The Path to Sustainable "Eating Soft Rice" Development

At night, inside a somewhat dilapidated little cabin outside the Hidden Leaf Village's "Fifth Ring."

The light from a kerosene lamp filled the entire room.

Soseki sat at the table, his gaze unfocused and scattered as his right hand loosely scribbled across the paper with a pen.

These were the characters from his previous life, written in an especially messy hand. Even in that world, these ghostly scrawls would have been nearly impossible for anyone to recognize.

That way, even if someone discovered what he was doing, they would only think it was mindless doodling while he was distracted.

Written on it were some of his original plans for the near and distant future, but the future was never set in stone, so naturally, his plans had to change with it.

"I never thought I really was a genius." Remembering what had happened that evening, Soseki could not help but laugh.

He had originally planned to establish himself as a genius in order to secure more resources.

That was not difficult.

If talent determined a person's upper limit, then hard work determined their lower limit. At least in Soseki's view, with effort and efficient learning methods, it was possible to shape himself into an ordinary genius.

In this world of ninja, being a genius was hardly synonymous with safety. Assassinations by hostile ninja villages and suppression by internal factions could both cause a genius to perish before reaching maturity.

As far as Soseki knew, there were quite a few gifted students in his class, yet in the original course of history, they had not even left their names behind.

Mediocrity could indeed serve as a temporary shield, but the price was that one might remain mediocre forever.

He had no bloodline, no Dojutsu, and no backing. If he did not strive for resources, then a single mission or a single war might erase the name Shimizu Soseki from the river of history forever, unable to stir even the faintest ripple.

Especially since he knew of the coming Third Shinobi World War and Fourth Shinobi World War, that pressure felt all the more urgent!

Since risk could not be avoided, Soseki would rather hold the initiative in his own hands. At the very least, he did not want even his death to be beyond his control!

Looking at it more optimistically, though those risks could not be avoided, their severity could be adjusted.

And the method Soseki chose was to move closer to the Third Hokage.

No matter how poor the Third Hokage's reputation was, he was still far more reliable than Danzo.

Of course, becoming friends with Asuma did not mean he was drawing close to the Third Hokage. The Third Hokage could stand by and watch the Senju Clan disappear, and could bear to let a hero's son suffer bullying. Naturally, he would not change his stance over one of Asuma's friends.

That did not mean the Third Hokage was truly unforgivable, however. As a politician, those were mature and rational choices.

He had made the Senju Clan truly integrate into Konoha because he had genuinely inherited Hashirama Senju's ideals. He wanted the people of the village to understand that moving away from clan-based structures was inevitable.

And having Naruto suffer was, in truth, meant to make it easier for him to control that humanoid nuclear weapon. If such a dangerous weapon could not be controlled by the leader, it would indeed be a tremendous potential disaster.

His thinking was not wrong. What was wrong was his method, and his failure to grasp the proper balance.

Of course, none of that had much to do with Soseki. The only thing he needed to do was use Namikaze Minato as his template.

"A Civilian Ninja, exceptionally talented, not confined by his own interests, willing to selflessly devote himself to the village—he was practically the perfect embodiment of the Will of Fire!" Soseki could not help sighing inwardly.

"Even with one Namikaze Minato already, I'm sure the Third Hokage would not mind having one more Shimizu Soseki. The more inheritors of the Will of Fire there are, the more it proves that his political views and methods are correct."

As long as he could become an inheritor of the "Will of Fire" in the Third Hokage's eyes, he would have absolute safety in Konoha! The Third Hokage could tolerate Danzo's recklessness in certain "minor matters," but where ideals and paths were concerned, he would never retreat even half a step.

Because that would amount to a complete denial of his life and beliefs!

Thus, Soseki had never believed that being Asuma's friend would influence the Third Hokage much. What he truly wanted was to use Asuma as a channel to send the ideals he wished to convey into the Third Hokage's ears.

Even before Soseki had been sure of his own talent, he had decisively accepted this duel because victory or defeat had long ceased to be the main purpose of this battle.

There was a way to handle winning, and there was also a way to handle losing.

Naturally, he still hoped to win the battle if possible.

"My talent seems better than I imagined. In that case, as an ordinary genius, perhaps I can consider an even more perfect start, such as..." Soseki's gaze passed through the window and settled on the pitch-black street. "Running into Tsunade by chance?"

Though his experiences in his previous life made him more interested in Genjutsu, Medical Ninjutsu seemed to offer a brighter future path.

And the most important reason he had chosen to begin as a Medical Ninja was Tsunade... or rather, the sacred land of Shikkotsu Forest behind her.

As a ninja with nothing, Sage Mode was undoubtedly the best choice for strengthening himself. Not to mention that each of the three great Sage Modes came with a powerful Summoning Beast as a bonus.

One of the reasons he had chosen to become a Medical Ninja was also to prepare for that—sage Chakra was formed through the complete fusion of Physical Energy, Mental Energy, and natural energy. The three had to maintain a balance of one-third each, or there would be a danger of being eroded by the power of nature.

That required Chakra control of the utmost precision, which was why he had begun practicing bodily control even before he possessed any Chakra at all.

As for why he had chosen Tsunade, the reason was simple—she was easier to win over than the other two.

There was no need to mention Orochimaru. If he became that man's disciple, who knew when he might be branded with the mark of "love."

As for Jiraiya, burdened with the prophecy of the Child of Prophecy, he could not casually take on disciples in the first place. That was especially true with Nagato on the outside and Minato on the inside.

Tsunade, meanwhile, may have been dispirited and closed off her heart to love, but people like that were precisely the easiest to win over. Besides, there was even a bridge in his class that could connect him to her.

"Should I get in touch with Shizune now?" Soseki dismissed that option without much thought. He might be the Class Leader, but suddenly lavishing attention on Shizune would still seem strange.

It would be better if Shizune came to him of her own accord.

"Then what about Genjutsu? With Kurenai as a stepping stone, it might not be impossible to approach her father." Soseki muttered silently. For someone without a background like him, the simplest way to obtain initial startup capital was naturally to live off a woman.

Though living off a five-year-old little girl could no longer simply be called shameful, he did not have many options.

Life was sometimes like that—fall one step behind, and you fell behind at every step!

"Still no. Being too hasty risks making my persona fall apart. The best approach would be to guide things along after winning this duel—and that brings me back to the starting point. I need to defeat Asuma first."

After pondering for a moment, Soseki mocked himself inwardly. "Heh, it seems I've gotten things backward. Defeating Asuma is meant to draw attention and avoid risks, yet acting too hastily might instead place me in danger."

"Besides, there was no need to go that far to defeat Asuma. All I needed was one or two basic ninjutsu, along with a little Psychological Suggestion."

Soseki yawned and glanced at the sheets covered in incomprehensible scribbles. He shook his head with feigned helplessness, casually held the papers over the kerosene lamp, and set them alight. Only after they had burned to ashes did he stretch and head toward the bed.

"Tomorrow, I'll first get my hands on my first ninjutsu. As for sage arts and Genjutsu, I'll slowly make plans for those after this is over!"

PS1: This isn't meant to whitewash the Third Hokage. In fact, in my eyes, everyone is a complex individual—a contradictory entity made up of all sorts of intertwined traits. Judging a person as either entirely black or entirely white is far too arbitrary. Take the Third Hokage, for example. In my view, he wasn't a qualified father, wasn't a qualified teacher, and couldn't even be considered a good person in the subjective sense. But as the Kage of a village, from the perspective of civilians and ordinary people, he could be considered a qualified Kage. After all, politicians are meant to be ruthless. Being overly emotional may instead become a disaster for the collective. In short, it will be difficult to find a truly evil person in this book. When portraying characters, I will also try my best to judge them from an objective and fair perspective. When I get to White Fang's death later on, I'll say a few more things—ramble a little—because I truly don't believe a strong man would become so weak over a few rumors that he would choose suicide, especially when his son was only six or seven years old.

PS2: One more thing. Some readers may question my claim that the Third Hokage was a qualified Kage because Leaf Village fell from its peak under his leadership. But in truth, when the Third Hokage took over Leaf Village, the First and Second Hokage had already died. Aside from Uzumaki Mito, there was hardly any combat power in the village worth mentioning, and they were in the midst of the Second Shinobi World War. In those circumstances, the Third Hokage took over Leaf Village and led it back to its peak. In the era the protagonist is currently in, the Third Hokage and Danzo are at their peak, White Fang and the Three Sannin are renowned throughout the shinobi world, and the heads of the major clans have also matured. It can absolutely be called the best era. Although Leaf Village's later decline is also a fact, looking across history, it is already extremely rare for a ruler to have even one period of wise governance. Leaders who can grow old without making mistakes are simply too few. That is why I say that, as a Kage, the Third Hokage was at least qualified.