Naruto: Starting from Eating the Gold Fruit

Chapter 22 Recruitment

"Hello, fellow villagers of Konoha! My name is Kamikane Yua! As you can see, I am eleven years old and an ordinary ninja of Konoha."

I just came down from the battlefield, having temporarily retreated due to an attack by Kirigakure.

But as I sat in the medical tent, I wondered, "If I'm no longer capable of fighting, can I still help Konoha?"

Youya raised his hand and clenched his fist: "I've got it, I can do it!"

Everyone in Konoha! I'm here today because I asked the Hokage for my opinion on how I could contribute to the fight on the front lines!

So I hope that everyone can sell me some food, or give us some unwanted clothes...

As You Ya spoke, he opened a box behind him, which contained various books, pots and pans, and a few scattered pearl necklaces and other jewelry.

"This is all the stuff I have. When we were on the front lines, we had to peel the bark off some fruit trees and boil it in hot water to stave off hunger because of the shortage of supplies."

Nobody wants to know what it tastes like.

This is all the valuables I have in my house. I want to exchange them for some food and ask for some unwanted clothes so I can send them to the front lines to my comrades who are still fighting.

Youya's loudspeaker attracted a lot of attention.

After hearing what You Ya said, and looking at the things behind You Ya, they were of so-so value. In this day and age, they could at most be exchanged for a few bags of grain. If you really wanted to talk about something valuable, it was probably just those few books.

Unfortunately, people nowadays are already struggling to survive, so where would they find the time to learn to read?

A middle-aged man hesitated before asking, "Water... Kirigakure from the Land of Water has also launched an attack on us?!"

Youya nodded, then revealed his arm, which had a cut that was almost completely healed and no longer a scar.

"Yes, they sent fifty elite squads of Kirigakure to attack the Hokage's command post. Although the Hokage repelled the enemy, we suffered heavy casualties, with more than a thousand ninjas already dead."

Upon hearing this, the middle-aged man's expression changed drastically. He whispered, "No, I have to escape. I have to escape to the Land of Wind. It's the safest place there..."

The middle-aged man kept muttering to himself, when suddenly an old woman slammed her cane on the ground: "Shameless!"

The old woman came out with red eyes: "Where is there any safe place? You were born late and haven't suffered much. I'm over fifty years old this year. I watched Konoha Village be built from scratch with the First Hashirama."

You didn't experience that era, so you don't understand. Back then, human life was cheap, nobody treated you like a human being, everyone lived day to day, and people would go so far as to kill someone's entire family for a single grain of rice.

The Land of Water attacked, so we went to the Land of Wind. But the Land of Wind also attacked and started a war!

Should we keep running?!

"I've spent the first half of my life desperately running away. The First Hokage, Hashirama, gave me a home, a village where I can settle down. I don't want to keep running away anymore. Even if it means losing everything, I want to support the ninjas on the front lines."

As she spoke, the old woman slowly pulled out a bunch of bills rolled up in her pocket.

The onlookers fell silent as they watched.

Yuya stepped forward at the opportune moment, took the money from the old man's hand, and pushed it back to him: "We don't want money, we just want something that can feed the ninjas on the front lines and keep them warm."

With someone taking the lead, a little girl next to her seemed to be motivated as well. She took off her clothes and walked to the front of the stage to hand them to You Ya.

Then, the second, the third...

Yu Ya showed a very moved expression, then picked up the megaphone and continued his speech loudly: "An elder once told me that he had a dream, a dream that everyone in Konoha Village could live and work in peace and contentment, that everyone could have enough to eat and wear, and that children could play happily every day without having to live in fear..."

Adults spend quality time with their children after get off work each day.

The elderly can also live with their children instead of being abandoned as a burden as they were during wartime.

He wanted to see ninjas and ordinary people live in harmony in Konoha; he wanted to see Konoha Village truly become one big family, one big community.

And now, I believe, this has become a reality.

……

So when Yuya brought wooden carts loaded with supplies for Tobirama Senju to sign for, Tobirama's first reaction was: "You little brat, did you rob the surrounding villages?"

You Ya shook his head and explained the whole story.

Tobirama Senju sighed. A speech, two shills, and he'd actually reaped such a rich reward...

Why didn't he think of that?

Yu Ya: "Many people wanted to send all the money and supplies, but I refused and left half for them. Otherwise, there would have been more supplies."

"Not bad, that's quite a lot." Tobirama Senju was very satisfied.

This has never happened before.

In fact, what Yuya is doing has two prerequisites. First, the people in Konoha Village have a basic concept of Konoha Village and identify with Konoha Village as a whole, unlike in the past when they were based on the concept of family.

Hashirama Senju spent his entire life accomplishing this, so there's no need to worry about that.

Regardless of whether it was due to Hashirama Senju's power, just tell me whether Konoha Village was ever built or not.

Secondly, someone needs to take the lead. It's not that villagers will be willing to make generous contributions just because they agree that Konoha is a unified entity. People are selfish; who would willingly give without receiving anything in return? What if they donate all their possessions this time, and Konoha still fails to win the war? Wouldn't that be a complete loss?

So Yuya immediately began her speech, trying to sway people's hearts and minds, saying that if Konoha lost this time, they would still be troubled by war when they went to other villages.

In fact, this is nonsense. Whether it was the ninja clans that were standard during the war, or the ninja world that is now represented by a country and a village, ordinary people may not be treasured by the leaders of those ninja clans or the daimyo of the country, but they are still very welcome to join their country.

You can't expect ninjas to do farm work every day, can you?

So what Youya is really playing is a trick of changing concepts and exploiting information asymmetry.

It's shameless, but it's really effective.

There's another problem...

Yuya looked at Tobirama Senju, who was sitting at his desk reviewing battle reports from various locations, and calmly said, "This time, I collected supplies from the ordinary villagers very smoothly, but as for the ninja clans... the Uchiha and Hyuga clans offered to send me a truckload of food and a truckload of ninja tools, but..."

Tobirama Senju's initially cheerful mood vanished instantly upon hearing Yua's words.

"Whatever, just say what you have to say." Tobirama Senju looked calmly at Yua.

Yuya didn't hesitate and spoke directly: "However, the Sarutobi, Akimichi, Aburame, Inuzuka and other ninja clans only sent people to offer their greetings symbolically. The Sarutobi clan sent 100 kilograms of grain, but the other clans didn't give anything."

(End of this chapter)