"Is this Konoha?"
Walking through Konoha's streets, they looked like country bumpkins entering the city. The dazzling urban scenery left them utterly overwhelmed. High-rises stood in rows, and though the neon signs were not as dazzling as they were at night, they possessed a quiet beauty of their own.
"Look, the cars in Konoha all fly through the sky. Where are their tracks laid?"
"Don't just stare at that. Didn't you notice that none of those cars burn oil? They don't produce any foul exhaust at all."
The smog caused by industrial pollution had become one of the increasingly prominent problems in recent years.
"Look at this, look at this! I know what it is, a mine elevator. I used to ride one when I worked in the mines."
The members of the Rain Country delegation looked as though they had never seen the world before, stunned by Konoha's prosperity.
"Do you think Rain Country will become like this someday?"
"That'll be difficult."
Yahiko's heart felt heavy. He exchanged a glance with Konan, who was likewise shocked by Konoha's prosperity.
"It really is better to see something once than hear about it a hundred times." Sitting in the delegation's vehicle arranged by Konoha, Konan pointed at the pedestrians on the street and said, "Look at their expressions. They have the kind of peaceful, reassured expressions the people of Rain Country have never had."
And that was not all.
"The clothes they're wearing," Yahiko said, "are things only nobles have the right to buy."
He lowered his head and glanced at the worn-out shirt he was wearing, a hint of embarrassment showing in his eyes.
Rain Country was simply too poor.
Yahiko's heart grew heavy. The despairing gap between nations was laid bare before his eyes.
Looking across the city, all