Perfect Defense

Yakiniku Q is a traditional barbecue restaurant that has been in business since the founding of Konoha, and it is also one of the more upscale dining establishments in the village.

The reason ninjas gather here is that the meat they serve is beef carefully raised in the unique environment of Hell Valley; the meat is rich in vital energy, providing a significant nourishing effect on a ninja's physique.

However, few people know that this restaurant is owned by the Uchiha Clan, and its exclusive cattle ranch in Hell Valley was established near the Uchiha clan grounds from the Warring States period.

Beyond Yakiniku Q, the Uchiha have many other businesses in the village. Although they faced considerable suppression during the reign of the Second Hokage, their business scale has not shrunk; instead, it has continued to expand.

In the original story, the reason Sasuke could pursue his revenge without any worries was precisely because his family's financial foundation was deep enough to allow him to waste various high-quality ninja tools at will.

Even after he later defected from Konoha, these assets likely would not have been seized by the Konoha high command. This is not because the high command felt pity for the Uchiha, but because the assets of major clans like the Uchiha and the Senju involve shares held by the Daimyo's family. If the Konoha high command wanted to bypass the Daimyo to do such a thing, they would certainly face a severe counterattack from the Daimyo.

In his previous life, while watching the manga and anime, Touma had thought that the existence of a Daimyo was merely a puppet with symbolic significance.

However, after coming to this world and gaining a deep understanding of the Land of Fire, he felt his previous thinking had been a bit naive.

The Daimyo of a nation is not a puppet of the village's ninja force; rather, the ninja village is more like the Daimyo's group of hired thugs. This is because the Daimyo completely controls the economic lifeline of the ninja village, and due to the decentralized nature of shareholding, the idea of gaining national authority through assassinating the Daimyo is somewhat delusional.

Take the Yuan Clan, the family of the Land of Fire's Daimyo, for example; its main and branch families control almost all the land and natural resources in the Land of Fire.

Seventy percent of Konoha's finances are provided by the Daimyo, who also restricts the village's expansion, limiting it to the area of "Hidden Leaf Hill" in the northwest of the Land of Fire.

The Second Hokage once tested the bottom line of the Yuan Clan. Only a few days after he used Earth Style to cultivate new farmland on the outskirts of "Hidden Leaf Hill," a branch family of the Yuan Clan showed up at his door.

The Yuan Clan did not resort to force or robbery; instead, they purchased all these farmlands from Senju Tobirama at a very high price.

Since then, Senju Tobirama never had other thoughts on the matter. With his strength, he could absolutely steamroll the Yuan Clan, but after clearing them out, would he have the Senju clan members take over this ecological niche? He certainly did not believe his own clan possessed such management talent.

Some might wonder: doesn't the ninja village get a cut from ninja mission fees?

They do, but it only accounts for about ten percent of the village's total finances. The village still needs to invest in other official industries, using the revenue from these businesses to make up for the other twenty percent of the financial shortfall!

One must know that the destructive power of ninjas is immense. Not to mention the damage to training grounds during daily sparring, just look at the annual "Great Purge"—the maintenance and compensation costs after the "Great Purge" ends are a staggering figure.

Without the massive wealth of the Yuan Clan supporting them from behind, Konoha could never have sat securely in the position of the number one ninja village in the ninja world!

Most importantly, the Yuan Clan has more than just the Konoha ninja force under its command.

Within the Land of Fire alone, there are three large-scale ninja villages. Besides Konoha, the other two are called Kairan Village and Shin-Gaku Village!

Kairan Village is located at Silver Shard Beach in the southwest corner of the Land of Fire. It is a ninja village with hundreds of Water Style ninjas, primarily responsible for defending against invasions from countries across the sea, such as the Land of Sea, the Land of Lan, and the Land of Islands.

Shin-Gaku Village is located on the peak of Oninashi Peak on the border between the Land of Fire and the Land of Iron. It is a village of artisan ninjas specifically responsible for providing various weapons and ninja tools to the Land of Fire. It possesses thousands of artisan ninjas; Senju Tobirama himself visited Shin-Gaku Village many times to forge his Sword of the Thunder God!

In addition to these two ninja villages, the Yuan Clan also has a samurai group similar to an imperial guard, called the "Yuan-Lie Group," which possesses hundreds of samurai with combat power no less than that of ordinary Jonin, serving as the Yuan Clan's final line of defense.

It is not just the Yuan Clan of the Land of Fire that possesses such terrifying power; the Daimyos of the other four great nations mostly have similar strength and directly control the core resources of their respective nations, making the major ninja villages of the Five Great Nations afraid to easily commit treason.

It is only the small ninja villages in small countries that might not have to live under the shadow of local Daimyo families.

The most unique case is the Land of Rain, currently sandwiched between four great nations; their country's Daimyo and the village's shadow are the same person, namely the man known as the "Demigod of the Ninja World," Salamander Hanzo.

Salamander is not his surname, but his characteristic. His full name is Lin Hanzo, and his family is the Lin Clan. However, the clan is now withering, and their strength cannot be compared to the Warring States period. It took the strength of their entire clan just to cultivate a "Demigod of the Ninja World" like Hanzo!

The next day, the assessment arrived as scheduled. According to the order, the matches for Touma and his two companions were all held in the morning. The first to take the stage was Haruno Kizashi, who was ranked thirty-third.

This guy had been exceptionally excited from the gathering yesterday until now, mainly because after the gathering ended, Mebuki had agreed to wake up early to watch his match.

However, as soon as he stepped onto the stage, he fell into his old habit again. Even though he had already used his "Super Brain" to analyze the opponent's genin intelligence, his "Super Personality" still couldn't make a decision.

Seeing this, Touma and Shibi were both helpless. Touma could only have Shibi communicate with the "Xiao-Destroying Bug" in Kizashi's ear to help him choose the fourth combat template.

Haruno Kizashi's fourth combat template was the one that integrated the sickle ninja tool with the Gentle Fist: Circular Style.

Based on preliminary observation, Touma could see that the first knuckles of the middle and ring fingers on both of the opposing genin's hands had thick calluses, which were clearly left over from performing too many hand seals.

Since hand seals are the primary method for guiding the nature transformation of Fire Style chakra, this genin was naturally skilled in using Fire Style ninjutsu.

The characteristic of Fire Style ninjutsu is that it is straightforward, and it usually produces violent explosions and high temperatures upon hitting a target. The Gentle Fist: Circular Style, combined with a giant sickle, was enough to deflect genin-level Fire Style ninjutsu and disrupt the opponent's offensive rhythm.

Sure enough, after the referee signaled the start of the match, the opposing genin quickly formed seals and spat a "Great Fireball" at Haruno Kizashi.

It was a pity that no matter how fast his hand seals were, the power of the "Great Fireball" was a bit weak—it couldn't even compare to the power of the first "Great Fireball" Touma had experimented with, let alone compare to the ninjas of clans like the Sarutobi or Uchiha who specialized in Fire Style ninjutsu!

Haruno Kizashi used the chakra of the Gentle Fist: Circular Style to wrap around the giant sickle and quickly spun it in front of him. In no time, the airflow carried by the giant sickle formed a whirlwind blowing outward.

Before the fireball could even fly in front of Haruno Kizashi, it was deflected back along its original path by this powerful whirlwind.

However, the genin did not panic. He quickly shifted his body to the left, formed seals rapidly with both hands, and while moving, spat out multiple smaller but faster fireballs at Haruno Kizashi. This was the C-rank Fire Style ninjutsu, "Phoenix Sage Fire Technique."

Facing these fireballs, Haruno Kizashi pressed his left hand against the front of the sickle's handle, while his right hand gripped the tail of the handle and gave it a fierce tug; the handle of the giant sickle instantly extended to twice its original length.

The position where he spun the giant sickle was no longer limited to his chest; instead, he alternated his hands to spin it at high speed around his body. This move had the same effect as the Hyuga clan's Rotation, and it was also what Haruno Kizashi called his Perfect Defense!