Dazna looked at Nojuro Ryun in astonishment, never expecting that Nojuro Ryun had come to reason things out.
But then he reacted and said, "Another Gato, is that it?"
Ryun smiled slightly and said, "There always needs to be a Gato, isn't that so?"
Ryun raised his hand and pointed into the distance, saying, "You came from Konoha, so you should know what this world is like."
"Larger countries all have their own hidden villages; those without hidden villages at least have a daimyo, a monarch, or nobles."
"If there is nothing at all, then they have no choice but to let merchants lead the country."
Dazna frowned deeply and said, "We don't need leadership. We can make the country prosperous by ourselves."
Ryun turned his head to look at him and said with a faint, knowing smile, "Is that really so?"
"Mr. Dazna, you feel no one is leading you, but isn't it possible that you yourself are the leader?"
Ryun placed his hand on Dazna. This single action alone caused several workers who had been nervously watching them to gather around.
They were all ordinary people, without the power to resist ninja.
But they were willing to use their own blood to protect Dazna; without Dazna, this bridge could never have been built.
Dazna felt somewhat dazed. So, without him even realizing it, he had already become the leader of all these people?
"See? People need an organization to live in peace."
"Without Gato, there would be you; without you, there would be someone else."
"Otherwise, an isolated person might not have to pay anything, but he would also go mad."
Seeing Dazna fall silent, Ryun said, "It seems you understand what I'm saying. Then I'll ask you one final question, Dazna."
"If the Land of Waves is handed over to you, will this bridge alone ensure its safety and peace?"
"Isn't it possible that this bridge could make it easier for more ninja to come and extort wealth, and also allow mountain bandits to move quickly in and out of the Land of Waves?"
Dazna's eyes suddenly widened, and his body began to tremble violently.
"I... we could hire Konoha ninja to protect us—"
"Do you know how much it costs to hire a ninja for battle? Ah, right. You do know. After all, you tricked Konoha ninja into doing two A-rank missions for the price of a C-rank one."
"I doubt they'll fall for that trick again."
"Or next time, Konoha might demand double the compensation."
Ryun wasn't lying.
Although Naruto had become a symbol of hope for the Land of Waves, the Land of Waves itself had clearly been put on Konoha's grey list. From now on, any missions from the Land of Waves would be strictly scrutinized.
"Moreover, Konoha ninja can't fly. If the Land of Waves were ransacked and they had to wait to invite Konoha ninja over, the battle would be long over."
Dazna remained silent. He knew everything Ryun said was true.
But he really couldn't accept driving away Gato only to welcome a new wolf.
The Land of Waves was already this impoverished; when would it ever become prosperous?
"Alright, don't be nervous, Mr. Dazna."
"Why don't we find some time to talk slowly? We could even go to Gato's office and see just how much wealth he accumulated."
"If you agree, Dazna, perhaps today could become a celebration for the Land of Waves."
At first, Dazna didn't understand what this meant.
When Ryun took out five hundred million in cash, paid out all the various debts Gato owed to the people of the Land of Waves in one go, and compensated them for past wrongs, the entire Land of Waves was plunged into an ocean of joy.
And while the people of the Land of Waves were celebrating their new lives, Zabuza and Haku were diligently carrying out entrapment, killing over a hundred people, dyeing a large area of the sea red.
Fewer than fifty ninja remained, among them only five chunin; the rest were all worthless genin.
When Zabuza led these trembling ninja before Ryun, contrary to their expectations, what awaited them was a company nameplate handwritten by Ryun himself.
Ryun didn't know much about establishing a political entity, but he knew a thing or two about setting up a company.
These people might not have been entirely clean, but the fact that they could work under Gato while maintaining their principles was, in itself, a testament to their character.
From now on, these people would become the armed police of the Land of Waves, used to protect its safety and maintain its order.
As for Zabuza, he would naturally be the leader of this group.
He wouldn't need to do much; he'd only have to step in when his subordinates encountered someone they couldn't handle.
As for Haku, Ryun chose to have him temporarily take on a leadership role in administrative matters—merely leading and being responsible to Ryun, while the specific work would be handled by the company's administrative staff.
Haku's image was enough, and his strength sufficient to intimidate ordinary people; the only issue was his educational level, which would require some intensive study.
There was no help for it; Ryun simply didn't have the manpower right now, and he couldn't bring people out of Konoha. This would have to do for the time being.
For now, though, there was no need to worry about the company's business operations.
Although Ryun had spent all the cash in Gato's possession, he still had a large amount of weapons and drugs, as well as a fleet capable of transporting goods between the Land of Water, the Land of Lightning, and the Land of Fire.
These things didn't require Ryun's personal attention; they could just continue their original business. Only, stopping the drug trade would put a strain on the company's short-term cash flow. To address this, Ryun planned to build up his reputation during the Chunin Exams, then go seek investment from the Fire Daimyo.
Although many places in the ninja world seemed impoverished, Ryun knew it was about to enter the capitalist era.
In this day and age, who would still work hard accumulating wealth through land? Of course, the plan was to first play the game of capital concentration and pass the parcel, and finally settle into the high-tech pharmaceutical industry.
Besides, the Land of Waves itself didn't have the conditions to be an agricultural or industrial powerhouse; it might as well become a consumer nation.
Ryun believed that with his strength and eloquence, he could persuade the Fire Daimyo and the nobles to dip into their private funds to completely transform the Land of Waves.
Ryun didn't explain this plan to Zabuza and Haku; they wouldn't understand it anyway, and they wouldn't care. Their biggest life goals at the moment were still to return to Kirigakure for revenge.
As for Dazna, he barely understood, but he remained highly skeptical about whether Ryun's plan was feasible.
However, he had to admit that Ryun was indeed different from Gato and seemed capable of bringing prosperity to the Land of Waves.
As for anything more, he was too old to think that far ahead. He could only let Ryun smoothly take over Gato's company and begin to become the hidden boss of the Land of Waves.
So, a month later, the Land of Waves had returned to stability, even excessively so.
Ryun was still waiting for Gato's backers to show up. Whether it was someone from Kirigakure, Kumogakure, or even Konoha who came knocking, Ryun could accept it.
Even if it was someone from the Akatsuki organization or Obito who showed up, Ryun could understand that.
But in the end, no one actually came looking. It turned out Gato had carved out his own territory in the Land of Waves through his own efforts.
At this point, Ryun found it hard to comment.
This showed that the vast majority of business acumen in the ninja world was still stuck in a primitive, slash-and-burn era. No wonder ninja found it so hard to accept new things.
Even though the ninja world already had electric lights and telephones, and even cars and ships—albeit still steam-powered—ninja still lived as if they were in the Warring States Period. It was only the new generation of ninja that was beginning to embrace popular culture.
Ryun shook his head, becoming even more convinced that his plan to develop industry in the Land of Waves was correct.
Otherwise, in Konoha, he would absolutely never be able to create such an industry. Not only would the ninja oppose it, but even the Konoha villagers would probably find it hard to accept.
With this, the cleanup work in the Land of Waves was complete.
All Ryun had to do now was send a shadow clone to inspect the situation every day, and then wait for the follow-up investment to start construction in the Land of Waves.
His focus had also returned to Konoha.
During this period, Ryun had never forgotten to train. He was well aware that his strength was the foundation of his current power.
With the improvement in his physique and the evolution of his panel, Ryun could now sustain several shadow clones doing different things simultaneously. This allowed him to handle matters in the Land of Waves while not falling behind on his book writing.
Today was the release date of his new book, *The True Legacy of Senju Hashirama*.
This time, Ryun didn't hold a book signing event, because his reputation was already established.
A long line formed in front of the Konoha bookstore. Even Sarutobi Hiruzen immediately picked up Ryun's book and began reading it seriously.
That day, all of Konoha was quieter than usual. Many people, through Ryun's book, recalled the past when the First Hokage led Konoha to grow and thrive.
And this also gave several girls the opportunity to gather at Ryun's house, surrounding him to ask for limited-edition signed copies of the book.
But Ryun could tell their purpose went far beyond that.
Especially Tenten, who clearly couldn't wait any longer to receive her own True Spirit Seal.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
📖 Like the story? Read 120 chapters ahead!
🔗 patreon.com/atomelectron
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━