"Although the infrastructure here can't compare to The Hidden Sage Village, the environment is quite nice. It feels really closer to nature."
Walking along the stone-paved streets, Tsunade sighed as she admired the scenery on both sides.
"After all, this place has only been developing for less than two years. Besides, if other villages catch up to The Hidden Sage Village in terms of infrastructure, the people in the Research and Development Departments might as well resign."
Hui chuckled as he spoke.
The design of The Hidden Sage Village was set in stone, it was the developmental benchmark for every other village in the world, a hub of advanced technology, a futuristic prototype, and the frontier testing ground.
All technology needed to be tested and proven in The Hidden Sage Village before it could be implemented elsewhere. This fact alone ensured that The Hidden Sage Village would always be different from the rest.
It was destined that The Hidden Sage Village would forge ahead, leading the future.
The two of them wandered around Village of Wind for quite some time before heading to find Uchiha Fugaku.
Then, Hui explained the teleportation array to Fugaku, detailing its usage and various parameters.
This left Fugaku utterly stunned, his heart shaken to the core.
If it weren't for the fact that the person telling him this was Hui, he wouldn't have believed such a thing could even exist in this world.
But since it was Hui himself, there was no room for doubt.
Looking at the small teleportation array disc, Fugaku could only marvel in awe.
What a miraculous creation!! it was nothing short of a revolutionary invention no matter the era and age.
"With the teleportation array, the development of the Wind Region will accelerate significantly. And it's not just regional development; connections across the entire world will become tighter thanks to these arrays.
"Th-This…I have no words."
As a regional leader, Fugaku quickly grasped the multitude of benefits and implications that the teleportation array would bring.
"Indeed. The only downside is that there are currently too few teleportation discs, only eight. So, we still need to discuss where exactly to place them."
Hui's words made Uchiha Fugaku tense up.
He had assumed that this teleportation disc would be installed conveniently.
But now it seemed further discussions were needed.
"I think Village of Wind should have one. After all, our development heavily relies on The Hidden Sage Village's support. Placing a teleportation disc here would make communication between Village of Wind and The Hidden Sage Village much more convenient."
Fugaku hurried to make his case. Since the other four regional leaders didn't know about the teleportation arrays yet, he wanted to secure one quickly.
"That does make sense," Hui nodded, making Fugaku inwardly rejoice.
"But since this is a major decision, we should hear the opinions of the other leaders as well."
However, Hui's next sentence left Fugaku dumbfounded.
Ah, seriously...
No way. This amazing thing! Wind Region must have one!
With his mind made up, Uchiha Fugaku's thoughts raced, trying to come up with compelling reasons to secure a teleportation disc.
Meanwhile, Hui, along with Tsunade, teleported back to The Hidden Sage Village.
In truth, what he had said earlier was mostly just teasing Fugaku.
If he hadn't intended to give the Wind Region a teleportation disc, he wouldn't have brought one there in the first place.
Besides, there was no need for these people to worry.
Although there were only eight teleportation discs now, it was impossible for there to always be just eight. There would undoubtedly be more in the future.
Hui's goal was to install a teleportation disc in every village across the entire world.
Only then would the world be truly interconnected.
Soon enough, the information about the teleportation arrays was distributed to the other four villages.
Upon receiving the news, the other four leaders couldn't sit still.
Given that there were only eight teleportation discs, they could currently form only four pairs of teleportation links, yet the world had five major regions.
Whether more discs would be created in the future was uncertain, but for this first batch, it was clear that one region wouldn't be able to establish a teleportation link.
How could they not be anxious? One after another, they quickly responded, each arguing the necessity of having a teleportation disc in their region.
Moreover, the four other regional leaders didn't just explain why their own regions needed a teleportation disc, they also detailed why the other regions didn't.
Good grief, Hui couldn't help but chuckle at their underhanded tactics to secure the teleportation arrays.
Afterward, he sent out his replies to confirm the distribution, including forwarding all the leaders' reports to everyone else.
…
In the office of the Fire Village leader, located in the Region of Fire (A/n: not the original Konoha, now The Hidden Sage Village, but a newly established village), the sound of a hand slamming against a desk echoed loudly.
"Those bastards! They actually played dirty with me!!!"
Hatake Sakumo roared in anger. Usually calm and composed, he was thoroughly infuriated this time.
In the distribution reports submitted by the four other leaders, they all mentioned one thing:
Since Fire Village was the closest to The Hidden Sage Village, it didn't need a teleportation array.
They suggested the teleportation discs be allocated to the Village of Wind, Village of Earth, Village of Water, and Village of Lightning instead.
On top of that, among the five distribution reports, Sakumo was the only one who hadn't tried to argue against other regions receiving teleportation discs.
In short, Sakumo, the honest one, had been completely backstabbed by the other four.
This enraged him to no end, but now that the decisions were finalized and the situation settled, there was nothing he could do about it.
He could only make a mental note to settle this score later.
"So, you want to mess with me, huh? Heh… Don't forget, most of your development supplies come from my region!"
Sakumo spoke in a chilling tone, his entire demeanor shifting as if he had become a terrifying mastermind shrouded in darkness.
…
Meanwhile, the leaders of the other four regions, after reading the shared reports from Hui, were initially overjoyed. But soon, their hearts sank.
They suddenly remembered that most of their current supplies were sourced from the Region of Fire, and an uneasy feeling crept over them.
"Damn… Hui's really screwed us over this time!"
In Village of Water, located in the Region of Water, Hiruzen wore a troubled expression, his head aching.
Among all of them, Hiruzen had dealt with Sakumo the most. He knew that Sakumo, who came from the ANBU and had been by Hui's side the longest, was the kind of person who never let grudges slide.
Although supplies were essential for development and Sakumo wouldn't outright block their access, he definitely wouldn't make it easy for them to get what they needed.
From now on, they'd likely have to pay a hefty price to secure supplies and the cost wouldn't necessarily harm their region's development, but it would hurt.
And it wasn't just Sarutobi Hiruzen. The other three leaders were equally rattled by Hui's maneuver.
Unlike Hiruzen, who was Sakumo's senior, the other three didn't have that kind of relationship with him. Hiruzen might be able to handle Sakumo, but for them… Hatake Sakumo was their senior.
Having tricked Sakumo like this, they could expect some tough times ahead.
"Well… the teleportation arrays are more important. It's worth it, it's all worth it."
In the end, the three of them could only console themselves with that thought.
…
As for Hui, after indulging in his little mischief, he went back to researching spatial energy.
With the teleportation arrays completed, the next step was just to refine and perfect them.
Originally, after completing the teleportation arrays, Hui had planned to shift his focus to researching the Second World.
But he decided to put that on hold. For now, he had a better idea.
Although the entire world had been unified, and absolute peace was a wonderful thing for ordinary people, it wasn't necessarily beneficial for personal growth.
Without facing various trials and hardships, people would become like flowers in a greenhouse.
While there would be plenty of opportunities for them to temper themselves in the future once they entered the cosmic era, that was still a long way off.
The first generation of core forces for The Hidden Sage Village in the cosmic era would have their formative years during this era of absolute peace.
But greenhouse flowers weren't what Hui wanted to nurture.
So, he needed to provide these future powerhouses with a proper training ground.
And he already had just the place in mind.
Soon, he planned to initiate another spatial traversal.
As long as he could lock onto the world of One Piece, he would establish teleportation arrays there and send the young shinobi of The Hidden Sage Village to that world for training.
He'd assign them some missions, too.
For example: infiltrating the core of the World Government, becoming Admirals in the Marines, becoming founding members of the Revolutionary Army, or even toppling the World Government itself.
Man, just thinking about it sounds like a lot of fun!
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