Naruto: I'm really not an evil scientist!

Chapter 127 Black Stockings Terumi Mei

You are sitting in a car, in control of the direction.

There are two roads in front of you. On one road there is one person, and on the other road there are five people.

No matter which path you choose, people on that path will encounter misfortune, while those on the other side will be able to survive.

In other words, if you choose to save five people, one person will die.

Choosing to save one person will result in the deaths of five others.

The young daimyo instinctively replied, "Then kill one person and save five. That way, we'll commit fewer sins."

He still remembers the disappointed look in his father's eyes at that time.

Now, Daming is in his twilight years, and after experiencing many things in life, he finally understands his father's intentions back then.

If I sacrifice just one person, those people will blame and berate me, and morally condemn me.

But if I sacrifice five people, the remaining one will be afraid of me and dare not cause me any harm. I will still be that high and mighty, morally impeccable person.

I am Daimyo, why should I follow your rules?

The most important thing in the world is to maintain balance.

I must neither allow those who are loyal to me to be too weak, nor allow them to be too powerful.

We must neither allow forces like Konoha to become too powerful, nor allow them to become too weak.

Desire is like a stone rolling down a mountain, constantly sliding wildly down the slope.

Since it's impossible to distinguish who is loyal and who is treacherous, let's keep them on the same level and let them check and balance each other.

Coming to his senses, the daimyo spoke gently to the close retainers of Konoha beside him, saying, "The weather today is perfect for tea."

He knew in his heart that the finance minister in front of him was very close to him and someone he could trust.

After all, everything the Chancellor of the Exchequer possessed was a gift from himself.

However, this finance minister was ultimately too close to Konoha.

Especially since the Fourth Hokage took office, even those who originally harbored resentment towards Konoha had to admit that this Hokage acted with generosity.

Previously, Konoha had almost defeated Iwagakure and Kumogakure. Although they were eventually stopped by the Mizukage, the trend of Konoha uniting with these major ninja villages had already begun to emerge.

This is not the situation that the five great daimyo want to see.

Therefore, after some secret discussions, the daimyo have decided to secretly cause some minor trouble for their respective ninja villages.

Of course, this doesn't necessarily mean that the ninja village will be in trouble; it's just that the goal is to keep the situation in a relatively normal state.

If the lowly underlings unite, what good will come of it for these daimyo?

The project passed the test smoothly, which is similar to how a company boss sometimes asks employees to do things that seem outrageous, or even asks them to give him red envelopes (cash gifts).

Regardless of what the employees think, as long as they complete the task, the test is considered passed.

However, the Daimyo of the Land of Wind is no longer involved; he's practically driven Sunagakure to its wits' end.

After all, he even cut the budget for the ninja forces.

If we put too much pressure on the ninjas, who knows what they might do? They might actually storm into the daimyo's palace and chop him down with a single blow.

The Fire Country Daimyo remained outwardly calm, but if he were to subtly hint at anything, those powerful figures who had been waiting to see Konoha make a fool of itself would naturally take action.

Among the four great ninja villages, Hokage Minato Namikaze, persuaded by Hiruko, was not a stingy person and was naturally willing to generously contribute.

The finance minister, who had always maintained good relations with Konoha, had now become the target of the daimyo's anger.

However, Daimyo still chatted with the finance minister with a smile.

The finance minister quickly understood the daimyo's intention: to cause some trouble for Konoha.

Back in the Land of Water, Yagura felt his pressure increasing day by day.

The situation has now entered a new era, and the ninja villages can no longer fight independently as before.

Regardless of the reason, wars between ninja villages and nations will ultimately devolve into a drain on the national strength of major powers.

The land of water is isolated overseas, and its domestic resources certainly cannot compare with those of large inland countries.

To gain an advantage, we must vigorously develop commerce.

The land of water has the most fish, but cold chain transportation is a major challenge in transporting fresh fish to various places.

Some suggested using the power of merchants from the Land of Fire, but that would have nothing to do with ninjas; they would have to rely on the power of large capital.

Yagura didn't want to produce a bunch of defective products and ruin the reputation of the Land of Water's top-notch seafood.

The Land of Water has limited national strength. If it wants to develop rapidly, it will inevitably need to introduce foreign funds, which will inevitably involve negotiations such as joint ventures and shareholding.

Among the many options, Konoha has the most idle funds and the fastest return on investment, and it will certainly have a significant impact on the world in the next few years.

Logically speaking, Konoha is the most suitable partner, but Konoha's attitude is tough and difficult to deal with, so they certainly won't easily let the Land of Water get what they want.

Yagura pondered, "What should I do?"

Seemingly sensing the Mizukage's predicament, Mei Terumi, an ANBU ninja standing nearby, stepped forward and said to the Mizukage with a smile, "My lord, you seem to be somewhat troubled."

Mizukage Yagura sighed, "Yes, there's a very troublesome task, but I can't give it to you."

"Would you question my loyalty to Kirigakure?"

"No, this is the one task I really can't entrust to you."

Meanwhile, Hiruko frowned as he looked at the report in the dead of night.

What worries him now is that Konoha's rapid development has attracted a large population.

People from surrounding villages flocked to Konoha, causing signs of food shortages to appear in Konoha.

Hiruko's goal is to develop agriculture on a large scale around Konoha.

Using the extraordinary power of ninjas to develop agriculture, uniformly planning farmland, and adding fertilizers and ripening technology developed by Hiruko in the research department.

He planned to solve Konoha's food problem in a short time so that the city could accommodate a larger population.

While Hiruko was busy with the food problem, on the other side, Yagura, dressed as a merchant, came directly to his door with her bodyguard, Mei Terumi.

He invited Hiruko to come out and meet him.

Yagura is quite daring; his attire is relatively normal, while Mei Terumi beside him is dressed rather provocatively.

Female ninjas originally dressed in revealing outfits, such as hot pants and crop tops, for ease of movement.

But Mei's outfit is clearly a step further, quite eye-catching.

Mei Terumi wore a chestnut-colored chiffon blouse with large waves, paired with top-quality black stockings made from the local specialty of Hiruko.

The stockings had a glossy, smooth texture that was particularly eye-catching.

She wore a pair of exquisite high heels, and with each step she took, it seemed as if she were pounding heavily on the heartstrings of Hiruko.

"This woman really knows how to manipulate people," Hiruko thought to herself, then glanced at Tsunade, who was busy nearby, and shook her head helplessly.

Tsunade, standing to the side, had a gloomy face, and the veins on her forehead bulged as if they were about to form the character "井" (well).

After all, no one expected that Yagura would suddenly visit Hiruko's home.

Hiruko had no choice but to call the lady of the house back. Mei's attire made Tsunade feel hostile.

Hiruko forced a smile and looked at Yagura, asking, "Yagura, what brings you here today?"

Yagura was quite straightforward, stating his purpose directly: "I hope that funds from the Land of Fire can flow into our Land of Water, as we plan to build many canneries."

He is directly expressing his intentions.

Upon closer reflection, Yagura is indeed no ordinary person.

In the previous chaotic battles, he dared to defy the world and use the tactic of sneaking into enemy bases.

Now, even though he knows that Beiruk dislikes him intensely, he can still say these words so frankly.

However, this is precisely what makes Yagura so terrifying: he is ruthless when it's time to act and decisive when it's time to back down.

Konoha might not be able to directly attract investment from the Land of Fire to Kirigakure, but it can definitely find a way to make investors from the Land of Fire give up the idea of ​​investing in Kirigakure.

However, he said aloud, "Building a cannery is indeed a good direction for development."

"Konoha has already invested in quite a few canneries, isn't that enough?" Hiruko said calmly.

In the Sengoku ninja world, although ninja villages and nations were closely connected, Hiruko knew that Yagura was more concerned about the situation in Kirigakure.

Yagura nodded, confirming, "That's right, not enough!"

Hiruko readily agreed, "No problem."

This greatly surprised Mei Terumi, who was standing to the side. She did not expect that Hiruko, who had always been at odds with Kirigakure, would agree so readily without even thinking about it.

It's important to know that Yagura had previously offended Hiruko and Konoha quite badly.

Mei Terumi sensed something, but she was very clear that as a guard, she couldn't interrupt at this time.

After all, for these guards, there is often another identity and responsibility in political situations.

Yagura was also somewhat incredulous: "You—you really agreed?"

Hiruko retorted, "Otherwise what?"

The relationship between the Land of Water and Kirigakure is actually quite similar to that between the Land of Fire and Konoha.

Although the two sides are close, they are ultimately not completely one.

Given Hiruko's personality, he will ultimately integrate all the ninja village forces and the resources of the major powers, leaving them little room for independent development.

So it wouldn't hurt to give the Land of Water some incentives now.

"How about giving me Mei Terumi? I can give you a discount!" Hiruko said half-jokingly.

"No, Mei Terumi is the next one—" Yagura said, then suddenly stopped, as if realizing something.

Suddenly remembering something, Yagura did not reject Hiruko's teasing.

Konoha's problem isn't really in terms of combat strength; the real headache is its mindset.

The ninjas of the Warring States period had stubborn ideas that were as hard and unyielding as rocks in a latrine.

Unfortunately, these people often hold high positions, making it difficult to shake their authority.

War may wipe out some of them, but it cannot wipe them all out.

If not handled properly, allowing them to sabotage things behind the scenes could lead to extremely troublesome consequences.

Hiruko didn't want another two or three decades-long war of maintaining stability to break up the ninja world when he was about to unify it.

Therefore, from now on, Hiruko consciously supports the reformist ninjas of the major ninja villages to come to power.

Clearly, Yagura was a smart man and a staunch supporter of the Meiji Restoration.

He would rather go through more trouble now than find himself in a mess later.

Of course, this can also be seen as a clever tactic to sow discord.

The great nobles have always believed that the whole world should be their treasure trove, which they can open at will.

However, Yagura bypassed them and started by addressing the issue of seeking investment from abroad, which naturally aroused their disgust.

If this continues, the relationship between Kirigakure and the Land of Water will likely become increasingly tense.

As the victorious nation, the Land of Fire had almost fallen out with Konoha before, so the situation in the Land of Water was self-evident, and Yagura was well aware of it.

However, there are some things that are simply beyond our control, requiring us to balance the interests of all parties while also pushing forward with reforms.

Having chosen this path, he was determined to bring a better life to the villagers, no matter what.

Thanks!

"You're welcome," Hiruko replied casually. He had originally intended to use the Land of Water's fishing industry to allow the children of Konoha to eat more fish.

Since Yagura had this idea, he naturally wouldn't stop him.

Rather than taking the initiative and being intercepted by Yagura halfway, resulting in an entanglement between the two, it would be better to let go and allow Yagura to make his move, while he himself could also benefit from it.

With sufficient funds, Beirut can promote the rapid development of science and technology.

Moreover, once these business alliances are solidified, they will greatly benefit the stable development of Kirigakure in the later stages.

In the original story, after Madara was resurrected through Edo Tensei during the Fourth Shinobi World War, the shinobi entered a phase of mutual understanding, but to say that they returned to peace was complete nonsense.

Many ninjas had the blood of their enemies on their hands, and they only reluctantly compromised because of the two bigwigs of Konoha.

If you disregard the Boruto storyline, their actions are actually quite similar to Hashirama's back then.

Although the two leaders were willing to maintain peace, the ninja world would inevitably be plunged into conflict again sooner or later.

However, if the business alliance can function well, it would at least be a good start.

With sufficient benefits, war might indeed be avoided.

Konoha will not stop them; they might even invest a little money.

Of course, it would be even better if the investment could be made in someone else's name.

As long as it's truly profitable, funds from the Land of Fire will naturally flow in continuously.

"However, Yagura, you must understand that when funds flow in, people may gradually lose their own stance."

"You should know what I'm talking about," Hiruko said with a laugh.

"I understand." Although Yagura was clearly unwilling to talk about such a very real political issue, he knew that what Hiruko said was true.

Hiruko didn't force the issue. He knew that sooner or later, the situation in the Land of Water would force Yagura to make a choice.

So the two continued eating and drinking, temporarily reaching a tacit understanding.

Three days later, in Hiruko's laboratory.

Hiruko was never able to awaken a higher level of her eyes with her Uchiha clone.

In fact, some of these problems have existed for a long time.

Each cell has a limited number of divisions, and cultivating a cell into a complete individual consumes a huge amount of vitality.

Moreover, cells collected from previously cultured experimental subjects and cultured again will have far less viability than those from the first-generation experimental subjects.

Over time, the cell samples deteriorated significantly.

Even if Hiruko later extracted Uchiha Shisui's cell clones and then cultivated them using a universal medicine.

Even after injecting life-giving potions, it was still completely insufficient to meet the life force required to activate the Rinnegan.

Before evolving into the Rinnegan, or even the Mangekyou Sharingan, the body had already collapsed.

Beirukhu did not have a good solution to this problem either.

Originally, I wanted to achieve instant success by directly cultivating a clone with the Rinnegan bloodline limit, but now it seems that this idea is still not very realistic.

According to Hiruko's calculations, it is highly likely that he obtained the living cells of Sasuke Uchiha and Naruto Uzumaki from the Uzumaki clan.

Only by combining the two can a clone with the true Rinnegan be cultivated.

With the panacea demonstrating its amazing effects time and time again in missions, even disregarding its ability to activate cellular pluripotency, its proven characteristic as a powerful warrior recovery potion alone makes it an extremely rare and valuable item.

If it weren't for its almost universally known and visible side effects—such as depleting cellular vitality and potentially causing a significant reduction in lifespan—I wonder how many people would want to obtain such a thing.

This medicine, which has great strategic value, is still very precious.

Hiruko carefully put away the panacea; he hadn't even told Orochimaru about it.

Hiruko had also wondered why he had transmigrated into his body and not someone else.

Then he realized that perhaps it was because he dreamed of becoming a scientist when he was a child that he transmigrated into the body of Biluhu.

Moreover, the two are extremely compatible in spirit and personality, and both are full of desire for the unknown.

His previous life was quite dark.

Hiruko was no better this time. He was extremely self-deprecating, arrogant, conceited, and thought himself clever, yet he was indifferent to the people and things around him.

As time went by, Hiruko increasingly realized that he was not much different from the Hiruko in the original story.

These two are truly counterparts from parallel worlds.

However, in the original story, Hiruko lived in that crazy world, while he himself was born in a peaceful era in his previous life.

Even in the war-torn ninja world, it's impossible to guarantee that everyone's mental fortitude is that strong.

Just like myself now, without the incredibly powerful God's perspective and the cheat code of a transmigrator, it's hard to say how much better I would perform than Hiruko in the original work.

Having been in this world for several years, Hiruko no longer regards others as low-intelligence NPCs.

In this world full of human relationships and social niceties, never underestimate anyone.

Hiruko was also worried that he might one day make a mistake, so he became extra careful when dealing with enemies.

The more he learned, the more awe he felt for those high-ranking figures.

They are the trendsetters of this world; I am far from reaching that level.

In one respect, he is much better than the original character, Hiruko.