Chapter 149: The Daimyo's Visit

The laboratory had been burned down by Ye Shan, and the few people did not stay outside the village and rushed back to Konoha Village. Today was the big day when the Fire Country Daimyo came in person. As a powerful ninja in the village and one of the three chief examiners, Ye Shan should participate in the reception banquet.

When they encountered trees, they climbed and jumped, and when they encountered water, they walked on it. They ran without wasting a moment, and finally arrived at the east gate of Konoha when it was bright.

Several ninjas from the Guard Division who were in charge of security came forward to greet him. The leader said to Ye Shan, "The young clan leader asked me to remind you to rush to the Sarutobi clan's territory immediately. The Daimyo has already taken up residence there."

Ye Shan nodded to indicate that he understood, and said to Uchiha Keiji: "Let's go together. The Daimyo is not a person who is easy to talk to. It will be troublesome if we cause his dissatisfaction."

The Fire Country Daimyo is the most complicated Daimyo among all the Daimyo. This was noticed by Yeshan when he was in charge of investigating the Fire Country's reselling of military rations. The other party has been secretly trying to trip up Konoha Village, but their actions have not touched Sarutobi Hiruzen's bottom line. Otherwise, dethroning and enthroning would be a simple matter for a ninja.

As for the fact that the reception location was the Sarutobi clan's residence instead of the Hokage building, it was actually a gesture of goodwill by Sarutobi Hiruzen. After all, the Hokage's private residence was far more intimate than a public place, and it could also bring the two sides closer together.

However, one of the purposes of this Chunin Exam is to demonstrate the village's military strength, thereby prompting the daimyo to increase military spending. This is doomed to be a bad banquet, and the daimyo is doomed to be unhappy.

But no matter how unhappy the daimyo is, he has to pay not a penny less for the military expenses, unless he wants to lose the protection of the Konoha Village and hand over the territory of the Land of Fire to others.

You should know that the territory of the Land of Fire is located in the center of the Ninja Realm. Not only is the land extremely fertile, but it also has well-developed water and land transportation. It is a real blessed land, a treasure land that the neighboring Wind Country is crying with envy. Such a good territory has contributed to the prosperity of the Land of Fire, but it has also become a target of public criticism. At least the Daimyo of the Wind Country has publicly asked the Land of Fire to allocate a piece of land for the Wind Country to feed its huge population more than once. However, every battle of the Sand Village ended in failure, so his request naturally became a joke.

This is how the ninja world is, or it can be said that every world is like this. If you want good things, you have to have the strength to fight for them, otherwise you are just a clown.

Uchiha Keiji naturally agreed with Ye Shan's words. After giving a few simple instructions to strengthen the vigilance, the two of them went to the Sarutobi clan's territory together.

The Sarutobi clan is the Hokage clan. The clan's land is located in the center of the entire Konoha Village, adjacent to the original Senju clan. It covers a large area, about two-thirds of the Uchiha clan. You have to know that thirty years ago, the Sarutobi clan was still a small ninja clan with only a few thousand people. Now it has grown to such a large scale. It is naturally because of Sarutobi Hiruzen, otherwise the village would have been dissatisfied long ago.

A cup of tea later, Hayama and Uchiha Keiji arrived side by side at the gate of the Sarutobi clan, dressed in festive attire, and happened to meet Tsunade and Jiraiya who had also arrived.

Not long after last night's argument, Ye Shan naturally would not give Master Minato a good look. He just nodded coldly and greeted him, then turned his attention to Tsunade.

Tsunade did not wear her favorite loose clothes today, but wore the Konoha standard vest, which made her look less lazy and casual, and more heroic and capable. Her light yellow hair was tied into two ponytails hanging behind her head, which made Yeshan's eyes light up.

"Where did you go yesterday? You didn't even say hello." Tsunade stepped forward and naturally took Ye Shan's arm. One of her small hands accurately pinched the soft flesh on his waist and twisted it a few times.

Ye Shan's face turned bitter. Of course, he would not say that he was deliberately avoiding her. He said softly, "I was off to preside over the Chunin Exams. I saw that you were sleeping soundly, so I did not disturb you. Why are you blaming me?"

Tsunade narrowed her beautiful eyes, loosened her mischievous hands, and whispered in Ye Shan's ear: "Don't even think about running away tonight, let's try the Shadow Clone together."

"..."

For some reason, Ye Shan felt a sudden pain in his waist. It must be due to the fatigue from running back and forth.

At this time, several Sarutobi clan ninjas came up and respectfully took the four people to the living room to wait. There were quite a few ninjas sitting in the living room, all in military uniforms, and it was obvious that they had received orders from Sarutobi Hiruzen in advance.

The formal attire of a ninja is a standard vest. When attending a banquet to receive a daimyo, you cannot dress casually and must observe all necessary etiquette. After all, everyone is a person of some status.

Ye Shan sat quietly drinking tea, watching the ninjas chatting coldly, without any intention of joining in. In fact, since the death of Shimura Danzo, apart from the ninjas of the Uchiha clan who would greet him, basically no one took the initiative to talk to him, and the factions were clearly divided.

Just as Yeshan was watching with great interest, the arrival of a ninja outside the house caused the conversation in the living room to pause, and everyone became cautious. It was Orochimaru who came.

Ye Shan was delighted. He didn't expect to see Orochimaru again in such a short time. However, he observed everyone's expressions calmly.

It was obvious that everyone was extremely afraid of the infamous cold king Orochimaru. Many of them turned pale and shrank their heads like quails.

"Hey, Orochimaru, sit here." Jiraiya greeted him warmly. He was the only one present who looked relaxed towards Orochimaru, while the others were more or less afraid of him.

"hehe."

Under the gaze of everyone, Orochimaru sat down next to Hayama, making Jiraiya feel ignored.

"How are you, Hayama-kun?"

Ye Shan sneered in his heart. He had no good feelings towards Sarutobi Hiruzen's beloved disciple. After hearing this, he said in a deep voice: "You are sitting in the wrong seat."

It stands to reason that Orochimaru should sit with Jiraiya, and his seat is only second to the high-ranking officials such as Utatane Koharu, representing their status. Hayama sat at the end, surrounded by the heads of some small and medium-sized families, such as the Aburame clan and the Yamanaka clan. It is obviously against the rules for Orochimaru to sit here.

"Don't worry about these details. You know why I'm sitting here. I'm a fussy person, and I remember the fire in the morning. Shouldn't you explain it?"

Ye Shan raised his eyebrows, picked up the teacup and took a sip, not wanting to pay attention to the other party.

In fact, Ye Shan really had nothing to say. Did he have to say openly that he would be destroyed if he couldn't get it?

The conversation between the two was not concealed, and everyone in the living room was sharp-eyed and sharp-eared, so they naturally heard it clearly. They couldn't help but feel very happy. They didn't expect that there was some contradiction between the two, and they all listened attentively with strange eyes.

When Orochimaru saw that Hayama ignored him, he couldn't help but feel angry, but because it was not a good situation to show it, he snorted coldly and stood up and sat next to Jiraiya.

Orochimaru had some awareness that things that were not allowed to be seen in public should not be discussed in public, but he was not going to give up. Ye Shan's fire destroyed the fruits of his labor for more than half a year, and he felt uncomfortable if he didn't vent his anger.

Everyone sat for a while, and when the sun was high in the sky, they were told by the servants that today's banquet was about to begin, so they all perked up and left the living room.

Ye Shan followed the crowd and looked at the surrounding buildings as if he was scouting the terrain. To be honest, although the decoration of the Sarutobi clan's land is not elegant and pleasing to the eye, it has a sense of wealth and is full of nouveau riche. There is no way, the Sarutobi clan is a ninja clan that has only risen in the past 20 years. The temperament in their bones cannot be changed in a short time. It is too difficult to expect them to be as classy as the Uchiha clan.

The arrogance of the Uchiha clan is engraved in their bones and written in their eyes. They have reached the point where they can exude their dignity just by standing there without saying a word. If the Sarutobi clan wanted to get to this point, it would have taken at least five hundred years of struggle.

Even five hundred years would not be enough. After all, the Uchiha clan is the bloodline of the Six Paths Sage, and has been prosperous for thousands of years. How could a small ninja clan dream of matching them?

As Ye Shan walked and looked, he became more and more dissatisfied with the Sarutobi clan. It would be better to use the money to cultivate ninjas instead of decorating the clan land. Otherwise, no matter how prosperous the clan land is, it will always be a castle in the air and will collapse at any time. The prosperity of a family is not displayed by the gorgeous clan land, but by the strength of the family ninjas. To put it bluntly, even if the Uchiha clan is a group of ragged beggars, no one in the whole ninja world will look down on them, because their strength is there.

Ye Shan never thought of buying a luxurious mansion to decorate himself. Firstly, he was a real poor man, the kind of poor man who would hesitate for a long time before going to a restaurant; secondly, there was no need. The ninja world was not a place like the previous life where people speculated on real estate. Just having a place to live was enough. In fact, Uchiha Fugaku mentioned more than once that he wanted to change Ye Shan's house, but he declined every time.

Although the Baiyun family is a second-rate family in Konoha, their residence is the result of the hard work of four generations. Ye Shan grew up here and has never thought about changing his residence.

Soon, everyone arrived outside a magnificently decorated banquet hall and spontaneously lined up to wait for the arrival of the Fire Country Daimyo and Konoha Village's top leaders.

Only a moment later, the sound of Sarutobi Hiruzen and others talking and laughing could be heard from a garden outside the banquet hall. Everyone was cheered up, knowing that the protagonist of today had arrived.

Sure enough, a middle-aged man dressed in aristocratic clothes appeared in everyone's sight accompanied by Sarutobi Hiruzen. Behind him followed Uchiha Shinichi, Mito Kado En, Utane Koharu, Hyuga Munezan and other high-ranking Konoha officials, all of whom had smiles on their faces, as if they were old friends.

"Your Excellency Daimyo, let me introduce you to the ninjas in the village. They are all excellent ninjas from the Land of Fire." Sarutobi Hiruzen said with a smile.

The daimyo picked up a small round fan in his right hand, covered his mouth with it and said with a smile, "Please, Hokage-sama."

The Daimyo is the head of state, the Hokage is the leader of the ninja village. In name, the Hokage is under the command of the Daimyo, but it is only in name. No fool would think that the Daimyo is greater than the Hokage, so it is most appropriate to address him as Your Excellency.

"These three are my apprentices, Orochimaru, Jiraiya, and Tsunade."

The three greeted the daimyo, who nodded without saying anything. There was no reason why he should not know the famous three ninjas, but what really interested him was not any of the people standing in front, but Baiyun Yeshan standing behind.

"These two are Uchiha Clan's young patriarch Uchiha Fugaku, and Root's deputy chief of security, Uchiha Keiji." Sarutobi Hiruzen continued to introduce.

The daimyo became interested and asked with a twinkling look in his eyes, "I heard that there is a ninja named Baiyun Yeshan in the Uchiha clan. I wonder if he is here today?"

Sarutobi Hiruzen's expression changed slightly, and then he smiled and said, "Of course I will."

Ye Shan moved in front of the daimyo and bowed, but said nothing.

The Daimyo narrowed his eyes, looked at Ye Shan for a moment and said with a smile: "It is true that heroes emerge from youth. Konoha Village can rest assured with such a strong man."

As soon as these words came out, everyone's expression tensed up, smelling something unusual. No matter from which aspect, the priority of the three ninjas is higher than that of Baiyun Yeshan. The daimyo praised a ninja from the Uchiha clan like this, and he might have other intentions.

Ye Shan raised his eyebrows and said respectfully, "Your Excellency Daimyo, you are too kind. The prosperity of the Fire Nation cannot be determined by one person, but is the result of the concerted efforts of all people. I, a nobody, am really unworthy of this position."

Sarutobi Hiruzen nodded in satisfaction, and was very satisfied with Ye Shan's answer. No matter how big the disagreement in the village was, at least it could not be revealed in front of outsiders, otherwise it would undoubtedly make a fool of itself.

If there are any family matters, they should be discussed behind closed doors. Once the door is open, brothers should be friendly and respectful to each other, and fathers should be kind and sons should be filial. This is the most basic rule.