Hiruzen gave Kakuzu an encouraging look.
This was his stage to display his abilities…
"The shinobi and craftsmen of the Land of Rain and Amegakure definitely won't reject our orders… because they have no money. The money is all concentrated in the hands of the nobles."
"As a small hidden village located at the intersection of three major hidden villages, Amegakure's nobles prefer commissioning missions from the great hidden villages. The share left for Amegakure's own shinobi is pitifully small…"
Kakuzu let out a cold laugh.
"There's no way they'll reject this contract. Even if they have to convert some of their combat-unit shinobi into industrial shinobi working for Konoha, they'll still have to swallow this share of the market."
"Ever since the end of the Second Shinobi World War, Amegakure has never recovered from the economic deficit caused by the war. This money is extremely important to them…"
Having wandered the shinobi world and accepted jobs across every land, Kakuzu could practically be considered a living encyclopedia of each hidden village's economic situation.
He accepted missions from nobles, gathered intelligence in underground bounty exchanges, interacted with every social class within various nations, and even conducted on-site investigations.
That sort of experience was extremely valuable—and extremely necessary—for Hiruzen as well.
Tsunade's eyes lit up as she loudly declared: "Sensei! If you can guarantee me a sufficient supply of scroll blanks, then I'm confident that within two years, medical chakra scrolls can be mass-deployed on the battlefield!"
"As long as shinobi don't suffer fatal injuries, they'll be able to recover rapidly!"
"I've already mastered the core infusion technique. What comes next is simplification—making it easy enough for our industrial shinobi to master proficiently. I'll push the work forward as fast as possible!"
Tsunade spoke with overwhelming momentum.
"At worst, I'll just use medical ninjutsu to keep myself going. I can stay awake for an entire month!"
Tsunade desperately wanted to see medical scrolls bearing Nawaki's name appear across Konoha as soon as possible—to protect and heal Konoha's shinobi.
Hiruzen waved his hand with a helpless laugh.
Why did everyone love pushing things to extremes? Even when it came to work…
"That won't be necessary. Just proceed according to a normal pace. Slow and steady…"
"If you work yourself into collapse, then who's going to treat Konoha's shinobi in the future?"
Tsunade grinned.
"Got it, Sensei!"
"It's not just raw scroll blanks. We can also outsource some of the basic processing for ninja tools to the Land of Rain, because fundamentally, this doesn't cost us any money. We're essentially consuming the Land of Rain's production capacity for free."
Hiruzen spoke slowly: "During this process, we should also gradually expand Konoha's craftsmen workforce. Without disrupting the overall industrial structure, we'll turn them into one master craftsman after another!"
"They can't forget the fundamentals of basic processing, but their primary focus should be mastering advanced techniques."
Kakuzu followed up on Hiruzen's point: "Things like the external packaging for Sage Region Pills, explosive tags, shuriken, kunai, and similar products that don't involve Konoha's core technologies can all be supplied to Konoha by the Land of Rain."
If Amegakure wanted to swallow such a lucrative contract, then a large portion of its shinobi would inevitably have to transition into industrial work.
For a hidden village—a military organization built on violence—combat strength always came first. Diverting large numbers of shinobi into production work and engineering projects would absolutely weaken military power…
That was precisely why Hiruzen, while expanding Konoha's population, kept emphasizing that Konoha's products should be "small, refined, and high value-added."
But the Land of Rain was not Konoha.
As a minor hidden village, they did not bear the same pressure Konoha did from being coveted by every major hidden village in the shinobi world…
For them, ensuring shinobi had jobs, enough food to eat, and warm clothes to wear was the top priority.
Kakuzu coughed lightly.
"In that case, once all these interests become interconnected, Amegakure will become deeply tied to Konoha and gradually turn into our de facto subordinate hidden village."
"Because once large numbers of their shinobi move into industrial production, only Konoha's advanced technological development will require enormous quantities of low-level processed goods for practice. Other hidden villages neither have that need nor the economic strength for it…"
"And given their geographic location at the crossroads of three nations, they'll effectively become a shield guarding Konoha's northern border, standing watch for us together with Kusagakure…"
Even Danzō, who held a poor impression of Kakuzu, could not help nodding slightly.
This was using Konoha's technological advantage to fleece both the nobles of the Land of Rain and Amegakure's shinobi!
Compared to the so-called treaties signed after defeat, this kind of deep exchange of interests was what truly created an unbreakable alliance between villages.
If this cooperation succeeded, Amegakure would become Konoha's diehard ally and blood supply pack.
Though "blood supply" was not entirely accurate either.
After all, Konoha gained free production capacity, the nobles of the Land of Rain gained health, and Amegakure gained missions.
Nobody was truly losing anything. Hiruzen disliked zero-sum games. Everyone needed to get at least a little grease from the arrangement for it to last long term.
Hiruzen said in a deep voice: "Our policy toward Amegakure is a pilot project for Konoha…"
"We must clearly recognize that another Shinobi World War will break out in the future, and Konoha will not lose! But merely winning isn't enough—we also need to learn how to digest the fruits of victory…"
"If we keep doing things the old way, defeating invaders only to demand a bit of compensation afterward, then there's no meaning in it."
"Whoever dares attack Konoha, we'll turn them into the next Land of Rain—tear out their fangs and make them work for Konoha!"
Hiruzen's voice remained steady, but a trace of killing intent leaked through.
Killing people was secondary.
What truly mattered was killing their ability to threaten Konoha!
Letting Sunagakure off after the Second Shinobi World War might not have been the current Hiruzen's decision, but he still viewed it as a stain on his career…
One day, he would wash it clean!
In Hiruzen's eyes, Sunagakure was an inherently restless village. Their barren resources guaranteed they would never behave honestly…
And their weakness was equally obvious.
Their poor relationship with their daimyō was something Konoha could now fully exploit.
Was there any Kage more reasonable with nobles than Hiruzen?
When Kakuzu saw the killing intent in Hiruzen's eyes, he secretly nodded.
'I mentioned to Hokage-sama before that the southern region of the Land of Wind contains hidden gold mines. The ancient kingdom of Rōran there is also rumored to possess unusual chakra reactions worth researching…'
'If those brats from Sunagakure dare reach toward Konoha again, then they'll have to spit that territory back out!'
'I should head over there more often and gather additional intelligence for the village—make preparations well in advance…'
Kakuzu grew increasingly satisfied with and respectful toward the Hokage.
Who wouldn't like a leader who responded seriously to every matter?
The only problem was…
How could they get other people to attack Konoha?
Hiruzen felt somewhat regretful. The Kage of the other villages were not fools either. An arms race was inevitable, but no one would casually start a war they weren't confident of winning…
And Hiruzen himself would not proactively provoke one.
Since he enjoyed the immense cohesion brought by the Will of Fire, then he also had to give up certain behaviors that did not fit its spirit.
A sugarcane could not be sweet at both ends…
What Hiruzen didn't know was—
A certain unnamed founder of Konoha was currently working at full speed researching how to engineer wars for Konoha, while somehow believing he was destroying the Will of Fire in the process…
As for what exactly he was thinking—
Hiruzen definitely could not understand it. Even his younger brother probably wouldn't understand it either.
The man was truly a one-of-a-kind lunatic in the shinobi world.
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