Late November.
With the help of workers like Tazuna, the International Industrial and Civil Cooperative founded by the Shion Flower Merchants Association in the Land of Waves had already, for the time being, gotten on the right track.
Of course, the Industrial and Civil Cooperative established in the Land of Waves could only be regarded as the first branch to be set up; its headquarters would be created in the Land of Demons.
Even as a branch, backed by the military, the Shion Flower Merchants Association had spared no effort to properly establish the Land of Waves branch of the Industrial and Civil Cooperative.
Although it was a test run, in the distant future it might well become one of the decisive factors in transforming the Ninja Realm.
Unlike other countries, Ichihime, who had received orthodox education of the Land of Demons since childhood, understood what was meant by the so-called mass line and the power of the masses.
The prosperous Land of Demons might appear to be led by her father, Chiba Hakushi, but the overall steps of implementation were nothing more than simple measures such as enlightening the people and liberating thought.
The Land of Demons' practice of not sticking to conventions quickly attracted all kinds of talented people from across the Ninja Realm, making these talents willingly and wholeheartedly serve the Land of Demons.
They were not Ninja, yet over the course of more than ten years, they transformed the once-poor and weak Land of Demons into a military power no weaker than any of the Five Great Nations.
Economically, it even surpassed any one of the Five Great Nations.
These assets would not be revealed on the surface; one hand open in public, the other hand quietly concealing its strength—this was a tactic her father, Chiba Hakushi, had always liked to use.
Based on such an education, Ichihime knew very well what kind of latent strength the so-called "masses" possessed.
Perhaps ninety-nine percent of them were mediocre, but as long as the remaining one percent became elite talent, it would be enough to trigger an incomparably immense transformation of the world.
In the face of such a torrent of change, even the extraordinary power of Ninja might well be replaced.
To seek a point of balance and integration between technology and Ninja tradition was precisely the path the Land of Demons intended to carry through.
Rather than day after day focusing its gaze on cultivating a tiny number of Ninja, it would be better to encompass all humanity and, through a wide-net approach, effect a thorough transformation from the very foundations.
How many Ninja did the Five Great Nations have?
Fifty thousand? A hundred thousand?
Yet among them, Special Jonin and Jonin together accounted for less than ten percent.
This was the so-called number of Elite Ninja.
But how many humans existed in the Ninja Realm?
That figure would be so large as to leave one dumbfounded.
Even if the proportion of elites among all humankind was less than one percent of the total population, in sheer numbers they would still far outstrip the Ninja of the Five Great Nations.
If the wisdom of that one percent of elites were concentrated, and used to mobilize the labor power of the remaining ninety-nine percent of humanity, the value thus created would reach a height that no era in the Ninja Realm so far had likely ever come close to.
For this, the Land of Waves was a beginning.
The International Industrial and Civil Cooperative was proposed on the basis of such a vision—a human community organization.
This was by no means the end.
Even if the Land of Demons were eventually destroyed, the seed had already been sown.
Those humans who obtained the fire would only press forward one after another in an unending surge.
In the face of such will, death itself became extremely trivial.
Using small countries as a base to form an encirclement of the great powers, then at the right moment crushing the old system belonging to that tiny segment of "elites."
The Land of Rain had fallen into civil war.
The Land of Demons had already begun to intervene.
The Land of Fire and the Land of Earth were watching covetously.
The Land of Wind stood by and watched from the sidelines.
Though it was not as perfect as planned, the current situation was still within the realm of control.
Comparing the present layout of the Ninja Realm, Ichihime also began formally handling the affairs of the Land of Waves.
Building factories was nothing but a smokescreen; her true goal had always been to establish the Industrial and Civil Cooperative and unify the workers and peasants of the Land of Waves.
Without unity, the populace was merely a motley crowd; only when the people formed organization would they become an incomparably fearsome torrent that drove the wheel of the times rolling forward.
Whether the power of the people was strong depended on whether they were scattered or organized.
It could already be considered winter now; the Land of Waves, which was already heavy with moisture, grew even colder once winter set in.
Compared to October, the pace of factory construction had also slowed somewhat.
Ichihime would occasionally visit to offer concern and bring some relief supplies, which made the workers headed by Tazuna feel deeply grateful.
At present, among those who had joined the Industrial and Civil Cooperative, workers' groups were the most numerous.
There were more than one thousand three hundred workers registered on the rolls.
This was Tazuna's achievement.
Next were the peasants; the number of peasants registered was about a little over three hundred, relatively few.
Yet Ichihime felt no dissatisfaction with this; gathered together, these numbers already constituted quite a considerable force.
And this was the number recruited under the malicious suppression of the Daimyo of the Land of Waves.
If the Daimyo of the Land of Waves had not been creating obstacles, those recruited would have been far more numerous.
The reason was simple: the Land of Fire was covertly instigating matters behind the scenes, having noticed the potential danger posed by the Industrial and Civil Cooperative and seeking to strangle that danger in its cradle. Compared to the "new era" that the Land of Demons sought, the old-style countries headed by the Five Great Nations did not want the wisdom of the masses; they only needed the people's obedience and subjugation.
Trying to open such a breach in the Land of Waves meant the road would undoubtedly be extremely arduous.
Blood, struggle, the clash of old and new worlds would ultimately culminate in the most brutal kind of war.
"By the end of this year, the Industrial and Civil Cooperative should be able to recruit three thousand people, right."