Raikage A, based on his simple emotional values, made a judgment, only to be met with another rebuttal from his adoptive father, the elder.

"Wrong, wrong, wrong! I see you simply don't understand, A!"

"I always tell you to read more, but you never listen! Have you ever heard the story that came out of the Land of Fire a few years ago?"

"A story? I never bother with such frivolous things."

"Fine, let me tell you."

"Once upon a time, there was a feudal lord in the Land of Fire who loved playing with shuriken. He wanted to acquire the highest quality shuriken and offered a thousand ryō as a reward. Three years passed, and he still had nothing. Then, a low-ranking guard at the lord's mansion stepped forward and volunteered, 'Please entrust this task to me!' The feudal lord agreed. In less than three months, the guard managed to find a shuriken of excellent quality. However, just as he was about to purchase it, he discovered that the shuriken had rusted. He pondered for a moment, then still spent five hundred thousand ryō to buy the rusty shuriken."

"When he returned to the mansion with the rusty shuriken, the feudal lord was furious. He yelled, 'I wanted the finest, most exquisite shuriken! What use is this rusty one? Haven't you wasted five hundred thousand ryō?!'"

"The guard smiled. 'Please calm down, my lord. The money wasn't wasted. The fact that you were willing to pay a high price for even a rusty shuriken will spread. The ninjas will believe that you are a lord who truly loves shuriken, has a discerning eye, and keeps his word. Then, someone will surely come forward to offer you their shuriken.'"

"Indeed, within a year, the feudal lord of the Land of Fire received three top-quality shuriken, voluntarily offered by elite Jonin-level ninjas."

The elder, lost in the story, smacked his lips with relish.

What a profound little story from the Land of Fire! He had gleaned at least eight, no, a full ten life lessons from it!

The Land of Fire was truly a land of wisdom, and Konoha was a village of deep thought. He still had much to learn.

The plan to aid Kumogakure was based on the principles he had derived from this story.

Governing a large village was like simmering a delicate broth. The elder felt that he was a late bloomer, finally displaying his remarkable political prowess at this age.

"So, what do you think, A?"

Raikage A: "Uh-huh....."

"I forgot the beginning, the middle, and the end. You're right, but what does a shuriken have to do with giving Kumogakure a billion ryō?"

"Can't you apply the formula?!"

The elder was utterly disappointed. "The aid isn't for nothing. The fact that we, Kumogakure, are willing to support even a weak village like Kumogakure will spread. Other villages will believe that you genuinely respect the weak and keep your word. This way, more and more weak villages will choose to align themselves with Kumogakure."

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

"Our strength already ranks among the top three in the ninja world! With these small villages voluntarily joining us…"

"After we establish Kumogakure's prestige, we will create an order centered around us."

"Kirigakure and Sunagakure are both potential candidates to be incorporated into our order."

"Simply put, it's a strategy of generous giving, establishing a Kumogakure-centric military and economic alliance, creating a Greater Kumogakure Co-Prosperity Sphere. First, we unite the small villages, then we collaborate with the larger ones, gradually eroding Konoha's influence in the ninja world, and finally replacing them!"

"Do you understand now, A?!"

Oh… so that's what it was about?

Raikage A, with a vague understanding, nodded his muscular head.

The enticing vision painted by the elder had penetrated his muscular defenses and launched a genjutsu assault on his brain.

However, A still thought of a crucial question. "Then, how are we going to raise the funds for buying the shuriken… I mean, for aiding the small villages? Can Kumogakure's finances really handle it?"

"That…" The elder was displeased, his instinctive reaction seemingly blaming the village for hindering his perfect plan of generous giving.

After a long pause, he sighed. "We'll just have to ask our hardworking and resilient Kumogakure ninja to endure some hardship."

"We'll reduce mission bonuses, increase commission deductions, lower the salaries of Kumogakure officials, and raise our demands to the feudal lord…"

"Also, since we're implementing this strategy, we'll have to temporarily halt the collection of protection fees from smaller villages."

The elder picked up his teacup and took a long sip. "A, the life of a ninja is like this cup of tea. It won't be bitter forever, but there will always be periods of hardship."

"As long as we persevere through hardship, we can overcome any obstacle. If the word 'give up' ever enters your mind, firmly tell yourself that we are enduring this for the future generations of Kumogakure ninja…"

"I agree with the elder's proposal."

"Seconded."

"Me too."

The voices of agreement from the council of elders drowned out the Raikage's stalled brain.

"…"

A didn't know when he had left the Raikage building.

However, the sensation of the red ink stamp on his thumb was real. In the end, he had approved the "generous giving" strategy proposed by his adoptive father.

A rubbed his blond hair, muttering, "Why were we sending ninja to Kirigakure again? To make money?"

"But why is the village preparing to spend a billion ryō before the blood-sucking operation against Konoha has even begun?"

Walking down the streets of Kumogakure, the usually carefree A felt inexplicably uneasy.

The reason for his unease… stemmed from the subtle change in the gazes of the idle Kumogakure ninja lining the streets.

How could he describe that change?

Distrust? Incomprehension? Doubt?

In the past, A might have confronted each of these questioning gazes, flexing his muscles to make his point.

But now… it was difficult to do so!

Making his own village's ninjas suffer, tighten their belts, and use the funds generated to provide unconditional aid to weaker villages? All for the sake of establishing a Kumogakure-centric alliance? What was the logic behind that?

To be honest, to be objective, rather than this policy of impoverishing his own village to enrich others, A preferred Konoha's approach.

That was the attitude a great Shinobi Village should have!

He had trained his muscles all this time, yet he couldn't even exercise the privileges of a great village over a small one like Kumogakure? Had all his training been in vain?

The more he thought about it, the more frustrated Raikage A became. He let out a long sigh, cracked his knuckles, and decided to give up thinking.

"Anyway, according to my adoptive father, Konoha's situation is even worse than ours. At the very least, Minato Namikaze's prestige is not as high as mine. He can't even push through a simple headband change."

"If I can't figure it out, I won't think about it."

"If I don't think about anything, there won't be any trouble."