Countries and Contracts
This shows the countries and your current relationship status with them, as well as the current contracts you possess. The contracts range from Basic – Advanced – Intricate – Immersive – Mutually Beneficial Treaty.
Land of Fire – [Neutral] – Basic Contract
Land of Wind – [Neutral] – Basic Contract
Land of Water – [Amicable] – Advanced Contract
Land of Lightning – [Neutral] – Basic Contract
Land of Earth – [Neutral] – Basic Contract
Land of Iron – [Disliked] – No Contract
Land of Snow – [Neutral] – Basic Contract
Land of Bears – [Neutral] – No Contract
Land of Tea – [Neutral] – No Contract
It was a lot of information to deal with, especially considering how Gato was dragging me by the arm as he made sure that I listened to him while he ratted off information that had already been fed to me far easier by my gaming interface. All through it, my mind was racking, ideas, unbidden began to form, newer and newer ones and even greater ones combined with my previous knowledge.
If I cut off supply to Land of Wind?
It would create an artificial scarcity of food items and important necessities, contributing to a group of factors that will jump-start the Suna invasion of Konoha nearly a decade earlier. Except, Orochimaru hasn't established Otogakure yet, which meant that Suna would look for another partner to back them up, and if that partner happened to be another of the Big Five, say, Iwagakure?
I'd have started the Fourth Shinobi War – twelve to eleven years early.
Without ever having thrown a single jutsu.
I would have begun laughing like a maniac at the realization of just how much power was at my fingertips, had it not been for the fact that a rough hand smacked into the back of my head.
–4HP!
"Pay attention boy! I'm not going to repeat any of this!"
Eagerly, to Gato's surprise, and probable confusion, I nodded, listened, and watched, as I realized, that I was going to take over the Naruto world using good ol' fashioned…
Economics.
Several hours and more information added into Gato's crash course, I realized that I couldn't simply just back out of a deal with an entire nation without them probably searching for another means of shipping, but, the beauty of it, was the fact that Gato owned a significant amount of ports, meaning, essentially, he had a monopoly. Hence, any other shipping company that intended on doing business would have to go through him, which was the equivalent of them landing on the green houses, and then the blue hotels, finding themselves unable to pay the ridiculously jacked up prices, and eventually heading straight to jail without passing Go.
As I stared back at the man, watching him go off on some information about the distribution of rice, I couldn't help but wonder if he was even aware of just how badly he could utterly cripple and destroy entire nations. It also made me wonder, or consider, how utterly impossible it would be, for someone with this much power, to station himself at Nami no Kuni, hire two less-than-reputable missing nin, and squabble over the life of a bridge-builder.
I shook my head at that notion, and instead, focused back on my interface, which was now a mix and mash of Sim-City and what I could recognize as the Assassin's Creed management option, particularly, the one from Assassin's Creed III, which allowed me to send out ships filled to the brim with cargo, down either potentially dangerous routes which were shorter, or through longer safer routes.
However, when my eyes tracked over to the amount of money I had –
"Oi! Oi! Boy! What the hell's wrong with you?"
"He fainted!"
"You! Get my son some water right this instant!"
My mind blurred out all other sound, over the sweet, sweet mindnumbing mantra of –
So many zeroes.
_____________________________________
Walking through the town had been difficult.
"Heh – never seen this side of life before have you brat?"
With all of the major work done at the port, Gato had decided that it would be time to go handle his 'other' business, and this had required us to walk down the streets of Waterlily Town, the port town in which he possessed complete and utter influence.
"P-please – some food – just – provide me with some food –"
I had barely noticed the boy that had clutched unto my ankle, his form tattered, his body bonier and skinnier than anything I could imagine, and there was that look in his eyes – a look of sheer and utter desperation, a look of someone who had gazed into the depths of hell and laughed because the flames were a solace. I had never actually seen such eyes before, and, before I could as much as utter a response, the Ronin at my side appeared, his feet swung out, catching the beggar boy in the ribs, and sending him soaring away from me like a grown man would kick aside a kitten.
"Tsk! Don't let them touch you – you'll catch some of their filth."
I swallowed my suddenly dry throat.
Everywhere my eyes turned, I could see it, smell it, hear it – poverty, starvation, sickness, disease, hunger – the darkest depths of human suffering encapsulated into a tiny mix-and-match ensemble. From the beggars on the streets, to the sharp-eyed pickpockets, to the cut throats, to even the fully grown women dressed in short skirts and revealing tops, gum in mouth and cigarette in lips, with eyes that leered in my direction shamelessly.
"Oh, come on now little boy~! I'll show you a real good time!"
"Beat it whore!" one of my father's guards said, pushing the woman to the ground.
"Oh, don't worry – we'll have a real good time yeah? Of course, you understand that this is going to be on the house… heh heh."
I ignored the sound of the woman's rebuttal, and likewise ignored the sound of the slaps that echoed, and the sounds of the men who were meant to protect me, descending upon her.
It was infuriating, irritating, because these people weren't real!
They were not real!
All of this, all of it was just someone's imagination running its course – they were suffering because someone had created Gato, and decided that Gato's influence brought upon the impoverishment and suffering of others. All of this, it was predestined, preordained – and as such, I had no obligation to help them, to help a bunch of unimportant extras who were there for the sole purpose of giving the world a hint of realism.
Except…
I grit my teeth.
All of it… felt so… so… real.
"Stop."
My father, along with the other few guards, were all staring at me.
I didn't care though, I stood in front of the two thugs, my gaze struck predominantly on them. These weren't the elite ronin my father hired, but just normal, extra-muscle thugs. They both turned to stare at me, likewise did the unfortunate prostitute who had been stripped of her top, her breasts hanging in the air, and her skirt now in pieces.
"Boy, what in the world do you think you're doing?"
I didn't avert my gaze. "If they want to have a good time, then pay the woman, and make sure she agrees to it."
The two men turned to stare at each other.
Then, one snickered.
Just like that, a burst of laughter escaped from their lips, from all of their lips, thug and ronin alike, loud, rancorous laughter at my expense. I didn't stop staring at them though, as my eyes rolled over their plain features, their dull brown clothes and plain black hair, their machetes put in place at the side of their pants, and their other information. The left one was Level 9, and the right one was Level 10 – Ping and Yoshi were their names.
"I think you have something mixed up, Junior-sama," Ping hissed out the honorific as though it were a curse "But, this is the way things work around here. Your father allows us have what we want, when we want it, and how we want it. And right now, we want this whore."
I tilted my head, not blinking, not redirecting my gaze.
"And I say, if you want her, pay her, and then ask her."
Yoshi snorted. "And if we don't? What're you going to do, run to your father and beg him to make us stop?"
"No." The word escaped my lips like ice. "I'm not my father. I'll handle it my way."
The two men, Yoshi, talentless thug, and Ping, notorious thief, glanced back at each other, and then smirked.
"Well then, if that's the case –"
Ping pinned the woman down.
I moved.
The thing was, I had no training, that is, no formal shinobi training, but, unlike these two, I had chakra. Chakra was the cheat sheet for physical development, and despite being a small, four year old boy, despite possessing laughable strength and negligible combat ability, they had not expected me.
A brief burst of chakra was all I needed, ignoring how my CHK Bar near-emptied from the action as I was in between the two men. They turned to me, eyes wide, but I had replayed it in my mind over and over, and Ping could not react before I detached his blade from its sheath, raw adrenaline pumping through my body as I swung it in an arc.
INITIATIVE ATTACK!
CRITICAL HIT!
CRITICAL HIT!
Fatal Damage!
Idly, I ignored the gurgling sounds that came out from their throats in favor of wondering why blood always had the thick odor of copper. It would also be annoying to eventually get the heavy splash stains off my robes, but considering I did not do my own laundry, I suppose I could not truly care.
There was a pounding in my ears, even as right hand which gripped the blade felt inexplicably cold and moist, yet, strangely, as I watched the disbelieving looks of the two men, the sounds of the gurgles echoing louder in the complete ambient silence, I searched for some moral conundrum, for some part of me which screamed at the act I had committed, and instead, all I found, was slow, increasing, satisfaction.
Two bodies dropped to the ground beside a frightened prostitute, and I flicked the blood of the plain, Regular Steel Blade as I grabbed the sheath from the body of the dying Ping, whose eyes still stared up at me in disbelief.
"Thank you," I said, managing my lips into a smile "For being so stupid."
{22/10} Charisma Check Passed!
I sheathed the blade amidst further silence, before turning back to the woman, and raising an eyebrow.
"Leave. And next time – don't do stupid things." I gestured to the dead bodies. "It never end well."
The woman scurried away faster than I thought possible, and I held my new trophy in my hand as I turned back to my father and the rest of his guards.
"Ah, that felt good to get off my chest. Now, where were we heading to again?"
Special Event Completed!
Birth of the Cutthroat
You have attained a special weapon – Firstblood Sword!
Reputation with Gato Increased!
Reputation with the Fourteen Gates Increased!
Reputation with the people of Waterlily Port Town Increased!
Title Unlocked – Little Cutthroat!
Achievement Unlocked – One Hit Kill
Achievement Unlocked – Goliath, Meet David
Fame Increased!
Infamy Increased!
You have gained 2500EXP!
You have leveled up!
Level 1 Level 2!
You have (7) undistributed stat points.
It said a lot about the type of environment I lived in, that my casual murder of two men, was immediately received with warm, open hands, and genuine, impressed smiles.
"Hahahaha! That's my boy!"
The manner in which Gato ruffled my hair and uttered those words made me feel like I was Spike being patted on the head by Butch, simply for chasing Tom up a tree. Strangely enough, I was completely okay with this.
Hmm… could I become a serial killer in this manner?
Wait, most shinobi were already serial killers by default, so even I gathered up all the pedophiles I could find and slit their throats, no one would bat an eyelash.
Meh, I'd stick with my plan of fucking up the world's economy.
First things first though – my eyes scanned the ridiculously atrocious city which I technically 'owned', and I shook my head.
Yeah… no. It would be best to have people worship the ground upon which I walked, and treating me like I was a deity sent from Kami directly, than for them to live in poverty and suffering, and cursing out my name from the streets. The French Revolution was a prime example of just what would happen if Gato continued to step on the toes of the poor people with nothing to lose.
I was certain that this tale, of me 'standing up for' a useless, no-named, prostitute would immediately spread from the woman's lips, to the lips of others in her business, to the lips of the locals, and just like that, I would have started to integrate myself as the people's champion.
Had I actually cared about the whore's plight?
Pft. No.
She was a prostitute – she already slept with men for a living, why in the world should I care if two people decided that they didn't want to pay her or ask her for services she already diligently offered?
But, of course, the people around me believed that I cared – and that was the entire point.
I grinned.
It was all a matter of time.