First Meeting

The three came down from the mountain. Ming Jing felt that getting the Third Hokage to come out would make for quite a spectacle, but unfortunately, Asuma would definitely not indulge his nonsense.

Over the next few days, the duo of Tamamachi Seiyo and Yamashita Taiji grew increasingly coordinated. Under their organization, the disaster victims worked with great enthusiasm, every one of them filled with drive and hope. Ming Jing also occasionally appeared before them, eating, living, and working alongside them to build up his reputation.

On the fifth day, Ming Jing once again brought Qing Yan and Asuma to the mountaintop. Asuma had a cigarette in his mouth as he looked at Ming Jing and asked, "What are you plotting this time?"

"What do you think about using Explosive Tags?" Ming Jing stomped here and stepped there, saying excitedly, "If we prepare a million or so Explosive Tags, I refuse to believe we can't blow this mountain away!"

"Hey, hey, hey, calm down!" Ming Jing's words startled Asuma so badly that he nearly swallowed his cigarette butt. "A million Explosive Tags? Where are you going to buy that many? And where will the money come from?"

"Captain, when have you ever seen me short of money?" Ming Jing asked with a curious look.

Uh... Asuma was actually left speechless. The Kurama Clan seemed to have... never lacked money! No, that wasn't the point! Asuma quickly pulled his wandering thoughts back and asked, "The question is, where are you going to get that many Explosive Tags? And who are you planning to have detonate them all?"

"Hmm... You have a point..." Ming Jing rested his chin on his hand and thought it over. Konan had been able to detonate so many Explosive Tags in the Land of Rain because of her secret technique. Should he ask Konan for help? That seemed easier than inviting the Third Hokage or talking Nagato into it!

"Young Master..." Qing Yan suddenly spoke. A rare expression appeared on his face.

"What is it?" Ming Jing asked in confusion.

"This mountain... seems to be hollow." Qing Yan crouched down, pressing his palm against the ground.

Hollow...

Hollow...

"What did you say?!" Ming Jing and Asuma shouted at the same time. Ming Jing was delighted, while Asuma inexplicably felt relieved.

"Mm... I think that's the case." Qing Yan withdrew his hand, returning to his usual expressionless state.

"Captain!" Ming Jing looked at Asuma. At a time like this, it was naturally Asuma's turn to act. It would be terrifying if Ming Jing's genjutsu could have any effect on an entire mountain.

Asuma nodded. As the Third Hokage's son, he had been exposed to quite a wide range of ninjutsu. Although his own Chakra natures were Wind and Fire, he had some knowledge of Earth Style as well. He half-crouched and formed Hand Seals with both hands. "Earth Style: Moving Earth and Turning Palms! Hah!"

Asuma concentrated Chakra in his palm and slammed it violently against the ground. With a muffled boom, the earth shook several times. Asuma stood up, delight appearing on his face. "It really is hollow!"

"Let's go tell Tamamachi Seiyo. He's a civil engineering expert; maybe he'll see it differently from us," Ming Jing shouted happily. He looked at Qing Yan and patted his shoulder with satisfaction. "Qing Yan, thank you so much!"

"This is what I should do." Qing Yan nodded. Being able to help the Young Master made him very happy.

The three returned to Muchuan County and told Tamamachi Seiyo the news. They had expected him to be delighted, but the old man instead frowned and pulled out a map to study. Ming Jing leaned in for a look, but the array of technical symbols made his head spin.

After a while, Tamamachi Seiyo raised his head from the map, and Ming Jing immediately asked, "Is there a problem?"

"Of course there's a problem—a huge one." Tamamachi Seiyo shot Ming Jing a glare. Talking to a layman was such a pain. The old man drew on the map and explained, "Mountains generally become hollow because groundwater has eroded limestone over a long period. Insoluble calcium carbonate in limestone can be converted into slightly soluble calcium bicarbonate through the action of water and carbon dioxide. Since different parts of a limestone layer contain different amounts of lime and erode at different rates, they gradually dissolve and separate into independent, varied, steep, and beautiful caves. In other words, there may very well be an underground river beneath that mountain."

Uh... Ming Jing suddenly seemed to understand how the daimyo must have felt when Ming Jing had talked him into things.

In short, this was an extremely, extremely, extremely troublesome matter. Ming Jing's canal project might very well be cut short.

After leaving Tamamachi Seiyo, Ming Jing could not help sighing. Was his luck really this terrible? He had thought he had found a shortcut, only for it to turn into a dead end the next second.

"What do we do now?" Asuma asked blankly. He had not understood a word of what Tamamachi Seiyo had said.

"Tomorrow, we'll open up a passage and go inside to take a look! I refuse to believe my luck is this bad—that I can run into a cave just trying to do some good!" Ming Jing gritted his teeth and said viciously.

The next day, the three set off after preparing some tools. However, halfway there, they unexpectedly ran into someone—a beautiful woman.

Asuma drew Flying Swallow and stood in front of Ming Jing, watching her with wary eyes. Qing Yan also stepped forward, his expression extremely grave. The most relaxed of the three was instead Ming Jing, the one being protected. He looked at her and smiled gently. "Hello, I'm Akira Kurama."

"I know you." The woman spoke in a cool, somewhat mature voice. Looking at Ming Jing, she said, "Akira Kurama, a member of Konoha's Kurama Clan, skilled in genjutsu and swordsmanship, Prime Minister of the Land of Fire."

"I didn't expect you to know me so well. I'm honored. What's your name?" Ming Jing showed no sign of nervousness, his demeanor remaining gentle.

"Konan. My name is Konan." Konan slowly gave her name as she watched Ming Jing. Staring at him, she continued, "You're different from the other Konoha shinobi." Why had Konan come here? After returning that day, she had begun investigating Ming Jing. These public details were easy enough for her to uncover. Her purpose in investigating him was to understand why Hanzō's remaining forces wanted to assassinate him. As she dug deeper, Konan discovered that Ming Jing was completely unlike other shinobi. He was far too unconventional. Whether it was writing books or serving as an official, neither was something an ordinary shinobi would do. (Jiraiya's adult novels did not count; Jiraiya himself was no ordinary shinobi either.) Ming Jing's disaster relief efforts especially astonished Konan. No shinobi or official had ever cared so much about disaster victims, yet Ming Jing did, and he truly involved himself personally.

Konan was a war orphan, born into circumstances even worse than those of the disaster victims. Before she met Jiraiya, the life she shared with Yahiko and Nagato had been beneath even the lowest rung of society. Now, she had become a divine emissary, second only to one person and above ten thousand in the Land of Rain. Yet she had never forgotten her childhood hardships. So when she learned that the disaster victims of the Land of Fire were in trouble, she had considered helping them, only for Honma to ruin it.

Because of this, Konan was very curious about what kind of person Ming Jing truly was. So she had come alone to Muchuan County in the Land of Fire, wanting to meet this strange man who had clearly come from a shinobi background, yet had become an official serving the people.

"What's different?" Ming Jing curiously glanced at Asuma, then lowered his head to look himself over before asking with equal curiosity.

Konan did not answer his question. Seeing that the three carried luggage on their backs, she asked, "What are you going to do?"

Ming Jing paused, then looked at Konan with a smile. "That mountain ahead will obstruct our project, so we plan to go inside and see what's going on. If it's convenient, would you like to come with us?"

Asuma's expression twisted. His teammate was really too reckless! He was inviting her before even figuring out who she was.

Konan thought about it and felt that she did not seem to have anything else to do, so she nodded. "All right."

And so Ming Jing was happy, Asuma was dumbfounded, and Qing Yan lowered his guard and returned to Ming Jing's side. Thus, this somewhat strange team was formed. The four of them headed toward the mountain.