The Shinobi Prosthetic—it had been a vital component of his combat system in his previous life.
Admittedly, some of its functions seemed somewhat redundant for him in this current life. This world's unique ninjutsu system was fully capable of achieving, and even far surpassing, what the prosthetic tools could do. However, the Shinobi Prosthetic's core grappling hook function could still provide a significant boost to his abilities.
The Shinobi Prosthetic had been his bread and butter in his past life. Although he hadn't been involved in its initial creation, he had modified and reinforced it if not a thousand, then at least eight hundred times. He was intimately familiar with its construction. All he needed to do now was to replicate it faithfully.
The only problem was, he currently didn't have a severed arm.
So, he needed a new approach: how to install a Shinobi Prosthetic with its core functions intact onto his arm without resorting to amputation.
As for whether he had considered amputation? His hands were perfectly fine, especially his original ones; they were comfortable to use.
This D-rank mission's content was also relatively simple, just a bit extensive in scale—weeding a farm.
Nevertheless, the three of them were quite familiar with the routine now and didn't spend two days on it like their first time. This time, they managed to complete the task before sunset.
"My back is broken! Please carry me back!" Izuno Akigiku staggered to a flat piece of ground and promptly flopped down.
"You can just die out here then," Naruto rolled his eyes. Compared to the half-dead duo, he, possessing the Nine-Tails' chakra, was still quite energetic.
"Little Lei, go give him a couple of slaps! He's too arrogant!" Akigiku grumbled.
"I'm dead," Etsureki declared.
"Come on, I'll treat you all to the hot springs," Naruto said, glancing at the sky.
"You should have said so earlier! Let's go!" "Coming right up!"
"Weren't you unable to walk just now?"
"Not dead yet, am I!"
"Weren't you dead, Etsureki?"
"Came back to life."
"…"
Hot Springs Street.
"Whoa-ho-ho!!" Kaminarimon Etsureki's expression was extremely exaggerated.
"Those who know, know you're soaking in a hot spring. Those who don't…" Naruto draped a hot towel over his forehead and retorted.
"You don't get it. After extreme exhaustion, soaking in a hot spring solves everything," Etsureki chuckled.
"Whose life wisdom is that?" Naruto, speaking as someone with experience, felt these weren't words a thirteen-year-old could come up with.
"My uncle's."
"Got it."
Hot springs had a thousand benefits, but the only thing Naruto found lacking was the absence of a pair of slender, jade-like hands to help loosen his tense muscles.
"…Naruto."
"Hm."
"Tell me, if a mode of transportation appeared in the world, so fast that you could be in Konoha in the morning and reach the Land of Fire's capital by noon, and it could also transport goods in bulk—what do you think the world would become?"
"I'd still eat three bowls of rice per meal."
"…I'm serious." Kaminarimon Etsureki pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to soothe his throbbing temples.
"Unrealistic."
"Huh?"
Naruto removed the towel from his forehead. "If what you're describing appeared, communication between people and regions would become much closer, economic development would flourish, and perhaps everyone would become more prosperous…"
[And nations would be able to control much larger territories…] he thought privately.
"Isn't that a good thing? Why do you say it's unrealistic?" Etsureki asked, puzzled.
"Ngh," Naruto grunted, shifting his position with some difficulty. "Even if such a thing really existed, who would build it? Who would maintain it?"
"And who could guarantee that enemy ninjas wouldn't come to sabotage it?" Compared to the incredibly difficult construction process, destruction was almost too easy—a matter of a few exploding tags.
"Then… does it really have no chance of appearing?" Etsureki murmured, disheartened.
"It could, when the ninja world enters a state of relative peace," Naruto said.
What Etsureki wanted to create, in Naruto's view, was essentially an alternate-world version of a high-speed rail. Such a thing wasn't bad. On the contrary, it was excellent—so good, in fact, that enriching the country and strengthening its people would be no joke. If Etsureki designed it, and if that design were seen by high-ranking officials with foresight, it would undoubtedly be vigorously promoted.
The problem, however, lay in the characteristic nature of ninjas: infiltration, assassination, sabotage. Even if you had ideas for enriching the country and strengthening its military, the implementation of such policies could be hindered not just by internal factors; external influences were also critically important. You spend vast amounts of money and manpower to build it, and an enemy ninja comes along with an exploding tag and blows it all up. You wouldn't even have a place to cry.
Could Konoha protect it? Perhaps in the past. But after the Third Great War, the high-end combatants were either dead or gone. It was a very iffy prospect.
Unless a relatively peaceful situation emerged, what Etsureki envisioned would be very difficult to implement smoothly. Given the current level of tension in the ninja world, as Naruto saw it, even a small problem could potentially trigger a Fourth Great Ninja War.
The very nature of the ninja profession dictated that they had to conduct an "excess population cleanup" every so often and redistribute resources. After all, the number of missions was finite, and every village was engaged in an arms race. Raising personnel, maintaining equipment—which of these didn't require money?
What's that? You say don't maintain it? The other hidden villages would laugh themselves silly. What kind of behavior is that? It's like a lamb presenting itself before a big bad wolf and saying, "I'm a vegetarian, why don't you become one too?" If the wolf doesn't eat you, who will it eat?
And what's the best method for "excess population cleanup"? War! From the First Great Ninja War to the Third, the root cause was still unresolved issues of resource scarcity.
In Naruto's view, ninjas themselves, being non-productive, were the source of the problem. With the extraordinary nature of their ninjutsu, if they engaged in agricultural production, he couldn't guarantee much else, but the grain yield of this era could definitely double.
Naruto had been pondering for a long time: how exactly did this ninja system come into being? If you called them sects like in Xuanhuan novels, they meddled excessively in worldly affairs. If you called them armies cultivated by various countries, the daimyos of those countries didn't necessarily have full control over them.
And the most, most, most important point: it had actually survived?! Could you believe it? Especially since the status of ninjas didn't seem to be low at all… That was terrifying.
Extraordinary, yet not detached from the mundane. That was Naruto's assessment of this world's ninja system.
After much thought, as to why ninjas could survive and even become a transcendent class, he could only conclude that it was all because of that thing called chakra.
So, back to the original question: had the ninja world ever experienced a relatively peaceful period?
Yes, during the reign of the First Hokage, Senju Hashirama. After the "God of Shinobi" ground the other hidden villages into submission with his Wood Style, the ninja world became 'peaceful.' The fuse for the First Great Ninja War was the death of Senju Hashirama.
How, then, to achieve a relatively peaceful situation?
From Naruto's perspective, there were two methods:
One: Ninjas use their skills at cutting people down to till fields instead, thereby increasing productivity. This seemed unrealistic, at least not for the current generation of ninjas who had been indoctrinated with the concept of killing since birth. The next generation might hold some hope.
Two: Create something akin to a "Big Ivan" (Tsar Bomba) and usher the world into an alternate-dimension 'nuclear peace' phase. The relative peace during Senju Hashirama's reign, viewed differently, could also be considered a form of 'nuclear peace'—with Senju Hashirama himself as the "Big Ivan." At least in terms of the danger he posed, that was a fair comparison.