A few days later, the Kazekage and the elders returned from the Daimyo's Estate.
As expected—while the other higher-ups were full of anticipation, the two of them came back empty-handed.
Regarding the matter of money, it could only be set aside for the time being.
But in truth, Yubi had never intended to use the Daimyo's funds to open the market from the very beginning; the money he had earned privately was already enough, though the speed of distribution would be much slower.
If the Daimyo were willing to invest, it would undoubtedly accelerate the development of the pharmaceutical industry even further.
A month later, a pharmacy was opened within the Hidden Sand Village.
Specifically for selling the new medicine—
It was also the main store.
At the same time, Yubi began educating the villagers about the therapeutic effects of various drugs, giving them a certain level of understanding.
Under his promotion, many villagers gave positive and good feedback after trying the medicine.
The overall attitude of the Village was primarily one of joy.
In everyone's view, it was not easy for such a happy event to occur amidst the Village's nearly two-year-long "internal strife atmosphere."
However, most villagers did not yet realize what kind of changes and impact this matter would bring to the Hidden Sand Village.
They only felt that—Yubi had done another good deed.
Many of the medicines were also applied in clinical use at the hospital—
As for Shiori, Yashamaru, and the others, they began taking responsibility for training some medical workers to ensure they were familiar with the various new types of medicine.
After thoroughly "integrating" the new industry into the Village, Yubi finally managed to find some leisure time.
In fact, the operation of the entire industry was now being personally "watched" by the Kazekage and the higher-ups—there was no longer a need for him to do everything himself.
Currently, the entire energy of the Hidden Sand Village was focused on this.
Yubi only had two things to do: first, take advantage of the free time to Cultivate Ninjutsu, improving his strength as much as possible.
To prepare for the upcoming Third Great Ninja War.
Second, he and Sasori were secretly keeping an eye on the signs after the Third Kazekage was poisoned to determine his condition.
Recently, the Kazekage had grown more white hair, seemingly caused by overwork.
Because the merchants who first left the Village to sell the medicine had returned; their routes were shorter, and they brought the Village the first wave of "market feedback."
The result was—it wasn't selling very well.
Yubi wasn't surprised—any new thing requires a buffer period for acceptance.
Moreover, for a product, word of mouth is very important.
It also needs to go through a fermentation process.
Let the bullet fly for a while.
But for the Kazekage and others, this kind of performance was undoubtedly a bit disappointing.
They thought the first batch of medicine would sell out completely; with such good medicine, there was no reason not to buy it, and the Village would make a huge profit—but as it turned out—
Right now, all the higher-ups were analyzing the reasons why the medicine wasn't selling well based on the information brought back by the merchants and trying to find ways to improve.
This made everyone very anxious.
If the Village's future "died in its infancy" like this, they would find it unacceptable.
It was this situation that seemed to lead to the Third Kazekage's recent mental and physical exhaustion.
It was as if he clearly saw a mountain of gold but couldn't reach it.
But Yubi knew very well that the only issue was time.
There was no need to worry at all.
"Water Release: Water Prison Technique!"
At a training ground in the Hidden Sand Village, Yubi quickly formed Hand Seals and gave a soft shout.
With the burst of Chakra, a screen of white water suddenly surged around him and quickly enveloped his entire person, forming a protective water wall.
"The solidity isn't enough—the speed of the technique's formation also seems a bit slow. It feels... compared to the Hidden Mist's Water Release, it's still—"
"Lacking something. After all—it's another Village's Ninjutsu. Even if the Hidden Sand Village obtained some Ninjutsu records and information, wanting to completely replicate it still requires effort in research and Cultivation—but this kind of Ninjutsu has no value for the Village, so naturally, there's no need to delve into it." Yubi stood inside the water prison, reached out to touch the water wall, and frowned.
Many Ninjutsu can actually be partially analyzed and imitated just by looking at the transformed shapes.
But without Ninjutsu information, even if imitated, it might not necessarily work.
Even if someone teaches it, it takes time to polish the details.
Because many Ninjutsu have that kind of power not just because a large amount of Chakra was output.
For example, this Water Prison Technique—if the Chakra can be controlled to further accelerate the flow rate of the water in the prison wall, then whether it's used to trap an enemy or defend against external means, the effect will be even better.
It was also thanks to him having a certain level of Ninjutsu attainment and foundation now, along with possessing Water Release Chakra and some Ninjutsu information provided by the Village.
Otherwise, wanting to achieve this kind of result in a short period of time would really not be that easy.
"Water Release: Great Waterfall Technique!"
Next, Yubi searched through his memories regarding Water Release, wanting to copy it.
As for the "route" of Hand Seals and Chakra mobilization, he relied on his own experience to try.
The result was—he gathered Chakra at his throat, and upon opening his mouth, what sprayed out was not a huge water sphere, but a scattered flow of water, completely lacking any impact.
...
"Without Hand Seals and the corresponding Ninjutsu information, wanting to construct and imitate just based on the same attribute of Chakra is indeed exceptionally difficult—speaking of which, Kakashi, who holds the title of the Copy Ninja, can not only see through Hand Seals with that Sharingan and make the same response, but even the operation of Chakra is seen clearly—"
"The Uchiha Clan's ocular techniques are truly monstrous."
Yubi sighed.
"Yubi."
At this moment, a figure appeared in the field and called out to him.
Yubi stopped his movements and looked over.
"Lord Kazekage wants to see you."
Arai smiled.
"Okay."
Yubi nodded.
He followed the other person to the Village's main building.
"How is it?"
On the way, Arai asked casually.
He knew Yubi had been cultivating some Water Release and Earth Release recently.
The Village's resources in this area were relatively limited, and the number of these two types of Ninjutsu they could provide was not many.
They basically originated from analyzed Ninjutsu information and records.
Wind Release was the Village's forte.
Unfortunately—Yubi currently couldn't convert Wind-attribute Chakra.
"I'm still a bit unfamiliar with the Chakra conversion; it'll be fine with more practice—it's not a big problem."
Yubi smiled.
"True."
Arai nodded slightly.
With Yubi's talent, as long as it wasn't an overly difficult Ninjutsu, the speed of learning wouldn't be too slow.
"What does Lord Kazekage want with me?"
Yubi asked.
"Lord Kazekage wants to raise funds within the Village to hire more manpower to promote our medicine. Also—regarding the matter of building a factory, he wants to hear your opinion."
"Raise funds?"
Yubi raised an eyebrow.
What kind of rotten idea was this?
"Um—not from the villagers, just the Village's Ninjas."
"There's absolutely no need—the medicine has only just begun to flow to the outside world. If you want to see results, it will take some time anyway. How could it be so fast?"
Yubi said helplessly, "If it suddenly exploded—that would be truly bizarre."
"Lord Kazekage is also thinking about being able to change the Village's situation sooner."
Arai sighed.
Yubi glanced at him, "Want to make a bet?"
"What?"
"After a while, the revenue from the medicine being sold will definitely increase. Once it reaches a certain amount, the Daimyo will demand that the pharmaceutical income be handed over, even if not all of it, he'll take the lion's share. Lord Kazekage will very likely compromise." Yubi spoke.
"Huh?"
Arai was stunned.
"Within a certain period, the revenue brought by the medicine still won't compare to the investment the Daimyo gives the Village; it's not yet at the point of being self-sufficient. So—in the eyes of Lord Kazekage and some other higher-ups, as long as the Daimyo can give a huge sum of money—it's clearly better than the uncertainty of the market."
...
"This is just the first time; later on, the Daimyo might demand a second or third time—"
"Just wait and see—"
Yubi smiled slightly and said no more.
He was actually alluding to the short-sightedness of the Kazekage and others, also reminding Arai to properly recognize their Village's Kage.
At this point, regarding his attitude toward his teacher Arai, Yubi didn't want to hold back anymore."
Arai watched Yubi's back as he quickly walked away and subconsciously stopped in his tracks.