Naruto: Passerby and Returnee

Chapter 385 The Changes in Sunagakure

No matter where you are, management meetings never seem to end. A group of people can sit at a table from midday until sunset without ever coming up with anything useful.

The village's leadership is now divided into two factions: the old and the new. Simply put, there are those who support the current Kazekage and those who oppose him. This polarization is naturally caused by the Kazekage's various unconventional and erratic policies.

After fully considering Naruto's advice, Gaara almost couldn't wait to begin making changes. He at least took Naruto's suggestions regarding desert transformation to heart, secretly sending one of his most trusted men out on the mission. To ensure this key figure remained undetected, he immediately began renovating the school, drawing all attention to him.

The Sand Village practices elitism. Their resources are limited, and training ninjas requires a great deal of resources, so they reserve the best for the strongest. Becoming a Sand Village ninja requires passing through layers of selection, and those who fail become the lowest rung of the village. Aside from meager wages for menial tasks, they have virtually no financial security and can barely survive. Such families are extremely vulnerable to hardship and easily collapse in the face of sudden changes. Moreover, the harsh climate of the Sand Village makes it far from a suitable place for ordinary people to live.

Therefore, in the eyes of the old guard, it was completely unnecessary to allocate resources to these useless people who were destined to be eliminated, especially since the resources allocated were extremely important educational resources!

What is Gaara trying to do? Is he trying to shake the foundations of Sunagakure?

However, the Kazekage clearly stated that the training was not for cultivating ninjas, but rather to teach this small but not insignificant group of lower-ranking ninjas skills beyond ninja training. A village as large as Sunagakure would inevitably need skilled personnel. And it was at this time that the Dongfeng Escort Agency, with whom they had long cooperated, proposed a rather sensational collaboration.

They want to build a sand and gravel plant here.

"Sand...needs to be processed?" It's not that the Sand People are ignorant; they've never heard of a specific processing procedure for sand. Isn't it just something you dig up on the spot?

“There are different types of sand, different materials, and different particle sizes, so they have different uses. We have investigated and found that the sand near your village is very practical for use as building material, and it also contains trace amounts of gold, probably because this area used to be a river valley.”

“We recently found a customer who needs to purchase masonry sand on a long-term basis. It's located in the Land of Wind, not far from you. If we source from our original sand plant, the transportation costs will be higher, but purchasing from you will save us a lot of money. We would certainly welcome your cooperation.”

As everyone knows, Sunagakure is the poorest ninja village among the five great nations. How could such a blatant money-making opportunity not be tempting?

The Daimyo of the Land of Wind granted the proposal, but the terms regarding the profits were extremely harsh. This guy not only cut off their village's funding, but he also insisted on controlling even this small amount of profit, proposing a 30/70 split, with 30% going to the Sand Village and 70% to the Daimyo. This showed neither respect for the ninja villages nor for the interests of the Land of Wind.

The newly appointed Kazekage immediately took the representative of the East Wind to the Daimyo and slammed his fist on the table. Of course, it wasn't a literal table-slamming; rather, he "calmly" stated the current state of Sunagakure, delivering a sharp and incisive blow to the Daimyo.

As a result, the Dongfeng representative became a relatively mild mediator. They were businessmen who valued harmony for profit and didn't want to offend either side. It took a great deal of effort to calm both sides down a bit, allowing them to sit down and chat about everyday matters to ease tensions. Unexpectedly, as they talked, the Daimyo of the Land of Wind started sweating profusely.

How could the head of a branch of a镖行 (bodyguard agency) in Dongfeng know what Huadiao (a type of ancient Chinese wine) looks like in the Daimyo Mansion of the Land of Fire?

Before the conversation was even over, Daiming had already gleaned a glimpse of Dongfeng's future direction from the subtle clues deliberately revealed by the Dongfeng representative. They had finally decided to abandon their once weak maritime mother country and embrace the strongest nation on the continent.

The alliance between the two countries extends beyond military cooperation, encompassing numerous economic collaborations. Super escort agencies like Dongfeng specialize in extreme geographical locations; without them, the Land of Wind would be practically crippled. If Dongfeng's homeland were still the Land of Craftsmen, they could easily find a pretext to raid its territory. But now that its backer is the Land of Fire… any rash action could very well incur the wrath of the Land of Fire's daimyo.

Ultimately, the Daimyo's share was reduced to 30%, with Dongfeng forcibly taking 40% from the Daimyo and reaching a private agreement with the Kazekage. The 40% profit would only last until Dongfeng recouped its investment costs. Once the sand plant truly began to generate profits, they would only take 20%, while the remainder would be donated to the Sand Village's renovation fund, specifically for improving the living environment and people's livelihoods.

Gaara experienced negotiation skills firsthand for the first time, though he didn't understand the real reason the daimyo had backed down. But he had to be grateful; this cooperation might even impact the future of Sunagakure. Merchants are supposed to pursue profit, so why was Touken doing the opposite?

"Thank you and Dongfeng for your help to Sunagakure. May I ask why you went to such lengths to help?" Gaara was straightforward, and he couldn't hide anything about something he couldn't understand; he had to find out as soon as possible. He was the Kazekage, responsible for the entire village. If they later used this favor to harm Sunagakure, he couldn't turn a blind eye.

But Dongfeng's answer was surprisingly simple; the person in charge simply smiled mysteriously.

"This is the reward you deserve."

Not Sunagakure, but "you" (formal). Did he ever do anything to help Touken?

Due to this epoch-making collaboration, the Kazekage's popularity among the people soared to unprecedented heights. The old faction felt a strong sense of crisis, but they couldn't sway public opinion, so they resorted to undermining the new faction through meetings and policies. It was common for a resolution to take several days to be finalized, which caused considerable dissatisfaction among the entire new faction, but the Kazekage managed to suppress it.

Fengying's assessment of the old school can be summed up in eight words: "A dying struggle, nothing to worry about."

[Yura, stay here for a moment.]

After the conference ended, Yura received a "sand note" from Kazekage, so she deliberately packed up slowly, intending to wait until most people had left.

He was the leader who was sent to the Land of Owls to study under the guise of a mission. He was promoted shortly after returning and became the highest defense officer, in charge of the defense of the Sand Village.

This was a convenience deliberately granted by Lord Kazekage, so that he could easily attempt the "sand retreat project" at the bottom of that cliff. He had just completed the handover and hadn't had time to report the latest situation to Kazekage yet, so it was only right for him to stay for a while.

However, the unexpected happened at that moment. He suddenly felt a sharp pain in his head and almost collapsed.