Chapter 164: What is Advanced Productivity?
After three days of revelry at "Gokuraku no Yu," Dana and the now-reluctant contestants set out for the Hidden Cloud Village.
With a ninja's speed, they arrived at the village gate in less than two days.
They were all excited to be back in their familiar village. For many of them, this had been the longest they had ever been away. They had returned to their proud hometown, the place they were willing to give their lives for.
They dispersed at the gate, each going their separate ways. After saying goodbye to the Uzumaki siblings, Dana also returned to the Yotsuki compound. He had dinner with his mother and told her about the amusing events of the Joint Chunin Exams.
"It's a shame you couldn't participate," she said with a sigh. "Otherwise, you would have definitely been the champion."
"If I had participated," he said with a smile, "Hanzo would have been unhappy. And it would have been a bit like bullying."
"Of course," she said proudly. "Our Dana-chan is the best."
She then began to complain that she had barely seen the Third Raikage since he had returned, and that her eldest son had gone off on another mission. She was so bored at home, and was glad she had Maki to keep her company.
He just listened with a smile. He understood his mother. Her whole family were ninja. Neither the Third Raikage, nor he, nor Arashi had much time to spend with her. That was probably why she now treated Maki like a half-daughter. Before, that role had been played by Ume, but she was now married and had her own life, and a cute daughter.
As he was listening to his mother, his Communication Snail suddenly vibrated. He pressed the button, and his father's voice came through.
"Dana, are you back? Come to the Raikage's tower."
"Okay, be right there."
This was the new way of communicating, very convenient. The days of an ANBU agent suddenly appearing and saying, "Lord Raikage has a message for you," were numbered. They would be doing more meaningful things. In fact, since the high-ranking leaders had been equipped with the snails, the efficiency of all the departments had greatly improved.
Since their last talk, the Third Raikage had been training him as his successor, taking him along to handle all sorts of matters.
When he arrived at the tower, he found an old acquaintance whom he hadn't seen in a long time: Dodai.
He had changed a lot. Not only was he several shades darker, but his skin was also shiny and tan, and he was much thinner.
"Dodai-senpai," he said, "are the conditions in the Eastern Archipelago that harsh?"
"When I got back to the village," he said with a wry smile, "a lot of people who didn't know asked me if I had been exiled by the Raikage. I didn't even notice it when I was there. The other Cloud ninja are all the same."
"You've worked hard, Dodai," the Third Raikage said.
"It was for the village," he said, shaking his head. "It was worth it. Lord Raikage, the Eastern Archipelago is even more important than we imagined."
He then began to give his report.
It had been some time since the Cloud had sent a team to develop the Eastern Archipelago. Among them were sensory-type ninja who could detect underground conditions, as well as powerful Earth Release users. After meeting up with Dodai and the others who had stayed behind, they had immediately begun to survey the many islands.
The Eastern Archipelago, a place even the Land of Water considered to be inhabited by savages, was basically cut off from civilization. The level of civilization on the islands was very low. They didn't even know how many islands there were, or where they were located. So the ninja's workload was immense.
Their main concern, of course, was the chakra metal veins. But to determine the quantity and location of the veins, they first had to determine how many islands there were.
So, Dodai and his men had set out to sea.
The result was far greater than they had expected.
There were a total of seventy islands, large and small, not counting the rocky reefs that barely broke the surface. Of these, thirteen were large, and only six were inhabited. From the traces they found, the natives would also migrate between the islands. Many of the islands had signs of human activity, but had been abandoned due to disasters or other reasons. The six that were currently inhabited were all large or medium-sized.
They had found a total of nine chakra metal veins, three large and four small.
And two, which Dodai called "super-veins."
This meant that they were beyond the limits of the sensory ninja. They had probed hundreds of meters down, and there was still a large amount of chakra metal.
These two super-veins had changed the perception of many, including Dodai, of chakra metal. They had never imagined that the metal, which was sold by the gram in the ninja world, could be so abundant.
It was said that after confirming the discovery, many of the ninja had just stood there, on the super-vein, in a daze.
It was like thinking that diamonds were rare, and then discovering that the Earth's mantle was full of house-sized diamonds. Before, it had been measured in carats. Now, it would be in tons.
And unlike the diamonds in the mantle, which were impossible to mine, these chakra metal veins were real, tangible things. How could they not be in a daze?
And they had also found four iron mines and two copper mines, without even really looking.
The Eastern Archipelago was clearly a massive treasure trove, enough to sustain the Cloud for decades, even centuries.
Dana guessed that the geological environment there must be very special, perhaps with an underwater volcanic belt, to have created a region with such rich mineral resources.
Of course, compared to the conventional resources, the chakra metal was what the ninja really cared about.
They immediately began to mine it, as planned.
These ninja had been seconded from United Iron & Steel and were familiar with mining. The sensory ninja would determine the direction of the vein, and then the Earth Release users would just lift the entire stratum, and the crushing and washing would all be done with ninjutsu.
The efficiency was staggering.
Take Earth Release, for example. A team of five could use the "Mobile Core" jutsu to lift a thousand square meters of land.
Need to support the tunnels? Easy. Just use Earth Release to harden the walls.
Need to backfill the tunnels? Simple. Just one jutsu, and they could even sculpt a dog's head on the outside as a decoration.
Separating the ore from the earth and rock?
Just use the "Swamp of the Underworld." The earth and rock would turn to mud. And then the "Earth Flow River," and the mud would carry itself away.
And with the super-sized sealing scrolls, a team of twenty could run a mine.
Transport ships? What transport ships? You think I have these feet for nothing? Just put it in a scroll, and I'll run back to the village across the water.
This is what you call advanced productivity.