Chapter 211: The Naive God of Shinobi!
Unlike the suffocating, blood-soaked trial that had recently concluded within the heavily guarded walls of the central manor, the sprawling Flower Capital was experiencing something entirely different.
At this very moment, the entire city was undergoing a massive, nation-altering transformation.
It was a brutal yet incredibly efficient, systematic process called "Rebirth."
Down at the deep-water port, the gigantic heavy cruiser, the Pola, was docked quietly against the reinforced stone piers.
Its sleek, heavily armored steel hull and massive 203mm naval gun turrets stood in stark, almost alien contrast to the traditional, wooden architecture of Wano Country.
Onboard the massive, intimidating vessel, the navigator Nami was in her absolute, undeniable element.
She stood proudly atop a high metal vantage point, spiritedly directing a large, highly energetic group of burly, fur-covered Mink warriors.
"Move it, move it! Be careful with that chest, it's pure gold!" she shouted, pointing her Clima-Tact like a conductor's baton.
Under her strict, enthusiastic commands, the muscular Minks were sweating profusely, hauling incredibly heavy cargo down the ship's massive steel ramps.
They moved intricately carved boxes upon boxes of glittering gold, rare jewels, and priceless silver treasures.
Mountains of physical Berries, confiscated directly from the secret vaults of the fallen Beasts Pirates and corrupt Orochi officials, flowed down the ramps.
It looked exactly like a shimmering, unstoppable, breathtaking river of absolute wealth.
Nami's beautiful eyes, which were always acutely, supernaturally sensitive to the allure of Berries, were now sparkling brightly.
They gleamed with a radiant, avaricious intensity that was honestly much brighter than the gold itself.
She was practically dancing on her feet, tapping her boots against the steel deck.
She was even happily humming an off-key, entirely self-composed, highly upbeat ditty about how "Money Never Sleeps."
Meanwhile, within the inner rings of the capital city, another operation was fully underway.
It was a much more direct, highly shocking, and undeniably violent "wealth redistribution."
Rem and Ram, the incredibly powerful and meticulously dressed twin maid sisters, were ruthlessly leading the charge.
They were accompanied by several of the legendary Elbaf giants, including Kashi, whose colossal, muscular figures resembled walking mountains.
Together, this terrifying, highly efficient task force was "visiting" the sprawling, luxurious mansions of the old Wano nobility, going methodically house by house.
The giants' massive, sky-obscuring shadows falling heavily over the opulent, highly manicured courtyards were the most absolute, undeniable deterrent in themselves.
The heavy, rhythmic thud of their massive boots caused the expensive, imported tea sets inside the manors to violently rattle and shatter.
Of course, in a country strictly ruled by absolute class division and noble supremacy for centuries, there were complications.
There were those highly arrogant, foolishly stubborn individuals who simply refused to accept the new reality.
Fat, heavily powdered nobles stood on their expansive wooden porches, their faces red with indignant, pathetic rage.
They desperately shouted about their ancient "noble privileges" and screamed until their throats were hoarse about "the absolute sanctity of noble property."
Unfortunately for them, the Suzaku Pirates did absolutely not recognize the outdated laws of a fallen, highly corrupt regime.
Their immediate end was swift, brutally efficient, and completely merciless.
A terrifyingly fast swing of Rem's heavy iron morningstar, a razor-sharp slice of Ram's invisible wind magic, and the screaming ceased instantly.
They immediately became fresh, bleeding corpses accompanying the dead Shogun Orochi on his journey to the underworld.
After paying the ultimate, bloody price with dozens of lives belonging to those who simply didn't know when to quit, the atmosphere drastically changed.
The remaining old nobles, witnessing the brutal, effortless executions of their arrogant peers, were completely, psychologically broken.
They were now as obedient, compliant, and violently trembling as a pathetic flock of quail scared completely out of their wits.
They hastily, tearfully brought out the heavy iron keys to their hidden, underground vaults, kneeling submissively on the dirt.
Ram stood gracefully on the massive, heavily muscled shoulder of the Giant Kashi.
Her pink hair fluttered slightly in the cool breeze as she looked down at the massive, confiscated hoard with a cold, highly calculating gaze.
She commanded in a crisp, completely cool voice, "Kashi, open that massive wooden box of food over there."
She pointed a delicate, white-gloved finger toward a heavily reinforced, massive crate.
"Yes, the one completely full of preserved edibles, premium grains, and fresh ingredients."
Ram's eyes narrowed slightly as she formulated a highly effective psychological tactic for the masses.
"When we pass the civilian construction site later, I want you to walk very, very slowly."
"Make absolutely sure that every single starving worker down there can see the contents of those crates clearly."
Giant Kashi grinned broadly, showing his massive, blocky teeth in a terrifying yet jovial smile.
"Don't worry about a single thing, Big Sister Ram!" Kashi responded in a deep, booming voice that violently vibrated the nearby shoji screens.
His large, intimidating eyes were entirely filled with an absolute, highly fanatical worship for his captain, Suzaku.
"For Lord Suzaku's grand, noble cause, I will be very, very diligent in my performance!"
Thus, a truly miraculous, completely unprecedented sight appeared on the ruined, dusty streets of the Flower Capital.
The towering giants swaggered proudly through the main thoroughfares, their massive hands carrying literal mountains of hoarded food and glittering treasure.
The heavily stacked, premium rice bags were deliberately sliced open just a fraction at the top by Ram's wind magic.
They emitted a deeply enticing, rich, and heavy aroma of high-quality, unpolluted grain that had been selfishly hidden away for years.
Thick, savory grease dripped and sizzled audibly from the massive wooden racks hung heavily with premium, perfectly roasted beast meat.
There were countless, massive woven baskets overflowing with fresh, brightly colored fruits and crisp, clean vegetables.
This slow, deliberate, and highly visible procession was exactly like a flowing, life-giving river of absolute hope.
The heavy, intoxicating scent drifted rapidly on the wind, aggressively invading the nostrils of absolutely everyone in the capital city.
Whether it was the highly exhausted, traumatized citizens desperately trying to repair their broken, new residences...
Or the incredibly grimy, heavily sweat-drenched laborers risking their lives to violently dismantle the toxic, black-smoke pollution factories just outside the city walls...
When they stopped their grueling labor, looked up, and clearly saw this unbelievable, highly surreal scene, the world seemed to stop spinning.
When they deeply inhaled and actually, genuinely smelled that long-lost, intoxicating aroma of real, uncontaminated food, a massive emotional shockwave hit them.
Everyone's deeply sunken, heavily exhausted eyes instantly turned a deep, emotional red.
Hot, uncontrollable tears streamed silently down their dirt-streaked faces, washing away the heavy grime of two decades of endless suffering.
It was exactly as if an infinite, highly explosive surge of pure, unadulterated strength had been forcefully injected directly into their withered, frail bodies!
...
Kenji was just a completely ordinary, tragically impoverished young man from a highly polluted, dying village in the Kuri region.
He was skeletal thin, his ribs showing prominently against his pale, dirty skin, a physical testament to a lifetime of extreme, agonizing starvation.
It was the sudden, near-mythical news echoing across the toxic wasteland that had driven him to move.
The incredible rumor that "if you come to work in the Flower Capital, you will actually be fed clean food" made him risk everything.
That single, fragile thread of profound hope made him drag his highly exhausted, almost falling-apart body across the harsh, unforgiving terrain.
He had forced himself to walk for a whole, agonizing day and night without a single drop of clean water just to finally get here.
Currently, he was standing deep in the mud, hauling incredibly heavy, jagged foundation stones along with countless others at the massive construction site.
His bare hands were heavily blistered and actively bleeding, his breath coming in ragged, highly painful gasps.
When he suddenly looked up and saw the dreamlike, impossible long dragon of food carried by the towering giants, his mind completely blanked.
He stared blankly at the golden brown, crispy crust of the roasted meat, and the pristine, shining white of the spilled rice.
He subconsciously, slowly licked his severely chapped, bleeding lips.
His empty stomach violently twisted in a painful, agonizing knot of pure, desperate craving.
Completely unable to believe his own tired eyes, he muttered in a very small, highly fragile, and deeply uncertain voice:
"Will they... will they really, actually give us that food?"
It was a genuine, heartbroken question born of twenty years of constant, cruel deception under Orochi's tyrannical reign.
However, this unintentional, incredibly quiet murmur was clearly overheard by several burly, highly muscular co-workers standing nearby.
One particularly hot-tempered, heavily scarred man immediately narrowed his eyes in deep, violent offense.
He aggressively hoisted the heavy stone hammer in his calloused hand, stepping highly threateningly toward the frail, shaking youth.
"What kind of ungrateful, disrespectful nonsense are you spouting, you skinny kid! Are you actively trying to die?!"
The angry man raised the heavy hammer high, fully ready to teach the newcomer a brutal, bloody lesson in proper respect.
"Stop right there!"
An old but surprisingly strong, highly authoritative voice shouted loudly to completely stop him in his tracks.
A white-haired old man, his back heavily hunched from years of brutal factory labor but his eyes incredibly sharp, walked over quickly.
He firmly, fearlessly placed himself right in the middle, physically separating the highly aggressive worker and the terrified, cowering Kenji.
He shook his head in stern, absolute disapproval at those hot-blooded, aggressive young men.
"Do not be foolish and highly impulsive."
The old man's voice carried a heavy, undeniable weight of profound experience and absolute caution.
"Absolutely do not cause a bloody scene here and foolishly bother the esteemed, powerful executives of Lord Suzaku!"
Hearing that deeply revered name, the aggressive young men immediately flinched, the hot anger instantly draining from their faces.
They lowered their heavy hammers and reluctantly, but highly respectfully, backed down and returned to their assigned stations.
The old man let out a heavy sigh, then turned his weathered, wrinkled head and looked at the highly bewildered, shaking Kenji.
He asked with a deep, profound understanding in his cloudy, kind eyes.
"Young man, looking at your state... you just arrived in the capital today, didn't you?"
Kenji swallowed hard, tightly clutching his ragged, dirty shirt with some alarm.
"Old sir, how... how did you possibly know that?"
The old man turned back to his work, skillfully and rhythmically stacking the heavy, jagged foundation stones.
As he worked, he smiled warmly, revealing a completely toothless, highly endearing gum line.
"Our village is located close by, and we've already been working here at this site for two full, exhausting days."
The old man's voice filled with an unmistakable, profound reverence that bordered on religious worship.
"Those terrifyingly strong executives, entirely following the absolute, strict orders of Lord Suzaku, distribute the food precisely on time."
He pointed a shaking, highly calloused finger toward the passing giants in the distance.
"They give it out in full, every single day, piling the generous rations up exactly like small, beautiful mountains right before our very eyes!"
The old man's cloudy eyes began to rapidly water as he spoke, his voice cracking slightly.
"Moreover, that absolutely isn't the moldy, spoiled, heavily poisoned rice balls discarded like trash from the old weapons factories!"
"It's actual, highly fragrant white rice! It's fresh, juicy roast meat that practically melts in your mouth!"
The old man couldn't help but deeply swallow his own accumulating saliva as he spoke of this divine, unbelievable miracle.
"Every single person working here remembers Lord Suzaku's immense, life-saving kindness deeply in their hearts."
He looked back at Kenji, his expression turning highly serious and slightly admonishing.
"What you said just now... to their highly loyal ears, weren't you openly doubting His Lordship's integrity and promise?"
"No wonder they got so deeply agitated and wanted to hit you."
The old man patted Kenji's thin, trembling shoulder gently.
"Not having ever seen your face before, and hearing such blatant doubt, I naturally guessed you must have just arrived from the outer, uninformed regions."
Kenji stood completely frozen, his mind violently reeling as the old man's heavy words fully sank in.
So... so the impossible, mythical rumors were actually true!
They weren't a cruel, sadistic trap! They weren't a beautiful lie!
A huge, completely overwhelming surge of pure, unadulterated ecstasy instantly, violently crushed all of Kenji's lingering doubts and heavy physical fatigue!
He felt an unprecedented, highly explosive strength suddenly fill his skeletal, malnourished body.
His movements in hauling the massive, heavy stones even sped up significantly, his muscles burning but his spirit soaring higher than the clouds.
Listening to the old man happily continue describing exactly how incredibly fragrant the roast meat was, and how perfectly soft and sweet the white rice felt on the tongue...
Kenji slowly licked his chapped lips again, a wide, highly genuine, and brilliant smile breaking across his dirty face.
The agonizing, gnawing hunger in his empty stomach, for the very first time in his entire, tragic life, was absolutely not a source of pain.
It was an incomparably blissful, highly euphoric... anticipation!
This highly emotional, deeply moving scene was currently happening simultaneously in countless, dusty corners of the Flower Capital.
For the millions of people who had been violently, systematically starved on this desolate land for twenty long years...
Absolutely nothing was more effectively inflammatory, or better at instantly winning their absolute, undying loyalty, than those two simple words:
"Guaranteed full."
Hope, a beautiful, sacred word entirely forgotten by the suffering people of Wano Country for two decades...
Was now rapidly taking deep root and aggressively sprouting on this desolate, poisoned land, entirely accompanied by the intoxicating aroma of hot food.
...
Meanwhile, in the very center of the capital, the supreme seat of power had officially, highly visibly changed its sign.
The grand, highly ostentatious plaque above the main doorway, which used to read "Orochi Manor"—a name filled with disgusting personal desire and ugly ambition—had long been violently reduced to ashes.
It was now permanently replaced by a massive, beautifully carved wooden sign bearing three grand, flowing characters.
Suzaku Manor.
Inside the expansive, highly decorated manor, the former heavy gloom, the stench of political corruption, and the suffocating oppression had completely vanished.
It was entirely replaced by the mouth-watering scent of a massive, ongoing feast and a highly energetic vitality of rebuilding a nation from scratch.
Sitting quietly by a massive, sturdy dining table in the corner of the grand hall was the red-eyed assassin girl, Akame.
She had completely, terrifyingly transformed into a highly precise, unstoppable food harvesting machine.
Her slender hands moved in a literal blur as she shoved piece after piece of high-quality, perfectly cooked meat into her mouth.
Her cute cheeks were stuffed until they bulged comically outwards like a chipmunk hoarding for the winter.
The stack of completely empty, clean plates before her was already piled as high as a small mountain, completely obscuring her from the waist up.
Just then, the heavy, sliding wooden doors of the grand hall were forcefully pushed open.
Two incredibly imposing, highly legendary figures entered from the doorway, heavily bearing the dust and grime of their extensive inspection tour of the capital.
It was the God of Shinobi, Hashirama Senju, and the Ghost of the Uchiha, Uchiha Madara.
As soon as the tall, long-haired Hashirama Senju entered the room, his dark eyes immediately saw the ravenously eating Akame.
He blinked in surprise at her seemingly bottomless stomach, before his highly compassionate mind vividly recalled the thousands of ordinary people outside.
He remembered the citizens working fervently, sweating profusely under the hot, unforgiving sun.
A deep, highly pronounced look of profound confusion and slight distress immediately appeared on his weathered, kind face.
He walked purposefully up to the head of the table where Suzaku was casually seated, reviewing documents.
Hashirama stopped, scratched his spiky hair in a highly characteristic, somewhat awkward gesture, and opened his mouth.
He asked in a tone that was entirely full of his usual, naive sincerity and genuine, profound incomprehension:
"Um... Young man Suzaku."
He leaned forward slightly, his large hands resting casually on his hips.
"I honestly think it's absolutely wonderful and highly noble that you are generously feeding everyone in this ruined country, I truly do!"
He first gave his high, enthusiastic affirmation of Suzaku's character, then immediately shifted his tone to one of deep questioning.
"But... whether it is violently demolishing those terrible, toxic pollution factories, or rapidly building new, safe houses for the citizens..."
Hashirama gestured with his hands, mimicking the heavy building process he had witnessed.
"...these highly taxing, manual physical tasks... couldn't we easily, instantly complete them with just a simple wave of our hands?"
He thought of his own terrifyingly powerful Wood Release, capable of instantly sprouting an entire, fully furnished wooden city from the bare earth in a matter of seconds.
Given their immense, god-like strength, they could effortlessly rebuild this entire country before sunset.
He looked deeply into Suzaku's dark eyes, his brow furrowed in genuine, bleeding-heart concern.
"Why... why do we still have to make absolutely everyone work so incredibly hard and suffer in the heat?"
In the First Hokage's highly compassionate, peace-loving view of the world...
Seeing ordinary, fragile mortals toil so incredibly hard, while he and the others possessed the supreme power to effortlessly move mountains and fill seas, always felt somewhat deeply unbearable to his gentle heart.
Hearing this incredibly naive, highly idealistic question, Suzaku didn't even bother to immediately look up from his important work.
He simply, calmly rolled up a highly detailed architectural blueprint he was holding in his right hand.
He lightly, sharply tapped the rolled parchment against the solid oak table, the crisp sound instantly interrupting Hashirama's internal monologue.
"Cut it out."
Suzaku's voice was low, cold, and entirely devoid of any accommodating warmth or gentle explanation.
He finally raised his dark eyes, his gaze incredibly sharp, oppressive, and highly critical as he stared directly at the legendary founder of Konoha.
He questioned the older man with an absolute, commanding authority that left absolutely no room for debate or foolish idealism.
"Hashirama, you were the supreme leader of a hidden village. You founded a military state."
Suzaku leaned back in his comfortable chair, his eyes narrowing in slight, genuine disappointment at the Shinobi God.
"How could you possibly, foolishly ask such a naive, short-sighted thing?"
He crossed his arms, the sheer, undeniable weight of his supreme presence completely dominating the grand room.
"This is an incredibly simple, fundamental logic of ruling and rebuilding a broken nation. You still haven't figured it out?"
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