Naruto: Passerby and Returnee

Chapter 225 Preparations by All Parties

Driven by intense curiosity, everyone tried every single attraction at the water park, using the excuse of checking the safety of the rides. For the ninjas, most of the games were nothing special, except for the roller coaster, which was a bit of a thrill. However, despite saying they were bored, everyone would rush there during their breaks, forcing Naruto to ask Haku to arrange a group ticket. They couldn't just play without paying, could they?

Since that mission, the Land of Waves had indeed enjoyed a long period of peace. This little, unremarkable country shouldn't have received so much attention; it was only because Kado was stirring things up that things turned out that way. Now, the biggest obstacle was gone, and the port was completed, making it more than enough to support their small population. Because of the small population and limited arable land, they didn't implement the land redistribution policies common in other places. Instead, they concentrated the residents near the port, using the port and fishing to meet the employment needs of most people, with only a small number of technicians responsible for overseeing the experimental project of seawater rice.

Judging from the current situation, this model is quite successful. The Land of Waves not only weathered the difficult period peacefully, but also achieved the miracle of its net income increasing several times over in a single year. When the tourism plan was first announced, the bridge in the Land of Waves had only recently been completed, and a large number of skilled workers returned to the cities, causing a brief wave of unemployment. Fortunately, the households in the Land of Waves had been well-off in recent years, so short-term unemployment did not affect their quality of life, but it wouldn't last long either.

So, after spending half a year studying away from home, Tazuna suddenly had a brilliant idea: an amusement park combining a bridge and a track. His idea was certainly good, even receiving some comments and suggestions from Lord Jinlun, such as adding curves and sharp bends to the track. Creating a physical replica would indeed require some technical skill, but don't underestimate the architectural team Hui had painstakingly assembled! They were seasoned veterans, having built houses, roads, and bridges across various terrains. A bridge-and-track amusement park was a piece of cake for them; it was simply a gravity-driven device!

However, the development of technology is truly wondrous. While the Ministry of Construction was creating a model for demonstration, someone in the R&D department had their eye on the idea. They painstakingly built a scaled-down version of the steam engine, but was the enlarged version truly useless? It was indeed difficult to get something on wheels to drag a "large water tank" all over the place, but what if they added tracks? Thus, the prototype blueprints for the train were born in the R&D department.

Naruto was quite shocked when he saw it, because he hadn't even started guiding it, and the technology had already blossomed on its own. Moreover, the direction of this blossoming was different from the futuristic trams; it was a vehicle that could theoretically run as long as there was fuel and tracks, making it applicable to far more areas than trams!

Naruto himself probably can't even imagine how brilliant this technology will be in the future; he's just a leader responsible for signing off on the proposals.

"The Land of Waves has sent you an invitation. Zabuza said he misses Lord Kinrin terribly and hopes you can come and personally inspect their work." Izuna presented a scroll that looked quite unusual, his face beaming with joy. "As the leader, you should indeed attend such an important festival to boost morale. Don't you think so?"

"...I understand, I'll make time to go." Naruto felt that no matter what he said, he would be ridiculed, so he simply ignored it and put the scroll away.

Izuna immediately pursed his lips. This kid is getting harder and harder to coax; he completely avoids obvious pitfalls. Is that a good thing or a bad thing?

"Just showing your face on the last day doesn't count as going," Izuna said, turning to leave.

It wasn't that these veterans were resistant to new things; rather, they were the ones who inspected the site on the day of its initial completion. The initial version of the amusement park was far more thrilling than the current one. After coming down, they found no problems whatsoever, even feeling a bit unsatisfied. However, this caused a major problem for the next batch of experimental technicians. When they came down, they were unsteady on their feet and insisted on removing several large bends and lowering the overall height. Inspection accidents are, of course, considered work-related injuries, and they even dispatched the best ninja doctors in the entire Hui region, assigning these culprits to help take care of them.

Ordinary people are relatively vulnerable. This accident is a good opportunity for our predecessors to truly understand this principle.

"Wait, Izuna-kun, I need to bring someone with me. How long has it been since Uncle Fugaku went out?" Naruto suddenly said.

"If you mean going out on official business, then it must have been more than half a year ago." Izuna was beginning to understand Naruto's thoughts. "Are you planning to officially distinguish between 'Radiance' and 'East Wind'?"

"This is a good opportunity to maintain a relatively mild stance externally. The Land of Waves owes its current status to the aid of 'East Wind,' but the country's leadership must not be influenced by a mere commercial company. Before anyone equates them with something else, let's quickly dispel this rumor!"

At this time, there are ten days left before the festival officially begins, five days before the Konoha team arrives in the Land of Waves, nine days before Naruto goes to the Land of Rice Fields to pick up Sasuke, and seventeen days before the festival ends.

A year and a half later, Naruto is going to appear in the Land of Waves with two identities at the same time again. At first, he planned to just use a clone to make up the numbers, but when he went to pick up Sasuke, he ended up picking up Karin instead.

Karin had sensed him as the true form of "Golden Wheel" before; that was when he was at full power, using almost all of his chakra except Kurama's. You can imagine how terrifying he was to Karin's perception. Now, he rarely uses Sage Mode to maintain "Golden Wheel's" golden eyes because his own chakra is already incredibly powerful, and using Sage Mode would be too much of a burden. While in Konoha, he would have Kurama mix his power into his own chakra, but outside Konoha, he would either use only his own or add Sage Mode chakra to create a significant difference between "Naruto's" and "Golden Wheel's" chakra, thus avoiding revealing his identity. This method fooled the Senju clan's perception, but the Uzumaki clan hadn't tried it yet.

Therefore, he couldn't just make do with any clone he created for the Land of Waves. He needed to create a sufficiently powerful clone and maintain Sage Mode at all times to avoid being exposed. Fortunately, his planned trip only lasted three days; any longer and he wouldn't have been able to endure it.

Having a dual identity is truly a disaster. When will I be able to walk out of the house openly and honestly?