“If the Land of Waves is at peace, then it is a peace built out of a pile of banknotes seized by stomping on these impoverished people,” Garyo said. “Can you really say that there is no hatred or sadness in this land?”
He had no reply.
The masked ninja spoke instead. Quickly crouching down, Naruto’s opponent hit the surface of the earth with the palm of one hand. “Ice Style! Chains of Earthen Ice!”
“What?!”
The shock wave rumbled in his stomach as it raced forward, splitting the ground. Countless icicles sprouted from below and spread out in the cave, piercing the ceiling but carefully avoiding where Naruto and Garyo stood. In the blink of an eye, his escape route had been blocked off.
“So long as there is a hint of moisture in the air, I can freeze anything with my Earth Chain Ice.” The ninja’s voice was low and hoarse through the mask. “And now, you have nowhere to go… Hand Garyo over.”
Enemy ninja steadily gathered around them.
“I feel sorry for your son.”
A moment of silence passed.
“But I just can’t get on board with what you guys are doing,” Naruto said. “You kill people who won’t give up their freedom, and that’s supposed to make everyone left happy? All that’s gonna do is breed new hatred.”
“There is no revolution without pain,” his enemy said from within the hook mask. “These are the birth pangs necessary to create a new order.”
“There has to be some other way.”
“You don’t actually intend to debate this here.”
Naruto didn’t bother to answer.
“If you won’t come to me, I’ll have to make you.”
“Sorry, but I’m not interested in fighting you,” Naruto said. He wrapped an arm around Garyo, kicked at the ground, and flew upward.
“So you run!” A heartbeat later, the masked ninja also danced up into space, quickly moving deft fingers in tiny gestures. “Ice Sword!”
A sound like shattering glass echoed through the mountains. The water in the air condensed to become countless daggers of ice, all headed straight for Naruto. The tips glittered under the light of the moon.
But Naruto was the one grinning.
The ice swords were about to carve through him when a black whirlwind abruptly snatched Naruto and Garyo away. Slicing through empty air, the ice swords plunged into the stone wall.
Skreeee! A bird’s cry reverberated in the ravine.
Landing, the masked ninja looked up with white-hot eyes as Garyo was whisked away by the black bird.
“Nice timing!”
“That went well, huh?”
On the back of the enormous phoenix, Naruto and Sai slapped the palms of their hands together.
∞
“It’s already been six years since then, huh? So then that means I was still twelve! That was our first job as Team Seven. Kakashi was there, Sakura was there, even Sasuke was there.”
“Only six years,” Inari corrected Naruto. He was supposedly fourteen, but he had a much more adult air to him than Naruto. A leather tool bag hung from his hip, filled with hammers and saws and other implements. “In just six years, the Land of Waves has completely changed. Naruto, you’ve noticed it, right? I mean, you…”
“Are you talking about this right hand of mine?”
Inari looked away. In the fight with Sasuke, Naruto had lost his right arm above the elbow.
“Thing like this, it’s no big deal!” Naruto opened his mouth wide and laughed heartily. “I got something way more precious than an arm.”
“…Is it always going to be like that?”
“Right now, Auntie Tsunade’s making me a prosthetic. So don’t worry, Inari.”
“She is…?”
“What’s more important is, how’re things in the Land of Waves?”
“That time… The time I first met you, me and Grandpa and everyone, we all believed we’d be happy as long as we could build the Great Naruto Bridge,” Inari said, flashing a sad smile. “But thanks to the bridge, we got more traffic, sales got better, and more people got rich. So then everyone ended up totally focused on money. I mean, it’s not unusual at all now to see guys who’ll do anything for money, like Gato.”
“Before, when I saw you just for a minute, that was…?”
“When we went to repair the damage Pain did to Konohagakure.”
“We didn’t get a chance to really talk then. Huh, so that’s what the Land of Waves is like now?”
In the silence, Naruto looked down on the grave markers of Momochi Zabuza and Haku nestled against each other. The rough markers, simple pieces of wood in the shape of a cross, did indeed have the days and nights of six years carved into them. Kakashi had thrust the Executioner’s Blade into the ground next to Zabuza’s grave, only for it to be carried off by Sasuke’s companion Suigetsu.
The wind cut through the grassy field, causing the indigenous cosmos flowers to shudder.
Naruto stretched with a grunt. “Reminds me, how’s old man Tazuna? He doing okay?”
After hesitating slightly, Inari blurted out, “He’s been holed up in the shipbuilder’s at the port, putting the finishing touches on Tobishachimaru.”
“Is he making a new ship?”
“Yes, but one that flies.”
“Huh?”
“The Land of Waves right now is trying to build a new transport system. Once the Tobishachimaru is complete, the Land of Waves will become the number one transport hub in the world. Using air routes, we’ll be able to deliver in a few hours packages that right now take boats or people several days to transport.” Inari’s tone was, in contrast to the tale of economic prosperity he was telling, somehow cold with a hint of self-derision. “It’s actually still a secret, but I think it’s okay for me to tell you, Naruto. Once the first ship is complete, there’s going to be an unveiling and a sightseeing trip with all the most important people in the Land of Waves invited. To show everyone the marvel that is the Tobishachimaru and get more money, you know? And once they collect more money, they’re going to just keep building new ships and then sell them to the five major nations. And this is still a secret too, but my grandpa and them said Konohagakure was asked to do security during the sightseeing flight.”
“I know some shinobi can fly, but…can they really make a boat that flies?”
“Well, while the five great nations were spending all their time in war, the Land of Waves continued to develop new technologies.”
“Is the ship big?”
“I think the one Grandpa and them are building now can hold about fifty or sixty people. If they just had the money, they could make something much bigger.”
“So just how are they gonna make a big boat like that fly?”
“You can just think of it as a big balloon,” Inari said. “They fill this balloon with a gas that’s lighter than air, and then below it, there’s an iron basket that holds people and things. It’s called a gondola; it’s attached to the underside of the balloon. At the tail of the boat, there are six propellers used to push the ship through the air.”
What popped into Naruto’s mind was the image of a bamboo basket with many tiny balloons attached to it. He got to it floating in the air without any issues, but then a large flock of crows came flying out of nowhere and popped the balloons with many loud bangs. And then the people tumbled out of the bamboo basket and fell upside down straight down into hell.
“No way I’m stepping into anything like that!” A shudder ran through his entire body. “Inviting all the bigwigs—you sure it’s really safe?”
“They’re doing a million test flights.”
“So? You’re not into it, Inari?”
“…Huh?”
“It’s written all over your face.” Naruto shrugged. “That the truth is you could live without a boat that flies.”
“…Yeah.” Inari dropped his eyes. “It’s true that there’ll be lots of money coming into the Land of Waves once they finish the Tobishachimaru.”
“And you’re not so keen on that?”
“It’s fine.”
Naruto raised a skeptical eyebrow.
“But I think a lot of people’ll show up to work on it.” Inari raised his head and looked directly at Naruto. “Right from the start, our Land of Waves has made its living via transport. The people who have carried the burden of those commodities on their shoulders, the people who have carried them in ships, they’ll probably all be out of work. And then what happens? Everyone starts to hate the Tobishachimaru. They start to hate us, the carpenters, who built a thing like this.”
Money! Money! Money! Garyo’s voice sprang to life in Naruto’s ears. If the Land of the Waves is at peace, then it is a peace built out of a pile of banknotes seized by stomping on these impoverished people.
Seeing Naruto’s serious face, Inari changed the subject. “By the way, thanks for catching Garyo. His gang was against building the Tobishachimaru right from the start. They attacked the carpenters I don’t know how many times; they even killed some people. So Garyo was sent to Hozuki Castle?”
“Yeah, probably.”
Hozuki Castle was a containment facility for prisoners, built in Kusagakure and paid for by the five principal territories. Naturally, all five managed it cooperatively.
Several years earlier, Naruto had been charged with a certain mission and infiltrated Hozuki Castle. In the events of that time, the castle had been completely destroyed, and he knew that it was Inari and the carpenters of the Land of Waves who had repaired it.
“Speaking of that, you got tossed into Hozuki Castle once, right, Naruto? You peeked into the ladies’ bath, huh?”
“I’m telling you that was my mission!”
Inari took one look at Naruto and his bulging eyes and laughed.
His laughter was infectious, and Naruto joined in. “Well, anyway, the world just keeps changing, you know?” He kept talking, grinning. “Money’s just like kunai or ninjutsu: it’s good or bad depending on how you use it, maybe.”
Inari nodded.
“You use that money the right way, and you’ll probably help out a ton of people,” Naruto said. “I don’t really know, but I figure that’s maybe the best way to fight back against guys like Garyo.”