Chapter 97

Captain 97

"The reason is that there are too many ninjas, and resources are unevenly distributed. As a result, the average income of ninjas decreases, forcing them to take on more missions to make a living."

"And there are only so many missions available within each country. Once domestic missions are done, ninjas have no choice but to accept missions abroad to sustain themselves."

"For example, the nobles of the Land of Wind often hire Konoha ninjas to handle their tasks."

"This behavior intensifies the conflicts between ninja villages. Coupled with the imbalance in resources and the lingering hatred between nations, wars inevitably break out."

"Think about it: the Land of Fire is vast and fertile, and just its food production alone can support several surrounding countries."

"For instance, the Land of Waves relies on food imports from the Land of Fire to sustain its population because it has little arable land, being mostly coastal and mountainous."

"The Land of Rain has almost no farmland, yet it still manages to feed nearly its entire population."

"Meanwhile, the Land of Wind is a barren desert, the Land of Earth is filled with rocky soil and has limited farmland, and the Land of Lightning is mountainous, making it even harder to cultivate crops."

"As for the Land of Water, it's covered in mist, and the lack of sufficient sunlight means its crop yields are low."

"When you look at it this way, the Land of Fire is like a big, juicy piece of meat just sitting there. Who wouldn't want to take a bite?"

Yahiko and the others listened, pondering his words, but another question surfaced in their minds.

"But Haneda, hasn't Konoha won every war? Why do wars keep happening?" Yahiko asked.

"You're mistaken about one thing, Yahiko. There are no winners in war," Haneda said calmly.

He took a sip of water to wet his throat before continuing:

"Let's go back to the beginning, with the number of ninjas and the number of missions."

"The total number of missions each year remains relatively constant, with only so much demand."

"When a war breaks out, the number of ninjas drastically decreases, which means there are more missions available for the remaining ninjas, even an overflow of tasks."

"In this situation, ninjas don't need to worry about making a living, and since each village can handle its own missions, tensions decrease, and conflicts naturally subside."

"Moreover, the major ninja villages, needing to recover from war, are less likely to instigate further conflict, leading to temporary peace."

"But the imbalance in resources still exists, which is why the Lands of Wind, Earth, Lightning, and Water all want a piece of the Land of Fire."

"This, in turn, leads to an invisible arms race."

"The major ninja villages, in a bid to outdo one another militarily, train more ninjas to surpass the other great nations and prepare for potential invasions."

"At the same time, smaller villages, fearing for their own security, are forced to follow suit."

"The result is that the number of ninjas increases rapidly, and the average income for each ninja falls."

"Low-ranking ninjas have to take on more missions just to survive, while higher-ups, aiming to develop their village, push for invasions. The two align, and war breaks out."

"This is the underlying logic—unrelated to whether or not a war is won or lost."

When Haneda finished speaking, Yahiko, Konan, and Nagato were stunned.

Talk of low-ranking ninjas doing missions for survival, resource imbalance, and high-ranking ninjas seeking village development—it all made sense individually, but when pieced together, it left them feeling a bit overwhelmed.

To be fair, it was difficult to explain such things to people trained to kill. It was like trying to teach a humanities student advanced science or asking an athlete to sit through a complex lecture.

Even though they didn't fully understand, they still felt a sense of awe. The more they thought about Haneda's words, the more they realized he was right.

As long as this underlying system remained, war was inevitable!

It was just like the current standoff between Suna and Konoha on the borders of the Land of Rain. On the surface, it was about the disappearance of the Third Kazekage, but in reality, it was because the daimyo had cut military funding, the number of ninjas had increased, and Suna's leaders, to ease domestic tensions, had no choice but to start a war.

They were also using the conflict to raise the prestige of whoever would become the Fourth Kazekage.

"So, how can we truly end the wars and achieve peace?" Yahiko asked, looking earnestly into Haneda's eyes.

"As I said before, by unifying the world under one government—one language, one system of laws. If only one nation exists, then war between nations becomes impossible. Only smaller conflicts would remain," Haneda replied.

Yahiko found the idea of uniting the entire ninja world nearly hopeless. His desire for peace was so strong, though, that he asked, pleadingly:

"Isn't there any other way, Haneda?"

Haneda answered, "One way would be like what the First Hokage did: distribute powerful weapons capable of mass destruction so that every nation is afraid to start a war."

"But the issue is that in the ninja world, there's no weapon powerful enough to make all nations fear each other. Forget about the tailed beasts—those don't even count."

"However, if the great nations had such weapons while the smaller nations didn't, then those smaller nations would still end up becoming battlegrounds."

"Localized wars would continue to exist, though on a much smaller scale."

Another unrealistic idea...

Yahiko sighed deeply. Both of Haneda's suggestions made perfect sense, but the reality was far too difficult...

*Sigh*…

It seemed that dreams were always out of reach.

But was that really the case?

Yahiko's gaze shifted to Nagato. His Sage's Eyes—the very eyes Jiraiya-sensei had believed were those of the child of prophecy.

Yahiko clenched his fists and smiled confidently, "As long as there's a path, and we can see it, we can reach the destination!"

He then turned back to Haneda and said, "Thank you, Haneda. You've helped me see the way toward peace."

Haneda smiled slightly. There was much he hadn't said, though he had hinted at it. Yahiko and the others just hadn't picked up on it.

That was, even if peace was achieved in the ninja world, conflict would still arise.

As long as the ninja system existed, those conflicts would simply shift to a new form: a struggle between ordinary people and ninjas.

But how would that concern him?

Compared to Yahiko's grand dream of achieving peace in the ninja world, Haneda's own goal was far simpler: to protect the people he cared about.

Konan and Nagato, watching Yahiko's sunny, optimistic demeanor, truly believed that he could achieve peace in the ninja world.

And Haneda, in their eyes, had become a guiding light toward that peace.

...

**Ding! Yahiko's favorability +13**

**Ding! Yahiko's favorability +15**

**Ding! Konan's favorability +17**

**Ding! Nagato's favorability +12**

...

**Host's favorability with Yahiko has reached 141. You've gained 0.3 chakra cards, intermediate-level Water Release knowledge, Water Release: Wild Water Wave, and partial Rinnegan power.**

**Host's favorability with Konan has reached 123. You've gained 0.2 chakra cards and knowledge of developing Paper Release techniques.**

**Host's favorability with Nagato has reached 89. You've gained 0.6 chakra cards and partial Rinnegan power.**

*(Note: Rinnegan power is higher quality than Sharingan power and can be used to evolve the Sharingan.)*

"Yahiko can even give me Rinnegan power?"

"Does that count even if he ends up dead and made into the Pain body?"

Haneda ignored Konan for the moment and focused on Nagato. His favorability level was the lowest, but the benefits were pretty good.

He suspected that at least half of Nagato's favorability increase was due to Yahiko and Konan.

By associating with those two and through the theories he had shared, Haneda had managed to improve his relationship with Nagato.

But it wasn't easy to get closer to someone as withdrawn as Nagato.

...