Chapter 291: Future of Ninja World...

"Lord Tobirama."

"Lord Tobirama."

Stepping out the door, Senju Tobirama found himself greeted solemnly by three-year-old ninja all along the street, each wearing a standard-issue uniform and addressing him formally.

It felt a bit off, but everyone was used to it by now.

His home with his brother lay within the residential zone for Konoha's reincarnated ninja. Every morning at daybreak, these reincarnates would begin their day.

Before, they had simply survived off missions, earning bounties and spending their wages however they liked, with civilians doing all sorts of service for ninja. But now, seeking a new direction – and in a whole other world, no less – there were no missions or bounties. Over these past weeks, everyone had been fumbling around, trying to keep the settlement running in a workable way.

The commercial district wasn't even finished yet, so there was no real income. All resources had to be shipped in from the main world. Apart from a few people managing the new town, the rest—once purely trained for killing—were all figuring out what they should do with themselves. This was a painful transition period.

Though these reincarnated ninja appeared child-sized, and their old strength was far from restored, they were at least on par with a typical chunin.

Their chakra might be limited and their bodies physically unimpressive, but their combat experience was immense; a few even had secret techniques.

In a fight, they could still ambush and take out a couple of average chunin with ease. Against ordinary civilians, they had no trouble at all—though prolonged engagements would be difficult, given their stamina. So while they might appear small, roaming around in groups posed no real safety concerns.

Taking his time, Tobirama strolled toward the Hokage Tower. The sun had just started to rise; he had plenty on his plate today.

The Six Kage Summit was imminent. Tons of matters awaited him. Opening up this settlement meant telling the Second World's inhabitants about reincarnation. Most people probably already had suspicions – those in the Second Konoha certainly knew – but making an official declaration introduced complications.

After all, once a formal alliance was established, they couldn't keep everything to themselves.

A few days back, he had convened a meeting with Konoha's higher-ups in the main world. They planned to test out a new mission system through the ninja alliance.

Originally, missions worked by having outside clients issue requests, which the village accepted, then ninja executed. Now the idea was to have the ninja village itself serve as a hub, releasing a variety of missions.

Exploring other worlds would inevitably produce loads of tasks suited for mid- and high-level ninja. But that would reduce the need for low-rank ninja. Large-scale demilitarization of the villages would spark major economic upheaval.

So they decided not to take such a big step all at once. They'd use a hybrid approach. The villages could still take on traditional jobs, and the alliance would release some additional missions.

At the same time, they'd upgrade ninja standards, extend academy training, and establish a more robust education system. The usual missions would keep local economies afloat, while alliance tasks would yield "credit" that could be exchanged for jutsu and various services—like extended Cast Net Jutsu privileges, world exploration, advanced training from high-level shinobi, summoning one's deceased relatives, reincarnation, and so forth.

But the more they talked about the future, the more problems piled up needing solutions.

Still, everyone agreed that, whatever the outcome, the world was changing— and that was a good thing.

"…That's all."

Tsunade stood reading aloud the entire cooperative proposal Senju Tobirama had drafted.

In truth, it wasn't much—just the outline of a rough alliance aimed at sharing missions, abolishing national borders when executing those missions (since previously, one couldn't just step freely into another nation's territory), unifying ninja ranking systems, reforming the education structure, and so on. All of it sounded difficult to implement.

No matter how powerful these other-world visitors might be, trying to manage everything on every front was complicated.

Seated there, Ōnoki pressed a copy of the treaty and asked, "Fifth Hokage, what does this clause about must accept the Cast Net Jutsu mean?"

His attitude was relatively calm. He'd personally witnessed just how terrifying Uchiha Madara was. In the future, he'd even say to the so-called "Madara" (Obito), "With your power, you could accomplish any plan you want."

Now, the same Hashirama who'd once defeated Madara sided with the other-world visitors. Ōnoki's attempt at the previous Summit to rally everyone had cost him all his nerve. His goal here was simply to secure as many benefits as possible for his village, knowing that an alliance was basically inevitable.

Compared to being wiped out or annexed, an alliance was perfectly acceptable.

"It's a technique used for communication," Tsunade answered concisely. Then she held out a hand, from whose fingertip emerged a half-transparent cord that shot toward Ōnoki—not too fast, but he didn't dare evade.

The Cast Net Jutsu had matured after a period of internal testing. They'd discovered a way for others to expand the Net on their own as well. By injecting a large amount of chakra, the cords would auto-replicate, so new members no longer required Link's personal touch.

In front of all present, the cord slipped inside Ōnoki's body and quickly took root, disappearing from view. He felt some unease, but then Tsunade's familiar voice sounded in his head:

[That's the gist of it.]

Startled at first, he soon sensed the Net itself, opened the user guide it contained, skimmed it, took a deep breath, then raised his head to look at Tsunade's smiling face. His expression changed slightly.

"Iwagakure has no objections."

All the lofty alliance clauses that seemed so unrealistic now had a genuine foundation to bring the ninja world together, courtesy of such a powerful communication tool.

The shinobi world was divided by more than just distance. Communication was a big hurdle, too. The Five Great Nations sprawled far apart, each with unique environments, economies, and customs; an alliance used to sound pointless, and even total unification would be a nightmare. But if, as the guide claimed, there was no range limit on this Cast Net Jutsu, then there was no real reason not to join.

[So strong… and such mystifying techniques…]

Ōnoki lowered his gaze, contemplating ways to secure more advantages for his village within the alliance.

[Well, tell us what it is, will you?] ×4

The other four Kage grew antsy. The "second" Sarutobi Hiruzen had heard a little something, but since he wasn't part of the initial Cast Net Jutsu testing, even he only knew bits and pieces. As for the other three, they had zero clue and found that bizarre sight unsettling.

"What exactly is that technique?" The Fourth Raikage barked, impatient.

"It's okay, everyone gets a share," Tsunade said with a grin. She extended four strands of the Net cord.

Once all the Kage were connected, the "second" Sarutobi Hiruzen quickly skimmed through the Cast Net Jutsu user guide. Then he noticed an extra pending message titled something like TP/Link Protocol.

~~~

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