Chapter 181: Tenten: Is it My Turn Now?
Tazuna looked at Akiyama Makoto in amazement, not expecting him to actually try to reason with him.
But he quickly caught on. "Another Gatō, is that it?"
Makoto smiled faintly. "There always has to be a Gatō, doesn't there?"
He raised his hand and pointed to the distance. "You came from Konoha, so I trust you know what this world is like."
"The larger countries have their own hidden villages. Those without them at least have a Daimyō, a monarch, or nobles."
"If there's nothing, then you can only let a merchant lead the country."
Tazuna frowned deeply. "We don't need a leader. We can make our country prosperous on our own."
Makoto turned to look at him, a half-smile on his face. "Really?"
"Mr. Tazuna, you feel you don't have a leader, but is it not possible that you are the leader?"
He placed his hand on Tazuna's shoulder. This action alone made several of the workers who had been watching nervously surround them. They were ordinary people, with no power to fight a ninja. But they were willing to use their own blood to protect Tazuna. Without him, this bridge would never have been built.
Tazuna was a little dazed. Had he, without realizing it, already become their leader?
"You see? People need an organization to live in peace."
"Without Gatō, there would be you. Without you, there would be someone else."
"Otherwise, a person who is all alone... they don't have to give up anything, but they'll also go insane."
Seeing him remain silent, he said, "It seems you understand what I'm saying. Then let me ask you one last question, Tazuna."
"If the Land of Waves is handed over to you, with just this bridge, will the country be able to rest easy?"
"Is it not possible that this bridge will make it more convenient for other ninja to come and extort wealth, or even allow bandits to enter and leave the country quickly?"
Tazuna's eyes suddenly widened, and his body trembled like a leaf.
"We... we can hire Konoha ninja to protect us—"
"Then do you know how much it costs to hire a ninja for a fight? Ah, that's right, you do. After all, you paid for a C-rank mission and tricked Konoha's ninja into doing two A-rank missions."
"I don't think they'll be fooled again."
"Or, next time, Konoha will demand double the pay."
He wasn't lying. Although Naruto had become a symbol of hope for the Land of Waves, the country itself was now on Konoha's gray list. Future missions from here would be strictly vetted.
"What's more, Konoha's ninja can't fly. By the time you ask them to come over after the Land of Waves has already been pillaged, the battle will have been over long ago."
Tazuna was silent. He knew that everything he said was the truth. But he really couldn't accept that after sending Gatō off, a new, hungry wolf had arrived. The Land of Waves was already so poor. When would it ever become prosperous?
"Alright, don't be nervous, Mr. Tazuna."
"Why don't we find some time to talk slowly? We can go to Gatō's office and see how much wealth he's collected."
"If you agree, Mr. Tazuna, perhaps today can become a day of celebration for the Land of Waves."
At first, Tazuna didn't understand what he meant.
But when Makoto took out 500 million in cash, paid off all the various debts Gatō owed to the people in one go, and compensated them for his past wrongdoings, the entire Land of Waves was plunged into an ocean of joy.
And while the people were celebrating their new life, Zabuza and Haku were diligently carrying out their "fishing" law enforcement, killing over a hundred men and dyeing a large patch of the sea red.
There were only less than fifty ronin left. Among them, only five were Chūnin. The rest were just cannon-fodder-level Genin.
When Zabuza brought this trembling group of men before him, to their surprise, what awaited them were company name tags that he had handwritten.
He didn't know much about establishing a government, but he knew a thing or two about starting a company. The group of men before him might not be clean, but the fact that they could work under Gatō and still maintain a bottom line meant they had already passed a test of character.
From now on, this group would become the armed police of the Land of Waves, responsible for protecting its safety and maintaining its order.
As for Zabuza, he was, naturally, the leader of this group. He didn't need to do much. He would only need to step in when his subordinates encountered someone they couldn't handle.
As for Haku, he chose to have him temporarily take over the leadership of the administrative side—just to lead and report to him. The specific work would still be handled by the company's civilian staff. Haku's image was friendly enough, and his strength was enough to intimidate ordinary people. It was just that his cultural level would need to be crash-coursed for a while.
It couldn't be helped. He was truly short-handed right now. He couldn't bring people from Konoha, so he could only make do for the time being.
But for now, he didn't need to worry about the company's business problems. Although he had spent all of Gatō's cash, he still had a lot of arms and... other goods, as well as a fleet of ships that could transport materials between the Land of Water, the Land of Lightning, and the Land of Fire.
He didn't need to worry about these things; they could just continue their original business. It was just that not doing the "other" business would put a strain on the company's short-term cash flow. To this end, he planned to go and pull in investments from the Land of Fire's Daimyō after he had built up his reputation during the Chūnin Exams.
Although many places in the ninja world looked poor, he knew that it was about to enter a capitalistic era. In this era, who would still work hard to accumulate wealth through land? Of course, one would first play a round of capital accumulation, pass the hot potato, and finally, land in the high-tech pharmaceutical industry.
What's more, the Land of Waves didn't have the conditions to become a major agricultural or industrial power. It was better to just be a consumer nation.
He believed that with his strength and eloquence, it would be enough to persuade the Daimyō and the nobles to take out their private money and give the Land of Waves a major makeover.
He didn't tell Zabuza and Haku this plan. Even if he did, they wouldn't understand, nor would they care. Right now, their biggest life goal was to return to the Mist Village and get their revenge.
As for Tazuna, he barely understood, but he remained highly skeptical about the feasibility of his plan. However, he had to admit, he was indeed different from Gatō, and it seemed he could really bring prosperity to the Land of Waves. As for the rest, he was already old. He couldn't think about it so much. He could only let him smoothly take over Gatō's company and become the new man behind the scenes.
And so, a month later, the Land of Waves had returned to stability. In fact, it was too stable.
He was still waiting for Gatō's backer to come knocking. Whether it was someone from the Hidden Mist, the Cloud, or even Konoha, he would have accepted it. Even if it was the Akatsuki or Obito, he would have understood.
But in the end, no one came. Gatō had actually built his empire in the Land of Waves all by himself.
At this point, he found it difficult to even comment. This showed that the business sense of the vast majority of the ninja world was still stuck in the slash-and-burn era. No wonder the ninja had such a hard time accepting new things. Even though the ninja world already had electric lights, telephones, and even cars and ships—albeit steam-powered—the ninja still lived as if they were in the Warring States period. Only the new generation was beginning to accept popular trends.
He shook his head, even more certain that his plan to build an industry in the Land of Waves was the correct one. If he were in Konoha, he would never have been able to create such an industry. Not only would the ninja oppose it, but the villagers would probably also find it difficult to accept.
With this, the work in the Land of Waves was wrapped up. All he needed to do was send a shadow clone to inspect the situation every day, and then wait to pull in investments and start construction.
His focus returned to Konoha.
During this period, he had not forgotten to train. He was well aware that strength was the foundation of his current power.
As his constitution and his panel improved, he could now support several shadow clones doing different things at the same time. This allowed him to handle the affairs of the Land of Waves without falling behind on his writing.
Today was the release date of his new book, The True Story of Hashirama Senju.
This time, he didn't hold any book signing, because his fame had already been established.
A long line formed in front of the Konoha bookstore. Even Hiruzen Sarutobi had picked up a copy of his book at the first opportunity and began to read it seriously.
On this day, Konoha was much quieter than usual. Many people were using his book to recall the past when the First Hokage had led Konoha to greatness.
And this also gave the girls a chance to gather at his house, surrounding him and asking for a limited-edition signed copy.
But he could tell that their purpose was far from just that.
Especially Tenten. It was clear she was impatient to get her own True Spirit Seal.
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