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

Chapter 187 The Second Reform of Kirigakure: Level 9 Ninja System & Technical Ninja (Two-in-One)

When Tsunade arrived at the Mizukage Building, the area near the notice board in front of the building was already crowded with villagers from Kirigakure.

After all, it involves such a significant matter as ninja reform. Even if not out of curiosity, but simply out of a desire to better understand this reform for future living purposes, a large number of villagers will come here to watch and get firsthand information about the reform.

"A reform plan for the economy and ninja system of Kirigakure..."

Thanks to her exceptional eyesight, even though the area around the notice board was already crowded with people, Tsunade still managed to see the posted notice.

"Contribution Point System and Silver System... Contribution Point Exchange Scope... Implementation Time..."

Because someone was blocking the way, even with Tsunade's exceptional eyesight, she could only see the upper half of the reform notice.

However, the content of the notice in the upper part was no different from what the passerby at the restaurant had said, mainly about the full rollout of the contribution point system and the scope of contribution point redemption.

However, the details here are much more comprehensive than what the passerby said, with many additional rules.

For example, the sources of contribution points are detailed here, specifying some of the ways to obtain them.

The main sources are mission assignments and special rewards from the village.

"The mission request process in Kirigakure has also changed..."

Tsunade looked at the notice board in the distance, pondering the impact of the changes.

According to the notice board, merchants and outsiders would still be paid in silver when commissioning tasks from Kirigakure. However, when accepting missions from ninjas, the village would no longer pay them silver; instead, they would be given contribution points as payment.

"This inflow and outflow means that all payment and transaction terminals in Kirigakure are now under the village's control. In the event of any major incident, the village can leverage this dual currency system to acquire substantial wealth..."

As the Senju princess who grew up under the influence of the Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju, Tsunade was naturally no political novice; otherwise, she wouldn't have been able to achieve such success as Hokage later on.

If she puts her mind to it, she can still figure out some tricks of these basic political and economic tactics.

"However, in this way, the core of this economic system lies in the contribution points. To gain the support of the many ninjas in Kirigakure, this dual-track economic system of contribution points and silver must make them realize the superiority of this system. In other words, the scope of contribution point exchange must be tightly controlled to satisfy their desires..."

Perhaps she was too bored during this period, or perhaps she remembered her promise to Konoha to gather information about Kirigakure and send it back to the village, Tsunade subconsciously put herself in the shoes of Kirigakure's leadership and thought about the shortcomings of their economic system.

With this thought in mind, she immediately looked over, trying to see the specific contents and points that could be exchanged for contribution points.

"All ninja supplies, including ninja tools, rations, and explosive tags, are collected by the village and subject to a monopoly system. Any purchases must be made by the ninja themselves using contribution points."

"To encourage the village's ninja training and foster a martial spirit, the Elders' Council has approved Lord Hozuki Shingetsu's decision to fully open up the eligibility for purchasing ninjutsu. Anyone who reaches a certain rank can use contribution points to purchase ninjutsu of various levels. (Note: Purchased ninjutsu can only be used for personal training; anyone found teaching ninjutsu without prior notification will be executed.)"

"Status level?"

Tsunade noticed a key word in the notice and frowned.

Her intuition told her that this social hierarchy seemed to play an important role in this reform, and that the core of the reform might even lie in these four words: social hierarchy.

"Given the surge in the number of ninjas in the village, the previous ninja rank system is no longer sufficient to reflect the village's legitimacy. The ninja rank system will now be divided into two categories: military and technical, as follows: Ninja Academy Student, Genin, Elite Genin, Chunin, Elite Chunin, Jonin, Elite Jonin, Elder, and Kage, for a total of nine ranks."

"Students at the Ninja Academy can purchase Rank E ninjutsu."

"Genin - Elite Genin, can purchase ninjutsu below rank D, priced at 100 contribution points."

"Chunin - Elite Chunin, can purchase C-rank ninjutsu, price 3,000 contribution points."

"Jonin can purchase B-rank ninjutsu for 30,000 contribution points."

"Elite Jonin can purchase A-rank ninjutsu for 100,000 contribution points."

"After review by the Elders Council and Lord Hozuki Shingetsu, those who have made great contributions are eligible to purchase S-rank ninjutsu for 500,000 contribution points."

"The contribution points paid for each level of mission are as follows..."

After reading the first half of the reform plan, Tsunade silently calculated the number of tasks required to exchange for each level of ninjutsu and was shocked.

"In other words, you need to complete thirty S-rank missions to qualify for purchasing A-rank ninjutsu. As for S-rank ninjutsu, you need to complete one hundred and fifty S-rank ninjutsu before you can buy it... For normal people, even if they qualify for purchasing these ninjutsu, it's like a radish hanging in front of a donkey—desirable but unattainable!"

Among the current Konoha ninjas, the one who has completed the most S-rank missions is Hatake Sakumo, with about sixty.

In other words, even with Sakumo Hatake's abilities, he could only purchase two A-rank ninjutsu.

As for a normal Jonin, they would probably have to fight with all their might for a lifetime to even qualify for the purchase of an A-rank ninjutsu.

Compared to these advanced ninjutsu, the difficulty of acquiring mid-to-low-level ninjutsu below C-rank is much lower.

Basically, as long as a genin or chunin puts in the effort, they can buy a C-rank ninjutsu within two or three years.

"By drastically reducing the benefits for junior and junior ninjas, while using S-rank and A-rank ninjutsu as bait to keep the senior ninjas in suspense... as a result, the strength of the low- and mid-rank ninjas in Kirigakure will likely increase significantly in the future."

"But what about Jonin? ... For Jonin who come from ninja clans, these ninjutsu are not very meaningful. The key is Jonin who come from ordinary backgrounds."

"For ordinary people, reaching the level of Jonin is already their limit. Increasing their strength further wouldn't make much sense. Instead, it's better to use these radishes to keep them hanging on, giving them a glimmer of hope so they'll fight to the death for the village... If they can accumulate enough contribution points, compared to their contributions to the village, giving them this ninjutsu will be worth a fortune..."

When Tsunade saw this, her back was already covered in cold sweat.

She felt a strange sense of familiarity. This method of establishing rules not by using personal force in a simple and brutal way, but by using the overall situation and people's hearts to influence the village little by little and transform it into his ideal shape, felt like she had seen it somewhere before.

Suddenly, she got her inspiration from the words "ninja school" that people around her were talking about.

"Yes, it's Second Grandfather!"

The current reforms in Kirigakure are strikingly similar to the reforms in Konoha under Tobirama Senju.

How could Hashirama Senju, a guy with all his brawn and no brains, have managed to govern a village?

He was merely a nominal Hokage at the time; Tobirama Senju was the Hokage who actually handled the village's affairs.

It can be said that from the time the village was founded until Tobirama Senju died in the First Shinobi World War, Tobirama Senju was the de facto Hokage.

This period coincided precisely with the time when Tsunade was growing up and keeping records.

In her memory, Konoha had a similar setup when it established the Ninja Academy, formed the Anbu, and created the Konoha Police Force.

"Tsunade, remember this: as leaders, everything we do has a clear purpose. That is to expand our base as much as possible, to gather as many people as possible around us, and to clearly establish a distinct enemy or target."

"Throughout this process, you must remember the three words: cost-effectiveness. The essence of being a Hokage lies in how to balance these three factors with limited resources."

The voice of Tobirama Senju still seemed to echo in her ears. Tsunade looked at the notice board in front of her and seemed to be lost in memories for a moment.

-

Unlike the contribution point system that is widely discussed outside, another major issue is being discussed in places like Kirigakure Hospital, Chakra Research Institute, and Ninja Academy Professional Skills Class.

"A technically skilled ninja... I knew Lord Crescent Moon hadn't forgotten our contributions!"

Looking at the reform plan in his hand, the acting director of the Chakra Research Institute couldn't help but shed tears.

As a key project built since Hozuki Shingetsu took power, the Chakra Research Institute is of great importance to him because it is related to many of his plans. However, its position in the village is extremely awkward.

The reason is simple: he, the acting director of the Chakra Research Institute, was merely a Chunin.

There was no other way, because when the Chakra Research Institute was first established, the main force consisted of ninjas who were either disabled or retired, so the acting director could only be selected from among these people.

As for those ninjas who were crippled or retired before becoming Jonin, even if they wanted to contribute their remaining strength and status, there were plenty of places for them to do so. Naturally, they would not come to this Chakra Research Institute to conduct such boring basic chakra research.

Therefore, even he, as the acting director, was only a Chunin according to the normal ninja ranking system.

Although the Chakra Research Institute has gained fame in recent years for developing key weapons and ninjutsu such as the Chakra Cannon and the first two activations of the Seven-Day Breathing Technique, and has made some noise in the village, it still cannot hide the fact that he, the acting director, is only a Chunin.

Although outsiders respect him out of respect for Hozuki Shingetsu, that's about it.

Ninja villages, or rather the entire ninja world, are ultimately guided by strength.

The prevailing attitude in the ninja world is to revere the strong and those with powerful martial arts. As for those who have honed their skills in various technical fields, others will only offer a few words of praise when they need it, but in reality, they don't care at all.

Even Tsunade became famous for joining forces with Jiraiya and Orochimaru to withstand the attack of the "demigod" Hanzo of the Salamander, not for her superb medical ninjutsu or for solving any acute illnesses.

After all, if you can't even get into the Jonin Conference, you can't participate in any political matters or key meetings. How can you expect others to value your Chakra Research Institute?

But it is different now.

According to this reform plan, from now on, Kirigakure will establish ninjas with both military and technical specializations.

Ninjas who graduate normally from the Ninja Academy's combat training class and engage in combat work are called military ninjas and follow the military ninja system. Their promotion path is based on the number of missions completed and their own strength.

Ninjas who graduate from the ninja academy's specialized skills program and work in fields such as medicine, chakra research, and weapons development are called technical ninjas and follow the technical ninja system. They advance through the technical ninja path based on their professional skills and research achievements.

In terms of political status, technical ninjas and military ninjas are of equal status, and both military and technical ninjas are qualified to join the Jonin class and participate in the Jonin Conference.

This way, one can perfectly avoid the situation where someone makes a significant contribution to the village but is unable to receive the treatment they deserve due to their own strength.

Take the acting director of the Chakra Research Institute as an example. According to the new reform plan, he should be able to be awarded the title of technical ninja, and if he is lucky, he may even get a glimpse of the identity of a technical elite ninja.

He wasn't the only one excited about the reform plan; the director of Kirigakure Hospital, the teachers and students of the Ninja Academy's professional skills class, all celebrated it.

-

"Ninth-level ninja physique..."

Hozuki Shingetsu looked at the bustling crowd below the Mizukage Building, pondering the advancement path of this level nine ninja system.

"No... it's not the right time yet. Now is not the time to take action against this ninja promotion system."

Hozuki Shingetsu shook his head, abandoning his idea.

"Extending this contribution point system to the entire village, giving everyone the hope of exchanging for any ninjutsu, has already caused dissatisfaction among those old fogies."

"Under the current contribution point exchange system, it's extremely difficult for a normal person to exchange for even one A-rank ninjutsu in their lifetime, so the impact on them is almost negligible. It's only because of my suppression that they haven't shown any particular reaction. If I were to make further changes to this ninja promotion system, I reckon they would explode..."

"Besides, it's not wartime now, and there's no clear reward and punishment system to support such a change, so we have to wait..."

"What do you mean 'why isn't the right time'?"

Yukina looked up curiously, reached out and brushed her hair aside, and looked at Hozuki Shingetsu.

"It's okay... Go ahead and do your thing, don't get distracted."

Without answering Yukinagi's question, Hozuki Shingetsu picked up a document from the desk, stared at it for a long time, and then bent down to put it in the safe next to Yukinagi.

Yukina, performing her duties as a secretary, glanced at it curiously and saw three large characters written on it:

Military merit rank.

(End of this chapter)