Exchange of Inheritances

"All right, I've analyzed the situation in the Ninja World for you. Hand over the Sealing Technique," Richard said.

"But you still haven't told me how to solve the current situation." Though Tsunade felt that he had a point, she wanted to hear more.

"There's no point in telling you. You're just a ninja who left her village. You're not even the Hokage—what can you do? Unless you have the strength to suppress the entire Ninja World by yourself, forget it," Richard said.

"Fine. Given the Ninja World's current situation, there are only two areas to start with: education and finances.

"Ninjas have almost no ability to govern a region. That should be the mindset of nearly all of you, right? Since you don't know how, you simply don't bother, handing administrative power over to nobles represented by the Feudal Lords.

"But ninjas actually can govern a country. As far as I know, the Land of Whirlpools was probably governed by ninjas. Their supreme leader should have been both the country's Feudal Lord and the leader of its ninja village.

"Unfortunately, the Land of Whirlpools was destroyed. Otherwise, you could have gone there to learn from them. Though I don't know much about how their country fell, I believe those Feudal Lords were definitely among the driving forces behind it.

"If I were one of those Feudal Lords, I wouldn't be able to sleep after seeing the Land of Whirlpools. It showed the other ninja villages of the Ninja World that ninjas could govern a country.

"I've gone off track. The Land of Whirlpools has little to do with what we're discussing now. Let's get back to it.

"First, education must be developed vigorously. You ninjas have far too few management talents. The entire Ninja World only has the Nara Clan, which is fairly decent, but how many members does the Nara Clan even have? Even if you dragged them all out, could they govern the Land of Fire?

"And it's not just management talents. You lack talented people in every field. All you know is fighting and killing. The Feudal Lords treat you as tools, and you treat yourselves as tools too. You've imprisoned your own thinking and never considered expanding the other possibilities available to ninjas.

"That's why I said education comes first. You need talent in every field to do the work. Even the number of ninjas is insufficient. How many ninjas are there in the entire Ninja World? Is there even a hundred thousand in total?

"The Feudal Lords control the number of ninjas by restricting supplies. Your numbers are nowhere near enough for you to become society's mainstream. Ordinary people are the mainstream of the Ninja World. But everyone in the Ninja World actually has the aptitude for Chakra; the only difference is whether that aptitude is good or bad. That point is very important.

"It means your supernatural system is open to ordinary people. Ordinary people can also become ninjas through training. Even if they can't make it themselves, their descendants still have hope. The door for class mobility has not been closed.

"To achieve explosive growth in ninja numbers, you need enough resources to train them. So the second point is to have independent financial authority.

"Right now, every ninja village relies on funding from Feudal Lords and compensation earned through mercenary missions.

"How much money can missions really bring in? So fundamentally, you still have to rely on the Feudal Lords' funding.

"If you had enough talent, you could directly take over the country's administrative work.

"Collecting taxes is the proper path. How much funding do the Feudal Lords give you each year? Is it even a tenth of the tax revenue? The overwhelming majority of wealth goes into the hands of nobles led by the Feudal Lords. The little money they allocate to you is merely meant to keep the ninja population stable and prevent you from rebelling.

"That's enough. Give me the Sealing Technique." It was just casual chatter, mostly bluffing. Richard didn't care whether he was right or wrong.

"Isn't that wrong? If Konoha seized the Feudal Lord of the Land of Fire's authority, the Feudal Lords of other countries would definitely have their ninja villages wage war against Konoha." Tsunade was no fool and immediately spotted the hidden danger.

"Exactly, so I never said Konoha could do that. For that to happen, either most ninjas would need to stand on a united front, or someone like Senju Hashirama or Uchiha Madara would have to appear again—someone capable of suppressing the Ninja World alone." Richard shrugged.

"What about Konoha? What does Konoha need to do to rise again?" Tsunade asked.

"Konoha? What does that have to do with me?" Richard asked in return.

"I'll pay more. I'll add the other Ninjutsu my family has collected, including the Wood Release Ninjutsu developed by my granduncle." Tsunade immediately raised the price.

"Forget it. Konoha is too troublesome." Richard waved a hand. He could be an armchair strategist, but asking him to provide a practical development plan for Konoha? That was asking too much.

In the Coiling Dragon World, he didn't play political games either. He focused solely on training and leveling up.

What was the point of playing politics in a world with supernatural power? Wasn't training far more appealing? The strength brought by power was false, but the strength gained through training truly belonged to oneself.

Of course, that didn't mean he looked down on people like Sarutobi Hiruzen and Danzo. They weren't exactly wrong either. Their strength had already reached its limit, and no amount of training could improve it. They also knew nothing of the secrets buried in the Ninja World's history. What else could they do but turn to political maneuvering?

It was just that their political maneuvering was like children playing house, far too immature in the eyes of people who were practically born politicians. But that was Kishimoto's fault.

"What, is Konoha terrible in your eyes?" Tsunade was displeased. What did he mean, Konoha was too troublesome?

"If Konoha had no problems, why would you wander all over the world rather than return?

"Come to think of it, Sarutobi Hiruzen has been the Third Hokage for around thirty years, hasn't he? Why don't you go back and see how the Sarutobi Clan has developed? The result will definitely exceed your imagination." Richard spoke teasingly. Though the Sarutobi Army probably had not yet reached a scale of three thousand, the Sarutobi Clan definitely wasn't weak now.

"You're saying Teacher Sarutobi used his power for personal gain?" Tsunade glared.

"Using power for personal gain is inevitable. He needs a force that absolutely supports him to consolidate his authority as the Third Hokage. But the Sarutobi Clan is definitely far more prosperous than even the strongest state you can imagine. Why don't you go back and take a look?" Richard said.

Tsunade fell silent. Although she no longer paid much attention to Konoha's situation, she wasn't stupid. She understood that logic.

Originally, after the Third Shinobi World War, Sarutobi Hiruzen had been forced by pressure to step down. Though he still clung to power and refused to let go, the Fourth was a very clever person. Sooner or later, he would have reclaimed power from the Third.

But unfortunately, the Fourth died, and the Third returned to power. Whether it was because Konoha's talents had withered and there was a gap between generations, or because the Third was greedy for power, Konoha's current situation was that the Third had regained control and would continue holding power for a long time in the foreseeable future.

This would allow the Sarutobi Clan to expand again. In less than a dozen years, clans like the Senju, Uchiha, and Hyuga would no longer be a match for the Sarutobi Clan.

"So before we even discuss solving Konoha's problems, replace the Hokage first," Richard said.

Tsunade fell silent again. Silence was tonight's Cam River.

Of course, she knew Konoha had many problems. Otherwise, she would not have left the village. In the past, she had relied on alcohol to numb herself and deceive herself. But now, Richard had laid it all out before her, bloody and raw.

That's it? What a lightweight. Richard snorted inwardly. This won't do. I've only just begun. As a ninja village that had existed for more than fifty years without a relatively sound institutional system, it had many old and new problems. For example, there were the problems of Root, the Uchiha Clan, the conflict between the Hyuga Main House and branch family, and the conflict between ninja clans and civilian ninjas.

Tsunade quickly collected herself. There was nothing she could do about the village's problems.

Then, as agreed, she gave Richard the complete inheritance of the Uzumaki Clan Sealing Techniques left behind by her grandmother, along with the Wood Release Ninjutsu left behind by Senju Hashirama.

Richard did not stand on ceremony. This was what he was owed. However, he also gave her something in return: a Warrior's cultivation method and a Mage's Meditation Method.

"By the way, are your second grandfather's Ninjutsu, along with the draft notes and thought process from their development, for sale?" Richard asked.

Though Senju Tobirama was not as strong as Hashirama in combat, his research ability was formidable. Richard also wanted to see the thought process behind his development of Water Release and the Flying Thunder God Technique. Perhaps it could inspire him in comprehending laws.

"Are you really planning to sweep up every inheritance of my Senju Clan?" Tsunade said irritably.

"I can trade Life Magic from my world and my insights into the Life Law," Richard said without hesitation.

Insights were not something that vanished once shared. Wouldn't everyone progress faster by exchanging them? What was the point of hiding them away?

"Deal. But can you even learn so many things?" Tsunade was still quite decisive. An inheritance sitting around was merely a dead object. Only by improving her own strength could she do more of what she wanted.

"Katsuyu knows that I study a wide variety of things. Besides, who said I wanted to learn them? I don't even have Chakra. How would I learn?" Richard said.

"Then what use is there in collecting so many inheritances from the Ninja World?" Tsunade asked in confusion.

"Thought is the most precious thing. As for Ninjutsu, no matter how profound it is, it is still merely a technique." Richard sighed.

At his stage, he had long passed the phase of simply pursuing the power and mystique of techniques. Instead, he analyzed the changes in laws contained within them, deciphered the creator's thought process, resonated with the creator's ideas, and thus completed a collision of minds across time and space.