Leaving the Village

Just in case, Kamiya Keiyun didn't leave directly. Instead, he had Ruri pretend to be him for two days of classes.

At the same time, he began teaching Kamiya Sanyō the Wind God Leg.

"I've discovered four main meridians and sixteen branch meridians. They have a very significant bonus to the legs. As long as you inject Chakra into these meridians, the speed and strength of your legs will greatly increase!"

After teaching her, Kamiya Keiyun walked through the underground passage with Kamiya Sanyō.

"If you find that something is wrong, enter this passage and then leave Konohagakure!"

In reality, if things really went wrong, it would be hard to escape by running like this.

Therefore, Kamiya Keiyun left messages for both Ruri and Hei Bei. If they were caught, they were to blame everything on him, Kamiya Keiyun.

"But this passage seems a bit narrow and goes straight up and down. Mom and Dad won't be able to come in, right?" Sanyō hesitated. If they were ninja, they could brace themselves against the walls and slide down slowly, but if they were ordinary people, they would die from falling straight down!

"We're ninja, so there's a chance we can escape. But Mom and Dad are ordinary people. How can they run?" Kamiya Keiyun shook his head. "Besides, their way of thinking is already different from ours. Even if we really wanted to take them away from Konohagakure, they wouldn't agree!"

Sanyō fell silent. It was true. Even though the Kamiya Family was comprised of priests and held a high status in their village, they were just commoners, beneath others, in Konohagakure.

But Sanyō believed that his parents would not give up their identity as Konohagakure villagers.

How could you reason with a parent who would rather sell their daughter to stay in Konohagakure?

"I, I understand!" Sanyō nodded.

"Good, then you can go back!" Kamiya Keiyun waved his hand. "I'm departing now!"

"Okay!" Sanyō nodded. She didn't actually know where Kamiya Keiyun was going, but she knew her brother was going to find a way to save her.

There wasn't much she could do, except help him stabilize their rear!

~~~~~~~~

Carrying 500,000 Silver Taels and a small packet of dried grilled meat, Kamiya Keiyun embarked on his journey to the town.

The system in the Land of Fire was a bit chaotic. On the surface, it appeared to be a centralized government, but in reality, it was closer to a feudal system.

The leader of the Land of Fire was the Daimyo. The officials under the Daimyo who managed political affairs were called Elders, also known as Elders, and their status was similar to that of the Prime Ministers in ancient Huaxia.

Below them were the Magistrates, similar to the ministers of various departments. The most powerful among them were the Shrine Magistrate, Finance Magistrate, and Town Magistrate, collectively known as the Three Magistrates.

The Shrine Magistrate was similar to the Minister of Rites, responsible for managing the affairs of Buddhist temples and shrines of all sizes within the country, and overseeing all kinds of rituals and ceremonies in the Land of Fire.

The Kamiya Family's Inari Shrine fell under the jurisdiction of the Shrine Magistrate.

The Finance Magistrate was similar to the Minister of Revenue, and also a combination of the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Taxation, responsible for managing the country's finances, food supplies, and taxation issues.

The Town Magistrate was similar to the Ministry of Personnel, responsible for the management and appointment of officials at all levels.

In reality, there should have been a Military Magistrate or Logistics Magistrate responsible for matters like sending troops into battle, but this function was replaced by ninja.

In other words, the military and political powers of the entire Land of Fire were separated. The military was under the ninja, and the politics were under the Daimyo.

As for what feudalism meant.

There were nearly 20,000 cities, large and small, within the Land of Fire. The leaders of these cities were not selected based on merit and ability. A small portion were directly appointed by the Daimyo, while the majority were passed down through generations by the major Nobles.

These city leaders were either called Castle Lords or Generals. They had immense autonomy within their cities. As long as they submitted the required wealth to the Daimyo, the Daimyo generally did not interfere with anything else!

This meant that Castle Lords could not only set their own taxes but also enact their own laws, arbitrarily demarcate land, and annex territories.

This system was clearly quite unstable. It was possible that some ambitious Castle Lord might refuse to pay taxes, raise the banner of rebellion, and establish their own country!

And there were quite a few such examples. At its peak, many Castle Lords raised the banner of rebellion a few years ago, creating a multitude of small states.

Countries that were powerful could survive. Some countries served as buffers for larger nations and could also survive.

There were also some small countries that were poorly located and weak, so naturally, they had no chance of survival and could only be destroyed.

As for how these cities were managed?

Kamiya Keiyun hadn't seen them all and didn't understand them very well, but generally, there should be both good and bad.

The closest town to Konohagakure was called Murotsubaki Town, only 40 kilometers away. Ordinary people could reach it in a day on foot, and ninja, with their speed, would take even less time.

Kamiya Keiyun had originally planned to use the Wind God Leg to sprint there, but before he had taken two steps, he encountered a ninja squad!

It was an adult ninja leading three children. The ninja in the lead had an ordinary appearance with black hair and a forehead protector tied around his forehead. At a glance, he looked like a background character.

"Hmm?" Kamiya Keiyun quickly held his breath and hid.

He couldn't let anyone know he had left the village.

Fortunately, it was very close to the village, and the ninja didn't pay too much attention, leading the three children past.

"No, if I'm human, I'll be too conspicuous!" Kamiya Keiyun made a hand seal. "Transformation Technique!"

After a puff of smoke, Kamiya Keiyun had transformed into a cat.

However, this cat was about 30 centimeters long, and with its tail, it was 50 centimeters. Its physique was also quite robust!

Let alone a cat, no one would suspect if you said it was a small tiger!

He had Ruri transform into him every day, so he understood cats quite well. Now that he had transformed into a cat, he was lifelike and vivid.

Then, he took off running!

"Hmm?" The ninja sensed something and looked back, but only saw a yellow blur flash past.

Wildcats, huh.

"It seems ninja aren't that easy to encounter!" Kamiya Keiyun was afraid of running into other ninja, but after running for 10 kilometers, he hadn't met another one!

It made sense, though. With only a few thousand ninja in all of Konohagakure, and most of them on missions, what were the chances of them all returning on the same day from the same direction by chance!?

An hour and a half later, Kamiya Keiyun passed by a small village.

It was a small settlement, not marked on any map, and didn't even have a name.

About eight households lived there, with large tracts of farmland next to the village.

Kamiya Keiyun, being from the agricultural academy, became interested when he saw the rice being grown here. He was a bit tired, so he decided to rest here and study their agricultural practices.

Using the Transformation Technique again, Kamiya Keiyun changed into his appearance from his previous life and crouched down.

They were growing medium-season rice here, which was semi-late maturing. It was early September, and the harvest season was indeed approaching. If this were on the lands of Huaxia, one could see endless fields of rice.

But the rice here, how to put it!

Not only were the plants short, but their leaves were withered and yellow. You didn't need to be a professional; any passerby would know that this rice was no good.

Kamiya Keiyun judged based on his professional experience. With this situation, 200 jin per mu would be considered good!

"No, even 200 jin is too high!" Kamiya Keiyun spread out a rice ear. The nearly mature grains had quite a few yellowish-brown spots on them.

They weren't just on the grains; they were on the withered yellow leaves as well.

Rice blast!

This was a rice disease caused by the rice blast pathogen, which could occur at any stage of the rice's growth cycle and was a common rice disease.

"Whose child are you, trying to steal our rice!" A farmer carrying a hoe saw Kamiya Keiyun squatting in the rice paddy and his morning's hard work vanished as he roared loudly.

"Huh? People steal this rice? I wouldn't even want it if you gave it to me!" Kamiya Keiyun shook his head, but as he listened, the voice seemed to be getting closer!

He quickly turned around and saw a farmer, less than 1.5 meters tall, swinging a stick at him!

So he was talking about me?

"Holy crap?" Kamiya Keiyun quickly got up and easily dodged the attack.

"What are you doing?" Kamiya Keiyun asked.

"Why are you asking me what I'm doing when you're stealing rice?" The farmer raised his stick to strike again, but the stick stopped in mid-air, unable to fall further.

It wasn't that Kamiya Keiyun held it, but rather that something with greater power had stopped it.

Money!

"The current selling price of rice is 75 taels per jin. 10,000 taels can buy 133 jin. I'm not short on money, why would I steal rice?" Kamiya Keiyun asked.

"Uh..." The old farmer was stunned into silence.

Actually, Kamiya Keiyun was wrong. The selling price of rice was 75 taels, but the purchase price was at most 30 taels!

So 10,000 taels could buy 330 jin of rice in the village!

What did that mean?

A farming family of three or four could cultivate 20 mu of land, and each mu could only yield 150 jin of rice on average. They had to give 100 jin to the lords above, leaving only 50 jin for themselves.

In other words, a family of three or four had an annual income of only 1,000 jin of rice. This one banknote was equivalent to one-third of a family's income.

"Stealing, stealing?" The farmer thought so, but everyone was poor. Who would have 10,000 taels in banknotes?

Looking at the person in front of him, his clothes were clean and neat, and the style was novel, something he had never seen before, but he knew at a glance that this person came from a wealthy family.

This must be some young master out for a stroll!