Time heals all wounds.
Especially after Golden Certificates began circulating widely across the former Land of Fire, and with goods from the Ninja Clan Capital Corporation flooding previously untouched emerging markets, social unrest and market contraction following the collapse of the aristocratic regime were quickly calmed in a very short time.
Moreover, since ninjas are far more efficient than merchants, they had an unparalleled advantage when it came to logistics. And once the private tax checkpoints set up by the aristocrats—who once obstructed trade throughout the Ninja World—were completely removed, currency flow became even smoother and freer.
The prosperity of the commodity economy encouraged most wealthy families and merchants who managed to preserve part of their assets to calm down and reinvest in production.
For farmers and miners at the bottom of society, their lives remained largely unaffected by the changing times. Taxes they once paid regularly to high-and-mighty nobles now simply went into the hands of ninja lords who only appeared once every few months. To them, the change hardly mattered—it was just different hands collecting the same old taxes.
Even better, ninjas usually maintained a mysterious and low profile, rarely appearing in the daily lives of civilians. This almost invisible rule fit right in with what the lower classes wanted most—a quiet, peaceful life. To them, such rulers seemed practically non-existent, yet still managed to maintain order—the ideal form of leadership.
"This is the best era!"
Commoners under former noble territories couldn't help but exclaim.
"This is the worst era!"
Jiraiya held a different opinion.
After escaping from the Land of Water, he secretly stationed Mount Myoboku's ninja frogs on a remote island far from shipping routes to rest and recuperate, while he himself returned to the mainland with some ninja frogs, traveling around for observation and seeking new opportunities.
Upon learning that the Land of Water had been carved up by multiple factions, Jiraiya was heartbroken, believing it to be a step backward in history. However, he hadn't expected that this regression would so quickly crush the already unstable Fire Daimyo's regime into nothing.
"Don't speak so loudly!"
Kousuke, the Messenger Frog hiding inside Jiraiya's robe, hurriedly said, "If our presence gets noticed, we'll be in serious trouble."
"Not a problem. This town only has three genin maintaining basic order—they're completely incapable of sensing us!"
Jiraiya had already thoroughly analyzed the current situation of this western town in the Land of Fire using his Sensor Ninjutsu. Otherwise, he never would've dared to walk straight into town like this to conduct reconnaissance.
"Still, doesn't this town have any izakayas?"
After quickly touring around, Jiraiya began to sense something was off.
He had visited this town before, but returning now, he found that several izakayas (traditional Japanese-style pubs) he once enjoyed had been converted into storage facilities operated by the Ninja Clan Capital Corporation. In fact, the entire town no longer had a single venue offering food, drink, or entertainment!
But he didn't dwell on it. After all, his usual method of intelligence gathering involved blending into the background and uncovering hidden truths through careful observation of everyday clues in the streets. So he walked into a ramen shop and casually ordered a bowl of tonkotsu ramen.
At the same time, he kept one ear attentively tuned to nearby conversations—clearly between skilled craftsmen.
Yet aside from hearing them boast about how much money they recently earned from companies, Jiraiya gained no useful intelligence.
But this was normal. Information gathering was always a long, tedious, ongoing task. One couldn't expect to sit down somewhere randomly and immediately uncover valuable secrets.
So, Jiraiya quickly finished his ramen, left a paper bill on the table, and got ready to leave.
As for the extra amount he left behind, he treated it as a tip.
"Hey! Wait, customer!"
Just as Jiraiya reached the entrance of the ramen shop, the merchant called out, stopping him: "This kind of paper currency can no longer be used!"
"What are you talkin' abo—"
Jiraiya's first reaction was to argue back, but then he quickly realized: "How about Golden Certificates? Those work, right?"
"Of course they do!"
The merchant respectfully returned Jiraiya's old Land of Fire banknote with both hands and accepted the Golden Certificate he pulled out instead.
He also warned him: "Respected guest, old currency must be exchanged at the Currency Exchange House—the exchange rate is two-to-one. One hundred yen in old notes equals fifty Golden Certificates."
"And if you keep holding onto these old bills, the ninja lords might come after you!"
"I understand. Thank you for your kindness."
Jiraiya nodded, took his change, and followed the merchant's instructions toward the so-called Currency Exchange House.
This Currency Exchange House had also been built upon ruins from the Daimyo's ruling era. The only difference was replacing the Minamoto clan's chrysanthemum crest of the Land of Fire with the Uchiha Clan's round fan symbol, since this territory had already fallen under Uchiha control.
After checking that the area was clear, Jiraiya entered the Currency Exchange House and exchanged 500,000 yen worth of old Land of Fire banknotes for 250,000 Golden Certificates.
Certainly, he had far more than this in paper money, but for safety reasons, Jiraiya only exchanged part of it—to avoid drawing attention through extravagant behavior.
Right after leaving the Currency Exchange House, Jiraiya departed the town and headed toward the City.
He wanted to personally see what kind of hellish place this City—now regarded by ninja clans as their governing core—had become.
The aftershocks of major reforms in the Land of Fire directly impacted the nobles and courtiers of the Land of Wind.
They merely displayed slightly more backbone than others.
When the Third Kazekage assembled the Ninja Force, crushed the Daimyo's personal army, and marched into the Daimyo's Court (the ruling seat of the feudal lord in the Land of Wind), the nobles scattered across various oases in the Land of Wind immediately raised banners of resistance, proclaiming refusal to accept Sunagakure's rule.
However, courage alone wasn't enough to match real combat power. Though brave, these nobles of the Land of Wind proved no different from lizards when faced with Sand ninja squadrons soon sent to deal with them.
After nearly half of the nobility in the Land of Wind was slaughtered, the Third Kazekage was conferred the title of Grand Chancellor of the Land of Wind, officially taking full control over all governmental affairs.
However, during the process of wiping out the resisting nobles, Sunagakure ninjas often failed to restrain their bloodthirsty impulses, causing serious damage to the fragile oasis ecosystems already suffering from sparse population and harsh natural conditions. As a result, after coming into power, the Third Kazekage could only distribute the confiscated treasures taken from the rebellious noble mansions directly among the Sand Ninjas, without being able to implement any effective economic reforms across the entire nation.
Thus, other than replacing the old aristocratic lords with Sand Ninja elites as the new ruling class, very little had truly changed within the Land of Wind.
Meanwhile, changes also unfolded within the Land of Earth.
Yet compared to Fire Country's smooth transition or Wind Country's bloody conquests, Onoki, the Tsuchikage himself, displayed a firm yet tactful approach. In an incredibly short time, he gained control over the Earth Daimyo and his court while intentionally allowing local nobles to incite dissent.
When these local nobles pushed too far and caused increasing chaos, the finally-convinced Earth Daimyo announced that the Tsuchikage of Iwagakure would serve concurrently as the Great Minister of Earth Country. All regional nobles were ordered immediately to travel to the capital for an audience; otherwise, they would be declared enemies of the throne.
Since those local nobles had instigated unrest purely for political speculation—simply seeking attention—they quickly set out with their retinues, heading toward the Daimyo's palace to pledge loyalty to the newly appointed Great Minister.
As for the Land of Lightning, after the Third Raikage handed the newly acquired territories from the Land of Water to the Daimyo for administration, the integration between Hidden Villages and national governance reached an even deeper level, naturally entering a sweeter phase of cooperation within the short term.
"At this point, the Mainland of the Ninja World has entered an era of coexisting paths!"
Inside Hakone Prefecture city, Hyuga Soushu absentmindedly listened to reports from his subordinates.
With the gradual stabilization of the Ninja World Continent, his focus had gradually shifted toward domestic affairs.
Though the Ninja Clan Capital Corporation remained a relatively loosely structured organization, by tightly controlling both currency minting and logistics, Soushu maintained firm authority over every member within it.
Moreover, since the sea routes leading into the Land of Water also fell under Hyuga Clan control, if the ninja clans wished to preserve their overseas territories, they needed to maintain at least outward cohesion and unity.
Unfortunately, peace had proven overly soothing—the grand plan of assembling a coalition ninja force to launch a distant campaign against Mount Myoboku, which Soushu constantly dreamed about, had been brushed off by various ninja clans. This counted as somewhat of a minor setback.
"The potential trouble spot now would be the Land of Wind! Their internal conflicts run deeper than we imagined!"
His subordinate continued the report, but Soushu's thoughts drifted once more.
Nowadays, aside from his persistent ambitions to destroy Mount Myoboku and hunt down the hidden White Zetsu wherever it might lurk, capturing the Six Paths Demonic Statue, his thoughts frequently drifted toward Mahiru Uchiha.
Mahiru Uchiha's pregnancy had already reached the sixth month. According to ninja customs, the due date was about four months away. During this time, aside from accompanying Mahiru, Hyuga Soushu found little else interesting.
His subordinates had no complaints either—especially the Uchiha ninja who had once been loyal to the Uchiha Clan but now followed Hyuga Soushu. They were particularly pleased.
After all, having a stable heir benefited their long-term establishment under this power.
As for the Hyuga Clan, although a few elders expressed dissatisfaction toward Soushu's marriage outside the clan, believing it a waste of Tennin bloodline, the Uchiha Clan itself was one of the two strongest clans in the Ninja World and an aristocratic powerhouse. Coupled with Soushu's clear favoritism, these elders could only quietly encourage him to follow tradition and take more wives, without showing any stronger resistance.
But Soushu ignored all suggestions from those aged elders who never seemed to die.
Moreover, he even planned to present Mahiru-chan with the Mangekyo Sharingan he had seized from Madara Uchiha as a postpartum gift!
"Lord?"
Just then, his subordinate's voice interrupted Soushu's wandering thoughts.
"Speak if you have something to say!"
Soushu snapped impatiently.
Although his mind had been wandering, his brain had still absorbed all the information being reported. The reason he appeared unresponsive was simply because the intelligence hadn't triggered anything significant enough to warrant reaction.
"Report complete. Please issue your orders!"
The subordinate responded immediately.
"In that case, we're done here."
Soushu waved his hand dismissively, signaling everyone to leave.
Looking at the clock on the wall, he had unconsciously worked overtime until 10:30 AM. Now *that* was a hardworking leader for you.
Hyuga Soushu let out a big yawn and returned to the backyard to snuggle up with Mahiru once more.
"He's dead. He's really dead. Madara… he's gone."
Inside a dark underground cave where no sunlight ever reached, Black Zetsu—the high-level recording machine—repeated its habitual monologue, reciting the same worn-out words it had muttered continuously for over a month while facing the bizarre Six Paths Demonic Statue.
The White Zetsus, who had allied with it because it carried a piece of Madara's will, looked completely accustomed to this behavior. Ignoring the neurotic Black Zetsu entirely, they continued indulging in childish games.
"This shouldn't be happening!"
This time, however, Black Zetsu suddenly jumped up furiously, its mud-like body shaking violently. "How could he die? How could he possibly die at a time like this!"
The White Zetsus gave Black Zetsu a quick glance before going back to their silly little brawl.
To these naturally mindless White Zetsus, whether killing weaker beings or messing around with other equally clueless clones was great fun—even when repeated endlessly.
Because of this mindset, they didn't find anything unusual about Black Zetsu's current state.
Black Zetsu was truly on the verge of losing it completely.
Never in its existence had it felt such despair.
In the past, countless plans it secretly executed for the sake of rescuing its mother had already failed beyond count.
This time was different—it had come closer to success than ever before.
It wasn't just that the Six Paths Demonic Statue, the most crucial tool for rescuing his mother, had been successfully summoned into the Ninja World by Madara Uchiha. Nor was it merely that Madara's Mangekyo Sharingan had nearly matured into the Rinnegan after being nourished by Wood Release chakra. More than anything else, it was the bitter frustration of failing right at the brink of victory.
According to the original plan, Madara would have quietly faded away like a dying lamp once his Mangekyo Sharingan fully evolved into the Rinnegan through cultivation. Then Black Zetsu, as a manifestation of its will, would become the new Rinnegan user's mentor and take over command of the White Zetsu army.
Once Madara died, everything would naturally pass to Black Zetsu, who'd continue executing the plan—gathering the Tailed Beasts, casting Infinite Tsukuyomi, and so on.
But now, everything had fallen apart!
Staring at the slightly revitalized Six Paths Demonic Statue due to the absorption of two Tailed Beasts, Black Zetsu felt like he had no tears left to cry.
What should it do now?
There was no way it was going to gather the Tailed Beasts on its own!
Worse still, no one knew whether Madara's Mangekyo Sharingan had been destroyed or ended up in the hands of Hyuga Soushu. And even more critically, the threat from Mount Myoboku had yet to be eliminated. Black Zetsu dared not recklessly leave the underground space and head toward the Ninja World Mainland for on-site investigation!
"You morons, shut up already!"
Black Zetsu decided to vent its rage upon the group of squabbling White Zetsus.
"Huh?"
The White Zetsus shouted in surprise: "Black Zetsu's back to life!"
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