Traveling by boat from the Land of Waves all the way into Kirigakure had indeed proved far more troublesome than he had imagined.
The Land of Water's blockade was tighter than he had expected. It was easy to imagine what would happen if he encountered a Mist Ninja ship at sea.
None of this truly posed a problem for Xia Yan. As the Anbu Director, he knew far too many secrets.
By sealing itself off, the Land of Water had actually created a vast interest group: smugglers!
Once the blockade was imposed, many products from the Land of Water naturally could no longer leave the country. Demand outside naturally rose, and prices naturally began to climb.
Likewise, foreign goods needed within the Land of Water could no longer enter, so their prices were bound to skyrocket too.
Under particular circumstances, this simple relationship between supply and demand generated profits of an unimaginable scale.
From his studies in his previous life, Xia Yan knew that with profits above three hundred percent, people would dare to trample every law in the world.
Ninja were people too, and they also needed money to support themselves.
Thus, a large smuggling industry had naturally emerged in the Land of Water, backed by ninja and offering temptingly enormous profits.
With this information, things became much easier for Xia Yan.
All he needed to do was seize control of a merchant ship involved in smuggling, then follow its crew along the safest sea route into the Land of Water.
Although Xia Yan noticed ninja aboard these merchant ships, that was hardly a problem for him.
"The cleanup is just a little troublesome."
Watching the smuggling ship steadily sink, Xia Yan murmured to himself, then turned and left.
Sinking an entire ship really was a novel experience for