Naruto: The Strongest Sage.

Konoha, Aoba soon received the information in the letter.

"Beiliuhu?"

This character did not appear in the original story. He is a character in the theatrical version. However, his talent and ability are both outstanding.

In the plot, he successfully integrated four bloodline limits and was able to use them flexibly. In the end, he was defeated by Naruto because his dark escape technique could not absorb the chakra of the immortal technique.

But there is no doubt that the effect of the Ghost Bud Technique is very terrifying. Qingye then sent a message to Xin, asking him to assist in completing the Ghost Bud Technique and send back the relevant information.

Shin's identity as a spy was known to Konan and Nagato. They turned a blind eye to such small actions.

In addition to the Akatsuki spies mentioned by the letter, Zabuza also provided intelligence transmission once a month.

As a boss-level character in the early stage, Zabuza's main job now is to help Aoba make money.

After controlling Cardo, according to some development strategies given by Qingye, Cardo now has full control over more than 90% of the economic lifeline of Tianzhiguo.

At the same time, his shipping company also expanded rapidly, and he controlled more than half of the waters around Tian Kingdom.

However, it is not possible to expand further for the time being because both the Land of Lightning and the Land of Earth have their own shipping businesses, not to mention the Land of Water.

These big countries monopolized the main shipping routes, and merchants like Cardo could only eat the leftovers.

If you want to make a breakthrough, you can only rely on someone. Konoha is undoubtedly one of the strongest people. So, under Aoba's instructions, Cardo has already sent a signal to Konoha asking for help.

Note that Cardo asked for help from Konoha, not the Land of Fire. This is a very critical step.

His behavior is completely different from Konoha hiring ninjas to protect its own business.

Instead, he planned to cooperate with the Konoha Village as a partner.

Konoha itself is not actually involved in the shipping business. For many years, the Ninja Village has acted as a mercenary organization, earning from hiring fees and basically not doing business itself.

Or rather, all the business was done by the daimyo.

But now, Aoba began to try to break this rule. Cardo's operation was to bypass the daimyo and invite Konoha to do business directly.

To be honest, when ninjas complete missions, the village only earns a few dollars in commission.

A leading ninja village like Konoha only looks rich. Aoba has only launched a few projects and it is already starting to fall apart.

This forced him to start economic reforms ahead of schedule.

The cooperation with Cardo was the beginning. This operation was actually very dangerous. Although Konoha controlled most of the military power of the Land of Fire.

But this does not mean that the daimyo has no military force. Every daimyo of a big country actually has his own armed forces. Although it is not as strong as the ninja village, it also has a certain combat power.

This is not the key point. Qingye has almost solved the problem of force. The key lies in people's hearts.

The daimyo still has the legal right to rule in terms of law and even the people's hearts. It is easy to physically destroy this kind of rule. But what Aoba wants is to completely change people's hearts. This is much more complicated.

Cardo's cooperation was a test. It was a test of the Daimyo's reaction. It was also a test of the reaction of the villagers of Konoha and even the people of the Land of Fire.

Cardo himself is just a black glove. At the critical moment, he can be abandoned at will.

Qingye didn't know much about politics. But he had heard a saying a long time ago: People can't be persuaded, you can only buy them off.

This sentence hides a very important political concept. If you want the masses to accept your ideas, it is useless to just talk. You have to give them benefits.

Aoba is now giving benefits to the people. It is temporarily limited to Konoha Village. The village does business, makes money, and naturally builds up the village.

At that time, tuition fees will be reduced and various public facilities will be built. This will be done step by step so that the people of Konoha will get used to these benefits.

One day, the daimyo is not happy and forbids Konoha to do business. What will happen when these benefits that the villagers are used to suddenly disappear?

Tsunade was also a little surprised by Kado's visit. She knew this person. He had appeared in Aoba's mission records in the early years.

But the fact that the other party came directly to her door to seek cooperation still overturned Tsunade's imagination. She was a native resident of the ninja world. Naturally, her thinking was limited.

I am still having a headache about how to apply for funding support from the daimyo. I have never thought about running my own business.

Tsunade instinctively felt that this was not right, but after listening to Cardo's description of the money, she couldn't just refuse.

So he called in Konoha's top leaders to discuss the matter.

When Nara Shikaku heard that Cardo came to seek cooperation, he immediately looked at Aoba.

After seeing Qingye's expressionless face, he thought for a while and then responded.

"Hokage-sama, first of all I need to know. Can our cooperation with Cardo be kept secret?"

“It’s impossible to keep it completely confidential. But according to Cardo’s description, we can send a small team to participate in his business in the form of a mission.

But this mission was completely different from the previous one, because he wanted to get involved in large-scale shipping.

Therefore, the resistance does not only come from pirates or rebel ninjas. It comes more from the caravans of other daimyo. Simply put, he wants to use Konoha to let his caravan bear the name of the Land of Fire. "

"We can't keep this operation secret from the daimyo for long. Once they find out, it could lead to serious consequences. We might lose the daimyo's funding. I don't think this plan is advisable."

Shikaku glanced at Aoba again and finally objected. Kakashi didn't know much about this. His main focus now was on training at the Konoha Advanced Ninja School. He also served as the vice-president of the Advanced Ninja School.

This was also the career arrangement that Aoba had made for him. Kakashi was the next generation of Hokage that Aoba was preparing for. This position was the best way for him to accumulate connections.

"Yes, this is also the key point we want to discuss today. The total allocation from the Land of Fire to Konoha this year is 2 billion ryo. This is the total amount after adding 500 million ryo to the previous Sand Village invasion, which caused a lot of losses.

According to Cardo's description, if we cooperate with him and ensure the safety of his business, we can get... 3 billion taels of dividends every year."

"..."

The conference room fell into silence. Although Nara Shikaku was smart, he was still a traditional ninja. He couldn't imagine why a businessman he had never looked at would treat money as nothing?

Although it was a bit awkward, Nara Shikaku quickly adjusted his words.

"In my opinion, this matter is still negotiable."