Red sand dust

At the end of the year, it was time to bid farewell to the old and welcome the new. There were many trivial matters for the entire "Rescue Team", but the really important ones had already been dealt with. As the leader, Daimaru waved his hand and gave his subordinates a holiday three days in advance.

Except for a few key cadres who stayed to eat and drink at public funds, which was a small consolation for a year of hard work, there was nothing else that people liked to see.

Nowadays, Daimaru naturally no longer has to work hard to collect consumption coupons and take everyone to eat the so-called feasts at discounts and promotions. Instead, he happily booked a private room at "Taifuyi" Food House and thoughtfully stayed at "Sun Moon Star" The hot spring hotel has reserved two large baths for everyone to relax in after eating and drinking.

After you've had your fill of wine and food, it's a good pleasure to enjoy yourself in the steaming open-air hot spring, drinking warm sake with side dishes.

As for whether someone might be peeping or something, the female hotpot next door may need more attention.

With a soft towel on his head and a stone pillow carefully carved from jade, Daimaru raised his head, looking at the stars swaying in the mist, squinting his eyes and falling asleep.

While he was dazed, there was sound of water around him, and Daimaru turned his head slightly.

"What, is something wrong?"

Nara Shikamaru, who had the same lazy attitude and drooped eyes, responded softly:

"It's rare to have time to spend time together outside of work, just for a casual chat?"

"Everyone is usually too busy..."

The slightly tipsy Daiwan pushed the floating plate with the wine bottle aside. The boy opposite him was still an underage brother. He was not old enough to drink. He had no control over how he drank secretly in private. He couldn't be too rude at this time.

"The end-of-year dinner is also a part of team building, and it doesn't count as free time! However, if you have any questions, it's not too troublesome, I can answer them..."

"You seem to know some of my thoughts very well..."

Nara Shikamaru hummed, a little unhappy that Daimaru could always poke at the weak points of people's hearts, but he couldn't restrain his restless heart.

"Sometimes, I wonder if others are trying to flatter me by having high expectations for my brain?"

"If your IQ is overflowing, it's normal to feel depressed occasionally..."

Daimaru said with a smile,

"For things like brain, most of the time, passing is enough. Being too smart is not a good thing..."

"How to say?"

Nara Shikamaru had an idea and couldn't help but ask.

"I won't go into detail about the complexity of the human heart. You must also understand it! In fact, you, who are known for your good mind, may be easier to deal with in the eyes of many people than the impulsive and irritable Uzumaki Naruto. !”

"Thinking pattern?"

Daimaru nodded and confirmed Nara Shikamaru's judgment:

"There are all kinds of stupid people, but smart people are all the same. At most, they only have slight differences in IQ."

After a pause, Daimaru yawned and further explained slowly:

"For people like me, the five shadows, the daimyo, the wealthy merchants, and the great nobles, we are not afraid that the people under our command are smart, but they are afraid of being uncontrollably stupid. The smarter we are, the easier and most beneficial path we can find. They can recognize the situation clearly, seek advantages and avoid disadvantages, and be clever and adaptable. Just like you, the fifth generation of Hokage Tsunade and I can lay down a series of restraints around you that are not forced, and you will choose according to your own nature. The path we want…”

"So, what I thought was free choice was just what I thought..."

Nara Shikamaru murmured to himself,

"The more you struggle, the more painful it is, and you will have the idea that being stupider will be better!"

"Smartness is a rare and useful quality, but one cannot regard it as the only reliance."

Daimaru patted Nara Shikamaru's shoulders, which had grown a lot but were still a little immature.

"I heard that when Naruto Uzumaki promoted his dream of becoming Hokage, the whole village laughed at him. If you are smart, you will never do such a stupid thing, because it is too difficult and obviously beyond the scope of that time. of your abilities.”

"Isn't it an advantage to be smart?"

"of course……"

Daimaru answered definitely,

"In my opinion, the evaluation of 'smart' represents a person's ability to make his life easier and more comfortable at the minimum cost. This plays a huge role compared to other individuals when he lacks the ability to survive independently. advantage. However, it does not work so well at a higher level. The core reason is that a ruler like me needs some smart people to help me, but I don’t want all my subordinates to be smart people. For a society For a group, every individual is a smart person who knows how to seek advantages and avoid disadvantages, which will make the management cost so high that the entire system collapses..."

"You mean..."

If Nara Shikamaru had some enlightenment,

"The so-called 'smart' is to make oneself stand out faster when competing with others. It is a 'group' attribute. When it grows to a high enough level, the behavior style developed by being 'smart' in the past becomes a shackles. ?”

"Did you say it was a 'group attribute'?"

Daimaru couldn't help but sneered,

"Actually, it's not wrong. How can one appear 'smart' if there are not many 'idiots' to support them? In fact, in my opinion, this is an environment with 'society', 'community' or 'organization'. However, when you reach our level, you are no longer the leading goose flying south, but a solitary bird flying high, a petrel fighting against the storm, cutting through the thorns and thorns in an untouched field, and forcibly opening up a new path. There is a way forward. At this time, the importance of your social attribute's 'group survival wisdom' will be greatly reduced."

Seeing that the other party was still thinking, Daimaru directly named the key points:

"Strong people live alone, and only weak people gather in groups! You can think that you are not strong enough, or that you are not smart enough to be extraordinary enough to change your destiny."

Nara Shikamaru, whose heart was shaken, lowered his voice and asked as if he was asking Daimaru and himself:

"Have I lost the truly valuable qualities of a strong person by being accustomed to using my intelligence to take shortcuts?"

"If it was me who encouraged you to compete for the position of Hokage and caused you distress, then I must solemnly apologize..."

After thinking about it for a while, Daimaru understood the real problem.

"If you only have this level of understanding, your future achievements will only be that of a secretary or consultant. Forget what I said..."

For those in power, smart people are much easier to manipulate. A small group of smart people is easier to deal with than a larger rabble.

Just when Daimaru was about to stand up and leave, Nara Shikamaru finally gritted his teeth and asked:

"A lonely brave man is indeed more convincing, but how do you get others to follow you? How do you improve your charm? Intelligence itself is of no use..."

"Well...don't your Konoha Village have the so-called Will of Fire? It's a good thing ready-made! If you don't understand, go to your teacher, Sarutobi Asuma, and ask what 'jade' is. , maybe there will be gains..."

Daimaru shook the towel, put it on his shoulders, and replied without looking back,

"Human beings are social creatures that live in groups. The higher the level of development, the more a person will be deprived of his ability to survive independently. Regardless of whether he is smart or stupid, he will eventually be firmly captured by the social net and unable to move. In the end, he will drift with the flow and be swept away by fate. Push forward and go to the established future. If you are not willing to waste the rest of your life and want to escape from this vortex, you need to be stronger, smarter, more charming, and able to single-handedly reverse the direction of destiny..."

After Daimaru walked far away, and his last words were almost inaudible, Nara Shikamaru relaxed his body, lazily retracted his slightly cold body into the hot spring water, took a few deep breaths of moist water vapor, and waited until he felt a little stuffy. , and then he breathed a sigh of relief.

"He really understands that if you just want to be Hokage or become a big shot, it doesn't need to be so difficult, but..."

Nara Shikamaru, with a wry smile on his face, sighed and said,

"Where is the opportunity to change yourself and the world?"

As a Konoha ninja and becoming Hokage, he could control Konoha Village, an excellent platform. But when he really moved forward with this goal, Nara Shikamaru discovered that the smart minds he relied on could not be used most of the time. use.

A smart brain is like the wings of a tiger. When attached to a civet cat, it can compete with snakes, insects, rats, ants, pigs, dogs, cattle and sheep. Only when you become a tiger can you become an omnipotent king who can fly in the sky and enter the earth.

As Daimaru said, Nara Shikamaru can now rely on his own advantages to survive well anywhere, but if he wants to realize his self-worth more and gain more respect, it is not enough at all.

…

While Nara Shikamaru was thinking hard, he put on his clothes and returned to the hotel where he was staying. He saw Otsutsuki Toneri waiting for him in the reception room.

I poured a cup of tea and sat across from Otsutsuki Toneri. Without waiting for greetings, the other party asked:

"After talking so much to that boy, does he have any value? Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha, the two sons of destiny, are not his turn to be the helmsman of the destiny of Konoha Village..."

"Who knows what's going to happen in the future?"

Daimaru chuckled. It was not surprising that Otsutsuki Toneri had the ability to hear the conversation between the two.

"As the core of 'One Super Four and Many Rookies', the Hokage in charge of Konoha Village is best to be a smart person with a normal mind. Shimura Danzo is too ambitious and cannot recognize his own position; Uzumaki Naruto is too I'm too emotional, and I don't like to be in charge of the future direction of the ninja world with someone who is too unpredictable..."

At least until Sunagakure Village replaces Konoha Village and becomes the strongest ninja village, it would be better to avoid any surprises and interrupt the upward momentum of the Wind Country.

Under the relatively fair system of the Five Shadows Conference, a stable order would be beneficial to the Sand Ninjas before they could use foreign power to make up for the shortcomings of the Kingdom of Wind as soon as possible, become more independent, and even export their strength in turn.

"What about Uchiha Sasuke, he can't do it either?"

Daimaru shook his head regretfully:

"That boy, if no one stimulates him, would be a good choice. Unfortunately, the experience of the Uchiha family has made trust too fragile. The villagers of Konoha are not yet ready to accept a person named Uchiha sitting in the position of Hokage. Mentally prepare..."

"Isn't the other candidate—Hyuga Neji—not bad?"

"The Hinata family...has been holding back..."

Daimaru couldn't help but sigh as he spoke.

The image of Hyuga, a thousand-year-old wealthy family, is too deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. As a branch of the family, Hyuga Neji cannot get the full support of the family.

Which Konoha villager could accept a Hokage who could be killed by the Hyuga clan at any time?

Now Daimaru has some plans for what he will do next. Uzumaki Naruto has great hope of becoming the seventh Hokage. One day, it is not impossible, but it always feels a bit troublesome.

"Since you think that the charismatic and enthusiastic Uzumaki Naruto combined with a smart advisory team will bring trouble to Sunagakure Village, do you think it would be better for Nara Shikamaru to be the Hokage?"

"I like to deal with smart leaders and convince them. It's enough to rely on exchange of interests and layout of the general trend. If Uzumaki Naruto..."

Daimaru curled his lips,

"I also have to consider whether it is a good time to negotiate based on his temperament and current mood. It is much harder to figure out people's hearts than to weigh the pros and cons..."

"Then why do you plan matters after the Fourth Ninja War based on the calculation of the people's discord between the Kingdom of Wind and the Kingdom of Fire?"

"Whether a person is smart or stupid, and whether he or she is worthy of calculation, requires very troublesome calculations. A group of people..."

Daimaru stretched out his index finger and waved it in front of Otsutsuki's eyes.

"No doubt, he is definitely a fool!"

As long as Daimaru is given enough time, he can design a social system that is complete enough to include everyone in it and become part of socialization, depriving them of their ability to survive independently.

Otsutsuki Toneri sighed:

"After reading those notes of yours, I have analyzed the social trend of 'anti-human instinct' in terms of hierarchy of needs and social personality. The more 'qualified' the leader is, the better he can deal with it..."

With Nara Shikamaru's intelligence, he could quickly understand Daimaru's meaning, but even so, nothing would change. When reaching the same height, who wants to stand next to someone who doesn't know when he will be stabbed? A big impulsive guy?

"Then...what about me? Since you didn't kill me, there must be something you want me to do, right?"

Speaking of this topic, Daimaru told Otsutsuki Toneri some of his thoughts. The main protagonist who was encouraged to "die once" did not become angry, but asked with great interest:

"You actually want to deal with those 'aliens' who don't know their nature. This is a path that even the Immortals of Six Paths reject..."

Will wolves negotiate with lambs? What etiquette, eating methods, and sustainable development plans should be used when eating meat?

Without equality in the food chain, there will be no basis for peaceful coexistence between the two sides.

Daimaru explained:

"I don't really care whether Otsutsuki Kaguya can survive or not. I am exploring the possibility of surviving after becoming the Ten-Tails Jinchuuriki. This is related to whether you have a chance of survival..."

"I thought you wouldn't kill me. After all, I'm still useful. I didn't expect it to come in handy so soon..."

"If I could guarantee that you wouldn't die, would you?"

"You don't need to do this. Our Otsutsuki clan already has such abilities. Don't compare me with those mixed-race people with thin blood. What do you think Otsutsuki Kaguya relies on to be able to be resurrected across a thousand years?"

"That's really..."

Daimaru smiled sarcastically,

"incredible……"

"However, I can't do it now. I have to become the Ten-Tails Jinchuuriki and obtain the Samsara Eye or the Reincarnation Eye..."

"Understood……"

Toneri Otsutsuki, who inherited the wealth of the Otsutsuki clan on the moon, has many more secrets than Daimaru imagined. It seems that he will have to "dig" it carefully in the future.

"The rest is to negotiate the terms..."