Lacking the Capability, You Know?

Once Sai entered the village, he joined the Sandworm Breeding Base as an assistant. He and Shinobu Tanuki were under constant 24-hour surveillance by the Sand Hidden's ANBU.

Rather than hindering Sai's espionage, Muzake often looked the other way, even facilitating his theft of blueprints. However, Sai only managed to steal what Muzake allowed him to. Muzake wasn't worried about such spying.

This wasn't like the game Command & Conquer, in which an engineer could simply walk into a building and claim it for the Leaf Village. Could primitive people construct a nuclear power plant if they were given the blueprints? Impossible. From raw materials to finished products, industry requires a complete industrial system. If you were given a sewing machine, could you produce a spacesuit? If handed an iron bar, could you manufacture a spaceship? Impossible.

Danzo Shimura thought these were just ninjutsu that could be learned from a scroll. Conversely, Muzake encouraged Danzo's attempts to steal technology. He even let his oil refinery blueprints be stolen, thinking, let him try to build an oil refinery. Where would he get the oil from? Even if you could find oil by digging all over the Leaf, could it be cheaper than mine? I'd let you dig until you went bankrupt. Even if you powered it with chakra, how many factories could all the Leaf ninjas power? Some equipment needs to run 24/7. Could the Leaf Ninja handle that?

Chakra is great, but don't be greedy.

Does he have the capability to produce the equipment in my factory? No, he doesn't, you know?

He would eventually have to come to the Sand Village if he genuinely wanted to develop the Leaf's industry. Sand Village would then shift from exporting goods to exporting technology, standards, equipment, and raw materials, becoming the industrial upstream for the Leaf, holding them by the throat. They'd be helpless if the Leaf spent a fortune building factories and Muzake stopped supplying oil, equipment, and technology.

Thus, Muzake was the most supportive of Leaf's development of its industry. It meant offshoring industries while he retained core technology and industries. The Leaf would work the factories, and his village would thrive on patent technology alone.

Inside, Muzake was cheering for Danzo Shimura.

"Danzo Shimura, I'm counting on you. You can do it."

Meanwhile, Danzo in the Leaf Village sneezed several times.

"Am I sick?"

Under Muzake's laissez-faire approach, Sai's intrusion into the desert met no resistance, and he vanished into the horizon swiftly.

The brave Dust and Qiku, clad in exoskeletons, raced through the desert but could only watch helplessly as Sai disappeared into the clouds.

Even the stoic Qiku was frustrated.

"Damn, I should have brought my Barrett anti-material rifle."

"Carrying a Barrett sniper rifle on patrol?!"

Dust replied, "That would be against the guard laws."

They reluctantly returned to the village, where, strangely, their unit did not penalise or reward them for their encounter with the spy. The incident quietly faded away, leaving only a brief note in the Fifth Brigade's log.