The second: Light Potency Water.
Its name was straightforward and easy to understand.
It was positioned as a physical enhancement and vitality stimulation medicine, suitable for both men and women.
After consumption, it could significantly improve the user's baseline physical condition and bodily vitality for a period of time. The effect was long-lasting and lacked the overdraft-type side effects common to ordinary stimulants.
In other words, there would be no sore back, weak legs, or hidden bodily damage afterward.
Long-term moderate consumption could also gently improve physical constitution at a fundamental level, slow aging, and nourish vital essence.
Its primary customers were nobles, wealthy merchants, and government officials.
The ruling class of this world consisted largely of middle-aged and elderly men; they harbored the most direct anxieties regarding their health and vitality, while also possessing the greatest purchasing power.
Light Potency Water allowed aging bodies to temporarily regain the vigor of youth.
Its commercial value spoke for itself.
The third: Light Energy Water.
It was positioned as a daily energy-recovery beverage, essentially a revolutionary upgrade to functional drinks.
In Light Energy Water, the character Energy referred to vitality. When vitality was abundant, the spirit naturally flourished, perfectly matching the concept of being full of energy.
Light Revitalizing Tree healed injuries.
Light Potency Tree enhanced vigor.
Light Energy Tree replenished vitality.
Together, they formed a complete gradient.
After consumption, it could be rapidly absorbed by the body, eliminating muscle fatigue, restoring physical stamina, and boosting mental condition within a short period.
This was fundamentally different from Military Rations Pills, which, especially when consumed repeatedly within a short period, imposed burdens on the body and could even leave lasting side effects.
Light Energy Water represented genuine recovery; it did not exploit the body's latent potential or cause subsequent collapse.
It was equally effective against mental fatigue, significantly alleviating sluggish reactions and slow thinking after prolonged periods of intense concentration.
Light Energy Water could be divided into civilian and military versions according to different needs.
The civilian version targeted mass-market consumers, functioning as an enhanced energy drink for everyday use.
The military version further strengthened the active ingredients and served as a standard supplement for frontline ninja and mission operatives.
In the future, such a beverage would enjoy enormous demand in both military logistics and high-intensity civilian industries, but its limitation was that it could not be used repeatedly in succession, and repeated consumption within a short period would dramatically reduce its effectiveness.
It could not heal injuries either, and it merely restored physical stamina and offered little help in extreme situations such as severe blood loss or complete chakra exhaustion.
Its exact effectiveness and duration varied according to the individual's constitution.
All three types of Light Water originated from the same lineage of offspring cultivated from residual trees from Wood Style, the three Light trees.
Through different processing methods, they became three functional beverages with entirely different effects.
None of them involved chakra, meaning ordinary people could use them safely.
Their effects were gentle yet lasting, perfectly complementing emergency medical products like medical scrolls, which produced immediate results.
In addition, there was one extremely important point.
As long as the supply of raw materials was sufficient, the production process of three Light Water could be entirely entrusted to ordinary civilians trained as industrial workers.
From branch pressing to medicinal liquid formulation to bottling and preservation, every stage could be standardized.
None of the processes relied on Medical Ninja's chakra.
In fact, ninja participation was not required at all.
This was completely different from medical scrolls.
This meant it possessed genuine large-scale mass-production potential from source to end product.
It also meant enormous, continuous financial inflows, as well as vast employment opportunities across cultivation, processing, transportation, and sales.
For Shinichi, however, economic profits were secondary, and what truly mattered was the increase in prestige.
These products were not limited to ninjas; they could permeate every aspect of civilians' daily lives, forming the most stable and massive popular support base for Shinichi in the future.
Secondly, they would create a community of shared interests.
As three Light Water entered mass production and distribution, every stage of the industrial chain, from seedling cultivation, sap collection, and raw material processing to product transportation and retail sales, would generate new jobs and opportunities for wealth.
During this process, more and more people would unknowingly bind their livelihoods and fortunes tightly to Shinichi's name.
Even after the war, the industry would expand into other countries.
For example, shipping guilds in the Land of Water might profit from transporting three Light Water across the seas.
Medicinal merchants in the Land of Lightning might become deeply grateful to Shinichi because of distribution rights.
These people, coming from different social classes, nations, and professions, possessing different interests and demands, yet all of them would exist within the same industrial chain and would revolve around a single name.
And as time passed, the variety of products under Shinichi's control would continue expanding.
At that point, surrounding Shinichi would no longer be merely a beverage industry chain; it would be a massive industrial cluster encompassing medicine, agriculture, food production, trade, transportation, finance, and many other sectors.
From ninja to civilians.
From nobles to merchants.
From Konoha to the Land of Fire and ultimately throughout the entire Shinobi World.
More and more people would be incorporated into this system, becoming Shinichi's most steadfast allies and most loyal followers.
When countless people's livelihoods became inseparable from Shinichi…
When countless people's wealth depended upon industrial chains centered around Shinichi…
Any voice opposing him would not even require Shinichi's personal response, because those whose livelihoods depended on him would be enough to make the opposition disappear.
This was the massive community of shared interests Shinichi desired, one composed of countless people, with himself at its core.
For Shinichi… He wanted both the people's hearts and prestige!
He also wanted interests tied to himself!
Shinichi carefully stored away the three bottles of pale golden liquid on the laboratory table, then turned and looked out the window.
The eastern horizon had already begun to brighten, and a new day was about to begin. He glanced at the sky, then toward the vast stretches of rice paddies outside Konoha.
It was now the height of August.
The rice fields had entered the heading and flowering stage.
Tiny white blossoms dotted the green rice ears, and from afar, it looked as though a thin layer of frost had settled over the fields.
At that moment, a morning breeze swept through, and waves of rice rippled layer upon layer like golden tides.
Before long, the harvest season would arrive.
The application he had previously submitted to leave the village was directly related to these rice fields.
Two days ago, he had already surveyed every rice field around Konoha, yet he had never found what he was looking for.
Perhaps this journey beyond the village would yield some results.
If he could find it… and complete this task… then he would leap straight into becoming a great figure akin to a Sage.
In the future, even if the Sage of Six Paths were to reappear in the Shinobi World, he would have to bow before him.
"If a Sage, who in the eyes of the world benefits all living beings, saves countless lives, and makes the world a better place, is in essence an extremely selfish and self-serving person..."
As Shinichi gazed over the waves of rice swaying in the morning light, such a thought suddenly surfaced in his mind.
"Would he still count as a Sage?"