I founded the "Bragging Cult" in Naruto.

Chapter 666 If you have a good enough mindset, then a business trip is a publicly funded vacation.

"This Sakamoto Tatsuma is truly a talent; it's just a pity he was born in Konoha."

Inside the Tsuchikage's office, Onoki was beaming, clearly in a great mood. The thought of the money that was about to arrive made him eager to bring gifts to Tatsuma's door to express his sincere gratitude.

He looked at his son, Huang Tu, and said, "Am I right? All we need to do is keep an eye on Konoha. Whatever they do, we'll do too."

Wouldn't this solve the economic problem that had plagued the ninja village system for fifty years? It's terrifying to think about, and this is only Sakamoto Tatsuma's first move since officially taking office.

"But won't doing this incur the daimyo's displeasure?"

Huang Tu asked with slight worry, and Onoki nodded and replied, "They will definitely be dissatisfied, and the daimyo will even settle scores with them as soon as the war ends."

"Then why are you still..."

"Didn't I say that the Five Kage Summit is impossible to hold? Think about it, why would the Shadowless Conference be held?"

Onoki interrupted Yotsuchi and asked a question. Yotsuchi pondered for a moment before saying as if he had just realized something, "This meeting was convened to end the Ninja War, but as long as the Five Kage Summit cannot be held, the Ninja War cannot end."

"That's right, Yecang's invitation will not affect our response in any way. As long as the Five Kage Summit is not held, even if we stop fighting from this moment on, the Ninja War will not end for the next ten or twenty years!"

The tacit understanding among the five villages lies in the fact that if any country intends to settle scores, the other ninja villages will attack or even besiege that country, making it impossible for the ninja war to end before the next Five Kage Summit.

Think about it. What could possibly warrant a Five-Shadows Summit now?

Upon hearing this, Huang Tu shook his head and said, "There will be no more things in the ninja world worth holding a Five Kage Summit, but the Five Kage can't go their whole lives without meeting, right?"

"Let alone the joint Chunin Exams that would be held during peacetime, even now that the five great ninja villages have acquired resources, the large-scale negotiations for exchanging goods and supplies must be handled by the Kage, right?"

"That's true, but who says that meeting means reconciliation? Haven't I met Sakamoto Tatsuma? Haven't Ai met Tatsuma? Haven't Yokogura and Yagura met Sakamoto Tatsuma?"

Who says economic negotiations don't count as a form of forbearance? Who says war has to be a bloody affair? Isn't economic warfare war? Isn't information warfare war?

As for the Joint Chunin Exams, it goes without saying that they are a means for the five great ninja villages to test each other during peacetime. If any one side shows weakness, it becomes the key to starting a war.

"If the Five Kage are willing, they can go to the toilet together and see who can pee the farthest—that's war! You're still too young and naive."

Onoki shook his head with a smile. His son didn't see far enough ahead. Perhaps he should send Huang Tu to Konoha for further studies after the armed war ended?

Given his seniority and influence among the Five Kage, it wouldn't be unreasonable for Sakamoto Tatsuma to do him a favor, would it?

It took Huang Tu a while to process what his father meant. What a despicable shadow!

and also

"So, is the war of arms over? After all, the ninja villages have now received the necessary resources; shouldn't they focus on economic development?"

"It's not that simple. Putting aside whether doing this is a direct mockery of the daimyo of various countries, let's talk about our Iwagakure first. Do you think Kumogakure will simply forget the hatred of the Third Hokage's death in the Land of Earth?"

Once both sides have regrouped, the war between the Iwa and Kumo ninja will continue. Similarly, there's the Kirigakure's revenge against the Kumo ninja; on the eve of the villages hanging up truce signs, the Kumo ninja killed thousands of Kirigakure ninja.

Furthermore, the villages of Sunagakure, Kumogakure, and Kirigakure have interfered in Sunagakure's internal affairs. Although Pakura and Rasa have reached a reconciliation, do you think Sunagakure would give up the resources promised by Kumogakure?

As for Konoha, Kirigakure is probably the only remaining opponent. The ceasefire agreement between Kumogakure and Konoha has not been terminated, and we won't be foolish enough to provoke Konoha. As for Sunagakure...

Judging from the flirtatious exchange between Sakamoto Tatsuma and Pakura, Sunagakure is even less likely to attack Konoha. I even suspect that Rasa's previous attacks on Pakura were genuine.

"You mean that Sakamoto Tatsuma was indeed supporting Yōkura's becoming the Fourth Kazekage?"

"Yes, that battlefield is too strange. It can be said to be the place with the most strategic maneuvering since the start of the war. There are too many calculations that even I, an old man, cannot figure out. It is also our fault for fighting too fiercely with Konoha back then, otherwise we could have participated as well."

The most painful thing next would probably be for the Hidden Cloud Village, which suddenly became the center of the war. The Hidden Cloud Village doesn't have Sakamoto Tatsuma, so it will be very difficult for them to escape unscathed.

However, this is also a good thing. The Cloud Ninja's combat capabilities are too strong. With the same number of armed personnel, if there is no individual like Sakamoto Tatsuma who can change the course of the battle, the Cloud Ninja would be the strongest.

Therefore, for the five great ninja villages to achieve ideal development, the Hidden Cloud Village must be weakened. At the very least, after the war ends, the number of ninjas in the Hidden Cloud Village must be minimized so that the economies of each village can develop more effectively.

After Onoki finished speaking, Huang Tu frowned and said, "But in this case, wouldn't Konoha benefit the most? Shouldn't Konoha be the one that needs to be weakened the most? Besides their war capabilities, they also have Sakamoto Tatsuma."

"For the past three years, haven't we ninja villages been doing the same thing? But what was the result? Konoha managed to maintain the balance of power even when facing multiple opponents, and in the later stages, Konoha actually became the one with the greatest advantage."

What does this mean? It means we lack the ability to defeat Konoha, so the wisest course of action is to aim for second place. After all, Konoha has held the top spot for decades; there's nothing we can do about it.

Originally in high spirits, Onoki now seemed somewhat dejected. Everyone knew that Konoha was the one that needed to be weakened, but that required the ability to actually do so.

At the start of the war, Konoha faced a three-on-one situation. At that time, probably everyone thought that Konoha was bound to lose, or even be destroyed.

But what was the result? Sakamoto Tatsuma completely changed the situation. First, he killed the Third Kazekage, plunging Sunagakure into a power struggle. He may even have orchestrated the transformation of Sunagakure into the village that Konoha desired most.

After dealing with the Sand Ninja who were acting as the vanguard, Tatsuma went straight into the heart of the Land of Lightning and forced the Hidden Cloud Village to sign a non-aggression pact. In a short time, he went from fighting three against one to fighting one against one, and it was the Hidden Stone Village that he defeated.

Onoki still vividly remembers how badly Iwagakure was attacked.

As for the Mist Ninja introduced later, it's more accurate to say that Konoha was "raising" the Mist Ninja rather than fighting them. The battle before the truce clearly demonstrated how vulnerable the Mist Ninja were to Konoha.

Without Tatsuma, their ultimate trump card, not a single Kirigakure ninja managed to escape from the Land of Fire. Looking back now, Konoha's arrangement was extremely bizarre.

It seemed as if the war was being forcibly prolonged, and during this period, for nearly a year, Sakamoto Tatsuma did not appear.

As he pondered, Onoki suddenly broke out in a cold sweat. Koto looked at his father, whose expression shifted from radiant with joy to utter dejection, then to silence, and finally, as if startled, asked curiously:

"What's wrong?"

"Something's not right. Sakamoto Tatsuma hasn't appeared at all in the past year. This kind of disappearance seems to have happened more than once in the past three years of war."

Onoki frowned, as if answering, but also as if talking to himself, and said, "Let's not talk about the incident in the Land of Lightning. Actually, there have always been movements, but they're just not clear."

But later, he disappeared, which led to two internal conflicts in the Land of Water, and then disappeared again. Yekura, who should have been completely defeated, suddenly regained the power to contend with Rasa.

So what happened in the Land of Wind during that time? The Magnet Release ninja, Rasa, was severely injured and forced to demand promised compensation from Kumogakure. Suddenly, Pakura obtained the One-Tailed Shukaku.

Yes, that explains why he was helping Yokura during that time. No wonder Rasa said that Yokura had already betrayed them and joined Sakamoto Tatsuma.

So what has Sakamoto Tatsuma been doing over the past year? Planning for economic autonomy? No, there haven't been many plans, there's definitely something wrong with that.

Seeing his father seemingly possessed, Huang Tu said, "Maybe...it's not that mysterious? Perhaps it's just Sakamoto Tatsuma training? After all, even the strongest talent needs time to materialize, right?"

Huang Tu felt that his father was like someone who had been bitten by a snake once and was afraid of ropes for ten years, but Onoki shook his head and said, "You don't understand Sakamoto Tatsuma. The battlefield is his best training ground."

He's the same kind of person as Madara Uchiha and Hashirama Senju in the past. He can grow as long as he fights, and the more intense the battle, the more it stimulates their growth. So the idea that he would leave the front lines for a whole year to go and train is completely unfounded.

There must be another reason, a reason that even I haven't discovered.

"To recover from an injury?"

Huang Tu tentatively asked, but Onoki rolled his eyes at his son and said, "Who do you think he is? Does he need to recuperate for a whole year? It's rare for him to even recover from an injury for a single day."

"What else could it be?"

"That's the problem. We need to figure out what he did. If it was directed at someone else, then who was he targeting? We must take this seriously. After all, what if it's our Iwagakure village?"

Onoki looked worried and said, "You are in charge of investigating this matter. Before we resume the war, we must figure it out. We cannot start a war lightly before we have a clear understanding of the situation."

"All right."

Huang Tu felt somewhat helpless. He thought that perhaps things weren't that complicated. After all, even if Chenma was made of iron, he still needed to rest, right?

A year is indeed a long time, but what Tatsuma did in the war is something that no one else could do in a lifetime. What's wrong with taking a year off?

But he dared not disobey his father's orders, and he was also tired of staying in the Tsuchikage's office all this time, as his father made him learn how to handle the Tsuchikage's work every day.

It's a perfect time to go on my honeymoon with my new wife.

Thinking about how he could take advantage of his father's orders and spend the village's money to enjoy his own vacation, Huang Tu suddenly felt that this was actually not a bad thing. After all, who doesn't like paid leave?

If I work hard, maybe I can become a father before the next phase of the war arrives.

Thinking of this, Huang Tu couldn't help but grin. Seeing this, Onoki nodded in satisfaction. His son had finally grown up, and he was so happy to serve the village. He was a qualified candidate for the position of Kage.

(End of this chapter)