The nerves in his hand continued to grow without end, burrowing into Yan Liu's brain. Uchiha Kin pressed his lips together in a smile, a hint of amusement in his voice. "So, what was the real cause of this war?"
"The Third Kazekage disappeared, damaging Sunagakure's reputation. They urgently needed to show the outside world their strength, or their mission system would inevitably collapse." Following the train of thought from before, Yan Liu shared her understanding.
"Wrong!" Uchiha Kin simply said "wrong," rejecting her simplistic, naive explanation.
Then he offered his own...
"Before we talk about that, we first need to talk about the Land of Earth. Its territory is mostly barren wasteland, with only a few oases. It also lacks all kinds of mineral resources, and agriculture is no help either.
"You could say that the Land of Earth has the worst natural conditions of the Five Great Nations. It's also the one that needs mission quotas the most.
"But the geographical location of Iwagakure determines one thing: under ordinary circumstances, whether merchants or officials, no one would brave the sand and toil their way across a thousand miles to such a barren place just to post a mission.
"This created a contradiction between supply and demand.
"So Iwagakure's mission system wasn't its primary economic model. Instead, it relied on exporting labor and ninja through mercenary contracts, construction contracts, and the like, leaving it overly dependent on external conditions."
At this point, he suddenly gave a strange smile. Looking down at Yan Liu, he said something she was extremely reluctant to believe.
"Given these conditions, which of the Five Great Nations is actually the most warlike, the one that least wants peace in the shinobi world? It has to be the Land of Earth. And which village most wants war to continue, ideally a small skirmish every three days and a major battle every five? Iwagakure."
Yan Liu protested, "Impossible. We Rock Ninja love peace!"
Uchiha Kin said, "But no ninja is an island, someone who can eat their fill and have no one else to worry about. Or say you're hungry. You can endure it, and even if you starve to death, you won't steal or rob, or do anything dishonorable.
"But everyone has a family behind them. Parents, wives, children—they make up something called responsibility!
"You can be noble, but your children still need to eat, and your parents need to stay alive. You have to give them money every month so they can get by. So you have no choice but to enter the village's mission hall.
"You have no right to choose your missions, and neither does the ninja village. Without war, the mercenary missions dry up, and a large number of ninja are left without income.
"So you need constant, small-scale turmoil. It lets you take mercenary jobs. Only with missions can you earn money, and only then can your family eat. The village needs that money to keep operating and hold the whole group together.
"That's why Iwagakure invaded the Land of Wind without hesitation when it learned the Third Kazekage had disappeared, even as it went to war with the Land of Lightning and the Hidden Leaf at the same time."
They wanted to throw the world into "chaos." Only where there was war could the mercenary economy continue, allowing this resource-poor ninja village to develop.
"Of course, the Tsuchikage's ambitions wouldn't have been so narrow. He probably truly intended to take the Land of Wind.
"The Land of Wind has abundant oil and gold. With those natural resources, the Land of Earth could break free from making money through war. But the Land of Wind's strength was beyond expectations. When the first strike failed, the opportunity was lost.
"Then he began invading the Land of Fire and the Land of Lightning. Sunagakure made its move against the Hidden Leaf at almost the same time—
"Sunagakure hadn't expected Iwagakure to make the same move, but their goals happened to be identical—dragging the Hidden Leaf into the war.
"The Mist Ninja are also an organization whose main source of income is mercenary work in wartime. But their resources are even scarcer, so their methods are more extreme. They chose to whittle away their village's lower-ranking population through infighting.
"Compared to Iwagakure's military strength, the Mist Ninja were too weak. They couldn't start a war themselves, so they could only turn on one another, ensuring their resources would be enough to keep them alive until war came.
"You must have wondered why those Mist Ninja were like shit-stirrers, getting involved everywhere, fighting one side and then the other!"
Yan Liu said, "Yes. They're a bunch of lunatics. They kill anyone they see, targeting us and the Hidden Leaf alike. They don't spare any ninja they come across. Could it be that they've been hired, and that's why..."
Uchiha Kin said, "Exactly. They've been hired, and that's why they kill. Even the most deranged ninja should understand one fact—
"The kunai and ninjutsu in their hands are assets that can be measured in value. When there's no mission, you should avoid killing people as much as possible, because it makes you worthless. Employers won't hire you again, because they won't need to.
"They only need to lure and provoke you, and you'll kill for free. So why would they pay you?"
Yan Liu said, "That does seem to make sense. But I still don't understand what you're really trying to say."
"Heh, actually, I don't know what I'm trying to say either. I guess I just wanted to talk with you a little longer... I want to see what the future looks like. Maybe by then, there won't be any more wars."
"So you want me to be your vessel? But we're clearly about the same age, and I don't think I'll live longer than you."
Yan Liu voiced the question on her mind. She understood what the word "vessel" meant.
She didn't understand how Uchiha Kin intended to use her as a vessel, but there were countless strange and unusual secret techniques in the shinobi world, so that wasn't surprising. What she found strange was why Uchiha Kin wanted someone as weak as her to become his vessel.
Uchiha Kin let go, and the nerves in his hand naturally snapped. The last strand slipped into Yan Liu's body, where it had already joined seamlessly with her brain and the network of nerves throughout her body.
"Who can say?" Uchiha Kin finished speaking, then gently pressed his foot against the back of the head of the ninja lying on the ground, his body mangled by the Explosive Tag blast, knocking him unconscious. "He's out. I wonder... Now, my vessel, can you tell me your real name?"
The red-haired, red-eyed woman was stunned. After a pause, she said, "My name is Uzumaki Mikayo."
"Thank you."
Uchiha Kin crouched down and placed a hand on the unconscious Rock Ninja's back. A large mass of pale yellow nerves burst out, falling like a net.
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