For a group of people who spend their lives fighting over power and Benefit, suddenly uniting to support a single person can only mean one thing—
There's a reason behind it.
"I think there are two possibilities," Akira said after giving it some thought.
Hanzō continued leaping through the forest, but his posture made it clear he was listening carefully.
He had long been trying to sever Shōzō's economic grip on the Hidden Rain, gradually cutting off the more peripheral noble families—just like the mission he'd given Kusamori.
But that approach was, at best, a case of hurting the enemy for a thousand while losing eight hundred yourself.
In the end, that money still had to be spent on the village.
"The first possibility is利益," Akira explained. "Shōzō could be offering those nobles substantial benefits. If enough利益 are on the table, it's very possible they'd set aside their infighting and support one person together."
Hanzō thought for a moment, then shook his head.
He couldn't see what kind of利益 the Hidden Rain could offer those nobles.
The village itself depended on them financially—where would the extra利益 even come from?
"The second possibility," Akira continued, "is威胁."
"Using force. Using their families as leverage. But that kind of method…"
He hesitated slightly.
In Akira's view, this sort of behavior was rare among ordinary ninja.
Ninja were tools—tools with emotions, yes, but tools nonetheless. They wouldn't normally take the initiative to harm nobles, let alone openly threaten them. At most, they might restrict them.
Unless it was part of an explicit mission.
Of course, people who already held power were a different story.
Like Shōzō.
Or like the man in front of him—Hanzō.
Even then, Hanzō had only ever targeted minor nobles.
Hanzō fell into deep thought. He truly hadn't considered how Shōzō might be controlling the nobles.
"If you were me," Hanzō asked in a low voice, "what would you do?"
This was the question he cared about most.
Akira answered without hesitation.
"Go straight for the nobles."
"Win some over. Crush others. If this batch supports Shōzō, replace them with a new batch. Nobles are interchangeable—put a pig in the seat and it's still the same."
In the ninja world, military force was controlled by ninja.
But development—real development—was driven by merchants and civilians.
Nobles barely contributed to that at all.
Their job was simply to exist. Or, when they got ambitious, to fight other nobles for more power—pure impulse decisions, with someone else cleaning up afterward.
And in this world, there was one group that absolutely could not be ignored.
Merchants.
The entire world's progress was driven by them. Money elevated their status.
But put them against nobles, and they still lost—badly.
Hanzō was visibly thoughtful now. He had been fixated on dealing with Shōzō directly and had never truly considered targeting the noble class itself—at most, trimming a few small branches.
"Once we seize control of the finances," Akira continued, "the village is basically secure. After that, Shōzō can conveniently 'fall ill' and pass away."
At that point, even the conservative faction would be powerless.
Military strength. Financial control.
With both firmly in hand, resistance would be meaningless.
And once the village's power structure was fully consolidated, no one would care how Shōzō died.
Hanzō had always approached Shōzō as a ninja.
And because of that mindset, he couldn't bring himself to truly turn the knife.
But if he shifted perspective—
If he fought as a politician instead—
The problem suddenly became far simpler.
Hanzō pondered silently, then asked,
"And if the nobles still aren't satisfied under our control?"
Akira nearly choked.
Wait—am I your strategist now?
I'm just trash-talking here!
Akira's face twisted into a bitter smile.
Who understands this pain, really—playing a game and suddenly getting dragged into a politics lecture?
…Except this wasn't a game.
This was reality.
"Then you do what Shōzō probably did," Akira said flatly. "Threaten them."
"Internal threats—if the Hidden Rain stops protecting them, I'm sure plenty of rogue ninja would love a place to settle down. Send a few people to pose as drifters, rob a couple noble estates, and they'll panic."
"External threats—the Five Great Nations are on the brink of war. The Second Shinobi World War is inevitable. Tell the nobles the village won't shield them. The big villages' ninja probably wouldn't mind pretending to be bandits either."
He paused briefly.
Well…正规忍军 might hesitate to do that.
"So if they won't, we can just disguise ourselves," Akira added. "To nobles, all ninja look the same anyway."
He wasn't giving the nobles much credit in the intelligence department.
Sure, this kind of tactic wasn't hard to see through.
But once implemented—
Even if the nobles understood what was happening, they might not dare expose it.
Because it would mean one thing.
The ninja had begun to turn their fangs inward.
At that point, the fallout wouldn't be Akira's problem anymore.
Hanzō nodded slowly.
Akira's words had clearly opened a new path of thinking for him.
Nobles were people too.
And people could feel fear.
Perhaps Shōzō had already been using this very method.
It was time to teach his teacher a lesson.
Back at the base, Hanzō dismissed Akira immediately.
"Seriously treating me like a full-time advisor now," Akira muttered under his breath.
Honestly, he wanted Hanzō to let him handle this kind of task.
Kill a few nobles, grind the guards protecting them—
That was a clean source of experience.
Whether it succeeded or not didn't matter.
Akira would never lose out.
Back in his room, Akira rubbed his hands together excitedly.
This felt like opening loot boxes.
During the fight, he'd stuffed everything straight into his inventory without even checking what dropped.
And given the strength of those enemies, the drops were guaranteed to be high-tier.
He laid all twelve items out.
[Consumable: Angel's Breath SS-3]
[Consumable: Postcard to the Dead S-13]
[Skill: Bungee Gum]
[Skill: Bandit's Secret]
[Nen Armor: +200 Defense]
[Nen Boots: +50 Movement Speed]
[Exorcist Skill Fragment (1/10)] ×3
[Nanika's Wish List Fragment (1/10)]
[Greater Mana Potion] ×2
The first item was one of the strongest recovery consumables in the game.
As long as you still had a breath left, it would restore you to full condition—no matter the damage.
The second one could literally send mail to the dead.
Useless for Akira, but valuable enough to sell.
The next two were Nen abilities.
Bungee Gum—Hisoka's Nen ability, granting elasticity and stickiness to aura.
Decent, but not particularly cost-effective.
Then came the third skill.
"…Why did I get this trash?" Akira sighed helplessly.
Bandit's Secret—also known as The Hunter Smile Disappearing Technique.
It allowed the user to steal skills—but only Nen abilities belonging to Hunters.
In this world?
Who exactly was he supposed to steal Nen abilities from?
"…Don't tell me I'm supposed to spread Nen on purpose," Akira muttered.
"That'd be ridiculous."
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