Cultivation

Over the next few days.

Aside from handling daily affairs and using Shadow Clones to develop Yin-Yang Release, Yan spent most of his time with Kabuto and the other four children of Uchiha descent.

Those children had been carefully selected by Yashiro from within the clan; they were about the same age as Kabuto, roughly eight or nine years old.

They were quite bold, clever, and highly malleable.

Under Yan's guidance, the children got along quite harmoniously.

During this period, Yan did not teach them ninjutsu, merely touching upon the nature transformation of chakra and similar concepts.

The primary focus was cultivating their scientific thinking.

What is scientific thinking? It is a mode of thought that follows logical rules, is based on evidence, and possesses critical and creative qualities.

As for how to cultivate it...

The first point was to have them study scientific knowledge extensively to build a solid knowledge base, providing the material and foundation for their thinking.

For this, he would have to go to Orochimaru.

Yan didn't know a damn thing; since transmigrating, he had long forgotten everything from his nine years of compulsory education.

He could only recall bits and pieces whenever something happened, haphazardly and unsystematically.

The second point was to emphasize observation and practice, accumulating experience and discovering problems through personal experimentation.

Yan had no issues with this; wasn't it just about taking them out to see more, experience more, and ask more questions?

He couldn't explain the theory, but being a contrarian was simple enough, right?

The third point was to cultivate critical thinking—not blindly accepting ready-made conclusions, but evaluating and questioning information to analyze its reliability and rationality.

This wasn't a big problem either; to put it plainly, it was about making them bold enough to question everything in the world, including traditions.

There were other scattered aspects, such as participating in scientific discussions, learning how to ask questions, and logical training.

Yan would teach whatever he could, find ways to teach what he couldn't, and if all else failed, dump them on Orochimaru.

Yan believed he could handle it.

As for reading scientific works and literature, that was nonsense.

Did such things even exist in the Ninja World?

One had to realize that Orochimaru himself was a self-taught amateur scientist; it was just that he had chakra, that universal panacea.

Any hypothesis could be shoehorned into that.

Most importantly, the success rate wasn't even that low—isn't that impressive?

That afternoon.

After finishing the affairs of the Special Zone, Yan took the five children to a suburban area.

This was also within the territory of the Special Zone, near the Forest of Death, where trees were abundant, occupying a full third of the zone's area.

But that was only before.

Now, many clansmen or civilian ninjas were being hired by the Special Zone to clear two-thirds of this forest.

A portion would be used for reclaiming land for farming, and another for building residential areas and factories.

The Special Zone didn't cover much land, and the number of villagers wasn't large, so Yan had to utilize every inch of land, trying his best to make the most of it.

Hiring ninjas cost a lot of money, but it was worth it for the sheer efficiency.

One person could do the work of a dozen in a single day.

Calculating it that way, Yan was actually making a profit!

"Tell me!" Yan pointed at the ninjas using ninjutsu to fell trees and clear land, asking the five children beside him: "Looking at those people, what comes to mind?"

Hearing Yan's question, Kabuto stirred slightly, a thought seemingly rising in his heart.

But being adept at reading the room, he saw the other children looking distressed and suppressed his thoughts for the time being.

Gradually, a long time passed without anyone speaking.

Yan couldn't help but frown, and he immediately pointed at one of them at random.

"Naruki, you say!"

When Naruki heard Yan call his name, his little face immediately fell, and he replied sheepishly, his tone tinged with a hint of a sob.

"Lord Yan, I can't think of anything, but they are so amazing!"

Yan smiled slightly and patted his head. "You're right, they are indeed amazing, but in what way are they amazing?"

After saying this, he looked at the child in the crowd with deep tear troughs on both sides of his nose.

"Itachi, you say!"

That's right, Uchiha Itachi was also among these five children.

This could be considered a whim of Yan.

Itachi Uchiha was a very intelligent person, but when he encountered problems, he preferred to think about them on his own rather than taking action or putting them into practice.

If things continued this way, something would go wrong sooner or later!

It would be better to send him to Orochimaru to broaden his horizons.

Hearing the voice, Itachi raised his head slightly, shifting his gaze from the ninjas who were clearing the wasteland to look at Yan, and voiced his thoughts.

"Lord Yan, the efficiency of ninjas is truly far higher than that of ordinary people."

"For those powerhouses, a single person can even do the work of dozens or hundreds of people."

"If all ninjas could be like this, then..."

"Then ordinary people would have no way to survive!" Kabuto interrupted.

Hearing someone refute him, a trace of dissatisfaction rose in Itachi's heart, and he asked in return, "Why?"

"If all ninjas went to farm and clear land, the amount of food would increase dramatically, everyone would be able to eat their fill, and there would be no need to fight over resources."

"Wouldn't the world be at peace then?"

Kabuto met Itachi's gaze, shook his head, and said, "Itachi, you are thinking too simply!"

"Not to mention why ninjas would want to share the food they worked so hard to grow with those ordinary people."

"I'll just ask you this: if ninjas do all the work, what are the ordinary people supposed to do?"

"Ordinary people?" Itachi frowned deeply. "They could do some simple tasks!"

"The number of ninjas is, after all, a minority; it's impossible for them to encompass every field."

Kabuto nodded, indicating his agreement with that part of the idea, but quickly spoke up to refute him again. "Indeed, it is impossible for ninjas to encompass every field!"

"But have you thought about this? They don't need to do that; they only need to occupy the main fields related to people's livelihoods."

"For example, what Lord Yan has mentioned—food, clothing, housing, and transportation—plus some fields like medicine, would be enough to control the life and death of those ordinary people."

"But isn't that already the case now?" Itachi asked in return.

"At least there would be more food, and those ordinary people wouldn't starve to death for lack of something to eat."

Kabuto sighed softly, preparing to speak.

But he was interrupted by Yan. "Enough!"

"You two can discuss this question slowly in the future."

"I am very gratified that you can debate with each other based on your own viewpoints, but often, one needs to look at things more comprehensively."

Kabuto and Itachi looked at each other, both let out a cold snort, and then turned their heads away.

As luck would have it.

The direction Itachi turned happened to be toward Yan, so he continued to ask.

"May I ask what your thoughts are, Lord Yan?"

Yan shook his head, not answering him directly, but as he turned to leave with a few of the children, he left behind a single sentence.

"The Ninja World is a supernatural world, a world where individual might is greater than everything else."

Having said that, the backs of Yan and the other three children slowly disappeared.

Only Kabuto and Itachi remained standing in place, frowning as they pondered the words Yan had left behind.