And You Too, Teacher

After leading the Ibuse through the streets on a full patrol, Jingū Kiraku found that his Reputation Value had risen by another small amount.

Clearly, appropriately showing off one's strength was quite beneficial to the village's stability.

However, relying on this to cross the twenty-thousand-point threshold and open another treasure chest was still somewhat unrealistic.

On the other hand, he had obtained four thousand Technology Value from Nagato, so he needed to think about how to allocate it...

With that thought, Jingū Kiraku immediately opened the system panel.

Two intersecting yet extraordinarily complex Technology Trees soon appeared before his eyes.

Among them, Agriculture on the standard Technology Tree had already been unlocked.

In the first stage, Hunting, Astrology, Animal Husbandry, and Mining were also available for unlocking.

Hunting: Improves hunting ability and hunting efficiency. Food +1. Unlocks the combat unit Slinger. Costs 50 Technology Value.

Astrology: Increases observation range. Costs 100 Technology Value.

Animal Husbandry: Improves livestock breeding standards and increases animal husbandry output. Food +1. Costs 100 Technology Value.

Mining: Improves mining efficiency and increases mining output. Production Value +2. Costs 200 Technology Value.

For these basic nodes, Jingū Kiraku unlocked them all without a second thought.

Hunting and Animal Husbandry could increase food production and ease the Land of Rain's food shortage, making them essential choices.

Mining could increase Production Value, while Astrology could lay the groundwork for future shipbuilding.

They were basically all must-have upgrades, costing a total of 450 points.

Next, he spent another 1,550 Technology Value to unlock nodes such as Horsemanship, Astronomical Navigation, Ironworking, and Gunpowder.

These were preparations for the coming war.

Horsemanship could increase the movement speed of his combat units by 20% and unlock Cavalry as a combat unit.

Together with the Artillery Soldier combat unit unlocked by the Gunpowder node, and the Poison Gas Bombs developed by Hidden Rain Village, they would become one of Hidden Rain Village's key weapons in the battles to come!

Astronomical Navigation could increase the field of vision provided by scouts, which would be extremely helpful for Jingū Kiraku's command in battle.

Ironworking, meanwhile, strengthened the attack power of his combat units, increased the production efficiency of various ninja tools, and added +5 Production Value.

Unlocking this whole set directly consumed half of Jingū Kiraku's Technology Value.

"Money really disappears like water."

He rubbed the space between his brows with a headache.

But there was nothing to be done about it. After all, national defense and security took precedence over everything else.

Only by winning the current war against Konoha would the Land of Rain have the right to speak of peace and development.

Thus, he turned his attention to the Ninja Technology Tree.

This time, Jingū Kiraku did not choose to unlock those basic nodes. Instead, he poured all his remaining Technology Value into the path of Chakra Enlightenment, Chakra Theory, and Medical Ninjutsu.

He successfully unlocked the three special buildings: Ninja Training Ground, Ninja School, and Ninja Hospital.

And he successfully obtained Jingū Kiraku's most important target—

Medical Ninja.

If Cavalry + Artillery + Poison Gas Bombs were the spear they had prepared for Konoha, then Medical Ninja were their most important shield!

He did not want this great war to leave Hidden Rain Village completely depleted.

Therefore, Medical Ninja were absolutely the highest priority.

This kind of "forced" unlocking without any bonuses instantly spent Jingū Kiraku's remaining 2,000 Technology Value.

After allocating all of his Technology Value, Jingū Kiraku turned his gaze toward his newest gain, one of the Rinnegan's abilities—

Asura Path.

In the original story, Nagato had once used this ability to create an ultra-modern clone.

Not only did it possess all sorts of puppet mechanisms, it could even fire missiles and lasers!

At first, Jingū Kiraku did not understand why Nagato could come up with so much advanced technology, but now he understood somewhat.

Because after obtaining this skill, he could clearly sense a vast amount of knowledge awakening within his mind.

Some of it came from the accumulation of his previous life, or things he had heard secondhand.

The rest appeared from nowhere, like the accumulated sediment of countless souls and histories in this world.

Jingū Kiraku could clearly feel that his ability to think had improved tremendously.

Everything related to machinery and Puppet Technique, in particular, suddenly became crystal clear!

Combined with the knowledge from his previous life, it might be able to play no small role in Hidden Rain Village's industrial development.

Unfortunately, what he lacked most right now was time.

Only by getting through this immediate crisis would they have the capital to develop.

Thinking of this, Jingū Kiraku let out a deep breath.

When he looked outside again, night had long since fallen.

"What time is it?"

Jingū Kiraku looked outside and asked.

"It's two in the morning, Lord Jingū."

Erika's voice came swiftly, filled with reverence.

"Tch, has it gotten this late without me noticing?"

Jingū Kiraku stood up, rubbed his eyes, and said, "You've worked hard. Hurry home and get some sleep."

"Yes."

Erika said nothing more.

After her voice faded, Jingū Kiraku could clearly sense an aura vanishing from nearby.

In truth, he did not need a guard.

It was only because of Erika's insistent request that he had agreed to let her stand by at his side.

He had not expected to become so absorbed today that it got this late.

He shook his head with a smile. Managing a village really was no easy task.

"I should head home too."

Jingū Kiraku stretched, put on his trench coat, and left Amegakure Tower.

Five minutes later, he emerged from the darkness and arrived at his front door.

To his surprise, the front door was actually unlocked.

Jingū Kiraku raised a brow. He pushed open the door, then understood when he saw that the kitchen was still lit.

"These little brats..."

He chuckled and walked into the kitchen.

Sure enough, Konan was asleep with her head on the table.

Before her sat a bowl of ramen that had already gone soggy.

Hearing the door open, Konan suddenly woke with a start.

She only relaxed after seeing Jingū Kiraku. Then she noticed the ramen on the table had turned into a soggy clump and immediately explained, "I'm sorry, Teacher. I didn't expect you to come back this late..."

"I'll heat it up right away!"

Konan hurriedly picked up the ramen and stepped onto the chair she used as a boost, preparing to fix it up again for her teacher.

But Jingū Kiraku simply lifted her down from the chair.

"I'll do it myself. Go get some sleep."

"You don't need to wait for me to come home anymore. And..."

"You don't need to apologize to your teacher."

As he said the last sentence, Jingū Kiraku wore a gentle smile and reached out to pat Konan's head.

Feeling the warmth atop her head, Konan blinked.

"All right, then I'll go to sleep first!"

She seemed to be in a good mood. When she reached the doorway, she turned back again.

"Oh, right. This afternoon, I said my dream was to always be with Nagato and Yahiko, but there's actually one more person."

Konan gave a mischievous grin.

"That's you too, Teacher!"