Making Too Much Money Was Terrifying

Two months later, the 140 ant colonies formed through the third round of splitting finally began officially harvesting their first batch of Ant Honey, earning 600,000 ryo from sales.

The returns, far beyond anyone's expectations, delighted every participant—and terrified them at the same time.

Aburame Tetsumaru had understood from the beginning that his family could not manage the Sugar Ants alone. He had even considered that the Aburame Clan might not be qualified to monopolize this business, but the one-time profit of 600,000 proved that everyone had underestimated the value of Ant Sugar.

The Shinobi World was a feudal society. The government did not organize production, and productivity was extremely low.

Moreover, the chaotic Warring States Period had ended only recently, followed by a massive shinobi war. People were poor.

Lacking clothing and food, enduring hunger and starvation—such things were commonplace. Sweeteners were even rarer luxuries. There was simply no possibility of failing to sell them now; even if output increased a hundredfold, it would not cause prices to fall.

During wartime, things would be even more exaggerated. Sugar was an important military supply. Eating a piece during a break in battle could quickly restore strength, while drinking a cup of hot, concentrated sugar water after being wounded could save a life.

Sugar was also an important ingredient in Military Ration Pills. Demand and profits would both be even greater during war.

In the Land of Fire, several nobles produced malt sugar and beet sugar, but feudal nobles could not organize labor on a large scale, so their output was low and their quality poor.

Within Konoha, the honey business run by the Yamanaka Clan had no competition at all. Even during wartime, the profits from honey could support the clan's expenditures.

The Yamanaka Clan's honey industry, the Nara Clan's medicinal herb industry, and the Akimichi Clan's livestock industry were far more profitable, important, and discreet than their superficial flower growing, deer raising, and barbecue businesses.

Stable industries, powerful economic strength, and formidable combat ability were the foundation that allowed the Ino-Shika-Cho trio to stand firm as Mount Tai.

Honey depended on flowers, and the brief flowering season, along with the limited nectar and pollen, kept honey production extremely low. Excessively fierce territorial competition between bee colonies also limited their density.

On Earth, the pitiful output of beekeeping could at most support a small family of five. Yet in the Shinobi World, it could support a massive ninja clan. The profit margins were clearly astonishing.

The Sugar Ant and aphid combination did not rely on flowers. Ant Sugar production was hundreds of times that of honey. Even if its quality was somewhat worse and its price lower, its total returns would still be a hundred times those of the honey industry.

The Shinobi World was a supernatural world, as well as a dual feudal monarchy. Its first rule was that the size of your fist determined the share of profit you could claim.

From individuals to nations, enormous profits were always possessed by powerful forces.

The Aburame Clan had not dared to monopolize Ant Sugar from the start, bringing many ninja clans in to run the business together. But now, it seemed the profits had not been divided finely enough, and there were not enough allied clans.

Aburame Shihui immediately decided to keep dividing the profits. There was no need to consult the Clan Head; they could begin at once.

First, they would no longer use their own land. They would rent land from the three Ino-Shika-Cho clans to establish aphid fields.

Next, their own people would no longer handle daily maintenance. The related work would be subcontracted through village missions, with generously funded rewards.

Finally, they would no longer sell the sugar themselves. Aside from the shares for the participating clans' own use, everything would be handed over to the village for sale, to be allocated by the Hokage.

After the Nara Clan joined, the Nara Clan Head felt the sharing still was not enough. After more than a dozen clan heads gathered to discuss it, he persuaded everyone to expand the Ant Sugar Alliance once more.

Thus, two more long-term missions were issued. One designated the Military Police Force to strengthen patrols and protect the aphid fields.

The other designated the Hyuga Clan to monitor the condition of the aphid fields every day.

This outrageous maneuver truly impressed Aburame Tetsumaru, with his homebody nature, into stunned silence.

Because all aphid fields—including those under construction and those planned for the future—were already within the Military Police Force's patrol range.

And the Byakugan Clan was not allowed to activate the Byakugan inside the village. What special use did Hyuga who did not activate their eyes have in supervision?

It was simply tribute—paying protection money to the great clans.

If the Senju Clan had not been reduced to only a handful of people, there would have been designated missions for them as well. Now, they merely needed to be given a share of the money, without making things so complicated.

But it had nothing to do with him, because apart from a few members of the Aburame Family, no one in the village knew this matter was related to Aburame Tetsumaru.

Aburame Tetsumaru had underestimated the value of Ant Sugar, but only in degree. After all, he was a transmigrator. He had long smelled danger in the air, so how could he casually put himself at risk?

Aburame Tetsumaru feared death. Before transmigrating, he had drifted between life and death until he had nearly faded into oblivion. That great terror beyond life and death had forged an entirely new personality within him. He was extremely afraid of death, but even more afraid of boredom.

Thus, Tetsumaru was deeply satisfied with his new life. Especially after he began learning ninjutsu at four years old—Kikaichū, Chakra, new knowledge, supernatural power—everything held endless attraction for him.

Aburame Tetsumaru plunged headfirst into the sea of new knowledge, striving to absorb every scrap of ninjutsu knowledge he could access. Every day, he clutched the clan's books until the elders started calling him a bookworm.

For Aburame Tetsumaru, being able to study new knowledge in peace was happiness. Showing off was meaningless; at the very least, he would wait until he had finished growing.

Five was still a child. A wonderful life and fresh knowledge were waiting for Aburame Tetsumaru to enjoy. He had no intention of taking risks. Quietly growing stronger was the best.

However, with his life secured, Aburame Tetsumaru was willing to contribute to the clan. The clan protected him and let him enjoy its educational resources. It had raised him, and that was a great kindness.

The values he had developed in his previous life would not allow him to enjoy rights without bearing obligations.

The day after handing over the Sugar Ants, Tetsumaru paid Elder Shihui a special visit and persuaded him to attribute the credit for developing Ant Sugar to the entire Aburame Clan. Elder Shihui was an old fox and understood Tetsumaru's meaning instantly.

The information that Aburame Tetsumaru possessed the complete Ant Sugar technology was deadly enough for a five-year-old child. Once it leaked, even the clan's allied families might be unable to resist secretly making a move.

With interests this great, allied ninja clans could not be trusted, and Konoha's upper echelon could be trusted even less. After seven or eight years, who among the old men had failed to see that Sarutobi Hiruzen and Shimura Danzō were playing good cop and bad cop?

Those two were exceptionally greedy and selfish. To say nothing else, the population and number of clan shinobi in the Sarutobi Clan and Shimura Clan had already doubled over the past few years.

Thus, the Aburame Clan publicly declared that Ant Sugar had been developed through the combined efforts of the entire clan. No one doubted it; this was never something one person could have accomplished. Tetsumaru had only done it by simultaneously using a technological cheat and a supernatural ability cheat.

Once Aburame Tetsumaru confirmed that no one was paying attention to him, he returned to his growth routine in peace.

"Form the confrontation seal."

"Ready, begin."

Bzzzzzzzz— Bzzzzzzzz—

The fighting arena was immediately filled with black Kikaichū. The two massive swarms each split into smaller groups and clashed fiercely.

One side had more Kikaichū, splitting into five smaller swarms. Each engagement swiftly overwhelmed the enemy insects.

Though the other side had fewer Kikaichū, they split into twelve groups. They repeatedly succeeded in delaying the enemy's attacks, using ambushes against the host body again and again, forcing the opposing swarm to abandon its offense and hurriedly turn back to intercept.

The larger swarm won every direct clash with ease, but its rhythm was controlled by its opponent. It struggled left and right until, at last, it let one group of Kikaichū slip through. They landed on Aburame Tetsumaru's head.

"Aburame Shibi wins. The exercise is over."

Both sides formed the reconciliation seal, ending the match.

Aburame Shibi skipped over to Aburame Tetsumaru. "Brother Tetsumaru, I won again."

"Shibi is amazing. Just as expected of the Clan Head's child."

Aburame Tetsumaru rubbed Shibi's head. His hair was quite smooth—comfortable.

Depressed? Disappointed?

Not at all.

Because he was used to it.

This was his tenth loss to Shibi, and he had lost quite a few times to his other brothers as well.

Of course, that was limited to Kikaichū combat. If they fought without restrictions, Aburame Tetsumaru could sweep aside anyone under eight with his body alone. After all, he was 1.3 meters tall and weighed forty kilograms. His development was seriously excessive.

Shibi, who had only just turned four, was developing normally. He was 1.01 meters tall and weighed eighteen kilograms. With such a height gap and more than double the body weight, Tetsumaru and Shibi were completely unsuitable for unrestricted combat.

The spectators chattered among themselves, marveling at Shibi's immense talent and Tetsumaru's strangely skewed talent. Even Elder Shihui, who appreciated Tetsumaru the most, could only shake his head and sigh when he thought of Tetsumaru's talent for controlling Kikaichū.

The Aburame Clan had become wealthy, so naturally, they invested large sums into educating the next generation. The interval between Kikaichū inheritance ceremonies was reduced from one year to four months, and the children were constantly organized into combat exercises.

With the intensive battles, Aburame Tetsumaru's strange talents gradually became known. He was tall, sturdy, powerful, fast, and had Chakra as abundant as if he had mixed blood with the Senju Clan.

Yet Aburame Tetsumaru's talent for controlling Kikaichū was utterly terrible. He could only win some matches because he had so much Chakra and raised enough Kikaichū that were strong enough.

In actual combat, aside from Aburame Shikuroo, who was already an official Genin, every child in the clan could defeat Aburame Tetsumaru.

In the Kikaichū Secret Technique, every child could defeat Aburame Tetsumaru as well.

In short, his talents had gone crooked. He did not resemble an Aburame ninja at all.

In the spring of Konoha's twenty-seventh year, in order to ease tensions and economic pressure, after lengthy wrangling and negotiations, the Five Great Ninja Villages finally formally signed a peace treaty after five years of large-scale ceasefire. Its duration was... two years.

Aburame Tetsumaru and the other children who had inherited Kikaichū attended the clan meeting as reserve ninjas.

At the meeting, all the adults wore dark glasses, making their expressions impossible to see. But their resentment and indignation could not be concealed. Konoha had actually gained nothing from the peace treaty. Never mind the land—they did not care for that worthless territory anyway.

But no money? How could that be acceptable?

For the Aburame Clan alone, more than 120 shinobi had died, gone missing, or been crippled during the war. When the war ended, the total number of clan shinobi was fewer than forty. Including Tetsumaru's father, there were only nine Chunin.

Economically, the Aburame Clan's wartime expenses were beyond calculation. They had struggled through another five years after the war. If the Ant Sugar industry had not suddenly emerged, the clan would have gone bankrupt.

They had paid so much, hoping the village would compensate them, yet the village had accepted a peace treaty without reparations. What was the village supposed to use to compensate them?

The meeting ended quickly. The Aburame Clan's political stance meant they could not possibly oppose the Hokage's decision. It was basically just a meeting to vent their frustrations.

After seeing everyone off, Aburame Shihui deliberately kept Aburame Tetsumaru and several five- and six-year-old children behind.

Elder Shihui gave them a serious instruction. "Everyone must take the exams seriously this year and strive to enter the Ninja Academy. Tetsumaru, you must get into Class A."

"Yes." Aburame Tetsumaru calmly accepted the order.

"Very good. Go home."

"Goodbye, Elder."

Starting last year, Aburame Tetsumaru had gradually confirmed that he had no talent for the fine control required by the Kikaichū Secret Technique. After giving up, he began seeking other paths to power.

He first set his sights on ninjutsu. After all, most shinobi relied on ninjutsu to establish themselves. It was the orthodox path.

Unfortunately, the Aburame Clan focused on Kikaichū, and its foundation in ninjutsu was shallow. The clan had collected only a few dozen ninjutsu scrolls.

But because they did not value them, management was lax, and Aburame Tetsumaru easily borrowed them.

Tetsumaru read every one of those scrolls. The strongest were only C-rank ninjutsu, and they contained only basic usage techniques—no cultivation insights, no amplification techniques, and no records of reduced hand seals.

The elder told Aburame Tetsumaru that the scrolls lacked experience and insights into ninjutsu training. Their techniques were underpowered, required too many hand seals, and were too slow to use. They were no longer suited to modern, fast-paced shinobi combat.

Troubled, Aburame Tetsumaru could only ask around. Then his father gave him a completely unexpected answer.

"Learn ninjutsu? Just go to school."

"Huh?"

"The Ninja Academy library has the most complete collection of ninjutsu. No clan can compare."

???

No, that wasn't right. Sakura, the top student who studied at the Ninja Academy for six years and got perfect scores in every subject, only learned six E-rank techniques. Had I remembered wrong?

Seeing that his child did not believe him, Aburame Kazekazu could not help wondering whether his credibility had gone bankrupt. Had he fooled his child too many times?

He hurriedly emphasized, "I'm not lying. They even have Forbidden Techniques."

Aburame Tetsumaru: w(Д)w

That was even more ridiculous. The Forbidden Techniques were in the Book of Seals, weren't they? Even the protagonist, the Yondaime's son and a Jinchuriki, had needed to use the back door just to take one look.

This bad old man was lying to me again.

"I don't believe you. I'll go ask Elder Shihui." Aburame Tetsumaru ran off in a flash.

Aburame Kazekazu: (′Д`)

"Honey, I'm finished. Tetsumaru won't believe anything I say anymore."

"Serves you right. You fooled the child for fun every day. Now you're suffering the consequences."

Forbidden Grounds Mansion.

"Hahahahahaha! Kazekazu is right. The Ninja Academy really does have the most extensive ninjutsu inheritance."

Aburame Tetsumaru stared in shock. Unbelievable.

Aburame Shihui slowly explained the Ninja Academy's circumstances. During the Nidaime's administration, he promoted the civilianization of shinobi and the integration of Konoha.

Senju Tobirama scattered the branch families of the Senju Clan, changed their surnames, and turned them into civilians. At the same time, he placed all of the clan's ninjutsu inheritance in the newly established Ninja Academy, teaching it openly to students to attract talented children from ninja clans and support civilian shinobi.

The school's teaching style back then was extremely rough. Students could seek out whatever they wanted to learn. A-rank ninjutsu, S-rank ninjutsu, and even all sorts of Forbidden Techniques continuously developed by Senju Tobirama were stuffed into the Ninja Academy without any restrictions.

In the eyes of top shinobi who had fought their way out of the Warring States Period, injuries or disabilities while learning ninjutsu only meant that the ninja was unqualified. Better to become crippled now than die in battle later.

That brutal method of teaching caused countless accidents, but it also produced innumerable powerful shinobi. Those powerful shinobi were the capital behind Konoha's strength today, the foundation that allowed it to dominate the Shinobi World in the First Shinobi World War even after losing the God of Shinobi.

"I heard that one dead-last child chose the 'Eight Inner Gates,' while another outstanding child learned the 'Spirit Transformation Technique.' Kids these days really are recklessly bold."

Might Duy, Kato what's-his-name... was that you two?

Aburame Tetsumaru felt somewhat dizzy, but this was wonderful. He wanted to enroll early.

"However, this chaos is about to change. Sarutobi Hiruzen has proposed sealing away Forbidden Techniques to protect the children, canceling advanced ninjutsu instruction, and limiting the Ninja Academy's teachings to C-rank techniques."

"That way, children will not need to be rushed to emergency treatment every few days, and the Ninja Academy will not have buildings collapsing all the time. It will save quite a lot of money."

#%...@&$...&%%#

That blow to the head was vicious. Aburame Tetsumaru nearly spat out a mouthful of blood.

The policy proposed by the Hokage would not meet strong opposition. On the contrary, it had many supporters.

Powerful ninja clans relied on Kekkei Genkai or secret techniques to establish themselves. They only cared about ninjutsu that could work with their Kekkei Genkai and were indifferent to everything else.

The small ninja clans would certainly be unwilling, but their voices were weak. Moreover, their children still had a path to advancement through apprenticeship: being assigned after graduation to a squad led by a Jonin.

That channel was precisely controlled by Sarutobi Hiruzen. Which head of a small ninja clan would dare object?

As for civilian shinobi, what did they know when neither of their parents was a ninja?

They were already satisfied just to have ninjutsu they could learn.

Based on the plot Aburame Tetsumaru remembered, Sarutobi Hiruzen's policy succeeded. Before his death, the Ninja Academy taught only E-rank ninjutsu, and nearly all elite graduates were children of ninja clans who relied on clan inheritance.

Sakura was not actually a pure civilian ninja either. Her father was a Chunin; by current standards, that put her within the category of a small ninja clan.

The sole exception was Rock Lee, but he had apprenticed himself to a Jonin early on. In terms of backing, he was even more impressive than clan shinobi.

By then, civilian shinobi had completely become cannon fodder. Sakura, the top student with perfect scores in every subject, was weak. The protagonist Naruto was even weaker. Even after using the back door to learn the Multi Shadow Clone Technique, he could still only swing his fists at people.

Konoha's Genin graduates were not even in the same league as those from Sunagakure or Kirigakure. A civilian ninja squad from Konoha could not even defeat a single Genin from those villages.

Where had the essence of Konoha's ninjutsu inheritance gone?

Most likely, it had fallen into the hands of the Sarutobi Clan. This ninja clan had not been powerful during the Founding Konoha, yet after more than forty years of Sandaime rule, what had it become? It could independently organize an army of four thousand shinobi, all proficient in Fire Release.

What did that mean?

After the Shinobi World mobilized everything, it scraped together 80,000 shinobi and shinobi warriors. Of those, Konoha had only a little over 20,000 shinobi.

The Sarutobi Clan alone could reveal a number of shinobi equal to one-fifth of Konoha's total, and all of them were elite Chunin or above. Counting the Genin, minors, those who had not appeared, and retirees, it would not be excessive to assume another two thousand remained at home.

At a ratio of one ninja for every ten people, the Sarutobi Clan had at least 60,000 members, nearly one-quarter of Konoha's total population.

By Konoha's sixtieth year, the three great clans from its founding—the Senju, Uchiha, and Hyuga—combined did not even amount to a fraction of the Sarutobi Clan. The Sarutobi Clan had effectively hollowed out Konoha.

Sarutobi Hiruzen's greed was enough to make even Commander Chiang of the Transport Corps bow in admiration. He was simply Konoha's Elder Xu. PS1

Aburame Tetsumaru estimated that once the Ninja Academy began admissions, famous Forbidden Techniques such as the "Eight Inner Gates" and "Spirit Transformation Technique" would no longer be available to learn. Another year later, even B-rank ninjutsu would disappear. He had missed the best time to study ninjutsu.

The orthodox path of ninjutsu had been cut off. The Aburame Clan also had no Taijutsu or genjutsu inheritance. Left with no alternatives, Aburame Tetsumaru could only turn his attention to Kikaichū, attempting to innovate atop the clan inheritance and blaze a new path.

PS1: Elder Xu refers to Xu Jie, a native of Songjiang Huating in the Ming Dynasty, now Shanghai. He was the Ming Dynasty's Grand Secretary and a famous incorruptible, capable official. Xu Jie lived in a small courtyard in Beijing, ate vegetarian food, wore patched clothes, and his greatest achievement was overthrowing the treacherous official Yan Song.

When the great corrupt official Yan Song's home was confiscated, he was found to possess 50,000 mu of farmland and nearly 3 million taels in assets.

When the upright official Xu Jie retired, his family owned 600,000 mu of grain fields and 150,000 mu of mulberry fields—equal to the entirety of Huating County plus half of Qingpu County.

The Xu family also employed more than ten thousand textile workers, producing silk worth 300,000 taels annually. They were also involved in highly profitable businesses such as illegal salt and maritime trade. Conservative estimates placed their annual income above 2 million taels.

Yet when these two men passed the imperial examination and became jinshi, both had been poor scholars who could not even afford enough food.