Another World Domination

He surveyed the cityscape of Amegakure from the Akatsuki building. Amegakure looked completely blacked out right now; the rain had stopped, thanks to the shifting geography. Not that he was using his Ukojizai no Jutsu to create any more downpours. The rain might have stopped, but a cold stillness clung to the silent city.

With all the residents of Amegakure evacuated, there weren't any workers running the factories, including the power plant that kept the lights on in Amegakure. As a result, the electricity was out, even in the Akatsuki building. Luckily, one of the windows was open, otherwise, he'd have had to take the stairs up to the tenth floor.

Amegakure definitely earned its reputation as the most modern city in the Naruto world. Look at it; the city's got a straight-up steampunk vibe. Skyscrapers are everywhere, each one sporting a network of iron pipes, working as water conduits. These pipes connected to a massive drain system, funneling rainwater into Lake Amegakure.

That's why Amegakure never flooded; the drainage system was top-notch. The Land of Rain had been in isolation for ages, ever since their loss in the Second Great Ninja War. This isolation policy meant they had no diplomatic ties with other nations. The upside? They didn't rely on anyone else and had become self-sufficient.

Pain's ten years of peaceful rule had brought tranquility to the land. Peace meant the population had exploded, technology had advanced rapidly, and national revenue was booming.

At its core, Amegakure was an industrial city, but the steampunk style made it feel like he was in some kind of dystopia.

Speaking of which, where the heck was this evacuation point Konan mentioned? Nine million people crammed into one spot—wasn't that a bit tight?

Does that population number seem a little off to you? Yeah, he thought so too. He'd figured the country only had a few thousand people. From the data he'd seen, most of the residents were actually refugees, people with nowhere else to go, war victims from all over the world. They'd all flocked to this place.

Besides the controversial isolation policy, the Land of Rain also had a surprisingly wise policy: accepting all kinds of refugees. They promised work and food to anyone who joined their nation.

That's why the place was so jam-packed.

Nagato Uzumaki had put that policy in place ten years ago, to fulfill Yahiko's dream.

Yahiko was a bright guy, too bad he died so young.

He stopped thinking for a moment, then sank down into the plush sofa. His room felt just like his old apartment.

To his left was a glass wall—the same one he'd used earlier to gaze out at the darkened Amegakure. He grabbed some snacks while settling back into the soft cushions and pulled a blanket over him.

The lights in his room flickered on as he started the generator that was in there. Pretty impressive, this world already had generators.

The interior of his apartment had a modern Japanese style, and he was impressed with this country's level of technology. The houses he had seen in other countries looked like something out of Edo-era Japan. Maybe it was only the outside appearances, while the insides were much more modern. Like this building: the exterior was grim, but the interior was amazing.

He was thinking about watching some TV, but there wasn't anything on.

Wait… was that a broadcast?

Had Konan already given them the green light to return home?

"This is Mayaki Kosuke, reporting to all our viewers who are now home. Miss Konan has just given the all-clear to leave the Yamagari grasslands, as the earthquake disaster has passed. Take a look at this scene: nearly nine million people were gathered here, and now they're all heading home..."

He watched a news reporter on TV; strangely enough, the reporter was wearing traditional Japanese clothing.

"What a strange world," he muttered.

The Yamagari grasslands, huh? Smart move, Konan. The grasslands stretched out for roughly 8,000 square kilometers, and there wasn't anything there but grass.

It was definitely the perfect spot to avoid an earthquake.

Let's talk about the technology in this world.

The tech level here is roughly equivalent to 20th-century Earth. It's not just a hunch; that's what the data says.

Military tech aside—which is basically on par with 16th-century Earth tech—civilian technology had already advanced into the 1950s. Sure, everything was expensive, but rich people could buy it.

For example, color cameras, washing machines, refrigerators, color TVs, microwaves, etc.

The tech he just mentioned was all from the 50s and later, which meant that civil technology, *except* for transportation, was fairly advanced, but not across the board.

Maybe it was too hard to mass-produce?

What he found odd was how semiconductor transistor electronics had sprung up in this world when their industry was still based on steam engines!

If this world could make semiconductor electronics, he didn't understand why they hadn't upgraded their firearms. Guns had already appeared, but the tech was stuck at the 16th-century level. They could make computers, but not firearms that matched their own era.

Or maybe people in this world were just too dependent on chakra, to the point where they'd forgotten the potential of military technology? Yeah, that had to be it.

This was his golden opportunity! This world had overlooked the war potential of technology, and he could use it to bridge the power gap between him and the other nations.

Take radio, for example. Radio existed, but it wasn't being used for military purposes. Sometimes he wondered if the natives of this world were just too foolish or too smart to overlook the military applications of radio.

Remember in one of the Naruto episodes when Team Konoha was trying to rescue Gaara from the Akatsuki? They used radio tech there.

And in the Fourth Great Shinobi War, there was a shinobi carrying a radio chest on his back.

He wasn't sure what was inside, but there were two possibilities: radio communication equipment for contacting headquarters, or some kind of chakra sensor tech that linked directly to sensor-type shinobi back at base.

The point is, the evolution of technology in this world was just plain weird. That's all he was saying. And he needed to fix this broken evolutionary path.

Fixing this broken evolutionary tree would require experts in various scientific fields, and luckily, he was one of them.

If possible, he wanted to invite all the top scientists in this world to his laboratory to help him create all the technology that was floating around in his head.

He'd love to recruit Orochimaru, for example. But that seemed impossible, since he'd need the curse seal and part of Kabuto's body to revive him.

And he didn't have time for any of that. Too bad he couldn't recruit a genius scientist like Orochimaru.

He wanted to recruit Orochimaru because Orochimaru was a natural genius in a world with a broken tech evolution. Orochimaru had even created cloning technology, which was incredibly advanced for his time. It was an incredible achievement.

The world needed someone like Orochimaru to move forward.

"Nagato, Nagato, it's time to eat." He heard someone calling him. He opened his eyes and saw a beautiful woman with dark purple hair gently patting his cheek.

He immediately snapped to, and sat up on the sofa. Apparently, he'd fallen asleep on the couch while watching the news.

But why was he thinking while he was asleep? Weird.

"Konan, you're back. What did you cook?" He could smell something delicious coming from the kitchen.

"Just take a look," Konan said, stepping away from the sofa and heading towards the dining table.

"By the way, Konan, did you meet with that samurai leader?" he asked, his voice still a little groggy.

"Yeah, he confessed that he was the one who killed the Daimyo's family using a new jutsu he created. His reason was that the Daimyo didn't want to evacuate civilians," Konan replied as she set out the food on the table.

"Since he confessed, I'll meet with him tomorrow." He washed his face in the sink and then walked over to the table and sat down.

He saw a spread of delicious-looking Japanese food on the table. He picked up his chopsticks and said, "Itadakimasu."

"Itadakimasu," Konan replied.

To be continued...