Konoha: Rebuild the glory of the Uchiha!

"I'm furious."

"I played a dead hero in the movie, so why is Orochimaru more famous than me!" Jiraiya looked at Orochimaru with envy. If Orochimaru didn't like this treatment, he could do it for him.

Actually, some people at the Ninja Academy did ask Jiraiya for autographs, but it was mostly boys; the girls mostly asked Orochimaru.

"Because Orochimaru is more handsome than you, and stronger too."

Tsunade's words revealed the key to the matter, greatly shocking Jiraiya.

"Jiraiya, don't be too discouraged. If you want girls to ask you for autographs, I can help you."

"Hmm, Tsunade?"

Jiraiya smiled incredulously. Could it be that his spring was about to arrive?

"I can satisfy your vanity a little if you can lend me some money, not much, just a few tens of thousands of taels."

Jiraiya sighed, filled with disappointment. He had thought his spring had arrived, but it turned out they had come to borrow money.

"Tsunade, I remember you only received your 50,000 yen paycheck a few days ago."

"I lost it all yesterday."

Tsunade's face was full of frustration. Why was all her gambling skills, which she had practiced for so long, completely useless at the gambling table?!

"No way, I won't lend you money!"

Jiraiya refused decisively. Tsunade had already borrowed money from him many times. In the past, a little bit of seduction could have tricked Jiraiya out of his meal money, but the seduction had been used so many times that even a lecher like Jiraiya had become immune to it.

"Orochimaru,..."

Tsunade quickly changed her target and aimed at Orochimaru.

Orochimaru flexed his wrists, signing dozens of names at once until his hand ached. When Tsunade asked to borrow money, Orochimaru refused again; lending money to a gambler was like throwing good money after bad.

Moreover, Orochimaru didn't even ask for payment; he exchanged it for studying under Uchiha Nan.

"Tsunade, you forgot, I didn't ask for any payment at all. I exchanged the payment for the opportunity to learn from the Hokage."

Orochimaru's words completely dissuaded Tsunade, who had forgotten about the matter because she was in a hurry to borrow money to tide her over.

Mito Uzumaki took Tsunade's 450,000 ryo from Uchiha Nan in advance, leaving her with only 50,000 ryo. Since Tsunade had already earned 50,000 ryo, she wouldn't need to be given any allowance for the next six months.

Tsunade is now facing six months of poverty; she can't even afford a single cup of sweet milk tea.

After school, Orochimaru said goodbye to Jiraiya and Tsunade at the crossroads. Uchiha Kusunoki sent someone to inform Orochimaru that he could go to the Hokage's office to see him today.

Hokage's Office

"The expected box office figures for the movie have been released. It's been more popular than ever before, breaking the record for the highest-grossing film in the Land of Fire. It has already grossed over 400 million in the Land of Fire alone, and the figures for other regions are still being tallied. It's estimated that the total box office will reach 1.3 billion."

"After deducting labor and distribution costs, this film's profit reached a staggering 600 million."

Uchiha Nan listened to the report and nodded in satisfaction. The first color film was promoted with all the Daimyo's power, utilizing Konoha's channels in the ninja world. The popularity of the First Shinobi World War and various other factors combined to create a miracle in box office revenue. This is the highest box office revenue in the ninja world to date.

This record will likely stand for more than a decade until living conditions improve and people have more disposable income, at which point this box office record will be broken.

"This is a great start! Konoha Films has already made a name for itself!"

"Thirty percent of the profits will be used to establish the Konoha Ninja Welfare Fund, which will be used to subsidize Konoha ninjas who are disabled or injured due to missions."

Uchiha Nan did not forget to take care of the ninjas in the village, and the film industry was a major way for Konoha ninjas to find employment.

After the movie became a hit, the ninjas who had previously worked silently on the front lines as tools for mission execution all gained varying degrees of exposure.

Ninjas are human too. Who doesn't want fame and fortune, and be the center of attention?

This line of work is safe, and you can even use clones to run around to several film sets to earn money. Ninjas who have tasted the sweetness of it would probably love this part-time job. It's a win-win situation.

Uchiha Nan has already written the script for the next movie, which is called "The Birth of the Ninja Village".

The Uchiha and Senju clans grew weary of the killing after a thousand years of conflict, and each produced two geniuses: Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha.

As they grew up, Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha fell in love (just kidding) and gradually overcame the obstacles of family hatred, jointly establishing their ideal—to quell the chaos of the Warring States period.

Just when everything seemed to be going well, an unexpected incident occurred: Tobirama Senju killed Madara Uchiha's younger brother, Izuna Uchiha, leading to a rift between the two and a fierce battle ensued.

Ultimately, in order to realize his ideals with Hashirama Senju, Madara Uchiha wisely chose to abandon his hatred, forgave Tobirama Senju for killing Izuna Uchiha, and chose to reconcile with Hashirama Senju to jointly establish Konoha.

This movie aims to fully interpret Hashirama Senju's benevolence, Madara Uchiha's strength and tolerance, while Tobirama Senju can only be slightly relegated to a secondary role.

However, adaptation is not random fabrication, and detailed explanation is not nonsense. Uchiha Nan can guarantee that all of this is true; he did not make anything up.

Even if Hashirama Senju saw this movie and came to Uchiha Nan, he would have to acknowledge him!

Of course, Tobirama Senju wouldn't admit it; he would only use the Flying Thunder God Slash to show affection to Uchiha Nan.

However, this time Uchiha Nan was only the screenwriter; the actual filming was handled by the two assistant directors from the previous project, and Uchiha Nan highly valued their work from last time.

The two assistant directors readily accepted Uchiha Nan's invitation. The Konoha ninjas' acting was superb; they were incredibly obedient to the directors' orders, and the fight scenes were visceral and the ninjutsu dazzling. The usual entertainment industry scum—bribes, diva-like behavior, and all sorts of other bad habits—were nowhere to be seen; it was practically a god-like lineup.

Moreover, in the past, when they directed a movie, they not only had to deal with the censors from above, but also had to deal with the social idle groups near the film set. All of these obstacles vanished in front of the Konoha film crew.

Who would be so blind as to make things difficult for the Konoha production crew?

I'll just fire a shuriken at them all and send them to meet the Sage of Six Paths.

Chapter 93 Uchiha Nan: Tobirama, you'll admit that you willingly stayed behind to be my slave, right?

"Lord Hokage, the iron mines have been consolidated and acquired. Now, nearly a quarter of the iron mines in the Land of Fire have been bought by Konoha Iron Mining Company."

"Now that the war is over, the price of pig iron in the Land of Fire has begun to stabilize. In addition, due to the previous futures scheme, the price of pig iron will not fluctuate much in the next year or two. According to calculations, it will probably take Konoha five to eight years to break even."

"Konoha's actions this time were too brutal, especially towards the Daimyo."

Nara Shikagawa reported the results of the recent iron ore acquisition to Uchiha Nan. To be honest, Nara Shikagawa did not agree with Uchiha Nan's large-scale acquisition of iron ore.

It requires a large investment and takes a long time to recoup the costs.

If such a large amount of financial expenditure were used to train ninjas, the speed of Konoha's recovery would be greatly accelerated.

Moreover, Konoha's attack on its competitors this time can only be described as brutal. Words like "plundering" and "taking advantage of someone's misfortune" are not exaggerations when applied to Konoha. The families that control the iron ore business are extremely wealthy and powerful in the Land of Fire, and they had already made a scene at the Daimyo's hands.

"Lu Yuan, relax. I guarantee that the future demand for steel will far exceed your imagination. We even have to consider the problem of insufficient steel production leading to price increases."

"Konoha has consumed more steel in the last few months than it did in the past year, when Konoha was still at war."

"The construction of infrastructure such as factories, roads, houses, lights, and cables all consume large amounts of steel. Konoha has already embarked on the path of industrialization and will continue to go further in the future, radiating outwards from Konoha to the entire Land of Fire."

Nara Shikamaru was deeply moved by what Uchiha Nan said; the speed of Konoha's development in the past few months could only be described as incredible.

A few months ago, the merchants in Konoha were barely surviving and on the verge of bankruptcy, but now the shrewd shop owners have already opened one or two branches.

The place where merchants used to gather has now become the commercial center that Uchiha Nan described, with everything from food and drinks to entertainment.

Konoha's population increased by nearly a quarter. During this period, Konoha recruited a large number of refugees, built power plants, sweatshops, and expanded roads, all of which required a large amount of manpower.

Konoha's various fiscal revenues have continued to climb, exceeding 15 billion yen.

Aside from the Daimyo's funds, the majority of Konoha's revenue used to come from commissions earned by ninjas for completing missions. However, this percentage has shrunk dramatically, now accounting for less than one-sixth of the total.

This is partly due to the war reducing the number of missions. Even if the number of missions returns to or even exceeds the past level in the future, it will not account for a large proportion of Konoha's fiscal revenue. It would be difficult to achieve even a quarter of that.

In just a few months, the vibrant life and the flourishing of all things are still vivid in my mind.

"As for the Daimyo, just make an excuse for him. Although Konoha can develop very well without the Daimyo's funding right now."

"But we still need to maintain a good relationship with the Daimyo. Between countries, the Daimyo wields far more power than our ninja village. In the future, Konoha will still need to deal with the Daimyo when doing business."

Uchiha Nan simply sent Nara Shikato to appease the daimyo, making up any excuse to impress his subordinates.

I'll give you face, you give me face, and we'll all live in peace. It's those bastards who will die. Anyway, you, Da Ming, don't like them either. You, Da Ming, have also taken this opportunity to seize their property by trickery and force.

It's just that Konoha's methods are rather brutal; they directly force them to make a choice with knives. The Daimyo, on the other hand, is just eating these fat pieces within their own rules, albeit in a slightly more palatable way. We're all birds of a feather, so don't laugh at me, brother.

Furthermore, Konoha's development still requires the support of the Daimyo, and it's not time to turn against the Daimyo yet. So far, the cooperation between Konoha and the Daimyo has been relatively pleasant. Changing the Daimyo would probably require a period of adjustment.

This is just a small misunderstanding; the daimyo will understand. If he doesn't, then Uchiha Nan really should consider changing daimyo. Just as Ming Dynasty emperors are easily dissolved in water, ninja daimyo can also be easily dissolved by explosive tags.

"As you command, Hokage-sama."

Nara Shikahara nodded, then picked up another document and said to Uchiha Nan:

"The Third Mizukage of Kirigakure, Mizuto, has accepted Konoha's invitation to the Five Kage Summit."

"We need to confirm the location, time, and attendee list for the Five Shadows Conference now."

Uchiha Nan thought for a moment. This was indeed a big problem. The meeting place in the past was Konoha, back when Hashirama Senju was still alive.

Hashirama Senju personally sent them invitations, which stated that if they did not come to Konoha for the meeting, he would personally go to their ninja village to invite them.

This was truly a show of sincerity. Uchiha Nan felt that Senju Hashirama really meant to personally bring gifts to invite the First Mokage of the Four Great Ninja Villages to a meeting in Konoha.

However, the First Hokage of the other four great ninja villages must have been terrified when they saw this invitation.

If Hashirama Senju were to personally come and invite them, it probably wouldn't be an invitation; it would be an invitation to wipe out the village.

In the end, of course, they all came to Konoha eagerly.

Uchiha Nan didn't have the same appeal and strength as the First Hokage, so he couldn't personally go to their ninja village to invite their Kage over.

We still need to find a place that everyone trusts to hold the meeting.

Previously, the Second Hokage of Konoha and the Second Raikage of Kumogakure were both ambushed and killed at the negotiating table on the border. If the meeting were to be held in Konoha now, the Kage of the other four great ninja villages might not dare to come to Konoha.

What if this is a trap, and Konoha is planning something sinister, defying the ninja world by gathering the entire village's strength to wipe out all the Kage of the four great ninja villages? Wouldn't that be the end of them?

"Notify the four major ninja villages that Konoha will hold the Five Kage Summit in the Land of Hot Springs to formulate a post-war treaty for the ninja world."

"Security will be handled by the Hidden Hot Spring Village; each of the five great ninja villages can only bring one squad of shadow guards."

After a moment's thought, Uchiha Nan decided to hold the Five Kage Summit in the Land of Hot Water. The Land of Hot Water was isolated overseas, and the Hidden Hot Water Village had always been harmless, known as the Land of Forgotten Wars.

Holding the meeting in Yugakure Village would surely be welcomed by all ninja villages, and even if we only bring a small team, we don't need to worry about other ninja villages resorting to underhanded tactics.

Moreover, it is said that the scenery in the land of hot springs is beautiful, and the hot springs there are exceptional. Choosing to hold the meeting here would also provide an opportunity for a publicly funded trip.

"Yes, Lord Hokage!"

Nara Shikawon nodded, then left the room to handle the tasks assigned to him by Uchiha Nan.

"Time to slack off again!"

Uchiha Nan reclined on the sofa, holding an ice-cold cola in his hand. "It tastes so good!"

The time he spent idly didn't last long before there was another knock on Uchiha Nan's door.