"Hmm... if we don't use Clones, then we'll just have to find a way to annex other forces."
Hancock, standing to the side, also offered a suggestion. Of course, given her personality, the solution she proposed was simple and crude.
"Don't worry, I already have a plan, and it's about time to implement it."
Vegapunk reached out and spread a map, speaking directly: "The ruling model of this world is very strange. The heads of state and supreme rulers are the Daimyo, while those who truly control violence are the Kage of the various hidden Ninja villages. To some extent, the Ninjas, who possess extraordinary power, are completely separated from ordinary people."
"Furthermore, ordinary people can use money to command Ninjas, and the Ninjas haven't pursued a higher ruling status... I must say, the brainwashing skills of the Ninjas here are quite good, whether it's brainwashing others or themselves."
In the vast majority of supernatural worlds, because of the violence brought by extraordinary power, those with such power belong to the true ruling class. Even if they aren't the ruling class, they belong to a privileged class similar to superheroes. Seeing people in the Naruto World reduced to the level of mercenaries is truly rare.
Hearing Vegapunk's words, Hancock also had a look of shock on her face: "Won't these Ninjas resist? Are they all robots?"
You see, although there are people like the Celestial Dragons holding high positions in the One Piece World, they have national treasures in their hands that threaten the world. Even so, those truly strong individuals don't really care for them, and there are countless mad pirates who want to pull the World Government down from power.
"Who knows? Anyway, among Ninjas, even Rogue Ninjas almost never take action against the Daimyo. Of course, the ruling level of the Daimyo in this world is indeed much better than that of the World Government."
Vegapunk shook his head; he didn't know why the Ninjas in this world were so content with the status quo. As for the ruling level of these national Daimyo surpassing the World Government in One Piece, it wasn't much of a compliment. Given the World Government's ruling level, honestly, it wouldn't be easy to find one even worse.
"However, this kind of rule has indeed allowed me to find many loopholes. Because extraordinary power is isolated from the secular world, those Daimyo themselves have no power. While the Daimyo of some great nations have powerful Ninja guards by their side, aside from the Five Great Nations, the other Daimyo are too easy to deal with."
Beside the Daimyo of great nations, there might be elite Jonin among the Guardian Ninja. Some small countries don't even have Ninja villages at all, and it's already good if a Daimyo can recruit a few Wandering Ninjas.
If he really wanted to manipulate the Daimyo of those small countries, Vegapunk could say he had plenty of ways... More than three months quickly passed, and the Geothermal Generator in the Land of Snow had already been running for half a year, allowing the entire Land of Snow to welcome its first massive harvest.
Because the Geothermal Generator uses Natural Energy, various crops grow both quickly and well. Whether it's fruit, vegetables, or grain, the harvest is two to three times that of the same area of land. Not only is it more than enough to support the Land of Snow's population of less than a million, but there are also large quantities of products for export.
Instead of needing to buy large quantities of food, they gained a significant amount of foreign exchange. Coupled with Vegapunk's improvements to the mining machinery, which led to great development in the Land of Snow's mining industry, the tax revenue for the entire Land of Snow this year was nearly seven or eight times that of previous years, making the country suddenly wealthy.
With more money, they could naturally obtain better materials and instruments to build better experimental bases. Of course, before that, Vegapunk had not forgotten his own plan.
The Naruto World has numerous overseas islands, and any slightly larger island can be called a nation. Even the most powerful overseas nation, the Land of Water, is actually a country composed of a large number of island chains.
Due to inconvenient transportation, these island nations are far more isolated than those on the continent. This has also resulted in the strength of Ninjas in many island countries being uneven; overall, the vast majority are just small fry.
In this situation, it's naturally impossible for these island rulers to have any strong individuals by their side. Having two or three Chunin for protection is already considered prestigious, so they naturally couldn't stop Vegapunk and his group.
In fact, over this period, the Daimyo of seven or eight small island nations around the Land of Snow have already been controlled by Vegapunk. Now, in the vicinity of the Land of Snow, only the relatively large Land of Sea remains. Because it is a vassal of the Land of Water and has many Kirigakure Ninjas within its borders, it hasn't been controlled yet.
But that was only due to Vegapunk's usual caution. In reality, as long as intelligence is gathered, controlling the Land of Sea would definitely not be difficult.
Because Kirigakure has begun a Great Purge, it has gradually fallen into chaos. Even if the Land of Water wanted to protect its vassal state, it has increasingly found its strength failing.
On the island closest to the Land of Sea, Vegapunk has already established a brand-new experimental base. After using Clones to replace the Daimyo of those small countries, the small Ninja villages and Ninja organizations in those nations were naturally incorporated by Vegapunk. As for some Rogue Ninjas and underground organizations, they became experimental subjects in Vegapunk's laboratory.
Now, the number of Ninjas under Vegapunk's command has exceeded a thousand. After his technological enhancements, even the weakest among these Ninjas has the strength of a Chunin, and those with the strength of Special Jonin or above exceed two hundred. Their overall strength is sufficient to go to war with Kirigakure.
However, these Ninjas are highly homogenized, lacking trump cards like Secret Techniques, Bloodline Limits, or high-level Ninja Tools. If they were to actually fight, they would likely lose more often than they win.
"Failed again!"
Looking at the mass of bloody flesh on the experimental table before him—an unidentified creature with a somewhat Cthulhu-esque feel—Vegapunk sighed helplessly and casually snapped his fingers. A powerful magnetic field enveloped the mass of flesh, and under the terrifying ionization effect, all the flesh was turned into a pile of ash.
"Natural Energy... just how does it extend life? Perhaps I should capture a few Summoned Beasts from the Three Great Sacred Lands to study!"
Since he had come to the Naruto World, Natural Energy was naturally a research aspect that couldn't be bypassed. Vegapunk only conducted a bit of research on Sage Mode; after all, the principle was already known, and it wasn't difficult to replicate Senjutsu Chakra.
What truly made Vegapunk scratch his head was actually the unique life-extending ability of Natural Energy. Aside from everything else, the Animal Sages in those sacred lands each have lifespans of hundreds or even thousands of years. Compared to that, Sage Mode is just a minor detail.