Konoha Notes

Chapter 361 The Forking Path
The process of incorporating smaller ninja villages into the martial arts system encountered virtually no significant resistance within the framework of the Five Great Ninja Villages Joint Affairs Bureau, which was led by Konoha.

The reason is simple—it is beneficial and harmless to the five great ninja villages.

The martial arts system, in essence, is a fluid platform for showcasing strength, distributing benefits, and even identifying potential talent.

Having more participants simply makes the game look bigger and the competition more exciting.

Essentially, the five major powers still firmly control the core power of rule-making and resource allocation. Allowing smaller ninja villages to participate and share the spoils is a worthwhile deal, as it gains wider recognition and a nominal sense of belonging to a "community."

The real challenge lies in the proposal to redistribute aid funds to those small but powerful nations.

money.

It's not a concept, nor a future expectation, but a real offering that's already in everyone's pocket or about to arrive.

After decades of ninja wars, theoretically speaking, there is no country within the direct influence of the Five Great Nations that does not pay tribute to the Five Great Shinobi Villages.

However, all the offerings were ultimately converted into quotas for low-level tasks.

These resources have long been regarded by the five great ninja villages as one of the foundations of their operation and even the maintenance of their strength. Now, trying to take a bite out of this pie will not get a very enthusiastic response.

Shuji had anticipated this.

However, there is room for breakthroughs. For example, Sunagakure would certainly not have any objections to this proposal.

After all, they lost all the countries they could influence outside of the Land of Wind a few years ago.

The eastern land of rivers was completely taken over by Konoha because of its betrayal of the alliance.

The western and northern countries are currently too weak to compete with Iwagakure.

Therefore, they would be the biggest supporters of the redistribution of funds among small countries, since they have nothing left to lose from their old interests and would instead benefit from the new proposals.

Then there are the ninja villages that participated in this joint meeting.

Once they've won them over, we can rely on the Joint Affairs Bureau—an organization that now naturally represents the common will of the five great ninja villages—to push the daimyo behind them.

step by step.

Some things cannot be rushed.
-
From the day Zetsu brought Orochimaru's Edo Tensei results, Obito had the patience to wait.

He certainly wouldn't naively trust Orochimaru.

That man was different from Nagato, and even different from the real Madara. Orochimaru didn't have that obsession with making the world forever peaceful.

He was a person who was obsessed with his own experiments, treating everything else as secondary, and was unreliable.

However, Orochimaru needs resources, including Akatsuki's vast funds and channels, especially in the current era when the trend of the five great ninja villages uniting is becoming increasingly apparent, and the monitoring and suppression of external forces are becoming more and more stringent.

To conduct research of that scale on one's own is practically a pipe dream.

Therefore, control the investment in him, monitor his results, and ensure that every bit of tailed beast chakra obtained goes directly into the Gedo Mazo.

One year, two years... or even longer.

The alliance of the five great ninja villages might appear closer on the surface, but as long as the fundamental power structure, the dispersion of the tailed beasts, the divisions in people's hearts, and the breeding ground for hatred remain unchanged, there is still room for reversal. He has plenty of time to wait, to wait for the Gedo Mazo to gradually fill up, to wait for that final moment to arrive.

If it weren't for the discovery, Konoha would now have too much goodwill, and would even have begun to integrate forces outside the Five Great Ninja Villages, including Amegakure.

"spot."

Obito arrived at the palace in the Land of the Moon, where Pain Tendo stood before him.

The building, which once served as the palace of the daimyo of the Moon Kingdom, has now been transformed into a place that is half warehouse and half workshop.

Even under the pressure of the joint blockade by the five great ninja villages, the reconstruction of the flying fortress is still progressing slowly and is beginning to take shape, thanks to the efforts of collecting and smuggling materials bit by bit through overseas black markets and channels outside the ninja world.

"The progress is faster than expected," Obito said. "The overseas channels are also very prosperous outside the ninja world."

"It is also filled with pain and hatred," Heaven replied.

“I heard that Amegakure has agreed to participate in the joint ninja village conference initiated by Konoha.” Obito walked up to Pain.

The Heavenly Dao, under Nagato's control, did not immediately respond. Nor did it explain that it was merely a stopgap measure taken by the subordinates left behind in the Land of Rain to deal with the situation.

“Those who inherited Hashirama Senju’s philosophy,” Obito didn’t directly question or deny it, but instead stated an objective fact from a different angle, “their approach seems to differ from that of their predecessors. They no longer simply distribute the tailed beasts to create a fragile balance.”

"Integrate resources, coordinate conflicts, and replace direct confrontation with construction and common interests."

“What they did,” Tiandao finally spoke again, “was ultimately just a temporary reconciliation based on the existing power structure. It was a conditional favor that the strong bestowed upon the weak in order to maintain stability, and which could be withdrawn at any time.”

"The seeds of hatred remain deeply buried. As long as the mechanisms that breed hatred remain unchanged, such peace will eventually dissipate."

"The cycle has not yet been truly broken."

“That’s right.” Obito continued, following Nagato’s words. “Their current busyness may create a temporary illusion, but once the forces supporting the framework become unbalanced and irreconcilable conflicts arise, everything will collapse.”

He took a step forward and stood shoulder to shoulder with Tiandao, both looking at the huge metal structure piled up on one side of the hall, which could be vaguely seen as some kind of aircraft component.

"However, what they did, that made those ninja villages that hated each other submit to the pace led by Konoha, was not entirely without value."

Obito said, "At least, it proves that under the deterrence of powerful forces and the recognition of a common threat, the five great ninja villages can also be forced to find a way to coexist."

"Power deterrence..." Heavenly Dao repeated this phrase.

Yes, deterrence.

The compromises made by Sunagakure and Kumogakure in front of Konoha, and the alliance between Iwagakure and Konoha during the Snow Country incident, were all due to the devastating bombardment of that flying fortress. This made everyone truly feel the pain, and the entire ninja world witnessed the destruction, thus fearing the pain that might befall them.
“They don’t need tailed beasts.” Nagato’s resolve hardened once more.

"Even if Konoha's actions are sincere, Akatsuki's actions will only hasten that moment. If they can truly bring about change, then the day the Ten-Tails is completed will be the day the foundation for eternal peace is laid."

"What if they're just pretending..."

"Then, once I've completed the Ten-Tails, I will take over everything they're doing now. With absolute power, I will create absolute destruction—"

"To achieve absolute peace," Obito said the last half of the sentence.

(End of this chapter)