Chapter 228: The expensive Jacob's Ladder
The capital of the Land of Hot Water shone as brightly as day on the winter night.
This small country, famed throughout the shinobi world for its hot springs, had developed tourism into something approaching an art form.
The entire capital rose in tiers along the mountainside, with strings of warm yellow lanterns hanging on either side of every stone-paved street.
The paper lanterns bore hot spring motifs unique to the Land of Hot Water, their light swaying gently in the night breeze and stretching the shadows of passersby long, then short.
Every shop along the street was open for night business: the sweet scent of grilled dumplings, the savory aroma of takoyaki sauce, the sulfurous smell of steaming hot springs...
At that moment, the cold winter air pressed them all into a thin layer of mist floating three feet above the ground.
Karin, Ye Tong, and Samui still had half-wet hair when they emerged from the hot spring baths.
Karin had woven her red hair into a loose braid draped over her shoulder, and a faint mist from the hot spring steam still lingered on her glasses.
She stood beneath a street sign outside the baths, her crimson eyes sparkling behind her lenses.
The bustling night market of the Land of Hot Water was unlike anything she had ever seen.
Nights in Kusagakure had held nothing but cages and footsteps, while nights in Kirigakure, though safe, had always been veiled in sea fog.
Here, however, lights blazed and voices filled the air, with laughing, chattering crowds gathered around every stall.
"I want some of that."
Karin pointed toward a takoyaki stall on the street corner with a long line in front of it, a rare hint of girlish willfulness entering her voice.
Ye