Chapter 331: Arrangements
Ōnoki's journey was temporarily put on hold. After signing the treaty, Ishiro returned to Iwagakure, but Ōnoki had to remain behind, waiting for the branch's construction to be completed before he could leave.
Ishiro's style was the same as ever; he only ever handled the main points, at most getting things started. He never involved himself much in the subsequent details.
The specific location selection for the branch, its internal structure, infrastructure development, the migration and settlement of civilians, and the paving of outbound roads—Ishiro left all of it to Ōnoki.
Meanwhile, Ishiro left behind all the Anbu and used the Light-Weight Rock Technique to hurry back to Iwagakure alone.
Ishiro convened a high-level meeting to announce the treaty with the Land of Snow to the officials.
Bella had a look of excitement, immediately asking Ishiro about the Land of Snow's financial situation. And as it happened, Ishiro did have this information, which had been given to him by a high-ranking official from the Land of Snow.
For Bella, the greatest benefit of the treaty with the Land of Snow was gaining a large and stable source of income. This meant the number of ninja Iwagakure could train each year could be significantly increased, leading to a marked improvement in the village's strength.
Taking the Land of Snow's financial statements, Bella grew more and more satisfied the longer she looked. Although the Land of Snow was much smaller in scale compared to the Land of Earth, Bella wouldn't complain about a free acquisition.
Moreover, Bella could see at a glance that the Land of Snow's economy had problems. As long as they fully integrated into the Land of Earth's commercial circle and Iwagakure took control of national security, she believed the figures on the report could see a substantial increase.
Saka, on the other hand, was more concerned with the Land of Snow's population base. He was responsible for recruiting children throughout the Land of Earth for ninja training, and during this time, he had already enrolled many talented children in the Ninja Academy.
On average, the children of the Land of Earth's civilians were naturally far inferior to those from Iwagakure, but the sheer size of the Land of Earth's population base couldn't be ignored.
To avoid provoking the Daimyo's displeasure, Saka had repeatedly raised the requirements for student recruitment, but even so, he had managed to accept many new students for the Ninja Academy.
Among the children's records Saka possessed, he had also discovered many with special talents. Basic aptitudes for things like genjutsu, taijutsu, ninjutsu, and medical ninjutsu were a given. He had even encountered rarer talents, such as those for puppetry, tactics, and sealing jutsu.
These were things the higher-ups of Iwagakure had not anticipated.
In the minds of everyone in the ninja world, it was believed to be very difficult for the descendants of civilians to produce talented ninja. Ninja training was heavily dependent on bloodlines, and the constant warfare between ninja clans during the Warring States Period had deeply ingrained this impression in the hearts of all shinobi.
After the establishment of the hidden villages, the so-called "civilians" within them were mostly those whose ancestors had once been ninja. In other words, the ninja profession had always been passed down within a relatively small, exclusive group.
Of course, some had turned their attention to these civilians before. Konoha, for example, had been accepting civilians from the Land of Fire since its founding to expand its scale. Danzō, for instance, paid close attention to the children in the orphanage, which provided him with many talented ninja, the most famous being Kabuto Yakushi.
However, the probability of talented children appearing among civilians was simply too low. No hidden village was willing to expend significant effort to search among them; it was like panning for gold, relying on luck. After all, selecting children with ninja potential required various tedious tests. This was especially true for geniuses in specialized fields, where not only was testing difficult, but the results were often inaccurate. Even training them was not easy; most such children were eliminated during their time at the Ninja Academy.
Ishiro had only managed to conduct a comprehensive, nation-wide selection across the Land of Earth by using the opportunity to train Guardian Shinobi for the Daimyo, as someone else was footing the bill. The Daimyo was very invested in selecting his guardians and had provided the best equipment, allowing Iwagakure to take great advantage of the situation. Even so, the ninja dispatched by Iwagakure had yet to finish testing all the eligible children in the Land of Earth.
Therefore, upon hearing that Ishiro had signed a treaty with the Land of Snow, Saka immediately thought of its population and began calculating how many ninja the Land of Snow could potentially provide for Iwagakure. The expensive equipment purchased by the Daimyo could be put to good use again instead of sitting idle.
Ikura viewed the matter from a different perspective than Saka and Bella; he was not as optimistic. "Ishiro, establishing a branch directly in the Land of Snow... what will Konoha and the other villages think?"
Ishiro smiled and said, "Konoha won't interfere. Firstly, the Land of Snow is too far from them; it's beyond their reach. Secondly, Konoha is currently the one among the Five Great Shinobi Villages most afraid of upsetting the balance. They need time—time will allow them to leverage their greatest advantages. The Land of Fire's abundant resources and Konoha's large number of children will allow them to quickly recover their strength."
"Compared to Konoha, Suna is the most likely party to intervene. Like us, their strength has also reached a historical peak. Rasa's ambition is not small, and he is not an indecisive man. We still need to be wary of him."
"Additionally, the Fourth Raikage of Kumo quite enjoys getting involved in such matters. However, the Land of Lightning is in the opposite direction from the Land of Snow. The Fourth Raikage can't interfere even if he wants to, so we don't need to worry."
"As for Kirigakure, they're too busy fighting amongst themselves behind closed doors to have any time to bother with us. If I get the chance, I'd like to visit Kirigakure again."
"So, there's no need to be overly concerned about this. Just dispatch more personnel to the border to guard against the Land of Wind."
Ikura thought for a moment and said, "How about I make a trip to the border? I can treat it as an inspection, and it will also show the Kazekage our stance."
Ishiro considered it. "You can go to the border, but you can't go with great fanfare. Go secretly, and don't let Suna detect you. Also, you must be careful!"
"If Suna dispatches too many people, you are to return. Your safety is more important than the border defenses. If we lose land, we can just take it back, but the village cannot afford to lose a Kage-level powerhouse."
Then, Ishiro turned to Kawakita. "Kawakita, you will personally lead a team to the Land of Snow to eliminate the bandits. Since the Land of Snow is now under our jurisdiction, it must become as stable as the Land of Earth."
Kawakita said, "Yes, I understand."
Ishiro thought for a moment and added, "On the premise of ensuring your own safety, you can choose not to annihilate all the bandits and rogue ninja. Try to drive them towards the surrounding smaller nations."
As soon as Ishiro finished speaking, everyone in the meeting room was stunned for a moment, then looked at him with an expression that said, 'You really are the Ishiro we know.'
Ishiro chose to ignore their gazes.
He looked at Saka and said, "Saka-senpai, the Third will definitely need a lot of manpower on his end; you will handle the arrangements. We urgently need to open up the mission market in the Land of Snow, so try to station some capable ninja there permanently."
"We must let the civilians and officials of the Land of Snow see the various benefits of hiring our Iwa ninja. At the very least, missions within the Land of Snow must not be outsourced."
At this point, Ishiro said to Kawakita, "Leave one or two squads of rogue ninja. If someone chooses to issue a mission to ninja from another country, you know what to do!"
Kawakita was speechless but nodded nonetheless.
Finally, Ishiro said, "The Third has just left, and Ikura and Kawakita are about to leave the village as well. Bella-senpai, Saka-senpai, and Megumi, the village's work will depend on you all. It will be hard work."
"If things get too difficult, Kitsuchi, you can lend a temporary hand as well."
After Ishiro finished speaking, the expressions of the crowd changed from the previous 'as expected' to a shock that said: 'How can you be so shameless?'
Because Ishiro never concealed the news about the Land of Snow, it didn't take long for all the major powers to receive accurate intelligence.
Kirigakure's handling of the matter was very straightforward; they simply tossed the intelligence scroll aside.
Obito was still undergoing surgery, cleaning out the small rocks from his body bit by bit. He had suffered a severe blow in Iwagakure and had subsequently fallen into a coma.
This had nearly caused his genjutsu controlling the Fourth Mizukage, Yagura Karatachi, to fail.
Although Obito eventually suppressed Yagura's control over his own body, during that period, Yagura had a sudden outburst, even using Tailed Beast chakra, which caused a considerable commotion. Fortunately, most people assumed it was just a Tailed Beast rampage and didn't suspect that Yagura was being controlled.
However, a Kage who couldn't suppress a Tailed Beast could no longer gain everyone's trust.
The situation in Kirigakure was now extremely strange. Some members of the Kirigakure advisory council had already begun to openly oppose Yagura Karatachi.
Ishiro's unintentional action had directly forced Obito to impose the "Bloody Mist" rule on Kirigakure ahead of schedule. Because now, the Mizukage under Obito's control could only reliably suppress other factions through sheer military force.
To stabilize the situation in Kirigakure, Obito had to play to this strength. And to do that, he could only use force to crush all the powers capable of resisting his rule, thereby upholding the tiny shred of legitimacy his status as Mizukage afforded him.
Land of Lightning, Kumogakure. The Fourth Raikage stared at the intelligence in his hand, his brow tightly furrowed.
As Ishiro had predicted, he truly wanted to intervene. But unfortunately, the Land of Snow was too far away. He couldn't possibly bypass the Land of Earth to cause trouble in their backyard. If he did that, he might face the same fate as his father, the Third Raikage, who was surrounded and killed by Iwa ninja.
Unable to intervene directly, the Fourth Raikage wanted to publicly condemn Iwagakure to gain some diplomatic leverage. But after careful thought, he changed his mind.
He summoned an Anbu intelligence captain and asked, "Go and check, does the Daimyo of the Land of Moon have any younger brothers?"
The Anbu captain immediately understood what his Raikage was thinking. He wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and said, "Lord Raikage, although the Land of Moon's Daimyo has several younger brothers, they have a very good relationship. They won't rebel."
"Besides, the Daimyo's brothers have neither the strength nor the prestige to rebel."
"Is that so?" A replied, a thoughtful look on his face, clearly not wanting to give up so easily.
(End of Chapter)
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