Chương 17: Online Politics

"Oh, right, Lady Tsunade said she wants to meet the people in the chat group," Slug said.

"You actually revealed the chat group to Tsunade? The Sage of Six Paths is still monitoring the ninja world from the Pure Land. Aren't you afraid he'll find out too?" Richard asked.

"Why should I be afraid? I may not be his match, but I'm not someone he can just manipulate as he pleases. The three of us haven't survived this long because of Kaguya and her son's mercy," the slug said nonchalantly.

"Got it. So these three living fossils are not to be trifled with, and they're not afraid of the Sage of Six Paths." Richard blinked, understanding.

"Fine, I don't mind. Let her see me if she wants. Now?" Richard asked.

"Okay, I'll summon her right now," the slug said.

Richard felt an energy surge from the slug beside him, and then a blonde woman appeared not far away. Calling her a woman didn't seem quite right, though. Tsunade wasn't young anymore, but with the Yin Seal, she could maintain the appearance of a young woman in her early twenties until her death.

"Big, big, big..." Tsunade seemed to have been in the casino just now? She was being summoned in reverse and hadn't reacted yet.

She has long since exiled herself, spending her days drinking and gambling, and is no longer the Tsunade who was once one of the legendary Sannin.

Although the title of "Sannin" isn't exactly a good one. It was the title that Hanzo gave the three of them when they, Jiraiya, and Orochimaru, joined forces against Hanzo during the Second Shinobi World War and were defeated.

Of course, Tsunade realized it in just a moment.

She looked around, confirming that she was indeed in the Wet Bone Forest. Then, looking at Richard in his long blue robe, she asked the slug beside her, "Slug, who is this? Do you have a new contractor?"

The slug gently reminded her, "Lady Tsunade, have you forgotten? I mentioned the chat group to you more than two months ago."

"Ah, the chat group, huh? I remember now. It's the one you mentioned when you asked me for the Senju clan's collection of ninjutsu and sealing techniques, right?" Tsunade suddenly realized.

After saying that, she moved closer to Richard, as if wanting to observe him carefully. She then said, "So this guy is from the chat group? From another world?"

Richard subtly took a step back.

"Young man? I'm much older than your grandfather."

"You..." Tsunade thought he was being provoked and was about to get angry.

"Lady Tsunade, it's true! Even if Hashirama were alive today, he would still be younger than Lord Richard," the slug said.

"Well, I thought he'd be a handsome young man, but I didn't expect him to be so old," Tsunade said with a hint of disappointment.

"So, what brings this old man to the ninja world?" she asked.

"Come and have some fun. Didn't you want to meet the people in the chat group? I happen to have money and free time, so I came over." This Tsunade is really bored. She's probably been a ninja for so long that gathering intelligence has become an instinct.

"Oh? I thought you were interested in my family's ninjutsu?" Tsunade continued.

"I am indeed quite interested, especially in sealing techniques. Space-time ninjutsu would also be fine," Richard said.

"What if I don't give it to you?" Tsunade asked with a half-smile.

"Fine, if you won't give it to me, then so be it." Richard raised an eyebrow. Anyway, the ninja world is so big, and Konoha has sealing techniques, for example.

"Tsk, do you know the history of the ninja world?" Tsunade abruptly changed the subject.

"I know the general situation." Richard nodded.

"So what do you think of the current ninja world?" Tsunade asked.

"What do you mean, how do you see it?" Richard was a little confused about her meaning.

"For example, how long can the peace in the ninja world last?" Tsunade asked.

"Tsk, you guys are really bad at this and love to play games. You're all so educated, yet you still like to spout big philosophies, like love and peace, the individual and the nation, the family and the village, the village and the nation," Richard teased.

Although she didn't quite understand what he was saying, Tsunade could grasp the general meaning. Wasn't this guy implying that they were always thinking about unrealistic things?

"Are you trying to start a fight?" Tsunade was extremely annoyed.

"Alright, I'll answer you seriously. It'll probably be about ten years, until the next generation grows up and the war continues. Don't you already have the answer to this question yourself?" Richard said carefully.

In fact, even without the Akatsuki, the Fourth Shinobi World War would still have broken out. This is because Naruto and his generation had grown up, and the major ninja villages had recovered.

There were too many new ninjas and not enough resources, so war broke out again. It's that simple. After a war, regardless of victory or defeat, at least the number of ninjas decreased, and there were enough resources to share among the remaining people. The victorious nation could also plunder the resources of the defeated nation.

It's such a simple truth, yet many in the ninja world fail to grasp it. The intelligent ones understand, but they are powerless to change the situation, and consumed by hatred, they can only struggle in agony. Take Tsunade, for example.

"Is there any way to change all of this?" Tsunade asked blankly.

"Then I have to ask you first, do you agree that ninjas are just tools?" Actually, Richard hadn't seriously considered the reasons for the ninja world's tragedy. After all, he wasn't involved in the ninja world, so what did it have to do with him?

However, having lived in a country where everyone was a politician in his previous life, he wouldn't back down even in a real-time discussion. Putting aside everything else, his understanding of the ninja world was undoubtedly far superior.

Sure enough, one question silenced Tsunade.

Having received formal ninja training, Tsunade was taught from a young age that ninjas were tools. But her emotions told her that ninjas were people with feelings and thoughts.

"I don't understand..." Tsunade tried to organize her thoughts, but ultimately seemed unable to express the frustration in her heart in words.

"I'll ask again, if ninjas are tools, then who uses those tools? Is it the village chieftain or the daimyo?" Richard continued. You self-proclaimed smart guys like to think, don't you? Go ahead and think, or I'll change my name if I don't burn your CPU to a crisp.

Tsunade fell into deep thought again.

Think about it slowly. The life of a ninja is inherently tragic. There are conflicts between personal feelings and their role as tools; conflicts between clans and ninja villages; conflicts between ninja villages and daimyo; conflicts between great powers; conflicts between great powers and small powers; conflicts between ninjas themselves; and conflicts between ninjas and ordinary people. Just think about it.

Richard felt that there was nothing more for him to do.

Tsunade racked her brains, the more she thought about it, the more upset she became. She turned her head and saw that this guy was so relaxed, acting like nothing was wrong. No, she couldn't be the only one suffering.

"Since you're able to ask these questions, you must have done in-depth research on the situation in our ninja world. Do you think there's any solution to this situation?" Tsunade asked.

"No, I haven't studied it in depth, I don't have that much free time," Richard retorted.

"You..." Tsunade was speechless. People can be truly speechless when they're speechless.

"Teach me, and I'll give you a copy of all the sealing techniques in my family's collection," Tsunade offered.

"Okay, deal." Richard agreed after considering it.

Then he started engaging in political commentary; who isn't a master of empty talk?

"To resolve the current state of the ninja world, you first need to understand what the most pressing conflict in the ninja world is right now." He continued speaking to himself before Tsunade could answer.

"It's a conflict between ninjas and ordinary people. Don't interrupt, let me finish." He said directly as Tsunade opened her mouth to speak.

Tsunade closed her mouth again, indicating that you should continue shrinking.

"You might think that there can't be much conflict between ninjas and ordinary people, so how could it be the main conflict in the ninja world today?"

But it's not just the ninja world. In all worlds—and I mean all worlds with extraordinary individuals—the fundamental conflict lies between the extraordinary and the ordinary. This applies to the world of all the members in this chat group right now as well.

This contradiction can lead to several possibilities.

First, when the extraordinary overwhelms the ordinary, a situation like this will form in my world, where the extraordinary occupy the upper level of the ecological niche, while ordinary people are relegated to the bottom level.

The second scenario is where the ordinary overshadows the extraordinary. This is exemplified by the world of Feng Baobao, where extraordinary individuals are completely suppressed by ordinary people. Ordinary people occupy a dominant position, and the will of the state crushes the group of superhumans. Similar examples include the martial arts world of Lin Feng and Wanwan, and Xia Mi's dragon world.

Of course, if Xia Mi wanted to, she could suppress the whole world and occupy the top of the ecological niche all by herself.

Thirdly, there's the ninja world, where the extraordinary have clearly surpassed the ordinary. Ninjas have suppressed ordinary people, but you haven't completely occupied the top of the ecological niche; the Daimyo class is still at the top of the ecological niche.

We won't discuss other possibilities; we'll mainly talk about the third one, which is the situation in the ninja world.

After the rise of the ninja class, they did not take decisive action to overthrow the rule of the daimyo class and establish a social system dominated by ninjas.

You've stagnated here, neither here nor there, replacing the former samurai class. But compared to the samurai, you pose a far greater threat to the daimyo, so much so that they feel their lives are constantly in danger.

But militarily they are no match for you. The only way they can succeed is to tame you ideologically, then divide and win you over, create conflict, and turn you against each other. Only then can they sleep soundly.

"So the tragedy of ninjas today stems from the daimyo?" Tsunade frowned.

No, it's all Kishimoto's fault. Who told him to be so politically naive and to scribble all that stuff in the summer? He created as many plot holes as there are plugs in Naruto. Richard thought to himself.

Now that the ninja world has become the real world, he can only make a logical deduction. Whether others agree with this logic or not, Feng has had his fill of rant.

"No, it's ordinary people, represented by the daimyo class. Plus, all sorts of schemers jumping around in there," Richard said.

"So what should we do now?" Tsunade asked.

"It's impossible unless you can unify the five great ninja villages. Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha once had a chance to do it. But Hashirama Senju gave up, and not only did he give up, he also stopped Madara Uchiha from doing it," Richard said.

Tsunade: ……

Tsunade never expected that the boomerang would actually stick back into her own great-grandfather.

She always felt that her great-grandfather had done nothing wrong; he ended the Warring States period and brought peace to the ninja world.

But now that I've analyzed it this way, did Grandpa make a mistake back then? And was Madara Uchiha right? This realization is more painful for her than killing her.

"And what was Hashirama Senju's motive for distributing the Tailed Beasts to the Five Great Shinobi Villages? Was it really just to make them intimidate each other?" Richard continued to stab Tsunade in the back, giving her no chance to catch her breath.

"Isn't this right? The five great ninja villages keep each other in check and maintain long-term peace?" Tsunade asked.

"Did that deter them?" Richard stabbed again.

Tsunade: ……

"The deterrence balance theory makes sense, but why would he think that tailed beasts can pose a deterrent?"

Richard did not deny the deterrence balance theory, which Tsunade found strange; she had thought he did not agree with this view.

"Only when both sides, or even everyone else, are driven to their deaths can a deterrent effect be created. When all five great ninja villages possess such a trump card, lasting peace can be achieved. Peace will persist until their respective deterrent capabilities are broken," Richard continued.

"Isn't this a bit too extreme?" Tsunade asked.

"Extreme? Not at all. If you don't have the ability to take someone down with you, why should anyone be afraid of you?"

"Don't think I'm making this up. There are two worlds like this right here in the chat group. Five major powers are mutually deterring each other, especially the top three, which have the capability to drag the whole world down with them. This mutual deterrence has kept both worlds generally at peace for sixty or seventy years," Richard said.