Chapter 406: This World
Tsunade was right about one thing: such tragedies occurred far too frequently in the Land of Fire and the entire ninja world. Even if they wanted to intervene, they simply couldn't handle it all.
In fact, compared to those regions that had experienced war and been ravaged or destroyed by ninja, the mortality rate in the northwest, where the parasitic disease was rampant, was actually lower! Due to extreme poverty, ninja villages, rogue ninja, and bandits paid no attention to such areas, which ironically allowed the people there to live less miserable lives.
Truly ironic.
That was why Orochimaru could easily recruit a large number of subordinates who worshiped him incomparably... There was no other reason. Even if they were used as experimental tools and died quietly in the dark, sunless underground, at least they ate a few full meals before dying and were fed well by Orochimaru. It was always better than the desperate life of starving and slowly dying on the surface. Not to mention those children granted ninjutsu by Orochimaru; thinking they had obtained a guarantee for settling down and getting on with their lives, they would naturally be moved to tears of gratitude and be willing to die for him...
Shifting her gaze away from the towns usually frequented by ninja to the vast rural areas of the Land of Fire, Haruno Sakura, having accessed more and more data, could deeply feel the meaning of "When the nation prospers, the people suffer; when the nation falls, the people suffer." War, the exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous levies maintained year-round for war, and low productivity could squeeze the last drop of marrow from the commoners. The reason why great nations fought endlessly and Ninja World Wars broke out frequently lay in insufficient resources and the need for external expansion; so where did the root of insufficient resources lie?
It lay in the fact that no more profit could be squeezed from the commoners.
If this were happening on Earth in her previous life, Sakura would probably be sitting on pins and needles, feeling like she was standing on a powder keg that could explode at any moment. But in the Naruto world, the tragedy was that even if the ordinary people of the whole country couldn't survive and formed a peasant army to rebel, probably—
She alone could suppress them.
Thinking carefully, a world possessing supernatural powers might be extremely unfriendly to ordinary people and human society. Country C (China) in her previous life took two thousand years to break out of the cycle of order and chaos. What about this world? From one generation to ten thousand generations to infinite generations—such a boast might actually not be empty talk here.
So, the dual structure of Kage-Daimyo and Ninja Village-Daimyo Government, is it also time for a change? Haruno Sakura thought so.
She said so as well.
Compared to her previous life, the world of Naruto was purer, so she wasn't afraid to speak her mind—even if they were bold ideas. Criticizing the system established by the First and Second Hokage wasn't a taboo, especially since Sakura was a ninja with top-tier strength and the disciple of the Fifth Hokage; having her own ideas wasn't dangerous.
Tsunade might even be delighted.
The Fifth Hokage had certainly entertained the thought of letting Haruno Sakura become Hokage; according to the laws of Hokage succession in Konoha, she was fully qualified. Strength, status, reputation, appearance—Haruno Sakura had been trained to perfection by Tsunade. If her political ability were cultivated further, she could be designated as the successor in the future.
Of course, the current her was still far from it.
"I know what you mean." Tsunade patted her shoulder to stop her from speaking further and said.
The landlord class exploited peasants through traditional Eastern feudal forms, while ninja and ninja villages exploited landlords through missions and wars, thus constituting a stable pyramid-shaped social hierarchy. This was the essence of the Land of Fire, and largely the entire Naruto world. Having been a ninja for so many years and having wandered away from the village for many years, Tsunade's understanding of this world was profound, far beyond what Haruno Sakura, who had just moved away from simply reciting political concepts and started combining theory with practice, could compare to.
"You think that in a world dominated by ninja, the Daimyo and the aristocratic government are unnecessary, completely superfluous, and a hindrance to society. I don't deny that what you say makes some sense," she said calmly. "Apart from bullying men and dominating women, and scraping away the wealth of the people, the government of the Land of Fire seems to have done nothing good. So, what then?"
"Then—?" Sakura answered as a matter of course, "Of course, abolish them, reduce the intermediate levels, and let ninja rule the Land of Fire directly!"
Just like that brainwashing slogan: "No middlemen earning the price difference." Without the aristocratic parasites who do no work and enjoy themselves all day, intuitively, the ninja village would definitely obtain more funding, and the burden on the commoners would also be reduced to a considerable extent.
She didn't believe Tsunade couldn't see such obvious benefits.
However, Tsunade shook her head and sighed.
"The idea is good."
A very bold idea. And, to a considerable extent, it saw the maladies of the real world. But at the same time, it also suffered from the infantile disorder common among young people: thinking only of the beautiful results, but not thinking about the process of achieving it, nor considering whether it was a castle in the air.
It was like many people hoping for world peace and human unity, then feeling that ninja and ninja villages were the source of war, so they thought the world would be peaceful without ninja... Was it possible?
No, Earthlings could tell them, they would fight even more miserably. The kind of misery where brains are beaten out and sh*t is beaten out.
Tsunade didn't save face for her disciple and criticized her unceremoniously.
"Let me give an example. Let's assume we purge the Daimyo government and its subordinate troops—including the Guardian Twelve Ninja, who are all vulnerable. Let's further assume neighboring countries won't attack us while the Land of Fire is in turmoil and civil strife," Tsunade said slowly. "Assume we launch a revolution and very smoothly arrest, dismiss, sentence, or execute all government officials in the entire Land of Fire. How do we rule the Land of Fire next?"
"Appoint ninja who don't understand politics as government officials to handle documents and govern localities? Fine, even if every ninja suddenly learned how to be an official, our number of ninja can't fill the vacancies of officials in the Land of Fire; even if you try every means to barely fill the vacancies, we will suffer invasion from other countries because ninja forces are dispersed all over the country, and then be defeated one by one, eventually leading to the destruction of the country and the village."
"Regrettably, no matter how I think about it, I can't see any feasibility in your idea."
Although Tsunade's words were slightly harsh, Sakura had to admit she made a lot of sense.
The reality was that ninja had maxed out their combat skill points but hadn't put any points into domestic affairs skills.
In an environment where countries are either fighting or preparing to fight, if a ninja village wants to make major changes and add a few points to domestic affairs, the enemy won't give it the time and opportunity to change. Precisely because Sakura realized this, she felt quite aggrieved.
There was an urge to flip the table.
"Alright, stop thinking about such depressing things." Tsunade smiled. "The world is like this. If you want to change this world, wait until you become Hokage!"
"So do we do nothing?" Sakura still frowned tightly, saying in a deep voice, "Because we see difficulties, do we give up moving forward?"
Tsunade was silent for a while.
She suddenly realized that young people might have many shortcomings—frivolous, superficial, unstable, childish... but they possessed the most important vitality. Adults might be steady, having their edges smoothed by reality, but they had lost the courage to change the world.
"At least not now," Tsunade said slowly. "At least... wait for you guys to grow up."
"As for now, you should go back and rest well, don't think too much!"
She gave Sakura a deep look, squeezed her shoulder, and saw Haruno Sakura and Haku out of the hospital.
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