A Bread Costs Five Hundred Thousand Ryō?

"You know how much a loaf of bread costs now?"

"Five hundred thousand ryō!!!"

"This morning, I hauled an entire cartload of banknotes just to buy two loaves of bread."

"What kind of damned world is this? How are we supposed to survive?"

Five hundred thousand?

For one loaf of bread?!

Where the hell had I been sent?

In the noisy tavern, a young man stared at the scene before him, utterly dumbfounded.

He remembered pulling an all-nighter at work, preparing to head home from the company, and then getting hit by a truck...

Hiss! So I transmigrated.

Jingū Kiraku rubbed his face and quickly accepted the situation.

After all, getting hit by a truck and transmigrating was perfectly reasonable, right?

But the problem was...

Why had he transmigrated into Naruto?

This world was famous for its obsession with bloodlines. It was even known for Eye Legend and Successors of the Ōtsutsuki.

With his utterly ordinary bloodline, in this ninja world where people killed without blinking, becoming somebody was out of the question. Even staying alive would be difficult.

More importantly, other transmigrators always ended up in major ninja powers like Konoha or Kumogakure.

Their environments were stable, their resources abundant, and their backers incredibly powerful.

But him? He had transmigrated to the Land of Rain!

That was right—the Land of Rain, situated between the three great nations, known as the battlefield of the great powers and the ninja meat grinder!!

Worse still, just a few days ago, the great leader of Amegakure, Hanzō the Salamander, had led Amegakure's elite in an assault on Konoha.

And the result...

Naturally, the Amegakure forces suffered a crushing defeat. Hanzō the Salamander surrendered to Konoha and bestowed the title of Three Legendary Ninja upon Jiraiya and the others.

With the end of that war, the Land of Rain had completely become a defeated nation.

Not only did it have to pay astronomical war reparations to the Land of Fire, but even the vital grain-producing regions and Mining Areas along its eastern border had all been occupied by Konoha.

This utterly shattered the economic system of the Land of Rain, which had already endured years of war.

Countless industries declared bankruptcy one after another. Huge numbers of civilians lost the jobs they depended on for survival. Aristocrats and merchants took the opportunity to hoard and resell food, while the prices of all kinds of daily necessities skyrocketed.

The people were driven onto the streets and left hungry. In some regions, there were even horrific cases of parents exchanging children to eat.

Even in Amegakure, food prices had risen to the absurd level of five hundred thousand ryō for a single loaf of bread. People could only push carts piled high with banknotes in exchange for pitiful amounts of food.

Under such circumstances, the people were filled with resentment, and the atmosphere within the country grew increasingly tense.

It was an absolutely disastrous start!

Thinking of this, Jingū Kiraku finally recalled the identity of this body's original owner.

He came from the capital of the Land of Rain and had once aspired to become an outstanding aristocratic painter. Unfortunately, no one recognized his talent, and he nearly starved to death on the streets.

Left with no other choice, he joined the military and came to Amegakure, becoming a ninja.

Later, he performed exceptionally in the wars against forces from Konoha, Iwagakure, Sunagakure, and elsewhere. He was promoted to Chunin ahead of schedule and awarded the Amegakure Hero Badge.

Unfortunately, he was struck by a Poison Gas Bomb from Sunagakure on the battlefield. After inhaling a large amount of poison gas, he lost his sight and had no choice but to leave the front lines.

When his injuries healed and he prepared to return to the battlefield to continue serving the Land of Rain, he received news of Amegakure's surrender.

His convictions shattered, he simply took all his savings to a tavern to drown his sorrows and drank himself to death...

After reviewing the original owner's life, Jingū Kiraku could not help rubbing the space between his brows again.

It was similar!

Far too similar!

He had wanted to become an aristocratic painter but unfortunately failed. He could only become a ninja and serve his country. Just when he thought he could finally realize his worth in life, the nation he belonged to surrendered.

It even signed a humiliating treaty that forfeited its sovereignty, allowing other nations to bully it at will and dragging the country and its people into an abyss of irreversible ruin!!

Combined with the Land of Rain's inflated prices, its unlivable conditions, and the vast gap in wealth between aristocrats and ordinary civilians...

At this moment...

It was exactly like that time!!

Jingū Kiraku knew that, according to the course of history, he ought to step onto a podium now, raise his arms, and lead the Land of Rain to greatness once more!

But this was the Naruto ninja world, a place with supernatural power.

Jonin were everywhere, Kage-level experts ruled entire regions, and Six Paths-level powerhouses lurked in the shadows, watching like tigers.

If he jumped out now, no one else would even need to act. Hanzō the Salamander alone could chop him into minced meat.

He might not have been able to handle the three disciples of the Hokage, but could he not handle a mere Amegakure Chunin like him?

What a joke!

If he dared show his face now, he would definitely be killed in an instant. He might even claim the top spot on the list of most disgraceful transmigrators!

That would be far too embarrassing.

To avoid such a situation, Jingū Kiraku decided to endure for the time being.

Taking a roundabout route to save the country was nothing shameful.

Just as he was considering how to advance by a more circuitous path, a voice sounded beside his ear.

"The Ninja Civilization System has been activated. Host bound: Jingū Kiraku."

"From the birth of the first strand of Chakra to the various ninjutsu of the Ninshu era..."

"Now, begin your greatest exploration—from the cradle of Ninja Civilization to the vast stars!"

As the voice rang in his ears, an incomparably vast sense of historical grandeur washed over Jingū Kiraku.

It felt somewhat familiar, yet also somewhat different.

But none of that mattered. What mattered was that his cheat had arrived!!

Realizing this, excitement burst from Jingū Kiraku's eyes.

In a world this dangerous—

With my utterly ordinary bloodline, I can only resort to cheating!

With incomparable excitement and anticipation, Jingū Kiraku eagerly opened the system panel:

Lord: Jingū Kiraku

Territory: Amegakure (Bound, not activated)

Reputation Value: 1 (Self)

Technology Value: 3.47/day

Culture Value: 2.34/day

Production Value: 11.24/day

Lord Skill: Absolute Loyalty (Whenever a civilian pledges loyalty to you, you may draw one ability from them, and your Chakra reserves are equal to your Reputation Value)

Unique Building: Loyalty Statue (Within territory containing the lord's statue, all combat units gain 25% more Chakra, 25% faster Chakra recovery, 25% greater ninjutsu power, all residents gain 25% Loyalty, and Production Value increases by 25%. This building's effects will upgrade as the territory expands)

Normal Skills: Water Release Ninjutsu (B), Chakra Refining Technique (C), Sensing Ninjutsu (C), Swordsmanship (C)...

Ninja Technology Tree: Currently unavailable. Requires control of territory to unlock.

Culture Policy Tree: Currently unavailable. Requires control of territory to unlock.

Wonder Construction: Currently unavailable. Requires control of territory to unlock.

Please become an official lord as soon as possible and begin your own civilization!

(Note: There are three paths to victory in the game: Domination Victory, Technology Victory, and Culture Victory.)

"Hiss..."

Jingū Kiraku's first impression after reading the system could be summed up in one word—stitched!

This thing had completely stitched the Civilization game series into the worldview of the ninja world.

But the good news was, it had all been stitched together!

And it had been stitched together damn well!!

He rubbed his hands together, unable to stop a smile from appearing on his face.

As a veteran player of city-building games, Jingū Kiraku knew all too well how valuable the Loyalty Statue was.

Not only did it increase Chakra reserves, Chakra recovery speed, and ninjutsu power by 25%, it also forcibly raised the residents' Loyalty and Production Value...

This thing was practically a divine tool for both offense and defense within his faction!!

On defense, it could greatly enhance every attribute of friendly forces fighting on home ground, dealing devastating blows to the enemy.

On offense, it could rapidly increase the Loyalty of newly acquired territory and quickly restore its Production Value. It was absolutely a god-tier building for territorial expansion!

More importantly, its effects could grow continuously along with territorial expansion.

It already provided a 25% increase at the start. If it grew even a little, wouldn't that be insane?

Tsk, looks like I have no choice but to pursue Domination Victory...

Jingū Kiraku rubbed his hands, unable to conceal his excitement.

Besides that, he possessed another outrageously powerful skill—

Absolute Loyalty!!

Put simply, this skill allowed him to randomly draw abilities from civilians who pledged loyalty to him, while converting his Reputation Value into Chakra.

In theory, as long as enough people were loyal to Jingū Kiraku and his Reputation Value became high enough, there would be no upper limit to his strength.

He could even become the Strongest in History—a ninja proficient in every aspect—and possess a massive amount of Chakra far exceeding that of the tailed beasts.

Of course, to achieve such an effect, he would probably need to expand the Land of Rain several times over, at the very least until it reached the scale of one of the Five Great Nations.

In other words, if Jingū Kiraku wanted to grow strong quickly, he had to take control of Amegakure as soon as possible and develop it aggressively.

Ideally, he would make it the number one nation in the ninja world!

But the problem was that Amegakure's current leader was Hanzō the Salamander.

Although he had chosen to surrender in the battle against Konoha, that did not mean he was useless.

At least at this stage, killing Jingū Kiraku would not be difficult for him.

Therefore, only two paths remained before Jingū Kiraku.

First, have a cup of tea with Hanzō the Salamander, discuss things properly, and ask him to voluntarily step down and yield his position.

Second, quickly accumulate Loyalty, increase his strength, then kill Hanzō the Salamander and let the Land of Rain welcome its new king.

Between those two options, Jingū Kiraku chose the latter without the slightest hesitation.

He did not believe Hanzō the Salamander would obediently hand over the position of leader.

If that man were truly so broad-minded, he would not have plotted to destroy Akatsuki in the original story.

To avoid following in Akatsuki's footsteps, Jingū Kiraku had to take a gamble.

With that thought, he turned his gaze toward the system panel once again.

Under the Reputation Value section, there were numerous treasure chests.

They could be opened when Reputation Value reached milestones of 1, 10, 100, 1,000, and 10,000.

Among them, the treasure chest for Reputation Value 1 had already lit up.

Jingū Kiraku understood—

The way to break the deadlock lay within it!!

Without hesitation, he opened it.

A flash of light appeared, followed by a system notification.

"Congratulations, you have obtained the skill: Speech (S)!"

"Your speaking ability has greatly improved. Your speeches will also carry the effects of inspiration, bewitchment, emotional resonance, and imagination from nothing."

Seeing this new ability, Jingū Kiraku could not help touching the space beneath his nose.

Could I really be the reincarnation of some mustached demon?

But he had no time to worry about such trivial matters.

Kiraku looked over the noisy tavern before him, then slowly walked onto the speaking platform. Taking a deep breath, he said:

"Everyone..."

"I don't think this world should be like this!"