[Land of Waves]
Rengoku walked with the five children along the main street.
The poverty was visible to the naked eye. Many beggars lay by the roadside.
There were even people wandering the streets with signs selling themselves.
"Thief! Catch the thief!"
"Robbery!"
Such cries rang out frequently.
It was clear that the Land of Waves was gradually slipping into chaos.
Naruto, Hinata, Sasuke, and Gaara had obviously never seen such desolation and found it all unfamiliar.
Only Karin's eyes flashed with memories, "What you are seeing now is life in a small country."
"Although the Land of Waves worsened because of Gato, they were not very prosperous to begin with."
"There are many small countries around Konoha, most of them are like this."
Konoha's border is very long. Besides countries with ninja villages, there are many small countries without shinobi.
"Do you know why only countries with ninja villages tend to be more prosperous?"
Karin raised her hand at once, "I know!"
"Because without the protection of shinobi, these people cannot protect their property."
Rengoku ruffled Karin's hair, "Half correct."
"Not everyone in this world is qualified to be a shinobi."
"The gap between a shinobi and an ordinary person is huge. Those ordinary people who lack aptitude, if they live in a country with a ninja village it is one thing."
"If they live in a place like this, they are destined to be poor."
"Because once they accumulate wealth, people with greater martial power will covet it."
"If no one protects them, their money and lives are easily plundered."
"They can only spend money on commissions from ninja villages."
"Now the five great nations each have a great ninja village, but because of resource issues they often go to war."
"You have already learned that in the first three ninja wars, more than a hundred thousand shinobi died."
"Each ninja village suffered considerable losses."
"If that is the case for ninja villages, then small countries are even harder off."
"In our village, most families have two to three children."
"But in places like this...", Rengoku pointed at the clusters of beggar children by the roadside. Many of them had the same faces, clearly from one family, "Some of these people might manage to survive one child, but at least they will have descendants who survive."
Rengoku's words made the children think.
The Land of Waves is a country made up of many small islands. Each island is a town.
They walked a circuit of the town.
Because Gato had not yet completely plundered the place, but there was still a large wealth gap compared to Konoha.
Most households here had almost no appliances, at most a single light bulb.
"Now I will ask you: after Gato's group is destroyed, what will happen here?"
When Rengoku asked this, everyone fell into thought.
Naruto took the shortest time to answer, "If Gato's group is destroyed, this place will definitely get better."
Rengoku gave Naruto a light smack.
"Ouch, teacher, that hurts!", Naruto rubbed his forehead, crying out.
Rengoku scolded helplessly, "Keep thinking."
Naruto rubbed his forehead and muttered, "Could it be that even if Gato is eliminated, it still won't get better?"
Gaara had been observing the environment carefully all along.
"The resources here are not abundant. Even without Gato, it will not be much better."
Rengoku nodded and looked at Hinata.
Hinata's expression was shy. She obviously had not thought of many different viewpoints.
Sasuke opened his mouth but Karin beat him to it.
"Oh, you are so dumb. Master already said it. Even if they become prosperous, they will attract covetous people besides Gato."
"So they can only rely on a large ninja village for protection."
Sasuke snorted, "I thought the same."
Karin grinned proudly, "I am your senior. You need not be upset about losing to me."
Sasuke rolled his eyes and ignored Karin.
Rengoku patted Karin's hair, "Karin is right. Any prosperity requires commensurate protective power."
"Even if Gato dies, others will come. Even if the first ones are weak and are driven out by the people of the Land of Waves, stronger forces will come later to pillage wealth."
"The cycle repeats."
"The same principle applies between our great nations."
"The Land of Fire's territory is the most fertile and has the most resources."
"That is why the Land of Fire has been invaded repeatedly in recent years."
"To solve this problem...", Sasuke's eyes flashed as he said, "We should make all the ninja villages submit to our Uchiha!"
Rengoku laughed softly when Sasuke blurted out the answer.
He did not refute Sasuke, but added, "Making those villages submit is simple in theory."
"But two conditions are required. One, you must be able to govern them. Two, you must not worry about invasions from other ninja villages."
"On the way here, you saw how far this place is from Konoha."
"All the countries bordering the Land of Fire are like this."
"In fact they would like to submit to the Land of Fire, but the daimyo think there is no profit here, so they refuse to accept them."
Ordinary people, however strong, have limits.
So the daimyo's method to control the populace is not just a violent organization. It is by bringing them benefits.
Among the five great nations, the only legitimate violent organization is the ninja village.
When things get a bit tricky, the daimyo must rely on the ninja village.
The ninja villages, in turn, take on those missions and earn money, and both sides maintain a fragile balance.
"Remember, as resources are used, the distribution of wealth across nations will change."
"When your protective power and your wealth are out of proportion, and when that gap becomes too large, wars will break out."
"Now that our village no longer has the Nine-Tails' jinchuriki, what will happen?", Rengoku guided the children gently, leading them to think.
Karin had already been to the front lines with Rengoku. Naruto knew the Nine-Tails had been retrieved.
After Naruto had the Nine-Tails' chakra extracted once, he was keeping a lower profile now.
Rengoku exchanged a look with him and Naruto fell silent.
Sasuke asked in surprise, "Will other ninja villages attack our Konoha?"
Rengoku led everyone as they walked back and answered, "They already attacked once. I killed the Cloud Village's Two-Tails jinchuriki with a puppet. The Cloud Village temporarily retreated."
Except for Karin, the others were shocked.
'A jinchuriki? Killed just like that by Rengoku?'
Rengoku stated this lightly, but it was an astonishing record.
"About a month from now, there will be another battle at the border."
"I tell you this so you understand."
"Although our Konoha is very strong, without sufficient power we can still be attacked."
"You are all gifted children. Never relax."
"Understood?", the children said to one another.
"Yes!", they replied.
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