Konoha: Uchiha Shisui's Strategist Alliance

"Lord Hokage, these are the expenses for September."

"Lord Hokage, this is the situation at the border."

"Lord Hokage, this is a letter from the XX noble family, along with their mission request."

Sima Yi's return had little impact on Konoha. The villagers continued their lives, and the ninjas spent their days training, fulfilling their duties, and going about their daily lives.

The stable life of the past year has brought one newborn after another, and looking at the statistics, Zhi Shui can't help but smile with relief.

"I finally got to come back, and they really don't let me have a moment to rest."

On the street, Hikaru, who had replaced Izayoi as the captain of the ANBU, followed Shisui and spoke with great dissatisfaction.

"Haha, sorry, but Brother Hui is someone I trust."

"Ugh, I just can't do anything with you."

The two chatted and laughed as they left the Hokage Building and wandered around Konoha, or rather, relaxed.

"Over there, you can't discharge sewage here! True youth should involve carrying a bucket and running fifty laps around Konoha!"

A man with a watermelon-shaped haircut, dressed in a police uniform, stopped an old man who was dumping wastewater on the street.

"Um, could it be Might Guy?"

Hui pointed at the watermelon-headed ninja, his lips twitching slightly, and turned his head to look at Shisui.

"Yes, Kai has joined the police department. He came in last year when the department expanded," Shisui explained with a smile, then exclaimed, "Look how energetic he is! That's how the police department should be—full of enthusiasm."

"."

The old man glanced at the bucket of wastewater in his hand and quickly ran away.

Seeing this, Kai didn't make a move, but just stayed by his side muttering to himself.

"Are you going to waste your youth? Are you going to betray your Will of Fire? Are you going to let your passion cool? Grab your barrel and run fifty laps around Konoha with me. If you can't do that, we'll do ten thousand frog jumps!"

The old man's face turned ashen. Kai's teammates quickly pulled Kai aside and whispered, "He's just an ordinary person. Doing this could kill him."

After saying that, he cleared his throat. "Sir, dumping sewage in an unauthorized area is punishable by a fine of five hundred taels of silver. I'm only letting this go because it's your first offense. Clean this place up, or else... or else you'll have to go for a run with him!"

The old man couldn't withstand such torment, so after threatening him, he quickly grabbed his tools and began cleaning.

Seeing this from a distance, Hui gasped and sighed, "This guy isn't suited for the police department, but he's better suited for the Root."

Water stop

The two did not go over to disturb them, but continued to stroll around, walking and stopping on each street from the inside out.

"Is that Kurama's gallery? Has the store gotten this big? Last time I came, it was a tiny little place. I thought they were going to close down! Hmm, I remember there was another store next door. Looks like it was acquired. Kurama's family is quite something."

On the street lined with ninja tools, Hui saw familiar shops and couldn't help but sigh with emotion.

"The Kurama family?"

Zhi Shui also took a look. Although the gallery was large, it did not mainly sell paintings. Instead, it mainly focused on the business of the shop next door.

The shop next door, I think, used to be the shop of the Tsurugi family.

"Huh~ Isn't that the Sarutobi clan's shop across the street selling explosive tags? How come it's a different clan now? Whose clan crest is that?"

Faced with Hui's doubts, Shisui smiled and told Hui about the explosion of the explosive tags and the sealing of Sarutobi's shop. Now the ownership of the shop is in the hands of the Uchiha, and the clan crest on the shop belongs to a small family. Yan Shifan has given the management rights to this small family and only takes money every month.

"Hehe, well done! It should have been done a long time ago. What kind of Sarutobi clan dares to steal business from us Uchiha? We've been annoyed with them for a long time."

Hui spoke gleefully, and Shisui did not stop him; the two walked outside.

"Is this the mutton offal soup place? It's almost noon, would you like to go in and have a bowl?"

As they walked to the edge of the inner district, Hui suddenly pointed to a shop on the street and said something.

"Let's go then, just grab something to eat."

Zhi Shui agreed, and the two walked straight into the store.

"Boss lady, is there any soup left? Two bowls, please."

"Yes, please have a seat." The woman didn't recognize Hui because it had been so long, and Shisui was even more difficult to recognize because he was wearing a mask.

Zhi Shui sipped his soup while observing the villagers coming and going.

A year after the war, the village was working hard to recover, with villagers and foreign merchants coming and going in an endless stream, presenting a thriving scene.

"It's piping hot, and I feel much better after eating it." Hui breathed a sigh of relief, looking satisfied.

"Life in the camp is indeed far worse than in the village."

Although they had soldier rations to keep them from going hungry, the rations didn't taste very good and they couldn't eat them all the time. The ninja army still needed regular food to replenish their bodies, but most of the time, due to limited resources, it was difficult to have hot soup and hot meals every day.

"Let's go and see other places."

Seeing that Zhishui had finished eating, Hui immediately got up to pay the bill.

"That's 140 taels for both of you."

Shisui silently noted down the price, and the two then moved to the outer perimeter.

There are many more traveling merchants around Konoha now, and a large number of newly built houses have sprung up, making the once remote southwestern region much more lively.

Some of these people were influenced by the new ninja academy selection policy and hoped to stay here for three years for a possible class change in their families.

Another group, influenced by the tax reduction policy, intends to develop here long-term.

Commercial taxes accounted for a small percentage of Konoha's revenue, and Shisui had long been aware of the complexities of commercial taxes, so he simply kept reducing them, deciding to make changes after dealing with the ninja clans.

"Why is everyone over there so crowded together?"

The number of pedestrians on the road seemed to have suddenly decreased, and the two looked against the flow of people and saw several carriages stopped in front of them, blocking the road.

slap~

Just then, the whip was lashed out, and the sudden whooshing sound made the passersby stop and look.

Shisui and Teru also stopped and looked towards a four-horse carriage to the east of Konoha.

A young man dressed in fine clothes snatched a riding whip from the coachman and then lashed it fiercely at a merchant.

The merchant looked strong and muscular, but he dared not resist the young man at all, and could only lie on the ground with his head in his hands to protect himself.

The guards standing on either side of the strong merchant tried to step forward to help, but were instantly pinned to the ground by the guards the boy had brought.

"Ninja".

Hui frowned, and immediately understood the situation of the two guards.

Shisui, wearing a mask, showed no emotion. He simply waved his hand, and the hidden ninja guards understood, immediately heading towards the police department.

"You damned bastard, how dare you talk back!"

The boy whipped the object while cursing angrily, his expression somewhat ferocious, and the onlookers immediately began to discuss it amongst themselves.

"What happened here? Why is this boy so angry?"

"Even if you're angry, you can't do this! Someone's going to die!"

"Shh, keep your voice down. That man looks like a nobleman. Don't let him hear us."

The discussion was quite noisy, but Shisui and the other person still managed to get the gist of the situation.

Without a doubt, the boy was a nobleman. Because many merchants had recently moved to Konoha, the roads were a bit congested, and carriages had to queue to enter and exit.

The young nobleman seemed to have grown impatient and cut in line. The burly merchant, displeased with the boy's behavior, made a few remarks and was subsequently beaten up.

The matter is already clear; there are no twists or hidden stories, so there's nothing more to say.

The police arrived just in time. Shisui gave a signal, and before the boy could introduce himself, he was knocked unconscious and carried away.

"Police are handling this matter; lay down your weapons immediately!"

The boy's guard consisted of two ninjas and six samurai.

Upon seeing the police officers appear, the two ninjas instinctively retreated, while the six samurai, seeing the police officers knock their young master unconscious, instinctively drew their swords, ready to attack.

"Stop! Drop your weapons!"

Sensing the gradually spreading murderous aura, the two ninjas broke out in a cold sweat and their breathing became rapid. They quickly reprimanded the six people.

The six men then felt fear and dropped their weapons.

"Hmph, take him away!"

All ten people, including the able-bodied merchants, were taken away by the police. The carriages blocking the road were quickly cleared, and the road returned to normal.

As Zhi Shui followed the flow of carriages, he noticed that there were many other carriages of the same size behind the four carriages.

"Let's go back first."

Shisui realized something was wrong and quickly returned to the Hokage Building to summon Suzaku Nara.

"Have many nobles arrived in Konoha recently?"

Suzaku Nara was taken aback, then immediately brought over a stack of documents and said, "There are many. Besides Kyoto and the Western River region, nobles from all over the country have come to Konoha for refuge."

"Seeking refuge?"

"That's right. Right now, there are bandits everywhere. In some places, there are powerful nobles who can contribute money and effort to gather the strength of lesser nobles to either clear out or drive away the bandits."

However, in some rural areas, the local nobles were weak, and even if they gathered their guards, they could hardly defeat the bandits. So they could only send people to entrust them with the task. However, we have always been "..."

After being reminded by Suzaku Nara, Shisui finally remembered the reason.

"Only a hundred Chunin, yet the impact is so huge."

"Lord Hokage, a hundred Chunin may not seem like much, but they've chosen some rural landlords. These places have mediocre power, so it's easy to deal with them and move on to the next target. However, their networks are vast. If one of them gets into trouble, the nobles in several surrounding towns will find out very quickly."

The news spread quickly, and the encirclement and suppression came just as fast. Our people had no choice but to flee to other places to find new targets. As a result, within just a few months, news of bandits had spread throughout the country.

Upon learning the news, some nobles mobilized ninjas and samurai to suppress the bandits. However, our first batch of ninjas also secretly intervened. Fearing retaliation after their failed attack, they sent some of their offspring to Konoha and others to Kyoto, primarily to preserve their family lineage.

Upon hearing this, Shisui glanced at the documents that Nara Suzaku had compiled, and then asked, "What about the daimyo? Still no word?"

"No, I've gathered some information. After the nobles saw that we hadn't accepted the extermination mission, they went to inform the daimyo, but the daimyo hasn't responded yet."

"It doesn't hurt unless the knife cuts you. But the nobles from various regions are reacting quite strongly."

Several months passed, and the nobles in various places began to sense that something was wrong. News of bandits was coming too frequently, and they could not be eradicated. No matter how many people they killed, these bandits always managed to come back.

Most importantly, these people are too audacious to dare to attack nobles. They cannot let these bandits get away with it no matter what.

With them in charge, the ninjas Shisui sent out were under increasing pressure.

"Reduce the pressure from other regions and concentrate it on the capital region."

Nara Suzaku understood Shisui's meaning and immediately took on all the backlog of clearing missions, then promptly arranged for his troops to carry them out.

Half a month passed in the blink of an eye. The noble families from all walks of life, who were originally eager to fight and ready to die, suddenly discovered that Konoha had swiftly and decisively eliminated the bandits in various places, and the elimination was exceptionally thorough.

"This money wasn't wasted after all!"

With the bandits completely wiped out, they finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Meanwhile, two groups of ninjas, under cover of darkness, were converging on the capital region.

In order to avoid attracting attention, Zhishui followed Yan Shifan's advice and spread a message within the country.

"In order to help suppress bandits in various places, Konoha transferred too many ninjas, which caused loopholes in the border defense. Some enemy ninjas infiltrated the Land of Fire under the guise of border trade."

Shisui sent this message to Kyoto and requested the daimyo to order the cessation of border trade, especially towards the Land of Rain and the Land of Hot Springs.

However, it was quickly rejected by some nobles and famous figures.

Shisui was not surprised; taking this opportunity, he once again dispatched some ninjas to infiltrate various regions.

Time flew by and it was already the end of October. At Zhishui's home, the three of them sat quietly in the study.

Yan Shifan said, "Border trade is a powerful tool to break free from the economic control of the Daming. We must keep it under our control no matter what."

"It all depends on how the daimyo handles this problem and whether the nobles are on his side."

"With Grandpa and my teacher around, I have nothing to worry about!"

After sighing, Zhi Shui adjusted his expression and said seriously, "With the help of my grandfather and teacher, I can accomplish anything. Therefore, I do not plan to use this year's points to summon the strategist. Moreover, I have already promised my grandfather that I will use these points to help him strengthen himself. Please forgive me, teacher."

Sensing the change in the panel data, Zhishui didn't hesitate to explain the reason.

He wouldn't let Sima Yi speak on this matter, lest it affect their relationship.

Yan Shifan had known this would happen, and although he still felt a pang of sadness, it wasn't unacceptable.

"I'm not that bad, don't worry."

Zhi Shui breathed a sigh of relief, but Sima Yi chuckled and said to Zhi Shui, "Dong Lou and I have already discussed this. Doesn't your statement make Dong Lou seem narrow-minded? A disciple who doesn't know his master should be punished, shouldn't he?"

Zhi Shui blushed slightly and quickly bowed in apology, "It was my ignorance, teacher. I beg you to punish me!"

"Alright, let's put the punishment aside for now. We should have enough points, let's go straight for the upgrade. Let's see what happens!"

Yan Shifan was quite pleased with Zhi Shui's attitude, and he waved his hand, too lazy to argue.

Zhi Shui nodded and immediately summoned the control panel.

Score: 1

Strategists: Sima Yi (Upgraded 0 time), Yan Shifan (Upgraded 0 time)

With a thought, Zhi Shui's points were reset to zero again.

In an instant, a strange light burst forth from Sima Yi's body.

Its radiance was dazzling, too bright to look at directly.

Zhi Shui and Yan Shifan only felt a flash of white light before their eyes and then lost their vision. When they regained their sight, they saw two clusters of light, one black and one white, circling around Sima Yi from bottom to top. After a moment, they merged into his body and disappeared.

"How does it feel?"