Powers in the Capital of the Land of Hot Water

The capital of the Land of Hot Water is named Spring City, named for its abundance of hot springs.

The foremost power in Spring City is naturally the Daimyo of the Land of Hot Water. The Daimyo owns nearly 50% of the hot spring hotels, 30% of the gambling houses, 20% of the restaurants, and the largest armed group. They hold taxing rights and ownership of over half of Spring City's land.

Because the Land of Hot Water did not emulate the Five Great Nations' village-one-nation system, but instead adopted a centralized military and political system entirely managed by the Daimyo, the Daimyo's power is immense.

However, the Daimyo cannot act with impunity in the Land of Hot Water. Apart from the Daimyo, other forces operate like minor warlords, each controlling their territory. If these other forces were to merge, they could even surpass the Daimyo.

The main powers include: the Wamura Family, the Okiki Family, the Hizumi Society, and the Evil God Cult.

These four forces essentially represent all powers other than the Daimyo. Any smaller force must attach itself to one of them to survive, otherwise, they will eventually be wiped out, as the four major forces do not permit the existence of powers outside their rules.

It's like the Five Great Nations, which would never allow other small countries to rise and become a Sixth Great Nation. They must either align with a major power or be suppressed. The Land of Rain serves as the best example of this!

The area where Neji's stronghold is located falls under the Hizumi Society's sphere of influence. In the past, to avoid unnecessary trouble, Sakumo-Tatsuryu would pay a certain protection fee every quarter to ensure peace.

The Hizumi Society's sphere of influence is in the eastern part of Spring City. It's quite large, but mostly inhabited by civilians. Their main business operations include "adult" product sales, casinos, "entertainment" establishments, and films. They also collect protection fees and extort ordinary residents.

Because the industries they engage in are prone to conflict, the Hizumi Society maintains an armed force second only to the Daimyo's. This force comprises over thirty Jonin, more than two hundred Chunin, and over eight hundred Genin, nearly matching the strength of some smaller ninja villages.

According to rumors, the Hizumi Society also has connections with certain high-ranking officials in the Land of Lightning. Although no one has come forward to confirm this, if no one refutes it, it's likely true.

The Okiki Family's main business operations are: medicine trading, restaurants, and "adult" product manufacturing. The Okiki Family produces "adult" products, and the Hizumi Society handles sales. The two are colluding, but rumors suggest their relationship isn't good, with ongoing friction over pricing.

The Wamura Family's business is relatively singular; they are a family that has generations of experience in producing and selling weapons, essentially arms dealers. Due to their weapon production, the Wamura Family holds mining rights for almost all the mineral veins in the Land of Hot Water. The price for this right is that the Wamura Family is almost entirely tied to the Daimyo. Otherwise, why would the Daimyo grant them such a fundamental national right as mining?

The Evil God Cult is much simpler compared to other forces. All its followers have only one goal: to spread their doctrine. Since they don't harm the interests of other forces, and the Evil God Cult is too bizarre and not weak, no force has been willing to provoke them to this day.

Upon closer examination, none of the four major forces, nor the Daimyo, can be considered benevolent. All are built on exploitation and oppression, and they engage in monopolies. As for the three sinful trades – pornography, gambling, and drugs – they are practically a constant for every force.

Truly chaotic and dark! Neji listened as Sakumo-Tatsuryu reported the basic intelligence on the major powers in Spring City, the capital of the Land of Hot Water, which he had recently investigated. There were also a lot of scattered pieces of information that followed...

After leaving Konoha, Neji realized he had been a bit naive before. He always thought the Konoha higher-ups were hypocritical, putting on one face in public and another in private, always playing political games and maintaining balance!

Seeing the situation in the Land of Hot Water, Neji realized that not engaging in hypocrisy, not playing games of public versus private faces, and instead displaying darkness openly seemed to lead to an even worse life for the common people.

When the rulers discard even their fig leaves, why would they care about your life or death?

The superficial prosperity of the Land of Hot Water was for the enjoyment of the rich and the upper class, while its rotten core was filled with the flesh and blood of the lower class!

Perhaps he really should do something, perhaps he could do something!

Neji doesn't plan to move against these forces for now. It's not that he can't defeat them, but rather that defeating them would be useless.

Currently, he doesn't have enough manpower to take over these forces. And simply defeating them without any follow-up would be pointless. It would only lead to unnecessary casualties, further burdening the already impoverished common people.

It would also bring him a lot of trouble. Those who disrupt rules and break balances are often attacked by everyone.

His current strength is not yet invincible. Without the aid of high-concentration Natural Energy, he would have to deal with ordinary Kage-level experts with extreme caution, and he couldn't guarantee victory!

Moreover, there are a bunch of Super Kage-level experts on their way. He needs to proceed cautiously and develop his strength stealthily!

The core purpose of establishing a force is to assist his own cultivation!

By having the force handle trivial matters like making money, purchasing equipment, conducting research, and gathering intelligence, he would have more time to train and more resources to become stronger.

This is the original intention behind establishing a force and his reason for leaving Konoha. Otherwise, with Konoha's constraints, many things would be done with his hands tied, and he would be held back by various missions and so-called bonds!

The strong do not believe in tears; the weak are not worthy of sympathy. Only by striving to become stronger is the only way out!

When Sakumo-Tatsuryu finished reporting the basic situation of the major powers in Spring City, Sakumo-Qi Feng and Tenbu had already used carriages to transport cartloads of medicinal herbs back to the stronghold.

Among the list of medicinal herbs purchased this time, only a small portion was essential for people's daily lives; most were dispensable. Therefore, although this large-scale procurement caught the attention of some observant individuals, it did not cause any major ripples.

The extracted juice from Jingtianlian was taken out separately.

Neji brought it into the laboratory and mixed it with an appropriate amount of high-concentration compressed Natural Energy liquid in a high-pressure tank. He also instructed his subordinates to rotate the tank periodically to ensure even contact between the two.

After approximately twelve hours, when the Natural Energy and Jingtianlian juice were fully mixed and absorbed, it was removed and handed over to Sakumo-Qi Feng and Tenbu. Neji instructed them to hire professional pharmacists to refine all these medicinal herbs into body-strengthening fluid.

"The pharmacists must be good ones. If money can solve it, hire them as our exclusive pharmacists!"

Sakumo-Qi Feng and Tenbu were decisive individuals. Without further ado, they went out to find pharmacists.

After Qi Feng and Tenbu departed, Tanaka Iko, who had been waiting outside, knocked and entered. After bowing to Neji, she said softly, "Greetings, Leader. Iko has been wandering around the villages near Spring City for two days and has selected three suitable planting areas. Two of them have better conditions and are closer to the city. However, these two plots are very close to the Okiki Family's plantations, and it's said that the Okiki Family has already set their sights on them and is negotiating to lower the price, intending to use them for planting 'adult' products."

Seeing Neji's lack of response, Tanaka Iko continued, "The other plot is about sixty kilometers from the city. The land is also fertile, but the vegetation is too dense, making development more difficult. Relatively, the price is cheaper. Please, Leader, decide which plot to choose?"

Neji pondered for a moment and instructed, "Hold off on this matter for now. I will give you my reply in the next two days!"