Naruto: Starting from Eating the Gold Fruit

Chapter 445: What I Saw in the Square and, Pay Back the Money!

Originally, this stone tablet was just an ordinary stone tablet, and there was no fountain around it at that time.

So some mischievous kids like to scribble and draw on it.

How could the artisans who left their names here be willing to accept this? "I finally managed to leave my name here, what if you destroy it?!"

Then a conflict broke out.

Later, the area was fenced off, and You Ya felt that simply fencing it off wasn't aesthetically pleasing, so he simply built a flower bed.

Later, as the weather gradually warmed up, and since this was Konoha Village, there were bound to be ninjas here. In an accident, the stone cracked.

It nearly drove several craftsmen to their deaths with anger.

Yuya had no choice but to purchase a huge basalt stone from Iwagakure and erect it here. However, although basalt stone is tough, it cannot withstand high temperatures, so this place was transformed into a fountain.

You know what, it actually has a romantic vibe. When it was first built, a lot of people liked to come here to take photos. But after so many years, the novelty has worn off, and now this place has become just "broken rocks, what's there to take pictures of?"

After hearing this story, Hashirama Senju and Tobirama Senju were speechless. How could a mere stone tablet be so complicated?

The man smiled and said to the two of them, "This is no ordinary stone tablet. It records the achievements of my father and grandfather. Moreover, if it weren't for the hard work of my father and grandfather, I wouldn't be able to own ten houses now and live such a comfortable life without doing anything every day."

Hashirama Senju and Tobirama Senju glanced at the tall buildings beside them. This building must have at least a hundred apartments, so those ten apartments weren't many.

"Alright, just from this one incident, we can see how powerful the Third Hokage was. What about the Second Hokage?" The man steered the conversation back on track.

Hashirama Senju glanced cautiously at his younger brother; he wouldn't allow his brother to throw a tantrum here.

"The Second Hokage was quite skilled at ninjutsu research, but as for managing the village..." the man said, shaking his head. "He's really not good at it."

Tobirama Senju: "..."

"Putting everything else aside, in the forty years since the Third Hokage took office, our Konoha Village hasn't experienced any war. Look at the Hidden Mist Village next door, it's still the same old mess after all these years. If the Second Hokage were in charge of the village, they might start fighting with the Hidden Cloud Village again, and we wouldn't be able to eat such cheap meat skewers~"

As he spoke, a barbecue restaurant nearby brought out more than a dozen large skewers of grilled meat, and the man enthusiastically invited Orochimaru and his two companions to eat the barbecue.

Orochimaru didn't stand on ceremony and grabbed it, stuffing it into his mouth.

Although Hashirama Senju and Tobirama Senju were dead and the food was tasteless, since they had come this far, it would be a shame not to eat, given their hospitality.

So the group started eating skewers, and then a chubby little boy ran over and yelled, "Dad! You ate skewers without telling me! I'm going to tell Mom!"

Then the chubby boy didn't move his legs at all.

The man rolled his eyes and handed him a skewer of meat: "You brat, this is a one-time thing, don't do it again."

The chubby boy happily accepted the roasted meat and went back to fighting.

"That's wonderful," Hashirama Senju exclaimed.

It was obvious that he was thinking about his own era.

Tobirama Senju didn't speak, he just stuffed grilled meat into his mouth.

Hashirama Senju was speechless. "Can you even taste the flavor? You just stuff it in like that..."

After they finished eating, Orochimaru said goodbye to the man. As the man was leaving, he was still comforting Tobirama Senju, clearly showing that he truly regarded these three as people who had left Konoha before and had now returned.

The three of them did not intend to argue about it.

Leaving the plaza, Orochimaru said to the two powerful figures, "Let's go straight to the Hokage's office; he'll definitely be there."

Hashirama Senju nodded.

Orochimaru then led the two powerful figures to one of the plaza's exits. Looking at the number "two" written on it, and then at the other doors next to it marked "one" and "three," Hashirama Senju understood somewhat. It meant that different doors led to different areas, right?

Orochimaru stepped inside, and the iron gate beside him spoke: "Welcome back, Mr. Orochimaru. Have a pleasant day."

Hashirama Senju became interested and followed him inside.

"Welcome, Mr. Temporary Guesthouse ...

Hashirama Senju found it quite interesting and wanted to try going in and out a few more times, but Tobirama immediately stopped him.

What a shame!

Orochimaru led the two to a place where a transparent dome blocked off the road.

"What is this?" Tobirama looked at Orochimaru.

Orochimaru: "This is a high-speed elevator that goes directly from the South District to the North District. Do you see those two rails on the ground?"

"Hmm, so there are trains here too?"

"Almost, but... you can walk on the road next to it too, but you should go down to the road below."

Orochimaru pointed to the transparent dome below, where there were indeed some pedestrians and some people leisurely riding bicycles.

Yes, there are also people who ride very fast, with a box hanging on the back of their electric scooter.

As the saying goes, where there is demand, there is a market.

As Konoha Village developed rapidly, some people naturally developed a kind of laziness, basically avoiding going out whenever possible.

When there is such demand, there will naturally be people willing to run errands.

Especially for those coming from the outer city to the inner city who need to make money quickly.

As for why passenger trams are built two meters above the ground... that's naturally to prevent suicides by lying on the tracks.

You Xi had already planned it out in the early stages of construction: cars would run below and trams would run above, so that no one would crowd each other.

Although it requires a lot of money to implement, the good thing is...

The amusement park was successfully built.

As they boarded the tram, the two powerful figures watched the stations rush by through the windows, observing the passengers getting on and off at their designated times. Hashirama Senju asked疑惑地问道, "Don't they pay?"

Orochimaru casually said, "Now everything has facial recognition. Didn't you see my phone flash three times when I came in? That's what I paid for the fare three times."

Hashirama and Tobirama both gaped open.

Afterwards, the two watched as the tram went deeper into the forest, and the trees on both sides gradually became sparse. At the same time, various buildings sprang up, some over fifty meters tall, and others even taller, with a circular building at the top. It was said that inside there were swimming pools, gyms, restaurants, private tutors, and all kinds of other businesses. Basically, one could live there for a lifetime without any problems.

Hashirama and Tobirama kept sighing, and occasionally another tram would pass overhead.

Because there are even aerial tracks between the buildings.

All I can say is that this steel jungle, coupled with those colorful GG signs, is a testament to the fact that it's daytime now. If it were nighttime, the entire inner city would be a spectacle of neon light pollution, with intense and interwoven lights illuminating the city as bright as day...

Soon, the tram arrived in the North District.

Orochimaru led his men and rushed toward the Hokage's office, his pace quickening, clearly growing increasingly impatient.

Then, he pushed open the door to the Hokage's office and roared:

"Yoo Ya! Give me my money back! Give me back my research funding!!!"

(End of this chapter)