Chapter 184 The Twelve Konoha Juniors Graduate
In the past two years, although Takagi Seiwan suffered repeated defeats against Mei and Kumogaku's armies, relying solely on his adoptive father, Fugaku Uchiha, to fight them, his ruthlessness in dealing with internal threats was undeniable, even to Fugaku.
Fugaku once considered Danzo the most shameless villain he had ever seen, but compared to Takagi Seiwan's actions in Kirigakure, Danzo's methods were practically moral exemplars. Since assuming the position of Mizukage,
Takagi Seiwan's internal purges had never ceased. Two elite Jonin who had previously vied for the position were arrested and imprisoned for allegedly colluding with the north, then executed on fabricated charges. The other, seeing the situation turning against him, fled north. Furthermore,
Takagi Seiwan strictly controlled speech within the village; any expression of dissatisfaction with him or the Konoha garrison was met with punishment.
Furthermore, when distributing the four ninja swords still in Kirigakure, Takagi Seiman displayed an astonishing mathematical talent to Uchiha Fugaku.
Besides the Mizukage, the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist held the most prestigious positions in Kirigakure. Therefore, after taking over, Takagi Seiman naturally wanted to assign these four swords to his trusted confidants. However, according to Kirigakure's rules, officially inheriting a position as one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen required the approval of more than half of the village's Jonin. At that
time, Takagi Seiman's control over the village wasn't as strong as it is now; even his most trusted confidant only received 46% of the votes. But Takagi Seiman, with a wave of his hand, stated that this rounded up to more than half, and directly decided the ownership of these swords.
As for Uchiha Fugaku, who was personally awarded the title of Five-Star General by Uchiha Tokō, Takagi Seiman went to great lengths to flatter him. First, he spent considerable resources building him a residence in Kirigakure that was even more luxurious than the Mizukage's mansion.
Furthermore, he never missed a day of morning and evening greetings to Fugaku, who felt that Takagi was more filial than his own two sons. Takagi Seiman even subtly expressed his desire to become Fugaku's adopted son, but Fugaku immediately rejected this idea. He reasoned that accepting Takagi as an adopted son would be a disgrace to the Uchiha clan's honor.
The situation in Southern Mist Village was dire, and Northern Mist Village wasn't much better in the past two years. To maintain its sovereignty while securing the support of Kumogakure, Mei Terumi incurred a massive debt to Kumogakure. Consequently, both villagers and ninjas in Northern Mist Village were struggling financially. Meanwhile, the economic development in the south, fueled by Konoha's strong support, naturally caused unrest in Northern Mist Village. Compared to the few who defected from the south to obtain peaches, many more in Northern Mist Village succumbed to poverty and left for peaches.
Mei Terumi was helpless; after all, Uchiha Touko hadn't shown her how to handle such situations.
However, upon learning of his half-disciple's plight, Uchiha Touko had a White Zetsu embedded in Northern Mist Village intervene, pointing Mei Terumi in a direction.
An article titled "Lady Mei Terumi Shatters Uchiha Fugaku's Susanoo with a Kunai" circulated throughout Northern Mist Village almost overnight.
Under White Zetsu's manipulation, a wave of personality cult swept through Northern Kirigakure. Before Mei Terumi could even react, she was already being hailed as Kirigakure's Great Sun, the only hope to lead Kirigakure out of chaos.
While Mei Terumi herself was unaware of the exact events, it was undeniable that the number of Peach Banshees in Northern Kirigakure was decreasing under this trend.
For the past two years, there had been constant border skirmishes between the two sides in Kirigakure, but neither side had the resolve to directly wage war, thus the situation remained stable.
Meanwhile, in the Land of Lightning, after Uchiha Touko planted the seeds of division, the rift widened significantly over the past two years thanks to the relentless efforts of White Zetsu.
Especially after a White Zetsu, posing as a white warrior from the Land of Lightning, knelt and killed another White Zetsu posing as a Haki-black, a massive riot erupted within the Land of Lightning.
Countless Haki-blacks from the Land of Lightning took to the streets, chanting slogans like "Haki-black lives matter too," and initiating a new round of free shopping.
The white people of the Land of Lightning were also displeased by this situation. They argued that these Haki-blacks had committed numerous crimes, even the Haki-black who was killed had violently resisted the law, and now they were accusing the law-abiding white people of discriminating against them?
The Land of Lightning, known for its strong sense of martial spirit, quickly escalated its initial demonstrations into violent protests. Civilians of the Land of Lightning took to the streets, engaging in fierce battles with those of different skin color.
Ultimately, it was the Hidden Cloud Village (Kumakuha) that dispatched a large contingent of ninja to restore order.
However, while the riots in the Land of Lightning were suppressed by the ninja deployed by the Hidden Cloud Village, the flames of rebellion also reached the Raikage, A.
The white people of the Land of Lightning believed the Raikage was biased towards the blacks, while the blacks accused the Raikage, as a member of the blacks, of not standing with them.
Although A himself didn't care much for such gossip, it significantly impacted the morale of the Hidden Cloud Village ninja. Now, the blacks of the Hidden Cloud Village were refusing to participate in missions with the white people.
A witnessed this situation with great anxiety, but was powerless to do anything about it.
As for the Land of Earth, having just experienced a major war but only reaping some barren land that was difficult to cultivate, they would need a long time to heal their wounds.
Of the five great ninja nations, only the impoverished Land of Wind, besides Konoha, remained unaffected.
However, the Fourth Kazekage, Rasa, was clearly not one to stay put. For the past two years, he had considered joining the battle in the Land of Waterfall, hoping to gain a share of its mineral resources.
The Land of Wind, for its part, was determined to profit from any opportunity.
However, Uchiha Tokō subdued the Land of Wind with a single move.
Just as Rasa had assembled his army and contacted Iwata Sawaki, Uchiha Tokō, in his capacity as Grand Minister of State, passed a bill protecting the mineral resources of the Land of Fire and its allies. In short, this involved imposing a 20% tariff on the Land of Wind's metal resources.
This dealt a severe blow to the economic lifeline of the Land of Wind. The Land of Wind's largest source of income is its desert minerals, and the biggest buyers of these minerals are the Land of Fire and surrounding smaller nations. Uchiha Tokō, by imposing tariffs and issuing a warning to the Land of Wind's daimyo in his capacity as Grand Minister of State, refrained from interfering in other countries' wars.
Initially, the Land of Wind's daimyo was defiant, retaliating by imposing tariffs on the Land of Fire as well.
Seeing this, Uchiha Tokō immediately increased the tariffs to 300%. The initial 20% tariff was a result of careful calculations by Gato, intended to put immense pressure on the Land of Wind without causing its complete collapse. However, after the Land of Wind's retaliation, Uchiha Tokō, when setting new tariffs, essentially opted for a blindfolded zero.
Anyway, once that line is crossed, 300% or 3000% makes absolutely no difference.
Sometimes, Uchiha Touko really wanted to understand the thought process of the Daimyo of the Land of Wind. Uchiha Touko's initial tariff increase was just a small warning; he didn't really intend to do anything to the Land of Wind, since the tariffs would also have some impact on the economic development of the Land of Fire.
But the Daimyo of the Land of Wind actually dared to raise tariffs in response, which was different from the trade war between the two great powers in Uchiha Touko's previous life.
In trade between the Land of Wind and the Land of Fire, the Land of Wind was at a disadvantage. The Land of Fire didn't rely on the Land of Wind's mineral resources, especially after Uchiha Touko acquired several large mines in the Land of Waterfall. Instead, without the various goods and food produced by the Land of Fire, the Land of Wind struggled to even maintain its daily needs. After the two sides completely broke down, the Daimyo of the Land of Wind had no choice but to surrender in less than two months.
After speaking with Uchiha Touko, the Daimyo of the Land of Wind returned home and warned Rasa, threatening to cut off his funding and forbidding him from taking any rash actions.
Even if Rasa wanted to do something, he had to immediately submit.
After all, of the major powers in the ninja world, only Sunagakure in the Land of Wind was still completely dependent on the Daimyo's funding.
...
After the war between the Land of Earth and the Land of Waterfall ended, the ninja world entered a period of peace for a short time. Apart from Onoki pressuring the Land of Rain to return the Tailed Beasts, nothing particularly significant happened.
The Akatsuki did not respond to Onoki's pressure; only Hanzo, controlled by Nagato, responded that there were no terrorist organizations within the Land of Rain, and then continued their isolationist policies.
Since suffering a major defeat at the hands of Uchiha Touko, Nagato and the Akatsuki had gone into hiding, and their presence had been absent from the underground gold exchange markets for a long time.
However, upon learning that Nagato was still alive during a return trip to the village, Jiraiya volunteered to go to the Land of Rain. Uchiha Touko didn't stop him, figuring that Nagato wouldn't dare kill Jiraiya under his influence.
...
A year passed in the blink of an eye, and Naruto and Sasuke's generation—possibly the most talented ninja academy class in Konoha in the last decade—graduated.
As agreed, Kakashi went to the Ino-Shika-Cho clan's territory on graduation day, becoming a witness to the Ino-Shika-Cho Potara Oath for Shikamaru, Choji, and Ino, and personally serving as their instructor.
Kiba, Shino, and Hinata, who was confirmed not to inherit the Hyuga clan's main branch, formed a reconnaissance team as originally planned, led by Uchiha Touko, whom he had forcibly pulled from the clan's territory—Uchiha Shisui.
Neither the Inuzuka nor the Aburame clan had any objections to Shisui becoming Kiba and Shino's mentor. After all, Shisui was currently the strongest member of the Uchiha clan, aside from Uchiha Touko and Uchiha Fugaku, who was the de facto ruler of Kirigakure in the Land of Water. Furthermore, Shisui's ninja skills were absolutely top-notch, and with him as their mentor, their safety was guaranteed.
As for the undisputed strongest twin stars of this year, Naruto and Sasuke, the Brave Star and Crown Star of the Seven Stars Society, Uchiha Touko assigned them to a team with Neji, who had already been training in the Anbu for a year, and personally served as their mentor.
No one in this year's class was surprised by this result, since the two had stopped participating in their class's internal sparring since the fifth year. In a duel between the two, the teachers of the Ninja Academy would not even be able to participate as referees, and even being caught in the crossfire could result in serious injury.
Sasuke's fighting style is now very similar to Uchiha Touko's wide-ranging, sweeping attacks. Naruto, having gradually built a better relationship with Kurama (the Nine-Tails) over the years, has also begun to utilize some of the tailed beast's power. Coupled with his Multi Shadow Clone Technique, which can create hundreds of clones at once, his fighting style is not much less dramatic than Sasuke's.
In the Hokage's office, Uchiha Touko personally placed headbands on the two of them, then looked at them with a smile: "Time flies. You two are now official ninjas."
"Hehe! I've been waiting for this day for so long!" Naruto said excitedly. "Sensei, what's our first mission?"
"Generally speaking, newly graduated genin can only perform D-rank missions in the village, such as finding cats and dogs or collecting trash. In recent years, there have been more missions like helping out at construction sites," Uchiha Touko said with a smile.
"Huh? Is that all?" Naruto's face immediately showed disbelief upon hearing this. "Ninjas have to pick up trash?"
Sasuke sighed and rubbed his forehead in exasperation. Over the years, although Naruto could fight him to a standstill and even gain the upper hand with his animalistic physique, his opponent's ninja discipline was truly appalling. As a ninja, couldn't he even do the most basic intelligence gathering before an operation?
"Of course, it's a necessary step for every genin." Neji spoke up from the side.
"But Neji, you've been out of school for a year now, haven't you? I haven't seen you pick up trash." Naruto asked curiously.
"I trained in the ANBU for a year under the teacher's arrangement so that you two could graduate." Neji said.
"Hehe, want to skip picking up trash and go straight to high-level missions?" Uchiha Touko smiled and looked at Naruto.
"Really?" Naruto's eyes lit up.
"Of course, with your abilities, it's a bit of a waste for you to do a D-rank mission," Uchiha Touko chuckled. "However, if you want to bypass this step, you'll have to prove to me that you have the ability."
"Meet at Training Ground Three at 8 AM tomorrow morning. Remember to eat a hearty breakfast," Uchiha Touko said meaningfully.
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(End of Chapter)