Compared to Ōnoki's worries, the Hidden Mist completely ignored the situation.
Because it was far from the Ninja World mainland and the Village had just ended its turmoil, the Hidden Mist Village, which had just entered a period of recovery, didn't care about the situation on the Ninja World continent at all.
The core objective of the Hidden Mist Village was simple: ruthlessly eliminate all rebellious forces in the Land of Water, and then completely transform it into their main base. Time slowly passed.
The entire Ninja World rapidly entered a recovery period. Rebellious forces in various places were purged, and then a difficult period of restoration began.
However, this step was also the most difficult!
Although due to Uchiha Jin's ruthless methods, Ninja finally replaced the Daimyo and Noble Class, successfully standing at the pinnacle of the entire Ninja World's pyramid and directly becoming the highest rent-seeking class.
But the real difficulties had only just begun.
The various Ninja Villages that had hastily seized power were like peasant uprisings in the Flower Nation; they simply lacked the ability to govern a country.
At this stage, they were still in the initial exploratory phase!
And, precisely because of this.
Although it seemed that various rebellious forces had been suppressed, countless Ninja had been dispatched to major cities and Villages, and the Civilians of the Ninja World seemed to have finally ushered in so-called peace, in reality, the lives of the Civilians had not improved, and were even worse than during the previous Daimyo era, or even the era of chaos.
The reason was simple!
Ninja's basic mathematical abilities were quite ordinary; they couldn't understand paperwork during tax collection, so they often made mistakes, causing widespread resentment. And because Ninja were previously defined as mere tools by the ruling class, they didn't understand complex matters like public sentiment. So, in many cases, it was almost always a one-size-fits-all approach!
There was no other way.
Although most Ninja Villages had Ninja Academies, only Konoha was relatively scientific. While they still didn't place much emphasis on theory, Konoha's Ninja understood a little about many things.
But what about the Other Ninja Villages?
The theoretical foundation of their Ninja Academies was almost nonexistent; all their education was focused on combat.
Now, asking them to be law enforcers naturally led to problems immediately.
And taxation was only one aspect; more seriously, Ninja abruptly took over the entire country, and they were almost completely incapable in all aspects, which naturally led to a collapse of various problems at the grassroots level.
The ultimate result was a surge in various rebellions.
Although each rebellion was resolved quickly, for every one you put down, several more would flare up.
Wildfires burn endlessly, only to rise again with the spring breeze!
This aspect consumed almost all the energy of the major Ninja Villages. The previous proposal regarding the Akatsuki Organization was now completely ignored by any Ninja Village.
There was no other way.
Before, everyone was only focused on the huge benefits and territories that became available after the Daimyo and nobles died. Although they had anticipated that governing a country would be troublesome, they never expected it to be this difficult!
One month, two months, three months... When would things truly stabilize? No one had a definite answer in their hearts.
Until—half a year later!
Just as the high-ranking Officials of the major Ninja Villages were going mad with headaches, they suddenly and strangely discovered that Konoha was very peaceful. After a careful investigation, they found that Konoha had already stabilized.
At this, everyone was shocked!
Finally.
After careful investigation by all the Ninja Villages, they discovered that Konoha's governance approach was completely different from theirs.
Konoha adopted a strategy of recruiting local Officials and Samurai, ultimately having their Konoha Ninja serve as leaders, while letting the former Officials handle specific matters. When sporadic rebellions occurred or complaints were filed, they directly had the Samurai resolve them.
Unless a major disturbance occurred, Ninja were almost never deployed!
Even more ingenious was that Konoha also opened a school for ordinary people, hiring a group of former Officials as teachers. Those without Ninja abilities all went to this school to study, thereby creating batch after batch of grassroots implementers for the future.
No words needed, just one word.
Copy!
The Other Ninja Villages, reflecting on the situation, also began to scour for former Samurai and Officials, completely adopting Konoha's ideology.
Although many former Officials and Samurai had died due to the previous chaos, they still managed to gather quite a few, finally stabilizing their domestic situation. Meanwhile, on the other side.
Compared to the chaotic larger regions of the Ninja World, the Land of Snow, far from the mainland's core, appeared very peaceful and quiet due to the Akatsuki Organization's presence.
The reason was simple!
On one hand.
This remote area, far from the mainland, was sparsely populated, making management naturally less difficult than in the Five Great Nations.
On the other hand, it was due to their overwhelming power!
Compared to the Five Great Nations, which were still willing to offer some opportunities to the lower classes and had a slight bottom line, the Akatsuki Organization's methods were incredibly ruthless.
Those with opinions—kill!
Those who disobeyed—kill!
Anyway, no matter the situation, the core idea was one word.
Kill!
After all, the Akatsuki Organization were not kind-hearted individuals, and they never intended to manage or develop the Land of Snow. For them, it was merely a place to recuperate, and they wouldn't hesitate to kill all the Civilians in the Land of Snow if necessary.
Of course.
Nagato and Konan were exceptions.
Firstly.
Nagato certainly had some sympathy for the lower classes, which still existed even after his complete descent into darkness. But the problem was that compared to executing his Tailed Beast collection plan to bring long-term, or even permanent, peace to the entire Ninja World, he simply didn't care about the minor issues in the Land of Snow.
Although Konan occasionally helped the Civilians of the Land of Snow, she also didn't have much time to waste on it.
After all, the Akatsuki Organization's affairs consumed too much of her energy.
And the most important point was that Nagato and Konan could not empathize with the Land of Snow!
This was not the Land of Rain where they grew up. Even if both had a trace of sympathy for the Civilians, they wouldn't spend a great deal of effort to develop the Land of Snow as they did before in the Land of Rain.
For the two of them, the Land of Snow was merely a temporary base.
After their Akatsuki Organization finished recuperating, they would eventually invade the core areas of the Ninja World!
Therefore, the current Land of Snow, rather than being peaceful, was a place of deathly silence and despair, where all its Civilians were almost completely numb.
Land of Snow, western side.
There was a huge snow mountain there, but now, in the hollow of the mountain, a large platform had been carved out, with a sizable cave behind it.
And this was now the Akatsuki Organization's base!
Most of the Akatsuki Organization members were doing their own things in various parts of the Land of Snow. Now, in a core area inside the cave, the Akatsuki Organization's most crucial Gedo Statue was placed, with several large tubes inserted into Nagato's back, who was in a wheelchair.
Konan and Obito stood beside Nagato.
And, at this moment.
A lump of mud emerged from underground, coalescing into the form of Black Zetsu.
"Something big has happened in the Ninja World!"