Chapter 052: The Village Hidden in the Mist

Meanwhile, Wang Bo had been in this world for a full three years.

His business had spread across many countries of the ninja world, making him one of the wealthiest merchants in the world.

After his business had spread throughout the Land of Water, he finally arrived at the Village Hidden in the Mist, ready to sign a contract with the Mist ninja.

In simple terms, it was paying a protection fee so that the Mist ninja would protect his hot pot restaurant from ordinary forces and allow it to proceed smoothly.

When Wang Bo arrived at the Village Hidden in the Mist, a ninja had already been waiting for him at the village gate for some time.

And that person was none other than the future Mizukage, Terumi Mei.

"Welcome to the Village Hidden in the Mist."

Over the past few months, Terumi Mei had gathered intelligence from all over the ninja world and gained a comprehensive understanding of Wang Bo. In her eyes, Wang Bo was undoubtedly a strong man devoted to business.

In the few years since Wang Bo had come to the Naruto world, he had been busy expanding his career, either opening hot pot restaurants or adopting and training children.

So in the eyes of others, he was a qualified merchant.

Moreover, the identity he had taken over, Igarashi Chiba, was originally a spice merchant, so no matter how others investigated, the result was always that Wang Bo was a merchant.

Since he was a merchant, there was no need to be wary of him.

And as for the children Wang Bo trained, there was even less need to be cautious.

In the eyes of the major ninja villages, they were just a bunch of kids. The oldest had only been trained for three years. No matter how talented, how talented could they be?

Could they match a jonin?

And how many jonin did each major village have? How many jonin were there in the ninja world?

So Wang Bo's strength was not taken seriously by any ninja village. After all, Wang Bo had only been developing for three years, while other villages had developed for at least fifty years.

And the predecessors of the ninja villages were the great clans, which had already risen to fame in the Warring States period.

Who would be wary of a merchant?

Moreover, in the eyes of others, the children Wang Bo trained were not meant to disrupt the ninja world but to protect his own business.

Once these children grew up, they could take over from the major ninja villages and protect his industries, instead of him having to pay tens of millions of ryo every year to hire ninja from the villages.

Under these circumstances, even the isolated Village Hidden in the Mist welcomed Wang Bo's arrival and even sent a woman like Terumi Mei to receive him.

After all, Wang Bo was there to bring money.

The Mizukage of the Mist Village had been controlled by someone for years, throwing the entire village into chaos, so most people's lives were not good. Now that Wang Bo was coming to bring money, everyone was naturally happy.

Along the way, Terumi Mei smiled like a flower. Though she didn't go out of her way to please Wang Bo, she never wore a dark face.

And Wang Bo, treating others as they treated him, spoke wittily, making Terumi Mei laugh heartily.

"I didn't expect Lord Igarashi to be such a humorous person," Terumi Mei said with a very surprised expression.

Wang Bo calmly replied, "A merchant must have a wide circle of acquaintances. If you make enemies everywhere, how can you do business? Don't you agree, Miss Terumi Mei?"

Terumi Mei smiled slightly and suddenly stopped, pointing at the building ahead. "The Mizukage Building is here, Lord Igarashi."

Wang Bo made a gesture of invitation.

"Please lead the way, Miss Terumi Mei."

Terumi Mei nodded and led Wang Bo into the Mizukage Building, where he once again met the Fourth Mizukage, Yagura.

Although Yagura was controlled by Obito Uchiha, bringing shame to the Mist Village, he was still the village's leader, the perfect Three-Tails jinchuriki, and had not yet been ousted.

He was still the Mizukage now and would not die until a few years later.

At that time, the power of the Mist Village would fall into the hands of the elder Genji.

"Lord Igarashi, we meet again."

Upon seeing Wang Bo, Yagura nodded slightly without putting on airs, as he was well aware of Wang Bo's strength—he could even defeat that mysterious man.

He himself, as the Three-Tails jinchuriki, was nothing.

Wang Bo nodded and said, "Seeing that you are in good health, Lord Mizukage, I am very pleased. I assume you already know the purpose of my visit. Do you have any opinions?"

Yagura shook his head and said, "We have no objections. It is our honor that Lord Igarashi is willing to employ us, so we are willing to sign a contract with you."

"That's great!" Wang Bo clapped his hands happily. "In that case, let's begin."

Yagura naturally would not refuse.

Wang Bo took out the contract he had signed with the Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, modified a few clauses—most importantly the employment fee—and handed it to Yagura. "See if you can accept this."

Yagura took the document and glanced over it. It seemed there was nothing unacceptable, but he still negotiated with Wang Bo over the price.

The Land of Water was the smallest among the five great nations, but unlike the Land of Wind, which was mostly desert, the Land of Water had decent terrain.

Thus, its cities were somewhat more prosperous than those of the Land of Wind.

Even so, Wang Bo had not opened many hot pot restaurants there, so naturally the price could not match that of the Land of Fire.

Yagura knew this too, but he was still unwilling to give up and wanted to secure a higher price for the Mist Village.

After all, the Mist Village was indeed in ruins and needed a lot of money to restore its glory.

After some debate, they finally settled on thirty million ryo.

That was even less than the bounty on Asuma Sarutobi's head.

But this money was almost like found money, so Yagura agreed.

Moreover, at that time, the bounty on Asuma Sarutobi's head was not yet that high, and more importantly, this money came every year, while Asuma Sarutobi's head was only one.

Ahem... getting off track.

After signing the contract with Yagura, Wang Bo, following his usual practice, took a tour of the Mist Village and even opened a hot pot restaurant there to earn money from the Mist ninja.

On the opening day, even Mizukage Yagura did Wang Bo the honor of attending the opening ceremony and dining there.

Wang Bo reciprocated by waiving the bill for that meal, demonstrating their friendship.

However, before leaving the hot pot restaurant, Yagura suddenly caught sight of Haku and couldn't help asking, "Is that a member of the Yuki clan?"

Wang Bo did not hide it and nodded. "Yes, Haku is indeed from the Yuki clan."