Land of Fire, Konoha.
Hokage Office.
Uchiha Jin, who had just started his shift, had a face like that 'old man on the subway' meme.
Looking at the intelligence report just sent from the Northern War Zone, he even suspected if Tsunade was playing a joke on him.
It was too fast!
He had only just planned for Kumogakure to join Konoha, and that large group of people hadn't even been settled yet. He couldn't even attend to Iwagakure, Hidden Mist, and Sunagakure at the moment, yet who would have thought these three would all choose to surrender voluntarily?
His first reaction was that there was some kind of trap!
However...
Once he calmed down and thought about it carefully, he felt that it actually made some sense.
The so-called Great Shinobi Villages had certainly suffered severe damage in terms of strength after being ravaged by the Akatsuki Organization.
Countless mid-to-low-level Ninjas had died or been injured, Jonin-level combat power was heavily depleted, and the Tailed Beasts of every Ninja village had disappeared. Especially now that Kumogakure had taken the lead in surrendering, it must have dealt a blow to their morale.
The now-dilapidated Three Great Shinobi Villages were even weaker in combat power than they were after the Ninja World War.
But what about Konoha?
In the storm stirred up by the 'Akatsuki Organization', they hadn't lost any Ninjas at all. On the contrary, with the support of those 'Edo Tensei' powerhouses, they were almost at their absolute peak.
Under these circumstances, how could the Three Great Shinobi Villages possibly fight back?
Instead...
They needed to worry about the future of themselves and their loved ones, and they needed to plan for a decent position for their own people. In this situation, surrendering seemed to have become a good choice.
After all, if they chose to surrender, then by relying on the support of the Ninjas under their command, they could still secure a fairly good position within the future Konoha.
But if they continued to hold out?
They would only be swallowed whole by the increasingly powerful Konoha, and at that point, they wouldn't be able to leave even a tiny bit of anything for their descendants.
Those who could make it to the high-level positions in any Ninja village were almost certainly not fools!
'A wise man submits to fate' was not just empty talk.
He just hadn't expected it to happen so quickly.
Meanwhile...
While Uchiha Jin was contemplating, Konan couldn't help but blurt out in shock.
"This—how can this be?"
"Those Great Shinobi Villages are just surrendering like that? Why aren't they even putting up a struggle?"
"Do they have no feelings at all for their own Ninja villages?"
At this moment, Konan was a bit confused.
After all, she used to love the Land of Rain deeply, as did Yahiko, Nagato, and the other original members of the Akatsuki Organization. They even grew up in great hardship, despite the Land of Rain never giving them any happiness.
But what about the Great Shinobi Villages?
Their Civilians didn't have to suffer the pain of small countries with few people, and those in high positions were even better off; the power and wealth they enjoyed were almost at the top...
Having such top-tier privileges, why would they surrender so easily?
In Konan's limited imagination, the Great Shinobi Villages should have been willing to risk death to fight Konoha to the end.
The most Konoha should have been able to do was slowly erode them as before, until only a group of die-hard loyalists remained, and then completely wipe them out in a final decisive battle; only then could the Ninja World finally return to peace.
But now?
Kumogakure choosing to surrender was already shocking enough for her.
Now, before Konoha had even finished settling Kumogakure, Sunagakure, Iwagakure, and Hidden Mist had surrendered one after another.
This...
What's the point of fighting anymore!
Seeing Konan's face full of incomprehension, Uchiha Jin couldn't help but explain with a smile: "Of course they have feelings for their Ninja villages, but everything in this world has a price. People who can reach the high levels of a Ninja village are political animals; they weigh the pros and cons in everything they encounter."
"The choice they've made before us may seem absurd, but in reality, it's a choice made after weighing the pros and cons!"
"Of course, I know what you're thinking."
"But let me tell you, even if they were to die, the Great Shinobi Villages would never pledge their loyalty to the Akatsuki Organization!"
His words were decisive.
Konan didn't feel any discomfort at having her thoughts exposed; instead, she couldn't help but ask urgently, "Why is that? I hope Hokage-sama can enlighten me."
"The reason is simple: there is no guarantee." Uchiha Jin didn't hide anything and gave the most authoritative answer directly.
However...
Seeing that Konan still didn't understand, he added an explanation: "Konoha is a mature power structure with a complete system of operation. Before Other Ninja Villages join Konoha, even if I haven't made a commitment for the time being, they can rely on their understanding of Konoha to guess with a high probability what kind of life they will face in the future."
"How much power can be retained? What will their future life be like?"
"They have an idea about questions like these, so naturally, they won't be too afraid!"
"And in a Great Shinobi Village like Konoha, unless it's in a special state like a power struggle, everyone will follow the rules of the game. Even I won't easily break them."
"But what about the Akatsuki Organization?"
"The biggest problem with this kind of fledgling regime is instability. It doesn't have a trustworthy system of operation; almost everything is decided by a single word from the leader."
"You might be very good to me today, but tomorrow, perhaps because of some small matter, you could take my life directly!"
"This kind of unknown is the most terrifying!"
"Without basic guarantees, without a mature power structure, without the constraints of a legal system..."
"Joining such an organization is a gamble on the leader's character."
"The stability is too poor!"
"Even if the leader is truly good in all aspects, what if that leader dies one day?"
"Can the newly ascended leader still implement the previous policies?"
"This is why even if the Akatsuki Organization were powerful, normal people would not join it."
"On the contrary!"
"Great Shinobi Villages like Konoha won't have this problem. Even after a Kage dies and a successor takes over, they might implement their own new rules and systems, but it will only be modifications to the old rules. It's impossible to break all the rules at once."
"The many Ninja Clans, Jonin, and other high-level officials within the Great Shinobi Village would never allow it either, and this ensures at least a basic continuity of policy. This is also the most important reason why others are willing to surrender."
"The internal regime is stable and won't change policies overnight!"
"And this'stability' is something that the Akatsuki Organization's model can never provide!"
Jin spoke eloquently, clearly having found interest in the topic.
He truly looked down on the Akatsuki Organization, whether it was the true mastermind Black Zetsu, or later Uchiha Madara, Obito, Nagato...
This lot were all trash!
They didn't understand how to operate a power at all, and in the end, they could only naturally bring in a bunch of Rogue Ninjas to keep up appearances.
Even if Uchiha Madara's vision was broad enough to see that 'unification' was the trend of the times, the problem was that a person like that could never achieve it.
Because even if the vision was sufficient, the problem was that his ability was too pathetic!