The lights of Konoha shone brilliantly, the entire village glowing like a river of stars spread across the earth.
"Konoha really is lively."
On the rooftop terrace of the embassy building, Anjō Oniyuzu rested his hands on the railing, gazing out at the dazzling night view of Konoha.
Envy gleamed deep in his eyes. One could never see such a sight in Kirigakure at night. Just from this view alone, the difference between the two villages' overall strength was clear. If nothing else, the gap in population was already massive.
And population was the very foundation of a village's strength.
Even if they were not shinobi, the more ordinary villagers a village had, the better. The larger the population, the more low-rank missions would naturally appear. And the more missions available, the more shinobi the village could afford to support. It was a positive cycle.
"No wonder in every Shinobi World War, Konoha always fights outnumbered but never once ends in defeat. Every time, they're the final winner. Their foundation really is incredibly deep." Anjō let out a long sigh.
This level of disparity was enough to make one feel powerless.
"Konoha's strength is indeed overwhelming."
Kyoichi stood beside Anjō and nodded in agreement, but he quickly added, "But to be fair, our Kirigakure's foundation isn't weak either. If we can properly develop our potential, we won't necessarily fall too far behind Konoha."
Looking at the glittering nightscape before him, he too felt a faint itch in his heart.
In both Iwagakure and Kirigakure, the streets looked bustling enough during the day, but once night fell, the lanterns thinned out. The streets were empty, and not a soul could be seen. Kyoichi had almost forgotten that nighttime street markets were even a thing. Now, seeing Konoha's thriving nightlife, fragments of his previous life's memories surfaced in his mind.
A pity he forgot to ask the Hokage whether they were allowed to go out and walk around.
Otherwise... he truly wanted to experience Konoha's night market.
"Potential?"
Anjō widened his eyes at Kyoichi. "What do you mean?"
"What else could I mean?"
Kyoichi did not hide it and spoke frankly: "If we want the Kirigakure to truly grow strong, the most important thing is increasing our population. And to increase our population, we need more missions and jobs to support both shinobi and civilians. And to gain more missions and livelihoods... aside from internal reform, we must strengthen our connections with other countries."
"More missions and more jobs... that makes sense. But I was asking what our village's potential is."
Anjō pressed further.
"Use the resources your land gives you. When living by the mountain, live off the mountain. When living by the sea, live off the sea. The Five Great Nations aren't all landlocked, but aside from us, the other villages all make their living on land. The sea practically belongs to the Land of Water alone. We can absolutely consider bringing the sea-bound nations like the Land of Waves fully into our sphere of influence."
Kyoichi paused briefly and continued, "Once we secure those smaller sea countries, that automatically means more missions. And once missions increase, the number of shinobi will naturally grow. With more shinobi, all the industries and jobs surrounding them will also expand. This is exactly how Konoha developed."
In his memory, Konoha not only handled every mission within the Land of Fire. Even the surrounding small nations often entrusted their missions to Konoha. And thanks to Sunagakure's defeat in the Third Shinobi World War, the Wind Daimyō repeatedly cut Sunagakure's funding and outsourced many of their missions to Konoha.
Of course, the Wind Daimyō incident was a special case.
But overall, among the Five Great Shinobi Villages, only Konoha's shinobi routinely operated across multiple countries. The other villages' shinobi were largely active within their own borders.
In this regard, Kumogakure, Iwagakure, and Sunagakure had little choice. Everyone lived on land, so with Konoha dominating most mission flow, they could only scavenge the scraps. Their repeated wars with Konoha were fundamentally caused by the imbalance in mission distribution.
Only Kirigakure was different.
Instead of taking advantage of the sea's vast resources, they isolated themselves and constantly fought internally. Of course, the true internal conflict began when the Fourth Mizukage fell under Obito Uchiha's control.
"...And besides securing the sea nations, we should also expand our exchanges with the mainland countries. The two sides can trade what each lacks, strengthening the Land of Water's national power. And only when the Land of Water grows stronger can the Kirigakure rise with it."
A ninja village could not operate solely through mission commissions. A major portion of funding always came from the Daimyō.
Although there were dozens of ninja villages in history, only five eventually rose to prominence. Their founders were powerful, yes, but the real key was choosing the right partner: the Five Great Nations. With the economic and political support of these nations, the Five Great Villages grew at unbelievable speed.
Otherwise, when Takigakure was first established, its momentum was not inferior to any village except Konoha.
Unfortunately, its founder chose the wrong patron. The Land of Waterfall never developed for various reasons, causing Takigakure to fail in growing like the major villages. One slow step led to another, and eventually Takigakure could no longer keep up.
Now, all they could do was cling to their Seven-Tails Jinchūriki and live cautiously.
"All of these things are connected. If we can take the first step, everything that follows can snowball in growth. Of course, Elder Anjō, this is just talk on paper. I can explain the general idea, but I have no idea how to actually implement any of it."
Kyoichi openly shared his immature ideas.
Kirigakure and the Koeda Clan were now tied together in prosperity and decline. Compared to watching the Kiri descend into a 'Village of the Bloody Mist,' he would rather see it grow strong like Konoha. But as he had said himself, at most he could offer some casual advice. He would never devote his entire life to the village.
His guiding principle was always self-preservation.
As long as it did not hinder his own growth, he could help the village a little. But expecting him to sacrifice everything like a devoted strategist was impossible.
"Kyoichi, you..."
Anjō stared at him, his emotions all tangled.
He had thought about parts of what Kyoichi outlined, but only as scattered fragments. They never formed a complete, coherent picture. Hearing Kyoichi speak now felt like a sudden enlightenment, as though a beam of light had cut through the mist. For the first time, he saw a clear path forward for the Kirigakure.
If they were back in Kirigakure, he would already be rushing to find the Mizukage to share these insights. As for the village's future reforms... his mind was overflowing with new ideas.
But at that moment, Anjō suddenly noticed Kyoichi's expression turn deadly serious.
And then Kyoichi spoke.
"Elder Anjō, something's wrong."
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