Managing a dynasty was no simple matter. Though Uchiha Madara could use the Infinite Tsukuyomi to maintain peace across the shinobi world and keep every last person loyal, whether he could actually provide these people with a decent life was an entirely different question.
A warlord who had unified the shinobi world—if the citizens living under his rule enjoyed a lower standard of living than they had before, that would be rather laughable.
Voban acknowledged Madara's strength without hesitation. But his ability as a ruler?
The memory copy hadn't revealed anything on that front, and thinking about it rationally, it was unlikely to be any good.
A single village was one thing. But this was a nation. This was the entirety of the shinobi world.
Relying solely on the power of the Infinite Tsukuyomi would never be enough.
"I have no time to manage this many people."
Uchiha Madara said this with a calm, unhurried tone.
Setting aside whether he even had an aptitude for it, the sheer demands on his time made it impossible. Training, hunting down items to recover and convert into points—the latter could be delegated to subordinates, but training could only be done by himself.
For him, creating a peaceful world was his aspiration. But at this point in his life, that aspiration carried far less weight than it once had. His hunger for strength mattered far more than the prosperity of this dynasty.
And besides—
"Tianqi."
"Yes, Master."
The moment Madara spoke, a cold, measured voice rang out through the palace.
"What the—an artificial intelligence?"
Roxie Vale's eyes went wide.
"That's correct."
Uchiha Madara let the corner of his mouth curl upward, folding his arms across his chest as he spoke with a light laugh:
"I may not understand the principles behind technology, nor do I have any interest in exploring its future development."
"But that doesn't mean I don't know how powerful technology can be."
"Tianqi is capable of managing this nation on my behalf."
"The shinobi world did have a network in the past, but it was underdeveloped—confined to a very small region."
"In the future, I intend to expand it on a massive scale, letting Tianqi's reach spread across the entire shinobi world."
Tianqi was something he had come across in the Shop—an artificial intelligence created by an unknown civilization from the Heroic Battalion World. It possessed extraordinary processing speed and long-range computational ability, along with the capacity for independent thought.
All he needed was to spend an additional hundred thousand points, and the chat group could transmit the knowledge required directly into Tianqi—everything from the governance of the shinobi world to technological expertise. With that in place, the AI could handle every matter pertaining to this nation perfectly.
At the very least, it would do a better job than he would.
Once the network eventually spread to cover the entire shinobi world, he could simply hand the country over to Tianqi to manage entirely.
People were susceptible to the influence of emotion and thought on their work. Technology was not.
He was not Brandon White, nor was he the Angel Civilization. He had no ambition to elevate this civilization to some grand pinnacle. All he needed was to create a world of absolute peace and beauty—nothing more.
The subsequent development of the civilization would be planned by Tianqi itself, drawing from its own database. Before Tianqi's potential was exhausted, Madara had no need to think about any of that.
"I suppose that's one way to go about it."
"Though it has nothing to do with us, I suppose."
Roxie Vale nodded. Her earlier surprise had stemmed purely from not expecting an artificial intelligence to turn up in the Naruto World. An AI managing a world was the sort of thing that brought a certain movie to mind.
Still—this thing came from the chat group. It should be fine, right?
Whatever. The tech-side powerhouse Angel Yan was right there in the chat group. Which AI would dare cause trouble?
"Have you found the crossover traveler yet?"
"You've taken control of the shinobi world. If he does any investigating at all, he should be able to realize fairly quickly that this world is different from the one in his memory—and from that, he might piece some things together."
"His strength isn't anything remarkable, so even if he figures out a bit, it won't amount to much. But if he runs... that would be a real shame."
In terms of raw power, Uchiha Madara, Marquis Voban, and Brandon White were all powerhouses—Brandon especially so. He had single-handedly taken down a Medium-difficulty Demon Container on his very first task. There was no reason he couldn't deal with a Medium-Low difficulty Chen Yu.
But the man possessed a Rule-Level item. If he managed to escape, that would be far too unfortunate.
That thing might even be a system in its own right.
Something capable of traversing worlds—what kind of Golden Finger ability would that be? Everything at that caliber was worth an extraordinary price.
"I know where Chen Yu is."
Before Roxie Vale had even finished speaking, Brandon White spoke up directly.
"How do you know?"
Both Uchiha Madara and Marquis Voban fixed their gaze on Brandon. Roxie Vale asked in a daze.
"Earth's consciousness."
Brandon said this simply.
"..."
They had momentarily forgotten—even in the Naruto World, the planet beneath their feet was still Earth.
On Earth, if Brandon wanted to know something, it was trivially easy.
But that was so sour to think about...
Brandon paid no attention to the three of them and their expressions—each looking as though they had bitten into a lemon. With a single thought, a crystal doll materialized in his hand.
"Silly Girl, transfer functions."
As he spoke, a stream of green data flowed into Brandon's body. He gave a casual wave, and a holographic projection appeared in the air. The figure within it was the crossover traveler Chen Yu—and beside him stood two others.
Kakuzu and Hidan of the Akatsuki.
However, none of the three present shifted their attention to the projection overhead. Instead, every pair of eyes locked onto the crystal doll in Brandon's hand.
Marquis Voban and Uchiha Madara were fine—merely curious.
But Roxie Vale stared at the crystal doll as though she had seen a ghost, half believing and half refusing to believe what she was seeing:
"Silly Girl? The real Silly Girl?"
"The genuine True·Huaren Brand 2060 Phone?"
"Where did you even get that?!"
"The chat group doesn't even have anyone from the Magic Phone world yet!"
Anyone who had ever seen Silly Girl could not resist her—just as anyone who had ever seen Doraemon could never resist Doraemon.
Roxie Vale was no exception. After all—this was Silly Girl.
"Do I need to explain what the Mouse Seal does?"
"And it's not just Silly Girl. I have Doraemon, too."
Brandon said this casually.
"!!!"
"Doraemon!"
Roxie Vale looked as though her eyes were about to pop right out of her head. Doraemon—the companion that so many people dreamed of having, more than anything else in the world.
"The Mouse Seal's ability is really that broken?"
"Ahhhh!!!"
"I want to buy one. It's only a million points—I'm buying it, no question."
After a brief spell of disbelief, Roxie Vale was practically vibrating with excitement.
She had always been thinking about collectible figurines from the Mouse Seal before, and had completely forgotten about the Magic Phone and Doraemon. That was her mistake—and she was absolutely going to make up for it.
Though, speaking of which—
"Can't you just project on your own?"
Roxie Vale looked at Brandon with mild confusion. After all, technology was a part of nature too, wasn't it?
What? You're saying virtual projection hasn't been developed yet?
Silly Girl was already here. Was Silly Girl not a part of nature?
"Of course it's to show off."
Brandon held up the crystal doll and waved it gently in front of Roxie Vale's face.
"You..."
Roxie Vale's mouth twitched. She understood Brandon's reasoning completely—if she had Silly Girl and Doraemon, she would show off too.
But understanding something didn't mean she had to be happy about it.
(End of Chapter)