Chapter 193: The Great Cloud Development Plan
Land of Fire, a secret laboratory.
A small, green snake was slithering weakly.
It wound its way past various beakers and equipment, past the cells of the test subjects, and finally arrived at a large metal canister.
With a flick of its tail, the liquid inside was drained, revealing a pale, naked human body. Its chest was rising and falling slightly, but it was unresponsive to the outside world.
The small snake crawled up from the feet and then pried open the mouth and went inside.
A short while later, a change seemed to be occurring within the body. The abdomen was faintly pulsing, and the face was gradually dissolving and twisting. Finally, it transformed into the face of Orochimaru. A moment later, the pale body's eyes snapped open.
"Gasp... huff... huff!"
Orochimaru, who had not used human lungs to breathe for a long time, took a few deep breaths to acclimatize.
He then smashed the canister with a single punch.
"Dammit!"
"Dammit! Dammit!"
He punched again and again, denting the metal, blood trickling from his knuckles.
"That Yotsuki Dana!"
To be honest, when Jiraiya had appeared in Sage Mode, he had even been jealous. Jealous that that fool had mastered such a powerful technique. He had even thought that Jiraiya in Sage Mode was stronger than their teacher, Hiruzen.
And yet, even a Jiraiya like that had been defeated by Yotsuki Dana, and had barely even managed to scratch him.
Who could defeat Yotsuki Dana?
He suddenly realized that in all his knowledge, he could not find an answer to that question.
Sakumo Hatake? Hanzo of the Salamander? Or Onoki?
A fear crept into him, a fear of his own perception being shattered. A fear that even overshadowed the grief of Jiraiya's death.
He did not believe that there was anyone invincible in the ninja world. There had to be a way to defeat him.
After venting his frustration, he regained his composure and put on a set of clothes.
He had left the village in secret, leaving only a Shadow Clone behind. To avoid being overwhelmed by a flood of memories upon his return, the clone had mostly just been resting, occasionally making an appearance to show that he was still there.
He dispelled the clone and closed his eyes to read the memories. Though he had been careful, the memories of the past half-month still gave him a headache.
From the memories, Danzo was getting impatient. The research on the Hashirama cells had been given to him, but there had been no progress. Danzo had sent people to urge him several times.
"The Hashirama cells... yes... the power of the God of Shinobi... it must be able to surpass that man."
The Daimyo of the various countries, especially the five great ones, were mostly related and had close ties.
If you put the five Kage together, you would think they were all enemies.
But if you put the five Daimyo together, you would think they were all on the same team.
So when the news of the Thunder Daimyo's incident spread, the other Daimyo all sent envoys to express their condolences.
In their view, the Thunder Daimyo was probably getting old and senile, and had gone on a mad spree. Not only had he expelled the Cloud's men, but he had also recruited a bunch of shady, unknown ninja, and had even had two of them as his personal bodyguards.
Being kidnapped was not surprising.
This conclusion was not very rigorous, but for the other four Daimyo, who were a thousand miles away, it was the most reasonable.
Just as the ninja had a subconscious boundary—you do not attack the Daimyo—the Daimyo also had a subconscious boundary.
In their eyes, even if a Daimyo went mad and did something stupid, a ninja would not do anything to him.
But after the Cloud's men had left, the Daimyo's court was in even more trouble.
First, a week had passed, and after twenty-odd doctors, the Daimyo had still not woken up. They couldn't even find out the reason.
Jun'en Furuya, as the chief minister, had managed to maintain a semblance of stability. The various nobles and the Daimyo's sons, seeing that he had returned, had also suppressed their little schemes.
But as the days went by, and the Daimyo remained in a coma, they started to get ideas again.
The Thunder Daimyo was old. And the profession of a Daimyo was not a long-lived one. Or rather, with all the pleasures they enjoyed, it was difficult for a Daimyo to live a long life.
He was already at an age where it "would not be surprising if he suddenly passed away," and now, after such a major incident...
And so, as his coma dragged on, their mindset began to change.
From waiting for him to wake up, to waiting for him to die.
And the most impatient were probably his own sons.
The Daimyo, who had lived a life of luxury, was now facing such an ironic situation.
But while the Daimyo's court was shrouded in a dark cloud, the Hidden Cloud was stable. However, a voice of protest against the court had begun to rise. In the eyes of most of the Cloud's ninja, the Daimyo's madness had damaged the village's reputation and had subjected them to the humiliation of being expelled.
And Dana and the Third Raikage, in a tacit understanding, had allowed this voice to grow, and had even given it a little push, to solidify the nature of this incident in the village's mind.
And to further mitigate the impact, to make everything seem as "normal" as possible, after returning to the village, Dana had immediately thrown himself back into the unfinished expansion project.
And so, Yotsuki Dana, who had been a god of war on an island a few days ago, had returned to the village and had immediately gathered a team to continue his construction project.
The Hidden Cloud was built into a mountain, on the highest peak of a mountain range. The great height difference gave it a very three-dimensional feel. And with the ninja's habit of not walking properly, and always leaping from high places, he had once complained that it was less like a ninja village and more like some immortal cultivation sect.
But now, with the "Thousand-Machine Construction Technique" and a systematic expansion plan, this terrain had become a problem for his future planning.
So, after the successful experiment of "moving mountains" and leveling the land with Earth Release, he had decided to preserve the mountain landscape of the original village, but to transform all the newly developed areas into flat land. And then, following the terrain, the further out you went, the lower it would be, creating a multi-layered, terraced overall plan, gradually expanding the area.
This way, the newly developed area could be freely designed, unhindered by the rugged mountain terrain.
His plan had been approved by the Third Raikage, and he had been given a great deal of support.
And why was the Cloud working so hard on this expansion? Because the newly developed land belonged to the village.
In the early days of the village's founding, there had been no concept of real estate value. The various clans had just staked out a piece of land and had built their own houses. Some had even intentionally chosen a location far from the core.
But now, in the core of the village, a piece of land was worth a fortune. The bustling commerce and the various third-party industries that served the ninja had created a real estate value.
In this situation, the new land that was developed would all belong to the village. The moment he had leveled it, even before a single piece of wood was laid, the land would naturally have its own "value."
Whether the village used it itself, or sold it to the clans, or used it for construction planning, it was a fortune that had appeared from thin air.
The village was, of course, very keen on it.
Most importantly, after several reforms, the village had initially gained a comprehensive tax authority. A prosperous village could, in turn, support the village's development. The village could absorb nutrients from the activities of all the various industries.
And the high-ranking leaders of the village, after seeing his blueprint, had their eyes nearly pop out. If they could realize his plan, they might be able to compete for the title of the number one village in the ninja world... no, the number one city in the ninja world.
Of course, the development was a step-by-step process. The final plan was still a long way off.
But the village had made a decision. When the first phase of development was complete, the priority would be to have the clans choose a piece of land to relocate to. This would not only improve their living conditions but also free up space in the increasingly crowded core of the village, to centralize all the core departments for a more efficient operation.
And so, Dana and his Earth Release squad went back to being happy little mud-playing boys.