Land of Artisans Guild

After leaving the inn, Hyuga Kazuya did not team up with Kakashi. With the Byakugan, Hyuga Kazuya had an innate advantage in reconnaissance and intelligence gathering.

Kakashi was different. He was just an ordinary ninja and had no such advantage.

If he kept following Hyuga Kazuya, it would be difficult for Kakashi to improve in reconnaissance and intelligence gathering. But following Minato Namikaze was different.

Minato Namikaze did not have any messy Kekkei Genkai either, and he could thoroughly teach Kakashi about reconnaissance and intelligence gathering. So, unlike yesterday, Kakashi did not follow Hyuga Kazuya and was instead taught by Minato Namikaze.

Watching the bustling street, Hyuga Kazuya headed straight in one direction.

According to Hyuga Kazuya's observations, that place was one of the areas with the densest flow of people in the Land of Artisans: the Land of Artisans Guild.

One could guess what the guild did just from the name above its entrance.

It handled artisan management, promotions, training, protection of ordinary artisans' rights, the sale and purchase of factory output, and so on.

Before coming to the Land of Artisans, Hyuga Kazuya had found it hard to imagine that such an organization existed in the Shinobi World.

After all, the entire Shinobi World roughly vacillated between feudal monarchy and dual monarchy. In this world, however, that duality referred to the Daimyo and the Kage of each village.

To some extent, the dual system in this world was even more thoroughly divided than the one in his previous life.

Yet in the Land of Artisans, where ninjas were scarce, there was actually an artisans' guild that took a confrontational stance against Nobles, Daimyo, and wealthy merchants.

It was unbelievable. Perhaps only in places without ninjas would the progress of the world, the development of the country, and the awakening of the people resemble those of his previous life.

Arriving at the entrance of the artisans' guild, Hyuga Kazuya looked at the bustling guild and walked inside.

Upon entering, he saw a brightly lit hall. Display cases stood throughout it, showcasing all kinds of goods the Land of Artisans sold to outsiders, such as kunai, swords, armor, and battle gear.

What surprised Hyuga Kazuya was that there were also mechanical products, such as cutting machines and processing equipment resembling lathes and milling machines.

"I didn't expect the Land of Artisans to be capable of making machines like these," Hyuga Kazuya said in surprise.

Hyuga Kazuya was still carefully examining the differences between the lathes and milling machines of this world and those from his previous life.

A young woman in a traditional kimono, apparently one of the attendants here, approached Hyuga Kazuya. Seeing him still carefully studying the structure of the lathe, she asked softly.

"Sir, the machine you are looking at is an Artisan's Brand high-precision lathe..."

She rattled on for quite a while, basically explaining how good it was and how buying it would definitely not be a loss.

Just like the salespeople from his previous life when one bought a house or car, she tossed out a string of unfamiliar technical terms until one's head spun.

Hyuga Kazuya quickly raised a hand to stop the salesgirl before she could continue and asked directly, "This machine probably isn't selling very well, is it?"

Hearing Hyuga Kazuya's words, the salesgirl was visibly stunned. Then, somewhat awkwardly, she tried to phrase it tactfully. "It's only because many people still don't know about it. The quality is absolutely not a problem, and whether in speed or precision when processing all kinds of metal products, it is at the top level of the current Shinobi World."

Hearing that the salesgirl still wanted to keep brainwashing him, Hyuga Kazuya curled his lip.

"The Shinobi World has no need for this kind of thing right now. Compared to buying one of these and processing finished products at home, it is simpler and more convenient to buy finished products directly."

"Besides, every machine can break down. What happens when it does? If you buy the machine, you also need raw materials for processing. Not every place in the Shinobi World has cheap steel resources like the Land of Artisans."

"In short, anyone who buys one will find that they have no way to use it."

Hyuga Kazuya looked at the somewhat awkward salesgirl beside him. His presence bore down on her like a mountain as he leaned forward, his handsome face inching closer to hers, his eyes fixed tightly on her slightly evasive gaze.

"Tell me, who would want it?"

"Other than people from the Land of Artisans, no one would buy this machine, right?"

The shy salesgirl, pinned under Hyuga Kazuya's gaze, blushed and took half a step back before arguing softly.

"But, but, it really is very good. The other factories in the Land of Artisans all sing its praises."

"I know there's nothing wrong with the lathe. You simply haven't investigated market demand." Seeing the salesgirl speak as if she were about to cry, Hyuga Kazuya softened his tone.

He had only wanted to tease her because she had kept chattering on and on. He had not meant anything else by it.

"Th-then, what should we do?" the salesgirl asked, at a loss.

"There's nothing to be done. It's not that it isn't good; people simply don't need it. It's too far ahead of its time. This isn't its era of development yet."

Hyuga Kazuya could only shrug helplessly.

The current Shinobi World truly did not need these things. Hyuga Kazuya was not just saying it casually. Setting aside the imminent Third Shinobi World War, who would want them based on market demand alone?

When it came to weapons, every major ninja village had its own weapon-making techniques, with Sunagakure and Kirigakure as the exceptions. One simply lacked resources, while the other believed there was no need for large-scale weapon manufacturing and that it could simply buy what it needed.

In other respects, although some places in the Shinobi World possessed advanced technology, the vast majority remained in the Middle Ages.

There was simply no need for large quantities of mechanical products. Agriculture, perhaps?

Because this world had the miraculous energy known as natural energy, as long as they were not living in some desolate wasteland, ordinary farmers could support their families fairly easily.

Besides, even if agricultural machinery were needed, who would pay for it?

Farmers had no money. Could one expect the Nobles to spend money so foolishly?

And one should not underestimate those Nobles' instincts. After so many years of peace, would they not know that the clouds of war were gathering ever thicker?

Of course, none of those were the primary reason. The primary reason was that wars in this world did not require something like today's "industry."

They required ninjas.

The current "industry" could not bring any improvement to ninjas. It could only manufacture various weapons, but the major ninja villages did not normally lack such things. They might only be needed if a war dragged on for a long time.

Even Sunagakure, which had purchased large quantities of weapons this time, was not in desperate need of them. It was merely building up war reserves.

As for manufacturing firearms and cannons?

Setting aside whether the current Shinobi World could even achieve that, and setting aside the fact that individual firearms and cannons were useless against ninjas—

If firearms and cannons appeared, the ninjas might not care much, but the Nobles would definitely be the first to ban them!

Ninjas needed time to grow and train.

But anyone could pick up a firearm or cannon and kill someone.

How could those lofty Noble lords allow such an unstable factor to emerge?

Without firearms and cannons, you ninjas could fight amongst yourselves all you wanted.

But with firearms and cannons, the common people of the Shinobi World could threaten ninjas. Would that not mean they, too, would have to join the war?

If the common people of the Shinobi World all joined in, who would be next?

So, it was not that the Nobles did not know how powerful firearms and cannons were. They simply did not want to be drawn into this game called "war."

Those lowly ninjas could play by themselves.

Therefore, industrial machinery such as lathes and milling machines had no demand at all right now.

In his previous life, war had driven the rapid, large-scale development of technology and industry. That would not work in this world.

War in this world would only push the development of ninjutsu into an unstable period of acceleration.

Because most people capable of creating ninjutsu were strong, and the strong were inevitably tied to the major ninja villages in countless ways. That meant going to the battlefield, and going to the battlefield meant death. It was that simple.

Thus, if not for Otsutsuki Zetsu stirring up trouble, the entire Shinobi World would instead have fallen into a negative cycle.

After Otsutsuki Zetsu began stirring up trouble, following the Fourth Great Ninja War and into the Boruto Era, technology and industry only began developing rapidly after the villages established initial cooperation and more than a decade of peace had passed.