"This crazy woman!" Hatake Sakumo glared at the furious Suna-nin in the distance and said angrily, "I clearly didn't do anything!"
All he did was stab them once. How did it turn into destroying the evidence?
Had the Suna-nin taken too long to retrieve the bodies, leaving them to be eaten by dogs?
Otherwise, how could those two corpses have disappeared for no reason?
But…
If they took so long to collect the bodies, then it wasn't his fault. How could they curse him as a pervert and corpse-abusing maniac while charging at him like madmen?
Did they have no shame?
Besides…
Even if he had really done it, so what?
Could ninja affairs really be called corpse abuse?
"It really wasn't you?" Dan asked with a strange expression, looking at Hatake Sakumo.
Originally, after Hatake Sakumo's assassination, Sunagakure was about to surrender, and he was about to return to the village with the prestige of victory and enjoy the villagers' admiration. But in the end…
Had Sunagakure gone mad?
They were all charging at them like crazy, ready to fight to the death.
"No," Hatake Sakumo said irritably. "I have very strong samurai principles."
He would never do something like abusing corpses.
"But…" Dan saw Hatake Sakumo's expression and believed him, sighing helplessly. "According to the intelligence gathered by our spies, they really didn't find the bodies."
So…
"They couldn't find them?" Hatake Sakumo narrowed his eyes and muttered, "Who's trying to frame me?"
...
"It was me," Uzumaki Jun nodded and said. "You know the war is about to end."
"So, Uzushiogakure must prepare to open up to the outside world."
"Staying closed off like this isn't good for Uzushiogakure's development."
"This policy was proposed by me."
"No, that's not what I'm concerned about," Kakuzu said helplessly, flipping through the documents. "Even though you've done so many things that would enrage other villages—enough to get Uzushiogakure ganged up on if they found out."
"But I don't care about that."
It didn't matter to him how many bloodline limits Uzumaki Jun collected.
"What I care about is this." Kakuzu pointed at the document. "Why are we giving foreign merchants a three-year tax and rent exemption policy?"
This way…
He would lose a lot of money!
"To attract foreign merchants," Uzumaki Jun sighed helplessly. "You know what happened last time. Gato worked so hard but only managed to bring in a few merchants."
"Merchants are the most sensitive group. They simply don't believe a small country like Uzushiogakure can offer them protection."
And…
Ninja affairs couldn't be called stealing.
"Only with prosperous commerce will Uzushiogakure thrive."
If they didn't give these merchants a taste of the benefits and encourage them to join Uzushiogakure, no matter how good or affordable Uzushiogakure's products were, those merchants wouldn't come.
Currently, relying solely on Uzushiogakure's exports couldn't keep up with production.
Especially since future production would only increase. If Uzushiogakure couldn't absorb it internally, they would have to rely on these foreign merchants to purchase and sell the goods in their own countries.
Otherwise…
With dozens of countries in the ninja world, Gato would be worked to death.
"How about three months?" Kakuzu fell silent for a moment before growling, "No one can take money from Kakuzu's hands. That's my bottom line."
"…"
This wasn't taking money from you!
It was just not collecting taxes for three years.
Uzumaki Jun looked at Kakuzu speechlessly and sighed. "This is just a proposal. We'll consult Gato later. After all, he understands business matters better."
"Fine." Kakuzu relaxed when he heard Uzumaki Jun's words. He decided to go talk to that fat man later and ask for his opinion.
With a knife in hand…
"And what about this?"
"The Mechanical Industry Department?" Kakuzu pointed at another line. "Isn't this the same as the Research Department?"
"Yes, the Mechanical Department is part of the Research Department," Uzumaki Jun nodded. "But the current Research Department can no longer meet the daily technological research needs of Uzushiogakure."
Machinery, biology—everything was lumped together!
In the short term, it was fine. But over time, as projects multiplied, if they weren't subdivided, problems would arise.
Right now, Uzushiogakure's research institute didn't care what you specialized in. As long as there was a research project, everyone would jump in. Now that they had brought Scorpion's parents here, it was time to subdivide the research institute.
As for whether Scorpion's parents could be saved…
At worst, he could just go to Sunagakure and recruit Scorpion for training.
"It's time to start subdividing."
"Then… does it make money?" Kakuzu narrowed his eyes and asked. "Does this mechanical stuff make money?"
After all, building a new research facility required money!
If there was no profit…
He would invest less—though not investing at all was impossible. The research institute was currently Uzushiogakure's cash cow!
Just the previous arms deals had recouped years of investment, with profits several hundred times over. Especially those scientific ninja swords—they were sold at national treasure prices.
He could spare some money, but…
It hurt his heart!!
"Yes!" Uzumaki Jun smiled faintly. "High-tech industries are profitable."
If they weren't profitable, why would the original world recruit so many technical talents?
As for when they would start making money…
Who knew with inventions?
Right now, what he cared about was…
Had Scorpion's parents woken up yet?
...
"Chiro." A black-haired woman in a hospital gown suddenly opened her eyes. "I…" Then, she clutched her stomach in pain and murmured, "Is this the afterlife?"
The woman looked around in confusion.
There was a bed, a lamp, and she could still feel pain.
This place didn't seem any different from the real world.
"Where's Chiro?" The woman clutched her wound and looked around, tears in her eyes. "Chiro, where are you?"
"Chiro?" A young woman with light yellow hair, wearing a white medical coat, walked in and adjusted her glasses. "That red-haired man?"
"Who are you?" The black-haired woman tensed when she saw the newcomer. "Where… is this?"
"Is this the world of the dead?"
"I'm your attending physician, Yakushi Nono." Nono adjusted her glasses. "This isn't the world of the dead. This is Uzushiogakure."
"As for your husband, he…"
"Where is he?" The woman grew anxious upon hearing Nono's words. "What happened to him?"
As for whether this was the afterlife or Uzushiogakure…
She ignored it. All she wanted was to see Chiro, to know how he was.
"Calm down first." Nono sighed at the woman's nervous expression. "He's in the emergency room and hasn't been stabilized yet."
"So…"
"You need to be prepared. But we'll do our best to save him."
"Chiro is alive?" The woman's eyes widened, tears welling up. "He's still alive?"
"Yes, but he's not out of danger yet." Nono nodded. "Don't panic. Trust the doctors. We'll do everything we can."
"He's alive…" The woman froze for a moment, tears streaming down her face as she smiled faintly. "Chiro is alive…"
"…"
Nono sighed. Had she not understood what was said?
Even though he was alive…
He wasn't out of danger yet!
Even with Uzushiogakure's life potions being highly effective, Chiro's body was currently rejecting any form of vitality, wasting every dose administered.
He had been dead for too long, causing parts of his body to reject life energy.
So…
He wasn't truly alive yet.
Nono opened her mouth, wanting to tell her to stay calm, but thinking of how a woman who had lost her beloved husband must feel, she sighed inwardly. "Let her be happy for a while."
"Doctor." The woman snapped back to reality, clutching her wound as she stood up hesitantly. "I…"
Could she go see him?
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