Uchiha Makoto had already decided long ago where those wounded and disabled shinobi should go.
The ninja academy and a film company.
The academy needs no explanation; turning injured shinobi into teachers is an excellent destination.
And a squad of veterans straight off the battlefield—even if one was only a small-fry genin—would be more than enough to train a bunch of green rookies at the academy.
As for the film company, that was for propaganda.
On cultural infiltration…
Makoto had been thinking about it for a long time; he'd only been dabbling before because the timing wasn't right.
The old guard from the Warring States is still around. To them, "fail in competition and you die" is no slogan. They're purist social-Darwinists who readily accept great-power chauvinism.
Now, riding the momentum of a major victory, it was time for Akatsuki Village to take a formal step forward: use newspapers, novels, comprador turncoats, and films to flood the world with "light-ism," and brand Akatsuki shinobi in everyone's mind as handsome men and beautiful women—fighters who wage war to protect peace.
With steady output,
Akatsuki becomes synonymous with justice.
Makoto had tasted the sweetness during this war. With that label, everything becomes easier. Even a long-prepared surprise war would draw a crowd of great scholars to wash Akatsuki clean in print.
That's only one upside.
The key is to attract more capital and more talent into Akatsuki Village. Akatsuki recovers fast, amasses more funds, and, backed by the Land of Fire, can stack advantages. Keep rolling that snowball and shinobi will vote with their feet… starting with poaching Konoha's next generation.
"Akatsukiwood?"
"Making movies…"
"Won't it be beneath a shinobi's dignity for us to do that kind of job?"
Makoto shared part of his plan with Uzumaki Shinji. He could accept wounded shinobi teaching at the academy.
That's a respectable post.
But shinobi "neglecting their trade" to make films? Bound by old ways of thinking, Shinji found Makoto's idea outrageous.
As a veteran, Shinji knew how small ninja groups and wandering shinobi lived. With no reliable mission sources and no hard-won reputations, to eat they often worked the gray zones.
Highway robbery, muscle for gambling dens, collecting for loan sharks—nothing glorious.
Worse ones were too weak even for yakuza collection jobs.
They'd end up "going to sea," doing stunt work as doubles for what ordinary people couldn't do.
All things only unranked, no-account shinobi would do.
Work of the lowest order.
What future could those shinobi have?
But Akatsuki and the Uzumaki aren't small fry—they're headline powers.
Shinobi should look like shinobi.
Forget your calling, and you'll never be excellent.
"…"
"Just as stiff as I expected."
Makoto was speechless for a moment. He'd already grown immune to the conservatives in Akatsuki who'd tried to block him. Warring-States old-timers are really hard to talk to.
All day long they chant "if shinobi do this or that, are they still shinobi?"
There's a caste system among shinobi. At the top are jōnin who take S- and A-rank missions; one job pays millions, they gain fame and status… everyone else is heresy.
And to devout believers, heretics are worse than infidels.
In a sense,
fine—
Makoto himself is a heretic through and through.
He even had academy students "neglect their trade" to haul mortar and bricks at construction sites as extracurriculars—pure free labor, unpaid—under the banner of training taijutsu. If that's not heresy, what is?
Civilian shinobi didn't mind.
Their parents didn't either.
They're ordinary folks; they assume the school has its reasons, so following the school must be right.
Clan shinobi did mind.
They didn't send heirs to be free labor, but because of Makoto's position they only grumbled in private.
Of course Makoto wasn't just freeloading. He was reshaping a generation's thinking by osmosis: shinobi work is a job—any honest work is fine.
Remember, this era isn't only the village era.
It's an industrial era.
Since the Warring States ended,
the economy has been sprinting for years; strange black tech keeps popping up.
Judging by the tech shown in the story, by the late tenure of the Third Hokage Sarutobi Hiruzen, the information revolution had begun.
In forty to fifty years the shinobi world basically ran through three industrial revolutions.
Makoto, who deals directly with nobles and magnates, knows far more than average shinobi. Their labs can really deliver—when profits beckon, they move fast.
New capitalists are investing and expanding everywhere.
Hayek's invisible hand is draped over the world.
Capital is coming.
The big wave is coming.
Since the times have changed, the heavy burdens on Warring-States shinobi must be dropped.
Postwar Akatsuki will grow fast; do what makes money, push what expands influence.
Raise every Akatsuki metric by any means necessary.
Pure pragmatism.
The right to interpret the Will of Light rests with him.
The Light Shadow doesn't care about the old hard-set quirks in shinobi bones… loyalty is enough. He must use this brief peace to stockpile strength.
The old generation won't change.
Makoto won't waste breath on them.
A postwar baby boom will bring a new crop to replace them.
Though Akatsuki vs. Kumogakure looked huge, it was only a local war. Since the village era began, the world's been relatively calm. The baby boom has started. Aside from unfortunate Kumo's bleak future, most shinobi are accumulating wealth. If their children can grow up safely, that's every parent's greatest wish.
This cesspit of endless killing—Makoto will end it with his own hands.
Even the stodgiest shinobi want a happy life. If they can stay in the village and earn money in peace, who wants to strap their head to their belt to make a living?
Makoto had a lot in mind, but he gave up arguing doctrine with Shinji and cut straight to it:
"Your thinking's too extreme. I'm not debating you, Shinji—just answer one thing."
"Do it or not. Give me a crisp answer."
"I'll do it."
Shinji knew himself.
He'd realized he couldn't keep up with Makoto's thinking. If he couldn't understand, he could still follow. Akatsuki wouldn't cheat an ally.
Going into film is all.
It might bruise a shinobi's dignity, but if Akatsuki is stepping in and the Uzumaki can go all-in on a dangerous war, this is nothing.
"Good."
Makoto nodded.
This was the shinobi-as-tool doctrine at work. Under that dross of an idea, shinobi have innate obedience to those above. Their code makes them instinctively refuse non-mission work, but when the Light Shadow orders change…
The lower-level code has higher priority.
Even dross has its upside.
"Makoto, what should Akatsukiwood's first film be?"
"That's easy."
"Shinobi should shoot what we're good at: war films. Use this Akatsuki-Kumogakure war as the base. Akatsuki is forced into war; in the village, a mother and her several children all go to the front. War is cruel: within one month her children die one after another until only the protagonist, chūnin Pain, is left."
"But Pain is terribly unlucky. Because Konoha's support dawdles—emphasis—he's surrounded by vicious Cloud shinobi. HQ dispatches a squad to rescue him; they all die in the mission. Pain survives. The film is titled Saving Chūnin Pain."
Shinji mulled it over and nodded.
"Sounds good… if unrealistic. Only ordinary folk might believe it. A mere chūnin… how could such a thing happen?"
"Shinji, don't forget why we launched this war."
"To seek justice for a few dead chūnin."
"And are there more shinobi or civilians in this world? We aim at the whole world; they're the audience. The hearts of the people are with us. That's what makes a film worth making."
Makoto smiled.
As a transmigrator, he had many great scripts in his head. With a few tweaks he could localize anything.
But he didn't pick this one at random.
After a few peaceful years, people have some money. This script will grab ordinary attention.
Directors can be hired from the Land of Fire; for the script, war films live or die by battle scenes. Hard for normal crews—but child's play for Akatsuki.
A bunch of veterans can recreate the real thing.
Shuriken volleys, explosive tags, ninjutsu barrages, high-difficulty set pieces—all at their fingertips. As for acting, who understands shinobi war better than them?
That combo will wow civilians who've never seen real battles and open their wallets.
Most important:
propagating Akatsuki.
This film can make lower-tier shinobi across the world feel seen.
Jōnin may be background in some fights, but across the whole world they're elite and rare; each one could be called a genius.
The world is built on genin and chūnin.
They're the foundation.
They're the lowest tier.
Usually unnoticed.
In village high command they're consumables, to be discarded at any time.
Their lives aren't lives.
Yet—
they're the ones always straining to live.
"Caring for the lower tier" is a false proposition.
Who cares about consumables?
Will Konoha care?
For the great peace, the first to be sacrificed are genin and chūnin.
Otherwise Hashirama would've stepped in at once to crush those Cloud brutes himself.
Which village has the most humanity?
Which truly cares for the lower tier?
Not just lip service?
The answer is obvious.
Under the Light Shadow, it's Akatsuki Village.
The plot may be partly fictional, but Makoto's fury at three dead chūnin—launching a war on Kumo—is common knowledge.
Makoto preached it
and acted on it. Knowledge and action united.
How are soft-power shinobi forged?
By prying up the foundations of other villages little by little.
"Tch…"
Shinji smacked his lips.
He wasn't an idiot.
He was starting to get Makoto's meaning.
"Are we dragging Konoha into this?"
"Of course."
"I'll bring Konoha in. Since the film draws from reality, I'll faithfully recreate Konoha's behavior in this war… and I'll be careful."
"Ever heard of 'low-level red, high-level black'?"
"No."
"Good."
Makoto laughed, delighted.
Shinji sensed something off but couldn't say what. He just felt something bad was coming.
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