Chapter 486: Earned The Unanimous Admiration Of All The Monks At The Fire Temple

The Chemical Fertilizer would be publicly tested in the association's experimental fields alongside the previously developed hybrid rice during next year's spring planting season.

The appearance of Chemical Fertilizer naturally caused another tremendous sensation throughout the world.

Although the association had made it very clear that both the hybrid rice and the Chemical Fertilizer would only have their final effectiveness and promotion plans officially confirmed after next year's spring planting trials, the outside world's attitude toward them was surprisingly unanimous.

No one believed Shinichi Higashino was exaggerating, because judging from the several products the Ninja Way Origins Research Society had introduced over the past few months, whether it was the three Light Waters or penicillin, the match between their promotional claims and their actual effectiveness had been astonishingly accurate.

Based on Shinichi Higashino's usual conduct, even if the final yield failed to reach the extraordinary figures he had estimated, it would likely still achieve eighty or ninety percent of that amount, enough to transform the current pattern of food production throughout the Shinobi World.

Once these things became reality and were gradually promoted across the entire world, setting aside the tangled web of interests they would create, and even leaving aside revolutionary medical breakthroughs such as medical scrolls, penicillin, and the three Light Waters, merely on the strength of greatly increasing food production, the name Shinichi Higashino alone would become enough to elevate him into the status of a saint.

Whether they had always regarded him with hostility, feared him, or held goodwill toward him, everyone had no choice but to acknowledge this fact.

For a time, the senior leaders of every ninja village found themselves filled with indescribably complicated emotions.

Compared to the mixed feelings of the leaders of the other ninja villages, however, the smile on the third Hokage's face had hardly faded over the past two months.

Especially now, as he looked at the financial report and various statistical reports Shinichi had submitted, the smile on his face resembled layers of chrysanthemums blooming in autumn.

Most of the association's industries operated under a joint-investment model between Konoha and the association, with both parties holding shares and receiving dividends according to their respective ownership percentages.

Meanwhile, some production lines involving military applications that Konoha had designated as strategic controlled resources were fully funded by Konoha itself, with the association receiving only technology royalties.

In just these two months alone, the net revenue these industries had brought to Konoha's treasury was enough to make the financial records from the same period over the past several decades pale in comparison.

Besides revenue, there was another figure that attracted the third Hokage's particular attention: Employment.

From raw material cultivation to manufacturing, from packaging and transportation to retail sales and distribution, although the association had only existed for three short months, it had already created a tremendous number of jobs and employment opportunities for Konoha.

Not only that, but the rise of these industries had also produced a siphoning effect, continuously attracting people from surrounding towns and villages to settle and work in Konoha.

In just two short months, Konoha's permanent population had increased significantly.

Therefore, as he looked at the rows of impressive figures in the report, the third Hokage, whose treasury had been under constant strain ever since the outbreak of the war due to money flowing out like water, felt indescribably refreshed.

After carefully reading through the report in his hands twice more, the third Hokage set it down with satisfaction.

After pondering for a moment, as though recalling something, he suddenly said, "Contact the Fire Temple and have them ask Monk Genjo. The international conference is about to begin. Find out when Monk Genjo plans to return to Konoha so that he can travel to the Land of Iron together with our delegation."

Last month, after hybrid rice and Chemical Fertilizer had finally achieved their critical breakthroughs with Genjo's assistance, the Fire Temple had extended a warm invitation.

As an honorary elder of the Fire Temple, Genjo accepted the invitation to engage in Buddhist exchanges there while temporarily residing at the temple, and nearly a month had now passed.

The third Hokage had been paying close attention to the developments there and had heard that Monk Genjo's performance at the Fire Temple was every bit as remarkable as it had been in Konoha, perhaps even surpassing it.

As always, the way he treated others made everyone feel as though they were basking in a spring breeze, while his lectures on Buddhist teachings were both profound and easy to understand.

In just a short time, he had earned the unanimous admiration of all the monks at the Fire Temple.

The depth of his understanding of Buddhism was so profound that even many eminent monks who had spent decades studying the Buddhist scriptures felt themselves far inferior, all sighing that this young master truly deserved to be called a Buddha's child by nature.

Furthermore, the third Hokage had also heard that Abbot Gyatso and Monk Genjo had held extremely in-depth discussions regarding Nature Energy.

Although the third Hokage was known as the professor of Ninjutsu, he knew very little about the mysterious field of Nature Energy.

Nevertheless, he had also been informed that Monk Genjo possessed equally extraordinary attainments in this field, to the point that Abbot Gyatso had been unable to resist bringing out the temple's treasured hidden techniques to exchange ideas and verify theories with him, allowing both of them to benefit greatly.

"Understood!"

An Anbu member hidden in the shadows answered immediately.

The third Hokage picked up another document and began reading it again, but his thoughts were nowhere near the document itself. Instead, they had already drifted toward the conference that would begin ten days later.

...

At the Fire Temple

Although the Fire Temple was unquestionably the greatest temple in today's Shinobi World, it had not been built within a bustling city. Instead, it lay hidden deep within the mountains, where layers upon layers of ancient temple buildings followed the contours of the terrain, blending seamlessly with the lush green forests and remaining far removed from the noise of the mortal world, possessing an atmosphere of solemn tranquility all its own.

Within a canyon beside the Fire Temple, sheer cliffs enclosed the area on all sides, their walls as though carved by knives and axes. Twisted ancient branches hung upside down from the rock faces on either side, while the mountain path was unimaginably treacherous and seldom traveled by human beings.

It was now dusk, and after the setting sun slowly disappeared behind the mountain ridge, a bright full moon had only just begun to reveal its outline as its clear radiance gradually spread.

Yet within the canyon, multicolored clouds of glowing light seemed to rise and swirl into the air, while faint rainbow-colored auras shot toward the heavens, illuminating this perilous place until it resembled an immortal paradise.

At that moment, a young novice monk just over ten years old was running along the steep mountain path toward the canyon.

The young novice was none other than Chiriku, the only direct student of Abbot Gyatso, the current abbot of the Fire Temple.

He had come under his master's orders specifically to inform Monk Genjo, who had come here several days earlier to cultivate, that a message had arrived from Konoha.

Speaking of Monk Genjo, he truly was a remarkable person.