Koshiro became more and more animated as he spoke, increasingly convinced that he was right.
"My lord, I suggest sending around ten Uchiha to lead three hundred Red-Eyes in guarding the supply line from Naka to the Land of Rivers. With the missing-nin of the Land of Rivers as the backbone, we can establish a defense force primarily composed of River Country missing-nin, supplemented by the Sand missing-nin. That should be enough to deal with most problems!"
Koshiro had genuinely thought this through. Such a deployment would not draw too heavily on Naka’s forces.
"The Land of Rivers has us at its back, with the Land of Rain bordering it to the northwest and the Land of Wind to the southwest. So let the River Country missing-nin handle the Land of Wind front, while the Sand missing-nin handle the Land of Rain front! No matter how useless the Sand shinobi are, they can’t possibly be unable to defeat the shinobi of the Land of Rain!"
The hidden implication behind Koshiro’s proposal was that Naka would act as an overseer, controlling the supply lines to the Land of Rivers, while the River Country missing-nin would supervise the fighting and the Sand shinobi would face the Land of Rain on their own.
It seemed that the matter could be settled this way.
Seeing his rival so confident, Gen’nosuke hurriedly played his final trump card.
"My lord, although the shinobi of the Land of Wind belong to the Land of Wind, when you get right down to it, they’re just a bunch of mercenaries."
Through his dealings with the upper ranks of the Sand missing-nin, Gen’nosuke understood the political situation in Sunagakure far better than Koshiro did. He also had his own contingency plan for the Land of Wind.
"The daimyō of the Land of Wind has absolutely no dependence on the shinobi. The barren land itself is the best protection the daimyō of the Land of Wind has. No one is going to occupy a desert that produces nothing!"
Gen’nosuke was right. That was exactly how carefree the daimyō of the Land of Wind could be.
Although he could not understand why the daimyō system had survived there at all, a thousand years of history had made having a daimyō in the Land of Wind a tradition in its own right.
Gen’nosuke did not know how to explain the matter in detail, so he simply moved on.
"Therefore, the daimyō simply doesn’t care what kind of military power he has at his disposal, and naturally won’t provide much funding. That’s why the Sand shinobi have survived to this day by raising their own funds."
In the end, Gen’nosuke presented the greatest thing he had gained from this trip.
"My lord, I think you should still pursue comprehensive cooperation with the Sand shinobi and use economic power to bring the entire Land of Wind under your control. In the eyes of the Sand shinobi, you’re more like a daimyō than a shinobi leader. Since they’re willing to accept a daimyō’s rule, they’ll be able to accept your rule as well!"
Gen’nosuke had presented the greatest card in his hand: controlling the entire Land of Wind through economic influence and cultivating a comprador faction to serve as Naka’s representatives within the country.
That would effectively place the entire Land of Wind under their control.
This was not baseless speculation. In just this short period, economic communication between the Land of Rivers and the Land of Wind had developed at an astonishing pace.
According to what Gen’nosuke knew, even before the River Country forces had set out, Sand shinobi had already begun crossing into the Land of Rivers illegally to seek work. It had developed into a fairly organized and large-scale practice.
The clever Sand shinobi in the Land of Rivers would accept multiple missions from Koshiro, then subcontract them at low prices to fellow villagers who had crossed the border illegally, pocketing the difference.
Even after being passed through one intermediary at such low prices, the missions were enough to drive these Sand shinobi, who had been frightened by poverty, into a frenzy.
There were even frequent cases of Chūnin squad leaders leading teams to accept missions as organized units.
Gen’nosuke also believed that the Sand shinobi were not completely lacking in fighting spirit. When it came to preventing smuggled-in Sand shinobi from directly contacting mission clients, the entire body of Sand missing-nin was united from top to bottom.
Quite a few of their fellow villagers who had tried to investigate the sources of missions in the Land of Rivers—missions that should ordinarily have been death sentences for them to pursue—had met untimely deaths.
This eventually contributed to the Land of Wind’s military miscalculation.
One of the major reasons Sunagakure assembled its forces and invaded the Land of Rivers was its suspicion that the Land of Rivers had acquired a large share of the missions from the bounty offices.
Unfortunately, after arriving, they discovered that there was nothing there at all. And at precisely that time, Uchiha Kei had defeated the Third Hokage and was preparing to send people back to the Land of Rivers.
On one side was a worthless, barren place. On the other was a powerful opponent. The Sand shinobi still had not figured out where the missions actually originated, so naturally, they withdrew.
This atmosphere within Sunagakure made Gen’nosuke feel that there was enormous potential to exploit.
"My lord, as long as you’re willing, the Land of Wind can soon be brought into your sphere of influence."
Both Gen’nosuke and Koshiro wanted to conquer a faction and expand a territory as achievements to offer Lord Kei. Since Koshiro had already arranged everything for the Land of Rivers, Gen’nosuke could only set his sights on the Land of Wind.
But Kei thought deeply for a while before reaching his own conclusion.
The temptation to annex the Land of Wind was enormous. No matter how weak the Sand shinobi were, they were still part of one of the Five Great Nations.
Yet in truth, if he had a choice, Kei often did not want to accept anyone’s submission.
They could draw closer to Naka, but they could not join it.
The essence of the art of slaying dragons was to make one’s own side larger and the enemy’s side smaller. Everyone knew that.
But few people ever mentioned the side effect of the art of slaying dragons.
The dragon slayer would eventually become the evil dragon.
Defeat the evil dragon bit by bit, then absorb everything that belonged to it. Under such circumstances, there was no way to guarantee the purity of the group. The eventual result was that, years later, the dragon slayers would either begin purging themselves from within or become corrupted into the next evil dragon.
That was the fundamental reason Kei had conquered Konoha without occupying it.
Sometimes, victory required making difficult choices. There was no way around it. Without victory, all ideals were nothing but empty words.
That was why most dragon slayers had to defeat the evil dragon, absorb the evil dragon, and digest the evil dragon all at the same time.
But Kei was different.
He did not have to make that choice.
He had steadfast followers. He had the opportunity to establish an earthly kingdom built upon his own ideals.
He did not need to endure the corruption of the shinobi world. People like the Third Hokage and the daimyō—people who shouted the noblest slogans while committing the vilest deeds—were not people he needed to tolerate.
Kei valued the purity of the revolutionary movement above all else.
Because he had witnessed the restoration of Shaoxing’s former power all too clearly.
Kei gave no response to Koshiro and Gen’nosuke’s proposals. Instead, he picked up his milk tea, took a sip, and asked,
"Gen’nosuke, Koshiro, is the milk tea good?"
Gen’nosuke and Koshiro were dumbfounded. They had been drinking alcohol the entire time. They had no idea how to answer.
Oboro, who had been drinking milk tea without a care in the world, became delighted when she heard Lord Kei’s question.
"It’s delicious! I really love it!"
But Tsubame, who regarded herself as a retainer, felt that things could not possibly be that simple. She did not often drink milk tea, so she took a sip before answering,
"It’s all right. I just feel like there’s something a little strange about it."
Kei took another large sip before calmly asking,
"Hotaru, tell us how the milk tea produced in Naka is selling in different regions."
"Yes, sir!"
Hotaru stood up and gave a serious report.
"Milk tea sells best within Naka, where it is very popular among the villagers. It has also established a market in Konoha, but the response in other parts of the shinobi world has been rather average."
After Hotaru’s brief report, Kei swept his gaze across everyone in the room.
The scene before him would remain etched in his memory.
After tonight, they might all be scattered to different corners of the world. Kei felt a little melancholy.
"Do you know why the same milk tea sells differently in different places?"
Everyone shook their heads, but Kei smiled.
"Because milk tea itself isn’t very good."
It seemed like a joke.
It also seemed to be the truth.
Everyone was confused, especially Oboro, whose adorable expression seemed to say, How could that possibly be?
But Kei did not seem to be joking.
"Milk tea is actually a beverage that doesn’t suit the tastes of most people. It’s the kind of thing where, if it’s available, you can drink it, but if it isn’t, you don’t really care. But because I like drinking milk tea, the people of Naka came to favor it as well."
"It’s not that the milk tea became tastier. Their taste buds were simply conditioned."
Holding his milk tea, Kei walked down from the steps and passed one person after another.
"Conditioning someone’s taste buds requires environmental influence. How much more so when it comes to conquering an entire country or an entire people? Koshiro, Gen’nosuke, you’re both moving too quickly!"
Kei patted Koshiro and Gen’nosuke on the shoulders.
"The people need to be conditioned as well. First, we need to make them interested in our unusual clothing. Then we make them interested in our specialties and customs. After that, we make them recognize—and eventually imitate—our system."
"Finally, we make them admire our culture."
"Only then will it be time to conquer them."
Kei’s words seemed to completely overturn the two men’s confident proposals.
Their proposals were not bad. But they required far too much cooperation from the Land of Wind and the Land of Rivers.
Before their economies developed, the people of those two lands would be grateful. But once their economies developed, things would look completely different.
The obedience of the shinobi in those two regions was likewise based on Naka’s military deterrence and economic support.
Once they had money and their military strength increased, Naka would still be far too small compared with them.
Kei continued,
"If we incorporate every faction conquered through military intimidation and economic sanctions into our own ranks, we’ll only spread our military strength thin and weaken our economy."
"The moment we encounter a setback, a territory that appears powerful on the surface will immediately fall apart."
Kei understood what the two men were thinking.
Jūbei’s achievements had made the two young men envious. They wanted to open new territories for Lord Kei, and their desire to conquer the Land of Rivers and the Land of Wind was simply too strong.
But Kei still felt that moving too quickly would only create trouble for themselves.
If military force could change everything, Madara would not have ended up in such misery.
"We still have time. Let’s take it slowly."
Kei suddenly raised his milk tea.
"Let our way of life influence the lives of more people. Let our culture spread over the cultures of more people. When more and more people take Naka’s ideals as their own ideals and Naka’s glory as their own glory, that will be the time when we conquer the world!"
"Yes, sir!"
Everyone shouted in unison and raised their cups, draining them in one gulp.
After setting down his cup, Kei spoke sternly.
"I order—"
"First: Break up all the Sand shinobi and the missing-nin of the Land of Rivers. Establish a Mission Center within the Land of Rivers and allow all shinobi to accept missions. Control the volume of missions so that shinobi who lean toward Naka can become prosperous first!"
"Second: Open the borders between the Land of Wind and the Land of Rain and draw in more shinobi. Make the situation within the Land of Rivers more complicated so that no unified faction can emerge."
"Third: Have Naka’s merchants spread Naka’s culture throughout the Land of Rivers. Audio and video products, manga and novels, food, festivals, and everything else. All of the old customs of the Land of Rivers are to be abolished. Everything is to be conducted according to Naka’s style!"
"Fourth: Establish schools in the Land of Rivers and teach according to Naka’s culture and history. Make them proud to serve the Uchiha. Education must begin with the children."
"Yes, sir!"
Kei returned to his seat and waved downward, signaling everyone to sit. Only then did he speak casually.
"Let the Land of Rivers become a place where shinobi belong to the shinobi world and civilians belong to civilian life. When one day most of the people in the Land of Rivers have the same festivals, customs, and habits as Naka, there will be no need to formally absorb them. They will already be part of Naka."
"The same applies to the Land of Wind."
Having said that, Kei pointed toward Gen’nosuke and Koshiro.
"So, let’s treat the Land of Rivers as the dowry for Oboro and Zhujun! Gen’nosuke, Koshiro, you two need to manage it well. Make sure the Land of Rivers is renamed Naka as soon as possible!"
Gen’nosuke and Koshiro were overjoyed when they heard this.
Lord Kei had not completely rejected their proposals. Instead, he had entrusted them with this familiar territory.
There was an entire vast world before them, and so much they could accomplish!
They excitedly raised their cups to toast Lord Kei. Even Oboro and Zhujun, who did not drink alcohol, joined in the celebration.
The gathering completely turned into a drinking party.
That night, Gen’nosuke and Koshiro grew considerably as people.
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