Naruto: Starting from Eating the Gold Fruit

Chapter 150 An Outrageous Crisis

It's often said that daughters are their fathers' little cotton-padded jackets, and You Ya certainly loves his little cotton-padded jackets very much. He also sometimes feels envious when he sees other people's little cotton-padded jackets.

Yuya was naturally happy that Tsunade was pregnant.

If he were to have a daughter, Youya would not hesitate to shower her with the best love.

Of course, we'll have to wait until next year to see the final result.

As the saying goes, "practice makes perfect," though this saying isn't quite accurate, that's the gist of it.

Tsunade was more experienced this time around and wasn't as at a loss as she was the first time.

Yuya's act of burning incense and praying to Buddha for a daughter left Tsunade somewhat bewildered.

In any case, although there is no extreme preference for sons over daughters in the ninja world, the idea that having sons is the key to a comfortable old age is deeply ingrained.

Yuya's desire for a daughter left Tsunade bewildered and both amused. Yuya even went to Hashirama Senju's memorial tablet to say a few words from time to time (because Hashirama Senju had a skill called the Thousand-Armed Buddha Statue, which, although a sage technique, is still considered a Buddha, so it's not a loss to worship him).

However, Yuji is now over a year old, so it would be nice to have a little sister for him.

Although Yua's actions were somewhat outrageous, Konoha's affairs were not delayed, and Tsunade continued to go to get off work and leave work as usual. Compared to her first pregnancy, this one had almost no impact.

In July of the 33rd year of Konoha, Mitokado Homura, who had just taken office as the governor of the Land of Whirlpools, sent word that all the factories in the Land of Whirlpools were ready and that Yua could send someone to take up a post in the Land of Whirlpools.

Yuya sighed helplessly. If he could, he really wouldn't want to send anyone to the Land of Whirlpools.

Because Konoha itself is so short-handed that it would be better to cut one person in half to use them, sending people to the Land of Whirlpools would require a team of at least 500 people.

But not sending anyone is not an option either; Yua can't sleep soundly at night without having control of the Land of Whirlpools.

(As can be seen from the original work, it's quite absurd that Kirigakure was able to eventually reach the Land of Fire's mainland.)

Fine, let's go then.

Yuya spent three days carefully considering and selected more than one hundred high-ranking Chunin from Konoha commoners without any background to serve in the Land of Whirlpools.

The remaining three hundred or so Chunin who worked and managed the Land of Whirlpools under their command were members of various clans.

Whether Yuya wants to admit it or not, the largest number of ninjas in Konoha right now are from these ninja clans.

He still needs to rely more on these families.

The 33rd year of Konoha passed by day by day.

Konoha was peaceful and harmonious, with its people living in contentment and almost every household having surplus food, leading a relaxed and pleasant life.

Konoha was filled with laughter and joy, and the occasional screams came from the haunted house in the amusement park on Hyuga territory.

Against this backdrop, three of Konoha's four districts have already completed their renovations.

Yuya was overjoyed. The entire Hidden Leaf Village was moving towards prosperity step by step according to his plan, and nothing could make Yuya happier than this.

Against this backdrop, Nara Shika also produced a Konoha North City renovation plan in September of Konoha 33.

You Ya looked at it, didn't find any problems, and approved it.

This was a very routine operation, and no one paid much attention to the project, so it was pushed forward.

The three districts—east, west, and south—were all transformed in this way. This isn't just a case; it's a fact!

Therefore, no one thought it was wrong.

However, in September of the 33rd year of Konoha, several major events occurred in succession!

A band of military bandits has appeared within the territory of Iwagakure Village.

Simply put, the annual profits from official trade between Iwagakure and Konoha are close to three to four billion ryo. And this is just official trade. While a single large merchant might not earn that much, the combined profits of the large merchants from Konoha and Iwagakure are substantial.

The amount of money was so huge, and Konoha was always generous with its payments, usually giving a deposit of one billion at the beginning of the year, and then paying off the goods in cash in the middle of the year. Some greedy people started to have crooked ideas.

A group of officials and merchants from Iwagakure were killed. This group was quite interesting; they actually impersonated officials and merchants to make dealings with people from Konoha, profiting from both sides and earning nearly 5 billion ryo!

Of course, the bulk of this figure is from commodities, which are discounted to make up the large portion.

But if we really want to talk about it, these are all hard currency.

The village of Iwagakure mainly deals in staple crops or dried fruits and melons, which are hard commodities that are easy to sell and can be consumed by the villagers themselves even if they don't sell them.

The goods from Konoha Village, such as refrigerators, televisions, phonographs, cameras, and Walkmans, are especially high-quality items. Konoha doesn't produce many of these things, and they are prioritized for supply to the inner city of Konoha, with only a small amount flowing out.

Moreover, these goods are mostly traded between government officials and businessmen with other major powers.

However, precisely because of this, these goods are very expensive.

They certainly wouldn't dare sell them in Iwagakure, but if they took them to Kumogakure or Sunagakure and sold them to those two families, or even just sold them to the daimyo of the Fuu and Raikou countries, wouldn't they be able to make a fortune?!

Although this group killed the officials and merchants of Iwagakure and took their place, they did not kill the officials and merchants of Konoha.

A few years ago, Yua wanted to test the power of the Chakra Cannon but couldn't find an excuse. Just then, the Land of Grass happened to be in the wrong place at that time (the leader of the Land of Grass was hired by the Hidden Stone Village to ambush the Konoha team and killed some Konoha ninjas, including Hyuga ninjas). Yua was overjoyed and used the Land of Grass as a test subject. He took out the cannon to test its power. Now, several years later, the Grass Village in the Land of Grass is overgrown with weeds and there is no trace of the village that used to exist there.

Although Yua's original intention was to test the cannon's power, he certainly wouldn't have said that himself. His high-sounding reason would have been that these thieves were taking advantage of Konoha's lack of manpower, daring to kill Konoha's trusted ninja!

To be honest, this reason is quite good. At least people from other countries on the continent don't think there's anything wrong with it. They just think that the Third Hokage of Konoha is a good person. He actually sent troops to attack a ninja village just because of a few ninjas. He is a good Hokage who cares about his subordinates.

The reason these rogue ninja from Iwagakure dared not attack Konoha's officials and merchants this time might also be partly due to their fear of Yua using this as an excuse to start a war with them.

It was a lucky accident.

The situation in Iwagakure suddenly escalated significantly.

For this reason, Konoha and Iwagakure ceased all contact with each other.

If it were just an incident in Iwagakure, Konoha wouldn't have anything to be worried about.

However, what no one expected was...

It's as if they made a pact with each other, releasing one thing after another!

A division has emerged within the Sandstorm Clan in Sunagakure, with factions including the Reflection Faction, the Patience Faction, and the Neutral Faction.

Simply put, some members of the Sandstorm Clan believe that the Third Kazekage acted unfairly and targeted their clan—which is true, as the Third Kazekage had previously used the opportunity of attacking the Land of Rain to kill some Jonin of the Sandstorm Clan.

In any country, Jonin are extremely valuable resources.

They are the kind of people who can truly squeeze into a country's decision-making level.

As a result, the Third Kazekage took advantage of an opportunity to harm dozens of Jonin from the Sandstorm Clan.

The Sandstorm Clan is already quite unhappy.

However, some people believe that the Third Kazekage acted unfairly and was not worthy of the position, while others think that the Third Kazekage was actually quite good. After all, the canal that relieved the people of Sunagakure of their water shortage problem had been completed. This one achievement alone made the Third Kazekage's prestige in Sunagakure virtually unassailable.

Some members of the Sandstorm Clan believe that the true nature of the Third Kazekage can be determined by his next actions.

Then the radical faction of the Sandstorm Clan launched a surprise attack on the Third Kazekage.

They wanted to force the other two factions of the Sandstorm Clan to join them. Once the rebellion started, these people would have no choice but to rebel, even if they didn't want to.

And these people's plan did indeed succeed.

In Sunagakure, it was a chaotic situation where no one was truly loyal to the village, no one dared to defy the Third Kazekage, and no one wanted to take advantage of the chaos to plunder.

If only the Hidden Stone Village and the Hidden Sand Village had these minor problems, Konoha wouldn't be greatly affected.

If the trade routes to Iwagakure Village are affected, then we can simply stop traveling there for the time being.

You can tell what's going on by how Iwagakure is more anxious than Konoha about this blocked trade route.

After all, this is a trade route that could bring billions of dollars in revenue to Iwagakure.

Similarly, the same applies to Sunagakure.

The Third Kazekage would never allow his village's internal problems to hinder his trade with Konoha; even with swift and decisive action, he would resolve the issue in a very short time.

However, what followed was a full-scale war that broke out in Kirigakure.

In this battle, the elite forces of Kirigakure were all deployed, and the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist split into two factions, engaging in a fierce and exhilarating battle.

Thousands of ninjas died on the first day of the battle.

There's not much to say about this; Kirigakure was already a powder keg before.

The Third Mizukage and the clans of Kirigakure had long ago used the mineral resources within Kirigakure's territory as collateral to exchange for weapons and supplies from Konoha.

The storm was brewing for a while, and now it's only natural that things are about to erupt.

However, this completely severed commercial ties between Konoha and Kirigakure.

Well, that's how it appears on the surface, at least. As for the private arms trade...

Uh-huh, Yuya said he definitely didn't know about this.

The events at Kirigakure were entirely expected and within reason.

The only thing Yuya didn't expect was that Kumogakure would also run into trouble at this time.

The Eight-Tails Jinchuriki of Kumogakure went berserk for some unknown reason. The Third Raikage led the Kumogakure ninja army to stop him, and at the cost of hundreds of lives, they managed to reseal him.

The village of Kumogakure is surrounded by layers of mountains, and the village itself is located in the hills of the river in the northern part of the Land of Lightning.

After the Eight-Tails' rampage blocked the road, even if the Third Raikage reacted quickly and all the ninjas were mobilized, it would still take several months to repair the road so that horses and supplies could pass through.

Surely the transactions between Kumogakure and Konoha can't be carried out by individual ninjas on their shoulders and in their hands? That would be exhausting.

Therefore, during this month of Konoha Year 33, trade between Konoha and the four countries of Wind, Lightning, Earth, and Water was completely disrupted, and the total losses of the trade caravans amounted to more than 20 billion.

Of course, strictly speaking, it cannot be calculated that way.

For example, in the trade with Iwagakure, the Third Tsuchikage of Iwagakure is now frantically searching for the whereabouts of the traitor who betrayed Iwagakure. Once he finds him and a great battle ensues, the supplies that Konoha had been tricked into giving away will definitely be returned to Iwagakure at a discounted price, along with the related supplies and treasures.

In this way, these losses suffered by the caravans are only incurred before Iwagakure successfully defeats these bandits.

Similarly, after the trade routes between Konoha and Sunagakure, and Konoha and Kumogakure were reopened, the goods they had stockpiled could be sold for a profit, and their losses could be made up.

As for the relationship between Konoha and Kirigakure...

Well, this deal basically went down the drain, but Yuya doesn't care. He's already made enough money selling weapons.

Moreover, once the final victor emerges, they can reap another harvest according to the previous agreement.

Therefore, strictly speaking, the 20 billion taels is just a loss on paper at this point in time. As long as these villages resolve their internal problems in a few months, these losses will naturally be fully recovered.

Even if all these foreign trade routes were to go wrong, Konoha wouldn't care and would continue with their lives as usual.

But it was absolutely wrong of them to appear at this particular time.

These caravans mostly used bank loans to finance their cargo shipments.

The bank also knew that transactions between Konoha and these villages could be profitable.

Therefore, the review of loans to non-official and non-business merchants was not very thorough.

Basically, anyone with enough guts could borrow over a million taels to buy a few phonographs and sell them, even to Sunagakure.

After all, everyone knows that the people of the Wind Kingdom love to enjoy themselves.

The money these individual business owners borrowed from banks has now been converted into goods, which haven't been sold yet, so they naturally can't repay the loans.

The data in this regard directly shows that there are over 20 billion in cash.

Including those lent out by official and commercial banks, the total amount reached over 40 billion taels.

Unfortunately, Yua approved the Nara Shikata North Castle renovation plan.

The first phase of the urban renewal plan will require an investment of 10 billion taels of silver, and that amount will be needed every month. After all, if an urban area is to be renovated quickly, the amount of money required is certainly not small.

So here's the question...

July of Konoha Year 33 is a month of wealth, and August is also a month of wealth...

Even if you try to squeeze in during September, you might be able to get one.

But what about October?

When Youya summarized all these various situations, he finally came to a conclusion.

Konoha isn't short of money, but the banks have been lending too carelessly. At least 8 billion ryo, money that should have been recovered in August, will probably not be recovered by the end of this year.

And the cash in the bank...

It's not enough to last until the end of the year.

What should we do?

Yuya's first reaction was just like America in her past life memories...

Print money.

However, upon closer examination, this not only treats the symptoms but not the root cause, but it could also easily lead to the collapse of the monetary system. The chain reaction caused by currency devaluation is something that Youya cannot accept.

Konoha is now the richest and most powerful village in the ninja world. How can it allow its currency to depreciate?

After carefully learning the inside story, You Ya could only grit his teeth and curse his bad luck.

Wind, thunder, earth, and water—four countries all experienced problems in the same month, disrupting trade routes. Who can be blamed for this?!

The probability of this happening is even more outrageous than winning the lottery!

After all, you can rig lottery tickets behind the scenes, but in this damn reality, it's impossible for anyone to manipulate things in secret.

Even if one can manipulate one country, it is impossible to manipulate the other four major powers in the world.

If you've encountered such an extremely low-probability event, what else is there to say?

All I can say is that reality is a real pain.

Yuya has returned to his old routine of eating and drinking in the Hokage's office, because if this matter is not handled properly, it could really lead to a major disaster.

Although Youya knew he could handle it well.

If all else fails...

We'll just use the hundred tons of gold that Tobirama Senju kept hidden at the Konoha Bank.

One gram of gold is worth 10,000 taels, so 100 tons would be worth trillions of taels. If all else fails, just use that gold to make money.

However, this is a last resort.

It's easy to sell gold, but difficult to get it back.

The people of Konoha are not short of money. If they can get gold from Yua, they wouldn't mind passing it down as a family heirloom.

This is something Yuya cannot accept.

After collecting a series of big data in the Hokage's office, Yuya determined that Konoha was not short of money; rather, the banks had lent out all the money. It wasn't that they couldn't collect the money, but other business routes had encountered problems at the same time, so they needed to give them a few more months.

The money lent out was used to buy goods, which then flowed into factories and into the hands of the villagers of Konoha.

In return, they received goods from those merchants.

In other words, the villagers of Konoha have money.

The factories in Konoha also have money on their books.

But the problem is coming.

How can you get this money into the bank so that the bank can continue operating without any problems?

After much deliberation, Youya personally made a decision:

From the beginning of August to the fifteenth of August, a period of half a month, Konoha bonds with a term of one year will be sold, with an interest rate of five percent and a total amount of 50 billion yen.

In this emergency, we have to act expediently; this is the only way...

You Ya sighed helplessly. What kind of luck was this? How could he happen to encounter a time when all the major powers were having problems at the same time?

Could things get any more outrageous?!

(End of this chapter)