On the first night of his vacation, Naruto Uzumaki arrived in his loyal Land of Grass!
The Land of Grass's recent events could easily win the "Ninja World's Most Baffling Behavior of the Year" award.
Ever since the previous feudal lord of the Land of Grass choked to death on a rice cake, two successive lords who took his place were found dead the very next day, lying cold on their tatami mats after giving their inaugural speeches.
The bizarre part was that both of them also had half a rice cake in their mouths!
One after the other, their deaths were eerily identical.
From then on, no one dared to sit on the feudal lord's throne.
Not only that, the family of the feudal lord fled the Land of Grass overnight.
But they disappeared without a trace.
When they were found again, the entire family was dead, their mouths, and even the mouths of their highly paid ninja bodyguards, were stuffed with rice cakes.
It was too brutal!
Even an idiot could see what was going on.
Immediately, the feudal lords of neighboring small countries couldn't sit still!
They started making veiled accusations, pointing fingers at various powers they didn't like. For a while, insults and bricks flew.
The turmoil in the ninja world increased by 5 points.
In reality, they were all scared for themselves!
Was this another tactic for a great nation to swallow up a smaller one?
But the expected invasion never happened. Instead, the very next day, a guy named Naruto Uzumaki—who seemed to have come from nowhere—claimed a piece of land in the Land of Grass and began hiring workers and buying materials to build a city!
Some people who came from the feudal lord's manor claimed to have seen this red-haired man meet with the feudal lord of the Land of Grass.
And then, the next day, the feudal lord choked to death on a rice cake.
And then, the nightmare began!
As soon as this explosive "eyewitness account" came out, the neighboring feudal lords who had been clamoring and furiously condemning a moment ago suddenly fell silent.
The scene was eerily quiet.
They dared to point fingers at good people because good people wouldn't do anything to them.
But... a truly evil person was a different story.
This guy named Naruto Uzumaki dared to break the unspoken rules of the ninja world and would genuinely kill them!
However, this didn't stop them from putting their guard up against the Land of Grass and sealing their borders.
The feudal lords of the small countries all looked to the five great nations for help.
But the five great nations' lives were...
Not exactly thriving. They were all too busy with their own problems.
The great nation of the Land of Fire: The Hokage's first disciple had just caused a major incident, nearly bringing Konoha to its knees. They had no time to worry about a small country.
The Land of Lightning, the richest economically, was in the worst shape: The Two-Tails was gone, and the Raikage was brutally killed. The Eight-Tails was also discovered to have disappeared, but they dared not let outsiders know about this last one and were only searching for it within the country.
The Village Hidden in the Clouds' future was uncertain, so how could they have any extra energy to focus on a small country?
The Land of Water: It was still in "isolation mode." The mess left behind by the previous Mizukage was still being cleaned up. They had no time to deal with matters on the mainland.
The Land of Wind: The feudal lord's relationship with Konoha was even better than with the Village Hidden in the Sand! They were in the same predicament as the Land of Fire.
The Land of Earth: Old Man Onoki's eyes were fixed on the "juicy" Land of Lightning, trying to figure out if he could take a bite. The Land of Grass? What's that?
As a result, Naruto Uzumaki had been completely running free all this time.
As for the tentacles of various factions that were sent in?
They were all directly severed.
All spies were confiscated and subjected to labor reform, joining the glorious army of bricklayers!
In short, the name "Naruto Uzumaki" had successfully topped the "Most Unpopular Person of the Year" list among the feudal lords of all nations!
So, when he learned of the "Boss's" arrival...
Comrade Uzumaki was very tactful!
To avoid suspicion, the welcoming ceremony was kept simple!
Uzumaki only summoned a mere eight hundred or so shadow clones to put on a small show.
And then Naruto sent them all packing!
It's the middle of the night. Don't you guys have work to do?
A moment later.
In Naruto Uzumaki's "CEO's office," which still smelled of fresh cement.
Naruto sat in Uzumaki's main chair, leaned back, and put his feet up on the desk. He seriously scrutinized the red-haired Uzumaki over and over again, trying to figure him out.
Despite being the same person, Naruto couldn't be sure of his own shadow clone's thoughts.
After watching for a long time, Naruto gave up.
The only thing on this guy's face was "cowardice," and "even more cowardice!"
"Talk," Naruto's fingers drummed impatiently on the desk. "Tell me about that feudal lord business!"
Uzumaki was so scared by his boss's cold gaze that he broke out in a cold sweat. He was genuinely afraid his boss would reabsorb him.
When he heard the question, he grabbed onto it like a drowning man grabbing a straw! He immediately breathed a sigh of relief, thinking he still had a chance.
"Boss!!!"
A mournful wail rang out. Uzumaki's knees went weak with a thump, and he knelt down on the spot!
"You really can't blame me for this! All I wanted was a piece of wasteland, and that feudal lord made an outrageous demand! One hundred million ryo! A hundred million!"
"I really didn't know if he wanted to die or not! I figured since he was so intent on it, I would... I would help him on his way! I figured I might as well send his whole family on their way too, so they could have each other for company on the road, right?"
"?"
Naruto's finger stopped drumming on the desk, and he put his crossed legs down.
Well, I'll be!
He thought Naruto Uzumaki was honest and a man of few words.
Turns out he was just a man of few truths.
But!
This feudal lord of the Land of Grass really did deserve to die!
A hundred million?
It was always Naruto Uzumaki who took money from other people's pockets!
Who dared to reach into his family's pockets?!
That feudal lord... deserved to die!
"Alright, I'll let this one go. So, how's the city you're planning coming along?" As he spoke, Naruto picked up the blueprint on the desk and looked at it.
"Boss!!!"
Uzumaki almost cried with joy when he heard the topic was changing. But when he was asked about the progress, his face instantly fell again, and he looked as wronged as a two-hundred-pound child. "It's only been a month, boss!"
He pointed at the brightly lit, dusty construction site outside the window. "Building a city? That's a huge project! Look! Look! At the very least, the basic infrastructure is almost complete! Isn't that fast enough?"
The office, along with the nearby dormitories and cafeteria, was located halfway up a mountain.
Looking down the mountain, a large area of brightly lit construction stretched to a horizon he couldn't see.
It really was a massive city!
"Are you really going to build the city you imagined?"
Naruto had seen the city blueprint that Red had submitted earlier. To put it simply, it was a scaled-down, customized version of Night City.
"Of course, boss. I planned it myself, and didn't you approve it?"
He said so, but when he remembered some of the facilities planned for the city...
"How are you going to build things like the rail transit? Won't that be too advanced for this era?" Naruto turned his gaze away from the window and looked back at Naruto Uzumaki.
"Boss!" This time, it was Uzumaki's turn to be surprised. "Haven't you been paying attention to the research results from the R&D center? Technologies like subways and cars have already been developed. All they need now is to be put into trial production. The factory being built to the southwest is a planned car production line."
Is that... right?
It was indeed very consistent with the plan for a technology center in the Land of Grass!
At this moment, Uzumaki quietly leaned in and whispered.
"Boss, I'll let you in on a secret: our intelligence team has discovered a huge, shallow oil field in the desert of the Land of Wind."
"What you need to be thinking about now is how to secure that area before anyone else realizes its value!"