Fundraising

"Hello, everyone in Konoha! My name is Kamigane Yuya! As you can see, I'm eleven years old this year, and just an ordinary shinobi from Konoha.

"I just came back from the battlefield. We had to withdraw temporarily after Kirigakure attacked us.

"But while I was in the medical tent, I began to wonder: now that I can't fight, can I still help Konoha?"

At this, Yuya raised a hand and clenched his fist. "I realized that I can!

"Everyone in Konoha! I came here today because I volunteered to ask Lord Hokage if I could do something to help everyone fighting on the front lines!

"So I'm hoping you can sell me some food, or give us any clothes you don't need..."

As he spoke, Yuya opened the box behind him. It was filled with all sorts of books, pots and pans, and a few pearl necklaces and other jewelry.

"These are all my worldly possessions. When we were on the front lines, supplies were so scarce that we had to peel the bark off fruit trees, then boil it in hot water to fill our stomachs.

"You don't want to know what it tasted like.

"These are all the valuables I have at home. I'd like to trade them for some food and ask for any clothes you don't need, then send everything to the front lines for my comrades who are still fighting."

Yuya's loudhailer drew plenty of attention.

After hearing him out, people looked at the belongings behind Yuya. They weren't worth much; at most, they might fetch a few sacks of grain in times like these. The only things that could really be considered valuable were probably the books.

Unfortunately, people were already struggling just to stay alive. Who had time to learn to read?

A middle-aged man asked hesitantly, "The Land of Water's Kirigakure attacked us too?!"

Yuya nodded, then showed his arm, where there was a cut that had nearly healed without leaving a scar.

"That's right. They sent fifty elite Kirigakure squads to attack Lord Hokage's command post. Although Lord Hokage drove them back, we suffered heavy losses. More than a thousand shinobi have already died."

The man's expression changed at once. In a low voice, he said, "No, I have to run. I have to flee to the Land of Wind. It's the safest place..."

He kept muttering the same thing, when an old woman suddenly slammed her cane against the ground. "Shameless!"

The old woman stepped forward, her eyes red. "What safe place is there? You were born late and haven't suffered much. I'm over fifty. I watched Konoha rise from nothing alongside Lord Hashirama, the First.

"You don't understand what that era was like. Human life was worth less than grass. No one treated you like a person. Everyone lived one day at a time, and people would kill an entire family for a bowl of rice.

"If the Land of Water attacks, we flee to the Land of Wind. And if the Land of Wind gets attacked and goes to war, too, what then?!

"Do we keep running?!

"I spent the first half of my life running for my life. The First, Lord Hashirama, gave this old woman a home, a village where she could settle down. I don't want to keep running. Even if I have to give away everything I own, I'll support the shinobi on the front lines."

As she spoke, the old woman shakily pulled several crumpled bills from her pocket.

The onlookers fell silent.

Yuya stepped forward at just the right moment. He took the money from the old woman, then pushed it back toward her. "We don't want money. We only want things that will help the shinobi on the front lines eat their fill and stay warm."

With someone taking the lead, a young girl nearby seemed to be moved as well. She took off her clothes, walked up to the platform, and handed them to Yuya.

Then came a second person, then a third...

Yuya looked deeply moved. He picked up his loudhailer and continued his speech. "An elder once told me that he had a dream. He dreamed of a Konoha where everyone could live in peace, where everyone could eat their fill and wear good clothes, and where children could play happily every day without fear...

"Adults would spend warm, happy evenings with their children after work.

"Elderly people could live with their children instead of being abandoned as burdens during wartime.

"He wanted to see shinobi and ordinary people live together in harmony in Konoha. He wanted to see Konoha become a true family, a community united as one.

"And now, I believe that dream has become reality."

So when Yuya brought wagon after wagon piled high with supplies for Senju Tobirama to receive, Tobirama's first reaction was, "Did you rob the villages around here?"

Yuya shook his head and explained what had happened.

Senju Tobirama sighed. One speech, two plants, and Yuya had managed to get such a generous haul...

How had he never thought of that?

Yuya said, "A lot of people wanted to give us all their money and supplies, but I refused and let them keep half. Otherwise, we'd have gotten even more."

"This is plenty. More than enough," Senju Tobirama said with satisfaction.

They'd never had anything like this before.

In fact, what Yuya was doing relied on two prerequisites. First, the people of Konoha had to have a basic understanding of the village and identify with it as a whole, rather than seeing only their families as their community, as people had during the wars of the past.

Senju Hashirama had spent his whole life making that happen, so there was no need to worry about it.

Never mind whether it was Senju Hashirama's strength that had brought it about. The point was, Konoha had been built, hadn't it?

Second, someone had to take the lead. Just because the villagers saw Konoha as a community didn't mean they'd be willing to give generously. People were selfish. Who would want to keep giving without getting anything back? What if they donated everything they owned this time, and Konoha still lost the war? Wouldn't they be left with nothing?

So Yuya simply launched into a speech, stirring up the crowd and arguing that if Konoha lost this war, they would still be troubled by war in other villages.

That was, in fact, utter nonsense. Whether it was the shinobi clans of the old war era, where each clan stood on its own, or the current Shinobi World, where each nation and village represented a whole, ordinary people might not be treasured by the leaders of shinobi clans or by a country's daimyo, but those leaders were always happy to welcome ordinary people into their country.

You couldn't expect shinobi to spend every day farming, after all.

So what Yuya was really doing was switching concepts and taking advantage of the information gap.

It was shameless, but it worked.

There was just... one more problem.

Yuya looked at Senju Tobirama, who was seated at his desk studying battlefield reports from various locations, and spoke calmly. "It went smoothly when I gathered supplies from ordinary villagers this time. But as for the shinobi clans... The Uchiha Clan and Hyuga Clan took the initiative and sent me a wagon of food and a wagon of ninja tools. But..."

The good mood Senju Tobirama had been in vanished at Yuya's words.

"But what? Just say it," Senju Tobirama said, looking at Yuya calmly.

Yuya didn't hesitate. "The Sarutobi, Akimichi, Aburame, Inuzuka, and other clans only sent people to offer token greetings. The Sarutobi Clan sent a hundred kilograms of food, and the other clans gave nothing."