They're promoting the "Konoha threat" theory, and spouting nonsense about the Hidden

Chapter 173 Hidden in Hot Springs Village? The Hidden Mist Village: A Military Forward Base for the Land of Hot Springs! (Two Chapters Combined)

To be honest, before seeing this letter, the leader of Yugakure was planning to fight Kirigakure to the death.

After all, before becoming the leader of Yu Ninja Village, he was a well-known "genius" in the village. Otherwise, he would not have been able to become the leader of Yu Ninja Village under the control of a group of old guys.

However, the huge gap in strength between Yugakure and Kirigakure, as well as the presence of his wife, children, and relatives in the village, quickly brought him back to reality.

Moreover...

The reason Hozuki Shingetsu mentioned in his letter was exactly what he wanted to hear, pointing directly to the area he had been most worried about in recent years.

That was his son, who wasn't actually a genius like him.

Given his current qualifications and the conditions of Yugakure, it's doubtful he'll even reach the level of a Jonin.

Generally speaking, for a ninja to become a Jonin, bloodline is the most important factor!

With an excellent bloodline limit as a foundation, even if one's own talent is mediocre, one's strength may still reach the level of a Jonin or even a Kage with the support of the bloodline limit, over time or due to major changes.

For example, Obito Uchiha.

Secondly, there is the guidance of a powerful teacher, such as Hiruzen Sarutobi for Orochimaru and Jiraiya.

Another option is to have a suitable advanced secret technique combined with diligent study and practice, such as the Eight Gates technique for Might Guy and his son, as well as Rock Lee.

At the very bottom are those who have no way out and rely on their talent to hone their skills using some low-level ninjutsu.

All of the above means that most of the smaller forces in the ninja world, including Yugakure, have only one path left to take.

This leader of Yugakure took the last path, relying on the village's commonplace traditions, his own talent, and a bit of luck to become a Jonin.

However, his son clearly did not have his father's talent and luck.

According to this leader's estimation, even if he did his best, and even used the village's resources to cultivate his own son, he would only be able to barely reach the level of a Jonin.

However, even the smallest ninja village will inevitably produce geniuses capable of becoming Jonin. In the ninja world, strength speaks volumes, and the smaller the ninja village, the more it needs its strongest member to become its leader.

Therefore, given his son's abilities, he certainly has no hope of becoming the leader.

He had already given up on this option, only thinking that he would wait for that genius to appear, then take him as his disciple, and ensure that his family's status would not decline through the master-disciple inheritance.

However, Hozuki Shingetsu's words in the letter undoubtedly gave him another glimmer of hope.

A hope for their family to completely control the village of Tangren.

As long as his son goes to Kirigakure, obtains the advanced secret techniques of Kirigakure, and is highly valued by Hozuki Shingetsu, wouldn't everything in Yugakure be within their grasp?

No matter how good an apprentice is, he/she belongs to someone else.

No matter how bad a son is, he is still one of our own blood.

With such an opportunity to control the village of Tangren for generations right in front of him, how could he not be tempted?

As the village leader, he felt quite ashamed that the village's interests had to be sacrificed because of his own son.

However, when he thought about the elders who had been holding positions of power but had been incompetent and had been pointing fingers at him for the past few years, he felt more and more that his actions were correct.

As the scale and duration of the two Shinobi World Wars increased, more and more insightful people saw the changes in the Shinobi World Wars and realized that the gap between them and the Five Great Shinobi Villages was widening rapidly. More and more small Shinobi Villages were extremely pessimistic about the future.

It was precisely this mindset that led some ninja villages to abandon improving their own strength and instead focus on pursuing pleasure.

This is what Tangren Village used to look like.

This is precisely the root of the conflict between the leader and the other elders.

As a young man, he still wanted to do something for the village and didn't want to just give up and completely give up.

Hozuki Shingetsu's conditions, besides giving him the opportunity for his family to control Yugakure for generations, also brought him another hope.

That is the hope for revitalizing Tangren Village.

After his son entered Kirigakure, he was nominally an international student, but since he was an international student, he was supposed to come back.

As long as I maintain a good relationship with Kirigakure over the next few years, and let my son learn from them and broaden his horizons, he can acquire some real skills.

If possible, we could even build a good relationship with Hozuki Shingetsu, and wouldn't that be the chance for the revitalization of Yugakure?

At that time, wouldn't all his previous actions of sacrificing the interests of Tangren Village be worth it?

As time goes by, who will know what he did in the past?

"Let's do it!"

A glint of ambition flashed in his lowered eyes, and he secretly clenched his fist.

In the hands of these old fogies, Tangren Village will only become complacent and bring about its own destruction!

And he was the savior of Yu Ninja Village who was willing to sacrifice everything for the village!

"It seems the leader has made a decision?"

Seeing the leader's demeanor, how could the two envoys not understand that he had already made his decision?

So he immediately handed over another letter with a smile, saying, "This letter was instructed by Lord Crescent Moon to be delivered only after the leader has given his consent."

"Oh?"

The leader was quite curious as to why Hozuki Crescent Moon didn't just finish what she was saying all at once, but instead produced two letters and had them delivered at different times.

As he was opening the letter, a question suddenly occurred to him, and he immediately stopped.

"...If I may ask, if I hadn't agreed just now, would Kirigakure's decision have changed?"

"...That's probably a scene that the leader wouldn't want to see."

Upon hearing this, the two Mist Ninja envoys exchanged a strange glance, but did not give a direct answer.

The possibility that the leader had thought of instantly plunged him into an ice cave, and the idea in his mind subsided considerably.

Under the immense temptation of learning from Kirigakure and revitalizing Yugakure, he completely forgot the threat posed by Kirigakure and the principle of "courtesy before force."

So he immediately stopped talking and focused his mind to carefully read the letter.

"The Friendly Economic Cooperation Treaty between Kirigakure and Yugakure, the Unified Allocation of Mission Shares Plan, the Kirigakure Targeted Assistance Plan, the Ocean-Wide Ninja Mutual Aid Alliance..."

The more the leader read, the more shocked he became.

His shock wasn't due to the harsh conditions Hozuki Shingetsu had listed in his letter; on the contrary, in his eyes, Kirigakure's conditions were incredibly generous, to the point that he suspected there was a trap involved.

For example, the friendly and mutually beneficial economic treaty between Kirigakure and Yugakure stipulates that Kirigakure will provide Yugakure with an interest-free loan of 300 million ryo over five years for projects such as village construction, ninja ideology education, and cultural training.

Depending on the situation, there may even be additional funding later.

However, Hozuki Shingetsu explicitly stated that the funds were held in Kirigakure's custody, and Yugakure only had the right to use them and could only purchase goods and materials in the corresponding fields from designated companies.

Of course, Hozuki Shingetsu also had a condition: during the term of the treaty, the quota of missions entrusted by Yugakure must be fully transferred to Kirigakure.

This means that Tangren Village is prohibited from accepting any mission requests from outsiders for at least the next five years.

Nevertheless, the leader was ready to agree to the treaty the moment he saw it.

Simply put, this sum of money is just too good to pass up for Tangren Village!

Although the hot spring tourism industry in the Land of Hot Springs is thriving and the country's income is not small, the daimyo of the Land of Hot Springs is unwilling to provide large sums of military funds to the Village of Hot Springs, citing the need for national peace and prosperity.

This led to Tangren Village often operating at a loss, prompting them to consider starting their own hot spring tourism business to supplement their income.

In this context, the significance of this 300 million taels of interest-free loan for Tangren Village is self-evident.

Despite the various conditions involved, such as the funds being held by Kirigakure, the ability to purchase goods and materials from designated companies in specific sectors, and the need to sacrifice the quota of Yugakure's missions over the next five years, he considered it all worthwhile.

After all, what aspect of village development can be achieved without money?

With this money, he could finally hold his head high in the village and continue to realize his dream of revitalizing Tangren Village.

For a moment, he even felt that selling the village to Kirigakure wouldn't be a big deal, since Kirigakure would give a lot in return!

"May I ask if the conditions here are true?"

"Of course it's true, we have no reason to lie to you."

The two envoys from Kirigakure gave him an affirmative smile in response to his question.

"There's one more thing you need to be aware of. To ensure the proper use of funds in Tangren Village and to monitor whether you're accepting missions privately, we will be sending a monitoring team to Tangren Village."

Seeing the leader's sudden change in expression, he quickly added, "Don't worry, leader. According to Lord New Moon's arrangement, this supervision team will be a squad of at most one Jonin and three Chunin."

"Furthermore, our supervisory team doesn't just supervise; they also provide guidance in specific areas, such as ninja training and... ninja professional education."

"Ninja professional training?"

The leader looked up in confusion, wondering what this ninja professional education was.

"The so-called ninja professional education is one of the comprehensive reforms that Kirigakure is currently undertaking under Lord Shingetsu's guidance. Its core idea is that ninjas cannot only focus on improving their tactical skills and strength, but also need to pay attention to their mental health to prevent them from betraying the village, committing suicide, or engaging in other such behaviors..."

He had initially dismissed ninja training, but upon hearing that it could prevent ninjas from defecting from their villages or committing suicide, he was immediately drawn to it.

After all, ninjas start learning killing techniques from a very young age, so it's perfectly normal for them to have some psychological issues.

This is not only a problem that plagues major ninja villages like Konoha, but also a problem for smaller ninja villages, and can even be said to be a common problem throughout the entire ninja world.

To address this issue, Hozuki Shingetsu specifically combined his knowledge of scattered psychological problems from his previous life with several years of investigation and practice, and finally launched this ninja professional education program some time ago.

A special group of people were organized to give lectures, mainly about why they were fighting, the humiliating past and glorious future of Kirigakure, to paint a rosy picture for them, to instill the Kirigakure ideology, and to provide psychological counseling.

From the lowest-ranking ninja students to the highest-ranking ninjas, everyone in Kirigakure needs to attend a couple of classes from time to time to cleanse their minds and prevent any problems from arising.

Of course, that was the ninja training program from Kirigakure.

The version promoted to the outside world is naturally a censored and enhanced version. For example, in the version about these small ninja villages, only the Kirigakure ideology and the excellent Kirigakure culture are left.

Therefore, considering the limited number of Kirigakure ninjas stationed there, their wide range of uses, the huge amount of funding required, the future of his own son, the possibility of learning from them to revitalize Yugakure, and the threat of Kirigakure's Hyōken, the leader finally agreed to Kirigakure's conditions.

"By cooperating with Kirigakure, our leader will definitely be glad he did what he did today."

Having completed their mission, the two Mist Ninja envoys breathed a sigh of relief, and a few "sincere" smiles involuntarily appeared on their faces.

According to Hozuki Shingetsu's plan, it certainly couldn't be as simple as just sending them money to support their construction.

He intended to use his own child's future in Kirigakure as bait to force the leader of Yugakure to make concessions to some of Kirigakure's plans, maintaining his apparent independence while obeying Kirigakure's every word.

When it comes to brainwashing a child whose values ​​and worldview are not yet formed and who has never seen the world, Hozuki Shingetsu is incredibly experienced.

From the various rumors about the United States in his previous life, he had at least figured out a method for luring people into trouble.

After all, it's always easier for people to go from frugality to extravagance, but harder to go from extravagance to frugality.

Having witnessed the prosperity of Kirigakure, it's hard to say whether he would be willing to return to Yugakure, or whether he would simply return as the leader's son.

When this talented individual, who had received elite education from Kirigakure, returned to Yugakure, that was when Yugakure's attributes would officially change.

In any case, Hozuki Shingetsu's goal with these small ninja villages is the same: not to directly annex them, but to gradually transform the openly known Hot Spring Villages into covert military forward bases for Kirigakure and the Land of Hot Springs through economic, cultural, and military infiltration, as well as through winning over and subverting them!

Hozuki Shingetsu hadn't forgotten that the Land of Water was an island nation, lacking a foothold on the ninja world continent.

And aren't these small ninja villages and clans scattered around Kirigakure in the Land of Water the best military forward bases?

After all, a place that these forces use as their stronghold must be a strategic location. Coupled with the fact that it is their base, no one would expect it to become a military forward base for Kirigakure. It can be said that its strategic importance and secrecy are off the charts.

And the effect...

"It seems we can move on to the next step of the plan."

Hozuki Shingetsu looked at the endless stream of messages coming back from various small ninja villages and clans, a smug smile spreading across his face.

(End of this chapter)