In the end, Kei decided to meet Yōkura.
Before doing so, however, he crammed as much information about the Land of Wind as he could.
Yōkura!
A highly skilled kunoichi of Sunagakure in the Land of Wind, she was proficient in the Kekkei Genkai known as Scorch Release and had rendered numerous outstanding services to her village.
Yet she was now the leader of a group of missing-nin who had defected from Sunagakure.
Her Scorch Release was a powerful Kekkei Genkai formed through the combination of Wind Release and Fire Release. It was so formidable that even the future Fourth Hokage, Minato, would be envious of it.
According to Kei’s memories of the future, when Naruto and Sasuke combined Wind Release: Rasenshuriken with Blaze Release: Kagutsuchi, Minato had even given the combination technique the grandiose name:
"Scorch Release: Halo Hurricane Jet Black Arrow Style Zero."
But in reality, that was merely a combination technique, not a Kekkei Genkai.
That alone demonstrated just how powerful Scorch Release was.
Unfortunately, none of that mattered.
To the shinobi of the Sand, Yōkura was merely a woman who refused to marry—a kunoichi who didn’t even know how to use puppetry.
To put it bluntly, she was a female shinobi who could neither produce a new generation of consumers nor create twice the GDP for the Land of Wind.
Under such circumstances, it was only natural that she would be ostracized at every turn and eventually find herself unable to survive in the impoverished Land of Wind.
And if she added accomplishments so great that her own achievements threatened the authority of her superiors, then she would undoubtedly die an even more miserable death.
That was simply how life worked.
When confronted by the constraints of society, one either became strong enough to shatter the rules—or obediently followed them.
Clearly, Yōkura was strong.
But she wasn’t strong enough for the Sand shinobi to break their established rules for her.
After all, everything Sunagakure did was ultimately predicated on the development of the Land of Wind.
If they tolerated Yōkura today, then tomorrow they could tolerate other shinobi who were similar to her. Once that precedent was established, the boundary would gradually be pushed further and further downward until eventually anyone could be tolerated.
And the Land of Wind’s treasury would probably go bankrupt long before they ever reached that point.
There was no helping it.
The environment there was simply too harsh. It was practically unsuitable for human habitation.
Looking at the information in his hands, Kei genuinely couldn’t understand why the Sand shinobi of one of the Five Great Nations continued struggling in such an environment.
At this moment, Kei was in the Naka Shrine, reading through the intelligence while waiting for someone to inform Yōkura that he was willing to meet with her.
But after gaining a little understanding of the Land of Wind, Kei couldn’t help asking Granny Gen,
"Granny, why doesn’t the Land of Wind invade the Land of Rain? The two countries share a border too. The Land of Wind lacks water, while the Land of Rain has plenty of it. Even if we needed to divert water from north to south, shinobi capable of constructing such a project certainly exist. Wouldn’t that solve the environmental problems of both countries at once?"
Even without an invasion, cooperation could have produced a win-win situation.
So why had nothing like that ever happened?
Whenever Kei learned more about the geography and customs of the Naruto world, he found himself unable to understand it.
This was supposed to be a real world, yet everywhere he looked, things seemed unreasonable.
It was as though the major developments of this world weren’t driven by interests at all, and yet there always seemed to be some hidden reason behind them that couldn’t be spoken aloud.
The Land of Wind was a classic example.
The shinobi world didn’t even need oil, so the existence of the Land of Wind itself seemed completely unreasonable.
Yet not only did it exist—it had somehow managed to become one of the Five Great Nations.
That was even more unreasonable.
Granny Gen didn’t know how to answer Kei either. She could only say,
"Perhaps the Land of Wind has some secret that cannot be exposed and requires someone to protect it."
Gen had investigated the Land of Wind in considerable detail.
That land was the birthplace of the God Tree!
It had once been the territory of a nation ruled by the most powerful daimyō.
But none of this was certain.
After all, more than a thousand years had passed.
Gen couldn’t report uncertain information to Kei, so uncovering the truth behind the Land of Wind had already been added to her list of future tasks.
Kei didn’t take Gen’s answer seriously.
After all, the Land of Wind had nothing to do with him.
But if the Land of Wind absolutely had to exist, then perhaps sending Sand shinobi to attack the Land of Fire every year wasn’t such a bad strategy after all.
It was, at the very least, a viable way to sustain their survival.
If they won, they could extort something from the obscenely wealthy Land of Fire.
If they lost, the Land of Fire couldn’t do much to the Sand shinobi anyway.
After all, Sunagakure was dirt-poor.
At worst, the Land of Fire could kill all their prisoners.
That would simply reduce the Sand’s population burden while simultaneously giving them a common enemy around which to unite.
Kei couldn’t help admiring that shameless attitude.
"The Kazekage who came up with this strategy must have been one ruthless bastard!"
Kei gave his seal of approval to the hard-core ruthlessness of the Land of Wind.
Just as Kei was cramming himself full of information about the Land of Wind, Yōkura arrived.
When Yōkura greeted Kei, she was remarkably resolute.
She looked less like someone who had come to request an audience and more like someone who had come to protest.
"Sit."
Kei motioned for the stubborn-looking woman to take a seat.
The woman didn’t stand on ceremony and sat directly opposite him.
It seemed to be her first time in a situation like this, and for a moment, she didn’t know how to begin.
Kei studied the woman before him.
Yōkura’s appearance didn’t conform to Uchiha Kei’s aesthetic preferences.
But when everyone kept calling her a beauty, even Kei couldn’t help beginning to wonder—
Is this entire world blind?
If even a woman like this can be called a beauty, then what are Oboro, Hotaru, and Yōkaze supposed to be? Enchantresses?
Yōkura’s appearance simply wasn’t appealing to Kei.
In his eyes, this woman wasn’t even as attractive as the cheerful and innocent Uchiha Koi, who also possessed a rather voluptuous figure.
Uchiha Koi
Ninjutsu: A-
Taijutsu: A-
Genjutsu: B
A Kōga shinobi whose entire skin could absorb an opponent’s blood during battle, eventually killing them.
She was the younger sister of Uchiha Saemon.
She was the perfect counter to Uchiha Chikako.
Uchiha Saemon
Ninjutsu: B+
Taijutsu: B
Genjutsu: A+
A Kōga shinobi who could alter his appearance according to the face of his opponent and imitate their voice to an almost perfect degree.
He was known as the Man of a Thousand Faces.
Kei felt that if Saemon, despite being bald, actually cleaned himself up, he might even be more handsome than Yōkura.
Even though he didn’t particularly like Yōkura, Kei remained extremely polite.
"Lady Yōkura, you’ve traveled such a long way to see me. I, Kei, am truly honored! Please forgive me for any discourtesy you may have encountered."
When no one was watching, Kei had one face.
When he was in front of other people, he had another.
Even the Tailed Beast sealed within him silently gave Kei a thumbs-up.
Kei’s gentle attitude also gave Yōkura the courage to speak.
"Kei-kun, it really wasn’t easy to get an audience with you. So I’ll dispense with the formalities!"
Yōkura had barely sat down before she completely ignored Kei’s reaction and began talking incessantly.
The gist of her speech was that the Sand Shinobi Allied Forces had not had it easy, and she hoped Kei would support their occupation of the Land of Rivers.
She wanted the Land of Rivers to possess military autonomy, diplomatic autonomy, and freedom of production.
In short, they wanted Kei to provide substantial economic support while staying out of their affairs in every other respect.
She spoke as though the Land of Rivers had already become their legitimate territory.
Yōkura continued explaining her demands.
Some of them were so unreasonable that even she began to blush as she voiced them.
Whenever that happened, however, she would use Gen no Yūnosuke as a shield, claiming that these were all promises Yūnosuke had already made.
Kei, meanwhile, couldn’t even concentrate enough to listen to her rambling.
His thoughts had long since wandered elsewhere.
Kei couldn’t understand why his own people were so hostile and wary of this woman.
She wasn’t some overwhelmingly exceptional figure who should make other women feel threatened!
It didn’t make sense.
Could women in love really be this insecure?
Fine, maybe Oboro is like that.
But why is Yōkaze joining in too?!
Facing Yōkura, who was relentlessly negotiating and refusing to compromise as she fought tooth and nail for the interests of the Sand Shinobi Allied Forces she had brought with her, Kei impatiently glanced at Yōkaze.
"What is there to discuss with a woman who doesn’t know how to read the situation?"
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