Chapter 106 - 1: The Branch Plan
The Naruto series has always been labeled as a story of passion and inspiration. While the "passion" part is undeniable—aside from the hundreds of flashback episodes, the rest is indeed quite exhilarating—the "inspiration" aspect, however, is something that Jinghang couldn't entirely agree with. At first glance, it seems like the tale of an underdog Genin rising to become the savior of the ninja world. But if you strip away the layers and look at its core, it's not truly an inspirational story. Instead, it's a narrative steeped in bloodline supremacy—a tale of the "nobility."
In fact, there's only one and a half genuinely inspirational civilian characters in the entire series: Might Guy and his protégé, Rock Lee. In the earlier arcs, Rock Lee opened the Five Gates and gave the then top-tier powerhouse, Gaara, a run for his money. It was a fiery moment, lasting all of ten minutes, but it almost left him crippled. Later, Might Guy opened the Eight Gates and landed a devastating kick on the late-stage powerhouse, Madara Uchiha, burning bright for another ten minutes before being permanently disabled.
The cost for civilians to chase after the prowess of bloodlines is just that high. Though this perspective may seem a bit cynical, when you calm down and think it through, who can honestly say it's not the truth? The so-called "inspirational" journey of the nobility isn't truly inspirational—it's just their natural potential playing out.
After the recent war, Jinghang came to understand this truth even more deeply. To truly elevate the overall strength of the village, it wasn't enough to focus solely on development, reforming systems, or poaching talents from other villages. The key was to increase the number of top-tier elites within the village.
Think about it—how much effort had he poured into developing the village's overall strength over the past few years? And yet, even after staking almost everything, the best he could achieve was a 60-40 victory against an already crippled Iwagakure (Hidden Stone Village) after their defeat by Kumogakure (Hidden Cloud Village). If the opponent had been Konohagakure (Hidden Leaf Village), defeat would have been inevitable. Clearly, his strategy still had significant shortcomings.
In this world, only villages with as many Kage-level or near-Kage-level elites as possible could stand firm and hold their ground. Why was the Akatsuki organization able to wreak havoc across the ninja world with just a dozen or so members? The reason was the same: every single one of them was a powerhouse capable of taking down dragons and tigers. With such individuals, they could practically walk sideways across the ninja world.
Thus, both economic development and combat power must be prioritized and strengthened in tandem.
For Jinghang's generation, it was already a stretch. Including the retired Chiyo, they could barely scrape together six elites. There was no helping it—this was just the foundation of Sunagakure (Hidden Sand Village). However, hope could be placed in the generation of Sasori of the Red Sand. By the time the Third Great Ninja War arrived, Jinghang's generation would be in their prime. If they could produce around ten more ninjas of Sasori's caliber, then what would Hiruzen Sarutobi or Minato Namikaze matter? They could still stand toe-to-toe with them.
The high-level combatants in the Naruto world could essentially be divided into three tiers, primarily influenced by bloodlines.
First Tier: The direct descendants of the Ōtsutsuki Clan—her son, her grandson, her son's descendants, her grandson's descendants, her son's reincarnations, and her grandson's reincarnations. Characters like Hashirama Senju, Madara Uchiha, Naruto Uzumaki, and Sasuke Uchiha fall into this category. However, as time passed and the bloodline thinned, top-tier individuals of this caliber became increasingly rare, and reincarnations were even harder to come by.
Second Tier: This included jinchūriki and powerful kekkei genkai users, such as Fū, Rōshi, and Ōnoki. Jinghang's Magnet Release also fell into this category. With the addition of Sage Mode, he could be considered a leading figure within this tier.
Third Tier: This group consisted of relatively weaker kekkei genkai users and highly talented ninjas, like Haku and Kakashi Hatake. However, exceptionally gifted individuals within this tier could, through effort and other means, reach or even surpass the Second Tier. Examples include Tobirama Senju, Hiruzen Sarutobi, Minato Namikaze, and the Legendary Sannin.