Sage

Ch.10

Kawa no Kuni was a large country, at least in comparison to the other so called 'minor' countries. While its economical income couldn't compare to its neighbour Konoha, it was by no means poor. With a border spanning between the lengths of Hi no Kuni and Kaze no Kuni it had exponentially prospered as an outcome of the peace between the two hidden villages. Trade routes through the country were developed and places like Takumi village and the now officially decommissioned Tanigakure became popular tourist hotspots.

Its main export was lumber, similar to that of Hi no Kuni except where they provided bulk and quantity, Kawa no Kuni provided professionalism and quality. Expansive lumber farms of rare and sought after trees spanned the length of the country. Taking advantage of the exhaustive river system that ran through the land the lumber farms were able to float their cargo all the way to the port towns in the south of the country to be shipped off all around the elemental nations.

Naruto stood by one such river, watching with idle interest as large barges filled to the brim with enormous logs of various colour and shape floated by. Despite the hidden village of the country being officially disbanded in favour of services from wither Konoha or Suna, there were many guilds of mercenaries operating in the land. Most of the time they were contracted with protecting the barges from attack; however it rarely came to that; one barge of wood, no matter how rare, was fairly worthless to the average bandit.

Naruto had been following the river for about an hour since leaving the women he had rescued to go back to their village. It was still raining heavily causing the river to swell slightly; there was little chance of it breaking its banks though, most were reinforced against that kind of thing. Kawa no Kuni was a fairly flat land with only a few valleys towards the south of the region. The rivers that had their sources in Iwa's mountains by that point were lazy and meandering; there wasn't a single rapid or waterfall in the entire county.

Floods used to be a fairly common occurrence which was why many villages still bore the protection measures against such events such as walls and special irrigation systems. However the last Daimyo, in an attempt to bolster the countries economical situation had put a plan into action where every river in the country had been converted into a sort of semi-canal. It had nearly bankrupted the country but the rewards were well worth it; no longer having to pay so much for flood protection the people were freer to spend money on other things, contributing the economy more.

Of course Naruto didn't know any of this as he lazily made his way along the bank of the river, his hood up to ward off the rain. Every so often he would pause, an amused smile on his face before continuing on, the soft sound of raindrops and the lap of the river against its banks accompanying his walk.

"Were you ever going to work up the courage to come out?" Naruto almost chuckled as he heard a startled 'eep' from somewhere behind him, well, two trees behind him to be exact. He turned as a young girl sheepishly poked her head out from behind the large oak, a blush on her cheeks for getting caught.

"How long did you know?" Naruto jest gave a small smile as he leaned against his staff, surprising the girl when it didn't sink even an inch into the rain-softened ground.

"What? That you were following me ever since the bandit camp?" The girl hung her head a little, in retrospect she should have probably figured it would be hard to sneak up on somebody capable of taking down an entire bandit camp without a single casualty.

"I-I didn't mean to be sneaky or anything, I was just nervous." Naruto merely maintained his small smile.

"Why didn't you go back to the village with the others?" Suddenly he recognised the girl, she was the one who rallied the others back in the camp. She had long flowing purple hair that was free to flow down her back in a wave and vibrant turquoise eyes. On her body was the tattered remains of what was once probably a rather pretty dress that was now covered in tears and dirt that was gradually being washed off by the rain. .