Uzumaki Jun was fully aware of the refugees' situation on their first day of work. Early in the morning, he had personally inspected each work site alone. Everything proceeded as he had envisioned, with no chaos or disturbances.
The first batch of refugees was gradually integrating into life in the Land of Whirlpools.
Given this progress, perhaps in a few days, when the next batch of refugees arrived, the first group could serve as role models, guiding the newcomers to adapt to life in the Land of Whirlpools.
Humans are inherently social creatures. When they see familiar faces blending into the Land of Whirlpools, they too will slowly integrate and adjust.
Moreover, the prolonged wars in the shinobi world have made people cherish peace even more. Additionally, due to the existence of kekkei genkai in the shinobi world, differences in appearance are common, eliminating any racial discrimination.
This is one of the advantages of the shinobi world. If Hashirama had been more assertive back then, the shinobi world would have been unified long ago, without all the current nonsense.
Furthermore, these refugees would also undergo ideological education about the Land of Whirlpools in the evenings. Gradually, through subtle influence and the stark contrast between their previous miserable lives and their current peaceful existence in the Land of Whirlpools, they would eventually become citizens of the Land of Whirlpools.
Uzumaki Jun wasn't worried that these people would eventually leave the Land of Rain. Given the trajectory of the shinobi world, unless the one-nation-one-village policy was abolished, wars would never cease. Powerful shinobi would never care about the suffering of civilians.
Moreover, the god of the Land of Rain was now in the Land of Whirlpools, and the Angel had also arrived in the Land of Whirlpools.
What hope did the Land of Rain have for peace?
If Hanzo had the ability to bring peace, the Land of Rain would have been peaceful long ago, and Amegakure would have become the sixth great shinobi village.
Until scientific ninja tools were developed and the divide between shinobi and civilians was bridged, Uzumaki Jun could confidently say:
If there was a paradise in the shinobi world, it would undoubtedly be the Land of Whirlpools.
No one would abandon a peaceful life to return to an era of chaos and war. Of course, this didn't apply to ambitious schemers.
"Everything in the Land of Whirlpools has been properly arranged." Uzumaki Jun stroked his chin. It was time for him to visit the Land of Rain.
The hardest part was getting started. Now that things were on track, there was no need for him to oversee everything personally.
As for the three airships from Konoha, he had already instructed the shipyard to begin construction.
The current technical challenge with the airships was that the Light-Weight Boulder Technique could only be inscribed directly onto the airship, functioning as an integrated unit rather than being independently separated. Without precise machining equipment, this production method increased the cost of the airships, as no one could guarantee zero errors in the process.
Thus, this was a technical hurdle the Land of Whirlpools' research team needed to overcome: miniaturizing the Light-Weight Boulder Technique into an engine. This way, even if the airship was damaged, the engine could still be reused.
Of course, only defective versions would be sold to others.
Technical secrecy measures still needed to be strengthened.
"It's time to visit the Land of Rain." Uzumaki Jun stretched and muttered, "Let's see if Sunagakure and Amegakure honor their agreements."
...
Amegakure.
"Konoha, hmph!" Hanzo stared in the direction of Konoha. As the guardian of the Land of Rain, he was well aware of the reasons behind the prolonged turmoil in his country.
Located between three great nations, the Land of Rain's development was constantly constrained by them.
Thus, the Land of Rain wasn't incapable of ending its wars and achieving peace. Rather, no one wanted to see the rise of a peaceful nation led by the Shinobi World's Demigod.
"The Mangekyō Sharingan!"
Yesterday, Hanzo had also received the shocking news that had shaken the shinobi world.
Konoha had dispatched ANBU to support the Mangekyō Sharingan user.
Given the irrefutable evidence, Konoha would find it difficult to whitewash this incident. After all, the Uchiha Clan was indeed part of Konoha's kekkei genkai.
Thus, he had heard that many villages had recently resurfaced, demanding Konoha return their stolen ninja tools and hand over the Mangekyō Sharingan user.
It was a pity that Amegakure had spent those two billion ryō on the Infinite Gloves. Now, they could only stand by and watch the confrontation between Uzushiogakure and Konoha. As the Shinobi World's Demigod, he still had some credibility to maintain.
Otherwise, with his involvement, Konoha would surely fall.
"Wait." Hanzo clasped his hands behind his back, his gaze profound. "Perhaps this war will be the opportunity for the Land of Rain to rise."
"Have the civilians mastered the use of the scientific ninja tools?" Hanzo asked the shinobi beside him. "Tell them to familiarize themselves as quickly as possible. Otherwise, the Land of Rain has no use for incompetents."
"They've already begun training," the shinobi replied hesitantly. "But for some reason, many civilians in the Land of Rain have disappeared. Some houses still have belongings inside, but the people are gone."
During his recent patrols to recruit civilians, he had visited several areas only to find them completely deserted.
"Civilians have disappeared?" Hanzo frowned after hearing the report. "Any clues as to why?"
Were shinobi slaughtering civilians?
Though he didn't particularly care about civilians without shinobi potential, they were still citizens of the Land of Rain.
"It seems someone took them away," the Rain-nin answered respectfully. "But we haven't found any leads."
It was as though whenever they appeared, nothing unusual happened.
"In that case," Hanzo pondered for a moment, "ignore it for now. Focus on training the civilians to use the ninja tools."
Since Amegakure couldn't afford to purchase so many tools anyway, they didn't need too many civilians. This matter could be addressed later.
"This period of calm won't last long." Hanzo stared solemnly beyond the village. "Amegakure must be prepared."
In this war, they would establish the Land of Rain's prestige.
"Yes!"
...
Land of Rain-Sunagakure battlefield.
"This letter?" Komaki frowned as he examined the missive delivered by Sunagakure's frontlines. "It must be given to Lord Jun?"
What could this be about?
As someone privy to the details of this war, he knew about the deal between Lord Jun and the Kazekage. But the agreed five months hadn't yet passed. Why was Sunagakure contacting Lord Jun now?
"What's going on?" Hibiki entered, noticing Komaki's thoughtful expression as he stared at the letter. "Why did the Suna-nin come here?"
"They delivered a letter for Lord Jun," Komaki replied, still frowning. "We don't know the contents yet."
"But we should stay vigilant. I have a bad feeling about this. As for the letter, we'll have to wait for the airship to return before delivering it to Lord Jun..."
Before Komaki could finish, a familiar voice interrupted.
"What needs to be given to me?" Uzumaki Jun appeared, looking puzzled at Komaki and Kai. "What's the matter?"
"A letter from Sunagakure," Komaki said, startled by the sudden appearance. He handed it over respectfully. "They insisted it must be delivered to you personally."
"Sunagakure?" Uzumaki Jun took the letter, confused. What was that bald man up to now?
Given that the Land of Whirlpools was currently at war with Sunagakure, sending secret correspondence was risky. Weren't they afraid of being discovered?
Uzumaki Jun opened the letter with suspicion. He'd read it first.
After scanning the contents, his eyes narrowed.
"That Kazekage must be desperate for money!"