The academy was not the only place that received an overhaul in Kirigakure.

Ringo was a knucklehead but once she got something as her goal, she did her damnedest to finish it. That's the major reason why she became the wielder of Kiba in the past. She had no real chance to speak of when she was young. Sure, a strong Lightning affinity was rare in Kirigakure but bestowing Kiba blades to an orphan was an outrageous thought. Yet, Ringo managed to get them despite all the natural obstacles and prejudices in her way.

Hence, Rei knew that if he wanted Ringo to properly start developing Kirigakure, he had to make her interested in it.

And there were only two things Ringo thought interesting nowadays. Him, and forging.

Now, Rei could have developed a reward system and promise her more dates, snuggling, sex, whatever for doing tasks. That, however, felt hollow to Rei as Ringo was one of his wives, hence, these things were not supposed to be rewards but natural happenings in their relationship.

Instead, Rei decided to go about it through Ringo's interest in forging.

Alas, Kirigakure was an inland village, located almost in the middle of the Water Country that focused on sea trade. If Ringo wanted to develop better forging in the village, she first had to develop some outside village bases in major ports of the country. Then she had to develop the infrastructure and trade through the sea to get better materials for forging, indirectly developing the economy of the whole village.

It certainly was no coincidence that most imports for this area came from the Uzushio Trading Company either.

Sure, Kirigakure could have gotten their materials through the trading companies of the Water Country but in the long run, that would be really foolish and expensive. This way, Ringo may have invested a lot of money but the returns were directly paid in the development of the village and its businesses that would, later on, bring revenue, paying for themselves.

Just to develop forging in the village caused Ringo to develop a multitude of other things too. Things that were necessary for the smooth running of the village.

In just three years, Kirigakure became completely independent of the Water Daimyo as they had their own businesses that were fully capable of financially sustaining the village. This resulted in the Daimyo having much lesser influence over the village in general. No longer could the nobles of the Water Country demand some missions to be accepted despite being fully aware that the survival chance is almost zero.

After all, what other reason than political pressure could a village full of superpowered killers have for sending its soldiers on a suicide mission? Why would a village even do that? They did missions to get money. Having a ninja killed during a mission was, on the other hand, ALWAYS a loss. The village spent years of effort to nurture its ninjas so throwing their lives away to please some rich fat fuck, as Ringo called them, was completely foolish.

Some council members, especially clan heads, saw this deviation from the traditions as atrocious. Kirigakure was supposed to be a ninja village and that meant their income should come primarily from taking missions. Their protests might have been silent but Ringo and Ao took note of this.

Ringo's response?

"So... you basically want to be the glorified servants for hire for rich nobles, huh? You lot really did forget what it was like during the Warring States era, didn't you? Yes, the clans were hirable for a price but other than that, the clans were also completely self-sufficient. They were not under anyone's rule and usually roamed freely, no matter what the territory owners thought. Yet, you would like us to depend on Daimyo's generosity and work for him as if we were his loyal dogs? Are you stupid? He is just one fat and inept man, yet you cover in front of his supposed influence and beg for the scraps from his table despite each of you being able to single-handedly wipe out an entire battalion of his army. Pathetic. You are nothing but prideful slaves. I guess we are lucky it's not you who is the Mizukage but me. I at least don't cover in front of a powerless civilian just because he has a fancy title. What's he gonna do to me? Hire another village to start a war with his own nation? Please..."

That was the longest speech Ringo delivered in the two years she was the Mizukage and it was also one she said with such derision and contempt the council members listened, shitting their pants as they just wanted her to lose her temper and pounce, killing them in the process.

The clan heads really experienced a fright that day. To give Ringo credit where it is due, she did tolerate their grumbling for the better part of a year. Enough was simply enough, causing her to erupt. After that verbal lashing, the clan heads thought long and hard about the meaning of her words, and that later on had a major impact on the entirety of Kirigakure.

It took a few months for these words to have the desired effect. The clan heads were prideful beings and the source of said pride was their clans.

'You are nothing but prideful slaves.'

In the end, it was these words that made the clan heads look back at how their clans transformed in the past century. And many of them were horrified when they compared what had been with what currently was. They were not stupid. They just didn't look at the situation from that angle. They lived in the present, not looking at the past overly much. Only after they did look, did they figure out what Ringo was trying to accomplish. She was... trying to bring back and implement to the village the independence the clans enjoyed a century ago.

This led to yet another milestone in the history of Kirigakure. The clan heads, of their own volition, bowed to Ringo. Both figuratively and literally.

Before, they followed her because she was powerful. Too powerful for them to do anything about her. Too powerful to even try such a foolish thing. Now they found a reason to respect her as their leader. A reason other than her overwhelming power.

And suddenly, Kirigakure was unified more than ever.

Well... sure, it all started with a misunderstanding. Ringo couldn't care less about Kirigakure's independence but if she was to make her village into the best producer of forged weaponry, she had to get some leeway from the nobles and the Daimyo. Nevertheless, misunderstanding or not, Rei was actually impressed and flabbergasted at how Ringo gained the loyalty of the whole village.

When he put her up to this little forging-development project, he had no idea she would have been literally worshipped by the village.

Ah, well... all's well that ends well, no? At least, Rei no longer had to think about how to safeguard Kirigakure's loyalty and obedience considering the ninja and civilians alike followed Ringo's word as if it was a holy scripture after they noted just how much better did she make the village and how low became the mortality rate of their ninjas.

The best part?

The woman had no clue.

She simply couldn't care less.