Chapter 279 Konoha Grand Hotel
Chapter 279 Konoha Grand Hotel
As time went by, the opening of the first Chunin Exams, jointly held by the five great ninja villages, was fast approaching.
The villages that came to take the exam arrived in Konoha one after another.
In the new Konoha district, carriages bearing the symbols of various ninja villages and mythical beast mounts gradually entered this land that had been redefined.
The Cloud Village delegation stopped in front of a fifteen-story glass curtain wall building, where four large characters on the sign gleamed in the sunlight: Konoha Grand Hotel.
The Fourth Raikage, A, stepped off the carriage, his feet landing on the perfectly smooth asphalt road.
He looked up, his gaze sweeping over the massive glass curtain wall that reflected the sky and clouds, and the muscles at the corner of his eye twitched slightly.
"Wow! Wow! The glass is so high, the sunlight is shining! The buildings in Konoha are really tall! Yeah!"
As soon as Killer Bee, wearing sunglasses, jumped out of the car, he started waving his arms and performing an impromptu rap towards the glass curtain wall with strange steps.
The seven short swords behind him clashed together with his movements, producing a crisp sound.
"Shut up, you idiot." Ai glared at him, her face dark. "Don't embarrass yourself here."
"When Big Brother gets angry, he's like a spinning top! I'm not talking, I'm just looking at the scenery! Yeah!" Killer Bee made a zipping gesture, but his body was still swaying slightly with some non-existent rhythm.
"Lord Raikage, please come this way."
A Konoha assistant administrator in a dark blue uniform stepped forward and politely extended his hand to lead the way.
There was simply not enough manpower, so Nishikawa Tetsu coordinated with some of the assistant security guards who were not doing security work to receive foreign guests.
Ai remained silent and strode towards the door.
Two enormous, completely transparent glass doors slid open automatically to the sides when they were a meter away from him, accompanied by an extremely faint motor whirring sound.
A chilling aura, as cold as the Arctic, swept over them, instantly dispelling the sweltering heat of midsummer and causing several Cloud Village genin behind Ai to shiver.
The lobby floor is paved with gleaming marble, and overhead hangs a huge, luxurious crystal chandelier.
Behind the reception desk, several receptionists in uniform were smiling as they entered information.
The accompanying Cloud Village Jonin, Tsuchida, walked to the front desk and took several square hard cards printed with barcodes.
"Not a key?" Ai glanced at the plastic card.
"The people from Konoha say this is called an electronic room key; you can open the door by simply sticking it on the doorknob." Tsuchida distributed the cards to the team behind him.
In the group, a girl from the Hidden Clouds with long, straight beige hair and wearing a high-necked bodysuit took the room key and her gaze lingered on the magnetic strip on the back of the card for a moment.
"Can the safety of a room with a plastic door be guaranteed?" The two teak figures frowned slightly, their eyes scrutinizing her. They flipped the room card between their fingers, while the blond boy standing next to her looked at the card in his hand with curiosity.
As the assistant led them to the elevator, he explained, "Friends from Cloud Village, these room cards were developed by the research institute using microcurrent and magnetic recognition technology. Although they aren't as intuitive as chakra barriers, they are very difficult to crack using conventional unlocking methods."
"Moreover, the hotel's public areas are basically covered by surveillance cameras, so there's no need to worry about security."
Teakman nodded, even though she didn't understand at all.
A young female ninja from Kumogakure, with short blonde hair and a short sword on her back, looked up at the top of the elevator doors. There was a small screen there, where red numbers were scrolling down from 15.
"bite."
The elevator doors slid open to both sides.
"Please enter the elevator, everyone." The assistant manager gestured for them to proceed.
Ai led the way inside, looking at the metal panel covered in numbers. The assistant pressed the button with the number 12 on it, and the elevator shuddered slightly, sending a faint sensation of weightlessness through the room.
A's leg muscles tensed instinctively, his chakra circulated within him for a moment, then he forcefully suppressed it. He stared at the ever-rising floor numbers, his thick fingers slowly clenching at his sides.
The speed was steady, with no chakra fluctuations. Pure mechanical force effortlessly propelled dozens of people into the air.
Yunyin is not without elevators, but those wooden frames that rely on rough pulleys and manual labor are really outdated compared to the quiet and efficient metal box in front of them.
Stepping out of the elevator, the corridor was covered with thick carpets, making it feel completely silent underfoot.
Ai used that plastic card to stick it on the door.
Drop~
With a soft click, the door lock popped open.
The room was filled with air conditioning and luxuriously decorated.
Through the huge floor-to-ceiling windows, the bustling cityscape of the entire new Konoha center is laid out before you.
The streets were bustling with traffic, and although the colorful neon signs were not lit during the day, the dense commercial atmosphere had already enveloped the entire area like a giant net.
Ai walked to the floor-to-ceiling window and looked down at the crowd of people below, who looked like ants.
"Tutai."
"exist."
"How much money has Konoha actually made in the past few years?"
Tsuchikage followed Raikage's gaze, his Adam's apple bobbing.
"It is immeasurable."
……
Compared to the silence of the Cloud Village, the Sand Village delegation was even quieter as they walked through the commercial street.
Chiyo walked along the flat street, leaning on her cane. The bottom of the cane tapped against the asphalt, making a crisp "tap, tap" sound.
There was no endless yellow sand, no cracked earthen walls.
Along both sides of the street, automatic sprinkler systems hidden in the green belts are regularly spraying a fine mist of water, refracting faint rainbows in the sunlight. The mist falls on the skin, bringing a luxurious coolness.
In the Land of Wind, water is life, a strategic resource that must be fought for with blood.
Here, Konoha transforms water into mist for cooling and watering flowers, casually sprinkling it across the streets.
Chiyo stopped in her tracks, her cloudy eyes fixed on the row of automatically rotating nozzles.
Beside her, Yoko, an elite Jonin from Sunagakure, followed Chiyo's gaze. This female ninja, renowned on the battlefield for her Scorch Release techniques, now looked at the mist with extremely complex emotions.
"Elder Chiyo..." Ye Cang said in a low voice, his voice tinged with bitterness.
"Let's go." Chiyo withdrew her gaze, tapping her cane on the ground again, concealing all the emotions in her eyes. "Looking any longer won't do any good."
The group continued onward, and a long line formed in front of an ice cream shop by the roadside. Several Konoha children, holding colorful ice cream cones, chased and played with each other, their clear laughter piercing through the crowd and running past the Sunagakure group.
Among the Sunagakure genin, the boy Maki, whose face still bore a hint of childishness, couldn't help but turn his head to take another look at the children who were completely unguarded.
The face paint on his face seemed out of place in this overly humid and comfortable air.
Shirasagi's gaze fell on the ice cream in the children's hands. He swallowed slightly, his wheat-colored throat moving slightly before he quickly looked away, tucking his chin into his collar and continuing to walk forward expressionlessly.
Yecang quietly watched the Konoha children with bright smiles on their faces, then turned around and looked at the Sunagakure genin behind her, led by Maki, whose young age already showed cold and wary eyes.
Her fingers, hanging by her sides, tightened slightly, her nails digging into her palms.
If only the children of Sunagakure could also run freely in the streets without sandstorms, holding these sweet ice cubes.
Ye Cang let out a long breath, turning his gaze away from the children and back to the towering glass building in front of him. This prosperity, in the end, was still irrelevant to them.
This prosperity is none of their concern.
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