The Schemer

The Ninja World had descended into chaos, but Yunqing did not care.

The only thing Yunqing cared about was the changes in Sunagakure.

Facts proved that horses did not grow fat without night grazing, and people did not grow rich without windfalls. After raiding several waves of Daimyo and Land of Wind nobles, Sunagakure would not need to worry about money for years to come.

With funding, food, and hope, Sunagakure's development could be said to be advancing at breakneck speed.

A thousand miles a day was barely enough to describe it.

Sunagakure's Research Department could be called one of the village's landmark buildings, standing alongside the Kazekage Building and Sunagakure Hospital as its three great landmarks.

Yunqing was currently walking through the Research Department, with Pakura still at his side.

"Damn, you little brat. You haven't been Kazekage for long, but you sure know how to enjoy yourself."

Lord Sāmon looked at Yunqing and Pakura behind him with a teasing expression.

"Lord Sāmon, wh-what are you talking about? I'm still young."

Pakura's face immediately reddened as she spoke bashfully.

Yunqing shot Pakura a speechless glance. You're just a flat-chested little girl—what are you thinking about all day? Lord Sāmon was obviously teasing you, yet you could not even tell.

"Stop messing around, Teacher. I'm not that tasteless. This little girl has good talent, and I don't want it to go to waste."

Yunqing cut off Pakura's train of thought. He was afraid that if she kept thinking, that dog Sāmon would go and propose marriage.

"Really? You might not have any ideas, but others might."

Lord Sāmon gave Yunqing a meaningful look.

No one could ever say for sure when it came to politics.

Everyone knew Yunqing's strength. The title of Strongest Kazekage had been earned through battle.

Under such circumstances, who would believe Pakura's family had no thoughts about it at all?

In the Ninja World, where people could die at any time, things like affection blossoming over time or romances between teacher and student were acceptable.

"Teacher, stop it. We can talk about that stuff later."

When it came to feelings, Yunqing truly did not know what to say.

Yunqing did not know how other Transmigrators handled relationships, or how they managed to build vast harems and love the whole world.

In any case, he could accept visiting pleasure quarters, but he could not devote himself wholeheartedly to loving one person.

"Lord Kazekage, Lord Sāmon."

"Mm."

"Mm."

Along the way, Yunqing and Lord Sāmon nodded countless times.

Watching the researchers coming and going, Yunqing could not help but sigh.

As expected of Sunagakure, a village with no money, no people, and no bloodlines—it could only run on love.

Yet it was precisely because it had nothing that Sunagakure had developed Puppet Technique to make up for its disadvantages in other areas. It had then used the One-Tail to research Magnet Release.

From this alone, one could see the ability of Sāmon, the Second Kazekage.

His research capabilities were truly terrifying.

Because of the emergence of Puppet Technique and Magnet Release, Sunagakure had produced a group of researchers. Now, it was this very group that was driving Sunagakure's progress.

"Take a look, Yunqing. These are the Chakra tools invented according to your requirements."

Lord Sāmon led the two into a room and pointed proudly at the various tools inside.

"Oh? Teacher, don't lie to me. What I wanted were Chakra tools. These are all ordinary tools."

Yunqing's expression changed after sweeping his gaze over the room.

What the hell were these things? There were all kinds of farming implements—axes, hoes, saws, and a mess of other things. He had no idea how they were supposed to be used.

Lord Sāmon looked at Yunqing with disdain. He flicked out a Chakra thread, pulled an axe over, and lightly pressed the button on its handle. A blue glow appeared along the axe blade.

Lord Sāmon raised his chin at Yunqing.

Yunqing raised a hand and summoned a chunk of sandstone, pointing at it. His meaning was simple: he wanted to see its power.

Lord Sāmon was equally decisive and brought the axe down.

The expected explosion did not occur. Instead, the axe blade sliced through the sandstone as though cutting tofu.

"Holy shit, what is this thing? What exactly did you create?"

Yunqing could not help blurting it out, no longer able to maintain his image.

"It's simple—just a Chakra tool. The One-Tail is naturally skilled at sealing, and after studying it for so long, we naturally learned a few things. We seal Chakra into the axe blade and set an activation process. It works just like a puppet. As for adding effects, we also studied your ninjutsu. That part was easy.

"The key problem now is that we have too few people who understand sealing. We need talent."

Sāmon spoke proudly.

He wanted to tell everyone that while his combat strength might not amount to much, when it came to research ability, in the Ninja World, if he claimed second place, few would dare claim first.

"This is truly something remarkable. Perhaps we can make a fortune from the war."

Yunqing stroked his chin and looked at Sāmon with a sinister grin.

"Yes, exactly. Hozuki Gengetsu will help us."

A sharp glint flashed in Sāmon's eyes.

Having once stepped down from the position of Kazekage, Sāmon understood immediately. The two exchanged a glance, then burst into laughter.

Pakura looked from side to side and lowered her head, terrified that she would be killed off.

Young Pakura had never felt so miserable before.

This was a conversation between big shots, and she had heard every word from beginning to end.

Pakura felt that knowing too much history was not necessarily a good thing. Just like now, she instantly understood what the two big shots meant.

"Who should we send to the Land of Whirlpools? Everyone has something to do right now."

After laughing, Sāmon raised the question.

"Ebizo and Bunpuku. One literary, one martial—they can complement each other perfectly."

Yunqing thought for a moment before speaking.

"Will Bunpuku be alright? The Land of Whirlpools is out at sea. Our shipbuilding technology may be decent, but it still places a major restriction on Shukaku's strength, doesn't it?"

Sāmon hesitated. He was quite fond of Shukaku, especially Shukaku when cooperating in research. He had greatly enhanced Sunagakure's strength.

"Don't worry. Leaving aside the fact that Magnet Release is far from simple, Shukaku's Wind Release alone is an invaluable weapon.

Hozuki Gengetsu may be powerful, but he has not yet reached the level where he can suppress Bunpuku and Shukaku."

Yunqing could swear to everyone that they should not underestimate the combined strength of Shukaku and Bunpuku.

The foundation of Magnet Release was magnetism, and the applications of magnetism were far from simple.

Yunqing had always felt that Shukaku was one of the more intelligent Tailed Beasts. He had skillfully applied and developed the Sand Series Sealing Technique, and through his own traits, created the unique Sand Body, thereby gaining the ability to manipulate magnetism.

That kind of strength was truly terrifying.

So Yunqing tried teaching Bunpuku what he knew about magnetism and had him research it.

After all this time, even Yunqing did not know how strong Shukaku and Bunpuku had become.

"Fine. You're the Kazekage anyway. We'll listen to you on everything."

Sāmon rubbed his bald head and stopped arguing about the matter.

He had never liked politics to begin with and did not care much for such things.

Right now, all he wanted was to properly research the applications of Chakra.

He felt that developing a useful "tool" that could strengthen Sunagakure's foundation was better than anything else.