Naruto: Starting from Eating the Gold Fruit

Chapter 180 The Shadow in the Dark and the Uchiha

Although Youya actually really liked the idea of ​​opening an internet cafe.

After all, he has been in this world for a long time.

More than thirty years have passed, and his memories of his past life have gradually faded.

If it weren't for seeing Tsunade's familiar face every day, reminding him that this was a world of anime he knew, Yua might have buried his past life deep inside, waiting to pick it up again someday.

Unfortunately, the conditions are not right now...

The current development of Konoha Village is, to put it another way, similar to America in the mid-20th century.

Of course, in many ways she was not even as good as America at that time.

For example, transportation...

The roads and railways that Konoha Village has now only covered the entire village; they don't cover the rest of the Land of Fire...

That can only be summarized by Lu Xun's saying, "There were originally no roads in the world, but as more people walked on them, a road was formed." [This quote is indeed from Lu Xun.]

That road is only passable when the weather is good; once it rains, it becomes muddy everywhere.

Although Youya has done his best to build roads and railways, it is impossible for him to actually build roads to every village like he did in his previous life.

This is unrealistic.

At most, the railway would be built to the directions of the four countries of wind, earth, thunder, and water, and this would only be done because there were mutual interests and it would be convenient to transport goods between them.

Other places...

It's impossible for Yua to really expend so much energy on those people from the Land of Fire.

After all, he was only the Hokage of Konoha Village, not the Daimyo of the Land of Fire, and didn't need to be responsible for everyone.

not to mention……

Yuya also needs these people to highlight the prosperity of Konoha.

This year, the population of Konoha's inner city has finally exceeded two million. Of course, about half of them are outsiders, whether they are from the outer city or from other parts of the Land of Fire who come to Konoha to work or live. In short, they have come to Konoha, consume, pay taxes, and work in Konoha, so they have value.

Furthermore, Yuya doesn't need to provide them with household registration, so they can only rent houses in Konoha's inner city, which reduces the pressure on Konoha's housing construction.

In fact, after two rounds of renovations, most of Konoha's residential areas have been transformed into high-rise buildings, and the twenty-story buildings are still far from being fully occupied.

Therefore, Youya no longer needs to further develop real estate.

Wouldn't it be better to invest all this money in research institutes?

Now that the research institute has produced results, it's natural to increase investment.

Youya is also hoping to be able to use a smartphone soon.

……

At the end of Konoha Year 38, the annual year-end accounting was conducted as usual.

This kind of year-end accounting will probably be done every year from now on. After all, traditions are a powerful thing. Once Yu Ya steps down, this tradition will likely continue.

The building housing the Hokage's office has actually undergone several renovations.

However, the Hokage's office is still a four-story building, much shorter than the government building in the North District.

But there is no doubt that this is the highest power center of Konoha Village.

"Vice Minister, I'll leave the materials here."

In an office in the far corner of the first-floor lobby, a female clerk wearing business trousers placed a stack of documents on the desk of the deputy director of the security department.

The deputy head of the security department, Uchiha Setsuna, nodded. After the female secretary left the office, Uchiha Setsuna's expression darkened.

Uchiha Setsuna was a person from the same era as Uchiha Kagami.

He was dissatisfied with Tobirama Senju's suppression of the Uchiha clan, and therefore was always a representative of the hawks within the Uchiha clan.

Tobirama Senju suffocated the Uchiha clan. Setsuna Uchiha even considered launching a coup while Tobirama was away fighting, but the rest of the clan firmly disagreed.

The Uchiha clan is such a complex family. Of course, you could also say that they think too much and do too little, all talk and no action.

Aside from holding daily meetings within the clan, he hasn't done anything of substance.

The Uchiha clan's eccentric Tobirama Senju suppressed them, so they retreated to a corner of the village, stopped interacting with the villagers, and went off to do their own thing.

Tobirama Senju did indeed want to isolate the Uchiha clan, but the Uchiha clan actually cooperated with Tobirama's actions...

What else is there to say?

Of course, in hindsight, even if the Uchiha clan had actually rebelled back then, it wouldn't have succeeded. Aside from the internal divisions within the Uchiha clan itself, the other clans in Konoha wouldn't have allowed the Uchiha to rebel.

Tobirama Senju was suppressing the Uchiha clan, what does that have to do with us? We don't want to see your Uchiha coup succeed.

Moreover, Tobirama Senju himself had left a force to guard Konoha.

Tobirama Senju, who had guarded against the Uchiha clan his entire life, would never fail to guard against his rear during a war.

Uchiha Setsuna, of course, knew nothing about these things; they were top secrets.

He would only think that when Tobirama Senju left Konoha to fight, it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and that those idiots in the Uchiha clan missed it.

Now, that brat Third Hokage has inherited Tobirama Senju's will. Don't be fooled by the large sum of money he gives to the Uchiha clan every year; it's all bribery!

Why can't the people in the tribe understand?!

The Konoha Village Security Command was the last power center of the Uchiha clan, and Setsuna Uchiha immediately realized that this place could not be lost.

Therefore, even though Konoha has become wealthy and its population has increased, the Uchiha clan only has a little over five hundred ninjas in total. Most of them are chunin or genin, and even if they join the security force, they only do menial tasks.

After all, even if a genin were to go to the scene, they wouldn't be of much use; they wouldn't be able to control the situation, and someone in a fit of anger might just kill a genin with a single slash.

The middle and upper rank ninjas are the real personnel deployed by the security department.

However, only a few hundred people were assigned to manage the inner city of Konoha, including guarding the city gates...

No matter how you look at it, there aren't enough people.

The consequence was that the Uchiha clan received a large number of complaints almost every month. Some complaints involved police reports with no one coming to handle them, others involved inefficiency, and still others involved the Uchiha clan resolving their own conflicts while the security forces were late in arriving...

Uchiha Setsuna was fully aware of what had happened to the security forces.

However, there was nothing they could do. Ordinary members of the Uchiha clan would rather earn money by selling pancakes in Konoha's inner city than help the security forces. They would even get angry and curse their own members in the security forces because it was indeed affecting their business.

Especially the people on East 10th Street.

Many of the shops on this street, which is right next to the Uchiha clan's territory, are ordinary people who moved out of the Uchiha clan's territory.

Some people might not understand why anyone would come here specifically to buy things, since this place is supposed to be quite remote.

You know what, that's true. The technology the Uchiha clan has accumulated since the Warring States period is no joke.

These ordinary members of the Uchiha clan have been doing odd jobs for the Uchiha ninjas for over a century.

For example, these ordinary people are responsible for the daily lives, food, clothing, and shelter of these Uchiha ninjas. Of course, this isn't something unique to them, since others can do it too.

What only ordinary members of the Uchiha clan can actually do is spin a fine thread of chakra.

Now, with technological advancements, this thin thread has been transformed into steel wire.

It's the kind of steel wire that Sasuke uses, which is considered a ninja tool. It connects shuriken and kunai, and can also transmit fire jutsu by passing flames through the wire. Moreover, it has extremely strong tensile strength; a person can be suspended by a steel wire that is invisible to the naked eye. It has a wide range of uses.

However, even the most advanced machinery cannot guarantee that the silk produced by the silkworms it raises will meet the requirements.

This is an agricultural skill that only Uchiha practitioners can master, and it is never taught to outsiders.

That's normal; who would be stupid enough to share their livelihood skills with others?

However, this also means that many ninjas who want to buy this material can only come here.

Ordinary Uchiha people were probably only provided to Uchiha ninjas in the past.

But now that these ordinary people have left their ancestral lands, they have to rely on themselves for everything, so they're bound to want to earn as much as possible.

Then these people got rich.

After all, it's common knowledge that Konoha's ninjas, especially Jonin, are among the highest paid in the village. Don't assume they don't spend money; in fact, even their daily training expenses are staggering. Explosive tags cost 100,000 yen a stack, and with thirty tags per stack, they're used up in just one afternoon.

This kind of steel wire is a divine weapon used in conjunction with ninja tools and explosive tags. Therefore, the Jonin (high-ranking ninja) mainly relied on their wealth and gullibility, and the more steel wire they had, the better. As a result, all of them became rich, and even East 10th Street, which was supposed to be the most remote area, surprisingly had a thriving commercial atmosphere!

Unfortunately, because it's so close to the Uchiha clan's territory, some people have a biased view of the Uchiha clan, thinking they're all difficult to communicate with (okay, that's true). Adopting a "better safe than sorry" attitude, I won't come here unless I absolutely need to buy materials.

This angered the ordinary people of the Uchiha clan.

You guys are messing with my business, that's like ruining my livelihood!

Uchiha Setsuna couldn't see that.

He would only think that those ordinary people were really too presumptuous.

When Uchiha Setsuna, now in his forties, was born, Konoha had been established, but it was largely managed according to the rules of the Warring States period.

In his view, it was only right for ordinary members of the Uchiha clan to serve him.

He even felt that ordinary people should be grateful for this.

This is actually quite normal.

You can't expect young people in the new era to understand the older generation's concept of "one person, one factory, one job for a lifetime."

What do you mean by "a lifetime"? If you give me enough, I'll work for you for a lifetime.

You're trying to morally blackmail me because you haven't given me enough? You're dreaming.

It wasn't that no one in the Uchiha clan noticed this.

But I figured it out... and then what?

Those in power are all from the older generation; what say do they have?

Ultimately, the main problem facing the Uchiha clan is that Yuya gives them nearly 2 billion yen in dividends from the water plant every year, but the Uchiha clan has failed to perform their primary duty of security. There are at least 30 complaints every month of the year, and sometimes as many as 7, 8, or even 10 a day.

Basically, on average, I get complaints every single day of the year.

This has greatly displeased some of the ninja clans in Konoha.

Especially those families that are smaller than Sarutobi and Shimura, or even smaller than the Gekko and Mitarai families.

The Inuzuka family was the most dissatisfied.

Their family raises ninja dogs. Yuya had previously suggested equipping the security department with police dogs, since those dogs are cute and can often be very helpful, such as finding lost elderly people, lost items, or sniffing out dangerous items in advance.

Yuya's suggestion is good. In fact, if there were a police dog unit, training the Inuzuka clan's repair dogs to sense explosive tags, flames, toxic gases, and so on would be of great help to the security department.

Unfortunately, Uchiha resolutely refused, and his reason was particularly ridiculous: he thought the dog would dirty the environment of the police station.

Oh wow, the Inuzuka clan, basically every member of the entire family owns more than one ninja dog, and you're saying that...

Hmm... okay, strictly speaking, that's true. The puppy might be mischievous and make a mess of your security post, but you're just saying it out loud...

That would be a slap in the face.

To be fair, the Uchiha clan spokesperson had already put it very tactfully. If Madara had been there, he would have rejected the proposal before Yua even finished speaking, and then followed up with some sarcastic remarks like, "Does the great Uchiha clan need to rely on dogs? Are you kidding me?"

Most of the dogs bred by the Inuzuka family each year are for ninjas. For example, Sakumo Hatake bought two ninja dogs and signed a summoning contract so that they could play with his son Kakashi.

Many families in Konoha with children want a ninja dog, but those without summoning abilities are not eligible to purchase one.

Most people with summoning abilities are ninjas of Chunin rank or higher.

Therefore, strictly speaking, the Inuzuka family's businesses are designed to serve high-end customers.

Uchiha's words immediately caused an uproar within the Inuzuka family, thus creating enmity between the two sides.

To be fair, Youya was genuinely well-intentioned, but she inexplicably stirred up trouble. What do you think about this whole mess?

Then Yuya gave up on continuing to stir things up and just let things be.

The reason why Uchiha Setsuna came to the Hokage's office building today with such a gloomy expression is naturally because he didn't actually want to come.

Unfortunately, the head of the Uchiha Security Department was the old clan chief who had left after Madara Uchiha left. Putting aside everything else, this old clan chief was over 60 years old, and if he didn't want to come, no one dared to force him to come.

In the end, only Uchiha Setsuna could come.

Not long after, Uchiha Setsuna was summoned to a meeting.

Uchiha Setsuna looked reluctant, but he had no choice but to go to the meeting.

Then, after arriving there, they heard the head of the Inuzuka family sneer: "The deputy head of the security department has quite the airs, huh? You dare to be so late for something as important as the year-end review? Are you trying to make all of us wait for you?"

Uchiha Setsuna's face immediately darkened further.

A short while later, Akimichi Torifu and Sarutobi Hiruzen arrived late.

Upon arriving, Akimichi Torifu immediately began apologizing, saying that he had been too busy lately.

The other family members quickly and cheerfully declined.

Only Uchiha Setsuna had a gloomy face and didn't know what to say.

"Knock knock," You Ya, sitting at the head of the table, tapped the table, and the people who were exchanging pleasantries immediately shut their mouths.

Youya casually took off the Hokage hat he was wearing and placed it on the table. Then he took a sip of goji berry tea to moisten his throat. Afterwards, with a leader-like demeanor, he put down the cup, crossed his hands, and said softly, "The focus of today's meeting is, of course, the year-end summary, but before that... there is something that I still have to say."

In Konoha Village, development is of paramount importance, and anyone who hinders the village's development...

I think none of you here would agree to that, right?

Uchiha Setsuna remained silent, while the other clans echoed his sentiments.

Yuya then waved his hand, and Nara Shika, who was standing to one side, began to report on the year's income and expenditure.

Finally, Nara Shika summarized that at the end of Konoha's 38th year, the village's total output value exceeded 3500 billion ryo, of which the export of various electrical appliances accounted for more than 700 billion ryo. It is foreseeable that this figure should continue to grow next year.

Because of a breakthrough in wireless telephone technology, wired telephones could now be exported.

This technology is indispensable to other villages.

After hearing this, the patriarchs of the various families present did not have any particular thoughts.

They come here every year, but they're not looking forward to these things at all.

And then, as expected, Youya began dividing the spoils... well, I mean, the profits.

This year, more than 50 billion taels of silver were issued compared to last year. This was mainly due to the large number of people coming to work in the inner city, which led to growth in various indicators, such as amusement parks, hospitals, and schools, which are money-making machines.

Although the head of the Sarutobi clan already knew that he should receive more money this year than last year, when Nara Shika also announced that the Sarutobi clan had received more than 3 billion ryo in dividends from hospitals and banks last year, Sarutobi Hiruzen couldn't help but beam with joy.

The other families also looked on with envy.

Akimichi Torifu shamelessly clung to Sarutobi Hiruzen and started complaining about being poor.

Hiruzen Sarutobi was only the clan head for a few years, and he generally didn't manage affairs much. However, because he didn't intend to keep any of the annual dividends for himself and used them all for the benefit of all clan members, his position was practically unshakeable. Anyone who dared to say a bad word about him would be killed by the Sarutobi clan.

Afterwards, the Akimichi family's grain distribution only amounted to a little over 400 million, which made Akimichi Torifu look very upset.

However, upon closer reflection, he realized that his family's previous wealth had all been used to buy grain. But now, guarding the granary meant he could eat the grain stored there. As long as he ensured the granary was full after the autumn harvest, and it was full during the year-end inspection, no one would interfere. He felt relieved to be able to take the autumn wind.

The Akimichi clan doesn't really have a concept of money; they're happy as long as they can have a good meal.

That 400 million taels is enough for their entire clan to eat barbecue all-you-can-eat for a month. After all, their entire clan, including ordinary people, only numbers about five or six hundred.

After the other families finished speaking, the main event began.

Nara Shikaya glanced at Uchiha Setsuna, then calmly announced the Uchiha clan's share of the profits: 2.4 billion ryo.

The other families were immediately in an uproar.

Why should I?!

Why is it that the Uchiha clan can get so much?

Yuya tapped on the table, and after everyone gradually quieted down, Yuya turned her head to look at Nara Shikaya.

Nara Shika nodded and said, "The Uchiha clan used one-third of their clan land to build a hydroelectric power plant. The plant made a profit of 6.8 billion ryo throughout the year. According to the agreement between the Hokage and the Uchiha clan, the plant will receive a dividend of 1.36 billion ryo. The hydroelectric power plant made a profit of 11.2 billion ryo throughout the year, and will receive a dividend of 1.12 billion ryo, for a total of 2.48 billion ryo. The data is accurate."

Uchiha Setsuna's face was immediately filled with shock.

He knew that the water plant and power plant were profitable, but he really didn't know they were this profitable.

He wasn't here every year before; it was only this year that his clan chief asked him to come.

To be honest, the shock he felt now overwhelmed his other senses.

He didn't understand...

The Third Hokage...

Would they really give them that much money?!

Why did the clan chief send him here?!

Akimichi Torifu, pounding his chest in frustration, grabbed Sarutobi Hiruzen and cried, "Brother, I regret it! If I had known that damned river was so important, I should have applied to establish our clan's territory in the Eastern District too!"

Hiruzen Sarutobi glanced at Torifu Akimichi and said calmly, "You weren't even born when this decision was made."

Akimichi Torifu was speechless for a moment, then he sighed helplessly.

It really is so.

After discussing for a while, the clan leaders finally stopped.

And Yuya was ready to move on to the next segment.

Commonly known as a denunciation meeting.

Without a doubt, there are many key members in this segment, but the Uchiha clan is definitely the one that gets the most criticism.

This stage involves handling major disputes that affect the interests of various families.

For example, a section of the roller coaster at the Hyuga clan's amusement park, about a mile long, was built onto the land of the neighboring Shimura clan. The Shimura clan felt that the Hyuga clan should pay for it, no matter how much.

The Hyuga clan was naturally unwilling, and this matter wasn't worth reporting to Yua for a ruling, nor was Yua capable of ruling on such a trivial matter...

Well, it's a small matter for Youya, but for these two families, it's about tens of millions or even hundreds of millions of taels of profit. They definitely want to fight for it if they can.

Then the Akimichi and Nara clans launched an attack on the Hyuga clan together.

After all, the Hyuga clan's school fees are indeed a bit outrageous.

However, the Hyuga clan also had something to say: What is the quality of our Hyuga clan's teaching? What is the quality of the teachers in those newly opened primary schools and kindergartens outside?

You actually compared them to us?! No way! This is unacceptable! Unless you offer more money next year, we're not accepting parents from Akimichi and Nara.

Then a group of people started arguing, and after a few words, they started talking about the Uchiha clan.

After all, many of their conflicts were initially reported to the garrison command.

However, the current work efficiency of the garrison command is...

Well, you really can't expect more than 500 police officers to manage a city with a permanent population of one million and a floating population of over one million.

That's impossible, even if I worked myself to death.

Of course, Yu Ya knew that normally such a security department should have a police station for every few streets in each area. Spreading them out like this would definitely not be enough manpower, but at least it would prove that they were doing their job.

It's not that the Uchiha clan doesn't want to work; it's just that without enough people, it's all for naught.

When Uchiha Setsuna left the meeting room, his mind was still hazy. After all, he had just been insulted by a group of people for over an hour, and he couldn't even talk back. How could he? Should he resort to a shrewish outburst?

Then he can forget about being a vice minister.

Uchiha Setsuna never knew how he got back to the clan compound, but now he finally understood why the clan head had sent him...

This is definitely not a good job.

Yu Ya is well aware of the current predicament of the Security Department.

In fact, even Uchiha Kagami knew this in his heart.

But as I said before, there's only one solution: hire people.

The power to recruit would be diluted, and the Uchiha clan held the reins of the security department, which they did not want to relinquish.

In fact, even if they were to lose the security detail now and devote themselves entirely to business, they wouldn't have a hard time making a living.

Well... okay, given the temperament of the Uchiha clan, those who go into business will lose everything, even their underwear.

still is……

Let's help them resolve this when they back down or cause a major mess.

And that very night, after Uchiha Setsuna returned, he heard someone speaking softly in the darkness:

"Are you just going to put up with their humiliation of you and the Uchiha clan?!"

Uchiha Setsuna abruptly stood up, assuming a defensive stance: "Who?! Stop playing tricks! Show yourself!"

Then, a shadowy figure, entirely black, transformed into a form that Uchiha Setsuna recognized vividly and stepped forward: "Setsuna... it's me."

Uchiha Setsuna stared in shock at the shadow before him, though the shadow was completely black...

This silhouette is definitely...

"Madara...you are...Lord Madara?!"

Black Zetsu, now transformed into spotted form, grinned maliciously: "That's right... it's me."

(End of this chapter)