Nagasawa heard the conversation between the Third Hokage and the advisors, but he did not care.
Regardless of what Homura Mitokado and Koharu Utatane thought, there was no way they could stop his reforms. Whether it was reputation, strength, or a whole series of other things, they were all completely crushed by Nagasawa.
The only thing they could possibly surpass Nagasawa in was age and seniority.
If it weren't for the fact that although these two advisors had always disagreed with him politically, they had never done anything like what Danzo did, he would have already let them retire with dignity. If they did not want to leave with dignity, then Nagasawa would help them do so.
Nagasawa could allow someone to follow him and enjoy the benefits without contributing, but he did not want to see people on his own side harming Konoha because of power after he had worked so hard to increase Konoha's prosperity.
After attending the opening ceremony, Nagasawa went to Orochimaru's research base.
Orochimaru, who already possessed powerful research abilities, could be said to have become even more formidable after obtaining the Ope Ope no Mi.
The abilities of the Ope Ope no Mi were extremely miraculous. It could create a spherical or hemispherical space within which one could freely cut apart, exchange, and splice together any object. It could even exchange the minds of two people, achieving the effect of swapping souls. A living being cut apart by the ability user would not die, and would not even bleed, remaining alive.
There was also a legend in the One Piece world that once the Ope Ope no Mi was developed to a certain level, it could perform the Perennial Youth Operation, granting someone an endless lifespan. The price was the death of the ability user who performed the operation.
Of course, Orochimaru definitely did not know about the legends of the One Piece world, but the Ope Ope no Mi's miraculous and convenient abilities were indeed quite useful in his research, and they also gave him some new inspiration.
"The Sharingan is a manifestation of spiritual power. If the Ope Ope no Mi's ability were used to exchange the souls of a powerful Uchiha who had already awakened the Mangekyo Sharingan and an Uchiha ninja who had not yet awakened the Sharingan, would that allow the Uchiha ninja who hasn't awakened it to directly awaken the Mangekyo Sharingan?" Orochimaru voiced his wild idea.
Awakening the Mangekyo was not an easy matter. It depended not only on one's innate talent, but also required enormous emotional stimulation. If the Uchiha could mass-produce Mangekyo Sharingan users, Konoha's strength would increase greatly. This had always been an important research subject for Orochimaru.
Actually, in a certain sense, there was already a relatively simple method of awakening the Mangekyo Sharingan. Orochimaru's own Mangekyo Sharingan had been obtained through that method.
However, that method was not only extremely inhumane to carry out, but also very expensive. It was not suitable for directly being used on the Uchiha clan. It was only suitable for someone like him to obtain one or two pairs for research.
"Your idea is quite bold, but awakening the Mangekyo probably isn't that simple. However, if it's only awakening the Sharingan, there is a great chance of success." Nagasawa thought for a moment before speaking.
"If it's only awakening an ordinary Sharingan, then it has little value." Orochimaru shook his head.
In Orochimaru's eyes, awakening an ordinary Sharingan was not difficult. Any Uchiha with a little talent would awaken the Sharingan sooner or later.
"It is still worth trying. I'll arrange the candidates." Nagasawa said.
Actually, Nagasawa felt that if they wanted to solve the Sharingan problem, they might still need to study the Otsutsuki.
The Sharingan existed because the Uchiha had Otsutsuki blood flowing through their bodies, while members of the Otsutsuki clan were born with powerful Rinnegan that the Uchiha could not possess even after reaching the end of their evolution.
If they could get some Otsutsuki cells for research, perhaps the problem of the Mangekyo would no longer be a problem. They might even find an entirely new path to advance to the Rinnegan.
As Nagasawa thought about it, even he felt that he was getting a little carried away. In the past, he had always hoped that the Otsutsuki would never come, but now he was actually thinking that if there were an ordinary Otsutsuki in the shinobi world, that would be great. They could conveniently obtain some Otsutsuki cells for research.
"By the way, have there been any breakthroughs in chakra technology?" Nagasawa asked.
Nagasawa believed that chakra technology would be the future of the shinobi world. While developing chakra technology without holding anything back, they had not only established dedicated research institutes, but Orochimaru had also not neglected it.
After all, this was basically Orochimaru's only hobby, so they might as well make use of his talents.
"There haven't been any major breakthroughs, but we should be far ahead of the other four countries, apart from the Chakra Technology Company." Orochimaru said.
As an excellent researcher, although Orochimaru specialized in biotechnology, he was not lacking in other fields either. He had keenly sensed the broad prospects of chakra technology and had gotten involved.
Actually, the idea of combining chakra with technology did not only appear when the Chakra Technology Company emerged. People had already had this idea before. There had always been people who came up with all kinds of strange and wonderful ideas.
It was just that before the Chakra Technology Company appeared, everyone could only use their imagination. They had no way to turn those ideas into reality.
Nagasawa nodded. He thought it was quite reasonable that they could not surpass the Chakra Technology Company. Nagasawa had already determined that there was definitely something wrong with this company. There might even be aliens inside it. Surpassing them was unrealistic.
He just did not know why these aliens were kindly helping the shinobi world advance its technology, or why chakra technology seemed to be tailor-made for the shinobi world.
If this company planned to pull some stunt like destroying the world or ruling the world later, Nagasawa would leave them an intact corpse out of consideration for helping the shinobi world advance its technology, allowing them to leave with dignity.
...
With the assistance of the Chakra Technology Company, the already rapidly developing Akatsuki Organization became even more formidable, developing at an even faster pace.
Not only did they arm the small ninja villages they had established with scientific ninja tools, but they also used the strength of the Chakra Technology Company to develop the small ninja villages more quickly.
In just half a year, the Akatsuki Organization had successfully established two new ninja villages in the Land of Waves and the Land of Sea. It had also united small ninja villages such as the Hidden Rain Village and the Hidden Star Village, preparing to make a big move.
When he learned that the Hidden Star Village even had a so-called "Star Shadow," Nagato could not help but want to laugh. What kind of optimistic spirit was this?
In the shinobi world, only the leaders of the Five Great Nations and the Five Great Ninja Villages were qualified to be called Kage. Yet a small country and a small ninja village were amusing themselves by setting up their own Kage.
However, this also showed that the Hidden Star Village had considerable ambition, which made Nagato feel that things would be a little easier.
Not every small ninja village had the ambition of the Hidden Grass Village to overthrow the Five Great Ninja Villages and become a great ninja village itself.
In reality, most small ninja village leaders did not have the courage to harbor such ambitions.
However, Nagato was proficient in physical persuasion. If a combination of Bansho Ten'in and Shinra Tensei still failed to make them understand his painstaking efforts, then he could only replace the leader.
Although the Five Great Ninja Villages all believed that the small ninja villages posed no threat, the establishment of so many small ninja villages in such a short period still aroused the curiosity of one of the great nations, namely the Land of Earth.
Onoki was an extremely cautious person. Even though he possessed Dust Release, a powerful Kekkei Tota, Onoki rarely took risks. Most of the time, he relied on his brain and careful planning.
In just two years, small ninja villages such as the Hidden Light Village, Hidden Frost Village, Hidden Wave Village, and Hidden Sea Village had all suddenly appeared. This was not the early era of ninja villages, so where had so many newly established ninja villages come from? Those with the strength to establish ninja villages should have done so long ago.
If there had only been one, Onoki could have treated it as a special situation, an isolated case. But with so many small ninja villages, there had to be some special reason.
Thus, Onoki sent people to investigate the small countries where those newly established small ninja villages were located and inspect the conditions within those villages.
Once he investigated, the problem immediately became apparent. The process by which those small ninja villages were established was surprisingly similar. A civilian expert would suddenly appear, then the ministers would recommend them to the Daimyo, followed by all kinds of outrageous actions by those small ninja villages.
An experienced man like Onoki knew at first glance that there was definitely a force making arrangements behind the scenes.
Although they were only small ninja villages, Onoki still sensed a trace of danger from them. Being cautious and decisive, he immediately launched a heavy attack against the Land of Birds, which bordered his own country.
Countries such as the Land of Frost, Land of Fields, and Land of Waves did not border him. Onoki would have to be an idiot to send troops across other countries just to attack them. It was enough to attack a bordering small country to test the waters.
The reason for their attack was also very simple: they suspected that the newly established Hidden Bird Village in the Land of Birds was hiding a weapon of mass destruction capable of endangering peace in the shinobi world.
Their Land of Earth was taking action to safeguard peace in the shinobi world. They were the righteous heroes.
Of course, the main reason was that the Land of Birds had not signed a peace treaty with the Land of Earth. That was something that only concerned the Five Great Nations.
In the eyes of most of the Five Great Ninja Villages' higher-ups, as long as the Five Great Ninja Villages did not go to war with one another, there was no war.
Even though the target was a newly established small ninja village, cautious Onoki still gave the opponent sufficient attention. He dispatched 1,100 Iwagakure shinobi, with the unit led by an elite among the Iwagakure Jonin.
However, the final result was far beyond Onoki's expectations, because the Hidden Bird Village truly possessed large-scale destructive capabilities.
When the Iwagakure attacked the Land of Birds, Konan and Kakuzu happened to be there.
Although the Iwagakure Jonin were not weak, they were simply no match for the powerful Konan and Kakuzu. Not to mention that the Bird shinobi equipped with scientific ninja tools were not completely useless either.
The Iwagakure forces suffered a crushing defeat. A large number of Iwagakure shinobi were left behind, while the Iwagakure shinobi who successfully escaped fled back to the Land of Earth and brought back the news of their defeat.
"What!" Onoki slammed his hand on the table, glaring wide-eyed at the Iwagakure Jonin before him and questioning him, "A ninja force of more than a thousand people actually couldn't take down a newly established small ninja village and was completely defeated and forced to retreat. Do you know what you're saying?"
Under Onoki's pressure, the Iwagakure Jonin could not help but tremble.
Although Onoki looked comical, being short and having a strange nose, when he truly became enraged, the terrifying aura of a top-tier Kage-level powerhouse was genuine.
"Tsuchikage-sama, the strength of the Bird shinobi is much greater than we anticipated. There were also two unknown powerful individuals helping them. We were simply no match for them." The Iwagakure Jonin truthfully reported.
"The strength of those two unknown powerhouses was simply too great. Even if all the Jonin in the unit attacked together, we still couldn't stop them."
Although telling the truth was embarrassing, the Iwagakure Jonin no longer had time to worry about whether he would lose face or not. The Hidden Bird Village had already become a threat to Iwagakure.
Onoki frowned deeply. He had not expected that even after taking it so seriously, he would still suffer a setback.
"Prepare to regroup the forces. This time, I'll lead them personally." Onoki said.
Since they were already at war, Onoki did not intend to continue entangling himself with the Hidden Bird Village. He wanted to personally take action and eliminate this threat.
"Send the intelligence we investigated previously to the other four great ninja villages." Onoki suddenly remembered something and said.
If every newly established ninja village possessed strength like the Hidden Bird Village, then his Land of Earth alone might not be able to handle them.
Therefore, Onoki planned to drag the other four great ninja villages into this as well.
From Onoki's perspective, although the Five Great Ninja Villages had their own grudges against one another, they were still standing together for the time being and shared common interests. They should work together to expose and eliminate the force hidden in the shadows and maintain their rule.
...
While Onoki was thinking of ways to deal with the Hidden Bird Village and, in turn, the Akatsuki Organization, Nagato was also deep in thought, preparing to officially take action and launch a heavy attack against the Five Great Nations.
This incident in the Land of Birds had not been deliberately arranged by Nagato. The Akatsuki Organization's operation had grown too large, and Nagato had no way to eliminate every spy.
When Nagato learned about the situation in the Land of Birds, Konan and Kakuzu had already won and contacted him.
"There is no need to hide any longer. We can step forward now." Nagato immediately made the decision.
Over these years, the small countries without ninja villages had established small ninja villages, while those that already had small ninja villages had been united by him. Apart from some countries that truly had no ninja forces of any significance, Nagato had already integrated most of the small ninja villages' forces.
All that was missing was a suitable reason to establish an alliance of the small countries' ninja villages and crusade against the five sinful great ninja villages.
The Land of Earth attacking the Land of Birds was an excellent reason.
Look at how despicable these great nations were. They talked about establishing a peaceful shinobi world, yet they did not treat the small ninja villages as people at all, attacking them whenever they wanted.
Although the time was now right to establish the alliance, Nagato did not intend to do so yet.
He ordered the Rain shinobi to head to the Land of Birds and fight the Iwagakure, then led the Grass shinobi and Light shinobi in an attack against the Land of Earth.
He wanted to establish the alliance when the Land of Earth was defeated and the entire shinobi world was shocked by the power of the small ninja villages. That way, the newly established alliance would immediately gain terrifying prestige. That was the best timing.
After establishing the alliance would come a complete declaration of war against the great nations, followed by using overwhelming military force to defeat the great nations and achieve final victory.
"Yahiko, true peace will arrive very soon, through the efforts of our Akatsuki Organization." Before setting out, Nagato raised his hand and looked at it. At this moment, he was using the body of the Deva Path of Pain, which was also Yahiko's corpse.
For such a meaningful first battle, Nagato did not intend to use his own body. Instead, he would use Yahiko's body to fight.
Although Onoki was a renowned powerhouse, he was not taken seriously by Nagato. In the entire shinobi world, the only person who made Nagato feel threatened was Konoha's Fujiwara Nagasawa.
Therefore, in Nagato's plan, Konoha had to be dealt with last.