Chapter 91: Construction
The second circle, with a radius of twenty meters, wasn't a fully enclosed space. Ishiro planned to build a two-meter-high wall around it and place a defensive barrier on the wall.
The area between the second and first circles would serve as the residential zone for Ishiro and his men. Normally, caravan members would not be allowed inside, but in wartime, after inspection, they could enter to take shelter.
The third circle, with a radius of around 100 meters, had several dozen marked points around its perimeter. At these points, Ishiro set up an expanded sensory barrier. This barrier had no offensive or defensive capabilities—it was purely for detection.
The space between the second and third circles was designated as the caravan activity area. A warning sign was posted around the outer edge: foreign ninja were strictly prohibited from entering.
Outside these three rings, there were three designated paths. Areas beyond these paths would be filled with traps. This was part of the visible defense system, and Ishiro would notify all caravans to avoid entering those areas.
However, building a supply station didn't require many ninja. So before starting construction, Ishiro made rotational duty arrangements. His plan was: after escorting the caravan back to the Earth Country, there would be some downtime before the next departure—this would be the teams' break period.
For caravans that traveled far from Iwagakure, their escort squads wouldn't have time to rest. Ishiro arranged it so teams would take turns escorting closer caravans.
Since Ishiro controlled the trade routes, most caravans followed the same path. Not every caravan needed its own escort squad. So most of Ishiro's chūnin squads had spare time, allowing for additional rest scheduling.
After finalizing the rotations, six squads returned to the village for rest. They would return at staggered times to relieve the teams on active duty.
The reason so many squads could be sent back was because all the caravans were currently in the Rain Country. There weren't many active escort missions for now.
Ishiro then contacted two nearby outposts. According to Iwagakure regulations, outposts of equal rank must assist each other during emergencies. So Ishiro needed to establish contact immediately—for safety and to prevent disputes during future operations.
Once all that was done, construction officially began—from the outermost ring.
The logistics personnel who had delivered materials had already returned to the village with the six resting squads. That left Ishiro with only Squad 7 and four chūnin squads to work with.
These included:
Meiko's squad
Shouhara's squad
A squad skilled in trap deployment
A squad led by a medical chūnin
The trap specialist was Inagaki Gōichi. Ishiro shared his plan for laying traps in the outer perimeter and assigned Inagaki and Seiten to brainstorm and handle it.
Ishiro assigned the others to build signage for the third ring and walls for the second ring, while he focused on establishing the sensory barrier in the third ring and the defensive barrier on the second ring's wall.
As for the core structure in the innermost circle, Ishiro wasn't in a rush. That part would be kept confidential from caravan personnel, so he planned to build it after the outer wall was up.
Of course, a supply station of this scale couldn't be completed in a day or two. Most of their energy was still focused on training. Construction would be done in their spare time. Ishiro figured six months would be enough to complete the base.
---
The next morning, Ishiro began his day with physical training and B-rank kenjutsu practice, then went to Meiko to ask for guidance on Fire Release training.
Meiko had also just recently grasped fire nature transformation. Due to a lack of contribution points, she hadn't yet exchanged for any Fire Release jutsu. That made her current level perfect for mutual study. Their insights were similar, so communication flowed naturally. As she practiced, she explained her understanding of fire's properties to Ishiro.
Ishiro listened closely and asked questions now and then. Their exchange proved mutually beneficial. In fact, Meiko's gains were greater than Ishiro's. Some of Ishiro's unique insights gave her sudden flashes of understanding. By the end of the morning, her grasp of fire nature had deepened significantly.
That was evident when she managed to spit out a mini fireball the size of a blue orb. Ishiro couldn't help but feel a little envious.
But his own progress wasn't small. He didn't dare consume too much chakra while stationed on the border, so he hadn't been practicing Fire Release directly. However, with Meiko's guidance and watching her progress in real-time, his comprehension skyrocketed.
The fire-nature chakra in his body had become noticeably more active, and more was beginning to detach from the chakra balance. By the end of the morning, Ishiro could already produce a few sparks from his mouth using his regular chakra.
Encouraged by the progress, he decided to continue training the next day.
---
Everyone spent the morning training. In the afternoon, they squeezed in time for construction work. Even with limited hours, ninja worked far more efficiently than normal laborers. The supply station gradually began to take shape.
Time passed quickly in such a routine.
Within a few days, the first caravan returned from the Rain Country. This one had only conducted trade near the border. After confirming safety with sensory ninjutsu, Ishiro assigned Shouhara's squad for escort duty and didn't worry further.
Over the next few days, seven or eight caravans returned. Ishiro then dispatched Meiko's, Inagaki Gōichi's, and the medical chūnin Hoshikawa's squads as escorts. Fortunately, since the caravans had similar routes, each squad could cover more than one.
Soon, only Squad 7 remained at the base. If another caravan returned before the rested squads came back, Ishiro would have to delay their departure and keep them at the base temporarily.
Luckily, the resting squads began returning one by one, and the trade route began operating smoothly. Ishiro's daily life became more stable—rarely leaving the vicinity of the supply station except for nearby training.
On the Rain Country side, the Akatsuki's trade operations also stabilized. Perhaps due to strong backing from the Daimyō, Akatsuki's escort ninja numbers were at least twice those on Ishiro's side. Ishiro guessed the Daimyō must have been profiting quite a bit from the trade.
The merchant route now ran on its own. Ishiro didn't need to intervene much anymore.
Which meant it was time to start the next mission—when Ishiro had accepted his trade-route assignment, he had also received another mission: take over intelligence operations in the Rain Country and create disruptions for Konoha.
Since Ishiro couldn't leave the base freely, he secretly sent Fu into the Rain Country to connect with their operatives.
Unfortunately, the intelligence Fu returned with wasn't very useful. Everything they knew, Ishiro could've guessed from the original timeline.
Since there were no major movements, Ishiro wasn't in a hurry. He settled in to wait, sending Fu periodically to gather updates.
What he didn't expect was that he would end up waiting two years.
---
Two years passed.
The supply station was fully completed, and the trade route between Earth and Rain had become known throughout the entire ninja world. People finally realized how trade could flourish once tariffs were eliminated.
The route, established by Ishiro and the Akatsuki, now stretched from the eastern coast of the Earth Country all the way to the Rain-Sand border.
Ishiro estimated 70 to 80 caravans operated along the route. In addition to those from the Earth and Rain Countries, there were even caravans from other small nations like the Bear, Demon, Bird, Grass, Waterfall, and Iron Countries.
These nations once had to pass through multiple territories and pay hefty tariffs. But by routing through the Earth Country, they paid none. After witnessing the booming Earth-Rain trade, Ōnoki had persuaded the Daimyō to abolish tariffs altogether.
Now, all long-distance caravans chose the Earth Country—not only for the tariff-free access, but because Iwagakure had spent the last two years clearing bandits along the route.
While it couldn't be said the Earth Country was completely free of rogue ninja, most areas were safe enough for caravans to travel without ninja escorts.
Everyone in the ninja world now agreed—traveling through the Earth Country saved enormous costs.
Even caravans from distant lands began issuing missions like this: hire ninja to escort them to the Earth Country's border, then once their trade was done, issue another mission from within the Earth Country to escort them home.
The flourishing trade vastly boosted the Earth Country's economy. The Daimyō's tax revenue didn't drop from losing tariffs—it increased. Their momentum now rivaled even the Fire Country's.
While Iwagakure hadn't yet established a second trade route, the lack of Akatsuki-like idealists in other countries made it difficult. But Ishiro had heard that the Earth Daimyō and Ōnoki were already negotiating with neighboring small nations. A second or third trade route might not be far off.
But those matters had little to do with Ishiro now. After sitting at the supply station for two straight years, his efforts were about to pay off.
In those two years, Squad 7 had only returned to Iwagakure three times.
Fu and the others got to rotate out occasionally. Ishiro, however, could only leave if he got direct approval from the village, and only after a temporary commander was sent to replace him.
He was, in short, completely stir-crazy.
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