In Naruto as Zhongli-Chapter 67: INAZ - 66

---

Moreover, in Kakuzu's impression, Orochimaru was more like a crazy inventor. How could such a person establish a darn Otogakure?

"Yes. Orochimaru, you should know, isn't very suitable for management. So, as a partner of Otogakure, I must have someone with both strong strength and professional ability to manage the entire village. Therefore, Kakuzu, I sought you out," Shinji suddenly stopped, looking into Kakuzu's scarlet green eyes.

"But you should know, the current Otogakure arguably has nothing. Not even a main business, right?" Kakuzu stared scrutinizingly at Shinji. He suddenly felt, was his decision just now a bit too hasty? After all, starting a place from scratch could fail. And Kakuzu didn't like failure; he only liked success and happily counting money.

"But Kakuzu, I can't guarantee you too much right now. But do you think, me, Orochimaru, and you, the three of us together, what are the chances of managing a village well?"

"Could it be that you have some new ways to make money?" Kakuzu frowned, this thought suddenly appearing.

"Naturally. You don't need to worry about this matter. Before long, with our efforts, everything will get better," Shinji blew the dust off his hand, then stated resolutely.

"I..." Kakuzu lowered his head, frowning and thinking. This matter was really a bit too much.

"Could it be that Mr. Kakuzu is now worried he can't manage a village well?" Shinji suddenly smirked, a hint of doubt appearing in his tone.

"Hehe, provocation is useless against me, Boss Shinji. But your confidence does pique my interest. Fine, I'll treat it as relaxing my mind. I agree to join your Otogakure. But I must have absolute control over the finances!" Kakuzu said after thinking for a moment.

"Naturally. If you didn't want these rights, I would actually worry about your professionalism," Shinji said with a chuckle.

After resolving Kakuzu's inner conflict, Shinji and Kakuzu also began to speed up towards Otogakure in the Land of Rice Paddies. Finally, after a day, Shinji and Kakuzu arrived at Otogakure. These past two days, after accepting Shinji's suggestions, Orochimaru also began upgrading some facilities in Otogakure. And after 'communicating' with the Daimyō, more people were relocated here.

Furthermore, a notice regarding ninja recruitment was issued within the Land of Rice Paddies. As long as one was within the Land of Rice Paddies, regardless of past deeds, as long as they hadn't violated fundamental principles, they could join Otogakure, this newly established small village. Of course, this notice was only sent out this morning, and Shinji only arrived around noon, so currently, no ninjas had come here to join yet.

"Fufufu, didn't expect this, Boss Shinji. Kakuzu was actually recruited by you," Orochimaru licked his signature long tongue. Although he had thought about this problem before, he didn't expect Shinji to actually succeed.

"Orochimaru, didn't expect it to really be you," Kakuzu looked at Orochimaru, a strange color flashing in his green eyes.

"Fufufu, Kakuzu, I'm more curious how Boss Shinji persuaded you to leave Akatsuki and come here. Pain actually had no objections?" Orochimaru asked puzzledly. He knew Pain's strength.

"Of course, I beat them into submission, so naturally they agreed," Shinji stated calmly, showing no modesty in his posture or words.

"Beat them into submission?" Orochimaru looked somewhat strangely at Shinji. Indeed, Boss Shinji was really no ordinary person.

"Let's first confirm the main scope of business for our Otogakure. After all, now is not the time for chatting. By the way, Orochimaru, I need to see Otogakure's current financial ledger!" Kakuzu said bluntly. This was the most important thing; the financial ledger could directly reflect everything.

"Fufufu, this might disappoint you, Kakuzu. I really don't have any financial ledger here. Everything needs to be created from scratch," Orochimaru said unapologetically. What financial ledger? How could he possibly have such a thing?

"Then the initial funds?"

"Those are my savings over the years. But most of it I need for my own scientific research. Meaning only a small portion can be taken out as funds for Otogakure."

"About how much?"

"I myself still have around 30 million ryō available for use," Orochimaru said after thinking for a moment.

"30 million? Still a bit little," Kakuzu frowned. This amount of money was completely a drop in the bucket for a village.

"I can provide some here too. But I need to go back and count exactly how much. You know, I never touch money. I have no interest in money," Shinji added.

Hiss! These incredibly boastful words instantly made Orochimaru and Kakuzu feel like shooting Shinji. You don't like money? But without money now, we can't move an inch.

"Of course, I will handle these things. Don't worry, Kakuzu," Shinji chuckled lightly, then opened the living room door, letting everyone enter together.

"Lord Shinji, you're back," In the living room, Jūgo quickly stood up and greeted Shinji upon seeing him.

"Jūgo, how have you been these two days?" Shinji came beside Jūgo and gently patted his head.

"Alright. But I still hope to stay by Lord Shinji's side," Jūgo stated calmly, but a trace of joy appeared in his eyes.

"You will. We'll leave in about a week," Shinji then went to the sofa and sat down. Orochimaru and Kakuzu also sat down accordingly. Jūgo stood behind Shinji, his body straight like a spear.

"So, where should our Otogakure's main business focus be? If we rely on mission volume like the other five great shinobi villages, then it will be very slow, and competitiveness won't be enough," Kakuzu hit the nail on the head. It wasn't about whether these things could be done, but whether they could compete.

A newly established village definitely couldn't give clients the same sense of security as established villages in terms of strength. Moreover, the location of the Land of Rice Paddies, bordering the Land of Fire and the Land of Frost, and further north the Land of Lightning. This geographical location was truly somewhat difficult.

"Our Land of Rice Paddies' main source of income is fields. Meaning most citizens rely on that small plot of land to live. But this way won't work. Including our Otogakure, if we develop like this, we definitely cannot rise," Shinji stated pointedly.

Developing like this, the Land of Rice Paddies and Otogakure would definitely have no future. Therefore, he planned to vigorously develop tourism and steel! He had previously seen equipment crafted by the best blacksmiths in this world. Overall, the purification process was still insufficient.

"Tourism I can understand, but steel?" Kakuzu asked somewhat puzzledly.

"I possess an iron smelting technology better than the Land of Iron's. And also possess a mature automatic smelting technology. Initially, we can recruit some skilled masters from the Land of Iron. After our side rises, we can completely replace them," Shinji took out a stack of documents from the system space.

These were all exchanged from the system. "Eighteen Methods of Iron Smelting""Fusion of Steel and Iron""Steel Production Line Manufacturing Manual""Development of Tourism Industry"...

Shinji first gave these documents to Orochimaru. After all, he was a researcher. Orochimaru immediately immersed himself, marveling while reading. "If the technology above is real, perhaps our Otogakure can really replace the Land of Iron and become the world's strongest steel nation." This was Orochimaru's judgment.

"Then what about the blacksmiths from the Land of Iron?"

"This is simpler. The competition within the Land of Iron is too great. Meaning many blacksmiths actually can't get orders. As long as we target this group first, although their skills aren't top-tier, being able to develop in a country like the Land of Iron means they have certain skills," Shinji wasn't worried about the blacksmith issue in the Land of Iron.

The more developed a place is in a certain aspect, the more it means that besides the glamorous big shots at the top, there's also a large portion of practitioners who can barely afford to eat. A specific example could be those mangaka in Japan; large numbers of mangaka are constantly teetering on the edge of starvation.

"This feels feasible, but still needs testing," Kakuzu frowned.

"Naturally. By the way, ninja recruitment work must continue. And regarding the education in the children's ninja academy, I plan to change it to compulsory education. This way can greatly increase their willingness to send children to the ninja academy."

"This is a huge sum of money," Kakuzu said slowly. He felt he wasn't here to experience making money, but rather to experience how to spend money.

"Money makes money, Kakuzu. Don't you think after our management, our Otogakure will also become the sixth great shinobi village, or even higher?" Shinji said with a smile. These were all within his plan. In fact, if the plan succeeded, then a great possibility would arise.

"This seems quite interesting. Alright, I agree to this matter," Kakuzu thought for a moment and agreed directly. Indeed, systematically managing finances for a mature system couldn't compare to the sense of achievement from planning finances step by step.

"Alright then. Recruitment work and the establishment of these production lines are entrusted to Orochimaru. Financial coordination is entrusted to Kakuzu. From now on, we are the three major partners of Otogakure," Shinji finally decided, and elevated Kakuzu's status to one of the partners.

"No problem with that. But regarding talent recruitment?" Orochimaru licked his lips.

"This also needs to be brought to the table later. If they are truly talented, we can also spend money or use other things to poach them."

"Mmm."

...

...

Next, Shinji, Orochimaru, and Kakuzu held in-depth discussions regarding the future development of Otogakure. To become a major tourism and steel nation, Shinji also exchanged some knowledge regarding architecture and urban construction from the system. A major tourism country couldn't possibly have just this little space, and these architectural styles couldn't possibly become an attraction.

So, many things needed to be rebuilt. Of course, these were also very expensive areas. For this plan to be executed smoothly, Kakuzu even took out his personal savings. Some things were just waiting to be implemented step by step.

"Boss Shinji, when shall we announce the establishment of Otogakure to the outside world?" Orochimaru said with a smile.

"Anytime recently is fine. Anyway, just let the Daimyō of the Land of Rice Paddies issue a notice. But it's best if my name doesn't appear on it. Of course, the news of you two, Orochimaru and Kakuzu, establishing a ninja village will definitely spread throughout the entire ninja world."

"That's just a small matter," Kakuzu said calmly. He had already mentally prepared for these things long ago.

"That's good."

Over the next period, the few of them basically finalized all remaining matters. Shinji also left his location point in this place of Otogakure, convenient for him to return to Otogakure anytime in the future.

The ninja recruitment matter wasn't very smooth at the beginning. After all, a small village just established wanting to recruit ninjas, really not many people paid attention. But when the news of Otogakure's establishment spread through the Daimyō of the Land of Rice Paddies, the entire ninja world couldn't help but be stirred.

How many years had it been? It was unknown how many years since a new ninja village announced its establishment. Previously, countries without ninja villages generally cooperated with ninja villages from other countries. But after Otogakure's establishment, it also meant the Land of Rice Paddies no longer needed to cooperate with the ninja village of the Land of Fire, but returned entirely to being self-sufficient.

Logically speaking, even if this happened, generally other countries, other ninja villages wouldn't have any other thoughts.

But now it was different. Along with the news of Otogakure's establishment, two names were very eye-catching. Namely, the First Otokage of Otogakure - Orochimaru, and the Financial Controller - Kakuzu! These two pieces of news instantly angered Konoha of the Land of Fire.

After all, Orochimaru himself was one of the Sannin of Konoha, already confirmed by Konoha as an S-rank missing-nin. And Kakuzu was a bounty hunter, and a ninja who defected from the neighboring Takigakure (Village Hidden by a Waterfall).

Once these two pieces of news spread, not only Konoha couldn't sit still, even Takigakure couldn't sit still either. Good grief, a missing-nin from our village is now establishing a new ninja village? This situation undoubtedly made them very unhappy. Thus, Takigakure first issued a statement, expressing disapproval of Otogakure's establishment, and Konoha subsequently did the same.

However, it was currently wartime. The war between Konoha and Kumogakure hadn't ended yet, and the other three villages remained quiet, not issuing any statements. Takigakure, originally thinking of latching onto a strong thigh, now saw Konoha itself was preoccupied and didn't dare attack the so-called Otogakure of the Land of Rice Paddies alone! Thus, this matter ended inconclusively.

At the same time, Otogakure issued a statement: as long as one was a ninja within the Land of Rice Paddies, regardless of past deeds, as long as they weren't particularly excessive, they could join Otogakure.

Moreover, villagers from other regions of the Land of Rice Paddies could also choose to migrate towards Otogakure. Although the current Otogakure couldn't accommodate so many people. But it could expand outwards with Otogakure as the center. For this matter, Shinji specifically exchanged a street planning distribution map.

After all, it was the Land of Rice Paddies; most were farmers. Therefore, the division of housing and farmland needed distribution. And after discussion, a new regulation was specifically issued. As long as villagers cooperated in relocating, after the ninja academy was fully constructed, their children could enter the ninja academy for a one-year period of study free of charge.

If they could successfully extract chakra or show promise in other aspects, they could enter a six-year specialized study class. Meaning, this one-year study period was equivalent to preschool... For this, Otogakure specifically recruited various teachers to participate in the education industry. Only when the foundation is strong can the entire village truly become strong.

And after this series of policies occurred, some people came to join Otogakure every day. Among them were some wanted missing-nin, as well as some villagers possessing special skills. Of course, upon seeing these missing-nin, the bounty hunter blood in Kakuzu almost couldn't be suppressed.

---

Check my: [email protected]/ShixT9 for extra 60 Chapters

A review will also be greatly appreciated ^•^