Leaving the Village

As a precaution, Kamiya Keiyun did not leave right away. Instead, he had Ruri impersonate him and attend classes for two days.

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

"I found four main meridians and sixteen branch meridians. They greatly enhance the legs. As long as you channel Chakra into these meridians, the speed and strength of your legs will improve considerably!"

After finishing the lesson, Kamiya Keiyun led Kamiya Sanyō through the underground passage once.

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

In truth, if something really did go wrong, escaping this way would still be difficult.

So, Kamiya Keiyun left instructions for both Ruri and Hei Bei. If they were caught, they were to pin everything on him, Kamiya Keiyun.

"But this passage seems rather narrow, and it goes straight up and down. Dad and Mom can't get in here, can they?" Sanyō hesitated. If they were ninjas, they could brace themselves against the walls and slowly slide down. But ordinary people would fall straight down and die!

"We're ninjas, so we still have a chance of escaping. But Dad and Mom are ordinary people. How can they run?" Kamiya Keiyun shook his head. "Besides, they no longer think the same way we do. Even if we wanted to take them away from Konoha, they wouldn't agree!"

Sanyō fell silent. That was indeed true. Back in their village, the Kamiya Family had been priests, people above others. Yet in Konoha, they were merely civilians, beneath others.

But Sanyō believed her parents would never give up their identities as Konoha villagers.

How could you reason with parents who would rather sell their daughter than leave Konoha?

"I... I understand!" Sanyō nodded.

"Good. Then go back!" Kamiya Keiyun waved his hand. "I'm setting off now!"

"Mm!" Sanyō nodded. She did not actually know where Kamiya Keiyun was going, but she knew her younger brother was searching for a way to save her.

There was not much she could do. All she could do was help him keep the rear secure!

Carrying five hundred thousand silver taels and a small bundle of dried roasted meat, Kamiya Keiyun set out on his journey toward the town.

The Land of Fire's system was somewhat chaotic. On the surface, it was a centralized government, but in reality, it was closer to a feudal system.

The ruler of the Land of Fire was the daimyo. The officials under the daimyo who handled government affairs were called elders, also known as senior retainers, with a status similar to the prime ministers of ancient Huaxia.

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

The Shrine Magistrate was similar to the Minister of Rites, responsible for managing the Buddhist temples and shrines throughout the country, as well as overseeing all manner of ceremonies and sacrifices in the Land of Fire.

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

The Finance Magistrate was similar to the Minister of Revenue, effectively a combination of the finance and tax departments, responsible for managing the nation's finances and grain supplies, as well as taxation.

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

In principle, there should also have been a military magistrate, or perhaps a military provisions magistrate, responsible for matters such as mobilizing troops for battle. However, ninjas had taken over that role.

In other words, the Land of Fire's military and civil administration were separate. The ninjas controlled the military, while the daimyo controlled civil affairs.

As for what feudalism meant—

There were nearly twenty thousand cities of various sizes within the Land of Fire. The leaders of these cities were not selected based on merit. A small number were directly appointed by the daimyo, but most had been passed down through the great noble clans for generations.

These city rulers were either called city lords or shoguns. They possessed enormous autonomy within their cities. So long as they handed over the wealth demanded by the daimyo, the daimyo basically did not interfere with anything else!

In other words, city lords could not only set their own taxes, but also make their own laws, arbitrarily claim farmland, and annex land.

Such a system was obviously extremely unstable. Who knew when some ambitious city lord might decide he no longer wanted to pay taxes, raise a banner in rebellion, and establish his own nation?

There were actually quite a few such examples. Their peak had been a few years ago, when many city lords raised banners in rebellion and created a whole host of small countries.

The stronger countries were able to survive. Some small countries served as buffer zones between great powers and could survive as well.

Other small countries had poor locations and weak strength. Naturally, they had no chance of survival and could only be destroyed.

As for how well these cities were governed?

Kamiya Keiyun had not inspected them one by one, so he did not know much yet. Still, there were probably good ones and bad ones.

The closest town to Konoha was called Murotsubaki Town, only forty kilometers away. Ordinary people could reach it in a day on foot, while ninjas were much faster and needed even less time.

Kamiya Keiyun had originally planned to activate the Wind God Leg and sprint there, but after only taking two steps, he ran into a ninja squad!

It was one adult ninja leading three children. The lead ninja looked utterly ordinary, with black hair and a forehead protector tied across his brow. One look was enough to tell that he was a background character.

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

He could not let anyone know that he had left the village.

Fortunately, this was still very close to the village. The ninja did not pay much attention and simply led the three young ninjas onward.

"No, a human target is too conspicuous!" Kamiya Keiyun raised his hands and formed Hand Seals. "Transformation Technique!"

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

However, this cat was a full thirty centimeters long, and fifty centimeters with its tail included. Its body was also exceptionally sturdy!

Forget a cat—even if someone said it was a little tiger, no one would doubt it!

He had Ruri transform into him every day, so he knew cats quite well. Now that he had transformed into one himself, he looked utterly lifelike.

Then he took off at full speed!

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

A wildcat?

"Seems it isn't actually that easy to run into ninjas!" Kamiya Keiyun had been worried about encountering other ninjas, but after running ten kilometers, he had not run into another one at all!

Thinking about it, there were only a few thousand ninjas in all of Konoha. Most of them were out on missions. What were the odds that they would all happen to turn in missions on the same day and return from the same direction?

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

It was a tiny settlement, unmarked on maps and without even a name.

Nearly eight households lived there, with vast stretches of farmland beside the village.

Kamiya Keiyun had studied agriculture. The moment he saw the rice growing here, he became interested. He was feeling a little tired anyway, so he could rest here while also examining the local agricultural standards.

Using the Transformation Technique again, Kamiya Keiyun assumed his appearance from his previous life, then crouched down.

They were growing medium-season rice, a semi-late-maturing variety. It was early September, nearly harvest season. If this were the land of Huaxia, endless rice fields would be spread before him.

But the rice here... how should he put it?

Not only was it short, its leaves were yellow and withered. It did not take a professional—any passerby could tell at a glance that this rice was no good.

Based on his professional experience, Kamiya Keiyun estimated that getting two hundred jin per mu from these fields would already be impressive!

"No, even two hundred jin is too high!" Kamiya Keiyun spread open an ear of rice. There were actually quite a few yellowish-brown spots on the nearly mature grains.

They were not just on the ears of rice. The withered yellow leaves had them too.

Rice blast disease!

It was a rice disease caused by infection with rice blast fungus. It could occur throughout the rice plant's entire growth cycle and was a common rice disease.

"Whose kid are you? You're here stealing rice!" A farmer carrying a hoe spotted Kamiya Keiyun crouching in the paddy field. The fatigue from a whole morning of work instantly vanished as he roared loudly.

"Hm? Who would steal rice like this? 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 and closer!

He hurriedly turned around and saw a farmer less than one and a half meters tall swinging a stick at him!

He was talking about me?

"What the hell?" Kamiya Keiyun quickly stood up and easily dodged the blow.

"What are you doing?" Kamiya Keiyun asked.

"You steal rice, and you still ask what I'm doing?" The farmer raised the stick to strike again, but it froze in midair and could not come down.

It was not because Kamiya Keiyun had stopped it, but because something even more powerful had stopped it.

Money!

"The current selling price of rice is seventy-five taels per jin. Ten thousand taels can buy one hundred and thirty-three jin. It's not like I don't have money, so why would I steal rice?" Kamiya Keiyun asked.

"Uh..." The old farmer froze and fell silent.

Actually, Kamiya Keiyun was wrong. The retail price of rice was seventy-five taels, but the purchase price was at most thirty taels!

So ten thousand taels could buy three hundred and thirty jin of rice in the village!

What did that mean?

A farming household of three or four people could cultivate twenty mu of land. On average, each mu produced only one hundred and fifty jin of rice, and they still had to hand one hundred jin over to the lords above them. The remaining fifty jin was all that belonged to them.

In other words, a household of three or four people earned only one thousand jin of rice a year. This single banknote was worth one-third of a family's annual income.

"Stolen?" The farmer wanted to think that way, but everyone here was dirt poor. Whose family could possibly have a ten-thousand-tael banknote?

Then he looked at the person before him. His clothes were clean and neat, with an unfamiliar style the farmer had never seen before, yet one glance was enough to tell that he came from a wealthy household.

Which young master had come traveling here?