Hoshigakure would soon have no secrets to Shiki. The boy even had half a mind to return to Roran and check whether his enhanced senses could pierce into their sealed secret areas.
'Truly . . . With the right inspiration, progress is a breeze. Even without massive numbers of shadow clones, just by studying the Shuigan and comparing it with my own knowledge and sensory ability, I've made such a large leap.' He thought to himself.
Meanwhile, he unreservedly expanded his senses to investigate every nook and cranny of Hoshigakure.
It was a truly small village, the Uchiha District, their large clan compound was easily comparable in size and even better in terms of facilities and quality of construction.
'Such is the gap between Hidden Villages.' Shiki thought as his observation continued.
"Isn't this a little pitiful for a shinobi village?" Mei scooted close to the boy on the carriage he was sitting and whispered in his ear.
'Ever since Beni began shadowing me, Mei has gotten a lot more clingy . . . It's honestly quite cute, the childish jealousy.' Shiki internally noted.
He kept those thoughts to himself and answered her question without delay however.
"This is the reality of the truly small Hidden Villages. Even if one puts aside the Five Great Villages, the gaps between the smaller ones can still be quite massive." The boy explained.
"School mostly focuses on the other four of the Great Villages so I actually don't know that much about the others." Mei said.
Shiki doubted that.
Mei was the studious type so he was confident she knew about the most important ones at least, the bespectacled girl just wanted to keep talking with him and so she undersold her knowledge to get a longer topic of discussion.
"All shinobi villages are part of a hierarchy, regardless of what their shinobi want to believe." Shiki started.
"Even the Five Great Villages have significant differences. Konoha is currently the strongest, most populous and most economically powerful."
"Kumo follows with a slightly inferior economy as well as moderately inferior military power and population."
"Iwa has a considerably worse economy than Kumo but a significantly higher population and equivalent military might.
"Kiri's population and economy are very poor but their brutal training methods, guerrilla style of warfare and high number of kekkei genkai clans keep its military might only moderately inferior to Kumo and Iwa."
"Suna on the other hand, has a low population and weak economy, similar to Kiri, but lacks its many powerful clans, making it militarily weaker." The boy first explained the situation of the five major villages.
Mei was actually quite surprised, she did indeed know more than she let on but not as much as Shiki had expected.
"If the differences are so big, how is the balance maintained? Why are the weaker villages like Kiri and Suna not destroyed when war breaks out" The bespectacled girl questioned.
Although only one Great War had taken place, smaller scale conflicts between just two villages did occasionally happen, they had just stopped for the time being because everyone was gearing up and saving strength for the big one.
"Simple. Kirigakure's territory is a multitude of islands, easily defendable yet hard to attack, especially considering the large numbers of Water Release shinobi they possess." Shiki responded.
"Suna's environment is very harsh which makes their growth in population and economy terrible which in turn harms their military development. But at the same time, this also makes their land undesirable and not worth the resources required to conquer it." He further explained.
"Iwa and Kumo are pretty well matched so they can't push each other too far without risking their own destruction. Iwa has a much larger volume of troops but Kumo surpasses them in quality, all of which ends up equalizing the odds."
"As for Konoha, there are two reasons we can't just move in despite being the strongest but they both circle back to the same thing. The Land of Fire is the most prosperous country in the known World."
The boy was going to continue but being a smart girl herself, Mei had already drawn the right conclusions.
"As the richest we don't need to take resources from elsewhere, just protect our own and as the holders of the best territory, everyone is aiming at us so we can't carelessly move." She spoke.
"Exactly." Shiki nodded, pleased at his companion's increasing grasp of the world's state.
'This only puts into perspective the damage that Hiruzen's leadership, especially his second term, did to Konoha. To make it drop from the strongest in all categories to among the weakest in terms of economy and mid-tier in military might despite retaining the highest population . . .'
The boy could only lament.
'The Third Hokage, despite Konoha being severely depleted by the wars, he not only ended the fighting without any restitution being given despite Konoha being the victor, he even continued to suppress the restless clans who got no return for their investment, further weakening the village.'
It was too much foolishness to comprehend or, if Hiruzen did not have Konoha's best interest in mind, it would be maliciousness instead . . . But he digressed.
Bringing his thoughts back to the present, the boy continued with his explanations.
"As for smaller villages, they can be roughly split into three piles. The dangerous pile, the useful pile and the worthless pile."
"I get the last one refers to small and weak villages like Hoshigakure. They barely deserve the title of Hidden Village and lack the strength to affect the overall situation but how are the other two piles split?" Mei inquired.
"First of all. For smaller villages, it's not all about military might." Shiki cautioned.
He then went into more detail.
"The Jomae Village for example, is quite pathetic in terms of fighting prowess but its shinobi are some of the best spies in the world so the village maintains its relevance and importance through the power of information. They are in the useful pile."
"Some villages, while not weak, are too far from the action to matter so they are also ignored. Villages with isolationist stances but sufficient military power are often just ignored, relegated to the worthless pile."
"But then, there are cases like the three strongest villages beneath the Five Great ones. From powerful to weak, they are Taki, Ame and Kusa."
"Takigakure has one of the most defendable villages and are the sole holders of a Tailed Beast outside of the Five Great Hidden Villages so most of the time, attacks on them are just checks to make sure they stay in their territory."
"Their power makes them dangerous because they can influence the overall situation but their isolationist stance lowers this danger so long as these checks are made."
"Ame owes its position to its current leader Hanzo of The Salamander, one of the strongest shinobi currently alive. This along with their central position in the continent and dangerous ambitions to become the 6th Great Village, puts them atop the dangerous pile."
"As for Kusa, their diplomatic stance, moderate military power for a small village and willingness to be the neutral jailors for the scum of the shinobi world and the Five Great Villages, puts them in the useful pile."
Despite her interest in what the boy was saying, Mei could not help but to interject with a small quip.
"Wow! Always thought you were more of a jutsu enthusiast that neglected other areas of study but your handle on things is like that of a seasoned hypoc-polititian." She teased.
Shiki merely gave her an unamused, deadpan look before continuing.
"The standard Hidden Village Hierarchy is like I described with one two major exceptions."
"Exceptions? Uzushiogakure?" Mei guessed.
"Yeah. That's the biggest one but there is also the Land of The Sky. Their shinobi tend to be as powerful as those of one of the Five Greats, even if only under certain conditions but they are not centralized."
"This, combined with their general unpredictability in recent years, makes them quite dangerous." The boy explained.
"But back to Mei-san's guess, Uzushio is the great exception of the Hidden Village system . . ."
Shiki paused.
"But I've already yapped way too much so we'll finish this conversation next time." And with those words, Shiki bolted, leaving his Uchiha teammate hanging with her mouth open.
+++++
Hey, Author here!
To promote the novel I will be releasing BONUS CHAPTERS on SUNDAYS based on the previous week's power stone count.
100 Power Stones = 1 Bonus Chapter
500 Power Stones = 2 Bonus Chapters
1000 Power Stones = 3 Bonus Chapters
Every earned BONUS CHAPTER on Webnovel will also be posted on Scribble.
Just a reminder that you can read up to a FULL MONTH ahead of this site on pa-treon.
I'm trying to become a full time Author now and I'm not going to be starting any new novels just so I can make sure this one is properly completed.
Find those sweet advanced chapters on pa-treon.com/lusoba without the -