Chapter 26 This is the number one ninja village!
"Mr. Yukio, you are too kind. I have gathered you all here today for another matter."
The smiling tiger named Yukio obediently played the straight man.
"Oh, Hokage-sama, I didn't know about the other thing you mentioned."
The others were increasingly convinced that this was a plant arranged by Orochimaru.
Even Jiraiya, Tsunade, the Third Hokage, and the two advisors and elders on Orochimaru's side believed that this was a setup by Orochimaru.
"Gentlemen, do you think business is easy to do?"
Then, unsurprisingly, after Orochimaru asked the question, all the merchants present tacitly joined together to play the victim.
"To be honest, Lord Orochimaru, doing business is tough these days!"
"Yes, yes, sigh! It's easy to lose money, and if you lose money and go bankrupt, you can only eat yourself."
"I have a friend who went bankrupt and his wife and daughter were sold to prostitutes. He couldn't accept it and committed suicide by jumping off a building!"
"Oh dear! I have a friend like that too!"
"Me too! His wife and daughter are really miserable. I couldn't bear to see it, so I'm taking care of his wife and daughter for my friend…"
Orochimaru sighed, seemingly genuinely lamenting this.
Tsunade frowned, finding this act of playing the victim somewhat unbearable.
She frequented casinos, which are places where all sorts of people mingle, and many gamblers would gamble while discussing inside stories.
Don't be fooled by the way these big businessmen are crying so pitifully; some of them have actually gone bankrupt, probably because of the people around them.
These businessmen put on a kind facade, but in this cruel ninja world, not a single one of the businessmen who makes it big is truly kind.
She even knew the shady dealings of some of the people involved.
After all, casinos love to talk about wealthy people.
After all, what is gambling for? It's all about money.
Jiraiya's lips tightened involuntarily at that moment.
Someone had mentioned that his wife and daughter had been sold to a brothel, which touched him deeply.
He frequented red-light districts and was very familiar with these things.
"Yes, business is tough," Orochimaru sighed. "Especially products manufactured in factories, which are heavily reliant on transportation.
And in the ninja world, ensuring smooth transportation has always been a major challenge."
Orochimaru said this at this point.
The businessmen present were genuinely moved this time.
Indeed, ensuring smooth transportation has always been a major challenge.
One wave of ruthless robbers after another emerged.
Admittedly, you could invite the ninja village to wipe them out, but what happens after that? They'll just keep appearing.
Why do they keep appearing?
This is something that is tacitly understood.
Of course, it's the ninja villages that are condoning this. Because of their condoning, powerful figures in various regions are also exploiting the people without restraint, since the ninja villages can provide a safety net.
Admittedly, they are also oppressors, but they are not feudal nobles who can sit back and enjoy the fruits of others' labor. They need to rely on management, which requires an excellent external environment.
But the external environment is just so bad, and the ninja village sits by and lets this situation continue in order to meet its mission quotas. Everything is for the sake of ensuring that the ninja profession has missions to do.
They had no choice but to repeatedly hire ninjas, even if it meant holding their noses.
Of course, it's not that you can't cultivate relationships with those highway bandits who block your way.
Once a familiar route is established, transportation can proceed relatively smoothly.
But as I said before, the ninja village is after their share of mission quotas.
They routinely check the status of mission quotas in each region to find out why a particular region is short of mission quotas. If it's because they hired ninjas from other major ninja villages, then that's fine.
If it's because they've established a familiar business model and therefore are unwilling to hire ninjas anymore.
The ninjas, acting out of a sense of justice and good intentions, will eliminate these 'road bandits' for free.
This wiped out years of hard work.
This forces you to continue obediently paying money to hire ninjas.
This is what a ninja is like.
This is the village of ninjas.
However, although the businessmen present were all deeply moved by this, this time they did not try to elicit sympathy.
Because they were well aware that this concerned the village's share of missions, its very economic lifeline.
Who knows what Konoha, the number one ninja village, thinks about this?
So it's best to be cautious.
After Orochimaru uttered this remark, everyone fell silent, creating an eerie stillness.
However, it is precisely this silence that shows how much they value what Orochimaru said.
Orochimaru understood this very well.
This gave Orochimaru some confidence.
So he solemnly said, "Given the current state of the ninja world, as a ninja who upholds the Will of Fire, a great Hokage who has dedicated his life to peace, and the successor of Lord Hashirama Senju, I can no longer watch this situation continue. Everyone knows that Konoha was founded for peace, and for peace, every Kage has given everything, and I am no exception."
Although Orochimaru spoke with great passion.
Tsunade and Jiraiya, who both understood Orochimaru, felt very awkward.
Is this what it means to be the Hokage? It's terrifying. Once you sit in this position, you have to say things that don't sound like your own.
Tsunade and Jiraiya became even more resistant to the position of Hokage.
Of course, Jiraiya really hoped that Orochimaru would keep his word.
Hmm, on the other side, Homura Mitokado and Koharu Utatane nodded in satisfaction. See, this is what the Hokage should say; it suits their aesthetic tastes perfectly.
In short, after using such official rhetoric to express their attitude and convey some politically correct sentiments...
Orochimaru immediately got to the point.
"Therefore, in order to prevent this situation from continuing, gentlemen, I have a proposal: let us, Konoha, establish a joint security company for the sake of world peace!"
United Security Company?
"The purpose of establishing the United Security Company, as the name suggests, is to unite and safeguard peace. It is to fulfill the wishes of all those in the ninja world who yearn for peace. We will unite to eliminate all destabilizing factors within the Land of Fire. Whether it is highway robbers, gangsters, thieves, rebellious ninja, or lawless madmen, we will eradicate them all! And this is not a temporary measure. The United Security Company was established to maintain stability for all parties, prevent the spread of chaos, eliminate lawless roadblocks, and allow all legitimate business people to conduct their business with peace of mind."
As soon as the story reached this point, some people were immediately tempted.
Some people had unpredictable expressions, mainly because they owned too many shady or illegal businesses.
However, perhaps bribing Konoha is an option. They want both a stable environment and illicit profits; surely Konoha can't truly be acting like good guys?
Thinking about it this way, many businessmen involved in these shady and gray industries are also inclined to cooperate with Konoha.
They don't consider Konoha to be any kind people.
"Lord Hokage! What you said is absolutely wonderful! I, Yukio Kameda, will be the first to lend my support!" It was that smiling tiger Yukio again, rubbing his hands as he stood up.
Then came a series of calls for support.
It's rare for Konoha to have the idea of stabilizing domestic security; this is an opportunity that shouldn't be missed.
After all, they are all competent businessmen with a keen sense of smell, and they can clearly sense the commercial potential behind this.
With such an opportunity, they can't possibly go back to that kind of business environment where they're often forced to eat shit, can they? And if Konoha really wanted to, he really had the ability to do everything he said, after all, it's the number one ninja village!
Is the book title really that bad?
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End of this chapter...