It was as if they had agreed upon it beforehand; Ino, Sakura, and Hinata's respective classes had all begun their own C-rank missions.
This further proved that everything was unfolding just as Ryun had predicted; the current C-rank missions were specially arranged training missions for the elite squads by the Hokage's office, preparing them for the upcoming Chūnin Exams.
Ryun was also prepared to intervene directly in the Land of Waves, but he did not intend to act alongside Sakura and the others as he had in the simulation.
In the simulation, Ryun had done precisely that, merely to confirm Sakura's growth.
The facts proved that Sakura could now stand on her own, and her role within the team was no less important than Naruto's or Sasuke's; in fact, it was greater.
Of course, later on, these two reincarnations of the Sage of Six Paths' sons would grow at an explosive rate, and by then, Sakura naturally wouldn't be able to keep pace with them.
Early the next morning, Sakura and the others set off.
On the surface, Ryun stayed home to begin writing his book, but this was merely a Shadow Clone. As for Ryun's real body, he had already left Konoha and arrived at a point closest to the Land of Waves, moving in that direction.
His speed was not fast, as he intended to observe the local customs and culture while traveling, and then assess whether the Land of Waves was worth investing some effort into.
After the Chūnin Exams, Ryun planned to leave Konoha and begin large-scale operations and actions.
An indispensable part of this was obtaining more simulation attempts.
Aside from contacting ninjas from various villages, was there any other good method?
Naturally, it would be to seek out ordinary people with talent who had not become ninjas.
Of course, there was a prerequisite for doing this: Ryun could not personally select these talented individuals.
In other words, Ryun needed subordinates, needed influence, needed money.
Otherwise, once the current simulation attempts in Ryun's hands were used up, replenishing them from Konoha's side would become increasingly difficult.
Currently, it seemed Ryun still had a fair number of simulation attempts left, but Ryun was well aware that breaking through to a talent level of 10 would have to rely solely on chance.
Even if the system introduced more powerful simulation methods later on, the required simulation attempts would undoubtedly multiply exponentially; it was practically certain that the consumption per simulation would exceed 10.
Ryun's actions were also a precautionary measure.
Moreover, if Ryun intended to conduct certain experiments in the future, carrying them out in Konoha would certainly be inappropriate. After all, not everyone could understand the need to deal with the threat posed by the Ōtsutsuki Clan in the future.
Ryun also couldn't just do nothing for these few years and only start acting after the Ninja World War.
While pondering and advancing, Ryun gradually entered the territory of the Land of Waves.
Then, Ryun was surprised by the state of the Land of Waves.
In Ryun's impression, the Land of Waves should be a purely agricultural nation.
After all, it was surrounded by sea on all sides. With the means of going out to sea, the transport of goods, and the supply of energy all controlled by Gato, what development could this island possibly have?
However, to Ryun's surprise, not only was there an electrical supply here, but infrastructure was also somewhat developed.
While it couldn't be said to have reached the era of an electrical revolution, it wasn't far off, a far cry from the small-scale peasant economy Ryun had imagined.
Of course, it was also true that resources here were scarce.
When Ryun passed by a market, he observed carefully. There were very few goods available for trade in the market, and the ordinary people of the Land of Waves didn't seem wealthy either.
That is to say, the Land of Waves' problems were resource scarcity and deflation. While this was certainly related to Gato's exploitation, it was more due to the lack of any substantial industry here.
Relying solely on small boats for fishing couldn't support a nation's industrialization, even a small island nation, not to mention that these industries were in Gato's hands.
To verify his speculation, Ryun also split off several Shadow Clones. Posing as tourists, they found many people to chat with, conducting on-site interviews.
Although they dared not speak too much truth due to Gato's threats, it largely confirmed Ryun's hypothesis.
This Land of Waves was a truly blessed land!
The reason for saying this was naturally not because of wealth here, or because these common people could be exploited.
Rather, it was because the Land of Waves had no government, no hidden village. It only had Gato's company—didn't that make Gato a completely helpless lamb for the slaughter?
Ryun even wondered why the ninja world allowed someone like Gato to live for so long.
Unless—did Gato also have backers?
This speculation was possible. But unless Gato's backers turned out to be Nagato and Obito, Ryun wouldn't care who was behind him.
After Gato was later killed by Zabuza, Ryun could easily take control of Gato's company, and the people of the Land of Waves would naturally begin to work for Ryun.
The remaining question was what kind of industry Ryun should use to support the people of the Land of Waves and get the country into a cycle of positive economic growth.
Ryun, coming from the modern world, understood that the speed of making money by exploiting ordinary people was far slower than making money from the wealthy.
So where were the wealthy people in the ninja world?
Hidden villages?
No, no, no. Hidden villages were actually so poor that they had to accept checks and balances from the Daimyō. If the relationship between the Land of Fire and Konoha was like this, let alone other countries.
As for why ninjas were checked and balanced by the Daimyō, instead of turning around and threatening the Daimyō, this was actually a dynamic result of game theory.
During the time of the First Hokage, the Land of Fire was essentially under Hashirama's control; even the Daimyō actively sought marriage alliances with the Senju clan.
But by the end of Sarutobi Hiruzen's reign, he no longer had the confidence to threaten the Daimyō.
Because if he did so, the Daimyō of the Land of Fire could easily appeal to Konoha, demanding they elect a new Hokage.
Or, even more directly, they could pay to request help from other hidden villages. Surely Iwagakure and Kumogakure wouldn't refuse such an invitation.
And on Konoha's side, how many clans would be willing to risk becoming wandering ninjas of the world, to stop being ninjas of the Land of Fire and Konoha and instead become followers of Sarutobi Hiruzen?
Sarutobi Hiruzen no longer possessed that charismatic personality that made others follow him unconditionally.
On this point of contending with the Daimyō alone, Sarutobi Hiruzen was even inferior to Danzō. At least Danzō truly dared to act, which would force the Daimyō to step back voluntarily.
Back to the main point: if Ryun wanted to make money, he naturally needed to make it from the Daimyō and nobles. But how could an island nation earn their money?
Weapons and drugs were certainly options, but Ryun's morals wouldn't allow him to dabble in the latter. The former, however, was worth considering.
Aside from that, what nobles cared about most was naturally their life and health.
Konoha actually offered external medical services, but they were limited to treating Konoha's nobles and wealthy merchants, and the fees were quite limited; they couldn't charge exorbitant prices.
In this regard, Tsunade was more uninhibited. She earned a large amount of money by treating wealthy nobles and merchants, although she immediately gambled away all the money.
In previous simulations, Ryun had also earned considerable wealth for himself and Konoha through medical services, but these were still constrained by Konoha's system, preventing him from operating freely.
Therefore, if Ryun could operate freely, just this one factor alone could transform the Land of Waves into a consumer paradise integrating medical treatment, leisure, and vacation.
Of course, money itself held little meaning for Ryun.
Ryun would only serve as a figurehead at that time, while specific affairs could be handled by others—Karin was a very good candidate, wasn't she?
This would also solve the future of Karin and others; Ryun didn't want them to go through Konoha's channels again.
Ryun slowly planned everything while waiting for Sakura and the others to appear.
He had already spotted Zabuza and Haku's figures, but thanks to his advanced sensory talent, the two were completely unaware that they had been detected by Ryun.
Ryun personally witnessed them confidently going to ambush Kakashi, only for Haku to carry a severely wounded Zabuza back to their hideout.
Compared to Zabuza's injuries in the original story, Zabuza's current condition clearly couldn't be restored to fighting strength with just a bit of herbal medicine.
Just as Ryun was contemplating what to do next, Gato showed up at their door with his hired rogue ninjas.
"If it isn't our Kirigakure Jōnin, the Demon Zabuza?"
"How does it feel to be taken down and then come crawling back with your tail between your legs?"
"Looks like Kirigakure ninjas are really useless. Do you two have any idea how much money I spent hiring you?"
The two ninjas beside Gato drew their swords, assuming a stance for a quick-draw slash.
With just one command from Gato, they could end the lives of these two frauds before them—however, Gato merely reached his hand out towards Zabuza. In the next instant, the two ninjas' swords were in Haku's hands, pressed against Gato's neck.
"Don't touch Zabuza-sama with your filthy hands!"
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
📖 Like the story? Read 120 chapters ahead!
🔗 patreon.com/atomelectron
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━