Perfect Defense

Yakiniku Q was a traditional barbecue restaurant that had been open since Konoha was founded. It was also one of the more upscale restaurants in the village.

The reason ninja came here to socialize was that the restaurant's meat came from cattle carefully raised in Hell Valley's unique environment. It was rich in vital energy and could provide a substantial boost to a ninja's physical constitution.

Few people knew that the restaurant was owned by the Uchiha Clan. Their exclusive cattle ranch in Hell Valley was also built near the Uchiha Clan's ancestral lands there, back in the Warring States period.

Besides Yakiniku Q, the Uchiha had numerous other businesses in the village. Although they had suffered considerable suppression during the Second Hokage's administration, their business empire hadn't shrunk. If anything, it had continued to grow.

In the original story, Sasuke had been able to pursue revenge without worrying about money precisely because his family was wealthy enough to let him waste all the high-quality ninja tools he wanted.

Even after he later defected from Konoha, those businesses probably wouldn't be seized by the Konoha High Command. It wasn't that they felt sorry for the Uchiha. Rather, the businesses owned by powerful clans like the Uchiha and Senju had investments from the daimyo's family. If the Konoha High Command tried to bypass the daimyo and seize them, the daimyo would surely retaliate harshly.

Back in his previous life, when Touma read the manga and watched the anime, he'd thought daimyo were mere puppets with only symbolic authority.

However, after coming to this world and learning about the Land of Fire in depth, he realized his thinking had been rather naïve.

The daimyo of a country weren't puppets of its hidden village. If anything, the hidden village was more like the daimyo's hired muscle. The daimyo had complete control over the village's economic lifeline, and since the shares were widely distributed, assassinating the daimyo to seize control of the country was little more than wishful thinking.

Take the Yuan Clan, the Land of Fire's daimyo family, for example. Its main and branch families controlled almost all the land and natural resources in the country.

Seventy percent of Konoha's budget came from the daimyo, who also restricted the village's expansion, confining it to the area around Hidden Leaf Hill in the northwest of the Land of Fire.

The Second Hokage had once tested the Yuan Clan's limits. Only a few days after he'd used Earth Release to clear new farmland on the outskirts of Hidden Leaf Hill, a branch family of the Yuan Clan had come knocking.

The Yuan Clan hadn't resorted to force. Instead, they'd bought all the farmland from Senju Tobirama at an exorbitant price.

After that, Senju Tobirama had dropped the matter. With his strength, he could have easily swept aside the Yuan Clan. But after wiping them out, would he have had the Senju Clan take over their place in the country's ecosystem? He didn't think his own clan had anyone with the talent to manage it.

Some might wonder: didn't the hidden village take a cut from ninja mission fees?

It did, but that only accounted for around ten percent of the village's total budget. The village also had to invest in other official businesses and use their profits to make up the remaining twenty percent.

Ninja had tremendous destructive power. There was the damage they caused to training grounds during routine sparring, for starters. Then there was the annual "Great Purge." The repairs and compensation after it ended always added up to a hefty sum.

Without the Yuan Clan's vast wealth backing it, Konoha could never have held on to its position as the strongest hidden village in the Shinobi World!

Most importantly, the Yuan Clan didn't just have one group of ninja serving under it in Konoha.

There were three major hidden villages within the Land of Fire alone. Besides Konoha, the other two were Kairan Village and Shin-Gaku Village!

Kairan Village was located at Silver Shard Beach in the southwestern corner of the Land of Fire. It was a hidden village with several hundred Water Release ninja, mainly 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 stood atop Oninashi Peak, on the border between the Land of Fire and the Land of Iron. It was a hidden village of craftsman ninja that specialized in supplying the Land of Fire with weapons and ninja tools. It had several thousand craftsman ninja. Senju Tobirama had even personally visited Shin-Gaku Village several times to have his Sword of the Thunder God made!

Besides these two hidden villages, the Yuan Clan also had a samurai force resembling an imperial guard, known as the Yuan-Lie Group. It had several hundred samurai whose combat strength was no weaker than that of ordinary elite jōnin, making them the Yuan Clan's final line of defense.

The Yuan Clan of the Land of Fire wasn't the only one with such terrifying power. The daimyo of the other four great nations most likely had similar strength, and directly controlled their countries' core resources. That kept the major hidden villages of the Five Great Nations from daring to rebel against them.

The small hidden villages in minor countries, on the other hand, might not have to depend on their local daimyo families for survival.

The most unusual case was the Land of Rain, which now lay sandwiched between four great nations. Its daimyo and its hidden village's leader were one and the same: the man known as the "Demigod of the Ninja World," Salamander Hanzo.

Salamander wasn't his surname, but a distinguishing feature. His full name was Lin Hanzo, and his clan was the Lin Clan. However, the clan's numbers had dwindled, and its strength was nothing like it had been in the Warring States period. The entire clan had already poured everything it had into producing a "Demigod of the Ninja World" like Hanzo!

The next day's exams began as scheduled. Going by the order, all three of Touma's group were set to compete that morning. The first to take the field was Haruno Kizashi, ranked thirty-third.

The guy had been unusually excited ever since the gathering the day before, mainly because Mebuki had agreed to get up early and watch his match after it ended.

But the moment he took the field, he fell back into his old habit. Even though his "super brain" had already analyzed the opponent's information, his "super personality" still couldn't make a decision.

Watching this, Touma and Shibi could only sigh helplessly. Touma had Shibi communicate with the "Xiao-Destroying Bug" in Zhao's ear and help him choose his fourth combat template.

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

From a preliminary look, Touma could tell that the opponent had thick calluses on the first joints of the middle and ring fingers on both hands. Clearly, he'd used Hand Seals countless times.

And the seal used to guide the nature transformation of Fire Release chakra was the main hand sign in the sequence. The Genin was obviously skilled at using Fire Release Ninjutsu.

Fire Release Ninjutsu tended to travel in straight lines, and usually caused violent explosions and intense heat when it hit its target. Gentle Fist: Circular Style, paired with a scythe as tall as its wielder, was enough to deflect Fire Release Ninjutsu at the Genin level and disrupt the opponent's rhythm.

Sure enough, as soon as the referee signaled the start of the match, the opposing Genin quickly formed Hand Seals and sent a "Great Fireball" at Haruno Kizashi.

Unfortunately, no matter how fast he formed the seals, the "Great Fireball" was still too weak. It couldn't compare to the one Touma had produced during his first experiment, let alone the Fire Release Ninjutsu of ninja from the Sarutobi Clan or the Uchiha Clan, both specialists in the art!

Haruno Kizashi wrapped the scythe in the chakra of Gentle Fist: Circular Style and rapidly spun it in front of himself. In no time, the air caught in its rotation formed a whirlwind that blew outward.

The fireball hadn't even reached him before the powerful whirlwind sent it flying back the way it came.

The Genin didn't panic. He quickly shifted to the left, forming Hand Seals as he moved, and spat several smaller, faster fireballs at Haruno Kizashi. It was the C-rank Fire Release technique known as "Phoenix Flower Jutsu."

Facing the fireballs, Haruno Kizashi held the front of the scythe's shaft with his left hand and gripped the end with his right before giving it a hard tug. The shaft instantly extended to twice its original length.

He no longer spun the scythe only in front of his chest. Instead, he alternated his hands as he whirled it rapidly all around his body. The technique bore a striking resemblance to the Hyuga Clan's Rotation, and Haruno Kizashi called it his perfect defense!