Chapter 227. Propaganda
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That day, their commander was gone.
That day, another one of their brothers had fallen.
That day, Konoha gained a new tree…
The gathered White Zetsu stood mournfully beneath the God Tree, gazing at the still-not-fully-dried body of "Smart."
The past was vivid in their minds, as if it had happened yesterday.
That day…
They were the ones who had personally hung "Smart" up there.
Who would have thought that not long after—one had fallen in the desert, and another had hanged himself in front of the enemy's gate, consumed by hatred?
They still remembered it clearly.
That day.
The night was dark, the winds were high.
Silence filled the air.
With a sorrowful expression, the Commander White Zetsu hugged them all, bearing the guilt of his failure. Then, filled with rage and grief, he resolutely… hanged himself at the enemy's gate, using this silent protest to fiercely criticize the Yuto Group's fraudulent actions.
In the end—
He became a tree.
He was remarkable. He had sacrificed himself for all the White Zetsu.
Just like the Suicide Bomber White Zetsu… even in his final moments, he had fought to pass on a crucial piece of information.
They were heroes!
"Attention!"
After the White Zetsu mourned for a moment…
"For Kaguya-sama!"
"Kill Uchiha Yuto!"
"Give us back our hard-earned money!"
"Can I get my sketchbook back?"
"Avenge our brothers!"
"This grudge will never be forgiven!"
The White Zetsu erupted into shouting once again.
Of course, as White Zetsu, how could they wallow in sorrow for too long? You know, they had more important tasks to handle!
But—
A certain White Zetsu adjusted his rimless glasses, which were crafted from tree bark, and looked down thoughtfully at the sketchbook covered in drawings of poop.
"To this day, we still haven't cracked the intelligence that the Suicide Bomber passed on that day."
Like a scholar, he furrowed his brows, his eyes glowing with a deep, intellectual light.
This is the light of wisdom!
"But for him to send this information even while facing a terrifying explosion and flames… it must be extremely important."
"He must have been filled with rage!" A White Zetsu sighed, nodding solemnly as he gazed into the distance. "I could feel his despair from those two words."
As the words fell—
The surrounding White Zetsu lowered their heads in sorrow.
They could never forget that day.
Blinding yellow sand filled the sky, the fierce wind howled, and they were critically low on explosive tags.
Just as they were about to lose all hope, a certain White Zetsu stood up with unwavering determination, covered himself from head to toe with explosive tags, and charged toward the enemy.
That day.
It was high noon, the sun blazing overhead.
He was a little thirsty.
He really wanted some milk tea!
Unfortunately—
He died.
But in the end, he managed to pass on that vital piece of intelligence.
At that moment—
As the White Zetsu began to mourn again—
A timid White Zetsu raised his hand. "Um… maybe he just wanted to curse at that time?"
As the words fell—
White Zetsu: (▼皿▼#)
"…"
Fine. You guys talk, I'll stay out of it.
"We must decode this intelligence as soon as possible." The Scholar White Zetsu adjusted his glasses again, his face serious. "It might hold the key to our revenge."
As the words fell—
"That's right!"
"It's the information he left behind with his dying breath—there's definitely a secret hidden inside!"
"Give us back our hard-earned money!"
"Can I get my sketchbook back? I want to draw."
The White Zetsu began clamoring again.
However—
They were now faced with a very real problem.
"We're broke." The Financial White Zetsu sighed deeply. "The Commander spent all our savings on the last battle."
As soon as the words fell—
The White Zetsu lowered their heads in grief once more.
They…
They were truly broke again!
Suddenly—
"We've got money! We've got money!"
A White Zetsu sitting at a computer shouted in excitement.
"I've found a way to make money!"
As the words fell—
All the White Zetsu's attention instantly focused on him, their eyes fixed on him.
"Uh…" The Computer White Zetsu froze, instinctively turning his head and shrinking his neck as he weakly asked, "What's wrong with everyone?"
However—
The White Zetsu didn't answer. They continued to stare at him, their eyes gleaming with a strange light.
"Money?"
"Y-Yes!"
"Where?"
"I-I haven't gotten it yet! We need to help him with something first to get the money."
"What is it?"
"He wants us to give his movie a like on the review site. One like… earns one ryo. A hundred-word, five-star review… earns ten ryo..."
As the words fell—
The underground cave fell into silence once more.
A moment later—
All the White Zetsu exchanged glances, their eyes suddenly lighting up.
"Hehehe~"
One like for one ryo, ten likes for ten ryo, a hundred likes… that's a hundred ryo… think of how much milk tea that could buy!
And the reviews—one review was worth ten ryo!
As long as they could save up enough money—
They would finally have a chance to get revenge.
With that thought, all the White Zetsu fixed their serious gazes on the Computer White Zetsu.
"Tell him—we'll take the job. Ask him how many likes he needs. We won't accept it if it's less than 10,000!"
…
Meanwhile—
In Konoha, at the Temporary Root Studio of the Root Organization…
"Danzo, I've already found someone to take the job." Mitokado Homura turned his head to look at Danzo, who was still watching the original film with a serious expression. After hesitating for a moment, he asked, "Do we really need to go this far?"
As the words fell—
Danzo turned his head and snorted coldly.
"Listen to me, and do it! I've already spent a fortune putting up advertisements in front of the internet cafes—I can afford to pay someone to give me likes on the internet."
Each account could only give one like and one five-star review to a post anyway.
One like costs one ryo, one review costs ten ryo. What's the big deal?
Even 10,000 people would only cost 110,000 ryo.
100,000 people? That's just 1.1 million ryo.
Besides, there weren't that many people in the entire ninja world who could even go online.
They weren't hiring acquaintances—they were just randomly contacting some people online.
At most… it would cost a few tens of thousands of ryo.
And when it came to promotion—
Shimura Danzo was very experienced. If they could generate buzz before the film's release, it would surely stir up everyone's curiosity.
"Tell them—one like for one ryo, one review for ten ryo! It must be a five-star review of at least 100 words, and they need to send us a screenshot! Payment will be settled in the first month after the film's release! But they must follow the requirements!"
"But… it'll probably take some time for our movie to be completed."
"It doesn't matter. Now is the perfect time to promote it. By the time it's ready… everyone at the Winter Festival will already be familiar with our movie through the internet."
"Alright!"
Hearing Danzo's determined tone, both Mitokado Homura and Sarutobi Hiruzen didn't argue further.
As Konoha's Hokage and advisor, they both understood the importance of promotion. And compared to losing money just to make noise, this kind of straightforward promotion wouldn't cost much!
Especially since there weren't that many people with internet access yet.
It wasn't like they'd suddenly have over a million people leaving reviews. Plus… they were only hiring a few specific people.
Mitokado Homura tapped the keyboard, then suddenly paused and turned to look at Danzo.
"Danzo, they said they won't take the job unless it's at least 10,000 likes. They asked how many we want."
As the words fell—
"How many we want?" Danzo waved his hand dismissively and said with disdain, "10,000 is indeed a lot of people… Tell them—we'll take as many as they can provide!"
No way—
They don't have hundreds of millions of people, right?
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