The Kirigakure, where the rain had just stopped, was bathed in a pale golden morning light, and the puddles on the gravel road reflected the shattered sky.
Mei Terumi stood beneath the broken wall at the village entrance, watching as three Genin, led by a Jonin, boarded a ship bound for the sea.
These four individuals bear the crucial mission of helping Kirigakure break through its ice and be reborn, with their sights set on Konoha.
Their true purpose was to meet the Hokage and formally demand that Kirigakure lift the sea ban, using local seafood as leverage to exchange for strategic resources such as grain and iron ore.
They attempted to break the predicament of resource scarcity and intelligence paralysis caused by the long-term isolation of Kirigakure due to the ' Bloody Mist Village ', and to re-establish trade ties with the outside world.
To strive for the village's revival and integration into the Shinobi World world.
The four arrived at the coast of the Land of Fire by boat in the afternoon.
The damp sea breeze, carrying the roar of machinery, rushed towards me.
The coastline stretches to the horizon, and what was once a natural beach has been transformed into multi-level port facilities.
At the bottom layer is a group of automated loading and unloading robots, whose steel arms and claws lift and drop, precisely stacking containers like building blocks.
The middle deck was filled with streamlined merchant ships, their hulls marked with the words " Shinobi Alliance Logistics - Fire and Thunder Express".
On the uppermost airway, a capsule-shaped passenger spacecraft streaked past, leaving a rainbow trail, startling a flock of seabirds that were briefly resting there.
"Is this... still the Shinobi World?" Genin Xiao Tao's voice trembled; she had never seen such a scene before.
The Jonin the team didn't answer, because he was equally shocked.
It's only been a little over ten years since the end of the Ninja War, but the changes in the Shinobi World have been so dramatic.
Kirigakure was still at the stage of 'ninja manual labor + primitive trade', while the coast of the Land of Fire had become a hub where technology and Ninjutsu were highly integrated.
Puppets replace human labor, spaceships break through space limitations, and data replaces experience.
These 'divine techniques', which should have existed only in legends, now overturned the group's entire understanding of the ' Shinobi World ' with their cold and efficient approach.
Looking at his rough cloth sleeves covered in seaweed, and then at the eerie blue light flowing on the puppet's arms and claws in the distance, he suddenly realized...
The " Bloody Mist Village " in Kirigakure is not only a cage of regulations, but also a shackle that locks the village in a state of cultural discontinuity.
The four walked inland along the alloy walkway.
As they passed an open-air workshop, the ninja Jonin the group suddenly stopped.
Inside the workshop, several ninjas were embedding Chakra crystals into mechanical prosthetics, while a holographic screen next to them displayed the message: "Prosthetic Modification Special Offer: Jonin for a Limited Time."
Cybernetic body? Is it a puppet?
But shouldn't these things belong to Sunagakure? How did they end up in the Land of Fire?
And that Jonin- level prosthetic body...
You should know that as long as you can become Jonin, even if you only have a place in Five Great Shinobi Villages, you can be considered a member of the decision-making level.
But here, it's all about price; money talks, and you can become Jonin.
How exactly did Konoha manage to do that?!
As dusk fell, the four arrived at a bridge spanning the coast.
The bridge is made of transparent glass, and each pane reflects the crimson hue of the sunset.
Hundreds of meters below in the deep sea, fully automated fishing boats roam like Giant Whale.
The group leaned down and saw that the metal pipes extending from under the ship's hull suddenly emitted a blue mist of light.
That was an improved version of Water Release: Great Waterfall Technique. With the aid of technology, it transformed into an invisible fishing net, instantly immobilizing the fish within a radius of a thousand meters and sucking them into the ship's sorting system.
The entire process was eerily quiet, with only the data stream rapidly changing on the ship's display screen, indicating "Catch: 23.7 tons".
At the other end of the bridge, a giant holographic projection suddenly lit up, and the emblem of the Shinobi Alliance appeared in the light and shadow.
The pattern of five-pointed stars encircling the dragon Dragon Vein, with each point representing a major ninja village, is missing the symbol of Kirigakure ).
Was it replaced by another ninja village?
Below the title card on the giant holographic projection: 'The 17th Resource Integration Plan of the Shinobi Alliance - West Coast Hub of the Land of Fire '.
It details the key aspects of this plan.
The aim is to develop the west coast of the Land of Fire into a comprehensive strategic location integrating trade, scientific and technological research and development, and military defense.
The plan includes the construction of three ultra-large smart ports to meet the growing demand for cross -Shinobi World logistics.
A science and technology park covering thousands of acres is planned around the port to attract research institutions from various ninja villages to settle in, with key research areas including the efficient conversion of Chakra energy and the commercial application of Ninjutsu.
Look there!
A Genin suddenly pointed to a small, flickering window on the edge of the projection, which was playing a live video.
At a construction site, a giant mechanical puppet is swinging its alloy arms, which are over ten meters long, to precisely place massive foundation stones into place.
The foundation stone is covered with intricate runes, the result of collaboration between Earth Release ninjas and Konoha, which greatly enhance the stability of the building and protect it from any natural disasters or man-made calamities.
The progress bar next to it shows that the first phase of the port project is 70% complete and is expected to be officially put into use within three months.
The Jonin seeing this, secretly plotting something.
Such a large-scale construction project requires immeasurable human, material, and financial resources. How exactly did this " Shinobi Alliance " manage to coordinate and manage it in such a short period of time?
His gaze swept over the Shinobi Alliance emblem in the corner of the projection.
Suddenly, I realized that this was not just about integrating the resources of the Five Great Shinobi Villages, but also about a completely new cooperation model.
Information sharing, technological complementarity, and mutual benefit.
Kirigakure, this once isolated island outside the mainstream of the Shinobi World, seemed so out of place in this wave of change.
The four continued on their journey, and what they saw along the way further confirmed the Jonin's suspicions.
In the farmland by the roadside.
In addition to the automated agricultural puppets, you can also see the Earth Release ninjas from Iwagakure and the medical-nin from Konoha working together to research methods for improving the soil.
Through a specially designed Chakra testing device, the soil's fertility, pH level, and trace element content are monitored in real time, and then precise adjustments are made using Ninjutsu.
As evening fell, the four arrived at a small town.
The town's architectural style blends the rustic charm of the Land of Fire with the ruggedness of the Sunagakure, and the shops along the street are filled with unique products from different ninja villages.
It includes Lightning Release Ninjutsu from Kumogakure, prosthetic body modification vouchers from Sunagakure, music boxes from Otogakure, and even time for guidance from powerful individuals to purchase.
The fountain in the middle of the street sprays not ordinary water, but a liquid that emits a pale blue light, which is said to have the effect of relieving fatigue and enhancing mental strength.
"This place is like a huge market in the Shinobi World," Genin beside him remarked.
The Jonin the team still didn't respond, his gaze drawn to a poster displayed at the entrance of a shop.
The poster features a ninja in the Shinobi Alliance uniform, with a giant spaceship about to take off behind him. The caption reads, "Lunar Exploration Project: Recruiting ambitious individuals to embark on a new journey."
Next to the spacecraft's design drawings, its propulsion system is described in detail.
Powered by the combined Tailed Beast Chakra and a new type of Chakra crystal, it is theoretically capable of breaking through the limits of planetary gravity and reaching the moon in the sky.