Uchiha's personal opinion

Therefore, the Earth Release ninjas who were short of money were overjoyed and flocked to the village investment company to apply for jobs, while those who were slightly weaker were recruited by various ninja families.

Although average Earth Release ninjas cannot completely forge a stone brick of the required size and strength using chakra on their own, the ninja clans with extensive knowledge of chakra quickly developed a combination technique that could create stone bricks that were no less powerful than those forged with chakra.

For example, the Senju clan, based on their accumulated knowledge of Earth Release and Water Release ninjutsu, developed a water and earth combination ninjutsu called "Concrete Technique," which allows their mid-to-low-rank ninjas to participate in the construction of the new area.

The Uchiha clan, leveraging their fire-style abilities and under the guidance of Uchiha Tokumitsu, created a material called "fire brick," which also met the building material requirements for the new district's development.

As for the other ninja clans, they also used their unique abilities to develop many similar materials or technologies and successfully obtained the bidding qualifications of the village investment company. Only the so-called "third force" and secret technique ninja clans, led by the Hyuga clan, were either bloodline ninjas who focused on taijutsu or ninja clans who practiced secret techniques. They did not have the ability to come up with these fancy tricks, so they had to offer high prices to recruit earth-style ninjas to join their camp.

"How about this...we'll invest in acquiring those small ninja clan teams and set up a construction company, what do you think?"

The Hyuga clan leader spoke to the leaders of Aburame and Inuzuka.

"In that case, it's not entirely impossible..."

The two ninja leaders exchanged a glance and nodded in agreement.

Although Aburame and Inuzuka don't have much spare money, the Hyuga clan has plenty. They can save up and work together to enjoy dividends.

Thus, the third corporate organization within Konoha, following the United Company and the Village Investment Company, was established—Hyuga Construction. With the Hyuga clan's formidable financial power, several smaller ninja clans, who had concocted groups to undertake new district construction projects, readily complied with their inner calling and became one of the company's many construction teams.

With the support of the Hyuga clan's vast wealth, the construction team began the reconstruction of the Hyuga clan's land even before the bidding for the new district project was opened. Under the precise measurement and control of the Hyuga Byakugan ninjas, they delivered excellent building products at the fastest speed. The Hyuga clan land renovation project was regarded by Hyuga Construction as their first success and a "model project".

The Senju clan immediately followed suit and established a company-like organization called "Senju House" within the clan; members of the Uchiha clan also began to petition Uchiha Tokumitsu to form a similar company.

"...What a bizarre world!"

After spending time at the Konoha Research Institute with a group of researchers thoroughly preparing the ninja frogs captured by the anti-terrorism forces, Uchiha Tokumitsu finally had time to deal with the backlog of affairs. Upon learning about the recent developments in the village, even as a transmigrator, he was extremely surprised.

Although he single-handedly pushed forward the trend of change in Konoha and even the ninja world, the windmill of Konoha was turning too fast.

Uchiha Tokumitsu even thought that if the people from Hyuga Construction and Senju House were to participate in a few more bidding rounds, they might even learn various bid-rigging techniques on their own.

This can only mean that the ninjas' "subjective initiative" was amplified to an extreme under the lure of profit.

……

Iwagakure and Kumogakure have naturally also noticed Konoha's recent activities.

In particular, the establishment of the Konoha New District and the Village Investment Company were both public announcements, so even without spies, relevant information could be obtained through businessmen.

"Konoha has begun a massive military expansion again!"

The Third Raikage said this.

Due to the intervention of the anti-terrorism forces, Kumogakure was unable to redeem the southwestern occupied territory for the Land of Lightning as it had hoped. Coupled with the burden of war reparations, Kumogakure has been in a state of financial deficit.

The high-ranking members of Kumogakure deeply agreed with the Raikage's judgment and condemned Konoha's reckless expansion of its army and its actions that disrupted peace.

"Therefore, we must also accelerate the pace of military expansion to be fully prepared for the final battle!"

The Third Raikage made his decision: "A! Go to the Daimyo's residence tomorrow to pay your respects to His Highness and ask him to increase military funding again! The village must speed up the preparation of the ninja army!"

"Otherwise, the gold coins that the daimyo keeps in the treasury will be used as compensation again!"

Finally, the Third Raikage added one more sentence.

Whether to invest the funds in expanding the army or keep them as reparations, the Third Raikage believed that the Daimyo of the Land of Lightning would make a rational choice.

Meanwhile, in Iwagakure, Ōnoki was equally baffled after receiving the information sent back to the village by the intelligence agents.

Although his first reaction was the same as the Raikage's, that Konoha was simply expanding its ninja army, based on his understanding of Konoha, even if they were expanding their army, they wouldn't need to build a new village!

Newly built villages and old villages are bound to have conflicts of interest and disagreements. Even in Iwagakure, which is known for its unity, there are many conflicts between the lower and upper villages. How much more so in Konoha, where there are many ninja clans.

"I don't understand..."

Ōnoki sighed and then instructed his subordinates to hand the documents over to the office of the Tsuchikage's assistant, so that his son, Kōtō, could handle the judgment.

After suffering setbacks in dealing with the Frost Country Army and the southwestern occupied territory of the Lightning Country, Huang Tu seemed to have matured a lot overnight, and his methods of handling things became more gentle. Although he still seemed a bit immature in Onoki's eyes, he had improved a lot compared to when he first took office.

"That brat's actually done pretty well..."

As Onoki continued processing the documents, he muttered to himself.

Although the relationship between father and son became quite distant after the old high-ranking officials supported Huang Tu's coup, Huang Tu was still the eldest son of Onoki, and his growth was always something his father was happy to see.

"At least I can tolerate it..."

Onoki casually signed his name on an order to deal with a high-ranking elder who had once supported Huangtu.

Although his son, now the assistant to the Tsuchikage of Iwagakure and the leader of the Jonin class, knew that the Tsuchikage and his father planned to get rid of the old high-ranking officials who supported him, he remained unmoved. He neither reacted violently nor made any secret arrangements. Instead, he watched as the old high-ranking officials who had once supported him were eliminated one by one, and he took over and absorbed the subordinate forces of the old high-ranking officials.

This made Onoki feel both gratified and a little chilly—his son seemed to be growing up too fast, even too much.

"...These are turbulent times!"

Thinking of this, Onoki put down his pen, rubbed his sore eyes, and sighed deeply.

They annex the branches of their own faction and strive to unite their forces. This is what Iwagakure has always called "unity"—once yours becomes mine, then we will be one family!

This is the truth behind the united Iwagakure!

Onoki looked out of his office window at the wild, rocky hills, a symbol of the unity of Iwagakure.

The unity of Iwagakure was not achieved overnight; it was the result of the perseverance of successive Tsuchikage. And naturally, there was disunity behind this unity, but those disunited Iwagakure members have already passed away, buried in the rock strata.

"...Is the Cloud Village expanding its army?"

After resting for a while, Onoki picked up the documents on the table again and began to read them. When he saw the information about Kumogakure, he couldn't help but frown.

The pace of Yunyin's revival is much faster and bolder than he imagined.

"A letter has been sent to the daimyo requesting increased military funding!"

Onoki immediately wrote down his opinion on the document.

But then he hesitated for a moment, crossed out the original proposed solution, and wrote a new one:

"Transfer this matter to the Upper Ninja Class!"

Chapter 336 Innovative Interrogation Experiments

Since his defeat and capture in the border clearing operation, Sarutobi Shinnosuke has been under house arrest.

After regaining his senses, he felt as if he were trapped in a dark, silent space, as narrow as a stone coffin. After many days of turbulence, he was placed in an extremely quiet room.

In the time that followed, apart from the occasional person coming to roughly force some liquid food into his mouth, Sarutobi Shinnosuke was in a state of deafness, blindness, and even unable to move his eyelids—for fear that he would commit suicide or escape, the sealing squad accompanying the army had completely imprisoned his body with sealing techniques.

At first, Sarutobi Shinnosuke tried to roughly judge the time change by the time interval between feedings, but he soon found that there was no pattern to the feeding, and even if he calculated it, it was useless.

Add to that the terrifying state of being completely imprisoned—and soon, Sarutobi Shinnosuke's mind completely collapsed.

"Are you done?"

A voice suddenly rang out from behind the dark, secret room.

Sarutobi Shinnosuke's completely broken mind suddenly recovered a little. Although he couldn't control his eyelids and mouth, his eyes started to dart around involuntarily.

He just couldn't take it anymore!

This state of completely losing control of the body but being unable to fall asleep is more terrifying than the most severe torture!

"It was completely destroyed before, but now that I can hear sounds, it's probably a little better, right?"

Another hesitant voice came from outside the stone coffin.

"Hmm~ That's right~ There's definitely been a change, the fluctuations in the electrocardiogram are starting to increase! He should be able to hear us now!"

"It's really interesting~ When you're completely overwhelmed, even a human voice will still trigger your work as usual!"

"It seems the Ministry of Internal Affairs' research is correct; an absolutely confined environment can indeed completely destroy a person's sanity in a short period of time, leaving them in a state of defenseless numbness!"

The terrifying voices of conversation continued to echo outside the stone coffin, but Sarutobi Shinnosuke showed no fear whatsoever—his only request was to hasten his death!

"By the way, it seems that Hyuga Construction is going to be listed on the stock exchange. Are you planning to buy some shares?"

Outside the stone coffin, a man said casually, "This is the first publicly issued stock on the stock exchange. I heard that if you can buy it, you're sure to make money!"

"However, I heard that Uchiha Real Estate is also preparing to go public. Since I don't have much cash on hand, it's best to be cautious about Uchiha clan stocks."

"I don't think so. Hyuga Construction is the first listed company in the new district development! It's of great significance. Neither the Hyuga clan nor the stock exchange can allow the price to stagnate, otherwise it would be a slap in the face to the two great clans of Uchiha and Hyuga!"

"So you mean you want to use connections to buy Hyuga Construction's stock directly?"

"No! I mean I'll buy both! Just two rounds of all-in betting, and I'll be financially independent and never have to work in that dark, dreary interrogation department again!"

"You really are rich..."

The sounds of conversation outside the stone coffin faded into the distance, and then silence returned.

That's great...

Completely imprisoned, Sarutobi Shinnosuke suddenly felt a sense of peace within him, as if hope for life had returned.

……

"This is really interesting~"

Outside the secret chamber where the stone coffin was stored, a group of Uchiha ninjas were intently watching the various data displayed on the monitors in front of them, and taking notes in their notebooks.

"This is a valuable experimental opportunity, which will greatly help improve everyone's illusion magic training and interrogation techniques."

A middle-aged Uchiha Jonin asked, "Can anyone summarize this experiment?"

"First, create panic in a confined environment, then disrupt its sense of time by feeding it irregularly, causing it to fall into complete chaos, thereby triggering its inner breakdown."

A young Uchiha ninja in a police uniform immediately answered.

"Another point is to seize the right opportunity. Before their mental breakdown leads to the complete collapse of their physical functions, create additional disturbances by seemingly unintentionally bringing a glimmer of hope to the person being interrogated through some everyday village activities, thereby allowing their mind to recover..."

"However, I think that the recovery after the collapse might lead to a distorted understanding of the interrogation subject's true self—in other words, the current Sarutobi Shinnosuke might not be the same Sarutobi Shinnosuke he was at the beginning!"

"His true self and his obsessions have definitely become distorted!"

"This argument is a bit too hasty. I suggest we wait until after the interrogation before drawing a final conclusion!"

A group of young Uchiha ninjas shared their opinions, while the middle-aged Uchiha Jonin listened quietly to his juniors without offering any.

After the younger generation finished their discussion, the middle-aged Uchiha Jonin gave his concluding remarks: "This mental attack experiment without chakra involvement was very successful. At least in a short period of time, it destroyed the mind of a Jonin who was filled with hatred. It is very helpful for everyone's research on genjutsu."

"Therefore, I hope that after you go back, you will write a short paper of more than 3,000 words based on this experiment from your own perspective, and submit it the day after tomorrow morning!"

The middle-aged Uchiha Jonin made a decision that caused his juniors to groan in despair.

He ignored the resentment of his clansmen, then turned to the head of the interrogation department, "Jonin Morino, our course is basically over. Thank you for your support..."