Naruto: Starting from Eating the Gold Fruit

Chapter 90 Why?

When any normal person discovers a problem within their own group, suppressing the problem and shifting the blame to an external entity is not a wrong action.

Moreover, the only truly problematic aspect of the Third Raikage's actions was that he targeted Konoha, a village that could not possibly be destroyed by Kumogakure.

However, because of this, the Hidden Cloud Village stabilized.

……

As mentioned before, the current problem in Kumogakure is that, after an internal strife, internal conflicts within the village are about to erupt.

The Hidden Cloud Village and the Hidden Leaf Village fought for four years, but only a few thousand ninjas died.

Okay, this number is actually quite alarming, because Kumogakure and Konoha hadn't sent any genin to the front lines at all.

In other words, all of the thousands of ninjas who died were Chunin and Jonin, which is already a very serious casualty ratio.

Just like ordinary people make up the majority of the ninja world.

Genin (lower-ranking ninja) definitely make up the vast majority of ninjas.

No country has more Jonin than Genin.

However, this is an external conflict, and neither Kumogakure nor Konoha can say anything about the losses incurred.

But those two bastards, the Gold and Silver Brothers, caused internal strife!

These two bastards ambushed the Second Raikage. In order to leave behind young and strong men and a future for Kumogakure, the Second Raikage held off the Gold and Silver Brothers for three days and three nights, eventually dying from exhaustion.

From this point on, the Gold and Silver Brothers and the Raikage's loyal troops were destined to be immortal.

What followed was a fierce battle between the two sides, with the number of dead and injured ninjas more than double that of the battle against Konoha!

Although the war was ultimately won, the Third Raikage's hasty rise to power meant he had virtually no control over the internal affairs.

At this time, some people will inevitably have their own ulterior motives.

However, this little scheme was completely thwarted by Danzo's sneak attack.

Because Danzo's sneak attack killed civilians, ordinary people!

The majority of the villagers in Kumogakure were ordinary people, and the Third Raikage seized the opportunity, firmly demanding that Konoha hand over Danzo.

Regardless of the impact on Konoha, within Kumogakure, this decision resulted in the vast majority of people in Kumogakure feeling that the Third Raikage was also good enough and deserved the position.

Having tasted the benefits of this experience, when problems arise again within Kumogakure, the Third Raikage, mimicking the example, decided to continue shifting the blame outwards. Therefore, his demand for Tobirama Senju to hand over Danzo is quite understandable.

……

To put it bluntly, both Yua and Tobirama knew why the Third Raikage had suddenly become so assertive again.

Because a truly intractable problem has arisen within the Hidden Cloud Village.

The Land of Lightning is a country rich in resources, second only to the Land of Fire. However, the Land of Lightning is not part of the Hidden Cloud Village. The Land of Lightning also has a Daimyo, and the Raikage cannot bypass the Daimyo to use the resources of the Land of Lightning.

The "one country, one village" system often exists in the form of a country within a country, but the two sides are natural allies.

The relationship between the Land of Fire and Konoha is similar. Take the Hokage selection as an example: the Land of Fire has the right to make recommendations regarding Konoha's Hokage election, but that's about it.

The Land of Fire has no authority to appoint anyone as Hokage.

It's unknown whether the Third Raikage went to see Yua, the Daimyo of the Land of Lightning, but Yua estimates that he probably did.

Unlike Konoha, which frantically purchases various foods and resources from Iwagakure and Kirigakure to maintain its current peaceful state, Kumogakure is different.

For Yuya, eating the purchased food first and then using Konoha's granary is a basic procedure.

If there's any leftover rice, that's fine too. You can use the old rice to brew wine next year, which is excellent. Anyway, it's definitely not going to go to waste.

However, Yunyin does not have this condition.

Kumogakure can indeed trade with Iwagakure and Kirigakure, but the essence of trade is barter. You give your currency to another country, and that country can use your currency to buy your goods. The role of currency is to act as a bridge between the goods of both parties.

After all, hauling loads of goods is certainly not as convenient and quick as carrying a few banknotes.

As mentioned before, the world's monetary unit, the "tael," is generally equivalent across all countries.

Konoha's currency consists of the Konoha logo printed on the back of the "ryo".

Similarly, the "two" used by Kumogakure is the symbol of Kumogakure.

Normally, the ratio between the two parties and several other countries is 1:1.

But the situation is different now.

The Hidden Cloud Village suffered two years of crop failure due to internal strife. However, the clans within the Hidden Cloud Village made a fortune due to the collapse of the Gold and Silver Brothers and the rise of the Third Raikage. Everyone had a large amount of Lightning Country currency in their hands.

This inevitably led to inflation.

These families also need to eat, but because the two bastards, the Gold and Silver Brothers, ravaged the Hidden Cloud Village, the village itself doesn't have much food left.

The Third Raikage had no choice but to seek help from the outside world if he wanted the people of Kumogakure to have enough to eat.

However, the supplies brought back are not something you can simply calculate if you have 200,000 people in your village, prepare 50 catties of grain for each person, and prepare a total of 10 million catties of grain and then everything is fine.

The Third Raikage brought the grain back, but ultimately he still had to sell it at the grain market.

Once the grain is put on the market, the scene of Cloud Village dividing the grain equally, as he had imagined, will not occur.

The Cloud Village clans, who have plenty of money but no way to spend it, will definitely seize the opportunity to exchange it for food.

There might be people among them trying to cause trouble.

But even if they didn't want to cause trouble, it was normal for these families to exchange money for food in order to survive.

This inevitably led to soaring food prices.

When food prices rise, the prices of everything else will rise, and currency will depreciate; this is relative.

Although it doesn't reach the level of 500,000 taels for a single loaf of bread, it's still outrageous.

In any case, ordinary people definitely can't afford to buy food anymore.

What if you can't afford it but still want to survive?

The only way is to sell yourself into slavery to beg for food, or...

Let's leave Kumogakure.

It's not that leaving Kumogakure means you have to go to Konoha.

They could survive even if they went to other parts of the Land of Lightning.

This would create a scene of people fleeing.

Even someone with little economic knowledge would know that Kumogakure was in serious trouble at this point.

Is there any way to resolve this situation?

The Third Raikage recalled the methods he had used to resolve internal conflicts, which is why he once again caused trouble for Konoha in early 22 of the year.

Both Yua and Tobirama Senju were fully aware of this.

This put Tobirama Senju in a difficult position. He had just made up his mind to stop the war, and now the Third Raikage was rushing up to bark like a dog. How could he possibly pay attention to him?

Ignore those mad dogs from Kumogakure who really dare to come up and bite!

You Ya laughed.

Perfect timing. Although it's a bit early to resort to this tactic, as long as it can end the war, Yuya doesn't mind using some underhanded methods.

So Yuya waved his hand to send Tobirama Senju back to the front lines, while he himself immediately activated the manufacturing plant and went to the bank to take out a 500g gold bar from Tobirama Senju's gold. He wanted to use this pound of gold to pry open the conflict between the Land of Lightning and the Hidden Cloud Village.

Of course, Yua had already discussed this with Tobirama Senju, and Tobirama was also very curious about what Yua would do with a pound of gold.

Then Yuya took the pound of gold, covered it with the casing of a phonograph, and then sent a team of men to the Daimyo's residence in the Land of Lightning.

Yes, we're not going to Kumogakure, but to Daimyo's residence.

In short, the central idea behind sending people to Youya was just one thing:

The fact that Kumogakure and Konoha are at war does not mean that the Land of Fire and the Land of Lightning are at odds. This is a phonograph made of pure gold (referring to the gold coating on the outside), which was specially given to you by Yua-sama, the Hokage's representative from my village.

Rest assured, there are absolutely no other intentions. We simply want to make friends with you. If we really have any purpose, it's probably that the agent of Youya wants to do business with you.

Thus, in the summer of Konoha Year 22, after learning that the Daimyo of the Land of Lightning and Konoha Village had reached their first cooperation agreement, they exchanged 500 tons of grain for ten phonographs, a box of jewelry, one hundred electric fans, ten bolts of cloth (of the quality of silk and brocade), and one hundred phonographs.

If we only consider the price, excluding the box of jewelry, the rest of the items together are roughly equivalent to the price of 500 tons of grain.

It means this box of jewelry is a free gift.

The daimyo of the Land of Lightning readily accepted the offer with a smile.

Only a fool wouldn't want a free business opportunity.

You Ya laughed too. Those electric fans and phonographs were just a bit pricey; they didn't have any real technological content.

Not to mention that the Daimyo of the Land of Lightning will find that the batteries that come with these items only last for a month after buying them.

After that, we either need to buy batteries or have Konoha build a power plant in the Land of Lightning to continue using it.

You Ya didn't believe that after enjoying the coolness of the electric fan in the sweltering summer, these pleasure-seeking celebrities would ever return to their former lives.

Just like how once you've enjoyed the comfort of air conditioning, you can never go back to the days of using an electric fan.

By the way, just look at the skin color of those ninjas in Kumogakure to know how hot this place is in the summer!

Yuya didn't believe that the Daimyo of the Land of Thunder could return to a summer when there was nothing, after enjoying the summer with a fan blowing and music from a gramophone.

Of course, it wasn't Yua's purpose to let the Daimyo of the Land of Lightning enjoy it.

There is only one goal~

The Third Raikage

Hmm... In the early summer of Konoha Year 22, the Third Raikage, who was constantly arguing with Konoha on the front lines, turned pale and almost fainted after receiving a detailed list of the transactions between the Daimyo of the Land of Lightning and Konoha.

It is said that the Third Raikage's roar resounded throughout the heavens and earth that day:

"Why don't you give us so much food! Why?!"

……

I can't take it anymore, my nose is running like crazy, this cold is awful. The main problem is I haven't had time to rest. I take cold medicine at night, but I have to work during the day and I can't take a day off, because if I do, I'll lose my full attendance bonus. Even though my sales base salary is only a little over 400 yuan, taking a day off would mean losing about 480 yuan from my full attendance bonus plus my average base salary. I'm not the kind of salesperson with phenomenal sales performance, so I definitely value my full attendance bonus. I'll stop here for now, I'm really not feeling well, I'm terribly uncomfortable… [Thanks to the generous donor, Red Lotus! You're awesome! *kiss*]

(End of this chapter)