Hashirama calmly looked at Yuya, then sighed. "That's true. Apart from being my student and Tobirama's nephew, you don't have anyone else to help you.
"But what if I told you... you actually have an ally?"
At Hashirama's words, Yuya looked up, puzzled. "Who?"
Hashirama spoke softly. "The Uchiha."
Yuya was speechless.
Hashirama continued, "Kagami Uchiha is next in line to become Uchiha Clan Head. Tobirama doesn't trust many Uchiha, but Kagami is a good kid. Tobirama trusts him, and he's strong, too. He's a leading candidate to become the next Uchiha Clan Head.
"If the Uchiha are willing to support you, you won't be alone."
Yuya fell silent. After a moment, he shook his head with a wry laugh. "Everyone says you know nothing about the village's affairs, Master. But now it looks like that's all nonsense."
Senju Hashirama's expression slackened, and he returned to his usual goofy self. "Hahaha! Really? Really? I guess you pick things up when you see enough of them."
"Mm... So... what do you think?" Hashirama brought the conversation back around. "If that's what you want... I think Tobirama would be happy to see it happen."
By then, Yuya knew exactly why Senju Hashirama had called him over. He certainly wanted to entrust him with some final wishes, but more than that...
He wanted to see right through Yuya, then decide how to deal with him.
Yuya took a deep breath and looked up at Senju Hashirama. "I'm not interested in becoming Hokage."
Surprise appeared on Senju Hashirama's face as he looked at Yuya with a goofy expression. "Oh? Then what are you interested in?"
Yuya raised his head and spoke with a serious expression. "If you really want me to contribute to Konoha, Master, then put me in charge of developing its economy."
Senju Hashirama was genuinely surprised this time. "Economic development?"
Yuya nodded. "That phenomenon I mentioned earlier, where money can create several times its value by circulating through the economy, is essentially what we call an economy.
"It's characterized by the circulation of goods, the fulfillment of people's needs, and social stability. Put simply, the better the economy, the more goods there are, the more people's needs can be met, and the more stable society becomes.
"Breaking it down, the circulation of goods involves production, transportation, consumption, and reproduction. This cycle can continue indefinitely.
"The material foundation created by the economy brings fulfillment. The more abundant material goods are, the more people's needs are met. The two go hand in hand."
Yuya knew that if he didn't show his "value" today, he'd probably be driven out of Konoha tomorrow.
Senju Hashirama was a good-hearted man, but he was also the First.
He couldn't allow someone like Yuya to remain in his village: someone who felt no sense of belonging and wasn't willing to work for the village, yet was genuinely talented.
And that talent wasn't his economic theory.
Senju Hashirama had never heard of this theory before, so naturally, he had no framework for understanding it.
What Senju Hashirama valued, then, was Yuya's "Kekkei Genkai"—his ability to sense gold, unearth it, and gather it.
The Land of Fire was currently the wealthiest of the Five Great Nations. But if Yuya went to another country, that wealthiest nation might belong to someone else in a few years.
So Senju Hashirama couldn't let Yuya leave.
The first thing he'd tested was whether Yuya felt any loyalty to the village.
The second was whether Yuya coveted the position of village leader.
If he had neither of those things, then what did he want?
Konoha couldn't withstand another upheaval.
Yuya understood that, so he simply played his trump card.
You want me to work for Konoha? Fine, I'll be direct. I'm not interested in becoming Hokage, not because I lack ambition, but because my ambition is to make money—lots and lots of money. Surely you understand now, Master.
Did Senju Hashirama understand?
Not a chance!
Sure, the definition of economics on Baidu might only take a few lines to explain, but as the saying goes, brevity is the soul of wit. If Senju Hashirama could figure out what economics meant on his own, then even as the God of Shinobi, he wouldn't have founded Konoha fifteen years ago—well, sixteen years ago now—and left it looking like this. There were still so many ordinary people who went hungry and lacked proper clothing every day.
Of course, it all depended on what you compared it to. Things weren't much better in the Hidden Villages of the other four Great Nations.
At least Konoha could ensure that every member of its ninja clans had enough to eat and could learn ninjutsu. Not many other countries' villages could manage that.
Some smaller countries, like the Land of Iron and the Land of Whirlpools, could manage it. Their villages were small, with limited populations and little need for food. Even ordinary people could fill their stomachs on scraps.
That night, Senju Hashirama and Yuya talked for a long time.
No one knew exactly what they discussed. All they knew was that the next day, Yuya reported to Senju Tobirama instead of going to the Ninja Academy. He was basically working as a secretary.
Yuya looked thoroughly displeased, but with Tobirama beside him, he couldn't let it show.
Senju Tobirama also wanted to see what Yuya could accomplish, so after thinking it over, he told him to handle the planning for the area south of Konoha.
Yuya rolled his eyes. Give me a break. That area's full of ordinary people. There's no challenge at all.
But he only dared grumble to himself. Since the orders came through Senju Tobirama, outsiders naturally assumed Tobirama had issued them.
And so, the southern part of town got a makeover.
In a word: demolition.
The old houses in the south were torn down, the land leveled, and uniform apartment buildings put up in their place.
They didn't need to be very tall—around four stories would do. Compared to the old single-story homes, that gave them three times as much additional housing space. With ninja helping out, the work went very quickly.
But after having the ninja help at the start, once the foundations were in, Yuya repeated what he'd done at Wetland Bridge.
Watching from the sidelines, Senju Tobirama was left utterly stunned. They'd leveled such a huge area in southern Konoha. How much had that cost?
Then he heard that not only were the people who'd lived there getting new homes, they were also receiving a large sum of money!
Each person was getting close to a hundred thousand ryo!
All right, Yuya admitted that part was pretty shameless. A hundred thousand ryo per person was only about five thousand yuan in his previous life. If he'd really tried that there, people would've revolted.
But people here had never seen anything like it. Could something this good really happen to us?
"Let's move! Anyone who doesn't is no person!"
Then, as a huge amount of money went out the door, Senju Tobirama was left stunned. Did I have that much money? Did Konoha have that much money?
Senju Tobirama couldn't hold back any longer and asked Yuya where he'd gotten so much money.
Yuya chuckled. "Which part of me spending money did you actually see?"
Sure, they'd given everyone demolition compensation, but that was a one-time payment. These people still had to buy food every day, didn't they? He'd have someone open a bun shop, running twenty-four hours a day, then set up a general store that sold all kinds of things. Just watch: the money would be back in less than two months.
And then that money would go toward paying them to build the houses.
Why else would he have the ninja lay the foundations, then make the people build the rest themselves?
The point was to have them spend their labor on work that created even more value.
It was a bit capitalist, a little heartless, but nobody thought anything of it. Some even thought the Second's approach was amazing—absolutely brilliant. For the wages of one jonin's mission, plus a hundred thousand ryo per person in labor costs, they'd gotten housing across three-quarters of the district, a stone-paved road, and all the basic infrastructure, like streetlamps and public toilets.
Even Yuya thought he was shameless. He hadn't treated the ordinary people who'd done the physical labor like people at all. But after Senju Tobirama finished checking the accounts and saw how little it had actually cost, he looked at the completely transformed southern part of Konoha...
And it seemed he was beginning to understand.
Before you continue