At an accessories shop somewhere in the Land of Waves— “Hey, hey!
You’ve got to be kidding me!” Tenten’s eyes shone as she leaned over the counter, staring intently at the dazzling array of luxurious jewelry displayed inside.
“Tenten, are you certain these are all genuine?” Neji Hyuga asked with a frown.
Based on his reasoning, an impoverished country like this could not possibly possess so many expensive luxury goods.
Even if such items were being sold here, they had to be counterfeits.
“They’re definitely real!” Tenten patted her small chest and declared solemnly, “My family also runs a jewelry business on the side.
There’s no way my eyes could be mistaken!” “Wow!
Tenten, your family must be really rich,” Rock Lee exclaimed.
Coming from an ordinary civilian family, Lee’s own financial circumstances were hardly impressive.
“I want this one, this one, and this one.
Please wrap all of them up for me!” Tenten revealed the extravagant spending habits of a wealthy young lady.
She slapped a thick stack of banknotes onto the counter and purchased every piece of jewelry in the display case.
“Thank you very much, honored customer.” The shopkeeper gave her a radiant smile.
Although the treasures bestowed by the king were extremely valuable, they could not be sold for a suitable price within the domestic market of the Land of Waves.
Selling them specifically to foreign travelers was the perfect solution.
“Huh?
You’re really buying all of them, Tenten?” Lee complained.
“We didn’t come here to have fun.” “What do you know?
If I buy them at this price and resell them after returning to the village, I’ll make a fortune!” Tenten glared at him.
“…” Neji remained silent at the side, carefully considering the implications.
Elsewhere, Might Guy encountered a situation along the road.
A cart carrying a large quantity of construction stone had one of its wheels trapped in a hole.
Several workers pushed together, but they could not move it.
“Allow me to help.” Guy enthusiastically stepped forward.
With a powerful shove from both hands, he easily pushed the wheel out of the hole.
“Thank you very much!” “Whoa!
You’re incredibly strong, sir!” The workers exclaimed in amazement.
“It was nothing.” Guy revealed his gleaming white teeth and casually began gathering information.
“By the way, where are you taking all this?
Do you need any more help?” “We couldn’t possibly trouble you further…” “It’s fine, it’s fine.
I’m not busy anyway.” “We’re transporting it to the harbor.
It’s being used to construct the bridge.” “But I heard that this country was experiencing a rebel—rather, that it wasn’t very peaceful.” “How could that be?
It must be a rumor!
The Land of Waves has never been as peaceful as it is now!” …
“Excuse me.
I’d like to ask something.
The people causing a rebellion around here—where can we…?” After failing to uncover any useful information, the simple-minded Naruto directly questioned a passerby.
“You idiot, Naruto!
What if enemies are nearby?” Sakura slapped him across the head, looking utterly exasperated.
“What an idiot.” Even Sasuke looked pained by Naruto’s stupidity.
However, the passerby’s response surprised all three of them.
“Huh?
A rebellion?
What are you talking about?” The man looked completely bewildered and gave them a strange glance.
“Go on, get out of here~ We’re living perfectly good lives, so stop trying to curse us with trouble!” Seeing that the three of them were merely children, the passerby did not take them seriously and walked away.
No one noticed that a delicate figure passing nearby in a pink kimono briefly stopped walking.
The figure turned and looked toward the three of them.
“Uh…
What’s going on?” Naruto looked completely confused.
“That man really didn’t seem like he was lying,” Sakura said, equally puzzled.
“There is no rebellion here,” Sasuke concluded.
Elsewhere, Kakashi arrived at the same conclusion.
“This is truly baffling…” Throughout his investigation, he had seen numerous large-scale infrastructure projects under construction.
If this country were truly experiencing civil unrest, it would have been impossible to carry out so many enormous projects.
No.
Even if the Land of Waves were completely peaceful, it should not have possessed enough money to fund so much construction.
A structure such as the bridge spanning the sea would be considered a massive undertaking even in the Land of Fire.
Without an enormous financial investment, construction could never have begun.
“Could the daimyo be funding everything?
That doesn’t seem right either…” Kakashi scratched his head.
As an adult who had spent many years navigating the shinobi world, he understood exactly what kind of people those lofty daimyos were.
As the nominal rulers of their nations, they mercilessly extracted wealth from the common people and used that money to hire shinobi who maintained their rule.
The Land of Waves had always been impoverished.
Even if its daimyo squeezed the people with all his strength, he could not extract much wealth from them.
Under those circumstances, how could the daimyo possibly spend his own money on so many construction projects?
After completing their investigations, neither Team 7 nor Team 3 managed to obtain any information concerning a “rebellion.” Instead, they discovered that the real Land of Waves was completely different from the country they had imagined.