Their eyes were full of disbelief as they glanced over at the man standing beside Fuso. It was clear this man was the true leader here.
When he nodded, a hopeful smile spread across Youma's face. "That's right! Home! We're finally going home!"
Suddenly, voices rose all around.
"Are we really accepted?"
"Is this truly going to be our new home?"
"Does this mean we don't have to keep wandering anymore?"
All the Uzumaki cheered, shaking with excitement as they prepared to step inside. "Grandpa! Grandpa!"
Just then, Hinoka tugged at the Third Elder's sleeve. Holding back his emotions, he bent down, curious. Hinoka stretched out her little hand, her innocent face lighting up with a childlike smile as she pointed to a tiny white speck on her right hand. "Look, Grandpa! It's like it's snowing!"
It was snowing, the war had finally come to an end! Maybe because the conflict had just wrapped up, the whole shinobi world felt unusually gloomy.
This year, the snow had arrived earlier than usual. Today marked the Land of Grass's first early winter meeting. It had been nearly two months since their last gathering, where they had discussed the five-year plan.
This time, the meeting welcomed three new young members, along with Nagato and representatives from the Uzumaki clan. Of course, Nagato kept his Rinnegan hidden.
With so many flashy dojutsu around, the legendary eyes of the Sage of Six Paths remained a closely guarded secret. Unless someone demonstrated their unique powers or already knew about the Rinnegan, no one would suspect Nagato's eyes were genuine.
"The construction of Kusa Village has officially entered its next phase," Charlie seriously as he scanned the room. "Regarding income, Kusa Village needs to find new sources of revenue." He couldn't keep relying on himself to write those books forever.
As the leader, he was a man of integrity and only took on that task for the sake of the country's progress, it wasn't something he actually wanted to do.
Before he could finish, Mujie, the shameless one, blurted out eagerly at the mention of making money.
"Selling intel! That's always been one of Kusa's main sources of income. Sure, in peacetime, the flow has slowed down since there's less intel to sell, but we can always fake it!" With a bold grin, he added, "If we throw in rumors about wars, invasions, bloodline thefts… we can't go wrong!"
His words quickly won the approval of the other elders. For a shinobi village with fewer missions, this was the quickest way to bring in funds and had long been an important source of revenue for Kusa.
"Exactly! It's an old trade, we know how it works!" one elder agreed. Another chimed in, "Cash for info, info for cash, and then they can do their own digging."
The discussion made it clear: every village faced its own challenges. "So what if they know? It's no big deal!"
Charlie's face darkened as he listened. Nearby, Youma, representing the Uzumaki clan, looked equally stunned by the discussion. He had long heard rumors that Kusa Village was shameless, but seeing it firsthand was something else entirely.
They actually sold false intelligence? Weren't they afraid of retaliation from other villages?
Now that he had witnessed it himself, he understood. After endless wandering, the Land of Grass was the only place in the shinobi world willing to accept them.
As part of Kusa, no matter what decisions the leader made, Youma was ready to accept them. Besides, he hadn't expected the Uzumaki clan to gain such respect so quickly after joining, being invited to these meetings.
The Land of Grass treated them sincerely, how could the Uzumaki clan be ungrateful? As a shinobi, his role was clear: follow orders. Yet…
"Very good! Comrade Mujie, your suggestion was quite sharp," Charlie said with a serious nod, then added, "But please, never bring it up again."
If not for him, the Land of Grass would still be mired in chaos after its reconstruction, political corruption and infighting running rampant. Now, after unification, he had cleaned house and united the Land of Grass like never before. But if things continued this way…
He feared the Fourth Great shinobi War might erupt because of the Land of Grass, and then Kusa would be invaded by the Five Great Nations! All because of fake intel! That would be a disaster.
In fact, he even suspected that during the Third Great shinobi War, when the Taketori clan crossed the sea to launch a costly attack on the Land of Grass, which had little to offer, it might have been due to Kusa Village selling false intel to Kirigakure.
Folding his hands, Charlie scanned the room with a stern tone. "First, we must identify our strengths. Development has to be suited to our own land, based on reality.
That's the starting point and the goal of all our thinking, decisions, and actions. We need to make the most of the Land of Grass's advantages to promote high-quality growth."
The leader's speech felt like a different language, hard to grasp. The Land of Grass's advantage? Lots of flowers and grass?
Charlie nodded in approval and said, "It looks like everyone understands!" Then he continued, "One of today's main topics is how we can develop animal husbandry in the Land of Grass!"
You should know that the biggest sources of income in the Land of Lightning are liquor production and exporting high-quality beef.
Now, the Land of Grass is similar to the Land of Rain in that it has plenty of rainfall, which means the pastures are lush and full of nutritious grasses, plants, and medicinal herbs. The only problem is that the territory is pretty small.
"So, here's the idea, we can take inspiration from Lightning, raise our own top-quality cattle and sheep, and promote them with a great story. We'll say they're carefully selected, raised on pure natural water from birth, fed the best nutritious grass and herbs.
While they grow, they listen to music and hear stories, and we'll even hire skilled taijutsu shinobi to massage them to boost blood circulation. This way, their muscles get plenty of exercise, making the meat tender, juicy, and melt-in-your-mouth delicious!
As long as the product meets high standards, marketing will do the rest. And if it doesn't, well, that'll create buzz too. People love following trends!"
After hearing Charlie's plan, everyone was impressed and amazed. No wonder he was the leader, he could come up with so many clever ways to promote something. Compared to just selling fake intel, this was on another level.
"Incredible! Just incredible!" Mujie sighed in admiration. "Truly, the leader is a proud son of the Land of Grass!"
Charlie twitched the corner of his mouth and said, "Hey, I'm advertising, not scamming, that's a difference!" Then he went on, "And besides that, we need to promote the Land of Grass itself. If we want people to come here, we've got to give them a reason."
He pulled out a stack of documents from his pocket and placed them on the table.
"Since the end of the Second Great Shinobi War, there's been a rich woman building an empire from the ground up. Real estate, hot springs, fashion, you name it. She's got money, and she's looking to invest. This is our chance."
Everyone leaned in, curious. On the papers were two big characters: "Gambling Den!!!" What could that mean?