Naruto Online: Hyuga Branch Family? Let's go all out!

Chapter 112 Mingchuan Town Lord's Hand

"What are you doing!" Kurenai Yuhi was furious when she saw a strange woman hugging her lover. She immediately reached out to snatch him away.

But with a casual tug, the woman pulled even Kurenai into her arms.

With one in each hand, Kurenai was astonished to find that she was completely powerless to fight back!

How is that possible!

I'm not the same person I used to be!

I studied "Phoenix Dance in the Nine Heavens" for two months and "Arcane Pen Hall" for another month. Not only did I achieve some success in physical techniques, but I also learned a lot of illusion techniques. My strength should at least be at the Genin level.

Now, facing an ordinary person, he is completely powerless to fight back?

Minato, however, reacted quickly, bowing deeply and saying, "Lady Myohui!"

"Hmm!" Tsunade nodded casually. With Ning Yuan's recommendation, she reluctantly acknowledged Minato's talent. However, Minato's talent was insignificant in front of Ning Yuan, so her attitude towards Minato was indifferent.

"Minghui, sir?" Kurenai Yuhi asked hesitantly, "Are you a Konoha ninja?"

Only a Jonin from Konoha could make a Chunin like Minato call him "sir".

Minghui laughed and said, "You and Ningyuan are lovers, didn't he tell you about me?"

"Huh?" Kurenai was taken aback and quickly looked at Ning Yuan: "Ning Yuan, what happened to her?"

"She is Lady Tsunade, one of the Legendary Sannin of Konoha, working here under the alias Minghui!" Ning Yuan said with a smile.

"Tch, boring!" Tsunade muttered irritably.

"Huh?" The current Kurenai Yuhi is not as ignorant as the original version. Moreover, Tsunade is the idol of countless female ninjas. When she introduced herself, she said that she wanted to become a ninja like Tsunade. How could she not know Tsunade!

Finding herself lying in her idol's arms, Yuhi's face flushed red instantly, and she immediately lowered her head.

At that moment, she suddenly understood what social death meant.

Minato, on the other hand, kept an eye on his surroundings while the two were chatting.

They were relieved to find that the nearest guards were more than 20 meters away, and that each of them was missing an arm or a leg, but that they were in good spirits despite their disabilities.

It seems we're all on the same side.

but

Minato looked at Tsunade with a puzzled expression: "Lady, didn't you say that organ transplant technology already existed? How come these people..."

Then Tsunade, who had been chatting and laughing with Ning Yuan, suddenly turned pale.

I was about to lose my temper, but then I remembered that we were in public, so I held back.

"Come in and talk!" Tsunade said irritably.

Ning Yuan shrank back, feeling that the anger was directed at him.

Tsunade's residence resembled a palace, occupying a quarter of the city's area. However, despite its large size, the actual architectural style reflected the small-scale nature of her life, with a large plaza, a small palace, low buildings, and few windows.

Such spaces always give people a sense of oppression.

Upon entering the palace, Ning Yuan immediately spotted a high, throne-like seat.

"Where is this place? It looks like a daimyo's mansion!" Kurenai Yuhi looked around curiously. The pillars, the decorations, and the various pieces of furniture covered with patterns were too luxurious!

"This isn't exactly a daimyo's prefecture, but it's not far off!" Tsunade said calmly. "This is the palace where the former lord of the castle once resided!"

"Huh?" Kurenai blinked. "What about the castle lord?"

"Dead!" Tsunade said casually.

"Huh?" Kurenai Yuhi was taken aback. "Dead...are they all dead?"

Even if the lord of the city is dead, he should still have a son, a wife, and so on. How could he give up the lord's mansion to Tsunade?

"Isn't it normal for a city to die from the plague?" Tsunade shrugged.

This really wasn't her fault. In an era when medicine was underdeveloped, it was quite normal for a plague to break out and cause mass deaths.

The same was true of this city. Four months ago, a plague broke out here, and then someone wanted to go to Konoha Village to issue a mission to save the village, but he was intercepted and killed by people from other towns halfway there.

People coming from plague-stricken areas, who knows if you're carrying the disease? How can we let you run around like that?

It was only two months later that someone from Konoha Village learned what had happened here while on a mission.

But by then the plague had already passed, and most people had died. The ninjas simply reported the matter to the Hokage, and that was the end of it.

However, because the matter involved the plague, the Third Hokage reported it to Konoha Hospital, which Tsunade overheard.

At the time, Tsunade was just listening casually, but when Ning Yuan asked her to leave the village and find a place to develop the organization, she suddenly remembered that place.

"This place is called Mingchuan Town. Before the plague broke out, it had a population of about 18, but when I came here a month ago, only 4 remained!" Tsunade said with a rather sarcastic tone. "I treated the remaining people for their illnesses and arranged various defense measures, thus winning their hearts. After giving them ten million taels of silver, I became the lord of this town!"

She was mocking the Daming Prefecture, where a mere ten million taels could buy the position of city lord.

She was also mocking Konoha, asking how many people had died for the Hokage position.

It turns out that getting a castle lord position in Konoha is surprisingly easy!

Don't underestimate Mingchuan Town just because its population is smaller than Konoha's and it has no ninjas. With two of the Three Legendary Sannin and Ningyuan, how could it not develop?

What does it take to develop a ninja village?

It's definitely not about economics, because ninjas only need regular meals, maybe a little more than ordinary people, and they don't need any magic pills or elixirs.

The core of a ninja village lies in the inheritance of ninjutsu!

And Mingchuan Town is certainly not lacking in ninjutsu right now!

Orochimaru has all the basic ninjutsu, Ningyuan has all the genjutsu, and Tsunade has all the medical ninjutsu.

Both Tsunade and Ning Yuan possessed taijutsu, and Ning Yuan even created a large number of sword techniques!

With these, it's unrealistic to surpass Konoha in a short time, but surpassing Sunagakure, which only has Wind Release and Puppet Technique, is definitely not a problem!

"This town is nestled against the mountains, where iron and coal mines have already been discovered. The mountains also have abundant bamboo, which can be used for papermaking. A large river flows right at the entrance, which can be used for transportation. Furthermore, there are vast uninhabited areas behind it, which can be cultivated into farmland. It perfectly meets your requirements!"

Ning Yuan nodded: "I saw this from the sky, but I thought places like this would be hard to find. Logically speaking, with such abundant resources, this city shouldn't be developing so poorly. Is it because its history is too short?"

"It has nothing to do with history, but with the system of the Land of Fire!" Tsunade explained, "The Land of Fire practices a city-state system. Although the daimyo has nominal jurisdiction over the entire country, the lords of each city-state actually have enormous power. They can levy taxes, legislate, and even establish armies. Therefore, the development of a city-state depends not only on its geographical location but also on the lord's management skills."

"So, the original lord of Mingchuan Town wasn't very capable?" Ning Yuan asked.

Tsunade nodded: "Mingchuan Town has established a strict poll tax system. It costs 80 taels to have a child, and the child has to pay an additional 20 taels every year until they turn 16. That's why the town's population has never increased. In addition, the people in the town don't own any land. They all rely on renting land from the town lord for a living, and any land that the people cultivate also belongs to the town lord. Therefore, the people have no desire to cultivate their own land."

Yuhi Hong looked bewildered. Although she had been studying with Ning Yuan for a short time, she didn't understand much.

Minato, on the other hand, despite not having received any relevant education, managed to understand Tsunade's words quite well thanks to his strong comprehension skills and what he saw of the Land of Fire during his missions.

"Furthermore, this city lord also stipulated that the fish in the river could not be caught at will, because they also belonged to him."

Ning Yuan was completely speechless. This wasn't a city lord; he was a real skinflint!

"How can a city lord like that survive?" Ning Yuan asked. "Didn't the people in the city put up a resistance?"

"Why would they resist?" Tsunade shrugged. "This lord of the castle has over a dozen wandering ninjas. Although they're all trash who only have chakra and no ninjutsu, killing a civilian is no problem for them. The civilians have absolutely no chance of resisting!"

"Alright!" Ning Yuan was somewhat speechless, but quickly perked up again: "The death of such a city lord is a boon for us; we can win over the people's hearts without much effort!"

"That's right. I abolished more than seventy kinds of taxes and reduced the land tax and fishing tax. Now I can't even go out anymore because the townspeople kneel down as soon as they see me." Tsunade was still a little excited. Who said I couldn't be Hokage? Managing a city isn't that hard!

(End of this chapter)