Chapter 044: An Oddball

The reason Wang Bo detested Konan was mainly because this woman was not a decent person.

This all stemmed from the Second Shinobi World War.

At that time, Konan, along with her two companions, Yahiko and Nagato, were orphans of Amegakure, living a life of uncertainty from one meal to the next.

However, during a battle between Konoha and Amegakure, they were discovered by Jiraiya, one of the Three Ninja of Konoha.

At that time, Jiraiya's companion proposed eliminating them to keep their mission secret.

But Jiraiya refused.

Not only did Jiraiya refuse to kill the three kids, but he also took them as disciples, carefully trained them, turned them into ninja, and gave them a chance to survive in the chaotic world.

It could be said that Jiraiya was not only their teacher but also their savior.

But how did these people repay Jiraiya?

They killed Jiraiya.

Of course, when Nagato and Konan killed Jiraiya, the other kid, Yahiko, was already dead. In fact, it was precisely Yahiko's death that led to Nagato and Konan's descent into darkness.

Once they had fallen, the two showed no mercy even toward their former teacher.

No matter what grievances these two had, this alone was enough for Wang Bo to despise the bastards.

No matter how beautiful Konan was, it could never change the fact that she was ungrateful and repaid kindness with enmity.

For the sake of their plan, they could even kill their teacher.

How truly great of them.

To be honest, if Wang Bo were Jiraiya, he wouldn't have killed them either, but he wouldn't have taught the three kids any skills—raising a pack of ingrates was not acceptable.

Yahiko was their companion, but wasn't Jiraiya also their teacher?

After their companion died, they fell into darkness and even killed their teacher.

If that wasn't ingratitude, what was?

Even though these were future events and Jiraiya was still alive now, Wang Bo still had no goodwill toward Nagato and Konan.

After all, in the original story, they did kill their teacher for their damn ideals, didn't they?

To bring peace to the ninja world, so they had to carry bags of rice up several floors?

Wang Bo just sneered. Fortunately, he was an adult. Although he detested Konan, he didn't show it. Instead, he restrained his inner emotions and put on a businesslike attitude.

I pay to hire your Amegakure ninja, and you dispatch ninja to protect the safety of the hotpot restaurant.

Konan, of course, had no idea what schemes Wang Bo had in mind, nor did she know that this person had a bad impression of her. After repeatedly reviewing Wang Bo's contract and finding no traps, she agreed.

From then on, Wang Bo became a guest of Amegakure.

He paid for safety, and after receiving the protection fee, the other party protected Wang Bo's hotpot restaurant.

It was a win-win situation, a perfect match.

After signing the contract, Wang Bo turned and left Amegakure.

Then, he stayed in the Rain Country for a month. Once the hotpot business there was on track, he began to gather the kids of the Rain Country.

Although the Rain Country was ruled by the Akatsuki organization, it was still in a state of ruin waiting to be rebuilt.

Orphans were everywhere.

Wang Bo gathered several hundred orphans with almost no effort. The vast majority were ordinary people, and only a few could refine chakra.

So Wang Bo left the ordinary ones behind, assigning them to the hotpot restaurant or related businesses, and then took the kids who could refine chakra to the Bird Country.

The Bird Country was also a nation in the Naruto world, with a land area roughly the same as the Rain Country.

It was a small country.

But this country was different from the Rain Country. Although the Rain Country was small, it still had Amegakure. The Bird Country, however, had no Bird Ninja Village.

In fact, this country had no ninja village at all.

The ninja in this country were mostly rogue ninja, and their numbers were pitifully small—the kind that, once drawn into war, might face national extinction in just a few days.

So the Bird Country's stance was very clear.

No matter how the ninja world stirred things up, the Bird Country would absolutely not participate.

Fortunately, the previous ninja wars had mostly involved other ninja attacking Konoha, so although the Bird Country was close to the Earth Country and the Wind Country, it hadn't been too affected.

After all, the Earth Country and the Wind Country rarely clashed.

The Bird Country survived in the cracks between the two countries and still lived quite comfortably.

After entering the Bird Country, Wang Bo quickly spread his hotpot business throughout it. However, since the Bird Country had no ninja village, once the business was on track, Wang Bo soon left the Bird Country and entered the Wind Country.

He decided to hire ninja from the Wind Country to guard the business in the Bird Country.

At the same time, Wang Bo also opened hotpot restaurants in the Wind Country.

Although the Wind Country was one of the five great nations in the ninja world, and its Sunagakure was one of the five great ninja villages, with a land area not inferior to the Fire Country—even the largest among the five—unfortunately, its geographical environment was unfavorable.

Most of the Wind Country's territory was desert, which meant the country lacked everything.

It lacked food, water, and population, and even rainfall was scarce.

Despite its vast area, it was still not as prosperous as the Fire Country.

Most of the population was concentrated in desert oases. Due to environmental reasons, it could never develop; once the population became excessive, it couldn't sustain itself.

So Sunagakure in the Wind Country had attacked the Fire Country and the Earth Country several times.

But the results were unsatisfactory.

After all, not long after Hiruzen Sarutobi took office, Konoha had not yet crippled itself and was powerful enough to dominate all the ninja villages.

Sunagakure in the Wind Country was naturally no match and was repeatedly crushed.

Later, after Sunagakure surrendered, it paid a large war indemnity to Konoha.

The Daimyo of the Wind Country, enraged, cut Sunagakure's military budget, which led to a decline in Sunagakure's strength. Unable to train more ninja, they had to adopt an elite policy, thus giving birth to oddballs like Gaara.

After spreading his hotpot business throughout the Wind Country, Wang Bo soon entered Sunagakure and signed a contract with its leader.

Faced with tens of millions of ryo annually, the current Kazekage, Gaara's father, naturally couldn't ignore it and instead warmly received Wang Bo.

After some formalities, both parties were thoroughly pleased.

The Kazekage even dispatched a few female ninja, attempting to use seduction techniques to keep Wang Bo in Sunagakure.

But was Wang Bo that kind of person?

He resolutely refused, of course!