This puppeteer is a bit... well...

Chapter 181 Getting into Real Estate?

As the clouds shifted, the enormous object that had been looming over Konoha quietly departed.

People basked in the not-so-warm light, gazing up at the sky. As the snow fell gently, the weight pressing on their hearts seemed to quietly disappear along with the continent in the sky, and they felt a great sense of relief.

"Waaaaah..."

Some people knelt on the ground, covering their faces and weeping.

Then, like a contagious disease, it spread throughout the entire village.

No one could tell whether these were tears of sadness and grief or tears of joy from surviving a disaster.

Or perhaps both.

But the sky over Konoha is shrouded in sorrow.

In the Hokage's office.

Hiruzen Sarutobi took in the village's current state, his face filled with worry.

He was also sad and upset, but as the Hokage, he didn't even have time to be sad and upset.

Konoha suffered heavy losses in this battle.

More than half of the city's buildings were destroyed, and the defense force of over 1,300 people, including a large number of elite ninjas, brought the advantage of the front line against Iwagakure back to a balance, and the war situation, which had been clear, became gloomy again.

Not only that, he also had to consider threats from other ninja villages.

Leaving aside the other small and medium-sized ninja villages, the other five major ninja villages are Sunagakure, Kumogakure, Kirigakure...

Sunagakure doesn't need to consider this for the time being, but if Sunagakure wanted to start a war, they wouldn't have retreated this time.

As for Kumogakure... although it was crippled half a year ago, it still retained a considerable amount of strength. After another six months of recuperation, its current strength is even greater than that of Iwagakure and Konoha.

As for Kirigakure, they also ended their civil war not long ago.

Although their strength has been greatly diminished due to years of civil war, their strength is still above that of Iwagakure and Konoha, judging from their last attack on the Land of Wind.

In other words, on paper, Sunagakure is currently the strongest in the ninja world, followed by Kumogakure and Kirigakure, with Konoha and Iwagakure at the bottom.

Unfortunately, Konoha and Iwagakure, who were at the bottom in terms of strength, were still engaged in a war in Jiaozuo.

In this situation, there is a high probability that the Hidden Cloud Village and the Hidden Mist Village will take advantage of the chaos.

Especially the Hidden Cloud Village.

This village was ambitious and aggressive to begin with.

Having been betrayed and defeated by their allies in the war six months ago, they certainly won't let this go easily.

These are things that haven't happened yet; it's just a precaution.

However, the floating continent of Sunagakure is a real threat.

Today, Ryuji Ayaki was able to bring the floating continent over Konoha and force Konoha to admit their mistake; he can do the same next time.

If they don't find a solution or way to deal with it, they will be forever at the mercy of others.

"But how exactly can this be resolved?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi gazed out the window, his mind immersing itself in the vast knowledge base within his mind, hoping to find a solution.

And then, he actually found it.

"If we can make that thing, we'll have the means to fight against the floating continent."

"Hokage-sama!"

A member of the secret service suddenly appeared in the room.

Hiruzen Sarutobi snapped out of his daze and glanced behind him. "What is it?"

"A cadet at the Ninja Academy has awakened Wood Release!"

"Wood Release?"

Sarutobi paused, then widened his eyes, turning around in disbelief to confirm, "Are you sure it awakened on its own?"

"Yes," the ANBU ninja recounted. "At the time, the ninja academy students and ordinary villagers were all taking refuge in the shelter on Hokage Rock. Five male students had to urinate, so they sneaked out to pee."

"..."

Hiruzen Sarutobi remained silent, a row of black lines appearing on his forehead.

The Hokage portrait is right outside the shelter.

In other words, these five little guys stood on the Naruto portrait and peed in the wind!

The ANBU ninja, unaware of Sarutobi's feelings, continued, "At that time, an enemy puppet discovered and attacked them. In the nick of time, a student awakened Wood Release, destroyed the puppet, and rescued the person."

"A puppet that can defeat a Chunin-level puppet just by waking up..." Sarutobi's eyes lit up, and he couldn't help but smile. "The elders were right, only children are the future of the village."

"By the way, what's the child's name?"

"Ye Moyang."

……

"Cheers!"

Long Er raised his wine glass, clinked it against the people below, and then drank it all in one gulp.

The cheers and music created a festive atmosphere for the banquet.

After traveling abroad for half a year to learn about Konoha's advanced medical and educational systems and technologies, and then experiencing a desperate situation on the day of their final return... After going through all of this, everyone needs to relax and vent.

And so this banquet came about.

Several hours later, the banquet ended.

Ryuji and Ebizo went outside for a stroll and inquired about the situation.

"How's the Mechanized City doing now?"

"Currently, we are building the Heavenly Ladders; the rest have made no progress," Ebizo said thoughtfully. "The initial plan is to build one hundred Heavenly Ladders, but the subsequent situation remains to be seen."

The so-called "sky ladder" is a mechanical elevator made using a gear shaft, which can also be used by vehicles such as horse-drawn carriages. It is not a real ladder.

"How many meters is the frame?"

"Considering the strong winds at high altitudes, a design that is too long could easily cause accidents, so it was designed to be 100 meters long, which is already the limit that current materials can withstand."

"Hmm!" Long Er nodded slightly. "In that case, the floating continent can be easily accessed and evacuated simply by hovering at a height of 100 meters."

"If possible, I still hope to create a flying vehicle," Ebizo suggested. "The floating continent is too big. If we stop at a distance of 100 meters, we'll be easy targets. The sky ladder is also easy to be destroyed by concentrated fire. If we encounter an emergency, we could easily run into an accident."

"I've thought about these things too, and the spaceship's design blueprints are being produced."

In fact, Ryuji already had the idea of ​​building a spaceship when he was creating the blueprints for the mechanical city.

After all, it's a city that can fly; it would be a waste to use it merely as a city.

but.

To manufacture a large number of spaceships, the issue of ports must be considered. The location of the ports will depend on the availability of other locations in the region.

Long Er planned to consider the port and spaceship issues after the prototype of the mechanical city was built.

"It's good that you've considered this issue." Ebizo nodded and said no more.

"How much construction funding is left?"

"There's not much left. After the Heavenly Ladder is completed, we'll have to wait for the Daimyo's next funding allocation."

"Have the ransom money from the other ninja villages been used up as well?"

"There's a little left, but not enough to do anything."

"I see!"

Long Er became distressed.

After this battle, the threat posed by the floating continent to the ninja world will rise sharply, and the same will be true for Sunagakure, the village that created the floating continent.

While it's not quite time to unite against them, there will certainly be actions taken against them.

If the mechanical castle cannot be built as soon as possible and the entire Sunagakure village cannot be moved there, then unexpected events are likely to occur along the way.

"Actually, there's another way to obtain a large amount of funds in a short time," Ebizo suddenly said.

"What method?"

"We'll raise funds from the villagers," Ebizo said. "The city will also be a place where the villagers live in the future, and they should be the ones to pay for their own homes."

"That's true, but it's not like they wanted to move here."

"No, they just made it up themselves," Ebizo corrected. "The ninja village started as a simple ninja settlement, with some ordinary people joining to find a safer place to live. The presence of ordinary people also made daily life easier for the ninjas, so everyone lived together peacefully, and so..."

"If the ninjas move away, the ordinary villagers will move away too, right?" Ryuji blurted out the rest of the sentence first.

"That's right." Ebizo nodded and said, "Ordinary people provide ninjas with daily conveniences through commerce or agriculture, while ninjas provide shelter for ordinary people."

Of course, they will also become their customers, but neither side owes the other anything, and the village has no obligation to provide them with free housing.

"I see!"

Ryuji stroked his chin, lost in thought.

Ebizo was right; his words would have been valid in the past as well.

But it's different now.

Ryuji plans to learn from Konoha and have the Ninja Academy recruit students from ordinary people.

In this case, the village would need to provide housing for ordinary villagers, and even war orphans would need to be supported financially.

If funds are raised from ordinary villagers as Ebizo suggested, it will further sever the relationship between the village and ordinary villagers, which will be detrimental to future development plans.

But Ebizo's suggestion was not without merit; he gave Ryuji an idea.

Since ordinary people come to the ninja village for a safe place to live, why not open it up to ordinary people from other places?

No, no.

Opening the city to ordinary people was a plan that was made from the beginning.

After all, Sunagakure has a small population, and if it wants to develop rapidly, it must increase its population. The floating continent is about the same size as Konoha, so even if it absorbs another two or three hundred thousand residents, it won't seem bloated.

However, at that time, Ryuji only aimed to increase the development potential of Sunagakure by increasing the population.

Right now, all I'm thinking about is making money.

No, it's about making money and increasing the population simultaneously.

"We can build a large number of houses in the city and then sell them to ordinary people outside, especially wealthy merchants and powerful people. We can build separate villas for them."

Upon hearing this, Ebizo's eyes lit up, and he couldn't help but exclaim, "Brilliant! Absolutely brilliant!"

Taking money from family members can damage relationships, but when it comes to outsiders, there's not much to say.

After this battle, the Floating Continent will surely become famous, its name spreading throughout the ninja world. If it were opened to the outside world, people would definitely fight tooth and nail to live there.

Even if it costs money, it's the same.

Although the ninja world is constantly at war, most of the battles take place in small and medium-sized countries. The people of the five great nations live relatively well, and there are quite a few wealthy people among them.

At that time, they will build luxury homes for the rich and sell them at high prices, and build apartments for ordinary people and sell them at normal prices, which will definitely make them a fortune.

After all, land is free.

Long Er said excitedly, "This plan is highly feasible. Senior Hai Bizang, please go and draft a detailed plan."

Opening up to the outside world also has many drawbacks, especially in terms of espionage, which requires a strict vetting mechanism.

A new chapter is about to begin, and thinking about detailed outlines is giving me a headache.

(End of this chapter)