The Land of Earth and the Rock Ninja's Predicament

The nerves in his hand continued to proliferate endlessly, burrowing into Yan Liu's brain. Uchiha Kin curled his lips into a smile, his voice carrying a hint of amusement: "Then, what is the root cause of this war?"

"The Third Kazekage's disappearance caused Sunagakure's reputation to plummet. They urgently needed to show the outside world their strength, otherwise their mission system would inevitably collapse." Yan Liu followed her train of thought and voiced her understanding.

"Wrong!" Uchiha Kin said a single word—"Wrong"—denying her simplistic, naive application of that logic.

Then, he offered an explanation...

"Before we get into that, we first need to talk about the Land of Earth. The Land of Earth's territory is mostly Gobi desert, with only a few oases. Furthermore, it lacks various mineral resources, and agricultural production is also unviable.

"One could say that the Land of Earth, among the Five Great Nations, is the one with the worst inherent conditions. It is also the one most in need of mission quotas.

"However, the geographical location of Iwagakure determines one thing: under normal circumstances, neither merchants nor officials would endure wind and sand, toil and hardship, traveling a thousand miles to such a barren place just to post a mission.

"This creates a supply-and-demand contradiction.

"Therefore, Iwagakure's mission system is not its primary system. Instead, its economic model relies heavily on external environments—exporting labor and shinobi output through mercenary contracts, engineering contracts, and the like."

Having said this, he suddenly gave a strange smile, his eyes looking down at Yan Liu from above, and spoke a sentence she was extremely unwilling to believe.

"Based on these conditions, among the Five Great Nations, which one is actually the most warlike, the one that least desires peace in the shinobi world? It must be the Land of Earth. Which country most wants war to continue forever, with small fights every three days and big battles every five? Iwagakure."

Yan Liu defended: "Impossible. We of Iwagakure love peace!"

Uchiha Kin said: "But every shinobi is not an independent individual, where one full belly means the whole family doesn't go hungry. Or rather, you can endure hunger, even if you starve to death, you won't steal, rob, or do unjust things.

"But behind every person, there is a family. Parents, wives, children—they form something called responsibility!

"You can be noble, but your children need to eat, your parents need to live. Every month, you must bring money to them so they can survive. So, you have no choice; you can only walk into the village's mission hall.

"You don't have the right to choose missions, and the shinobi village doesn't have the right to choose either. Without war, mercenary missions will wither, and a large number of shinobi will have no income.

"Therefore, sustained, small-scale chaos is needed so that you can accept employment. With missions, you get pay, and your family gets food. With pay, the village can continue to operate and maintain this organization.

"This is why Iwagakure, upon learning of the Third Kazekage's disappearance, brazenly invaded the Land of Wind while simultaneously declaring war on the Land of Lightning and Konoha."

To make this world "chaotic"—only in war-torn places can the mercenary economy sustain itself, and this resource-poor shinobi village can develop.

"Of course, the Tsuchikage-sama's thinking certainly wouldn't be so narrow-minded. He probably also genuinely intended to take the Land of Wind.

"The Land of Wind is rich in oil and gold resources. With these natural resources, the Land of Earth could break free from the path of earning money through war. However, the Land of Wind's strength was somewhat unexpected. One failed strike, and the opportunity was lost.

"Then, he began invading the Land of Fire and the Land of Lightning. Almost simultaneously, Sunagakure also launched an attack on Konoha—

"Sunagakure didn't expect Iwagakure to take the same action as them, but their goals happened to be the same—dragging Konoha into the mire.

"The Mist Ninja are also an organization whose main economic source is war mercenaries. However, their resources are even more scarce, so their methods are even more extreme. They chose to consume the low-end population of their village through mutual slaughter.

"Compared to Iwagakure's war capability, the Mist Ninja are too weak. They lack the power to actively provoke war, so they can only slaughter each other, allowing resources to sustain their survival while waiting for war to come.

"You must have had this question: Why are these Mist Ninja like a stick stirring shit, meddling everywhere, fighting this one and then that one!"

Yan Liu said: "Yes, they're a bunch of lunatics. They kill anyone they see, targeting both us and Konoha, sparing no shinobi they encounter. Are you saying they were hired, and that's why..."

Uchiha Kin said: "Correct, they were hired, and that's why they kill. Even the craziest shinobi should understand one fact—

"The kunai and jutsu in their hands are quantifiable assets. Without a mission, try not to kill, because such behavior makes you worthless. Employers won't hire you anymore, because they don't need to.

"They only need to lure you, provoke you, and you'll kill for free—so why would they pay a reward?"

Yan Liu said, "That... does seem to make sense. But I still don't understand what exactly you're trying to say."

"Heh, actually, I don't know what I mean by all this either. Maybe I just wanted to talk to you a bit more... I want to see the scenery of the future. Perhaps by then, there will be no more war."

"So, you want me to be your vessel? But we're clearly about the same age, and I don't think I'll outlive you."

Yan Liu voiced the doubt in her heart. She understood the meaning of the word "vessel."

Though she didn't understand how Uchiha Kin intended to use her as a vessel, the shinobi world had countless strange and bizarre secret techniques—not understanding wasn't strange. What she found strange was why Uchiha Kin would choose someone as weak as her to be his vessel.

Uchiha Kin released his hand, and the nerves naturally snapped off. The last strand of nerve burrowed into Yan Liu's body, fully integrating with her brain and entire neural network.

"Who can say for sure?" Uchiha Kin said, then gently pressed his foot against the ground, lightly knocking unconscious the shinobi whose back was a bloody mess from Explosive Tags. "He's already unconscious. Now... my vessel, can you tell me your real name?"

The woman with red hair and red eyes was stunned. She paused for a moment before saying, "I am called Uzumaki Mikayo."

"Thank you."

Uchiha Kin crouched down, placed his hand on the unconscious Iwa shinobi's back, and a large mass of pale yellow nerves burst forth, falling like a net.