Chapter 177: Gatō, the Big Fat Sheep
As if by agreement, Ino's, Sakura's, and Hinata's respective teams all began their C-rank missions. This further proved what Akiyama Makoto had suspected: this particular C-rank mission was a training exercise specially arranged by the Hokage's Office for the elite squads to prepare them for the upcoming Chūnin Exams.
He was also prepared to intervene directly in the Land of Waves, but he didn't plan to act with Sakura and her team as he had in the simulation. He had done that in the simulation only to confirm Sakura's growth. The facts had proven that the current Sakura could already stand on her own, and her role in the team was even greater than that of Naruto and Sasuke. Of course, those two reincarnations of the Sage of Six Paths' sons would grow rapidly in the future. At that time, it would naturally be impossible for her to keep up with them.
Early the next morning, Sakura and her team set off.
On the surface, he was at home writing his book, but this was just a shadow clone. His real body had already left Konoha. He had arrived at the Hiraishin point closest to the Land of Waves and was moving toward it.
His speed was not fast, as he planned to observe the local customs and conditions while he traveled, and then judge whether the Land of Waves was worth investing any of his efforts into.
After the Chūnin Exams, he planned to leave Konoha and begin his large-scale operations. An essential part of this was to obtain more simulation attempts. Besides contacting ninja from various villages, was there any other good way?
Naturally, it was to contact ordinary people who had talent but had not become ninja. Of course, there was a prerequisite for this: he couldn't be the one to select these qualified people himself. In other words, he needed subordinates, he needed a power base, and he needed money.
Otherwise, once he had used up his current stock of simulation attempts, it would become increasingly difficult to replenish them from Konoha.
Right now, it looked as if he had plenty of attempts, but he knew very well that to break through the 10-point attribute limit, he could only rely on random chance. Even if the system introduced a more powerful simulation method in the future, the number of attempts required would certainly increase exponentially. It was almost a given that the cost of a single simulation would exceed 10.
His current actions were just a precaution for the future.
Furthermore, if he planned to conduct certain experiments in the future, it would definitely be inappropriate to do so in Konoha. After all, not everyone would understand that he needed to prepare for the future threat from the Ōtsutsuki clan. And he couldn't just do nothing for the next few years and only start acting after the Great Ninja War.
As he pondered and moved forward, he slowly arrived within the borders of the Land of Waves.
And then he was surprised by the situation there.
In his impression, the Land of Waves was supposed to be a purely agricultural country. After all, it was surrounded by the sea, and all its access, material transport, and energy supplies were controlled by Gatō. How could this island possibly develop?
But to his surprise, not only was there an electricity supply here, but basic infrastructure was also somewhat widespread. Although he couldn't say it had reached the era of an electrical revolution, it wasn't far off. It was far from the small-scale agricultural economy he had imagined.
Of course, it was also true that there was a scarcity of goods here.
When he passed through the market, he observed it carefully. There were very few goods available for trade, and the ordinary citizens didn't look like they had any money. In other words, the problem in the Land of Waves was a scarcity of goods and deflation. While this was due to Gatō's exploitation, it was more because there were no decent industries here.
Relying on small fishing boats alone could not support a country's industrialization, even a small island nation, not to mention that these industries were in Gatō's hands.
To prove his speculation, he also created several shadow clones and, under the guise of tourists, chatted with many people to conduct on-site interviews. Although they were too afraid of Gatō to say much, their words generally confirmed his guess.
This Land of Waves was a complete treasure trove!
The reason he said this was not because there was wealth here, or because these common people could be exploited. It was because the Land of Waves had no government, no hidden village, only Gatō's company. Didn't that make Gatō a complete lamb for the slaughter?
He didn't even understand why the ninja world had allowed a guy like Gatō to live for so long.
Unless—Gatō had a backer?
This guess was possible, but right now, unless his backer was Nagato or Obito, he didn't care who it was. After Gatō was finished off by Zabuza, he could easily take control of his company, and the people of the Land of Waves would naturally begin to work for him.
The only remaining problem was what kind of industry he would use to support the people of the Land of Waves and get its economy into a cycle of positive growth.
As someone from the modern world, he understood that the speed of making money by exploiting ordinary people was far slower than making money from the rich.
So, where were the rich people in the ninja world?
The Hidden Villages?
No, no, no. The hidden villages were actually so poor that they had to be kept in check by the Daimyō. This was the case even for the relationship between the Land of Fire and Konoha, let alone the other countries.
As for why the ninja were kept in check by the Daimyō and didn't just threaten them back, this was actually a dynamic result of a long-term game. In the First Hokage's era, the Land of Fire was basically run by Hashirama. Even the Daimyō had actively sought marriage with the Senju clan. But now, in the final years of Hiruzen Sarutobi's reign, he no longer had the confidence to threaten the Daimyō. Because if he did, the Daimyō could simply call on Konoha to choose a new Hokage.
He could even be more direct and pay other hidden villages for help. It was certain that Iwa and Kumo would not refuse such an invitation.
And on Konoha's side, how many clans would be willing to risk becoming rogue ninja, to stop being ninja of the Land of Fire and Konoha, and instead become followers of Hiruzen? The current Hiruzen no longer had that kind of charisma that made people follow him at all costs.
In terms of this game with the Daimyō, Hiruzen was even inferior to Danzō. At least Danzō actually dared to make a move, which would make the Daimyō take a step back.
To get back to the point, if he wanted to make money, he naturally had to make it from the Daimyō and the nobles. But how could an island make money from them?
Arms and drugs were natural options, but his morals wouldn't allow him to touch the latter. The former, however, was worth considering.
Other than that, what the nobles cared about most was, of course, their health. Konoha actually had an external medical service, but it was limited to treating Konoha's own nobles and wealthy, and the fees were quite limited. They couldn't just name their price.
In this respect, Tsunade was much more open-minded. She had earned a large amount of money by treating the rich and noble, although she had then gambled it all away.
In his previous simulations, he had also earned a lot of wealth for himself and Konoha through medical services, but he was still restricted by Konoha's system and couldn't really let loose.
So, if he could let loose, just this one service alone could turn the Land of Waves into a holy land for medical treatment, leisure, and vacation.
Of course, money itself didn't mean much to him. He would only serve as a figurehead. The specific affairs could be handed over to others to manage—Karin was a good candidate, wasn't she? This would also solve the problem of settling Karin and others in the future. He didn't want to put them through the Konoha channel again.
He slowly planned everything, while waiting for Sakura and her team to appear.
He had already discovered Zabuza and Haku's figures, but with his Advanced Sensory talent, the two of them had no idea they had been spotted.
He watched them go off confidently to intercept Kakashi, only to see Haku carry a badly wounded Zabuza back to their hideout. Comparing his injuries to the original story, the current Zabuza clearly couldn't recover his combat strength with just a few herbs.
Just as he was considering what to do next, Gatō arrived at their door with his ronin.
"Well, if it isn't the Jōnin of the Hidden Mist, Zabuza, the Demon."
"How did you get taken out? You still have the face to come crawling back with your tail between your legs?"
"It seems the ninja of the Hidden Mist really are useless. Do you two have any idea how much money I spent to hire you?"
The two ninja beside Gatō drew their swords, assuming an iaijutsu stance. As soon as Gatō gave the word, he could end the lives of these two swindlers—however, Gatō had only just reached out his hand toward Zabuza when the two ninja's swords were suddenly in Haku's hands, held at Gatō's neck.
"Don't touch Lord Zabuza with your filthy hands!"
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