From undercover in Konoha, to I am the Hokage!

Chapter 226 Rock Hidden
The old steam locomotive roared out of the tunnel, its metal wheels making crisp clanging sounds as they collided with the rails, and its piston engine spewed out a stream of black smoke that formed a banner at high speed, adding a touch of industrial color to the wild red soil.

The dark view brought by the long tunnel was illuminated the moment the train passed through.

The young Genin children in the carriage leaned against the wooden windows, gazing at the red and yellow land that was farther away than the cliff outside. There was hardly a bit of green in the world as far as the eye could see. In the distance, dust could be vaguely seen floating in the air, and hills rose and fell along their line of sight.

Since they boarded the train to the Land of Earth and entered the country, they had not seen any large flat land. It seemed that the entire country was naturally built on mountains.

In fact, this is indeed the case.

".Seventy percent of the country's land is hilly and unsuitable for farming. The Hidden Rock Village is also known as a village built on the mountains. Although its resource endowment is slightly better than the desert environment of the Wind Country, the excessive population has added heavy food and economic pressure to the country."

"The only thing worth mentioning is the rich mineral resources of the Land of Earth and the tenacious character of its people, which also laid a natural foundation for the Will of Stone advocated by the Hidden Rock Village."

"In addition, in recent years, the Land of Earth is the only country that has been able to reduce its trade deficit with Konoha to less than 5%. The rapidly rising economic level has not only improved the living standards of the Iwagakure Village, but also enabled the Third Tsuchikage to build a narrow railway that runs through half of the Land of Earth and directly reaches the border of Fire and Earth."

Listening to Mr. Kiri at the front of the train, who sounded like a kindergarten teacher coaxing children or talking like a travel guide, Kakashi couldn't connect this man with a cheerful smile with the title of 'Strongest in the Ninja World', 'Demon King of Konoha' and the like who represented murder without blinking an eye.

As he thought this in his mind, his gaze gradually turned to the window, looking at the endless wilderness, and subconsciously emptied his mind.

"Relax, Kakashi."

Seeing his look, Nohara Lin, who was sitting next to him, pretended to hold his wrist lightly and whispered, "Teacher Kiri and the Fourth Generation are here this time, so there will definitely be no problems."

Feeling the softness and warmth coming from his palms, Kakashi, who was looking into the distance, couldn't help but stiffen.

But then I gradually relaxed and felt an inexplicable sense of relief.

However, he still said stubbornly: "I'm not thinking about the Chunin Exam. It's just that Kiri-sensei is here too. I don't know if the Iwagakure Village will take any radical actions."

"Eh? Not really."

Nohara Lin glanced at Sawara Kiri, who was still talking like a tour guide about the important towns and terrain of the Land of Earth, but her voice couldn't help but become three points weaker.

If you think about it carefully, it seems that this is indeed possible.

After all, that was Teacher Wu.

Seeing that Lin was actually upset by a sentence, Kakashi couldn't help but panic, and subconsciously clenched his small palms, as if he wanted to explain something.

However, before he could open his mouth, Obito's loud cheers could be heard from the seat behind him:
"Look! We're at the Iwagakure Village!"

Just with this one sound, even though the other young Genin in the carriage had been trying their best to keep a straight face and look professional and serious, they all looked in the direction Obito was pointing.

Even Sawara Kiri who was in front stopped to explain.

When the steam train turned the corner of the last hill, a semi-modern city with a simple khaki color standing in the middle of the valley, with rows of small high-rise buildings vaguely visible at the edge, appeared in the eyes of a group of young ninjas from afar.

At this moment, even the calmest Kakashi couldn't help but feel happy.

“Oooooohh ...

Obito and others behind him couldn't help but cheer out loud, and hugged Kai, who was also in tears.

The carriage suddenly became noisy.

Looking at the appearance of the little Genin, Sahara Kiri who was standing at the front couldn't help but reveal a helpless expression, and looked at these cheering little things with his hands on his hips.

But there is nothing we can do.

Due to the different railroad gauges between the Land of Fire and the Land of Earth, once the Konoha troupe entered the Land of Earth under the escort of a group of Iwagakure ninjas who were acting as if they were facing a formidable enemy, the locomotive was replaced with an old steam locomotive from the Land of Earth, and a whole carload of coal was stuffed in - this damn place, the Land of Earth, lacks everything except ore.

These young Genin who rode comfortably from Konoha to the border of the Land of Fire by train didn't take it seriously at first, but they were dumbfounded at night.

Because the Earth Kingdom's locomotive capacity was limited, their original sleeper cars were left at the Fire Kingdom border.

They have been sleeping in their seats since three days ago.

Even if they are all ninjas, if they sit down every day, even if they don't have hemorrhoids, their backs will almost collapse.

But as the old saying goes, a horse will die if it runs over a mountain.

Even though they had seen the shadow of the Iwagakure Village early on, this broken train still made them sit for several more hours before it finally pulled into the platform.

"finally reached."

Kakashi spoke softly only after the train came to a steady stop.

Although ninjas often slept outdoors in the wilderness, that was completely different from the discomfort of sitting on the hard wooden seats on a train.

However, just as he muttered this, his expression tensed again when he glanced out the window.

Led by several leading teachers, the young Genin in the carriage lined up to get off the train.

Sahara Kiri followed Tsunade and walked out of the luxury carriage in front first.

"Time is really unforgiving."

"The last time we had such a formal meeting was with that guy Hiruzen, and now it's his apprentice's turn."

Ōnoki's short body was floating in the air, just slightly higher than Tsunade. He naturally acted like an elder while speaking, and even when facing another Kage who was on the same level as him, he still acted like a patriarch.

Tsunade walked out of the carriage at a leisurely pace, lifted the large brim of the Hokage hat on her head, and responded with a mild sarcasm:
"Compared to Sarutobi-sensei who gave everything for the village, you have certainly been in office for quite some time."

"Have you ever thought about training a successor as soon as possible, old man Ohnoki?"

"Could it be that you can't even pull out the tallest of the short guys?"

As she spoke, she looked at Ohnoki, who was probably less than 1.4 meters tall, and her words were harsh.

The entire ninja world knows that the inability to find a suitable successor to the Iwagakure Village has always been a concern for Ōnoki.

As expected, just this one sentence immediately broke the old man's defense.

He had a dark face and his eyes passed over Tsunade's cheek and fell on the young man who followed Tsunade closely. There was a hint of scrutiny, or perhaps fear, in the depths of his eyes.

At such a close distance, if this man who only exists in legends had any thought, he would probably die at the hands of this guy.

However, Ohnoki still floated over, his dark face immediately turned 180 degrees, and he said in a joking tone:

"Sahara-kun, this is the first time we've met outside of a battlefield, right?"

"You are really young and promising."

"Your rumors are widely spread in the Iwagakure Village. Many girls in our village are obsessed with you!"

"How is it? Do you want me to help you?"

"You are joking, Master Tsuchikage." A hint of gentleness appeared on Sahara Kiri's young and handsome face. "Before I left, my wife told me that if I didn't want to get into trouble when I got home, I'd better behave myself outside."

"Hahaha--!"

Oonoki immediately burst into laughter.

Even Tsunade couldn't help but turn around and glance at him.

Sawara Kiri still had that polite and gentle smile on her face.

While the atmosphere here was full of joy, the group of Iwagakure guard jonin following behind Ohnoki all stared at every corner of Sawara Kiri's body with extremely solemn expressions, without slacking off at all because of the communication between the two sides.

There was no way they could relax.

No matter how harmless the man in front of him appears, it cannot change one cruel fact - his name is Sawara Kiri.

The man who is known as the strongest in the ninja world.

Because of his ability to break through the formation alone and his cruelty and bloodlust, all the ninja villages in the ninja world even ordered that "if you see him, flee immediately and you will be forgiven", and he was even vaguely known as the "Demon King".

However, neither Tsunade nor Ōnoki seemed to notice the expressions of these people, let alone Sawara Kiri herself.

On the contrary, Kakashi had kept his eyes on this side since he got off the car, and he glanced for a moment at the expressions of those Iwagakure guard jonin who looked like they were facing a great enemy.

It seems that every time I go out, I can have a better understanding of Teacher Wu’s deterrent power.

This is in their own village.

Could it be that, in the eyes of these people, Teacher Kiri is more terrifying than the entire ninja village combined?

"Kakashi, over here!"

Noticing his friend falling behind, Obito shouted out a rare shout.

"Well, here we come."

Soon, the group, led by a group of Konoha jonin, walked towards the hotel.

“Puff~ It’s so bitter!”

After arriving at the hotel, Obito took a sip from the faucet and immediately spat it out, his little face wrinkled.

"What kind of water is this!"

Nohara Rin stood by him with her hands on her hips like a little teacher, and kept saying, "Obito, you didn't listen to any of the things Kiri-sensei said on the train."

"Haven't I already told you that the water resources in Iwagakure Village are very precious? The hotels all use groundwater. I heard that the mineral content is seriously exceeded. Most of it can only be used for washing. It can also cause hair loss if used for a long time. You have to buy it for drinking."

"Eh!!"

"How can we live in such a hellish place?!"

Obito immediately started shouting with a bitter face. He was looking for a place to take a bath.

After sitting on the train for three days, I started to stink.

After entering the guest room, Kakashi began to concentrate on packing the items in his ninja tool bag and picking and choosing among the rows of universal capsules. He was always prepared to fight the enemy and did not take the quarrel between the two people to heart at all.

After a while, when everything was ready, he looked at the other two friends and said:

"Do you guys want to go out for a walk?"

"I want to collect some information about the Iwagakure Village."

"Besides, my dad asked me to bring back some local specialties."

"I want it!"

Obito, who was bored, jumped up immediately, his eyes shining.

Nohara Rin stroked her cheek in annoyance and said, "Eh? Is Obito coming too?"

"Lin?!!"

Obito, who was very excited just now, suddenly widened his eyes upon hearing this, and his magatama almost popped out.

Although I know that Bai Yueguang already has a lover, isn’t this rejection attitude too obvious - we are teammates after all!

Now it is hard for God to hide his tears!
"Aha, just kidding."

"Let's go shopping together."

Noticing Lin's devilish change in attitude, Kakashi couldn't help but linger for a moment on the face of this always overly gentle girl.

You obviously did that on purpose, didn't you?

Kakashi felt that he might have discovered the dark side of his girlfriend, who had not yet been officially announced.

Sure enough, there is no little angel who is the same inside and out.

On the contrary, Obito was laughing like a silly dog ​​with snot bubbles coming out of his nose, and he rushed out happily.

The teachers in charge were relatively lenient in their management of the little Genin, or in other words, they did not think that the Iwagakure Village would risk a war between the two villages and attack these little guys.

In this case, the lives of the young Genins are still guaranteed.

Ever since the trio left the house, they could hear Obito chattering non-stop nearby, while Rin continued the conversation beside him, occasionally looking at Kakashi.

Hatake Kakashi himself was silently memorizing the streets, buildings, and shops of the Iwagakure Village, and comparing them with the Iwagakure military map he had already memorized, gradually deepening his impression.

However, it was different from the village he had imagined, which was barren and desolate due to its natural endowment.

The real Iwagakure Village was much more prosperous than he had imagined.

On several main streets, pedestrians and vendors traveling from all directions gathered into a crowd. Occasionally, you could see horse-drawn and donkey-drawn carts moving slowly among the crowd, and the sound of camel bells could often be heard.

On the street leading to the Tsuchikage Building, Kakashi even saw a kerosene steam car emitting black smoke, rumbling forward with a man who was obviously dressed like an aristocrat. The surrounding civilians all avoided it from afar, leaving only two deep ruts on the dirt road.

Many small industrial products of Konoha can often be seen in the surrounding shops. What attracted Nohara Lin's attention the most were the street jewelry made of various minerals.

It is clear that even though the various military hostilities between the two countries have never stopped, the trade ties between the two sides are quite close.

Konoha's developed industrial productivity not only enriched the lives of Konoha residents, but also drove all the surrounding countries through economic ties - Kakashi only had a vague impression of this idea in his mind, which was not very clear.

The only benefit they can directly enjoy is the solid purchasing power of Konoha currency.

Kakashi spent only seven hundred taels to buy the exquisite pendant marked as four thousand rock yen on the stall. Even looking at the surprised look on the vendor's face, Kakashi could tell that the price he quoted must have been a bit high.

"That's not good?"

Looking at the pendant that Kakashi handed over, Lin's face flushed a little: "Besides, you can't let others wear the gift you bought!"

"is it?"

Little Kakashi had no idea about all these twists and turns and was easily fooled by Nohara Lin.

However, just as he was about to put the pendant on Lin, he heard several unfriendly glances from the side.

"Hey, you guys from Konoha are really leisurely."

Hatake Kakashi stopped what he was doing and looked back with sharp eyes.

Then, they saw three Genin who were about the same age as them, wearing Cloud Hideaway forehead protectors on their heads, standing opposite them, looking at them coldly with a hint of mockery in their eyes.

The one who spoke just now was one of the girls with long khaki hair and a tall figure at a young age.

However, what concerned him more was the black-skinned kid beside her—he had seven knives hanging on his body.

At this moment, the guy made an exaggerated hip-hop gesture and started singing a skilled B-Box song.

"Oh! That bastard! That idiot!"

"All of them, Konoha's idiots!"

"Yo!"

"What did you say?!"

How could Obito, who was standing next to him, control his temper? The sourness he felt for being ignored just now suddenly turned into rage and he glared fiercely at the bastards from the Kumogakure in front of him, as if he was ready to fight if they disagreed with him.

Not only Obito, but even Nohara Rin, who had just been interrupted, showed some unfriendly eyes.

In an instant, the two sides were at war with each other.

(End of this chapter)