Naruto: Uchiha Youngjo's Konoha Spring

Chapter 157: Commander of the Fire Army
"What should we do after that?" Black Zetsu asked.

"Keep a close eye on the developments here and notify me if they take any action." After Uchiha Douguang said this, he immediately disbanded his clone on the spot.

Two weeks later, Miura Kazuo and Fugaku, who represented the Land of Fire and Konoha to visit the Land of Rice and the Land of Hot Spring, also returned. On the side of the Land of Rice, the Sound Village founded by Orochimaru readily signed the alliance agreement at the instruction of Uchiha Tokou. There was no ninja village in the Land of Hot Spring, and their daimyo signed their names on the contract after being fooled by Miura Kazuo.

After they came back, Uchiha Tokou called Inuzuka Tachibana and Aburame Shiwei.

Ever since Uchiha Tokou took office, their two clans have completely replaced the original positions of the Tsuchiya and Mito clans in the village. The heritage left by these two clans alone is enough to keep them well-fed.

After the Fire Nation moved its capital to Konoha, the Aburame clan took the initiative to propose moving to a more remote place because the area where their original clan land was located became too noisy and unsuitable for raising insects due to the influx of a large number of people from the Fire Nation. Uchiha Douguang naturally did not treat them unfairly. The relocation compensation was issued according to the highest standards. In addition, Uchiha Douguang also allocated a piece of land for them around their new clan land in the name of a nature reserve to assist them in the research and development of new insect species.

As for the Inuzuka clan, after a large number of Fire Country nobles poured into Konoha, their clan became rich.

As everyone knows, the pets of Konoha's nobles have always been an important source of D-level tasks for the village's Genin. After these nobles entered Konoha, they found out that Konoha's Inuzuka clan was very good at training dogs. Under the guidance of Uchiha Douguang, the Inuzuka clan also began to train some puppies that were not qualified enough to become ninja dogs into pet dogs while breeding ninja dogs. They also opened a pet-sitting business in the village, so that those old, young, women and children in their clan who had no ninja talent could make money.

In addition, Inuzuka Jaw also actively responded to Uchiha Tokou's factory construction policy and invested in a dog food factory on the southeastern beach of the Land of Fire. Because the formulas were improved based on the recipes for breeding ninja dogs, the quality far exceeded similar products on the market. Moreover, because of the reputation of the Inuzuka clan, everyone believed in the quality of the dog food they produced, so they easily occupied almost all the dog food markets in the Land of Fire and made a lot of money.

Inuzuka Jaguar and Aburame Shiwei were naturally extremely grateful to Uchiha Tokou for the present situation of their two families, so when Uchiha Tokou summoned them, they immediately put everything aside and rushed to the Hokage's office as soon as possible.

Uchiha Douguang prepared tea for the guests as usual, and then said with a smile: "I was away from the village for a while. The two advisors must have been very busy assisting Kakashi in handling official business. I haven't had time to thank you yet."

"What are you saying, Hokage? This is what we should do," said Inuzuka Jaw.

"I wonder if Lord Hokage wants to see us two today because he has something to tell us?" Aburame Shiwei said.

"Do you two want to move up a level in your positions?" Uchiha Douguang asked with a smile.

When Inuzuka Taniguchi and Aburame Shiwei heard this, they were stunned. They were already advisors to the Hokage, so how could they move up further? Big brother, don't you want to be the Hokage anymore?

"Haha, you two should also know that Elder Fugaku recently traveled with our Land of Fire's Left Minister to the Land of Rice and the Land of Hot Springs." Uchiha Douguang said with a smile, "We signed an alliance agreement with these two countries. According to the agreement, Konoha will station troops in these two countries near the Land of Lightning to help them defend their territory."

"I plan to put these two garrisons in your charge," said Uchiha Douguang.

"We?" Aburame Zhiwei and Inuzuka Jape heard what Uchiha Douguang said, looked at each other, and then said in surprise.

"That's right," Uchiha Douguang nodded. "I will assign you a ninja unit of about 800 people from each village. Together with the garrison currently stationed on the border between our two countries, each of you will be able to command a ninja army of about 2000 people." Uchiha Douguang said, "At the garrison's base, you will be the equivalent of the Hokage of that army. In peacetime, all matters will be decided by you."

Both of them were shocked upon hearing this. Uchiha Douguang had simply handed over a 2000-man ninja army to them? Even the leaders of some small ninja villages wouldn't have 2000 ninjas on hand. The number of ninjas they had brought out was almost % of the village's current active ninjas.

"But if we take so many ninjas away, won't the village's finances be too much?" Aburame Zhiwei asked. Generally speaking, village ninjas, with the exception of those in the Security Department's Anbu, are paid for their missions, while border garrison ninjas are paid by the village. They're each taking 800 people away now. If these people were still in the village, they would be able to complete missions and help the village earn money, but after being taken away, the village would have to pay their salaries. This back-and-forth financial pressure is not small. "Don't worry, we don't have to pay a penny for this military expenditure," Uchiha Douguang said with a smile. "Don't forget, we're helping others guard the border, so the military expenses will naturally be paid by them."

"I see. This way, sending troops won't increase the village's financial burden. On the contrary, it will greatly reduce the burden on the two troops currently stationed on the border." Aburame Zhiwei said, "But what about the village's mission? With so many ninjas gone at once, won't the village be short-handed?"

"Don't worry about that. The graduation season of the ninja school is coming soon, and the number of Genin will increase again. Moreover, I also plan to gradually reduce the amount of tasks in the village recently." Uchiha Douguang said.

"Reduce the workload?" The two looked puzzled upon hearing this.

You know, in the three previous Ninja World Wars, the ninja villages almost fought each other to death over that small number of tasks. But now Uchiha Douguang said that he would take the initiative to reduce the number of tasks. Isn't this also actively reducing the village's income?

"Yes," Uchiha Douguang said, "With the current state of the ninja world, the mercenary model of ninjas who only work for money can no longer keep up with the current development of the ninja world. Therefore, in the near future, I plan to reform the current ninja system, and reducing the current mission share is the first step."

Although Aburame Shiwei and Inuzuka Tale did not understand what Uchiha Toukou meant, they nodded. After all, up to now, Uchiha Toukou had not made a wrong decision and had brought their two clans to the current situation. Now that Uchiha Toukou already had a specific plan, they only needed to follow his instructions.

……

Another two weeks passed, and after being officially granted the positions of commander of the ninja forces stationed in the Land of Rice and the Land of Fire by the Hokage, Aburame Shiwei and Inuzuka Jaw were respectively, they set off for their respective garrisons with the ninjas in the village.

After they arrived, they were warmly welcomed by the Daimyo of both countries. For the Daimyo of both countries, they could hire Konoha's heavenly soldiers to protect them for a small fee, which was much more cost-effective than investing their own money and effort to develop the ninja village. Their countries couldn't produce any decent ninjas anyway, so wouldn't it be better to use the money from building the ninja village for food, drink, and entertainment? Furthermore, the commercial cooperation between the two countries in the contract would allow them to make real money, and all they had to pay for all this was just a small amount of military expenses. It was a great deal.

However, Ai of the Hidden Cloud Village, which is adjacent to the Land of Lightning and borders their two countries, was furious when he learned about this. Although he had never taken the two countries that had signed an alliance with Konoha seriously, and there was also the Frost Country between their Land of Lightning and the Land of Fields and the Land of Hot Springs, Konoha's behavior was no different from directly deploying troops on the border of their Land of Lightning. After all, the Frost Country, which had no ninja village, had always employed their Hidden Cloud Village ninjas. In Ai's eyes, the Frost Country was no different from his own territory.

So, Ai also planned to follow suit and transfer their border troops from the Land of Lightning to the border of the Land of Frost to confront Konoha's army.

However, his secretary Xi dissuaded him at the critical moment.

"Lord Raikage, I do not recommend transferring our ninja troops to the Frost Country." At the high-level meeting of Kumogakure, Xi spoke after listening to the Raikage's plan.

"Why?" Ai asked with a sullen face.

"Because we are not yet ready for a direct war with Konoha," Xi said. "Although the village's strength has been steadily growing over the years, if we were alone, we would not be able to defeat Konoha in a short period of time. And if the war becomes a stalemate, the Fire Nation, with its wealth, could easily bring us down."

"Unless, like in the previous Ninja World Wars, we attack Konoha simultaneously with the Land of Earth and the Land of Water," Xi analyzed. "But right now, Kirigakure is already preoccupied with itself. As for Iwagakure, based on my understanding of this Tsuchikage, if we go to war with Konoha, he will just sit back and watch the fight, then reap the benefits."

Upon hearing this, Ai could only grit his teeth and slam the table, giving up his plan to station troops in the Frost Country as well. He was just reckless, but he was not stupid. Xi was right. If they went to war with Konoha now, they might be able to gain an advantage in a short period of time, but it was absolutely impossible to destroy Konoha's manpower in a short period of time. Once the war became a stalemate, Konoha could afford the cost, but their Land of Lightning, a barren place, could definitely not fight a tug-of-war.

(End of this chapter)