Let's set aside Autaro's "prison life" for now and turn our attention back to Amegakure (Hidden Rain Village).
"Squeak—"
Yahiko pushed open the door to the grinding workshop, only to find the grinding stations empty, the water trough dry, and only three workers with paper notes stuck to their foreheads playing cards in the vast factory hall.
Yahiko couldn't help but feel a pang of nostalgia. He remembered the time when he, Nagato, and Konan sneaked into this workshop to play while Jiraiya-sensei was away. Back then, the place was bustling—the sound of grinding tools, the workers' shouts, and the flowing water in the trough all intertwined harmoniously. Now, the spacious factory hall echoed only with the sound of card-playing.
"Pair of threes!"
"Pass."
"Pair of fours!"
"Pass."
"Pair of sixes!"
"I'm down to one card. If you have a pair, play them all at once."
A slightly chubby worker remarked.
"Well, that's it."
The skinny worker spread out his cards—all pairs.
"Look at you. There's no space left on your face for notes. Fine, let's stick it on your eyelid."
Another worker picked up a paper note and moved to stick it on the chubby worker's eyelid, only to be pushed away.
"What? Not betting money, and you're still cheating! You—"
The skinny worker was about to scold him when he noticed the chubby worker pointing ahead.
Following the direction of the finger, he saw a young man dressed in a black cloak adorned with red clouds. He immediately scrambled off the table in alarm.
"My apologies, esteemed sir, for failing to welcome you properly. Please forgive us!"
In truth, he had no idea who Yahiko was. But in Amegakure, the organization Akatsuki was in charge, and anyone wearing the red cloud cloak was a big shot.
"Who are you?"
Yahiko asked coldly.
"I am Koike Jinsui, the supervisor of the grinding workshop."
Yahiko pointed to the empty factory hall.
"Where are the people?"
"They're at home."
"At home?"
Yahiko could hardly believe how candid Koike Jinsui was.
"Yes, that's right. They're all at home."
"How many people?"
"Over 2,400!"
"Why aren't they working?"
Yahiko gritted his teeth and asked.
"Ah, so that's what this is about?"
Koike Jinsui, clearly a quick-witted man, immediately understood why Yahiko was angry and hastily explained.
"Sir, you may not know, but factories depend on upstream and downstream coordination. Without upstream resources, we can only sit idle here.
This is a grinding workshop, essentially for sharpening blades. Without blade blanks to grind, what else can we do but wait at home? Sir, as soon as blade blanks arrive, I can summon everyone within ten minutes, and operations can resume in twenty."
Yahiko was a complete novice regarding industrial production, but he understood Koike's explanation. He immediately asked,
"Where is the blade blank production workshop?"
Koike scratched his head for a moment before suddenly realizing,
"Are you talking about the forging workshop?"
"Uh... yes."
"There's none."
"None!? Are you kidding me?"
Yahiko was furious.
"Calm down, sir. Clearly, you're unfamiliar with the process of crafting ninja tools. Let me explain it to you."
Indeed, Yahiko knew nothing about crafting ninja tools. The weapons he had used before were either seized from enemies or purchased directly from stores selling products from the Hourglass Group. He had never crafted his own tools.
"For example, to craft a ninja sword, you first need to mine iron ore from the mines, send it to the smelting workshop to refine into iron blocks, then to the forging workshop to forge and temper into blade blanks, quench them, and attach handles. Finally, the blades come to me for sharpening. As long as you provide blade blanks, rest assured, I'll sharpen them to perfection."
"Then why isn't there a forging workshop?"
"Ah, not just the forging workshop; the smelting workshop is also gone. The mines and steel mills have been abandoned for years."
"Why?"
"You're asking me? Who am I supposed to ask?"
"Then how did you work in the Hourglass Group before? Did those blade blanks fall from the sky?"
"Of course not. The Hourglass Group imported them from the Land of Wind."
Yahiko was speechless.
For three whole days, Yahiko toured the entire Shule River area, inspecting factories, mines, and logistics centers one by one. He discovered that, apart from the logistics center showing some signs of life, the other industries were in a state of decay.
After questioning several veteran workers, he finally understood why Yashamaru had so readily handed over the Shule River industries. This was no treasure trove but a broken basin!
The two iron mines had been abandoned after the surface deposits were exhausted. The steel mill had long been relocated to the Moon Lake District in Sunagakure. The so-called ninja tool factory was nothing more than a massive grinding workshop, with the core workshops long gone.
The canned food factory was in a similar state. All the meat and fruit were imported from neighboring countries. The workers there knew nothing about production, preservation, or packaging—all tasks performed by technical workers from Sunagakure. Now, with no raw materials and no expertise, operations had come to a complete halt. You can't sell empty cans, can you?
Even the logistics center, which offered Yahiko some solace, delivered a rude awakening.
"Sir, it's been dry these past few days, so the roads are passable, and trade is happening. But once the rains start and the roads turn muddy, business will come to a standstill. Perhaps you could start by fixing the roads?"
Fix the roads? Do I even have the money for that?
Yahiko finally realized that during the reign of Kanshin Kongō, the Hourglass Group's Rain Country division had been steadily withdrawing its core industries, leaving the finances in perpetual deficit. These industries only persisted due to Sunagakure's deliberate support; otherwise, they would have collapsed long ago.
By the way, after Yahiko successfully reclaimed the Shule River industries, he renamed them Flying Rain Group. However, despite the vast scope of these industries, their accounts held less than one million in liquid assets.
Where's the money? Did Yashamaru take it?
Impossible! I had their luggage secretly checked—there was no money!
Later, Yahiko learned that all the group's funds had been distributed as advance salaries.
What about next month?
That's 20,000 mouths to feed! Even if only basic wages are paid, it would still cost at least 30 million ryō a month!
The Akatsuki organization was poor. Before taking control of Amegakure, its total assets barely amounted to one billion ryō (some of which had been spent on clothing and equipment).
After overthrowing Kanshin Kongō, the assets seized from the Rain Shadow Tower and his private residence amounted to roughly 800 million ryō.
Altogether, it would sustain the Flying Rain Group for two and a half years.
But that's impossible! Are we to feed all these idle workers with the fruits of our hard-fought victory?
The Akatsuki organization's leaders convened to discuss the matter and seek solutions.
Ultimately, the organization decided that self-reliance was the way forward. With the money they still had, they would revive the Flying Rain Group. After all, the Hourglass Group had once risen from nothing, building an empire from scratch. With such a foundation and infrastructure, why couldn't they achieve greatness again?
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