Kirigakure is very large, twice as big as Konoha.
There is a built-in swamp training ground and a small forest. The whole village is laid out in an oval-shaped band. The streets consisted of three main roads and numerous intricate side alleys.
"Odd?" He was puzzled.
"His gait is strange. A regular villager shouldn’t have such a steady stride." Mei’s eyes were sharp. She immediately pointed out the key point with her chin slightly raised.
"Have someone keep an eye on him. Report back if there’s any news."
"Yes."
Ao left, leaving Mei alone by the window. Naruto had already walked away, his back figure almost a dot in the distance.
Mei narrowed her eyes and murmured, "Things have been uneasy lately. More and more mosquitoes are buzzing around the village, and now they even dare to enter."
"A-choo!"
Naruto, who had only walked a few steps, suddenly sneezed several times for no reason. He wondered who was cursing him.
After running through a list of names in his mind, he frowned, unable to pinpoint the culprit. He could only his head and continued on his way.
He didn’t know someone was tailing him, mainly because the person was too far away, following from a distance. In addition, Naruto was relaxed and didn't think much about it.
The roads in Kirigakure were complicated, like a maze. As Naruto wandered aimlessly, Kirigakure’s Anbu trailing him couldn’t help but curse under his breath.
Watching the figure darting around, the Anbu frowned.
"Has he noticed me?" The Anbu muttered to himself.
"Damn it, I’m lost." Naruto scratched his head and looked up at the labyrinth of alleys. He was completely baffled. "Why is this village built like a maze? I can’t find my way at all."
In fact, if he just jumped up and took a look from a high vantage point, he could quickly get a rough idea of the village’s layout and wouldn’t need to struggle.
But at this moment, Naruto had fully immersed himself in the role of an ordinary Kirigakure’s Villager A. He was so deep into the act that he couldn’t snap out of it.
With no other choice, he ducked into a restaurant.
The Anbu behind him saw him stop and enter a store, and was sweating profusely. He was even more convinced that this person wasn’t a villager, as his stamina was too impressive.
The Kirigakure’s Anbu secretly wiped the sweat from his head, and stealthily approached. He silently climbed to the second floor, and locked onto Naruto's position.
Noticing that the adjacent private room was empty, he slipped in and pressed himself against the screen, trying to see what Naruto was up to.
In fact, this move had already tipped Naruto off.
If something like this happened in Konoha, this young and inexperienced Anbu would likely have been made an example by his captain, hung up, and whipped with a small leather strap for five days.
While this would be unreasonable in Konoha, it was forgivable in Kirigakure. After all, after the training in the Blood Mist era, Kirigakure has almost lost all its talents.
If it weren’t for Mei’s strong leadership and her efforts to turn things around, Kirigakure would have been doomed.
Fortunately, Kirigakure survived, and like a centipede that refuses to die even when cut into pieces, as one of the Five Great Shinobi Villages, it slowly recovered despite losing many of its younger generation.
That said, the fact that Kirigakure was experiencing a talent gap was undeniable.
With fewer people, they had to make do with what they had.
In addition, Naruto hadn’t shown any particularly dangerous traits initially, so Mei and Ao just regarded him as a crappy spy from another country.
They casually ordered someone to follow him, but didn’t take it too seriously.
Thus, the clumsy Kirigakure’s Anbu sneered in the adjacent room, thinking he had encountered an equally clumsy infiltrator.
However, Naruto hadn’t noticed the Anbu next door simply because the guy was too weak.
"What to eat? Uh…" Naruto hesitated as he looked at the menu. He had come in a hurry and didn’t have any money on him. To be more precise, he had no common currency of the Land of Water.
This wasn’t a time of peace. If he were to take out a wad of Land of Fire’s bills in a military village like the Kirigakure, it would be pure trouble… a self-inflicted trouble.
Since he had no money, his confidence wavered. Naruto hemmed and hawed for a while, finally settling on just one dish. Fortunately, he didn’t look like someone who would dine and dash.
Although the waiter was a little impatient, he didn't show it on his face. He just assumed Naruto was an indecisive person. He had seen many such customers in his daily life.
So he patiently provided full-service hospitality to this potential dine-and-dash customer.
"Um... that’s all for now." Naruto said, trying to appear calm, but his mind was racing, trying to figure out how to pull off this free meal.
He could force his way through many things, but not a free meal. Naruto didn't want to do such a high-profile thing that would alert the enemy. So, he turned his thoughts to where he could get some money.
As he pondered this, he naturally focused his attention, and almost instantly, he was surprised to find that there was a fool next door, who was sticking his butt up and spying on him.
If it were just a simple case of being exposed, he wouldn’t have cared much. But the guy’s inexplicable posture left Naruto utterly baffled.
‘Anbu? Could this really be Anbu?’
‘Who in the Anbu would spy on a target by crouching in the next room with their butt sticking out? No way, no way. This couldn’t be the Florida branch of Kirigakure, could it?’
‘If this were really the case, it would be hilarious.’