Uchiha's personal opinion

Chapter 493 The Great Geographical Discoveries

Within a very short time, the advance command post located in front of the Hurricane Barrier World Gate and near the Calm Belt had built military facilities such as a harbor, shipyard, and small smelter. Although small in scale, these facilities alleviated the need for military supplies to some extent.

In addition, as naval vessels continue to explore the surrounding area, and once safety is assured, the joint venture's fishing fleet is also expanding its fishing range. Meanwhile, numerous civilian facilities, such as sorting lines, freezing plants, and cold storage warehouses, are also under construction.

Meanwhile, researchers from the Shinobi World Government Research Institute and the Royal Academy of Engineering received personal instructions from Uchiha Tokumitsu to send personnel into the pirate world to conduct extraction and analysis of seawater, attempting to identify substances in the seawater that could cause negative effects such as exhaustion to the ability users of this world.

"Furthermore, we might be able to conduct extended experiments, using the principles of combining seawater extracts with poisons to create special drugs..."

Orochimaru, who had been granted permission to enter the One Piece world to oversee the construction of the laboratory, exclaimed excitedly, "Furthermore, if we can obtain the legendary Devil Fruits, we can analyze them more directly and prescribe the right remedy!"

"In that case..."

Upon hearing this, Uchiha Shiina's heart skipped a beat.

He had intended to immediately issue an order to all intelligence personnel heading to the Sabaody Archipelago to collect Devil Fruits, but fortunately, his reason returned in time and prevented him from doing so.

After all, their main task at present is to establish intelligence bases and continue to collect information about the customs and culture of the pirate world. Too many varied and heavy tasks would interfere with the work of the intelligence ninjas.

Moreover, according to the information obtained through interrogation, even in this world, Devil Fruits that grant special abilities upon consumption are extremely rare. Apart from a very few lucky individuals who obtain them by chance, their market prices are all astronomical.

As for the intelligence ninjas who are just starting to establish themselves, they don't have the financial resources to buy a Devil Fruit on the open market—and it's almost obvious that the World Government of the pirate world will definitely audit or monitor those who buy Devil Fruits, which would be tantamount to exposing their identities.

As for stealing Devil Fruits...

If given the chance, Uchiha Shiina believed that the twenty squadrons of intelligence ninjas would handle the matter themselves, and he wouldn't need to worry about it.

"We must trust the initiative of the ninjas on the front lines..."

Uchiha Shiina recited a line from the "Words of Dekko".

Orochimaru gave him a somewhat puzzled look, then continued with his work.

"By the way, could you send over a few more supplies? We need to do dissection experiments soon, and the poison master from the Southwest Administrative Region will be arriving in two days. We'll need quite a few for the drug experiments then..."

Orochimaru said this while installing the experimental equipment.

"...I'll allocate ten people to you, but you can only have one Devil Fruit user, so use them sparingly, since we only have so many prisoners."

Uchiha Shiina glanced once more at the metallic laboratory, sensing an extremely cold killing intent emanating from the cold metallic sheen. The pristine laboratory would soon be filled with bloodshed.

"Fortunately, this cold-blooded guy belongs to our side..."

After glancing at Orochimaru, who was enthusiastically touching the experimental equipment, Uchiha Shiina, feeling a chill run down her spine, quickly left the laboratory.

"Has that troublesome guy left?"

No sooner had Uchiha Shiina left than a Uzumaki researcher peered into the inner room and asked questions.

"They've already left."

Orochimaru answered without looking up.

"Then the equipment for human experimentation can be installed."

The vortex researcher said with great delight.

"Install it..."

Orochimaru casually remarked, "By the way, isn't Ashina-senpai coming to the lab?"

"Chief Ashina has a new mission..."

The researcher casually remarked, but then hesitated before revealing the whole story: "His Majesty has ordered the development of a fax machine. Due to the extremely high technical difficulty, the Ashina Clan Chief needs to personally oversee and lead the team..."

"fax machine?"

Orochimaru immediately became interested and put down what he was doing to look at the Uzumaki researcher.

"Um... it's a machine that transmits images remotely."

The researcher from Vortex said, "Its main function is to convert the text and images to be transmitted into radio signals and then transmit them, but the most difficult part right now is the encoding..."

"...What a brilliant idea!"

After pondering for a moment, Orochimaru couldn't help but sigh.

"This is a theory proposed by His Majesty, which has pointed out the direction for research. We are merely containers for the fruits of His Majesty's profound wisdom."

The researcher from the vortex said this with a mixture of humility and pride.

For Uchiha Tokumitsu, whenever he planned to push forward a core equipment research project, the first thing that came to his mind was the Uzumaki clan, with whom he had a blood oath and marriage ties.

Just like how Orochimaru would be involved in research involving human experimentation, bloodline limits, and even unknown substances.

"Your Majesty truly possesses divinely bestowed wisdom..."

Orochimaru casually offered a compliment.

He didn't take the researcher's subtle boasting to heart—because the Ninja World Government Research Institute had far more funding than the Engineering Institute!

……

As the advance fleet continued its exploration, and combined with the geographical information constantly transmitted back from the Sabaody Archipelago through written descriptions, Uchiha Shiina finally determined their current location—a wild region north of the Demon Triangle, beyond the Calm Belt!

In the world of One Piece, the sea they are currently in is considered a no-man's land.

However, this also has its advantages, namely that there is no need to rush into direct combat with the regular army of this world, and there is enough time to plan each step of reclamation and expansion, and to continuously give back to the ninja world to strengthen its own power.

Meanwhile, after exploring each medium-sized island, the advance fleet, regardless of the scarcity of resources on the island, invariably built lighthouses and automatic telegraph signal stations to guide subsequent ships.

It was by relying on this seemingly clumsy method that the vanguard fleet managed to explore a completely new East China Sea map without the navigation tools commonly used in this world, such as memory pointers or South-to-South Birds!

Although no large islands inhabited by human beings have yet been discovered, even these uninhabited islands and the waters under their control are enough to keep the advance team and the joint company's fishing fleet occupied for a long time.

……

"Regarding the large-scale cultivation and improvement plan for ninja world crops in the One Piece world..."

Inside the main hall of the Konoha Palace, Uchiha Tokumitsu was carefully reviewing various documents concerning the expansion and development of the pirate world.

"Agriculture is a good thing, but we need to pay attention to crop selection, control the spread of improved crops, and avoid negative effects in the breeding process from affecting the natural crops of the ninja world."

Uchiha Tokumitsu naturally had no reason to disallow such documents, and then casually signed his approval for the documents on expanding fishing boat production and recruiting fishermen.

Although the expedition to the ninja world has not yet officially begun a sustained war of blood and fire, its beneficial effects on the ninja world have already been demonstrated in a very short time.

The most obvious example is that the price of dried fish in the One Piece world, which had been driven to rock bottom, was distributed to the entire Shinobi World Government in just one month thanks to the transportation capacity of the United Company.

For the lower classes of the three military-controlled states, this was even more significant—the extremely salty dried fish from the pirate world could even be used as table salt, allowing the mountain people to no longer rely on the highly impure mineral salt of the Pingchuan state.

For ninjas, this was merely like having a few more dishes on their table—after all, the fact that ninjas could obtain frozen seafood from the pirate world only increased their anticipation of the inevitable war; but for ordinary people who had been plagued by insufficient salt intake all their lives, this was a godsend!

The fervent support for expansion from the bottom of the ninja world, and the willingness to pay a blood tax for it, is the real source of the ninja government's confidence in launching cross-world expeditions.

"Comparative tests of metal properties between two worlds and discussions on novel alloy formulations..."

Uchiha Tokumitsu was very satisfied with this project, and when he saw that it was initiated by the Royal Academy of Engineering, he was even more satisfied!

Then, with a stroke of his pen, he directly increased the funding by another 20% on top of the applied funding, and then noted that the progress requirements were increased by 50%!

As for whether they can complete it... Uchiha Tokumitsu believed that the Uzumaki researchers, whose workload was far from saturated, were capable of doing so.

"A request for instructions regarding a special military operation... it's actually about going to fight pirates, capture prisoners, and use them for experiments?"

After signing the research project report, Uchiha Tokumitsu began to handle military and political affairs, and the first one was a request from the expeditionary vanguard command.

Although the principle of keeping the enemy in the open while we remain in the shadows cannot be abandoned, considering the adaptability issues in future battles, Uchiha Tokumitsu hesitated repeatedly before finally agreeing to the request, and also noted on the document:

"The pirate groups targeted must be carefully selected, and the most vicious criminals must be the targets of punishment. It is essential to keep their identities hidden, and multiple disguises may be considered. After making a name for ourselves, we should strive to annihilate a puppet government navy in open battle in a short period of time, and use this opportunity to recruit opposition forces."

In this way, they can both establish the reputation of "heroic thieves" with their disguised identities and conceal their true identities. Although it is not yet certain what timeline the current pirate world is in, Uchiha Tokumitsu has taken into account the so-called Revolutionary Army factor.

"...A discussion on the tactics and techniques for sustaining combat using immortal arts in the absence of natural energy environments—this is excellent!"

The last document was sent back by Orochimaru in the name of the research institute.

This also piqued the interest of Uchiha Tokumitsu.

He originally planned to thoroughly understand the Gedo Mazo before nurturing it for a period of time, injecting a small amount of Tailed Beast chakra, and then transplanting it to the One Piece world to see if it could absorb the natural energy of the One Piece world and produce some kind of Divine Tree fruit. If that didn't work, he could also try using Devil Fruit users from the One Piece world to create some special versions of White Zetsu to see if they could play any role.

However, Orochimaru's research topic seems quite interesting now, and then he looked at the funding application: a mere ten billion taels!

Perhaps poverty limited Orochimaru's imagination; for a mere 1 billion ryo in funding, he wrote a report that was even longer than the Uzumaki clan's 10 billion ryo funding requirement. It must have been quite a challenge for him...

"Granted!"

Uchiha Tokumitsu didn't bother to read through the detailed implementation rules Orochimaru had proposed in the document, and approved it with a stroke of his pen.

Then, he shook the bell on the table, summoning Uchiha Shisui, who was stationed outside.

"His Majesty……"

After requesting permission to enter, Uchiha Shisui bowed respectfully.

"Just call me teacher..."

Uchiha Tokumitsu stretched and said, "Are there any documents that haven't been processed yet?"

"Hmm... there's also the selection exam for the central administrative region..."

Uchiha Shisui took out his memo and prepared to give a report.

"You can handle the matters of the Central Administrative District yourself; don't report them to me!"

Uchiha Tokumitsu interrupted Shisui.

Aside from personally handling all matters, big and small, in the world of One Piece, Uchiha Tokumitsu delegated all government affairs in various regions of the ninja world according to the principle of delegating power and maintaining checks and balances. The governing government had only one requirement for each region: to govern the region well while continuously providing more capable ninjas!

"Oh, right, there's one more question about literature and history..."

Uchiha Shisui quickly flipped through the memo and found the latest submitted briefing: "Request from the Imperial History Compilation Bureau regarding the issue of defining the boundaries of different eras..."

The compilation of history, and even the so-called History Compilation Bureau, originated from Uchiha Tokumitsu's personal hobby.

Perhaps influenced by deeply ingrained memories from his past life, Uchiha Tokumitsu was particularly keen on definitively concluding events and placed even greater emphasis on cultural transmission than the ninjas. Furthermore, since the ninja world had never had a unified dynasty since the Warring States period, and the records of the daimyo and noble families were likely just dusty old documents, never having the chance to circulate among the people and shape a shared historical consciousness, memories of history were constantly disappearing from the ninja world—even the Sage of Six Paths became a mythical figure in the minds of the ninjas.

However, Uchiha Tokumitsu understood very well the principle that "if you don't occupy the public opinion front, someone else will occupy it sooner or later." In order to more easily establish himself as the true god or savior of the ninja world, the Historical Records Compilation Bureau was born.

"The first year of Konoha was the era of the Five Heroes of the Ninja Villages, the first year of Kaihuang was the era of the Empire, and as for the New World Gate in March of the first year..."

After a moment of contemplation, Uchiha Tokumitsu slowly said, "It can be described as the Age of Discovery..."

Chapter 494 The Struggle of the Ninja World Pirates