"This is Warsaw City." Kakashi muttered to himself.
The Land of Fire was the most prosperous among the Five Great Nations. As a ninja from Konoha, Kakashi had naturally seen the capital of the Land of Fire before. But compared to the city before him,
In terms of luxury and extravagance, it was still a whole level below.
The blazing sunlight slanted down upon Warsaw City.
Towering buildings rose in rows, gilded and resplendent, radiating a brilliance that dazzled without blinding.
At the city gates stood two ten-meter-tall white jade camel statues. From the camels' humps spouted jets of water that shimmered in the wind, forming two faint rainbows.
Surrounding the entire city was a glowing barrier that kept out the desert's sand and wind.
From afar, Warsaw City looked like a dazzling gemstone set in the middle of the desert.
Ryosuke thought of the dull, gray Sunagakure.
In the village's outer districts, many houses were built only from stone and sand.
For the villagers there, being able to eat a full meal, to suffer less from the sandstorms, or to bathe a few extra times a week, those were rare luxuries.
And yet, in front of him stood Warsaw City, where precious desert water resources were wasted on fountains, just to create beautiful rings of rainbow mist.
Ryosuke said to Rasa, "I finally understand why you were so determined to rebel."
If one doesn't see it, it's fine. But once you know the truth, the pain and bitterness only grow heavier.
Chiyo held a fan in her hand, waving it as she spoke, "Back then, my late husband refused the First Hokage's proposal to distribute the tailed beasts."
"He didn't want a tailed beast, he wanted funding and land."
"At the time, none of the village leaders understood him. They thought he'd gone mad from poverty, haha, well, they weren't wrong. We were mad with poverty."
"What's the use of a tailed beast?"
"Can you eat it? Drink it? Can it help us grow crops or build homes?"
Ryosuke looked at Chiyo in surprise.
"Your husband?"
Rasa explained, "Chiyo's husband was the First Kazekage."
Ryosuke raised an eyebrow slightly.
When one mentioned the First Hokage or the First Kazekage, they always seemed like ancient figures from centuries ago. But thinking carefully, that history wasn't as distant as it felt.
Not distant… yet many in the new generation have already forgotten what the ninja villages once fought for.
That was the consequence of historical disconnect.
Ninjas only passed down their techniques and arts, but the inheritance of spirit and conviction had become shallow.
Just like the Third Hokage's "Will of Fire."
Rasa had visited Warsaw City several times. Each time, his understanding of it deepened, and worsened. For example...
In the central district, if your clothing wasn't proper or if you held a cheap drink in your hand, the samurai guards would come question you and check your identification.
People here chased luxury with madness. Even if it meant going into debt or selling organs, they had to get the latest designer bags.
Conflicts, comparisons, discrimination, and betrayal filled every relationship, everything revolved around profit.
Amber, who came from an honest fisherman's family, found such hypocrisy revolting.
"So this is… a city of hell?"
"You can't put it that way. It's more like…"
Rasa searched for the right words.
Ryosuke looked at the crowds of cheering people waiting ahead inside the city walls and said, "More like a train, madly accelerating and never stopping."
That was the nature of capital.
"Let's go."
Ryosuke rode his camel down the sand dune.
"Can't let the 'train attendants' wait too long."
———
Red carpets.
Royal honor guards.
Bands playing music.
And over a hundred graceful women of the Land of Wind, each wearing short skirts and holding bouquets of flowers, welcoming Ryosuke and his group.
Whatever their actual political positions, the Daimyo of the Land of Wind was clearly receiving them with the highest possible courtesy.
The one responsible for the reception was the Grand Chancellor of the Land of Wind.
The Grand Chancellor was the highest-ranking official under the Daimyo himself. Once, Oda Ieyasu had tried to lure Ryosuke to Kyoto with that same position, hoping to corrupt him with fame and power.
The Grand Chancellor of the Land of Wind was a dried-up old man in his seventies, hair gray and thin. To welcome Ryosuke, he wore a thick ceremonial robe, his forehead beaded with sweat.
Ryosuke got off his camel and shook hands with him. At that moment,
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The thunder of salutes exploded.
Ryosuke and Amber didn't react much, but Gaara, who had never experienced such a grand scene before, flinched in shock, thinking enemies had attacked.
He pulled out a kunai, used basic ninja evasion tactics, and hid behind a camel.
There was no threat. All eyes turned toward Gaara, seeing a little boy tumble and hide on his own looked quite ridiculous.
The people hosting Ryosuke fell roughly into three groups.
The first group were the performers, the guards of honor and the short-skirted women. They appeared warm and cheerful, but in truth were extremely tense, their smiles forced.
The second group were the officials, veterans of politics, calm and steady, also smiling without sincerity.
The third group were the noble family members brought along to "warm up the atmosphere", women and young people.
Some of them laughed.
Not just laughed, some even whispered arrogantly, using words like "country bumpkin" that weren't hard to catch.
They thought they were quiet, but every ninja present heard them loud and clear.
Gaara's small face turned beet red. Under Shukaku's influence, his anger began leaking from his eyes.
Seeing this, the officials up front all turned pale.
Before they could speak, a group of samurai rushed forward, forcing the sneering nobles to the ground.
The Grand Chancellor drew a sword from one samurai's waist and offered it to Ryosuke.
"Lord Ryosuke, I apologize for their offense. Would you prefer to deal with them yourself, or shall we handle it?"
Ryosuke didn't take the sword. He only looked at the trembling noble youths pinned to the ground like frightened quails.
"To kill people just for laughing, are the lives of the Land of Wind's noble children really that worthless?"
The Grand Chancellor smiled faintly. "Oh, you misunderstand."
"From the moment they mocked the One-Tails' jinchūriki, provoking emotional instability and a potential rampage, and from the moment they displeased your companions, they became 'negative assets' to both the Land of Wind and to the families behind them."
"And promptly removing negative assets, that's something every citizen of Warsaw City must learn."
The Grand Chancellor's eyes quietly watched Ryosuke. Though his tone was humble, there was a probing edge beneath it.
He was testing Ryosuke's personality, laying the groundwork for his later conversation with the Daimyo.
Ryosuke glanced at the pretty Wind Country girls' legs, some fair, some sun-kissed, and at the smoke trails left by the salutes in the sky. Then he looked at the nobles kneeling on the ground, trembling.
All the things Rasa and Chiyo had told him before, none of it compared to seeing it himself, here and now.
"This is… Warsaw City."
Ryosuke casually tossed the sword aside.
"Let them go. Killing a few nobles, what's the point?"
With that, he ignored the ones kneeling on the ground and walked forward along the red carpet.
Watching his back, a flicker of disdain flashed through the Grand Chancellor's eyes.
"So in the end, he's just another one of those 'respect life' types."
"In that case… there'll be plenty of leverage in the negotiations."
Thinking that, he smiled again and followed after Ryosuke.
Rasa asked, "Why not kill them? Those spoiled brats aren't worth much anyway."
"Relax."
Ryosuke patted Rasa on the shoulder, who had tensed up the moment they entered the city.
"You're right, most of them aren't worth much. But there might be a few innocent ones among them."
"I don't have time to tell the difference, and I don't like taking the knife someone else hands me, killing people on their terms."
"That would mean dancing to someone else's rhythm."
The Grand Chancellor's smile froze for half a second. Suddenly, he wasn't so sure about his earlier assumptions.
"Ryosuke… they said he was a brute who only knew how to kill?"
Wiping his sweat, he pretended not to hear.
Then Ryosuke said, "Besides, I didn't come to Warsaw City to kill a few noble brats."
"I came to dig out their roots."
"Even if I really wanted to kill someone, what's the point of killing a few heirs?"
The Grand Chancellor's unease grew.
Rasa perked up at the word "kill." "Then who is worth killing?"
Ryosuke smiled and turned to the Grand Chancellor.
"What do you think?"
Cold sweat poured down the old man's face.
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