After working through the entire night—
Uchiha Ren left the laboratory in high spirits.
He was looking forward to seeing Uchiha Izuna's potential.
If everything went smoothly, he would gain a second nuclear-powered donkey.
Land of Earth.
Kumogakure Camp.
"What?!"
"Ōnoki still refuses to pay compensation?"
"Then we fight!"
"We'll keep fighting until they agree!"
The Third Raikage erupted in fury the moment he received the report.
Although his body was wrapped in bandages, his voice remained as thunderous as ever.
His trusted subordinates were equally outraged.
Damn it!
Iwagakure had gone too far!
From a strategic perspective, Kumogakure currently held the advantage.
Their unexpected assault, combined with the loss of the Two-Tails and the Third Raikage's near-suicidal charge at the head of his forces, had dealt considerable damage to Iwagakure.
As a result, Iwagakure could not organize an effective counterattack within a short period.
They could only remain on the defensive.
More importantly—
The battlefield was inside the Land of Earth.
Kumogakure had been pushed beyond all restraint.
They no longer carried even the slightest moral burden.
They could plunder freely, replenish their supplies locally, and recover from their losses at the Land of Earth's expense.
The sins committed by Iwagakure would be repaid by the entire country.
However, the Lightning Daimyo had personally intervened to mediate.
He urged the Third Raikage to cease hostilities and even offered to allocate another enormous sum of funding to Kumogakure so the village could catch its breath.
Only then did the Third Raikage agree to begin peace negotiations with Iwagakure.
Otherwise—
This matter would never have ended so easily.
But—
One matter was one matter.
Kumogakure had been tricked by Konoha, Iwagakure, and Sunagakure into losing nearly everything it owned.
News of the disaster had already spread throughout the ninja world.
Kumogakure had become a universal laughingstock.
They could recover their money.
But what about their reputation?
The Third Raikage had personally endorsed the fraudulent company and helped it swindle Kumogakure out of its wealth.
The humiliation had already been nailed permanently to his name.
The Third Raikage swore that he would recover both his own dignity and Kumogakure's.
Iwagakure had to compensate Kumogakure for every loss!
Of course—
That was merely the demand presented publicly.
The Third Raikage did not actually expect Iwagakure to repay the full amount.
Still, the proper posture had to be maintained!
The final figure could be negotiated slowly afterward.
After all, the Third Raikage was still the Raikage.
Although he was hot-tempered and had allowed greed to blind him into making a disastrous mistake, he could at least consider the broader situation.
Konoha had been the mastermind behind the scheme.
Konoha had also gained the greatest profit.
And the strongest shinobi village in the ninja world was still Konoha.
Which village held the deepest hatred toward Konoha?
Naturally—
Kumogakure!
During the First Shinobi World War, Konoha and Kumogakure had formed an irreconcilable blood feud.
Senju Tobirama—
You died so tragically!
The Third Raikage had to consider Kumogakure's future.
Attacking Iwagakure had been forced by circumstance.
The best outcome was to plunder as much as possible from the Land of Earth, then return home to lick their wounds and recover.
They could not enter an all-out war with Iwagakure.
And they absolutely could not become trapped in a prolonged war of attrition.
The foundation accumulated by his father and grandfather over two generations could not be destroyed in his hands.
But!
Those backstabbing bastards from Iwagakure—
They refused to pay even a single ryō!
It was outrageous!
They clearly did not take Kumogakure seriously at all!
The camp was filled with furious shouting when the Lightning Daimyo slowly entered.
He idly played with a folding fan made from ivory and gold, its surface decorated with an exquisite landscape painting.
Everyone inside the command tent stood and bowed.
"What happened?"
"Did something else occur?"
The Lightning Daimyo frowned.
Hadn't they already agreed to negotiate?
Why did it look as though the fighting was about to begin again?
"Your Highness, see for yourself!"
"I respected your wishes."
"But that little dwarf from Iwagakure refuses to show me even the slightest respect!"
The Third Raikage's forehead bulged with veins as he angrily threw the report toward the Lightning Daimyo.
After reading it, flames rose inside the daimyo's heart.
Damn it!
Earth Daimyo, what are you doing?!
Hadn't they agreed that he would control Kumogakure while the Earth Daimyo handled Iwagakure?
The Lightning Daimyo was already bleeding money to clean up the mess left by Iwagakure and the Land of Earth.
And now they had created another problem!
"Raikage, remain calm."
"I will contact the Earth Daimyo and ensure that Iwagakure gives you an explanation."
"I hope so."
"Iwagakure has gone too far."
The Lightning Daimyo gave his promise.
However, his expression remained extremely ugly.
These past few days had exhausted him mentally and physically.
He had traveled thousands of miles from his palace to suffer in the wilderness of the Land of Earth.
He had to clean up after Kumogakure's pack of idiots.
He also had to clean up after Iwagakure and the Land of Earth.
He was the Daimyo of the Land of Lightning!
One of the most noble people in the entire ninja world!
Yet now he looked like the aggrieved victim!
The more the Lightning Daimyo thought about it, the angrier he became.
He swept his gaze across everyone inside the tent.
"Speaking of Iwagakure, do you think Kumogakure bears no responsibility at all?"
"Are all of you shinobi pigs without brains?"
"Every one of you was blinded by greed!"
"Were your heads filled with manure?!"
"You actually fell for such an obvious scam!"
"Raikage, what are you looking at?"
"I'm talking about you!"
"You personally endorsed the fraud!"
"And you—"
"Your entire family went all-in, and you even borrowed money from the bank!"
The Lightning Daimyo unleashed a relentless barrage of insults.
He cursed the Third Raikage and every shinobi present until none of them dared raise their heads.
The Third Raikage turned away in shame.
The daimyo continued for a full half hour before finally stopping to drink water and rest his throat.
Then he stormed out of the tent.
Before long, the Lightning Daimyo passed the message to the Earth Daimyo.
The Earth Daimyo urgently summoned Ōnoki.
"Tsuchikage, Iwagakure has already profited enough from this incident."
"It is time for you to bleed a little."
"Both morally and practically, Iwagakure should compensate Kumogakure."
The Earth Daimyo stated his purpose directly.
He wanted nothing more than to strangle that little dwarf Ōnoki.
Had Ōnoki not secretly acted on his own and sided with Konoha to harvest Kumogakure's wealth, the Land of Rain might already have been destroyed.
"Your Highness, Kumogakure's surprise attack caused severe losses to Iwagakure."
"We are simply incapable of compensating them."
"Besides, Konoha was the true mastermind behind the entire scheme."
"Iwagakure was also a victim."
Ōnoki began crying poverty and pouring out his grievances.
He genuinely believed he had been treated unfairly.
Konoha had planned the operation.
Konoha had received the greatest profits.
Yet Iwagakure had taken the blame.
Kumogakure had struck them twice and inflicted devastating losses.
Even Ōnoki himself had been ambushed by the Third Raikage and punched directly in the chest until he spat blood.
After suffering so much—
They expected him to return the money already swallowed into his stomach?
Not a chance!
They could dream!
The Earth Daimyo and Ōnoki argued through several rounds of negotiation.
Ōnoki refused to yield even an inch.
In the end, the Earth Daimyo could only pay from his own pocket.
He sent representatives to negotiate with the Third Raikage.
After repeated discussions, they finally reached an acceptable figure.
Soon—
The peace negotiations between the two villages, watched closely by the entire ninja world, officially began.
Ōnoki and the Third Raikage—
Two mortal enemies who regarded each other as bandits—
Finally sat together at the negotiating table.
There was no imagined atmosphere of drawn blades and imminent violence.
Instead—
The entire meeting was remarkably peaceful.
Their financial backers had provided sufficient incentives for both Ōnoki and the Third Raikage to preserve appearances.
Although each of them wanted to stab the other to death, they both understood that if their villages fought until both sides were exhausted, the only true winner would be the mastermind behind the scenes—
Konoha.
They would also offend the daimyō supporting them.
A shinobi village could not survive without the daimyo's financial backing.
Their current situation was already the best possible outcome.
Iwagakure had suffered significant losses, but it had harvested an enormous amount of money.
The profits were enough to cover the damage and still leave a considerable surplus.
Kumogakure, meanwhile, had been heavily harvested from top to bottom.
However, the Lightning Daimyo and Earth Daimyo had taken turns injecting funds into the village.
It still wasn't enough to recover all their losses.
Kumogakure remained deep in the red.
But if they tightened their belts and endured several difficult years, the village could survive.
Moreover—
The daimyō still needed the shinobi villages to attack the Land of Rain.
There was almost no suspense surrounding that war.
With four great shinobi villages acting simultaneously, even Konoha's material support for the Land of Rain would ultimately be useless.
But war burned money.
The daimyō would have to continue paying.
As long as they kept providing funds, Kumogakure would find ways to recover continuously.
Raising bandits to justify one's own importance.
Commissioner Smith.
These methods were practically second nature to shinobi villages.
As for the daimyo sending people to inspect the accounts?
No matter how many came, every inspector would somehow be struck by seven shuriken in the back—
Then officially ruled to have committed suicide.
As long as the ultimate goal of destroying the Land of Rain was achieved, the Lightning Daimyo would not care about spending slightly more money.
After the negotiations concluded, Ōnoki and the Third Raikage walked side by side.
Cameras constantly flashed around them.
The photographers were subcontractors from Konoha Television who wanted to capture this historic moment.
Under the mediation of their respective daimyō—
Iwagakure and Kumogakure had formed another alliance.
"Raikage, do you still remember that night in Yugakure?"
"We cut our palms and swore a blood oath."
"This moment resembles that one perfectly."
Ōnoki brought up the past, attempting to recover a small portion of the affection from his former "lover."
"To think it could be so similar."
"Very similar."
"Extremely similar."
"However, you are missing something you possessed back then."
"And what would that be?"
"Your conscience."
The Third Raikage leaned close to Ōnoki's ear and spoke through clenched teeth.
Ōnoki's expression changed.
He finally understood that the relationship between Iwagakure and Kumogakure could never return to what it had once been.
Their so-called alliance existed only for appearances.
In terms of actual relations, Kumogakure was now less reliable than Konoha.
Although Iwagakure's relationship with Konoha was hardly warm, their economic connections were growing increasingly tight.
Konoha's logo could be seen throughout the village.
Konoha merchants had even funded factories inside Iwagakure and hired large numbers of local workers.
Falling leaves carried news from afar.
Inside the Hokage's office—
Uchiha Ren watched the television with interest while stroking the Two-Tails' feline chakra avatar.
Its true body was still happily roaming the forests of Konoha.
On the screen, Ōnoki and the Third Raikage—
Two enemies who wished each other dead—
Smiled warmly while shaking hands.
Together, they issued a statement announcing the formation of a joint shinobi force to attack the Land of Rain.
Uchiha Ren was not surprised.
He had expected this outcome long ago.
War ultimately came down to money.
Kumogakure had been harvested until it had nothing left, so it had been forced to launch a war.
The two daimyō supporting the villages wanted the Land of Rain destroyed as quickly as possible.
For once, they were willing to spend heavily to revive Kumogakure.
Had the Land of Rain not been filled with those rebellious traitors, the two daimyō would probably have sat on the sidelines and enjoyed the spectacle.
They might even have opened gambling pools and placed bets.
Those parasites possessed no meaningful bottom line.
There was no filth they were incapable of committing.
In their eyes, shinobi were merely tools.
Consumable resources.
The shinobi villages had recovered for several years.
It was about time to consume some of those tools.
Next—
They only needed to wait for the Sky Village to make its grand entrance.
The ninja world was about to become lively again.
—
While Kakuzu was traveling to negotiate another business deal, an elderly man with an outrageously styled mane blocked his path.
"Stop."
"Who are you?"
"My name is Madabashira."
"I heard Uchiha Ren once gave you several books that he personally wrote and never published publicly."
"I want to borrow them."
Uchiha Madara stood in Kakuzu's path.
Over the past few days, he had not spent every hour inside the arcade as he had before.
He constantly felt there was something more important he needed to do.
Something involving the future path of the entire ninja world.
For that reason, Uchiha Madara had already read Uchiha Ren's revised Will of Fire until the pages were nearly falling apart.
It truly presented a possible path toward peace.
But—
The path still seemed deeply flawed.
To discover the weaknesses in Uchiha Ren's road and find methods to correct them, Madara had begun searching everywhere for books written by Uchiha Ren.
After making inquiries, he finally found Kakuzu.
Kakuzu looked at Madabashira and immediately sensed that the old man would not be easy to deal with.
He clearly belonged to the Uchiha Clan.
Worse—
He addressed the Hokage directly by name and showed no respect whatsoever.
"Hmph."
"You expect me to lend them simply because you asked?"
"Lord Hokage gave those books to me personally."
But so what if the old man was an Uchiha?
Kakuzu feared no one!
The books Uchiha Ren had given him contained extremely advanced ideas and theories that had never been revealed publicly.
They held secrets capable of generating enormous profits.
Surplus value theory.
Monopoly value.
Variable capital.
Constant capital.
They taught Kakuzu how to become a qualified capitalist.
"I will pay."
"One hundred thousand ryō per book."
"Deal!"
"But you cannot show them to anyone else."
"Agreed."
Uchiha Madara nodded.
Recently—
He had grown increasingly dissatisfied with the conditions inside factories throughout the ninja world.
Driven by Konoha's influence, new technologies had emerged one after another.
The ninja world had rapidly entered its own version of an industrial revolution.
A large number of the wealthiest people in the ninja world—
New capitalist nobles and merchants—
Were eagerly embracing the new era and its technologies.
This age was not merely defined by conflict between shinobi and nobles.
It was also a struggle between entrenched feudal powers and the rising capitalist class.
The ninja world possessed an extraordinary advantage—
Extremely low human rights.
The industrial faction of the ninja world—
Ahem.
Their development was progress.
But they were also genuine beasts.
Konoha possessed overwhelming advantages in both technology and military force.
It maintained monopolistic control and harvested excessive monopoly profits.
Yet monopoly profits ultimately came from the profits of other capitalists.
To compete with Konoha's factories, industrialists throughout the ninja world fully exploited the region's low standards of human rights.
Their principle was simple—
As long as the workers weren't dead, work them until they almost were.
To those factory owners, laborers were nothing more than consumable materials.
After all, once they hired shinobi to clear the area and suppress resistance, the peasants who only knew how to farm had never once succeeded in standing against them.
Since factories were now more profitable—
They simply drove the peasants from the fields and forced them into factories.
Young and strong workers labored twenty hours a day without enough food to fill their stomachs.
Hunched elderly people received one meal a day and worked fifteen hours.
Children of five or six were starved and forced to labor fourteen hours daily.
Children as young as three or four were tied to ropes and lowered into chimneys to scrape soot.
If the rope snapped, they burned alive inside the fireplace.
Uchiha Madara had sent shadow clones throughout the ninja world to investigate the factories personally.
The conditions he discovered were horrifying.
Compared with them—
Konoha seemed like paradise on earth.
Yet Uchiha Madara understood the severity of the problem.
His original ideal had been to bring peace to the ninja world so young children would never again be sent onto battlefields.
But after peace was achieved—
Were those same children supposed to become disposable materials inside factories?
Konoha's path still had a long way to go.
A theory focused solely on developing productive forces was flawed.
But—
The flaw did not appear impossible to correct.
Uchiha Madara had to repair the weaknesses in Konoha's path!
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