The photo was taken during the time of the First Raikage.
At first, people just thought it was a mistake, like dust falling onto the telescope lens, or maybe a "ghost shadow" showing up when the picture was taken. That kind of thing wasn't rare.
But after day after day of records, reports of alien-like activity only grew more and more.
The Hidden Cloud Village had no choice but to face a problem.
"There really is a type of lifeform on the moon. They're standing right above humanity's heads, watching us."
Killer B said, "The moon is so barren. Every Raikage through the generations has believed that sooner or later, these monsters hiding on the moon will come down, and war will break out with humans."
"Humans need to have the power to resist them."
That is the reason why the Hidden Cloud has continuously expanded its military.
The ninja and ninjutsu that exist now can't, in any true sense, fight against an enemy on a cosmic level. They need even greater power.
This is also why Hidden Cloud ninjas, from top to bottom, have always been instilled with the belief, 'Better to die than surrender.'
Because their imagined enemy isn't other villages' ninjas, not even humans at all, but the aliens on the moon.
For two races that don't belong to each other, once you choose to surrender, the side that surrenders will become livestock.
Sasuke held the photo with both hands, "But why didn't the Hidden Cloud want to spread this news? To let more people join in your plan?"
Secretary Mabui answered, "Because of selfishness."
The resources in the world that can be used to strengthen the military are limited.
If the message were told to the whole world, the result would be everyone expanding their military at once, competing with each other in the process, evolving into war, and even…
"We can't rule out the possibility that some people, for profit, power, or so-called peace, would actively hunt down the resistance faction and side with the aliens, becoming 'human traitors.'"
Sasuke felt the stares fall onto him.
"…Why are you all looking at me?"
Killer B gave a light cough, "No reason."
Before Danzo's death, he had publicly spoken out, in front of all the Root members, Kakashi, Asuma, and others, about his deal with Uchiha Itachi.
In the ninja world, walls have ears, and this time it wasn't even whispered, it was shouted openly.
The news of Uchiha Itachi's "madness" was already no secret to the leaders of every great village. Even inside the Akatsuki, Pain and Konan already knew.
Though, after that news leaked, it actually erased Pain's earlier doubts about Itachi. Instead, he felt that Itachi's ideology overlapped with his own in many ways.
Both wanted to bring peace to the world through pain and blood.
Only, Pain's pain was aimed outward, at others. Itachi's pain was aimed inward, at his own people.
Ryosuke pulled the topic back, "What you call 'selfishness', you're not only talking about others, you mean the Hidden Cloud itself as well, don't you?"
Killer B stayed silent for a while, then slowly nodded.
That's right.
Of course the Hidden Cloud had its own selfishness.
To resist aliens who could descend at any time, they had poured immense effort into military buildup, making themselves strong, bearing the responsibility of guarding humanity. Naturally, they wanted the corresponding power in return.
To have all the villages look to the Hidden Cloud as leader, to hold dominion over the world.
Originally, after generations of planning, the Leaf Village had grown old, the Mist Village had destroyed itself, the Sand Village was poor, the Stone Village cowardly, this era was exactly the time for the Hidden Cloud to rise. But no one had expected…
Secretary Mabui glanced at Ryosuke, sighing inwardly.
And now the problem circled back again.
Should the Hidden Cloud continue its military buildup or not?
If not, then while the other villages focus on developing industry, it's like, others hold guns, while we hold grain. And when the aliens come down, maybe they really will turn them into livestock.
If they continue, then the risk of war from the Hidden Cloud still remains.
Ryosuke thought deeply for a long while, then gave his answer, "Continue military investment, but reduce actual production. Focus instead on research into military technology. And the Hidden Cloud and the Hidden Mist should build a joint laboratory, for combined research."
He noticed the odd expressions on the three opposite him.
Naturally, because in the eyes of Killer B and the other two, the Hidden Mist had been 'the Bloody Mist' for over ten years. What capability did they have for joint research? Just as they were about to find a way to refuse, Ryosuke added another sentence,
"I'll bring out Orochimaru's biotechnology."
Killer B grabbed Ryosuke's hand, "I'll start gathering manpower immediately, we'll form the joint research team."
Ryosuke nodded.
He decided that after his death, he would have to burn more paper for Orochimaru. No, just paper wouldn't be enough. He'd need to make some paper effigies, paper snakes.
As for the memory and ninjutsu discs of the Fourth Raikage A, Ryosuke would return them depending on the Hidden Cloud's cooperation.
If all went well, in three years they'd be returned.
By then, the Hidden Cloud would be Killer B's village, and the world structure would already have transformed.
The crippled body, the thoughts stuck in the past, A could just hold onto his pain, reflect on what he had done, and quietly retire.
With the core issues resolved, the rest of the details and coordination would be handled between Mei Terumi and Killer B through fine negotiations. Ryosuke didn't need to bother himself with that.
As long as, when all the details were done, he checked over everything one last time and gave his nod.
'After this negotiation ends, the Mist, the Cloud, and the Leaf will all teach the 'Awakening Thought' course.'
'The Sand is said to be very poor, but as long as we find a way to adapt the course content to their situation and boost productivity, giving classes in the Sand won't be difficult.'
'On average, each village will bring me 10 soul fragment income a day. That's 40 per day, and in one month that's 1,200…'
'As expected, it really is 'income while sleeping' that makes people obsessed.'
Not only soul fragments, alongside the adjustments of each village's tech tree, boosting productivity, the ninja world would gain more stable time. And beneath that calm river, the current called the Awakening Thought would spread outward, with the ninja villages as the center.
———
"Samui, come out."
Raikage's guard Darui knocked on the cell.
"Who won?" Samui asked.
"Lord Fourth Raikage lost."
"Huh?"
Samui had asked who won. Normally, shouldn't the answer have been "the Hidden Cloud won" or "Ryosuke won"? Why say "the Fourth Raikage lost"?
"…The situation is a bit complicated," Darui said.
In the short term, with Raikage A crippled, reparations to pay, many members of the ninja corps injured, and a cut in military spending, all this would weaken the Cloud's battle strength.
But in the long term, with someone to share the cost of "the alien war," gaining Orochimaru's biotechnology, the Cloud would only become stronger than before.
"…The elders have appointed Killer B as acting Raikage. If all goes smoothly, he'll go from acting to official."
After hearing all this, Samui's head spun.
'What even is all this?'
She'd only been locked up in prison for a few days. And in that time, the Raikage stepped down, Ryosuke defeated an entire village by himself, her scatterbrained teacher rose to power, and now aliens got dragged into it…
When she finally came back to her senses, Samui found herself standing in front of the Raikage Building's conference room.
She gave Darui a look, asking why he had brought her here.
"And you," Darui said, "will take full responsibility for the coordination with the Hidden Mist."
"Me?"
Samui had just been branded a "traitor ninja," thrown into prison, awaiting judgment.
Now, in the blink of an eye, because of Ryosuke's victory, she was suddenly promoted to the person in charge of coordinating with the Mist.
No matter how you looked at it…
Didn't it seem exactly like she had sold out her own village to live in luxury?
Samui's expression turned ugly.
Just then, Darui opened the conference room door. Inside she saw her teacher sitting in the Raikage's seat, Secretary Mabui, and Ryosuke, whom she hadn't seen for a while.
Ryosuke smiled.
'His smile really is so nice,' Samui thought.
And she thought again of how she had always practiced smiling.
She believed she had gotten much better than before.
But in this moment, Samui couldn't smile at all.
Her face stayed cold.
As always.
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