Uchiha's personal opinion

Even so, Uchiha Shiina was overjoyed.

To be honest, although he was the commander of the joint counter-terrorism force, his prestige had never been very high due to his personal abilities.

Especially when facing those squad leaders who are senior members of the clan, junior ninjas often feel somewhat insecure.

The good thing is that he is willing to learn humbly and never puts on airs, so the command of the anti-terrorism unit has never had any problems, and Uchiha Tokumitsu is quite at ease with him.

But now, with the addition of Kisame Hoshigaki, Shiina Uchiha directly incorporated him into the command headquarters' directly subordinate unit, regarding him as another trusted unit besides the guard unit. He then beat up all the arrogant and fierce soldiers of the twenty-four units, which made him stand even straighter.

The one who felt most embarrassed was Rasa, who was hailed as a rising star in the joint anti-terrorism force and had been personally awarded the title of "Child of the Wind" by Uchiha Tokumitsu.

During the exercise, his squad failed to detect the enemy's ambush in time. As a result, after being suddenly attacked by Kisame Hoshigaki's new ninja army with three rounds of ninjutsu, the exercise command judged the entire squad to be wiped out. As the squad leader, he was captured alive by Kisame Hoshigaki and a group of Jonin. This made Rasa feel that he had lost all face.

But this is quite unfortunate.

Because his most proficient Magnet Release: Iron Sand technique was simply too ineffective against Kisame Hoshigaki's Greatsword, Samehada.

After Samehada drained his chakra, Rasa lost his self-defense and was no match for the group of Jonin who ganged up on him.

In particular, Kisame Hoshigaki's squad also included a large number of Kirigakure ninjas. Their water-style techniques wet the sand and iron sand, making it twice as difficult to control their ninjutsu. As a result, due to multiple factors, Rasa became the squad leader who was defeated the fastest in the exercise.

"Jonnin Rasa, don't worry about it. That's how the elemental advantages and disadvantages work in ninjutsu."

After the exercise debriefing meeting, Uchiha Shiina summoned Rasa privately to comfort him.

"I understand..."

After suffering this defeat, Luo Sha's attitude also softened considerably.

"In addition, I plan to establish a special operations group above the brigade level, and I hope you can take on this responsibility."

Uchiha Shiina also mastered the essence of his cousin's "slap once and rub three times" approach, and then gave Rasa a piece of candy.

"Special operations group..."

Luo Sha's heart stirred with a hint of surprise.

He's the squad leader who lost battle the fastest in the exercise! How could he possibly turn misfortune into a blessing?!

"In addition to the guard detachment directly under the command headquarters and Kisame's tactical support detachment, I plan to add a new level to the existing detachments..."

As Uchiha Shiina calmly explained, Rasa's face lit up with surprise.

It's important to know that the highest operational level in today's joint counter-terrorism forces is a detachment!

If additional levels are added, it would mean that Luo Sha would nominally become the second most powerful person in the joint counter-terrorism force!

Although the Joint Anti-Terrorism Force is nominally "joint," it is actually a ninja army firmly controlled by the Uchiha clan. As a member of the Sand Village, how did he manage to rise to such a high position...?

Rasa's face flushed crimson at the thought of the commotion this would cause at Sunagakure headquarters.

His ambitions don't stop there!

His promotion in the Joint Anti-Terrorist Force will not only wash away his reputation as a "loyal dog of the Shogunate" in Sunagakure, but will also be a huge boost to his prestige among the lower and middle ranks of Sunagakure, and will be a great help to his future competition for the position of Kazekage!

"Thank you for the promotion, Commander Shiina!"

This time, Luo Sha was genuinely excited.

"Hmm... Based on the joint approval from the Shogunate and the Governor-General's Office, this operational level is proposed to be at the column level, and its designation is the First Column of the Joint Anti-Terrorism Force..."

Uchiha Shiina smiled and took out a letter of appointment from the folder, handing it over.

"Congratulations, Captain Luo Sha..."

Luo Sha accepted the letter of appointment with trembling hands.

Upon checking the approval date, it was found to be March 10th, Konoha 40th year.

The final approval date was April 3rd.

He was defeated in the exercise on April 4th, and the exercise did not end until April 5th...

This also shows that Uchiha Shiina had already planned to promote him a month ago, and that his appointment was not changed because of his performance in the exercise.

According to Rasa's understanding, although the shogunate once had a ninja army system at the column level, it was often a temporary organization, such as the former shogunate's three-tribe corps or the joint company combat column. However, all of these former columns have now been disbanded. In other words, after accepting this appointment, he will be the only column commander in the current joint anti-terrorism force and even under the shogunate!

Power and prestige are not always about how high your position is, but more importantly, about your uniqueness!

"Your subordinate will certainly do his duty faithfully and will not fail in his mission!"

Luo Sha's face flushed, and he answered loudly.

"The 21st to 24th detachments will all be assigned to your command. I hope you can train the First Column and make it combat-ready as soon as possible."

Uchiha Shiina said with a smile.

In other words, in addition to the existing direct subordinate units, Rasa's subordinates will be reinforced by four more units, which is one-fifth of the ninja force in the joint anti-terrorism unit.

"loyalty!!"

Luo Sha immediately answered loudly.

……

After Rasa left, Uchiha Shiina took out the other appointment letters from the folder, condensed a fire jutsu and burned them to ashes before throwing them into the water cup.

At Uchiha Tokumitsu's request, he nominated a total of five people, and all of them received Uchiha Tokumitsu's approval.

However, only one person was actually appointed, and that was the squad leader who was beaten the worst in the exercise but was not defeated due to a lack of strength.

The reason is simple: to make them feel ashamed and then strive to do better!

"He's one of the lucky ones~"

Uchiha Shiina was fairly satisfied with the result.

After all, Luo Sha was still an outsider and would not have any impact on his power.

Moreover, he had already made plans: if Luo Sha made further great contributions in subsequent battles, he would promote him to deputy commander and then take the opportunity to separate the column...

A promotion in name only, yet a demotion in reality, without losing one's dignity, and without incurring resentment!

"Absolutely perfect!"

Uchiha Shiina snapped his fingers, pleased with his own political acumen.

Chapter 364 Economic Base and Superstructure

"That kid Luo Sha actually..."

In the government office of the former daimyo prefecture of the Land of Wind, now the capital, the ruling government of the Land of Wind and the third Kazekage of Sunagakure are holding a political meeting.

Since Sunagakure defied the ninja world and took the lead in turning the village into a country, the governance of the Land of Wind has faced numerous difficulties.

First came the unanimous condemnation from the daimyo of the ninja world, followed by the invasion and conquest by Iwagakure, and then the lack of cooperation from the old nobles during Sunagakure's takeover of the Land of Wind, leaving this first ninja-governed regime in the ninja world facing numerous difficulties.

Without the military support of the Tokugawa Shogunate, Sunagakure, whose domestic production and logistics system was on the verge of collapse in the early stages of its transformation into a nation, would not have been able to withstand the onslaught of Iwagakure.

If it weren't for the United Corporation's extensive oasis contracting across the Land of Wind, providing financial support to the Sand Village and the Land of Wind's government through a tax-farming system, the Land of Wind's economy would probably have collapsed long ago.

However, the existence of Konoha, the Shogunate, and even the United Company still made the original high-ranking officials of Sunagakure feel like they had a bone stuck in their throats.

After a period of self-management, the Sand Village's leadership finally admitted that they were indeed incompetent in economic matters, and their management was vastly different from that of the United Company.

only--

"Forget about that brat Rasa for now!"

An elderly high-ranking official from Sunagakure tapped his cane in dissatisfaction, grinning with a mouth that had lost most of its teeth, and shouted, "What we should be discussing today is the issue of tax increases!"

"They're adding taxes! What taxes? How are they going to be added?!"

Another elder, who disagreed, retorted irritably, "Don't think I don't know that the oasis your family has taken over has already squeezed the common people to death! And you still want to increase taxes!"

"What does this have to do with a nationwide tax increase?!"

The toothless high-ranking officer's orange-skinned face immediately turned red with anger. "How can we expand the ninja army without increasing taxes! How can we defend this country without expanding the ninja army!"

"I think you're a traitor who took bribes from the Shogunate!"

"You are the traitor who brings chaos to our country! Your family can't even manage an oasis!"

"You took bribes!"

"You are greedy and incompetent!"

Two high-ranking elders, whose teeth could be counted on one hand, started arguing.

"..."

The Third Kazekage closed his eyes in anguish.

In order to strengthen the power of Sunagakure and promote the orderly and sustainable development of the ninja village, he set up an Elder Council and an Inspection Council in Sunagakure, just like the two councils of Konoha. The Elder Council was mainly composed of the heads of the various clans in Sunagakure and the elders from the founding period of the village, while the Inspection Council was mainly composed of the village's Jonin. However, he did not expect that the original high-ranking elders of the ninja village who filled the positions of the Elder Council would perform so poorly in the end!

Even though the Third Kazekage never intended for them to "endure for the sake of the country" like the two houses of Konoha, he still didn't want the two houses of the village to become completely open and turn into factional enemies like they are now arguing!

What kind of nonsense is this?!

We can't just admit that the Sand Village ninjas are dumber than the Leaf Village ninjas!

No... it can't be called stupid either.

As far as the Third Kazekage knew, those high-ranking elders who received the Oasis fiefdoms were incredibly clever when they came up with all sorts of pretexts to collect taxes.

Although they didn't have the Hyuga clan's disdain, the Sand Villagers' hidden wealth never escaped the elders' keen eyes. They meticulously plundered every penny, extorting taxes from the very marrow of the land until eighty years into the Sand Village's history. Now, in some oases, even camel dung has to be taxed.

It's one thing to exploit people to the bone, but the Third Kazekage didn't really care about the lives of ordinary people anyway.

The problem is that those tax revenues never reach the Executive Government! After being collected, they all disappear under various pretexts such as "deficits" and "fire losses"! In the end, they even turn around and ask the Executive Government for money!

In this way, the only sustainable economic source for the Sand Village and the ruling government would be the oases contracted by the joint venture.

Even now that things have come to this, some of the high-ranking elders of Sunagakure are still relentless, insisting that contracting the oasis to the United Company is "selling off the land of wind," which will inevitably lead to a loss of tax revenue, and they advocate taking back the oasis's management rights.

Thinking of this, the Third Kazekage couldn't help but glance at the First Elder, Ebizo, who was sitting to the side like a puppet.

Although Ebizo was not the oldest among them, as the leader of the first generation of village founders, his prestige was still enough to overshadow the elders' council.

The current chaos within the Sunagakure Elder Council is largely due to Ebizo's silence on the matter, which has led some people to have misconceptions.

Of course, the above views are only the personal understanding of the Third Kazekage.

In fact, he didn't know why Ebizo had remained silent on the matter.

"Bang bang bang!"