Chapter 40: Let's Sit Down and Talk
Land of Hot Water, Hidden Cloud Temporary Outpost
With Dodai's assistance, Dana issued a series of directives regarding the blacksmith's shop. His youthful appearance belied a calm and confident demeanor.
In truth, a mature soul's intellect is not constrained by a young body. Dana was simply leveraging the wisdom of his previous life. The actual execution of his plans still relied on others. But in the eyes of the Hidden Cloud's leadership, it was nothing short of terrifying.
To them, Dana not only possessed the intelligence of an adult, but his vision and knowledge also seemed far superior to that of an ordinary ninja. They could only attribute it to the books in the library where he had spent his formative years; they must have contained some truly precious knowledge.
"The orphanage, the blacksmith's shop, and even this negotiation with Konoha," the Third Raikage said, his eyes filled with pride. "Dana, you truly amaze me."
This boy takes after me.
Dana shot a sideways glance at his father, who was slacking off. For some reason, he felt like he was getting busier and busier. Aren't you being a bit derelict in your duties as Raikage?
At first, all he had wanted was to gain a little influence to improve the terrible conditions at the orphanage. But lately, things seemed to be getting out of hand. I miss the days of just lying around. I just wanted to be an armchair general, not a workaholic!
"Just think of yourself as an advisor," his father said with a grin. "Dodai will assist you. You can do it."
I'll believe that when pigs fly.
In the future, there was Kakashi, a ninja at the age of six. Now, there was Dana, an advisor at the age of six. Of course, the title was just a formality, a way to make it easier for him to handle his affairs—after all, a title lends legitimacy. It wouldn't be publicly announced, but it was still astonishing.
Dana felt like he was being pulled in a million different directions.
His most important task right now was still his training.
For years, his half-hearted chakra molding had only managed to fill a third of his "soccer field." Now, after old man Yoshitoki's diagnosis, he had to accelerate the process. Three times a day, two hours each time. After subtracting time for eating and drinking, most of his day was spent molding chakra. It was tedious and boring.
But when he remembered the battle with the Konoha ninja, that state of incredible power where neither Tsunade nor Choza Akimichi could even touch him, he couldn't help but feel a thrill of excitement. Boring or not, it was a way to finally solve the mystery of his body.
Now that he was a little older, his molding speed and duration were much greater than before. He estimated that within two years, he could "feed" his body enough chakra to trigger some kind of change. He didn't know what kind of abilities would emerge. The ones he had displayed so far were a kind of mental pulse imaging, extreme speed, and a defense-ignoring electrical shock.
After eating the three soldier pills, for the first time in his life, he had a surplus of chakra. Unfortunately, he didn't know a single ninjutsu and had to rely on his body's strange abilities. But he had a feeling there was more to it. If a starving, weakened body could unleash such power, then a well-fed, healthy one would be even more formidable. And he had been coveting ninjutsu for a long time. He wanted to be able to use flashy techniques too.
Besides his daily training, he was also, with the help of others, managing various affairs, mainly related to the "blacksmith's shop."
If he were to follow the typical ninja mindset, especially that of a major village, he would have started from scratch, building a new forge system for security reasons. But with the knowledge of his past life, Dana chose not to reinvent the wheel. He used the Kitanouji Blacksmith's Shop as a foundation and simply copied and pasted.
The Yotsuki clan had sent over thirty trusted individuals from the Hidden Cloud to the forge. Some were from the Yotsuki's own forces or were even clan members themselves. Others had been recruited from the village. Given the Yotsuki's status, they were all considered "their own people."
These individuals, along with a select group from the original forge, would learn the core business model. According to Dana's plan, after a three-month selection and screening process, a group of core personnel would be chosen to replicate the factory model in the surrounding countries. Dana had his eyes set on the Land of Iron, famous for its master swordsmiths, and the Land of Frost, a major producer of iron and coal.
He also sent people to the Land of Waves to find the craftsmen who had built the water-powered trip hammer for Kitanouji, with the intention of recruiting them as well.
In the future, Dana planned to use sealing scrolls for logistics. The sealing scrolls of the ninja world were miraculous, but their high cost, difficult production, and the fact that they required a ninja with chakra to use had prevented them from being adopted for civilian use, even in the later parts of the story. But now that the "blacksmith's shop" had a sufficient number of ninja involved, the personnel requirement was no longer a limitation. The next step was to research and develop a cheaper, higher-capacity sealing scroll.
When it came to sealing jutsu, the Land of Whirlpools was the undisputed master. After its destruction, Konoha had inherited the largest portion of its legacy. This would be a key point in the upcoming negotiations.
There had also been an unexpected windfall: the Cloud had acquired a pair of three-tomoe Sharingan. Danzo, in his attempt to be clever, had been outsmarted and was forced to remove the destructive jutsu he had placed on them. How they would use these eyes was still undecided. In this era, Madara Uchiha's fearsome reputation had faded, and no new Uchiha powerhouse had yet emerged. So, besides Dana, no one in the Cloud, including the Third Raikage, placed a particularly high value on them. They knew they were good, but if he had the choice, the Raikage would have preferred the strategic value of the Byakugan.
After another week in the Land of Hot Water, the negotiation team, led by the Third Raikage, arrived in the Land of Iron. They arrived two days after the Third Hokage, a subtle power play. After all, they weren't the ones in a hurry.
The fact that he was willing to negotiate at all showed that the Third Raikage, A, was still in favor of peace. At the end of the First Great Ninja War, he had been a supporter of the Second Raikage's peace faction. A's philosophy was that he disliked pointless wars, but he was not afraid of them.
So, although a series of fortunate events had given the Cloud a massive amount of leverage, the situation was just as sudden for them as it was for Konoha. The Cloud had no intention of using this as a pretext to start a war. The tensions in the ninja world had not yet reached that point. Peace was still the prevailing sentiment.
Ultimately, the conflict between the two villages would be settled at the negotiation table.
Dana believed that although the world was currently at peace, the Second Great Ninja War was only about three years away. And the second and third wars were separated by a very short period of time. For over a decade, the ninja world would be in a state of turmoil. Therefore, the most important thing now was to build up the Cloud's foundation so that they could develop in peace and sit on the sidelines when the chaos began. Then, they could watch the world burn from a safe distance. Of course, that was the ideal scenario.
When Dana shared this strategy with the Third Raikage, he agreed. His son's wisdom had been proven time and again. Though he wouldn't blindly trust him due to his age, he now considered Dana an important advisor.
In a sealed stone chamber, the meeting of the two Kage was about to begin. Though they had both brought large entourages, only the two Kage and their personal guards were allowed to enter the meeting room.
The Third Raikage brought his son, Arashi, and Kyohei Kawanishi. And Dana. The number was a bit over the limit, but who was going to make a fuss about a child?
The Third Hokage's guards were two men Dana didn't recognize. But from their appearances, one was a pineapple-headed member of the Nara clan, and the other was a Byakugan user from the Hyuga clan.
~~~~~~
Yo guys! We did it!
We hit our goal of 5 reviews—thank you all! As promised, you're getting 2 extra chapters as a reward! keep it up!!