Land of Lightning Attacks

Three months later, looking at the steel mills that had been built, these ninja tool clans finally realized, with the benefit of hindsight, that the Second Hokage—who had only invested ten million ryo upfront and done nothing else—was now reaping massive rewards. After these mills were completed, the ninja tool clans had put in the labor, found the workers, secured the land, and built the other five steel mills. Yet, after deducting worker wages and ore costs, the net profit from selling the ninja tools was hundreds of thousands of ryo per month, and half of that money went straight to the Second Hokage, who had merely put up ten million ryo at the start and then sat back.

These ninja tool clans realized at this moment that the Second Hokage's foresight was truly terrifying. They...

Had been played.

But what could they do? He had invested ten million ryo upfront, while they had only put in a few hundred thousand, or at most a million for the biggest investors. Those who invested less naturally earned less.

It was just... looking at the situation, the Second Hokage would likely recoup his entire ten-million-ryo investment within two years, and then walk away with half the equity in these steel mills for free.

These clans felt their hearts bleeding, but there was no help for it; his methods were flawless. If they had followed his lead and invested early—even if not much, say five million—they would be making a tidy sum every month by now. They would have broken even in two years, and everything after that would be pure profit. But they hadn't invested, so who could they blame?!

Consequently, compared to the historical assessment of Senju Tobirama as a "Master of Ninja Tools," later generations added the title of "Outstanding Economist" to his reputation. In the words of Kamigane Yuya, who would serve as Hokage many years later, all his knowledge of economics had been taught to him by the Second Hokage, Senju Tobirama.

Because of this, the hatred for Senju Tobirama from other nations in later generations reached unprecedented heights; after all, for one nation to be rich, others naturally had to be poor...

But those are stories for another time. As for the present...

At the beginning of Year 17 of Konoha, the Land of Lightning suddenly mobilized thousands of ninja along the border. It was clear that a storm was brewing; this was the prelude to an impending war...

Senju Tobirama naturally noticed this, but while he took it seriously, it wasn't enough to make him lose his appetite.

Just as he had told Senju Hashirama before, he, Senju Tobirama, did not fear being their enemy.

"Knock, knock."

"Please, come in."

A beautiful woman with a ponytail pushed the door open and said respectfully, "Lord Hokage, those ninja tool clans have submitted another joint petition."

Senju Tobirama immediately rubbed his temples with a headache.

The so-called United Chamber of Commerce that Yuya had set up truly made him look at the boy in a new light.

In two years at most, he would earn back the entire ten million, have gained five steel mills for free, and would continue to profit every year thereafter.

The key was that the money being earned came from the ninja who needed to buy tools; ordinary people had no such need, so it wouldn't impact society at large.

The employment generated by the establishment of the steel mills was one thing, and the consumption by ninja was another.

Even Senju Tobirama, who didn't understand economics, knew that you couldn't let the money in the hands of ninja pile up like a mountain, as that would lead to major problems.

The current situation was perfect: not only were they taking their money, but they were also emptying their wallets.

Out of money? Then go take on missions.

But there weren't that many missions...

Senju Tobirama felt troubled again.

On top of that, now that they saw the profits from the steel mills, those people couldn't sit still.

But it didn't matter. Was he, Senju Tobirama, the type to be controlled by others? Impossible.

"What do they want this time?"

There was a reason for Senju Tobirama's poor attitude.

These merchant clans naturally wouldn't let such a big business opportunity slip by, but since the lion's share was in Senju Tobirama's hands and they dared not offend him, they had no choice but to try and expand the pie.

Thus, they wanted to bring in new members.

Senju Tobirama had asked Yuya, and Yuya had suggested that it was best not to take in any more people at this stage.

So, Senju Tobirama had decisively refused.

"It's not that this time. This time, they want to jointly invest an additional 5 million ryo." The female secretary's eyes were shining as she said this. Five million ryo! How many explosive tags could that buy?! Art is...

Ahem. Senju Tobirama was slightly stunned. He stroked his chin, thought for a moment, and then said, "I'll consider it. You go out first and close the door."

"Understood~"

After the secretary left, Senju Tobirama used the Flying Thunder God to teleport to Senju Hashirama's courtyard.

Currently, only Uzumaki Mito lived there; Yuya had built a small wooden hut for himself outside the house.

This was naturally to avoid suspicion with his master's wife.

When Senju Hashirama was still around, it didn't matter what he did, but now it was different. Even if Senju Hashirama's death couldn't be made public, he couldn't continue living there. It wasn't a question of hiding it or not; if he continued to live there, and one day Senju Hashirama's death was revealed—which was inevitable, as the news couldn't be kept secret forever—people would look back and think, Oh, your master is dead, and you're still living with his wife? What are you trying to do?

The blow to his reputation and prestige would be incomparable.

Senju Tobirama naturally knew this, so after running out of the courtyard, he found Yuya, who was studying a map.

During this time, Yuya had found the time to absorb the scattered gold from the third location he had surveyed, bringing his total gold reserves to 500 kilograms.

But it still wasn't enough, far from it. This gold could increase his strength, but not by enough.

At the very least, 500 tons might be enough.

Senju Tobirama found Yuya and got straight to the point, relaying the demands of those people.

Yuya immediately laughed: "At the end of last year, when I asked them to invest, they refused to budge. Now they want to buy 15% of the shares with just 5 million ryo?

Tell them directly: times have changed. If they want to buy, they can, but those steel mills have an annual revenue of about 100 million, and the total net profit should be 15 million. When buying shares, you can't just look at that; you have to factor in the factory workers, the equipment, and the land. Don't forget, the land-use rights for Konoha are in the hands of the Hokage.

Tell them to calculate it based on that. For 5 million ryo, give them one percent of the equity."

Senju Tobirama was stunned: "This, isn't this going a bit too far?"

Yuya glanced at Tobirama and smiled: "Uncle-Master, believe me, by next year, they will be crying and begging you to sell them a single percentage point for 5 million."

Senju Tobirama fell silent, then nodded.

Yuya continued: "However, we still need to give them a little sweetness. Uncle-Master, you could handle it like this..."

Naturally, these merchants were unwilling to accept Senju Tobirama's proposal; 5 million ryo for just one percentage point was simply too excessive.

At least, that was how they felt for the moment.

However, the next plan Tobirama mentioned made their eyes light up.

It was actually quite simple.

It was to use Konoha as the hub to export their steel production capacity to other nations.

Selling ninja tools might lead to conflicts with local clans, but raw materials like these...

Those were in high demand everywhere.

It was against this backdrop that in Year 17 of Konoha, Kumogakure of the Land of Lightning launched an offensive against Konoha, igniting the First Shinobi World War.