Everyone in Konoha was a bully

"Water Release: Great Waterfall Technique."

Whoosh.

Kisame thoughtfully gave the bridge a thorough wash.

The bridge was as clean as new.

Watching this, Tazuna, their "escort target," trembled and dared not speak.

With Konoha Ninja, he could still play the seniority card and guilt-trip them a little.

But with this bunch of murderous Rogue Ninja before him?

He would have to have a death wish to try that.

"Haku, you and Zabuza should know where Gato's base is, right?

Go ahead and secure it, before any of the people who just ran off get bold enough to head over there for a little loot-and-scoot."

Shirozumi walked back and spoke to Haku.

"Yes."

After answering, Haku immediately set off toward the other end of the bridge.

Haku no longer asked for Zabuza's opinion.

During Shirozumi and the others' earlier conversation, Haku had said nothing, but he had listened to every word and taken it to heart.

They wanted to change the state of their homeland, the Land of Water.

Zabuza had agreed to join them, too.

Even Zabuza had to follow Shirozumi's commands.

In that case, as Zabuza's tool, it was only natural for Haku to obey those commands as well.

Haku went to deal with Gato's estate, while Tazuna led Shirozumi and the others to his village.

According to Tazuna, the village was so poor it could not even afford a B-rank mission—in short, broke as hell.

In reality, it was not quite that poor.

If they really had been that destitute, they could not have built the bridge, and the people would not have survived this long.

Shirozumi took a walk around the village to get a sense of the situation. Once he stopped, Tazuna explained that the rest of the Land of Waves was much the same.

"Understood."

"Zabuza, establish a branch here from now on—the Wave Ninja Village. Though that name does sound a little suggestive."

Shirozumi rubbed his chin as he spoke to Zabuza.

"Establish a ninja village? Esteemed ninja, do you mean..."

Tazuna's eyes widened.

"You're not wrong to think Gato is the reason you've ended up this poor.

Exorbitant protection fees and restrictions on outside trade—you just told me all about those.

But, old man, did you think building a bridge would free you from Gato's monopoly?

A bridge can only break a physical monopoly. It can't solve human greed.

Even now that Gato is dead, without a ninja village protecting you, can you guarantee another Gato won't turn up?

You saw those pathetic goons working for Gato earlier. Kisame could wipe them all out with a single jutsu.

What if the next person who comes is a Jonin-level Rogue Ninja who wants to take Gato's place, put the Land of Waves under complete surveillance, and seal it off like Kirigakure? What would a bunch of ordinary people like you do then?

At that point, you wouldn't even be able to escape to another ninja village to ask for help and commission a mission."

Shirozumi's words instantly opened Tazuna's eyes, but he still had his concerns. What if they drove out a wolf only to welcome a tiger?

Naturally, Shirozumi saw what the old man was worried about.

Honestly, the old man's worries did not mean shit.

Even if Shirozumi and his group really intended to keep exploiting them, could they fight back?

"Gato was honestly an idiot. Even Kakuzu understands that sustainable development earns more money, yet this guy insisted on squeezing every last drop of value out of this place.

Zabuza, once you've established the ninja village, find talented children in these villages and teach them ninjutsu.

Delegate the other administrative chores to other people, like this old man.

Don't use that old ninja village system created by the First Hokage and Second Hokage. It's long since become outdated.

I've written the specifics in this scroll."

Shirozumi tossed a scroll to Zabuza.

"Huh?"

Tazuna was stunned by what Shirozumi said.

They actually intended to make an ordinary man like him an official?

And they planned to train ninja from among their people?

Could such a good thing really happen?

"Let me make this clear up front: we're all Rogue Ninja who kill without batting an eye. If you mistake tolerance for permission and do something none of us wants to see, don't blame us for being ruthless.

On the other hand, if you protect the Wave Ninja Village as your home, then the village, the country, and all of you can prosper together."

Shirozumi's classic carrot-and-stick speech had Tazuna nodding frantically. He said that, given half a day, he could immediately send people to spread the news to every village in the Land of Waves.

"I didn't expect you to have a talent for domestic administration too, Strategist."

While Zabuza examined the scroll, Itachi also glanced through it. Many of the reforms hit the nail on the head, prompting his praise.

If only Shirozumi were a Konoha Ninja.

In reality, Itachi was giving him too much credit.

The reason Shirozumi had made his warning to Tazuna up front was precisely because of Konoha Ninja.

Most people might think the villagers of Konoha bullied Naruto even though he was the son of a hero, hiding his identity and subjecting him to discrimination and abuse. How pitiful.

But that was not how it worked.

Everyone in Konoha was a bully. They discriminated against and bullied anyone they wanted, without distinction.

Obito, Might Guy, Naruto—even Hinata, the eldest daughter of the Hyuga Main Family, in her memories—and even the son of a certain richest man during Boruto's era had all grown up being bullied.

Oh, right. Kushina, too.

In Konoha, a childhood without bullying was incomplete.

"I wouldn't call it talent. I just know how to make changes. Itachi, do you really think it's normal for the Hokage's desk to be piled high with trivial matters every day, keeping him pretending to be busy all day long?"

This time, Shirozumi did not accept Itachi's praise.

He had a clear understanding of his own capabilities.

He had persuaded every member of the Akatsuki Organization through nearly perfect intelligence, rigorous logic, and a little creative thinking.

But domestic administration was not something that could be handled so easily.

He could propose these changes only because the existing system was terrible—outrageously terrible.

For example.

As Shirozumi had asked Itachi, during the Third Hokage's tenure and later the Fifth Hokage's, piles of paperwork for low-level missions like catching cats and dogs all required the Hokage's signature and seal.

Was that really necessary?

Aside from making him look busy, it served absolutely no practical purpose.

Later, during Seventh Hokage Naruto's tenure, things became even more absurd.

Naruto not only had to sign and stamp the paperwork, but also perform those low-level missions himself, doing things like buying groceries for old ladies and finding people's cats and dogs.

The mighty Hokage, with his enormous reserves of chakra, used the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique to frantically perform these low-level missions until he was drained dry. He could not even maintain the shadow clone attending his daughter's birthday, dropping the cake on the floor.

Spider-Man being a friendly neighborhood hero, going out every day to help people—that was perfectly reasonable.

But had anyone ever seen Iron Man or The President going out every day to stop robberies and shootings?

Besides, those missions did not even involve threats to anyone's life.

Shirozumi had merely corrected these outrageously absurd mistakes, so he hardly deserved Itachi's praise.

Otherwise, it kept making him feel as though everyone's intelligence in the Shinobi World had dropped a hundredfold while his remained unchanged.

As for whether delegating authority might leave Zabuza a powerless figurehead, there was no need to worry.

Being reduced to a figurehead was something that happened in a world of ordinary people without superpowers.

Granted, according to the usual saying, strength alone did not make someone a Kage. They needed recognition.

But the Kage of each village was generally its strongest member.

In other words, even if they delegated authority, they could always overturn the whole arrangement and take that authority back.

Zabuza's strength was more than enough to deal with ordinary ninja.

And if anything unexpected did happen, he still had the Akatsuki Organization at headquarters to back him up.