Ninja Ice House

Chapter 602 Collaborators

If we want to maintain the ninja world as our core base, then we can't consider short-term strategies.

The sheer size and potential of the ninja world meant that absolute tyrannical exploitation could not last. Kaguya Otsutsuki personally entered the game and, at her own cost, proved that playing the game of taking whatever one wanted and reaping would eventually backfire.

This "Goddess of the Rabbit" has a truly shameful past, having been defeated and sealed away by her own two children.

Essentially, Madara Uchiha, Obito Uchiha, Nagato, and Kaguya Otsutsuki are of the same kind: they use absolute and powerful control to shape the entire world according to their own will. It's not that doing so is necessarily wrong, but it's completely unnecessary.

For super life forms at this level, ruling the world, becoming a king, indulging in debauchery, and having the power of life and death are actually quite meaningless.

Let alone becoming a "god" who rules the world, Kosugi Bokusui, after becoming the behind-the-scenes ruler of the largest fighting group in the ninja world besides the five great ninja villages, has actually accomplished very few things.

What the young head of the family couldn't do, Kosugi Bokusui, after becoming the "Ten-Tails Jinchuriki," might not be able to do either. Those are mostly troublesome things that cannot be accomplished with money, wealth, power, status, strong martial arts, or extraordinary power.

If it weren't for the small space of the dream world, Kosugi Bokusui could have used Infinite Tsukuyomi and Divine Tree Advent in the real ninja world to completely harvest all the natural energy.

However, as for how to deal with it afterwards, we can probably only refer to the Sage of Six Paths, repair the wounds of the shattered ninja world everywhere, wait for a long time to recover, and then consider other things.

Given the choice between eating a large meal and then going hungry, or eating a full meal every day, no one with normal intelligence would hesitate.

The key issue is that Kosugi Bokusui wasn't going to enjoy his rule forever, maintaining it for decades or even centuries, leaving the side effects to be dealt with by "the wisdom of future generations." Even the smallest risk, as long as it's not zero, will inevitably occur over an infinitely long period. Whether Kosugi Bokusui would encounter a similar fate to Kaguya Otsutsuki remains to be seen, perhaps delayed until a few hundred or even a few thousand years later.

The issues that long-lived species consider are completely different from those that that of short-lived species.

"It is not impossible that the natural energy produced in a long-term and stable manner could be generated, and even become more prosperous, providing more advanced intelligent life. It is even possible that one day, the level of civilization will officially enter the advanced stage, providing a higher growth ceiling in a way that benefits the whole world."

While the Ten-Tails Jinchuriki and the Otsutsuki clan members may be able to dominate the ninja world, it's hard to say whether they can truly roam freely in the multidimensional universe.

Privately, Kosugi Bokusui and Kaguya Otsutsuki had discussed this many times. The reason why the Otsutsuki clan acted so aggressively was not because they were so powerful, but simply because they had not encountered anyone who could take their lives.

The fact that Kaguya Otsutsuki and her successors were repeatedly defeated by such a seemingly unreliable super life form as the Ninja World shows that the Otsutsuki clan might be insignificant in the face of truly powerful cosmic life forms, which is why no one paid them any attention.

While they may appear to roam freely and be invincible, in reality, even if all the border regions that the Otsutsuki clan can reach are included in the vast multidimensional universe, they are merely a drop in the ocean and not worth a second glance from truly higher life forms.

Although Gu Shanbu Shui also had the idea of ​​settling down while things were going well and settling down to "farming to support his family," he didn't want to give up the hope of going further.

The Ten-Tails Jinchuriki is so ugly that even ninja sealing techniques are extremely difficult to break, which shows that the power system also has a lot of loopholes.

We are still far from achieving true immortality.

Just because we've become stronger and haven't encountered any worthy opponents in the ninja world yet doesn't mean we've become so arrogant that we've lost our vigilance.

"You saw it too, Jiraiya-senpai..."

Gu Shanbu Shui casually shrugged and said,

"I am actually very strong, far stronger than most ninjas. Even my daughter Karin, who knows my strength best, greatly underestimates me. I am not a god, but... you can just regard me as a human being as powerful as a god."

"So what's your view on the ninja world, and what's your view on Konoha Village?"

"They're all the same, all the same! They're all my hometown, all my 'assets'...assets with shares, or rather, the infinite possibilities that life and civilization bring. Let me put it this way: a handful of good grain seeds, I can certainly just steam or boil them and eat my fill, but if I plant them in the ground and cultivate them carefully, I can harvest much more. Even if I'm a little lazy and chase away the birds, snakes, insects, and rodents that come to steal my food, it's still much more worthwhile than just swallowing them whole..."

"Bu Shui Shaodu's ideas seem to be a bit different from others."

Gu Shanbu smiled but didn't say anything more.

In the process of dividing the profits, it is a dilemma whether to take the largest share or to make the pie bigger and take a slightly smaller share, but in order to get more absolute benefits.

The former emphasizes discourse power and influence, while the latter prioritizes immediate absolute interests.

Logically speaking, Kosugi Bokusui should have sought absolute rule and used his superior personal intervention capabilities to concentrate resources to accomplish major tasks, transforming the ninja world into a solid, unified core base.

However, for civilizations that are often measured in hundreds or thousands of years, there is a big trap: is it more important to accumulate quantity or to improve quality?

Some people always use the phrase "quantitative change leads to qualitative change" to evade the question, but if we really trace it back to the source, what exactly did the Otsutsuki clan pursue?

Natural energy and chakra?

That's too superficial. To the vast multidimensional universe, what does it matter whether a tiny ant is a powerful deity or a weakling?

Lions on the savanna hunt and eat wildebeests, but this is only a tiny part of the overall ecosystem.

What truly determines the upper limit that Kosugi Bokusui can reach in the long future depends on how much the ninja world can grow. Unless, like Kaguya Otsutsuki and her protectors, the young master travels the universe, hoping to find a more bountiful and promising planet, he may not be able to go any further.

"Actually, it's not unacceptable for one or two powerful individuals to emerge in the ninja world who pose a threat to me, as long as I understand the risks and potential consequences. What truly terrifies me is the unknown. Unpredictable, unexplained, and unexplained changes are the most worrisome. Therefore, Jiraiya-senpai, you have absolutely no need to worry. I have no animosity towards Kakashi, Guy, Asuma, Naruto, or Sasuke. At most, I'll just use them as tools. Essentially, they are all 'cards' in my hand. Of course, some of them don't entirely belong to me..."

"I was previously considered an 'unknown risk,' but what about now?"

"Cooperation is possible, whether it works or not is fine. Actually, I prefer your unexpected presence, which brings more changes to the ninja world. As for how to divide the spoils in the future, I prefer to compete peacefully. You must have seen the changes in Konoha Village over the years. There were several opportunities to take advantage of the situation, but I only skimmed off a little profit, peacefully buying back the village's ninja fighting power and productivity..."

In the long run, is plundering more efficient than capital plunder?

not necessarily!

Why does social structure reach the peak of class solidification during the period of capitalist feast?

Is capital a monstrous flood?

Capital is the human heart; it is the result of human biological instincts being transformed into the most savage aspect through socialization and civilization, manifested in the pursuit of profit.

From Gu Shanbu Shui's personal perspective, in a world without supernatural powers, there is only one way to escape this spiral of death and get rid of the pursuit and tearing of the "flood beasts": civilization itself must evolve to a stage where humans transcend biological instincts in order to achieve this goal.

In the ninja world, however, things are quite different. The existence of extraordinary powers makes it extremely difficult to quantify and securitize the combat strength of ninjas. The way ninja villages earn income through mercenary missions is actually a rather rudimentary quantitative model. They roughly set a price for genin, chunin, jonin, and even the five kage. With a price, they can be traded and converted into cash, thus generating cash flow and opening up a bottom-up channel for profit transfer.

However, there are a very few absolute masters in the ninja world who cannot be directly converted into assets, such as Nagato, Madara Uchiha, Hashirama Senju, the Sage of Six Paths, Kaguya Otsutsuki, and Fukumi Kosugi himself. These people are too strong, having surpassed the "flood and beast" themselves, and are instead the rulers who dominate the world. It is only possible to negotiate who gets how much and how to redistribute it.

If negotiations fail, then fighting will likely result in a complete disaster, with the entire "dining table" overturned and the mess left to be cleaned up over countless millennia. Therefore, unless absolutely necessary, "no kings should meet" is a necessary precaution against unexpected risks.

Just like the Five Shadows Conference is not held often, if we can't reach an agreement, then we're really doomed.

"If, Jiraiya-senpai, you are willing to work with me to make the ninja world bigger and stronger, to create new glories, and to uphold our interests in principle... it wouldn't hurt to share some with you. As for who you want to give it to and how you want to deal with it, that's none of my business."

"You're being so kind? If there's one more person eating, you'll get less!"

"Bringing your own food is also acceptable!"

Gu Shanbu Shui said very generously,

"Do you know about financing and going public? Konoha Village's stock exchange has been open for a few years. Making money with your own money, step by step, is safe, but it's too slow. Using other people's money to make money, with leverage, although there is a risk of losing control, can quickly develop and expand a business company. As for who will be in charge in the future, that depends on their abilities."

"Am I... qualified?"

Gu Shanbu Shui casually tossed a seed of the "World Tree" and responded with a light laugh.

"The collective, unconscious favoritism the ninja world shows towards you is no less than that towards Naruto, and may even surpass that towards Nagato and the Fourth Hokage. If you were just a little more selfish or assertive, the outcome might be completely different. It's not that I think you're capable, but compared to supporting those who are difficult to talk to and have eccentric tempers, you're already the most suitable partner..."

After a pause, Gu Shanbu Shui continued to explain,

"I've also considered bringing Orochimaru on board, but his curiosity is just too strong. There's a high chance of deep collaboration in the future, but right now he's too fixated on things and too prone to getting stuck on minor details. For a researcher-type collaborator like him, having personality and ideas is a good thing, but too much of a good thing can be bad..."

"That's true!"

Shortly after failing to win the bid for the Fourth Hokage position while half-heartedly pursuing it, Orochimaru defected after his research into forbidden techniques was discovered.

In fact, researching forbidden techniques is not a big deal. All five major ninja villages are researching it, and even small and medium-sized ninja villages with some strength want to try. Hanzo of the Salamander, who is known as a "demigod," is a product of forbidden technique experiments.

Therefore, the elder brother doesn't laugh at the younger brother; the one who laughs at the one who is a hundred steps ahead can't laugh at the one who is fifty steps ahead. What truly made Orochimaru unable to gain a foothold in Konoha was not secretly conducting experiments to research forbidden techniques or digging up the grave of the First Hokage, Hashirama Senju, to obtain active cells in an attempt to recreate Wood Release, but another seemingly insignificant crime—using Konoha villagers as live subjects for experiments.

Initially, the village's high-ranking officials, including Hiruzen Sarutobi, didn't pay much attention to Orochimaru and Danzo Shimura's sneaky antics. They believed that the "Dark One of the Ninja World" was reliable, and Orochimaru, one of the "Three Legendary Sannin," was trustworthy. Although their methods might not be honorable, they shouldn't be detrimental to the village.

It wasn't until the village's ninjas mysteriously disappeared and all the evidence pointed to Orochimaru that Hiruzen Sarutobi had no choice but to step forward and clean house.

The smarter such a person is, the greater the harm they can cause when they lose control. Kosugi Bokusui was not afraid that Orochimaru would become uncontrollable, but rather worried that if this guy's research went on, it would affect the young master's overall plan for the ninja world.