Chapter 499: The Three Kage's New Jobs
"Onoki, want to grab a drink later?"
In the capital of the Land of Flame, inside one of the government departments, a man with a booming voice was banging on the door while looking at Onoki.
Onoki put down the documents in his hand, pinched the bridge of his nose, then looked up and sighed.
"A, are you really that free?"
Onoki looked at his former rival and enemy, A, with a hint of helplessness.
How was it that they were both former Kage, yet he was busy to death every day, wishing he could use Shadow Clones daily to help him handle government affairs, while A was incredibly free, doing nothing all day and constantly seeking him out for drinks?
A might not be familiar with other places now, but he was definitely familiar with the bars in the capital of the Land of Flame.
Currently, their Procuratorate had a tremendous amount of work.
Supervision, interrogations, all sorts of things had to be managed.
They also had to build the power system from scratch, arrange employee positions, handle employee benefits, salaries, and various other issues.
It was suffocating.
Now, whenever Onoki closed his eyes, he felt as if a pile of documents and a string of numbers were floating before him, making him dizzy.
"There's no war in the military department right now, so besides teaching Lightning Release ninjutsu, I don't have much else to do."
A laughed heartily.
Onoki rubbed his nose when he heard this, then glanced at the clock on the wall.
It showed 5:30 PM.
It was time to get off work.
Kenichi had set many regulations for the government, one of which was starting work at nine in the morning and finishing at five-thirty in the evening, with no overtime.
All matters that needed to be handled should be completed during working hours.
If they were not completed, then the person would be questioned about whether they had been lazy or misused their Shadow Clones.
After all, with Shadow Clones, no matter how many government affairs there were, they could be handled.
"Let's go. This old man is a bit tired too."
Onoki coughed twice, then happily followed A out.
However, they had not walked far when they saw Mei.
So the three of them left the government office together and went to a bar in the capital of the Land of Flame called [Future Tech].
The three former Kage sat inside the bar.
There were not many customers yet, but the bartender already knew them, so he naturally brought them three different drinks.
Mei ordered a fruit wine.
Onoki ordered a light yellow medicinal wine with herbs soaking in it.
A ordered beer.
"Mei, I remember you're serving as the Minister of Agriculture now?"
Onoki took a sip of his medicinal wine.
The alcohol content was not strong, but after drinking it, he felt warmth spread through his body.
He looked at Mei, who was sitting opposite him, and could not help asking.
As a former Kage, Onoki naturally knew that Mei had once been groomed to become the next Mizukage of Kirigakure.
If Kenichi had not destroyed Kirigakure, then perhaps Mei would have appeared in the Shinobi World under the title of Mizukage.
So in a sense, this was a conversation among three Kage.
"Yes, I am indeed the Minister of Agriculture now, and there's a lot to do."
Mei's expression was as calm as water.
No emotion could be seen in her eyes.
"The Agriculture Department? Sounds quite important. And I heard that the entire Land of Flame is planting new crops now."
A toyed with his glass, then glanced at Mei.
He had investigated and found that the Land of Flame was indeed planting new crops, which were rumored to produce far more grain than ordinary crops.
Mei remained expressionless.
In the Agriculture Department, she was responsible for scientific breeding and various agricultural matters every day, which kept her extremely busy.
She also had to frequently visit the fields to supervise, though she did not have to do much of those tasks herself.
Her main responsibility was to oversee the operation of the entire agricultural department.
"A, the Land of Flame is our country now."
Onoki reminded A.
Although there was no one supervising them, they still had to be cautious with their words.
A snorted but did not retort.
Although he sometimes thought about rebuilding Kumogakure and overthrowing Kenichi's rule, achieving that now was basically impossible, unless the Land of Flame fell into chaos by itself.
Then he might have a chance.
Otherwise, how could he rebel now?
With just a few stragglers left after being dismantled?
With such a small force, they probably could not even fight their way out of the capital.
A was now very clear about the Land of Flame's military strength.
Those ninja who had awakened the Sharingan were Kenichi's loyal followers, the kind who would die for him at any moment.
How could one fight such ninja?
"Have you given up?"
Mei looked at A and Onoki, scoffing.
"..."
A fell silent.
But Onoki nodded directly.
"Yes, I have. And I've seen the Land of Flame's national policies and laws. The people who were once in our village will definitely live better in the Land of Flame now."
Onoki spoke with a smile, taking everything in stride.
His physical condition was not very good, but it had improved somewhat after Kenichi intervened.
Although he still occasionally coughed and felt short of breath, at least he was alive.
Now, Onoki only wanted to work hard to make this country better and allow the villagers of Iwagakure to live better lives.
"Weren't you called Two Scales?"
Mei's voice carried some sarcasm.
A also looked at Onoki with a complicated expression.
If Iwagakure had not surrendered back then, then perhaps now...
"Mei, little girl, do you know what a village is? A village is made up of villagers, made up of families. As long as..."
Onoki looked at Mei with displeasure, but then he suddenly thought of something.
Iwagakure still had villagers and families.
But what about Kirigakure?
Nothing was left.
Onoki had visited the former site of Kirigakure.
It was like the other places Kenichi had attacked before.
Barren.
Empty.
Lifeless.
Kirigakure had nothing left.
No people.
No villagers.
No families.
So he naturally could not say this to Mei.
Onoki pouted.
What a hassle.
"...Mei, have you ever considered the other civilians of the Land of Water? And those Kirigakure ninja who later submitted to the Land of Flame?"
Onoki took a sip of his drink and sighed.
Mei's face did not look good, and her breathing became a little rapid.
Kirigakure was a scar in her heart, one she could not get over.
"Alright, Onoki, Mei, stop arguing. Haven't the three of us failed to defeat those two monsters?"
A gave a self-deprecating laugh.
What was the point of arguing about these things?
Was there any use?
Absolutely none.
In the Shinobi World, strength was the ultimate truth.
Kenichi was strong, so whatever he said was right.
As long as they could not defeat Kenichi, whatever they said would be wrong.
Hearing A's words, Onoki and Mei both fell silent at the same time.
Thinking about it, it was indeed true.
As long as they could not defeat Kenichi and Madara, anything they said was useless.
Wasn't it precisely because they could not defeat Kenichi and Madara that they had chosen to submit to the Land of Flame this time?
"Forget it. Let's not talk about those things. Let's drink, let's drink. We still have to work tomorrow."
Onoki waved his hand with a smile.
Then the three of them began to drink, though the atmosphere could not return to its initial liveliness.
After dark, the three of them returned to their respective homes, while the nightlife of the Land of Flame's capital was only just beginning.
"Onoki probably sensed something."
At that moment, on the other side of the capital, Shiori and Koyuki Kazahana were sitting together.
They had just finished listening to the conversation between the three through the parasite inside Mei.
"I think we should just kill Mei. That woman is useless anyway."
Koyuki said with dissatisfaction.
She suspected that the reason Lord Amamiya did not kill Mei was because of Mei's figure.
"Unless Lord Amamiya gives the order, we can't do anything."
Shiori shook her head.
She did not think they should do that.
Doing such things behind Kenichi's back would be courting death.
Lord Amamiya Kenichi would absolutely not allow such a thing to happen.
Koyuki pouted but said nothing.
She was only venting her anger.
In reality, she knew she could not defy Kenichi's wishes.
Night fell, and clear moonlight bathed the earth.
The moonlight, like water, shone on Koyuki's face.
Her long hair was slightly curled.
She looked at the moon outside and could not help sighing, wondering if she did not quite fit Kenichi's aesthetic.
And now she had to watch that voluptuous Mei keep running around in front of her.
"Then I can only hope Mei behaves herself."
Koyuki gave a resentful glance toward the laboratory.
She had been so proactive, yet Lord Amamiya Kenichi still showed no reaction.
This made Koyuki a little suspicious, wondering if there was something wrong with her figure and appearance.
"Under the influence of the sealing ninjutsu, chakra can now flow normally. As for converting it into Lightning Release chakra, that has also been resolved. So, it's time to start the experiment."
Kenichi pinched his brow, looking at Samehada, which had gone still, feeling somewhat excited.
Now, the goal was to use electricity to drive the motor and see whether it could be used to create other means of transportation or something else.
If this worked, the Shinobi World would officially enter a new technological era.
"It's just this ninjutsu..."
Kenichi scratched his head.
He had developed some new ideas while experimenting, especially when observing the flow of chakra.
He now had some thoughts of his own.
How should chakra be observed?
There was a way.
There were similar ninjutsu among sensory techniques, and Kenichi's Mangekyo Sharingan could also see chakra.
But the problem was that there were policies above and countermeasures below.
Kenichi had now discovered that ordinary methods of viewing chakra were ineffective against some ninja.
Because of that, Kenichi needed other methods to observe chakra, as well as to covertly monitor those ninja.
"Then I need to create a device that can detect chakra. That might have some miraculous effects."
Kenichi rubbed his hands, then carried Samehada out of the laboratory.
Immediately afterward, Kenichi arrived outside another laboratory door.
"Teacher, are you free?"
Kenichi pushed the door open and walked in.
As soon as he entered, he saw that the laboratory was dark, with no lights on.
But this darkness could not block Kenichi's eyes.
Kenichi quickly saw Orochimaru lying asleep on the table.
Kenichi was momentarily stunned.
"Teacher is actually asleep."
Kenichi was a little surprised.
Orochimaru rarely slept.
He could not help walking over to take a look, and then he saw an open experimental log on Orochimaru's desk.
Kenichi raised an eyebrow.
This scene felt familiar.
Kenichi remembered that a long time ago, when he was still living with Orochimaru in Konoha, he had once seen Orochimaru's forgotten experimental log.
It had recorded a ninjutsu called Living Corpse Reincarnation, and even its flaws.
Kenichi had glanced at it, returned it to Orochimaru, and then never thought about it again.
However, he had not expected this scene to happen again.
But this time, Orochimaru seemed to be truly asleep.
Kenichi could already hear Orochimaru's long breaths and steady heartbeat.
Such signs indicated genuine sleep, because only when someone was truly asleep would they display such signs.
During sleep, a person's heart rate slowed down, giving the heart a period of rest.
This was why staying up late could lead to sudden death.
Because the heart did not get enough rest.
In a way, humans were like exploitative bosses, relentlessly pushing their own organs to work nine-nine-six.
[...The experiment failed. After the soul was extracted, it could not be adjusted. At the same time, my soul also underwent some changes. Does the body affect the soul? Or is this something the Sage of Six Paths did?]
[Perhaps I should attempt a second Living Corpse Reincarnation and replace this body with a new one. But finding a perfectly compatible body is not easy. Perhaps...]
[I checked my soul again, but the soul showed no abnormality. The methods left by the Sage of Six Paths could not be detected even with my Mangekyo. Do I need to go to the Pure Land? Only then can I clarify this matter?]
[Living Corpse Reincarnation needs to be improved. Whether my soul is abnormal cannot be determined if it was caused by the Living Corpse Reincarnation itself in the first place.]
Kenichi glanced at Orochimaru.
It seemed Orochimaru still had not let go of this matter.
Should he give him a push?
But it did not seem necessary.
Anyway, Orochimaru was already like this.
If Kenichi pushed him, it would be easy for Orochimaru to notice something unusual.
It was better to leave him be.
.....
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