Chapter 20

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"War money?"

Uchiha looked at Toki blankly.

Their ninjas, to put it bluntly, were a group of killer organizations trained since childhood.

To say they were familiar with combat was an understatement, but in business, they generally only experienced losses.

This was also why the major ninja villages, despite controlling the military power of the ninja world, still ended up as the lackeys of the daimyo of various countries.

Their only source of income was completing tasks and earning commissions.

Rather than pure military power, Shinobi Villages were more like a hybrid of the Dart Bureau and a mercenary organization.

If the ninja world had someone like Kaguya Ōtsutsuki with six levels of power, it might be possible to bring the entire ninja world under their control to achieve a unified rule.

But ever since the era of the Six Paths Sage, the constant clashes between the descendants of Asura and Indra led to the rise of no overwhelming force in the ninja world.

This allowed the rise of capital, which could hire ninjas to protect the rich and fight on their behalf. If a ninja clan disobeyed, they could simply hire another ninja to deal with them.

After a thousand years of subtlety, no Shinobi Village dared to plunder the daimyo and wealthy merchants outright. This would provoke a joint bounty mission from other capitalists to punish rogue ninjas.

This wasn't the same as underground bounties—breaking the rules would mean certain death because it would turn all non-ninja into easy prey for such a ninja.

When Konoha was founded, why did the daimyo of the Fire Nation sign an equal agreement with Senju Hashirama?

Because the alliance between Uchiha and Senju was enough to dominate the ninja world.

At that time, money could no longer stop the rise of Konoha, and the daimyo naturally knew when to bow.

If they provoked Konoha, two Susano'os could raze the four other nations to the ground.

However, when Sarutobi Hiruzen weakened Konoha, Hokage's status changed from leader to subordinate of the daimyo.

During Tsunade's reign, Konoha's military might hit its lowest point.

When Pain declared war on the ninja world, the Fire Nation's minister even directly berated Tsunade, threatening to destroy Konoha if things weren't handled properly.

In a world without a Super Kage, money was more valuable than strength.

Toki smirked as he explained:

"If I had enough money, I could hire the Akatsuki to wipe out the Sarutobi clan."

Tsunade had done something similar in a parallel world.

Unfortunately, the Uchiha clan wasn't a centralized family like the Hyūga. With a large number of relatives, they were more like a village unto themselves, and this lack of hierarchy led to widespread poverty.

This was also why the Uchiha remained stuck in the pitiful Konoha Police Force—they were too poor to quit.

Now, things were different.

Toki and Uchiha Setsuna came to a cave near a rocky outcrop. After forming a hand seal, a portal appeared before them.

"Patriarch," two Uchiha shinobi in clan uniforms knelt, their eyes gleaming with admiration.

Toki waved dismissively and turned to Setsuna with a smile.

"War requires more than just ninjas—it needs weapons, food, exploding tags, and pensions. All of these things can make us money. Why do you think those daimyos keep starting wars?"

"Is it for land?" Setsuna asked.

"Even with a population ten times larger, the Fire Nation still has more land than it can use. Yet they still instigated the Second and Third Great Ninja Wars."

"Do you know why?"

Setsuna shook his head in confusion.

"Because of their own interests—they need to weaken ninjas so we don't threaten their rule. After twenty years of peace, the ninja villages were stronger than ever. Konoha had only a few hundred ninjas when Hiruzen started, but by the time of the Second Great Ninja War, we had thousands."

"The daimyos feared this growth. So they triggered the wars under the guise of expansion, all to thin the herd and seize war fortunes."

Setsuna stared at Toki, dumbfounded.

With his simpler outlook, he had always thought that Konoha fought in the wars because of their conscription agreement with the Fire Nation. He hadn't considered these deeper motivations.

"So what does this have to do with us making money from the war?"

By now, they had reached a large underground laboratory.

Ninja construction allowed them to quickly set up bases like this one.

Inside, numerous Chūnin and Special Jōnin poured chakra into a strange machine.

Toki gestured towards them.

"Where are we?"

Setsuna blinked. "Isn't this the ninja tool research center you established?"

Toki grinned.

"What if we sell these tools?"

Instantly, Setsuna's eyes lit up!

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