Naruto: The Tavern Speech Begins to Make the Land of Rain Great

Just then, a knock came at the door, and a youthful figure walked in.

Her long ponytail swung in the air in an arc, and she held a folder in her hands.

Hayakawa Hitomi walked a few steps to the table, glanced at Nishimura next to her, and then noticed the ID tag that was already hanging around his neck.

"Oh, you got promoted?"

Hayakawa Hitomi expressed her blessing in an almost compassionate tone.

Nishimura was a little confused by this attitude, but out of politeness, he nodded in response.

"Yes, I just filled out the form. We'll be working together a lot from now on, Minister Hayakawa."

Nishimura glanced at Hayakawa Hitomi, who was clearly preoccupied, nodded to Watanabe Tetsu, and then left the room.

Seeing that no one else was around, Hayakawa Hitomi skillfully plopped down on the opposite side of the desk. She placed the documents on the table, rubbed her eyes which had dark circles, and stretched lazily.

Watanabe Tetsu noticed Hayakawa Hitomi's dark circles and asked with concern.

"Didn't sleep well again?"

"Yes, but as per your request, Senior Che, we have been pushing forward with the second phase of the plan with all our might."

Watanabe Tetsu nodded; the second phase was imperative.

As mentioned before, the first phase is to control the eastern part of the Rain Kingdom, using taverns as nodes to connect various towns and construct the Eastern Arc.

This step is about securing territory.

The next step is to mass produce troops.

In the second phase, leveraging the advantages of infrastructure and resources, they will recruit more ninjas and talents, stockpile a large amount of ninja tools and food, and build a force that can rival Hanzo.

Once this stage is achieved, it will essentially be the same as Hanzo's revealed card.

Tell them, "I have soldiers, power, and land, and I'm going to compete with you for the title of ruler of the Rain Kingdom."

The construction of grain greenhouses and the booming sales of medical ninjutsu scrolls have provided the Xiaoguang Society with natural advantages.

Looking at Yuyin Village again, it suffers from food shortages and a lack of funds.

There is nothing left that Xiaoguang would be afraid of.

The only thing to worry about is that Hanzo, being a demigod, might pose a threat to Xiaoguang on the battlefield.

However, there's no need to worry too much.

No matter how strong Hanzo was, he wasn't at the level of Hashirama Senju.

He gets tired, and he dies.

How's the recruitment going lately?

"Quite good. We used a combination of food and ninjutsu to get many hesitant ninjas to join us."

Watanabe Toru nodded, unsurprised.

After all, they are ninjas from the Land of Rain, and they only have two goals.

Being able to eat your fill will make you stronger.

Food and ninjutsu perfectly satisfied these two needs.

"To date, we have recruited more than 500 ninjas from various places, including 33 Jonin, 237 Chunin, and 247 Genin."

"There are a few Jonin."

"Yes, most of the Jonin were recruited by Amegakure in advance. Most of these Jonin joined Akatsuki because they couldn't stand Hanzo's behavior."

Watanabe Tetsu nodded; this was not unexpected.

Hanzo had a huge advantage in terms of timing. Over the years, many Jonin had nowhere else to go but to join Hanzo.

Furthermore, Amegakure is a long-established ninja organization, so it's understandable that the Jonin (high-ranking ninja) would prefer to trust Amegakure.

"Do we have enough ninja tools? We still have money in the account, so why not buy some to improve the organization's strength?"

Hayakawa Hitomi also agreed with this view, she explained.

"We have been continuously acquiring explosive tags on the market, and have now acquired 10,000 explosive tags."

"As for kunai and other commonly used consumable ninja tools, we have acquired more than 10,000 of them in total."

Hayakawa Hitomi paused for a moment, then pulled out the top sheet of the document, which detailed the quantity of ninja tools stored at each of Akatsuki's various bases.

The largest amount of the goods are stored at the Xiaoguang Society headquarters, since it's the least known and safest place.

Other branches of the Akatsuki also stored some ninja tools, but most of them were kunai, and there were far fewer explosive tags.

This is due to safety concerns, since there are some storage risks associated with detonators, and it would be bad if they exploded.

To prevent theft and other potential risks, Watanabe Toru also deployed members of the combat and logistics departments to guard the supplies 24 hours a day to ensure their safety.

In short, this batch of ninja tools is Watanabe Tetsu's confidence in fighting against Amegakure.

Of course, this presents a problem.

Why would Xiaoguang prefer to buy them rather than make them himself?

In fact, Watanabe Tetsu had considered this matter before, but after careful calculation, he found several problems.

The primary problem is the excessively long timeframe. While building a factory can reduce the cost of ninja tools, it simply doesn't take enough time.

Secondly, ninja tools require raw materials. Kunai require steel, as well as steelmaking, stamping, and other technologies, which Furukawa did not provide to him.

Therefore, building a ninja tool factory now is actually not a wise move.

However, the previous success of the medical ninjutsu scroll also allowed Watanabe Tetsu to experience the joy of selling arms.

He decided that once he had the relevant technology and conditions, he would definitely build the largest kunai factory and explosive tag factory in the ninja world.

Then they would instigate wars behind the scenes and sell arms to both sides.

This familiar operation reminded Watanabe Toru of a country from his previous life.

Watanabe Toru felt he could replicate that success.

In short, the benefits of acquiring ninja tools are far greater than building one's own factory.

Watanabe Toru nodded in agreement.

"How much money do we have left in the account?"

"Around seventy million taels."

This is the money left over from buying the explosive tags and the suicidal items.

It can be said that during this period, Watanabe Tetsu used half of the money he earned from medical ninjutsu scrolls to buy ninja tools.

"Very good, keep buying explosive tags, and keep recruiting people."

"it is good."

Xiaoguanghui has now fully entered the stage of mass troop building. Watanabe Tetsu's plan is to expand the number of Xiaoguanghui members to around one thousand, while also refining the various departments of Xiaoguanghui.

The organizational structure for 100 people is definitely different from that for 1,000 people.

Previously, there were only small groups under the combat department, but considering the ratio of 600 people out of 1,000 to be assigned to the combat department, there can be a full 120 small groups.

These numerous groups need further categorization for a more reasonable approach.

Watanabe Tetsu then reformed the system, adding the concept of a "group" above the "group".

Ten groups form a team, and each team consists of fifty people.

Six hundred men make up twelve regiments, which is quite suitable for small-scale operations.

Of course, the reforms didn't just affect the combat department; the management department, research department, and logistics department also underwent significant changes.

Furthermore, whether intentionally or unintentionally, Watanabe Tetsuya promoted many of the capable veteran members of the Akatsuki-kai to fill the vacant seats.

This prompted many long-time members to shout "Long live Watanabe-sama!"

With the lure of promotions, raises, and more power, even the organizational restructuring that everyone hates seems less significant.

This time, all the actions pointed directly at Hanzo.

Watanabe Toru's massive expansion of his army and his spending of a lot of money on ninja tools had only one purpose.

Destroy Amegakure and make Akatsuki the sole ruling power in the Land of Rain.

Let the Land of Rain truly belong to Watanabe Toru.

Only by defeating the behemoth that is Amegakure will Watanabe Tetsu be able to operate with peace of mind.

Establishing a capital city, reforming the currency, adjusting distribution relationships, implementing work relief programs, and vigorously developing science and technology...

These measures can only be implemented if the Land of Rain is stable.

As long as Hanzo remains in power, he is destined to be unable to implement these policies.

If they want to develop further, Hanzo is the biggest obstacle.

In Watanabe Tetsu’s view, it is time for Xiaoguang to overcome this stumbling block.

All of this should ideally be dealt with before the Second Shinobi World War ends.

To prevent external forces from getting involved.

Watanabe Toru raised his head.

"How much money does Hanzo estimate he has left?"

"It is estimated that there are still around ten million taels left. Recently, he has been frequently communicating with various parties about a ceasefire, which shows that he is eager for a peaceful environment."

Watanabe Toru nodded.

"Then it's time to close the net."

Hayakawa Hitomi responded with an "Mmm," her smiling, crescent-shaped eyes brimming with barely suppressed excitement.

"By the way, Senior Che, there's a little surprise among the ninjas recruited this time."

Hayakawa Hitomi pulled out a registration form from the stack of documents. It contained the registrant's name, age, special skills, and other information.

Watanabe Tetsu took the piece of paper.

After reading for a while, a look of surprise appeared on his face.