Ginza

Dawn broke, and pale golden light spilled over Konohagakure.

Looking down from Kage Rock, the entire village resembled a slowly unfolding folding fan.

At the heart of its ribs lay the administrative district, where the Hokage Building stood tall and imposing.

Official institutions such as the Administration Department, Education Department, and Medical Department surrounded it.

A little farther away, the Uchiha Fan Emblem on the Police Force building proclaimed the clan's authority and status within Konohagakure.

Using this area as the center of a semicircle, the lands of the various ninja clans spread outward.

The sprawling estates of the Uchiha Clan and Hyuga Clan retained the style of the Warring States era.

Faint barking came from the Inuzuka Clan grounds, while the Nara Clan's medicinal herb gardens gleamed lush green through the morning mist.

These orderly clan grounds surrounded the administrative center like stars around the moon.

Between them were scattered the training fields of the Ninja Academy and the courtyards of Konoha Hospital.

Farther out, civilian residential districts spread along the curve of the fan.

Densely packed homes stood row upon row, while shop signs gradually became clear in the morning light.

Cooking smoke rose from the roofs of countless households, mingling with the dust and smoke from early-rising ninja practicing ninjutsu on the training grounds.

Streets radiated outward from the Hokage Building like veins across the fan, linking the entire village together.

Mitokado Homura stopped before Konohagakure's towering gates, surrounded by several guards.

The morning light stretched the giant gates' shadow long, like a distinct boundary line.

He looked back into the village, his gaze landing on the especially conspicuous building in the central district—it was grander and more imposing than the Hokage Building.

A huge Uchiha Fan Emblem was engraved into its dark walls. Metal patterns flowed with dazzling golden radiance beneath the rising sun, making the corner of his eye twitch uncontrollably.

As long as they were within Konohagakure and nothing obstructed their view, no matter where they stood, the first thing people saw when they looked up was inevitably that ostentatious fan emblem.

Even from the perspective of Konohagakure's gates, the first thing travelers and visitors saw was not the stone faces of the Hokage through the ages.

It was the Uchiha Clan's Commercial Tower, a declaration of wealth and power.

The tower had also become the landmark of this place with a permanent population of over two hundred thousand—a village in name, a great city in reality.

I only hope Hiruzen can handle the Uchiha Clan properly... If only he could restrain and tame them as Teacher Tobirama taught Kagami Uchiha...

The thought had barely arisen before he cut it off himself, turning it into an almost inaudible sigh.

"...In wartime, there is only so much one can do."

Mitokado Homura adjusted his glasses and turned to walk out through Konohagakure's gates.

Under the watchful eyes of the gate guards and many others, the group's figures gradually receded.

At last, they vanished along the forest road leading to the Capital of the Land of Fire.

After resting for a while that evening, Utatane Koharu stood before her office window, her heavy gaze fixed upon the Commercial Tower piercing the clouds.

As an elder advisor responsible for Konohagakure's logistics and finances, she saw that building as more than just Uchiha property—it was a distressingly untapped source of tax revenue.

When Konohagakure had first been founded, every industry had needed rebuilding, and the village had been desperately poor.

Every ninja clan had joined the village with its own assets, jointly laying its foundation. No one had yet developed any concept of taxation.

Later, during the long peace, more and more people were drawn to Konohagakure.

Especially after the First Hokage, Senju Hashirama, clapped his hands and gave away free single-family homes with his Wood Release, more and more people who could no longer survive elsewhere came here by reputation.

And so, Konohagakure gradually prospered.

It was not until the Second Hokage, Senju Tobirama, took office that a tax system was established.

But faced with resistance from every ninja clan, Senju Tobirama was in no hurry—and he had not expected to die so soon—so he placed Konohagakure's primary taxes on the rewards ninja received after completing missions.

As for industries run by ninja clans, only nominal fixed taxes were collected, while countless small businesses were not charged a single coin.

When Sarutobi Hiruzen succeeded him, he naturally followed the old rules and continued the existing system.

The various ninja clans tacitly expanded their increasingly prosperous family businesses—

From ninja tool forging to medicinal herb trading, from property leasing to usury.

Wherever there was profit to be made, ninja clans could be found.

At first, everyone had made money in harmony, and Utatane Koharu had not thought much of it.

But as the Uchiha Clan, who had once disdained such business, suddenly rose to prominence and continually introduced "irreplaceable" products—especially after this Commercial Tower rose from the ground—everything changed.

Rumor had it that its daily turnover alone surpassed the monthly income of small clans.

This resplendent building had not only rewritten Konohagakure's skyline, but also cast a restless shadow over every ninja clan's heart.

Seeing the Uchiha Clan raking in money day after day, quite a few clans secretly imitated its best-selling products.

Some ninja clans even tried to use their clan's secret techniques to steal trade secrets.

The final result was that they tasted the Uchiha Clan's iron fist—

The Uchiha Clan of today was no longer the sorry sight it had been during Uchiha Fugaku's era.

Under the forceful leadership of the Hawk Faction headed by Uchiha Ren, the clan members struck back with thunderous methods and utterly legitimate grounds!

One Sharingan Hypnosis was enough to follow the trail and expose every last thief. All those involved were thrown into prison.

The Shimura Clan and Sarutobi Clan accounted for the majority, while the rest were merely small clans that had followed the trend.

Major clans such as the Ino-Shika-Cho and Hyuga Clan remained cautious observers throughout.

After the situation escalated, Sarutobi Hiruzen had no choice but to personally step in and mediate.

Not only did he order the involved clans to compensate the Uchiha Clan for its enormous business losses, he also made an exception by allocating prime land in the village center.

He specially permitted the Uchiha Clan to construct the present Commercial Tower—Ginza—which overlooked the entire village and combined daily goods, ninja equipment, dining and entertainment, and leisure services.

Every Uchiha shop throughout the streets and alleys was brought into it.

While siphoning in Konohagakure's entire economy, it also drew many ninja clans to move in.

This allowed the Uchiha Clan to collect rent, settle many non-ninja clan members there, and improve welfare benefits to strengthen the clan's cohesion.

At the same time, it used profit as a bond to win over whatever ninja clans it could, creating the money-devouring den now famous across the entire Land of Fire.

Utatane Koharu tapped irritably on the account book with her fingertips, her mind full of ways to squeeze money from the Uchiha Clan.

But she also knew that openly demanding money from the Uchiha Clan was like courting death.

Those Uchiha really would shut down every shop belonging to the Utatane Clan.

They could easily find a mountain of reasons.

This was the Konohagakure Police Force, authorized by Senju Tobirama and possessing executive, legislative, and judicial power all at once—more outrageous than even the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

"The Uchiha Clan is not a single united block."

"Both the Uchiha Clan Head's branch and the Dove Faction intend to draw closer to us."

Utatane Koharu's gaze deepened as an idea surfaced.

"If Hiruzen uses the Hokage's name to appeal to their emotions and reason with them... then that clan head surely will not refuse this olive branch extended by the Hokage."