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An old-fashioned steam train roared out of the tunnel, its metal wheels clanging crisply against the tracks, and its piston engine surged, spewing a banner-like plume of black smoke that stretched horizontally at high speed, painting a streak of industrial color across the barren red earth.
The dark view brought by the long tunnel was illuminated the moment the train emerged.
The Genin children in the carriage all pressed against the wooden windows, gazing at the distant reddish-yellow land beyond the outer cliff; a world where hardly any green could be seen, with sand and dust vaguely visible in the far distance, and hills rising and falling along their line of sight.
Since they had transferred to the the Land of Earth train and entered its territory, they had not seen any slightly larger flat ground; it seemed as if this entire country was naturally built upon mountains.
In reality, that was indeed the case.
"Seventy percent of the Land of Earth's territory consists of hills and infertile red soil. Iwagakure is also known as the Village Built on Mountains. Although its natural resources are slightly better than the desert environment of the Land of Wind, its excessive population adds heavy pressure on food and economy to this country."
"The only commendable aspects are the Land of Earth's rich mineral resources and the tenacious character of its people, which naturally laid the foundation for the Stone Will advocated by Iwagakure."
"Additionally, in recent years, the Land of Earth is the only country among all nations that has managed to reduce its trade deficit with Konoha to below 5%. Its rapidly increasing economic standard has not only improved the living standards of Iwagakure but also enabled the Third Tsuchikage to build such a narrow railway that spans half of the Land of Earth's territory, reaching directly to the border between the Land of Fire and the the Land of Earth…"
Listening to Sawara, who was in the front of the train, chatting away like a kindergarten teacher coaxing children or a tour guide, Kakashi couldn't reconcile this man with an open, cheerful smile with titles like 'Strongest in the Ninja World' or 'Konoha Demon King,' which represented a ruthless killer.
Thinking this, he gradually turned his gaze to the window, looking at the boundless wilderness, and subconsciously let his mind wander.
"Don't worry, Kakashi."
Seeing his expression, Nohara Rin, sitting next to him, gently squeezed his wrist as if by accident, whispering, "Sawara and Lord Fourth are both here this time, so nothing will go wrong."
Feeling the softness and warmth from her hand, Kakashi, still maintaining his distant gaze, stiffened involuntarily.
But then, he gradually relaxed, feeling a strange sense of ease.
However, he still said stubbornly, "I wasn't thinking about the Chunin Exam. It's just… it's just because Sawara is also here, I wonder if Iwagakure will make any overly aggressive moves."
"Eh? It wouldn't be that bad…"
Nohara Rin glanced at Sawara Kiri, who was still rambling like a tour guide, introducing various important towns and terrains of the Land of Earth, and her voice couldn't help but weaken by three points.
Thinking carefully, it seemed there really was such a possibility.
After all, that was Sawara.
Seeing Rin actually getting worried because of a single sentence, Kakashi felt a sudden panic and subconsciously tightened the small hand in his palm, seemingly wanting to explain something.
However, before he could speak, Obito's boisterous cheer already came from the seat behind him:
"Look! Iwagakure has arrived!"
At just that one shout, even though the other young Genin in the carriage had tried their best to maintain serious, professional expressions, they all couldn't help but turn their heads to look in the direction Obito was pointing.
Even Sawara Kiri in the front stopped his explanation.
As the steam train rounded the last corner of a hill's edge, a semi-modern city, ancient and earthy yellow in overall appearance, yet with faint rows of small tall buildings visible at its edges, stood in the center of a valley, appearing distantly in the eyes of the group of young Genin.
At this moment, even the most composed Kakashi couldn't help but feel a surge of joy.
"Ohhhhh—!!!"
Obito and the others behind him couldn't help but cheer out loud, hugging Might Guy, who was also in tears.
The carriage suddenly became noisy.
Looking at the young Genin, Sawara Kiri, standing at the very front, couldn't help but show a helpless expression, placing his hands on his hips as he looked at these cheering little ones.
However, there was nothing he could do.
Due to the different railway gauges between the Land of Fire and the Land of Earth, after the Konoha group, escorted by a group of Iwagakure Ninja who were on high alert, entered the Land of Earth, the locomotive was replaced with the Land of Earth's old-fashioned steam locomotive, and a whole carload of coal was loaded in—this hellish place, the Land of Earth, lacked everything but minerals.
These young Genin, who had comfortably ridden the train from Konoha to the Land of Fire border, didn't think much of it at first, but they were dumbfounded by evening.
Because the the Land of Earth locomotive had limited capacity, their original sleeper carriages were left at the Land of Fire border.
For the past three days, they had been sleeping in their seats the entire time.
Even though they were Ninja, after sitting for so many days, even if they didn't get hemorrhoids, their backs were about to give out.
But as the old saying goes, seeing a mountain doesn't mean you're there yet.
Even though they had seen the shadow of Iwagakure early on, this broken train still made them sit for several more hours before finally pulling into the station.
"Finally here."
Only when the train came to a complete stop did Kakashi speak softly.
Although Ninja often camped out in the wilderness, that was different from the discomfort of sitting on a hard wooden train seat.
However, just as he was muttering this, his expression tightened the moment his gaze swept out the window.
Led by several team leaders, the young Genin in the carriage disembarked in an orderly fashion.
Sawara Kiri accompanied Tsunade, walking out first from the luxurious carriage in the front.
"Time truly spares no one."
"The last time I had such a formal meeting was with Hiruzen; now it's already his student's turn."
Ōnoki's short stature floated in the air, maintaining a height slightly above Tsunade, naturally adopting the air of an elder in his words. Even when facing another Kage of equal standing, he still exuded the demeanor of a patriarch.
Tsunade stepped out of the carriage unhurriedly, lifting the wide brim of her Hokage hat, and retorted with an equally bland sarcasm:
"Compared to Lord Third, who dedicated everything to the Village, your tenure has indeed been quite long."
"Haven't you thought about cultivating an heir sooner, old man Ōnoki?"
"Could it be that you can't even pick out the tallest among the short?"
As she spoke, her gaze lingered on Ōnoki's height, which probably didn't even reach 1.4 meters, her words sharp.
The entire Ninja World knew that Iwagakure's inability to find a suitable successor had always been a thorn in Ōnoki's side.
As expected, this single sentence immediately broke the old man's composure.
With a dark face, he looked past Tsunade's cheek to the young man following closely behind her, a hint of scrutiny, or perhaps apprehension, deep in his eyes.
At such close proximity, if this man, who only existed in legends, were to have a single thought, he would likely die at his hands.
However, Ōnoki still floated closer, and his dark face immediately did a 180-degree turn, speaking in a joking tone:
"Sawara-kun, this is our first meeting outside the battlefield, isn't it?"
"You are truly young and promising."
"Your reputation is widely spread even in Iwagakure; there are many young girls in our Village who are thinking of you!"
"How about it? Would this old man help you find a match?"
"Tsuchikage-sama, you jest." Sawara Kiri's young and handsome face showed a perfectly appropriate softness. "My wife told me before I left that if I didn't want to suffer when I got home, I'd better behave myself outside."
"Hahaha—!"
Ōnoki burst into hearty laughter.
Even Tsunade couldn't help but glance back at him sideways.
Sawara Kiri, however, maintained his polite and gentle smile.
While the atmosphere here was harmonious, the Jonin guards of Iwagakure, who followed Ōnoki, all stared intently at every inch of Sawara Kiri's body with extremely solemn expressions, showing no slackness due to the interaction between the two sides.
They couldn't relax.
No matter how harmless this man appeared, it couldn't change the cold fact—his name was Sawara Kiri.
The man called the strongest in the Ninja World.
He was even given the nickname 'Demon King' because of his ability to break formations alone and his cruel, bloodthirsty nature, leading all Ninja Villages in the Ninja World to issue orders to 'flee upon sight, no blame will be assigned.'
However, neither Tsunade nor Ōnoki seemed to notice the expressions of these people.
Sawara Kiri himself, needless to say, paid even less attention.
On the contrary, Kakashi, whose gaze had been fixed on this side since getting off the carriage, lingered for a moment on the expressions of those Iwagakure Jonin guards who were on high alert.
It seems that every time he goes out, he gains a deeper understanding of Sawara's deterrent power.
This was in their own Village, no less.
Could it be that, in the eyes of these people, Sawara was more terrifying than an entire Ninja Village combined?
"Kakashi, over here!"
Noticing his lagging companion, Obito uncharacteristically called out.
"Okay, I'm coming."
Soon, the group, led by a group of Konoha Jonin, walked towards the hotel.
"Pah! How bitter!"
Upon arriving at the hotel, Obito had barely taken a sip from the faucet before spitting it out immediately, his small face scrunched up.
"What kind of water is this?!"
Nohara Rin, standing beside him, lectured him like a little teacher, hands on her hips: "Obito, you didn't listen to anything Sawara said about precautions on the train, did you?"
"Didn't he say that water resources in Iwagakure are very precious? The hotel uses groundwater, which is said to have excessively high mineral content. Most of it can only be used for washing, and prolonged use can even cause hair loss. Drinking water needs to be bought separately."
"Eh!!"
"How can anyone live in this godforsaken place?!"
Obito immediately cried out with a bitter face; he had wanted to find a place to take a bath.
After sitting on the train for three days, he smelled awful.
Kakashi, meanwhile, had begun to meticulously organize the items in his Ninja tool pouch after entering the guest room, picking and choosing among rows of universal capsules, constantly preparing for battle, completely oblivious to the bickering between the two.
After a while, when everything was prepared, he looked at his two companions and said:
"Do you want to go out for a walk?"
"I want to gather some intelligence on Iwagakure."
"Also, my dad told me to bring back some local specialties."
"Yes, yes, yes!"
Obito, bored out of his mind, immediately jumped up, his eyes practically sparkling.
Nohara Rin rubbed her cheek, looking a bit troubled: "Eh? Obito too?"
"Rin?!!"
Obito, who had just been excited, immediately widened his eyes at her words, his Sharingan almost popping out.
Although he knew his crush already had someone in her heart, wasn't this rejection too obvious—we're teammates, after all!
Now, Kamui could hardly hold back tears!
"Ah ha, just kidding."
"Let's go for a walk together."
Noticing Rin's sudden change to a mischievous attitude, Kakashi couldn't help but linger for a moment on the face of this girl who was usually overly gentle.
You were clearly doing that on purpose, weren't you?
Kakashi felt he might have discovered the cunning side of his unofficial girlfriend.
Sure enough, an angel through and through doesn't exist.
On the other hand, Obito, like a husky, was again smiling with snot bubbles, excitedly rushing outside.
The team leaders were relatively lenient in their management of the young Genin, or rather, they didn't believe Iwagakure would risk a war between the two Villages by targeting these youngsters.
Given that, the safety of the young Genin was guaranteed.
From the moment the trio left, Obito was chattering non-stop, with Rin occasionally responding, her gaze sometimes falling on Kakashi.
Kakashi himself silently memorized the streets, buildings, and shops of Iwagakure, comparing them to the Iwagakure military map he had already memorized, gradually deepening his impression.
However, unlike the barren and impoverished Village he had imagined due to its natural endowments.
The real Iwagakure was much more prosperous than he had imagined.
On several main streets, people and merchants from all directions converged into a flow of humanity. Occasionally, pack horses and donkeys could be seen slowly moving through the crowd, and the sound of camel bells often tinkled in the air.
On the main street leading to the Tsuchikage building, Kakashi even saw a kerosene steam car emitting black smoke chugging along, carrying a man clearly dressed as a noble. The surrounding commoners all kept their distance, leaving two deep tire tracks on the dirt road.
Many small industrial goods from Konoha could often be seen in the surrounding shops. What caught Nohara Rin's eye the most were the street-side jewelry pieces made from various minerals.
Clearly, even though various military hostilities between the two countries had never ceased, their trade connections were quite close.
Konoha's developed industrial productivity not only enriched the lives of Konoha residents but also, through economic ties, boosted all surrounding countries—Kakashi had only a vague, indistinct impression of this idea.
The only direct benefit they could enjoy was the solid purchasing power of Konoha banknotes.
For only seven hundred Ryo, Kakashi bought an exquisite pendant marked as four thousand Iwa Yen at that stall. Seeing the merchant's surprised expression, Kakashi could even tell that the price he offered was probably a bit high.
"Isn't this too much?"
Looking at the pendant Kakashi handed her, Rin's face was a little flushed: "Besides, how can a gift you buy be worn by someone else themselves?!"
"Really?"
Kakashi didn't understand these intricacies and was easily fooled by Nohara Rin.
However, just as he was about to put the pendant on Rin, he heard several unfriendly gazes directed at them from nearby.
"Yo, you Konoha guys are really taking it easy."
Kakashi stopped his actions and looked back with a sharp gaze.
Then, he saw three Genin, roughly their age, wearing Kumogakure headbands, standing opposite them, looking at them coldly, with a hint of mockery.
The one who spoke was a girl among them, with long khaki hair, whose slender figure was already evident at a young age.
However, what interested him more was a dark-skinned kid next to her—he had seven swords hanging on him.
At this moment, that guy made an exaggerated hip-hop pose and immediately started a skillful B-Box song.
"Oh! This bastard! That idiot!"
"All of them, Konoha idiots!"
"Yo!"
"What did you say?!"
Obito, standing nearby, couldn't suppress his temper. The sourness of being ignored earlier immediately erupted into anger. He glared fiercely at these Kumogakure bastards, looking ready to fight at any moment.
Not just Obito, even Nohara Rin, whose important task had just been interrupted, now showed a hint of displeasure in her eyes.
In an instant, both sides were at daggers drawn.
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