Chapter 173 Cultural Triumph
After making arrangements for the daimyo, everyone set off in the three directions of sand, rock, and cloud, as previously planned.
Only a few Kage-level powerhouses went to confront the enemy, and the enemy was most likely just putting on a show.
This was probably the first time in the entire history of the ninja world.
Of course, the Cloud Village side probably wouldn't be so sure.
After all, he was the Fourth Raikage, a man of upright character.
Although in the original timeline, Onoki was essentially his father's killer, he was still able to calmly face Onoki at the Five Kage Summit.
But it took nearly twenty years for the hatred to fade and for the temperament to become more stable before it erupted.
He had just killed his father and was in the midst of his most intense hatred. The young and impetuous Fourth Raikage was also much more impulsive.
According to intelligence, things are going as I expected on the Cloud Village side.
Most of the high-ranking officials are unwilling to go to any lengths to avenge the previous Raikage.
The Fourth Raikage has been arguing with many high-ranking officials for days, and the arguments always end badly.
This battle was entirely rallied by the Raikage himself, who gathered approximately six thousand ninjas, roughly 30% of the total number of ninjas.
Even with opposition from most of the higher-ups, they still managed to gather about 30% of the followers, demonstrating that these two Raikage were quite popular in Kumogakure.
Souji actually quite admired the Raikage's upright and tough character.
[Reach 6 million reputation points and receive a super simplified hand seal reward]
[Prestige: 6102900 (Ninja World Overlord)]
The last time I killed the Third Raikage, I gained 300,000 reputation points. In addition, I wiped out all the guardian ninjas of the Fire Country Daimyo, which brought me another 100,000 reputation points.
The reward this time is a super simplified hand seal system, meaning that all techniques can be cast with just one hand seal, which is the classic Hashirama clapping his hands together and summoning whatever he calls.
Hand seals are actually only an aid to the execution of ninjutsu, not an absolute necessity.
For ninjas who are not very strong, they must use hand seals, and not a single one can be omitted.
However, the stronger a ninja is and the deeper their understanding of ninjutsu, the less support they need.
Therefore, some powerful ninjas can simplify the hand seals for certain ninjutsu.
The Water Dragon Bullet Technique normally requires 44 hand seals, but in Mei Terumi's hands, only 6 hand seals are needed, and in Tobirama's hands, only 4 hand seals are required.
As for figures like Hashirama and Madara, they simply clapped their hands and shouted whatever they wanted.
Now I can do it myself.
If the goal is simply to kill someone, then all that's needed is to throw a kunai; it's even simpler than clapping your hands together.
However, if you don't intend to kill someone, it's quite useful to use Sage Mode to knock them down and then use a sealing technique to control them.
Souji remained satisfied with the reward.
Without realizing it, he no longer had to worry about combat strength, especially when it came to killing people, which was incredibly easy.
What he needed now was a way to control people without actually killing them.
Standing on Ryunosuke's back, even Minato, who had no experience of flying, found flying in the sky and looking down at the ground from a high place quite novel and interesting.
After flying for a while, Minato began to get used to it. After thinking for a moment, he spoke:
"Brother Souji, is this the final battle?"
"Hmm?
If the major battle between ninja villages involves at least a thousand people, this should be the last one.
Of course, there will still be battles after that, but they will only be small-scale battles that break out in private."
As Souji said this, he thought of the storyline involving Madara, Black Zetsu, the Divine Tree, and Kaguya.
These guys need to be dealt with, but there's no rush, since they're all people who can't move around freely anyway.
Let's deal with the current affairs in the ninja world first, then raise our reputation to over ten million before tackling other issues.
The current battles don't even require ordinary ninjas, so there's even less need to deal with the highest-ranking beings in the ninja world.
In the original story, the Fourth Shinobi World War required an allied shinobi force of 80,000, initially intended to deal with 100,000 White Zetsu.
However, when the nine tailed beasts and the God Tree began to appear, the 80,000-strong allied force...
She's just here to drag things down.
Sending ordinary ninjas to touch the Divine Tree is like sending ants; they'd be wiped out in droves...
Therefore, the commander had no intention of forming any coalition forces, and could even skip the ordinary Kage-level forces, as he would handle it himself when the time came.
So it's not wrong to say that this is the final battle.
Of course, explaining these things would be too complicated, so there's no need to tell Minato at this point.
Minato then asked:
"Brother Souji, what are your plans for dealing with Kumogakure... or rather, the various ninja villages?"
"Among the four great ninja villages, the strongest should be the Tsuchikage, but you were able to kill that powerful former Raikage in one blow.
No matter how strong the Tsuchikage is, he is probably no match for you."
"So you plan to...unite all the ninja villages?"
"Of course." Souji nodded slightly.
"In the past, it was because without opponents, ninjas had no reason to exist.
Therefore, the First Hokage could only choose to let other ninja villages exist instead of defeating them and making them submit to Konoha."
"But from now on, ninjas will no longer be just a combat profession, so naturally there is no need to keep a few opponents."
"Just like in the past when multiple ninja clans were combined to form ninja villages, in order to reduce unnecessary conflicts, it is inevitable that all ninja villages will be unified into one force."
Minato listened with a serious expression, and then said:
"I understand that, but unlike the past when ninja clans were united, the various ninja villages are still quite hostile to each other now… I'm worried that forcibly unifying the major ninja villages like this will cause problems in the future…"
"I don't just use force to forcibly unify; force is only one part. The other part is culture," Souji replied.
"Culture?" Minato didn't quite understand.
"I will be the first to promote many new things in the Land of Fire, things that are different from the past.
Just like the establishment of ninja villages and ANBU, as long as it's a good thing, others will always imitate it, and then..."
Souji smiled and said:
"When almost everything in life is introduced by the Land of Fire, and everyone is focused on how to quickly imitate things from the Land of Fire, the result will be that everyone will be assimilated without realizing it."
"Human beings identify with each other as one group, and that will always be based on culture."
"If everyone shares a similar culture, then everyone can be naturally and completely integrated.
This is called a cultural victory!"
Minato looked like he didn't quite understand, but it made a lot of sense.
"This... is a bit too profound for me..."
"It's okay, you'll understand later."
As the two chatted, they eventually arrived at the Land of Hot Springs again.
On the ground, the Cloud Ninja Army is advancing.
The appearance of the Heavenly Dragon was immediately detected by the Cloud Village's sensory ninja.
P.s..
This book has been completed at Patreon.
________________________________________
Can't wait for the next chapter?
30+ advanced chapters are already available on Patreon!
👉 patreon.com/Tanji_Fanfics
________________________________________
end of this chapter...