The midday sun in Konoha is completely different from that in the capital of the Land of Fire.
Kong stood under a ginkgo tree at the village entrance, her long, gray hair fluttering slightly in the morning breeze.
He was dressed in ordinary traveler's clothes, with his Forehead Protector tucked into his lapel, making him look like a boy from another village.
No one questioned him, and no one gave him a second glance.
He surveyed the ninja village.
There were no gray city walls, no armored warriors, and no flame-embroidered banners fluttering in the wind atop the watchtowers.
All that could be seen were houses scattered about in a haphazard way, ninjas leaping and darting across the rooftops, and a florist putting fresh Himawari into a bucket by the door.
Everything seemed so peaceful.
A commotion arose from the street corner.
Following the sound, Kong saw three people stumbling Earth Flow of a restaurant with the sign "Yakiniku Q".
A young man wearing a green bodysuit and sporting a watermelon-shaped hairstyle was wandering around the street, gesturing wildly, his cheeks flushed and reeking of alcohol.
"Youth! Youth is—hiccup—burning even when drunk!"
He waved his fists, his steps unsteady as if he were walking on cotton, yet he still managed to walk with an air of utter indifference.
" Rock Lee, stop right there!" A girl chased after him, a piece of grilled meat still stuck in her hair. "I told you that the cup didn't contain juice! But you wouldn't listen!"
A boy with Byakugan walked at the back, the veins on his forehead throbbing slightly.
" Neji, stop him from the left!" the girl shouted at the boy with the Byakugan.
"Okay, Tenten, the right side is yours."
The one called Tenten rushed forward, threw out a scroll, and several Kunai with steel wires flew out, trying to entangle Rock Lee.
But Rock Lee, his eyes blurry with Kunai, leaned back, and the kunai grazed his nose. He then executed a backflip, bracing himself with his hands on the ground, his legs tracing an exaggerated arc in the air, all the while shouting, "That was close! That was close!"
"What a close call!" Tenten stomped her feet in anger.
After landing, Rock Lee chuckled and suddenly pushed off with his feet, instantly teleporting to a rooftop ten meters away.
However, the alcohol in his system made him stagger, and the direction he dodged was tilted at a forty-five-degree angle. He crashed into the fruit stand on the street corner like a green cannonball.
With a loud bang, the apple and orange flew into the sky.
The fruit stall cart was knocked over and fell to the ground, the freshly arranged strawberries were scattered all over the ground, and the watermelon was split in two, with red juice flowing down the cracks in the stone slabs.
Rock Lee was sprawled in the pile of fruit, clutching a mango he had smashed in his hand, his face covered in fruit pulp, muttering, "Another cup, please."
The stall owner was a burly middle-aged woman with the words "800 House" printed on her apron. She looked down at her completely destroyed stall and remained silent for a full three seconds.
Then she raised her head, her eyes blazing with a fury even more intense than Rock Lee's youthful passion.
"I just got my hands on some new stock today!!"
The aunt grabbed Rock Lee by the ear and lifted him out of the pile of fruit.
Rock Lee felt the pain and sobered up considerably. He instinctively tried to break free, but slipped and knocked over the bamboo basket of persimmons next to him. The golden persimmons rolled all over the ground, and two of them rolled into the roadside ditch.
The woman's temples bulged with veins, and she tightened her grip on her ear by three points.
"You--pay--!"
"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!" Rock Lee was in so much pain that tears were almost streaming down his face, and his drunkenness had completely dissipated.
"You think paying compensation is enough? You'd better pick up all the good fruit, one by one! The rotten ones are yours too!" The aunt's voice was shrill and loud, audible throughout the whole street. "So young and already doing bad things, drinking! Acting like a drunkard! What class are you in? Who's your Jonin teacher? I'm going to settle the score with him!"
When Tenten and Neji arrived at the scene, this was what they saw: Konoha's Taijutsu genius, a hot-blooded young man who could open Five Gates, was being verbally abused by a fruit vendor, who was pulling his ear and yelling at him. He was huddled up like a quail that had been soaked in the rain.
Just as Tenten was about to step forward to plead for them, he suddenly felt a gust of wind coming from behind him.
A green figure descended from the sky.
"Ada--!"
A large foot clad in wooden clogs landed precisely on Rock Lee's face, sending him flying from the woman's grasp. He tumbled three times in the air before crashing heavily into the wall across the street, slowly sliding down and leaving a human-shaped dent in the wall.
The ninja in the watermelon rind landed steadily, hands on his hips, thick eyebrows furrowed, and tears glistening in the corners of his eyes.
"Li! I've taught you this before! Youth can be passionate, but passion is no excuse to damage someone else's fruit stand!" His voice was impassioned, as if he were delivering a pre-battle speech. "Your actions today have tarnished the word 'youth'! Your punishment is to run one hundred laps around Konoha handstands!"
Rock Lee scrambled to his feet, a clear shoe print on his face, stood ramrod straight, and shouted with tears in his eyes, "Yes! Guy-sensei!"
Tenten and Neji exchanged a glance and sighed simultaneously. But despite their sighs, the two obediently Earth Flow the fruit stand and, together with Rock Lee who had just climbed back from the wall, stood in a row and bowed deeply to the fruit vendor.
"We're so sorry!" the three voices said in unison.
Neji took out his wallet and presented the compensation money with both hands, speaking respectfully, "Auntie, this is the loss caused to you by our classmates. Please check if it's enough. If not, I'll go get more."
Without saying a word, Rock Lee squatted down and began picking up the apples one by one.
Pick one up, wipe it clean on your body, and neatly stack it back in the basket.
The woman took the money, looked at the three earnest-looking teenagers, and then glanced at Kai, who stood with his hands on his hips and a righteous expression. Her anger subsided considerably. She waved her hand dismissively. "Alright, alright, don't cause trouble in the street next time! Do you hear me!"
"I heard you!" Rock Lee's voice was the loudest.
Kong stood not far away, his pupils slightly contracted. This was unimaginable in his world.
Three ninjas, one of whom had activated the Byakugan, clearly an elite member of the Hyuga Clan.
He bowed to a powerless fruit-selling woman, apologized, paid compensation, and squatted on the ground to pick up the fruit.
Wasn't that woman afraid of them?
These ninjas showed no anger at being offended; they simply admitted their mistake and made amends.
In his mind, ninjas were people who possessed extraordinary powers, and ordinary people should be respectful and bow their heads to make way for them.
But it's not like that here. People here live in the same houses, walk the same streets, and if they knock over a fruit stand, they still have to pay compensation and apologize.
There are no nobles here, and no rules that require people to kneel and bow.
He looked away, forcing himself not to think about these things. His target was the Hokage Building.
The Hokage Building is a round, red building, with the flame emblem on its roof gleaming in the sunlight.
Kong stood under a tree across the street, his gaze passing through the pedestrians and landing on the largest window on the third floor.
The new Hokage Shinsei, is probably behind that window.
Kong did not approach rashly, but merely observed.
Two ninjas stood guard at the main entrance, and patrolling ninjas would occasionally pass by on the rooftop.
Just then, he sensed someone behind him.
Kong suddenly turned around, his hand already reaching for the Kunai at his waist. But behind him wasn't an Anbu Ninja, but a woman.
The woman was dressed in a plain-colored kimono, her long hair cascading over her shoulders, her face pale, and her lips painted with light purple lipstick.
Her eyes were golden, with vertical pupils, like those of some kind of reptile. She stared into the air, a slight upturn at the corners of her mouth.
"Oh dear, did I scare you? I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to." The woman's voice was hoarse and languid, with the last syllable drawn out.
"Who are you?"
"You can call me Aunt Snake." The woman tilted her head, stuck out her long tongue, and licked her lips.