The morning sun slowly rose from the east, its nascent rays washing away the darkness of the previous night.
Overlapping peaks and mirror-like turquoise waters—scenery that should have become a masterpiece in a painter's hands—were abruptly disturbed by a vast cloud of dust.
The rumbling of the earth, the crashing of falling trees, echoed incessantly.
Gazing at the colossal warship navigating through the mountain ranges, Naruto couldn't help but marvel internally; the black technology of this world was truly outrageous.
"That is Lord Haido's residence," Temujin said, pointing towards the massive warship in the distance.
"Who built this warship?" Naruto was genuinely curious why such advanced technology hadn't appeared in the Five Great Nations but was instead controlled by an unknown organization.
"I don't know." Temujin shook his head, as always.
Naruto retracted his gaze. He pretty much understood now; this kid had simply been brainwashed. His pursuit of the Ideal Nation was merely a pursuit manipulated by Haido.
He had no thoughts of his own.
Regarding the Ideal Nation, he could only offer a vague fantasy.
The societal strata it relied on, how to achieve it, what the economic foundation for establishing the Ideal Nation was, how to gain the people's approval…
To these questions, Temujin would only shake his head, argue illogically for a bit, and then add: Lord Haido will definitely know.
A typical silly child who had been duped and was still helping the swindler count his money.
He clearly hadn't read enough books.
Consequently, Naruto had already lost faith in the yet-unseen Lord Haido.
From Temujin's way of doing things, and the information hidden between the lines, this group was completely trampling on the bottom lines of law and morality.
Everyone's sacrifice is for the establishment of the Ideal Nation; for the ideal, everyone's sacrifice is worthwhile…
These words sounded plausible enough.
But upon closer examination, they were utter nonsense.
These people were fundamentally gnawing on human bones and drinking human blood.
Putting everything else aside, just one point: if others could be sacrificed for the Ideal Nation, then why wasn't the one being sacrificed you?
Moreover, Naruto clearly remembered Temujin saying one thing: During the process of fusing with the Stone of Gelel, there will be a rejection reaction…
Although Temujin didn't say what the result of the rejection reaction was, judging from his expression, it probably wasn't anything good.
Forcibly implanting the Stone of Gelel into children whose values had not yet matured, using their lives as gambling chips to raise capital for his Ideal Nation.
Absurd…
"I'll be speeding up next. Can you keep up?" Temujin exhaled lightly and readied himself.
A race?
Naruto raised an eyebrow. Young man, you're quite bold.
"Go ahead and accelerate as much as you like."
The Stone of Gelel on his chest began to emit a hazy green light. Stimulated by the Stone of Gelel, Temujin's life energy fluctuations suddenly surged a level higher.
Perhaps Temujin's speed was already quite good for a chunin, but for Naruto, this speed was no different from a turtle's crawl.
He unhurriedly trailed behind Temujin, sensing his fluctuating life energy.
Although compared to Yang Release, the difficulty of using life energy wasn't high…
But this 'not high' was only relative to Yang Release. One had to know that even he had only been able to sense and use this energy after experiencing a near-crippling severe injury, breaking through and then rebuilding.
Before using the Stone of Gelel's energy, Temujin's life force intensity wasn't even comparable to that of a genin; after using the Stone of Gelel, his life energy intensity actually shot up to rival a chunin's.
Taking too large a step will eventually lead to pulling something.
Temujin's kind of cross-level power increase came with a corresponding price.
It was like a dancer stretching: it needed to be gradual, the intensity of the stretch increased bit by bit, otherwise, it would easily injure muscles and bones. The enhancement of life energy was the same; overly aggressive strengthening would only cause damage to the user's body.
Catching up to the warship roaming among the mountains, Naruto, guided by Temujin, followed the outer hull and arrived at the warship's command room.
Of course, to call it a command room was less accurate than calling it someone's private lounge.
Naruto looked towards the 'throne' at the top of the steps. A slightly portly man with a monocle over his left eye was smiling at them.
"Lord Haido." Temujin performed a knight's salute to the man on the 'throne.'
Seeing this, Naruto no longer held out any hope for this fellow's Ideal Nation.
A knight's salute sounded nice, but to put it bluntly, it was just a 'gimmick' created by rulers to maintain class distinctions and uphold the hierarchy of superiors and inferiors.
"Temujin, won't you introduce me to your friend?" Haido descended from the 'throne,' speaking with a smile.
Hearing this, Temujin quickly recounted how the two had met.
Naruto noticed that when Haido heard about Old Man Kahiko's merchant caravan, his expression changed slightly.
Though very subtle, he was sure he hadn't seen wrong.
It seems Old Man Kahiko's merchant caravan isn't just an ordinary caravan either…
"Thank you for saving Temujin, for saving my family," Haido said, turning to Naruto, the curve of his lips causing the fat on his face to bunch up in layers.
"I heard Temujin say earlier that you too are seeking an Ideal Nation?"
"Not an Ideal Nation, but peace," Naruto shook his head. An Ideal Nation was indeed wonderful, but far too unrealistic.
If relative peace could be achieved in the ninja world, he would be satisfied.
"The two are not in conflict. When the Ideal Nation is established, peace will also arrive," Haido said with a smile. "Come, join us. Let us contribute our own strength together for the establishment of the Ideal Nation."
"You can imagine it: in the Ideal Nation, the concept of countries will not exist, and the cradle that nurtures war will thus perish; between people, there will be no hatred, only peaceful coexistence; the elderly will be able to live out their twilight years in peace; young children will be able to grow up without worries…"
He loudly proclaimed his ideals, his expression fervent, his occasional gestures making his words even more persuasive.
Haido observed the two from the corner of his eye.
Temujin—yes, just as he expected, a face full of yearning and aspiration.
Uzumaki Naruto—his face was calm.
Hmm?!
That shouldn't be right.
They were around the same age; why was there such a large gap in their psychological maturity?
What on earth had this child experienced?
Haido frowned slightly. The reason he chose to cultivate weak and powerless children as his foundation was precisely because ignorant children still held beautiful fantasies about the future and were more willing to accept his Ideal Nation.
According to his experience, children of Temujin's age group, even if their psychological age was greater than their actual age, it would be by a limited amount.
After listening to his speech, even if they didn't express their stance immediately, they would still feel a sense of yearning, their faces showing aspiration.
Expressionless, even feeling annoyed by his speech…
Haido noted that such an expression usually only appeared on adults who had been ravaged by reality and whose thinking had already approached maturity.
Perhaps for a young man like Temujin, who had read few books and lacked experience, Haido's speech seemed to hold great substance.
But for Naruto, who had lived three lives, Haido's words were a pile of nonsense.
It was like 'success-ology'—it sounded very reasonable when you listened to it, but that was all it was, just listening.
Just as Haido was hesitating whether to continue speaking, an anxious voice suddenly sounded in the command room.
"Lord Haido, the fleet dispatched to the Land of Wind has encountered the enemy and we've lost contact!"