Ideas

"I strongly agree with some of the Acting Hokage’s ideas. We really have overlooked too many things. We can’t keep using our old ways of thinking."

Mitokado Homura sighed. Gu Sheng had used big-data analysis on the scroll and calculated that Konoha’s wartime potential had already been severely depleted.

They were now sending twelve-year-old graduates to the battlefield. When another conflict broke out in the future, would they lower the age again—to eleven, or ten…?

The conclusions he had carefully reasoned out in the document left several people speechless. According to its analysis, if Konoha did not make changes soon, a talent crisis would arise within a few years, leaving no one to carry on the village’s legacy. Even Chunin and Jonin, who formed the village’s backbone, would become scarce. This was an extremely worrying problem.

Konoha was located in the center of the continent, a land contested on all sides, and bordered all four other great nations. They all regarded Konoha as a potential opponent. Without sufficient military strength, Konoha might well be carved up.

"Since the Acting Hokage has raised this issue, you must already have some ideas of your own, right?"

Utatane Koharu spoke up. As the village’s advisers, they fought for power and profit, but they still retained a few basic principles. If something could strengthen the village, they were willing to support it—especially at a time like this.

They wanted to continue the war, but Gu Sheng’s document had already pointed out—and earned their quiet agreement—that continuing would only consume Konoha’s potential. Change was therefore inevitable.

Danzo remained silent. He was thinking, considering the matter from the Hokage’s perspective. He had already glimpsed Gu Sheng’s intentions and knew that Gu Sheng planned to use this opportunity to achieve something.

Once he understood this, Danzo had some thoughts of his own, but could only remain silent for the most part. He could not directly dissuade Gu Sheng, because Gu Sheng had provided reasonable arguments. The contents of the scroll had already convinced him.

However, if he agreed right now, Gu Sheng might use the momentum to drag him aboard the same "pirate ship" and make him share the responsibility. Danzo did not understand Gu Sheng’s plan, nor did he intend to cooperate with him. Thus, he chose to remain silent and listen to Gu Sheng’s opinion first.

If Gu Sheng’s proposal was sound and did not infringe upon his interests, Danzo would agree. If it was too radical, he could step forward to oppose it, suppress the bit of authority Gu Sheng had just established, and seize some benefits for himself.

"My ideas are all here. I’d like to ask the advisers to offer their opinions."

Gu Sheng pulled out another scroll. He had clearly come prepared!

"Kid, I didn’t expect you to be quite sharp…"

Tsunade really was not the sort of person who praised others. At first, she had only skimmed through it. But when she reached the white paper’s section on Medical Ninjas, she began nodding repeatedly, and her praise for Gu Sheng came wave after wave. Unfortunately, Gu Sheng would rather have done without that kind of praise.

"Tsunade, mind the occasion."

Utatane Koharu noticed that Gu Sheng’s expression looked rather unpleasant and coughed lightly to remind Tsunade. It had to be said that although these advisers could be annoying at times, they could also be quite perceptive.

"Whew…"

Mitokado Homura let out a breath after reading the document from beginning to end. As the adviser responsible for written affairs, he understood its value better than the others. "The Acting Hokage’s idea is excellent. If we follow the plan, then barring unforeseen circumstances, we really can turn around our current disadvantage.

"But…"

"But this plan requires a great deal of money. As for the Daimyo, that’s hard to say."

Danzo picked up where Mitokado Homura left off, his expression rather grim. On one hand, he agreed with the plan in principle. On the other, his hostility toward the Uchiha made him even more wary. Then there was the issue with the Daimyo that he had just mentioned.

The system of rule in the Naruto World was rather interesting. Perhaps it stemmed from the influence of the island nation’s class system. Unlike the strong ruling everything in domestic web novels, things were different here.

Although the shinobi of this world possessed enough power to destroy cities and topple nations, even the leaders of each village were merely equivalent to low-spec shoguns. They possessed military authority but no political authority, while their finances were even more controlled by the Daimyo.

Take Sunagakure during the era of the Fourth Kazekage, for example. Because communication with the Daimyo had broken down, the Daimyo strictly ordered the village to reduce its military. Sunagakure’s funding was cut, forcing Rasa, as the Kazekage, to collect gold dust for the village and maintain its combat strength that way.

The Daimyo of the Land of Fire had a fairly good relationship with the Hokage. Konoha had performed brilliantly in the First and Second Shinobi World Wars, defeating its opponents every time, so there had never been much trouble with military funding.

However, the reforms Gu Sheng wanted to carry out required a huge sum of money. The village could not afford it, and even if the request were submitted to the Daimyo, it probably would not be approved.

Years of war had also affected the Land of Fire’s domestic economy. A Daimyo facing poor harvests would not agree to keep increasing military funds, especially not for reforms whose returns could not be seen in the short term.

"I have an idea about that as well. It’s included in this plan."

Gu Sheng followed up by presenting another proposal—a wildly audacious one. He would sell disposable ninja tools such as Exploding Tags to enemy nations and become a war profiteer. The idea came from the United States during World War I and World War II.

The profits from war profiteering were considerable. Moreover, the entire Shinobi World was currently engulfed in a total war, and all the major and minor nations were actively preparing for battle.

The great nations had complete systems for manufacturing ninja tools, but the small nations were different. Some small nations’ villages did not even have more than a few Jonin, let alone the ability to manufacture ninja tools.

In this era of flames and endless warfare, buying ninja tools for self-defense was a prudent precaution. Gu Sheng believed this market would be enormous.

"But where are we supposed to get such a large quantity of ninja tools? The disposable ninja tools we’re producing now have some surplus after supporting the Land of Wind Battlefield, but…"

As Mitokado Homura spoke, he suddenly thought of something. He raised his head and looked at Gu Sheng. "The Mountain Country. The Mountain Country’s Exploding Tags."

The Mountain Country was famous for its Exploding Tag Formations, so the village must have stored a large number of Exploding Tags. If Konoha acted swiftly and completed the task of destroying the Mountain Country, it might well seize a batch of high-quality resources.

Having too much stock of Exploding Tags was useless, since Konoha could produce them itself. But if they were exchanged for funds, they would be worth a considerable sum—especially in this era of endless warfare. Many small nations’ Daimyo would surely be interested.

"Three months. Is that possible?"

Gu Sheng nodded, then affirmed it once more to Mitokado Homura.

"I’ll take the Mountain Country’s Exploding Tags."

Mitokado Homura nodded. At first, he had only planned to grab some power and resources, but his thoughts had now changed. Once Gu Sheng’s entire plan was completed, the village’s overall strength could rise by an entire level, and his own position would rise with it. Even if Sarutobi Hiruzen returned, he would no longer be afraid.

Choosing to band together with Danzo had been a last resort. If he himself possessed the ability to stand against the Third Hokage, Mitokado Homura would choose to establish his own faction.

He was in his prime and naturally had ambitions. Danzo wanted to contend for the position of Hokage; how could Mitokado Homura never have entertained the same thought? Bringing down the Mountain Country would be tangible military merit, while completing the entire plan would provide real political capital.