"Move to another place? And who do you think would accept them?"
"According to your plan, stopping the wars between the great nations would render the Ninja Villages, as military forces, useless. No Ninja Village would be willing to let outsiders take away their share of missions."
"Wouldn't the Daimyo of the Land of Wind be willing to help their own Ninja Village?" Konan asked, puzzled.
"Heh!" Naruto chuckled as if recalling a joke. "Perhaps you don't know this, but the Daimyo of the Land of Wind has been cutting Sunagakure's funding and has handed over most of the Land of Wind's mission shares to Konoha."
"This..."
Konan hadn't expected this. The Land of Rain had been isolated for a long time, and the Akatsuki's missions rarely involved such matters.
"Ultimately, the Ninja Village System is too outdated. Ninja Villages can only sustain themselves through missions, and Ninjas rely on the missions assigned by their villages to make a living."
"But once the mission shares from various countries decrease, Ninjas lose their stable source of income, making it difficult for them to sustain their own lives."
"Sunagakure is a prime example. When the Land of Wind reduced their mission shares, the entire village fell into extreme poverty. So as soon as they saw Konoha weakening, they immediately chose to wage war."
"But the fact that they launched a war also means that the village's internal Ninja Forces are still quite strong. Yet, they can't think of using this power for anything other than war, which is the least efficient method."
"Because the Ninja Village System has constrained their thinking. The meaning of being a Ninja is to act as a tool to complete others' missions, losing their own initiative."
"So, you're saying we need to break this system?" Konan asked.
Naruto nodded and said, "Achieving temporary peace in the Ninja World is actually quite easy. Your Akatsuki's plan could do it. But to maintain that peace, we need a system that fits the current state of the Ninja World."
"It's like when Senju Hashirama, with his own power, deterred the entire Ninja World and created the 'one nation, one village' system."
"But history has proven that Hashirama's system doesn't fit the modern Ninja World. That peace crumbled after his death, and within just sixty years, three Ninja World Wars have broken out."
"This means that the Ninja World needs a new system."
Konan slowly began to understand Naruto's point. The Ninja Village System was the root cause of the long-standing conflicts and wars in the Ninja World.
Because Ninjas didn't engage in production, they could only sustain themselves through missions. But the share of missions wasn't determined by the villages themselves.
Instead, it is determined by the upper-class nobles.
Because Konoha's Ninjas were stronger than Sunagakure's, the Daimyo of the Land of Wind transferred a large portion of missions to Konoha.
As a result, Sunagakure Ninjas, who suddenly lost a significant number of missions, struggled to sustain themselves. Over time, they grew increasingly impoverished.
Resentment began to build among the Ninjas, and when it erupted, it would trigger the next Ninja World War.
It was precisely because of this accumulated resentment that Sunagakure was the first to declare war on Konoha after the latter was attacked.
Because they needed to reclaim their share of missions from Konoha to keep their village functioning.
Konan finally understood why the Land of Waves had made Ninjas a state-organized profession. This way, they could avoid situations where Ninjas couldn't even sustain their own.
It would also significantly reduce the generation of conflicts.
'But...'
'Something still didn't seem right.'
Perhaps the Ninja Village System was indeed flawed, which turned Ninjas into mere tools for completing missions.'
'But...'
"Then isn't the Daimyo who hands over their nation's missions to other Ninja Villages also part of the problem?"
Konan's eyes widened, and she asked Naruto this question.
Naruto felt a sense of relief seeing Konan uncover the issue herself. "Exactly. And this is the most distorted aspect of the Ninja World."
"The Daimyos of the Five Great Nations and the nobles who rely on them for survival, despite being a small minority, control the majority of the Ninja World's wealth. This is highly unreasonable."
"Despite being a very weak group, they can freely decide the fate of others, even entire Ninja Villages. This is even more unreasonable."
"Both the Ninja Village System and the Daimyo System are distorted and wrong. They are the tumors of the Ninja World."
"And I will remove these two tumors, then create a completely new system."
Konan was momentarily speechless. She hadn't expected Naruto to also target the Daimyos. Her hands, clutching the book, tightened involuntarily.
"Then... what kind of system do you want to create?"
Naruto looked at the book in Konan's hands, her fingers pale from gripping it too tightly.
"It's all in this textbook. And the students growing up in the Land of Waves' school will strive for this goal."
Konan stared blankly at the book in her hands, realizing it was far heavier than it appeared to be.
Suddenly, Konan thought of something and asked, "You've told me so much. Is there something you want me to do for you?"
Konan realized that Naruto had analyzed the problems of the Ninja World's system in such detail because he had another purpose in mind.
"Indeed."
Naruto sat up straight, his expression turning serious as he looked at Konan. "What do you think of the Land of Waves as it is now?"
"Although it's still under construction, I think it's quite impressive."
Konan answered honestly.
The Land of Waves' development covered every aspect of the nation… Education, healthcare, housing, it was a comprehensive effort. Even in terms of military strength, with Naruto, Kakuzu, Orochimaru, and the Uchiha Clan, it was far from weak.
And judging by Kakuzu's attitude, Konan believed the economy is in good shape as well.
"In that case, would you like to join the Land of Waves?"
Naruto stood up from the bench and extended a formal invitation.
"Huh?"
Hearing Naruto's request, Konan's mind went blank for a moment. She remembered that she was the one who had come to recruit Naruto into the Akatsuki. 'How had the tables turned so quickly?'
"Your abilities, or rather, the Akatsuki's abilities, would be a powerful asset to the Land of Waves."
Konan was even more confused. "You want the entire Akatsuki to join the Land of Waves?"
"Is there a problem with that?"
"Both the Land of Waves and the Akatsuki aim for peace. And as you've seen, the Akatsuki has its limitations. Why not choose the truly correct path?"
Konan lowered her gaze, her usually calm face showing a trace of worry. Although she felt that Naruto's path might be the right one, she couldn't betray Nagato.
'Nagato's current personality, with those eyes of his, would never lower his head.'
In the end, Konan could only let out a soft sigh.
"Leader of the Land of Waves, you truly possess remarkable talent. My original intention in coming here was to recruit you. But after seeing the state of the Land of Waves, I've already given up on that idea."
"However, if you want to recruit the Akatsuki, that's also impossible."
"With the Nine-Tails, your power might be strong, but you haven't witnessed true power… the kind that belongs to a god. Even the Nine-Tails would feel powerless in the face of it."
"To speak bluntly, even the Land of Waves, which you've worked so hard to build, would be destroyed in an instant by such power."
"The leader of the Akatsuki would never submit to anyone else."
"Oh, is that so?"
Naruto couldn't help but let out a light chuckle.
"Is this what you call the power of a god?"
Konan, hearing Naruto's laugh, wanted to argue further. But when she looked up, the words caught in her throat.
She saw it… a pair of purple eyes that seemed capable of controlling life and death!