagyu chuckled, unconcerned.
A mere shota had no means to threaten him.
Konoha High Street.
Terumi Mei hesitated for a moment, then reached out and linked her arm through Yagyu's.
Yagyu's heart stirred, and he turned to look at her.
Terumi Mei looked away somewhat unnaturally, saying, "Konoha really is much more bustling than our Hidden Mist!"
Yagyu lamented inwardly. My charm has been too great lately.
To have a beauty throw herself at him so quickly... he was bearing a pressure that someone of his age shouldn't have to bear.
But things like this would only happen more often in the future; he had to get used to it.
Yagyu's expression became solemn, and he exuded an aura of righteousness.
As the wielder of the Glint-Glint Fruit, it was necessary for him to maintain his radiant image.
"This looks nice!"
Something suddenly caught Yagyu's eye. He looked toward a glasses shop nearby.
Yagyu walked into the shop and picked up a pair of tea-colored sunglasses. They were the standard Kizaru model.
"This is the one!"
Yagyu put the sunglasses on his face and looked in the mirror, finding that they suited him perfectly.
Of course, it was different from Kizaru's case. When Yagyu wore them, he looked handsome—not wretched and sleazy like Kizaru.
Yagyu solemnly examined himself in the mirror, then suddenly curled his lip into a mocking smile.
Hmm!
It looked very much like Kizaru now. That built-in mocking smile was a skill anyone could master.
However, ordinary people had best not touch this skill, as it could easily lead to safety issues.
"I'll take it!"
Yagyu pointed to the sunglasses on his face and spoke to the shopkeeper.
"Twenty ryo!" the shopkeeper said after glancing at the glasses.
"I'll get it!"
Terumi Mei beat him to the payment, smiling at Yagyu.
"Is this okay?"
Yagyu thought for a moment. Doesn't this make me a kept man?
This is bad. Very bad!
A majestic Marine Admiral being kept by a woman...
Yagyu felt that even with Kizaru's sleazy personality, he couldn't accept such a thing.
Terumi Mei smiled and said, "If you feel embarrassed, just treat me to a meal!"
Yagyu nodded. "That works!"
He felt that since Terumi Mei was being so proactive, being too rigid would be bad form and might hurt her pride.
Can't be helped, I'm too soft-hearted!
Yagyu and Terumi Mei walked out of the glasses shop. Suddenly, his vision blurred, and the surrounding environment changed instantly.
A towering tree appeared behind him, and tough vines extended toward him, binding him up in an instant.
"Genjutsu?" "Konoha's probe... coming this quickly?"
"Interesting!"
A smile of keen interest appeared on Yagyu's face.
Back at the Hidden Mist base, Jūzō Biwa had exhausted every method, using all five basic nature transformations, yet failed to land a hit on Yagyu's physical body.
There were quite a few spectators at the time; it was possible Konoha had already obtained intelligence regarding that incident.
Of course, even if they hadn't, they wouldn't just use five-element ninjutsu to test him in the middle of a busy street.
Comparatively, a silent and traceless method like Genjutsu was much more suitable for this setting.
"What a pity!" "Genjutsu doesn't work on me... unless it's a super-class Genjutsu like Tsukuyomi or Kotoamatsukami."
Yagyu smiled disdainfully. With a thought, he activated his body's elementalization.
To dispel Genjutsu, the simplest method is to disrupt the flow of one's own chakra.
Doing it yourself or having a teammate inject chakra to disrupt it are the most common ways to break free.
For Yagyu, who possessed the ability to elementalize, every time he transformed his body between flesh and light, his chakra flow was automatically disrupted.
Ordinary Genjutsu? He was completely immune!