Uchiha's personal opinion

After a long silence, Onoki called on his own unfortunate son again: "As your assistant, why don't you start by telling us how the village should develop its military?"

"Manufacturing ninja tools requires not only qualified steel from the smelter, but also enough skilled workers or low-ranking ninjas to be responsible for casting, and sufficient funds to purchase various equipment."

Huang Tu said expressionlessly, "Besides that, if we want to mass-produce basic ninja tools such as kunai and shuriken, we need to establish large workshops to reduce costs by expanding the scale, and the village must also provide support and purchase all of them..."

"Does this mean we have to accept all the substandard products?"

Another high-ranking member of a family that ran a small ninja tool workshop immediately jumped up in opposition, as if by reflex: "Purchasing those inferior ninja tools made by civilians is a crime against our fellow villagers in Iwagakure!"

"If we are to continue mass-producing advanced ninja tools, we need even more contributions from families that possess the technology..."

Huang Tu ignored the words of the high-ranking official and continued talking, but before he could finish, he was stopped by Onoki.

"The secrets of the ninja clan are inviolable!"

"..."

The loess soil has nothing to say.

"However, it is urgent for the village to produce its own ninja tools to reduce costs. It would be better for the village to invest in the various clans to expand production..."

Another high-ranking official offered a seemingly fair suggestion: "In this way, we can both preserve the technological secrets of each ninja clan and achieve the goal of self-sufficiency in military equipment; wouldn't that be wonderful?"

"But prices must come down, and quality must be improved!"

Onoki, however, thought that this wasn't necessarily a bad thing.

At least by adopting this joint venture approach, the village doesn't have to squeeze huge sums of money from its already meager funds to invest in an industry whose success or failure is uncertain. Moreover, the joint venture allows the village to obtain production data from various ethnic groups, which will facilitate the expansion of production capacity in the future.

"If that's not possible, the village can simply withdraw its investment and stop purchasing ninja tools from those workshops!"

The high-ranking official who made the suggestion declared righteously, "Ultimately, the interests of the ninja village come first!"

"That's true..."

Onoki deeply agreed.

"Nonsense and absurd theories, utter nonsense!"

Huang Tu muttered something under his breath.

"Yellow Earth Assistant, what are you saying!"

Onoki looked very displeased.

"I say... Lord Tsuchikage is truly insightful!"

……

"The shogunate is coming on strong; we must be on guard!"

In the Raikage's office in Kumogakure, the Third Raikage made the final decision: "We must also accelerate the pace of military expansion!"

This is an old saying. Ever since the southern part of the Land of Lightning was occupied by the Shogunate and the coastal areas were ravaged by the Kirigakure ninja army led by the Third Mizukage, the Cloud Village ninja, who have been enduring hardship and striving for self-improvement, have said similar things countless times.

But no money is no money.

The Land of Earth only suffered from a financial credit problem leading to a loss of funds, while the Land of Lightning suffered from a complete collapse of its financial system and the widespread use of the Shogunate's gold yuan. Even if the daimyo were willing to support it, they couldn't squeeze out much money.

"I will go to Daming Prefecture immediately tomorrow and explain the seriousness of the situation to His Highness! I will make sure that he continues to increase the allocation of military funds!"

Ai immediately stood up and said.

"Great! That's it!"

The Third Raikage praised, "This is the kind of straightforward example we Cloud Village men should follow!"

Whether the Daimyo of the Land of Lightning could still find gold coins in his already empty treasury, or whether the nobles and merchants of the Land of Lightning, who were already on the verge of bankruptcy, could still squeeze some oil out of them, was not of concern to the high-ranking officials of Kumogakure.

Chapter 442 Choices in an Era of Great Conflict

Another day of missing Ashura.

Exhausted, Huang Tu walked laboriously out of Tu Ying's office and took out a Tuan Shan brand cigarette from his pocket, putting it in his mouth.

"Why did you have to imitate others by smoking?!"

Before he could even light the cigarette, his father, the Tsuchikage, and the respected Lord Onoki, roared furiously from behind: "Put out your cigarette! You don't even respect the Three Forbidden Rules of Ninja, do you?! Do you think that just because you're an assistant and the leader of the Jonin class, I can't control you?!"

The loess soil felt suffocating.

But instead of throwing away the cigarette as instructed, he turned around, condensed a small ball of chakra flame at his fingertips, lit the cigarette, and took a deep, satisfying drag.

"call……"

A column of smoke, sharp as an arrow, shot towards Onoki.

"you……"

Before the stunned Onoki could react, Huangtu immediately stopped and vanished in an instant!

"Lord Tsuchikage, please calm down. Perhaps the yellow earth is helping to temper the young man's temperament, and some rebellion is actually quite understandable..."

A high-ranking official who was at odds with Huang Tu immediately leaned close to Onoki's ear and whispered something in his ear. Although it sounded like he was trying to comfort him, his words were actually full of inflammatory rhetoric.

After the elders who originally supported Huang Tu's rise to power were ousted by Onoki through various means, Huang Tu, although still holding the title of Tsuchikage's assistant and Jonin squad leader, had been stripped of most of his real power.

If they can't even hold onto their last remaining base of ninja troops stationed in the south, how can they continue to realize their ideals?

As for the other centrists or high-ranking members from the ninja clan, they are all opportunists who change their allegiance to the wind, and conspiring with them is like trying to get something for nothing.

"This is really annoying..."

Standing on the edge of the cliff outside Yanyin Village, Huang Tu flicked away his cigarette butt and let out a long sigh.

……

Have food prices gone up recently?

In a small town bordering the western border of the Land of Rain and the Land of Fire, Ashura asked a general store merchant.

"The price has gone up a little, but the price of salt has dropped considerably. Would you like to buy some, Master Monk?"

The grocer, who only sold loose salt and not rice, enthusiastically promoted his wares.

"Need not."

Ashura said seriously, "If I don't buy, he won't sell. The price of salt will drop even more tomorrow!"

"As expected of a learned monk, his words make perfect sense!"

The ordinary people queuing to buy rice immediately exclaimed in praise.

"...Take care!"

The grocer looked gloomy, but dared not utter any harsh words to scare people.

After all, Asura's fist, as big as a casserole dish, was no joke.

"...It's the ordinary people who suffer the most!"

Ashura stopped trying to amuse him and left after getting the answer he wanted.

The shogunate's procurement efforts increased, but the supply of necessities such as food could not be increased in the short term. In addition, the Land of Rain needed to import a large amount of food from the Land of Fire. Therefore, with the change in supply and demand, the amount of food stored by the people began to decrease, and prices naturally began to rise. However, due to the existence of the United Company and Hanzo of the Salamander's request for the Rain Ninja to intervene in prices, the prices of commodities such as salt and cloth that were not included in the military's stockpiling were voluntarily reduced, which relieved some of the burden on the common people who were under pressure from rising food prices.

To be honest, this was the first time Asura had ever seen such a method.

Moreover, although it may seem a bit unreliable, it actually does offset some of the impact of rising food prices, and it is a small but significant benefit for the already shrinking agricultural farmers in the rural areas of the Rain Country.

After traveling through the Land of Fire and the Land of Rain for some time, Ashura felt that he was getting closer and closer to the ninja world, at least he had learned to look at some grand narrative issues from a grassroots perspective.

For example, the common people didn't really care who the rulers were, and they were indifferent to the loss of power or bankruptcy of the nobles, and even felt a little schadenfreude. All they could see was the three meals they had to work hard for every day after they opened their eyes, and how to squeeze out food from between their teeth to exchange for cotton cloth to make quilts and winter clothes.

Therefore, the joint venture that sold them low-grade industrial products such as cotton cloth and salt at low prices became seen as a "benevolent leader" by the farmers.

As for the great wave of ninjas replacing nobles that is taking place in the ninja world, they neither care nor have the ability to care.

Moreover, he also became very interested in Hanzo the Salamander, the legendary "demigod" who led Amegakure to its rise and who is now said to spend his days indulging in pleasure in Amegakure.

What made a ninja, who was considered a man of great talent and ambition even by Ashura's standards, choose to fall into depravity?

Ashura was very curious about this.

……

"I would like to request an audience with Boss Hanzo. How do I register or apply?"

After Ashura arrived at the headquarters of Amegakure, he took the initiative to ask a Amegakure ninja who was sitting idly at the entrance.

"Lord Hanzo is not someone you can see whenever you want!"

It was obvious that the Rain Ninja guarding the gate didn't have much of a liking for Ashura, who looked like an ascetic scholar.

“I have this…”

Ashura thought for a moment, then took out the Shogunate pass given to him by Uchiha Tokumitsu from his pocket and waved it in front of the Rain Ninja guarding the gate.

"You are……"

The gatekeeper, Amegakure, was taken aback at first, then immediately forced a smile like a flower blooming on his face: "May I ask which lord of the Shogunate you are, esteemed guest? What mission do you undertake? And what brings you to see Lord Hanzo?"

Judging from the hair color, he is definitely not an Uchiha. Among the noble clans of Konoha, those with this hair color and who possess a standard pass are most likely to be nobles of the Senju clan...

The gatekeeper Yu Ren couldn't help but imagine what was going on.

Then, the smile on his face became brighter and brighter.

So this is what they call being arrogant at first and then obsequious...

Ashura slowly put away his number plate. "I am not a member of the Shogunate..."

The gatekeeper Yu Ren's expression immediately changed.

"But my relationship with General Deguang is fairly good, and we can exchange a few words..."

The words had barely left his mouth when the gatekeeper, Rain Ninja, whose expression had been shifting, immediately broke into a bright smile: "Okay, please register. I'll arrange your accommodation first, and then I'll consult with Lord Hanzo..."

"...Actually, your unruly demeanor just now was quite good."

Ashura picked up the registration form handed to him by the gatekeeper, Rain Ninja, filled in his name, thought for a moment, and then wrote down the serial number of his pass. He left all other details, such as his purpose of visit, blank.

"Asura..."

The gatekeeper, Yu Ren, read out the names on the registration form.

It looks familiar, like I've heard it somewhere before...