The development of the shinobi world is uhe Five Great Shinobi Vilges groidly, while medium and small shinobi vilges develop much more slowly.

  Among the Five Great Shinobi Vilges, Konoha grows the fastest. pared to the vilges, the medium and small ones seem almost stagnant in both ey and ninja strength.

  However, there are two hidden vilges that are exceptions: one is Amegakure, and the other is Kusagakure.

  During the reign of the “Demi-God of the Shinobi World,” Hanzo of the Samander, Amegakure adopted a policy of isotion. In Hanzo’s ter years, he lost his fighting spirit and had no desire fress, g only for ease and fort. Although one might say he had fought wars all his life and deserved some enjoyment, under his rule, her the vilge’s shinobi nor the civilians achieved the life they wanted. In that sense, Hanzo himself also failed to enjoy true fort.

  Later, onagato killed Hanzo, he still maintaihe vilge’s isotion. Even the news of Hanzo’s death did not reach the outside world immediately. Because of its long-term isotion policy, bined with Ame’s perpetual rainfall that hindered crop growth, the vilge’s shinobi and ordinary citizens had long lived in hardship.

  But Senshi’s proposal vinagating about huge ges in Amegakure. All over Ame, many new shops have opened—some even run by merts from Kusagakure or other shinobi vilges. After the vilge opes gates to the outside, numerous development opportunities arose. Even the local shinobi ow receive more missions. pared to before, Amegakure has bee livelier, with voices of joy here and there.

  In front of a newly opened ninja tool shop, a crowd of shinobi and curious onlookers had gathered.

  “I hear this Crafts of Grass Ninja Tools store has quite the background!”

  The speaker was a ninja with a small reputation in Ame’s bck market, named Choutaki.

  “What’s so special about this shop?”

  His panion, evidently less informed, had no clue about the store’s ins. That panion was also no ordinary individual—his name was Samaajima, a distant branch member of the Samander . Fortunately for him, that distant eeant he wasn’t closely tied to the ; otherwise, he might already have ended up buried alongside them.

  After hearing the question, Choutaki said smugly:

  “The name Crafts of Grass (匠之草) suggests it’s a ninja tool store jointly established by the Land of Crafts and the Land of Grass. Shinobi from Kusagakure excel at learning, research, and analysis of ninjutsu and ninja tools, while craftsmen from the Land of Crafts are masters at actually making those tools. W together, they’re sure to produce top-quality items! Not only that, you see they also sell ninjutsu scrolls. Heh, once I’ve saved enough money, I’m definitely going to buy the famed Uchiha ’s Great Fireball Teique from Konoha, so I learn it myself!”

  (Land of Crafts is Takumi Vilge)

  As he spoke, Choutaki’s eyes were full of longing. Right now, he only knew some basic jutsu and simple taijutsu; when perf missions, he typically had to rely on taijutsu because he cked impressive jutsu of his own.

  Hearing this, Samaajima responded enviously:

  “You’re lucky, Choutaki, that you save up any mo all. All my mission pay goes to spending in taverns and hot spring inns.”

  But by the time Choutaki eventually does scrape together the moo buy that scroll and masters the jutsu, Tajima might realize how lucky he was not to spend money on it—after all, even for actual Uchiha members, the Great Fireball Teique rarely achieves stelr results. It might be even weaker in its sedhand form obtained from Kusagakure nin. Right now, however, Choutaki remains oblivious to that.

  Suddenly, Choutaki’s expression took on a hint of gratitude.

  “I hear it was all thanks to the ‘Mission Mae’ of the bck market—Lord Uzumaki Senshi—who vinced ‘God’ and ‘Ao open the vilge. He also made the alliaween Ame and Kusa possible. Otherwise, our vilge wouldn’t have improved so quickly, and our lives wouldn’t be so fortable.”

  In his words, “God” refers to Pain’s Deva Path, and “Angel” refers to Konan. Tajima nodded solemnly.

  “Yes, it’s all thanks to Lord Uzumaki Senshi’s suggestion, and thanks to God and Angel for adopting it. Otherwise, who knows how long we would have remaiu that miserable state.”

  Tajima recalled walking Ame’s streets in the past, seeing that almost everyone—civilians and ninjas—wloomy expressions. Now, though, even just looking around, one could see joy and relief on many faces.

  Choutaki tinued:

  “Speaking of which, it’s been a while since I st saw Lord Uzumaki Senshi in the vilge. He brought about this alliaween Ame and Kusa, ushering in all these ges. If our vilge could establish more partnerships with other hidden vilges, our future would be even brighter!”

  Tajima immediately chimed in:

  “I haven’t seen Lord Uzumaki Senshi for a while either, but I did hear a rumor…”

  Of course, Senshi himself had no idea that so many Ame ninjas were discussing him. At the moment, he and Karin were seated at a ramen stand. Karin stared at the ramen before her, uo help swallowing hard; this ecialty that inally came from the prosperous Konoha, a dish Ame had never had before.

  Karin picked up her chopsticks, ihe fragrant aroma, and happily said:

  “Well the’s eat!”

  Meanwhile, Senshi sipped his noodles and asked casually:

  “Manager Kikkawa, has the vilge ged much tely?”

  Kikkawa answered firmly:

  “Yes, it has!”

  Senshi tinued:

  “In what ways?”

  This time, Kikkawa thought carefully, then replied:

  “Lord Senshi, ever sihe vilge started w with Kusagakure, a lot of things have ged. For starters, we have a much greater variety of grains aables. In the old days of isotion, with the vilge under stant rain, we couldn’t grow crops easily. Food supplies were scarce, and most people had asted produce from outside. Back then, almost nobody could make direct tact with the outside world; we were pletely locked in. Because of that, goods were in short supply, and prices remained high. Life was difficult, and people could barely make ends meet. Even the shinobi didn’t have it easy—especially during the time when you, Lord Senshi, were snatg up so many missions in the bck market.”

  “But now it’s different. Ame has gone from isotion to openness. Those dark days of hunger and hardship are over. Nowadays, caravans from Kusagakure arrive almost daily, bringing rge quantities of fruits, vegetables, and oods to sell. Plus, many new shops have opened—some even funded by merts from Kusa. Indeed, God and Angel really did bring pead prosperity to our vilge.”

  Senshi, who had been busy with missions, had no idea Ame had ged so much. He was a bit surprised to realize that just by doing his “farming” (rapidly pleting tasks), he’d ended up bringing so many bes to the vilge.

  Suddenly, a voiterrupted:

  “So, you two are eating ramen here?”

  At some point, Kakuzu arrived. Senshi, taken aback, asked:

  “Weren’t you going to rest?”

  Kakuzu felt a wave of frustration inside. Rest? I’ve already slept for a full day and night, only for this jerk to say we’re not going to do any missions now? He sighed inwardly, feigning indifference.

  “I ’t sleep.”

  He coughed twice, then ged the subject:

  “Not only has everyday life ged drastically for civilians, but the shinobi lifestyle has also shifted quite a bit. In the bck market, there’s been a surge of issions ing from Kusagakure, though most of them aren’t worth much.”

  Kakuzu, known as the stro hired hand in the shinobi world, had been w sihe time of the First Hokage, Hashirama Senju. His obsession with money was extraordinary—but not enough to make him kill himself with overwork. Even so, when forced to team up with someone like Senshi, who was a total “mission-terrorist,” he had no choice but to slow down.

  Bringing the topic back, Kakuzu went on:

  “Because Kusagakure’s ninjas are really good at researd analysis, they’ve helped Ame’s ninjas get high-quality ninja tools for less. They’re also other vilges’ ninjutsu scrolls, which our people purchase and learn. Normally, most ninja academies only teach the Three Basic Teiques (Transformation, e, and Substitution) plus a few other basics. If you’re born into a famous , maybe you learn a half-det jutsu, like the Uchiha’s lukewarm ‘Grand Fireball.’ If you’re not from a prestigious d you live in a smaller vilge like Ame, you have to do your utmost for the vilge and earn the higher-ups’ approval just to learn more advaninjutsu. But now that Kusa is cooperating with Ame, e of jutsu options has greatly expanded.”

  After listening to both Kikkawa and Kakuzu, Senshi realized how promising this joint development among small and medium hidden vilges could be. As he mulled it over, he thought to himself:

  “Iing. Just by uniting Ame and Kusa, they’ve already ged so much. There are plenty more small and medium hidden vilges in the shinobi world. If they all formed alliances and shared their resources, each vilge could develop rapidly. And the more prosperous the vilges bee, the more missio geed. The more missions there are, the more bes I get from the System! So in simple terms, if I help the small vilges unite and grow, I keep farming missions to get stronger.”

  Excited by this revetion, Senshi reminded himself he couldn’t sck off. Even though he now had the Kāma (Karma) seal—essentially a step into the realm of the Otsutsuki—who knew if that would trigger an early arrival of those “celestial” Otsutsuki beings? He still o keep improving, tinually training his Rumble-Rumble Fruit and Karma to their fullest extent. By the time the Otsutsuki arrived, maybe he could take them all down ahem to the Ten-Tails or exploit them for “new energy sources,” or something else. That was all iure, though; for now, he o unite as many small and medium hidden vilges as possible.

  “Uniting a bunch of these smaller vilges won’t be easy. We ma with Kusagakure and Ame by having me and Mui take dowop brass in Kusa. But that trick won’t work for every vilge. I’ll have to rely on a mix of ford is—see who’s open to cooperation. But there are so many such vilges…whie should I start with?”

  Senshi found the idea of f an alliance among the small and medium vilges quite appealing, but it wouldn’t be simple. If they only appeared to submit, it could cause trouble ter. After thinking for a while, Senshi gnced up at Kakuzu, whose past he knew all too well—this was a missing-nin from Takigakure. Legend said he’d once been ordered to assassihe First Hokage, Hashirama Senju, and ended up fleeing with serious injuries (or possibly throwing some shuriken from 800 miles away, depending on the rumors). Regardless, Takigakure had punished him severely for failing, pushing him to steal their secret Earth Grudge Fear teique a.

  Those events happened so long ago that it was hard to tell exactly what had transpired. Possibly, Takigakure’s leadership had set Kakuzu up, sending him on an impossible mission to kill Hashirama as an excuse to get rid of him. That left Kakuzu uandably bitter, believing in nothing but money. Senshi guessed that if Kakuzu were asked how he felt about Takigakure, he’d have plenty of rese.

  That made the pn easier. If Senshi wao uhe smaller vilges one by one, perhaps he should “start where he was,” dealing first with Taki. Turning to Kakuzu, Senshi asked:

  “Kakuzu, what do you think of Takigakure?”

  The moment he heard “Takigakure,” Kakuzu’s gaze instantly sharpened. He had lived through many years and seen how the leadership back then had basically spired to kill him. Meanwhile, Konoha had already gone from its First Hokage to its Fourth—then the Fourth had died, and they’d brought the Third back. But no one in all that time had proven capable of assassinating Hashirama. It was obvious those old geezers in Taki had set Kakuzu up to die from the start.

  After a brief pause, Kakuzu’s tourned cold.

  “Why do you ask?”

  Senshi brushed it off casually:

  “I’d like to hear your opinion of Takigakure.”

  Kakuzu’s face ged slightly, and after another pause, he answered icily:

  “I have no opinion. What’s in the past is in the past.”

  Without hesitation, Senshi asked:

  “Kakuzu, do you want to bee the Taki-kage?”

  Bleam