Chapter 55 - Entering Shangri-La

Looking at the guards in front of him executing hand signs continuously to not let the genjutsu fade, Minato blinked.

"Are you what we call 'Cave dweller'?" asked Minato, tilting his head, with an innocent look.

Hearing that, their lips twitched, this kid takes them for barbarians that don't know how to live in a proper house and live in caves like their ancestors far in the past.

One of the more hotheaded villagers was going to attack Minato out of anger, but the others quickly restrained him. During the commotion, unseen by anyone, Minato underfoot flashed a bit, before receding and returning to normal.

"Ehem, my name is Daisuke. Please excuse this guy, he has always been hotheaded and acts impulsively, not knowing the meaning of the word 'Joke'" Exclaimed one of them.

"And no, we're not cave dweller, what you see here is only the tip of the iceberg." Pointing at the door at the end of the cave, he continued "Our village is situated behind this door, you can come in if you want, traveller from afar." He added an amiable smile as a finishing touch.

Minato's eyes lit up, and he hurriedly exclaimed "Really? I'm glad. My village was attacked by bandits and I was the only one that successfully escaped thanks to my parent's sacrifice. I hope you won't mind if I stay here a bit, this place is well hidden so I doubt that the bandits could ever find me there!"

Hearing the world 'Bandit', cold looks pass through some of Shangri-La villagers' eyes. Not all of them have a bounty because they are inherently evil, some of them were unlucky and finished here because of successive events that all began because of those peoples, that sometimes act as slavers.

Leading Minato to the village, Daisuke opened the door, and seeing the 'awed' look of Minato, he exclaimed "Welcome to Shangri-La, a place where people like you and me who suffered calamity can live a new life"

Seeing the sturdy tree in the center of the cave, with a multitude of houses surrounding it, Minato was a bit impressed at their ingeniosity. What he sees can be called a true hidden village. The so-called 5 Great Hidden Villages are all exposed for the world to see, completely losing the meaning of the shinobi, that must remain in the shadows.

Looking at the departing backs of Minato and Daisuke, the other Shangri-Laiens began to talk between them.

"So, what is your verdict, Shisho?"

The hotheaded villager, Shisho grunted but still answered "He has only little chakra in him, he is truly a civilian, so I doubt that he is a spy. He should have come here totally by luck, and his story should not be false. If he was not forced, I don't see why a weakling like him would have travel till the valley of lies, where there is nothing"

"Hm, I hope for him that he will like it here and not choose to leave. I will feel bad for killing an innocent child like him, but our safety pass first. And with the new people that appeared since the beginning of the skirmishes between Konoha and Suna, I begin to think that our small village has already been exposed"

"That may be true. But if they did nothing till now, it means that they don't care that much about us. The new guys tried to steer our thoughts in the direction of Suna or Konoha, but they didn't do anything violent. So if they don't act like the other guy that blatantly acted like he owned this place and tried to contact someone with his messenger bird, I don't see any reason to kill them. That would only anger their villages"

At the mention of that event, coldness flashed through their eyes. They fear the Great 5, but the guy that they killed recently was too arrogant, thinking that because they were not trained by a true shinobi village, they will not see through his tricks. They couldn't let something like this go unpunished, if not, their whole village will crumble.

"Thankfully, it seems that the people he was trying to inform has no intention to retaliate, so that means that he was probably just a chess piece and not a shinobi of one of the greats villages."

Meanwhile, Daisuke was presenting Minato to the other villagers and vice versa, while acting like a guide selling his village good points.

"Those two here are Hohozuki and his retainer Ameyuki." This time, the introduced two were in their teens, probably around fifteen years old.

But it was not what interested him, he sensed that this guy was made completely of chakra, and his Hyper Intuition told him that the two of them were linked far more profoundly than a retainer and his master.

Activating his Sharingan, he observed the two of them.

'Hohozuki has a henge on, while Ameyuki seemed to be a clone, but not a Kage Bunshin, an elemental one maybe? It means that 'Ameyuki' is the true image of Hohozuki, I can't see any transformation on the clone, and from what I know, when one creates a clone, it has the main body appearance...But why would he do such things, everyone can know of his identity?

Nevermind, I will look through the Bingo Book when I'm alone, he is surely inside of it if he lives here and is not a spy. And a spy would never make such a foolish thing.'

Minato did not look at all the Naruto fillers, if not, he would have recognized this person and his history directly. Even an avid fan of manga like him couldn't win the battle against the boredom of Kishimito's manga fillers.