There are truly many intelligent people in the world.
The current era is in the early days of the ninja village system, and it is no exaggeration to call it a period of change unseen in a thousand years.
It is an era of chaos, and also an era of peace.
The ballast stone stabilizing this chaos and peace is Senju Hashirama.
For the past thousand years...
The daimyō and nobles have ruled the world through bloodlines, tradition, and economy, allowing a small handful of unworthy individuals to hold far too much power for far too long.
What were those in the ninja world with untapped talent supposed to do?
For as many years as the daimyō and nobles have lived comfortably on their laurels, these people have been suppressed.
And what the daimyō and nobles fear most is a military government formed by ninja.
The moment ninja show even the slightest inclination in that direction, a whole host of people who aren't afraid to die would dare to go all-in and bet on them.
If Senju Hashirama were to lead Konoha's forces to storm the capital of the Land of Fire and use the daimyō's head to declare his ambition—"I want to be King of the World!"—then the very next day, the world would follow his lead.
At the same time, the entire world would become his enemy.
But who could possibly stop Senju Hashirama?
The answer is no one.
The Great Buddha clad in Susano'o, the two of them capable of leveling the ninja world, was no joke.
Even if Senju Hashirama's Konoha faction was small in number and knew little of economics and politics...
As time went on...
The military government faction represented by Senju Hashirama would only grow stronger, and all sorts of talented individuals would continuously flock to him... until the entire ninja world was unified.
Even the nobles and ministers who should have sworn to defend the daimyō would continuously jump ship, seamlessly switching sides.
After all, the daimyō couldn't surrender; it was either gain everything or lose everything.
But what did that have to do with the nobles and ministers?
Ninja weren't all saints. They could easily use their vast experience to collude with the ninja.
There is no eternal empire, but the empire can be eternal. As long as they were alive, they could make a comeback.
And as the one to fire the first shot, the First Hokage, Senju Hashirama, should have gone even further.
But he chose to stop right there.
He wanted to be a saint, a good man with a gun pointed at his head, and he disliked the clothes the daimyō wore.
Since Senju Hashirama disliked the daimyō's clothes, Uchiha Makoto could only reluctantly accept them for himself.
The answer from the wealthy merchant was exceptionally pleasant to the ear.
And so, Uchiha Makoto smiled.
The merchant representatives also smiled.
Everything was understood without words.
Afterward, Uchiha Makoto decisively picked up the pen on his desk and signed his name on the share contract.
"Does this company have a name yet?"
"Not yet. We were waiting for Lord Light Shadow to bestow one."
"Then why not call it the Arasaka Corporation?"
A company that would dominate the entire ninja world was officially born.
Uchiha Makoto also took this opportunity to inform this group of powerful merchants of his recent plans.
It was time to begin preparations for the canning factory established by the three parties: Akatsuki, Konoha, and the Uzumaki clan.
The Uzumaki clan and Senju Tobirama would be responsible for resolving the relevant technical issues.
This would certainly take some time.
In the meantime, Akatsuki Village would be responsible for figuring out how to handle all the other problems.
"Lord Light Shadow, if the technical problems can be solved, then we can indeed help you..."
"After all, if you have ninja make contracts with aquatic summoning beasts to catch fish, the cost can be greatly reduced... Ordinary merchants in the Land of Fire simply cannot compete with us. A small price war is all it would take to eliminate competitors from the market..."
"As long as the price is low enough, there's nothing that can't be sold. As for workers, processing plants, and sales channels... you can leave these matters to us."
The merchant representatives made the problems sound effortless.
After all, Uchiha Makoto had already removed the technical and raw material issues. The technical problems would be handled by the Uzumaki clan and Senju Tobirama.
And the raw material for the cans was fish.
The area around the Land of Whirlpools was full of fishing grounds.
As a ninja village, they naturally didn't need to catch fish through hard labor like ordinary people.
The ninja world also had large aquatic summoning beasts. Akatsuki Village's Ice Style ninja had access to such channels, and the Uzumaki clan, having lived on the island for years, was also familiar with such aquatic beast populations.
However, they rarely made contracts with aquatic beasts.
The reason was that their combat applications were too limited.
Once out of the water...
The combat power of an aquatic beast would drop significantly.
But now, it was for the sake of making money.
Having Akatsuki ninja form a large number of contracts with aquatic beasts, and the Uzumaki clan doing the same—the interests involved could all be discussed at the table. At worst, they could just give a slightly larger share of the profits to the Ice Style ninja within Akatsuki Village.
After that, the problem of fishing became very simple.
Ninja would be responsible for pulling the nets, the aquatic beasts would be responsible for herding the fish into the nets, and the Ice Style ninja could instantly freeze the fish to be transported to the processing plant. Finally, they would just need to be sealed in cans.
Compared to the profits, the labor costs involved were extremely low.
A black-hearted Uchiha Makoto could even get it done with a few C-rank or D-rank missions.
A ninja could take on several missions at once, completely making up for the lower price with volume. The income would likely be no less than that of A or B-rank missions.
Ninja...
Are people who endure!
As long as they could earn money...
They could indeed endure. At worst, it would be a little more strenuous, but it was still better than putting their heads on the line to go kill people. The only real obstacle was the age-old problem of ninja principles.
To abandon a proper, promising career of killing people and instead go fishing like a commoner... what would that look like?
Fortunately, Uchiha Makoto had gained immense prestige in the war. His status in Akatsuki Village was now very high. He could completely rely on his own powerful prestige to forcibly push these things through... until they kept doing it and realized how good it was!
"Then I'll have to trouble you."
Uchiha Makoto nodded.
He certainly knew that these problems were not as simple as they made them sound. There were many things that needed to be coordinated.
But that was also why Uchiha Makoto wanted to cooperate with the merchants.
Things that Akatsuki Village couldn't do or would take a long time to accomplish became very simple when handed over to professionals.
"It's what we should do."
The leading merchant representative smiled and nodded. Their efforts were not without benefit.
Their people were involved in the entire supply chain of the canning factory, from top to bottom, so they would naturally take a slice of the pie.
For now, only the general direction had been set.
Afterward, there would be formal meetings with Akatsuki Village, the Uzumaki clan, and Konoha to discuss the matter.
Of course, the money itself was secondary.
They valued more the opportunity to deeply integrate with Akatsuki Village, and even to establish connections with Konoha and the Uzumaki clan... They were unaware of the petty squabbles between the ninja villages.
Calculated this way, the benefits were truly endless.
The atmosphere in the room was excellent.
With one matter resolved in his mind, a smile also appeared on Uchiha Makoto's face.
Acting on the idea of striking while the iron was hot...
Uchiha Makoto brought up the second matter.
The script for Akatsukiwood's first film was already written, and the cast could be assembled at any time. The only thing missing was an excellent director, but... Uchiha Makoto really had no experience in the entertainment industry.
He needed a director with solid professional skills and strong box-office appeal, but Uchiha Makoto didn't know a single one of the famous directors in the Land of Fire.
He couldn't just send Akatsuki ninja to kidnap them, could he?
That would be too undignified.
"Lord Light Shadow, that's simple."
"I have a good personal relationship with a famous director in the Land of Fire... Lord Light Shadow, if you give me the script, I will immediately send someone to discuss the matter with him in detail when I return."
"Then I'll be counting on you."
Another merchant representative stood up and said, and Uchiha Makoto nodded.
It seemed that each of them had extraordinary connections.
Uchiha Makoto was very pleased with this.
The more connections these merchants had, the greater their collective influence.
Akatsuki Village needed to promote its influence in all aspects, and they were all assets to Akatsuki Village.
In terms of channels like entertainment resources and news dissemination, the resources Akatsuki Village controlled were still a weak point compared to what these people held. They could completely leverage their channels, interlock their shareholdings, get Akatsukiwood a backdoor listing, integrate various resources, dominate the news and entertainment media, and become the true authority.
Based on Uchiha Makoto's current assessment of the situation, although his series of actions had caused a certain butterfly effect in the world, the overall changes were not significant.
Uchiha Madara had been staying in the Uchiha clan grounds recently and not going out, probably staring at the contents of that stone tablet tampered with by Black Zetsu and contemplating life every day.
The number one filial son in the ninja world and that naturally evil old ghost of the Senju, Senju Tobirama, were constantly causing him trouble.
The world's storyline would still proceed as in the original work. Uchiha Madara would probably still leave Konoha.
In order for Uchiha Madara to obtain Senju Hashirama's power...
The battle at the Valley of the End was bound to happen.
The result of the battle was self-evident. This generation's Asura reincarnate, Senju Hashirama, was unreasonably strong and could still hang Uchiha Madara up and beat him down.
As long as everything developed according to the original storyline...
Then Akatsuki Village just needed to bide its time, develop peacefully, and wait for the incident in Konoha.
When the two strongest individuals in the ninja world disappeared...
That would be the time to unleash the true power of this company!
A lie told once is a lie.
A lie told a hundred times, a thousand times, ten thousand times, becomes the truth.
"The Truth Behind Uchiha Madara's Departure from Konoha?"
"The Twists and Turns of the Madara-Hashirama Battle!"
"Why Did Senju Hashirama Suddenly Die Violently?"
"Senju Tobirama Becomes the Second Hokage, a Whirlpool of Conspiracy Behind the Scenes!"
"Why Did a Large Number of Senju Clan Members Die Mysteriously?"
Just writing out such headlines was enough to attract too much attention.
Add in some borderline, thought-provoking dark conspiracy theories...
A certain person in Konoha wouldn't be able to sleep at night.
Just thinking about such things made Uchiha Makoto very happy.
"Gentlemen, you've given me such a great gift and helped me with two big favors. It must have cost a lot..."
"Lord Light Shadow, it's nothing, it's nothing..."
"Go on, tell me, is there anything I can help you with recently..."
"I can do a small favor for you."
"Lord Light Shadow, you're too kind. Let's not talk about this, not this..."
"One small favor... one small favor!"
"Then... could Lord Light Shadow help us kill some people?"
"Some of the businesses under the Arasaka Corporation... are not very peaceful. And most importantly, this also affects Lord Light Shadow's interests."
"Oh, that's too easy for me."
Upholding the spirit of reciprocity, Uchiha Makoto offered to do a small favor for the merchant representatives.
The merchants acted very politely.
After all, they had come specifically to give a gift this time. Although they did have many troubles in their businesses...
They hadn't planned on bringing them up at this time.
But Uchiha Makoto was in a genuinely good mood. Since Lord Light Shadow had already offered... they might as well say it.
"Lord Light Shadow, the two most profitable businesses for our Arasaka Corporation are currently the silk industry and iron smelting."
"But as you know... take the silk industry for example. Even though our Arasaka Corporation has silk factories all over the Land of Fire, we can't control the raw materials. Large tracts of mulberry fields are in the hands of the great nobles. Of course, we can pay a higher price to buy the silk; at worst, we just earn a little less."
"But this is still a temporary solution, not a permanent one. Market demand is constantly rising, but production can't keep up. We want to buy grain fields from the great nobles and convert them to mulberry fields, or have them convert them themselves to meet the growing raw material shortage... but those great nobles are really hard to persuade... They either refuse to convert the fields or take the opportunity to jack up the prices..."
"Even cooperating with them is like negotiating with a tiger... if we're not careful..."
"In short, if the Arasaka Corporation wants to continue to grow, it must..."
"As for the other business, iron smelting... we need cheap, high-quality iron ore from the Land of Iron... this is not as urgent..."
Uchiha Makoto listened patiently until they finished, and the first phrase that came to his mind was—converting rice paddies to mulberry fields.
However, the situation in a world with supernatural powers was naturally different.
Land consolidation in the Naruto world had reached an outrageous level. Most of the common folk in the ninja world were tenant farmers for the nobles.
These people could be disregarded.
The biggest resistance to converting rice paddies to mulberry fields was still that group of great nobles.
They controlled the means of production, the land, in large quantities, so they held the absolute initiative and could stick to their grain fields.
The ninja world still relied on the heavens for food. With grain in the house, there was no panic.
In a disaster year, they could make a huge profit.
Of course, there were also enterprising great nobles.
They already possessed large amounts of land from the start.
If they reacted and began to transition, it could be said they had a heavenly starting hand.
The merchants were just quick-witted and had temporarily used the opportune moment to make a considerable fortune, but in the long run... they could only survive in the cracks, either obediently acting as the great nobles' white gloves or going bankrupt.
Clearly, they had already realized this, or they wouldn't have gone all-in on Uchiha Makoto.
These guys were truly no simpletons.
"I understand. You really know how to give me difficult problems, but Akatsuki Village also holds a fifty percent stake in the Arasaka Corporation..."
"I will find a way to resolve this matter."
Uchiha Makoto nodded, accepting the task.
Subsequently, smiles appeared on the faces of the merchant representatives, and they exited the Light Shadow Office.
The next day...
Two major news stories appeared in the Land of Fire's newspapers.
From Konoha came the big news that the Hokage had been assassinated by a Takigakure ninja.
Akatsuki Village, in collaboration with numerous wealthy merchants, had founded a super-corporation spanning multiple industries—Arasaka!
The Land of Fire, which had just quieted down, instantly became lively again.
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