Disguised as a merchant, Uchiha Nagi purchased some goods and hired two porters to help manage his convoy of three horse-drawn carts.
The carts were loaded with local specialties from the Land of Waves, which Nagi intended to sell as cargo. This served as both a source of income and a form of camouflage.
As the carts moved slowly along the road, Uchiha Nagi consulted a map. He had originally planned to go to the Land of Iron, where he could buy cheap, mass-produced chakra metal. However, passing through the Land of Hot Water might lead to unforeseen encounters.
Now that he had Kimimaro with him, he wanted to avoid any trouble; he couldn't let his enemies dictate the terms.
After all, Kimimaro wasn't a Child of Prophecy. He couldn't count on encountering merciful opponents every time, unlike Naruto.
Thus, Uchiha Nagi changed his route. He decided to travel through the Land of Wind and loop around to the Land of Iron. Along the way, they could not only enjoy the scenery but also train.
More importantly, he wanted to search for the legendary Ryumyaku, or Dragon Vein, to see if he could collect it and use it as a chakra battery, similar to a Tailed Beast.
After crossing the border and simply declaring his identity as a merchant, he entered the Land of Wind.
To Nagi's surprise, the border was unguarded. A few hired civilians merely collected a small toll. On second thought, it made sense. In the world of shinobi, guarding borders was mostly useless.
Ninja could climb mountains and walk on water; no terrain could stop their advance. How many men would need to be stationed daily just to guard the border?
Furthermore, if the village's ninja were spread thinly across such a vast border, what would happen if the enemy concentrated their forces and broke through? Could they hold the line? Would reinforcements arrive in time?
Therefore, when no major war was being fought, it was normal for the border to have only a few patrol teams. Besides, the Land of Wind was mostly a vast desert of sand. There were only a few fixed routes an enemy could take to attack, so they had little to fear.
Like the Land of Water, the Land of Wind's desert environment provided a natural geographical advantage in combat. What was even more vexing for potential invaders was that most of the Land of Wind was useless desert. Losing a war against this country was a net loss. Winning, and thus conquering a pile of desert, was also a net loss.
As for excavating the minerals beneath the desert, that was nonsense. Without the Kazekage's Magnet Release, how could anyone hope to develop it?
The Land of Wind was very welcoming to merchant caravans. Due to a scarcity of resources, the country lacked everything. The funds allocated by the daimyo were nowhere near enough for the ninja village, forcing the Kazekage to pan for gold in the desert himself.
Uchiha Nagi led Kimimaro to a small town, a place that had an oasis in the desert. It had gathered a small population due to the border trade. Although there was no farmland for growing crops, where there was water, there was life.
Merchants traveling to Sunagakure would all stop here to replenish water for their animals and caravans.
Not every merchant group used storage scrolls as a means of transport; those were exclusive to ninja. If they weren't, the mission to destroy the Kannabi Bridge, led by Minato Namikaze with Obito and Kakashi, would never have happened.
Only ordinary people need bridges; ninja are not among them.
Uchiha Nagi had no quarrel with Sunagakure, so he planned to visit the village and, while he was at it, search for the Land of Wind's "dungeons"...
Hidden within the deserts of the Land of Wind was a nation that had been buried by sand. And in that nation was something that piqued his curiosity immensely: the Ryumyaku.
Nagi had forgotten the exact details about the Ryumyaku. He only remembered it was a massive source of energy that a villain coveted. In the end, Naruto, having traveled back in time, ran into Minato Namikaze, who was there to investigate.
Ultimately, through the combined efforts of father and son, the villain was defeated…
However, the Fourth Hokage was now dead, and Naruto, it seemed, had yet to even pass the ninja graduation exam. He wouldn't arrive here for several more years.
Uchiha Nagi wanted to see if he could use sealing arts on this Ryumyaku, to turn it into a chakra battery like a Tailed Beast…
"Sensei, this looks… so disgusting. Is it really edible?"
In a tavern in the small town, little Kimimaro's eyelids twitched as he stared at the pile of food on the table.
In a desert country, one couldn't expect things like beef, mutton, chicken, duck, or fish. With scarce vegetation and water, livestock was rare. So, the food here was…
Roasted scorpions, grilled lizards, some camel meat, and vegetables similar to cactus. The staple food was a starchy plant that grew underground.
The surrounding merchants were all feasting heartily. On the road, you were lucky to have anything to eat at all; there was no room to be picky.
Nagi also noticed a few men in the caravans with the chakra levels of genin. They were extremely cautious, only starting to eat after confirming the food wasn't poisoned. They were clearly bodyguards hired by the merchants.
"It's fine. The presentation might be bad, but if the people of the Land of Sand use these as food, then there's obviously no problem," Uchiha Nagi said with a smile, picking up a grilled lizard and taking a bite.
Kimimaro also picked up a roasted scorpion and began to crack open the shell to eat it, as if it were a large crab.
"Sugoi…"
"It's delicious…"
Surprisingly, the roasted scorpion tasted like crab meat, and the grilled lizard had its own unique, pleasant flavor.
After eating their fill, they returned to their camp. The goods in their caravan were simple: coastal specialties like dried salted fish, dried seaweed, and dried vegetables. But once transported to Sunagakure, they would be rare commodities that could fetch a hefty profit.
"Sunagakure, eh? I went there once, more than ten years ago. It's been a long time. They were still at war back then…" a hale and hearty old man lamented.
This was the guide and porter Uchiha Nagi had hired after entering the Land of Wind. The previous porters had only been hired up to the border and had returned home after their task was complete.
"War? Grandpa, was it very chaotic back then? Why was there a war?" a boy about the same age as Kimimaro asked with a curious expression.
He was the guide's grandson. Since his parents were gone, the old man always took him along when he worked as a guide. Uchiha Nagi had agreed to it; after all, one more child wouldn't significantly increase their food consumption.
"Back then, Sunagakure was fighting Konoha with all its might. They didn't have enough food, so they bought it from the small surrounding countries. I was lucky enough to be a porter, transporting grain over a few times. The real luck is that I survived, hahaha…"
"Then again, being able to travel all over during a time of war and stay alive is a skill in itself, hahaha."
Swoosh—swoosh—
Outside the small town, a team of figures arrived…