The Shops

In Year 18 of Konoha, a new year began, and Konoha was much livelier than it had been the year before.

It wasn't because Konoha was holding some kind of celebration.

The reason was much simpler.

Yuya had built a winery, a Food Processing Plant, and a cannery in Konoha. Outside the village, he had set up silkworm farms and expanded the Steel Mill. He had also assigned the ninja missions to open up fields and build irrigation works.

The plan was all about massive upfront investment and long payback periods.

Fortunately, Tobirama was on the front lines and had no idea how much Konoha had changed. Otherwise, he'd probably have forced Yuya to hand over dozens of kilograms of gold so he could throw money around.

The ninja on the front lines were truly working hard.

Yuya knew that, and agreed they deserved rewards. But they couldn't just throw money around the way Tobirama wanted. That would set a bad precedent.

Besides, the village didn't yet have enough money for Tobirama to spend so recklessly.

Still, that wouldn't last much longer.

In Yuya's plans, this year should be when things began.

As Yuya saw it, Konoha's problem was that a huge amount of wealth was concentrated in the hands of clans like the Sarutobi and the Shimura.

But after those clans got their hands on money, they didn't spend it. They were like hoarding beasts, taking money in and never letting any out.

Once Yuya realized that, he understood he absolutely couldn't rely on those clans.

Why, in the original history, had the Third Hokage done nothing of substance after taking office? If you really wanted to talk about his achievements, he'd raised three students who were yellow, gambling, and drugs.

What kind of achievement was that?

Of course, that was only what it looked like on the surface.

In reality, the Third Hokage had done a few things.

Shimura Danzō, the Shimura Clan's representative, had been shunted off to Root. Root was supposedly impressive, but what about in practice?

Before the Third Hokage died, did you ever see Shimura Danzō and Root get a chance to make an appearance?

Likewise, Sarutobi Hiruzen himself was a member of the Sarutobi Clan. But aside from his son Asuma, where were the rest of his clan members?

Oh, had everyone in the Sarutobi Clan died except for you and your son?

Was that even possible?

Of course not.

Then there were the other clans. The Uchiha... well... let's skip them. The Aburame had taken up raising bugs, and the Inuzuka had taken up raising puppies. Puppies were cute, but was that the point?

Torifu Akimichi had been one of Tobirama's bodyguards. You could say he was the successor Tobirama had chosen for the Akimichi Clan.

What about him and his clan?

Now let's look at the successor the Third Hokage chose for himself: Minato Namikaze, the blond kid, a man with nothing but talent and good looks.

To the Third Hokage, Minato Namikaze had come from a civilian background.

Looking at the Third Hokage's time in office as a whole, it seemed likely that he hadn't failed to accomplish anything. Rather, he'd kept his achievements under wraps.

After all, aggressively suppressing the clans in your own village wasn't exactly something to be proud of.

But if you looked at the Third Hokage's actions from the beginning of his tenure onward, you'd realize that old man was no simple man.

The Second Hokage, Tobirama, had suddenly decided to negotiate with Kumogakure. Fine, negotiate if you must, but couldn't you bring more people? What was the point of bringing just one squad of bodyguards?

As a result, he'd met his end. Before he died, he entrusted his position to Sarutobi Hiruzen.

Shimura Danzō wasn't having it. He'd worked his ass off for Konoha too, so why couldn't he take the job?

Was Sarutobi Hiruzen angry?

He must have been furious.

His teacher had entrusted him with the position on his deathbed. He couldn't let his teacher down. And what the hell was Danzō thinking? Was this really the time to throw a tantrum?

Judging by the Third Hokage's later conduct, he'd probably had no clan's support at the time.

With the village unstable, the Third Hokage could only keep backing down in the face of external pressure. When Kumogakure pushed him, he could only choose to let things slide.

Then came the Second and Third Shinobi World Wars. Konoha had won, and yet it was always Konoha that made concessions. It was ridiculous.

And yet the Third Hokage had turned around and started grooming Minato Namikaze, a man with no clan backing.

After all that, there was really only one point to take away.

These clans wouldn't dare give Hashirama or Tobirama a hard time, but what was Yuya to them?

Yuya knew that if he didn't do something, once he took office, he'd end up in the same position as the original Third Hokage.

So what could he do?

Yuya hadn't figured that out yet, but he knew one thing for certain.

He had to focus on Konoha's villagers. Helping ordinary villagers become prosperous and improve their lives couldn't possibly be the wrong move.

As for these newly built factories...

They were naturally all owned by Senju Tobirama.

Who else would own them, Yuya? What did he count for? If he dared to list himself as the actual owner, members of Konoha's clans would come knocking the very next day to "buy" the factories. Just try refusing to sell.

It wasn't time yet. It wasn't time for him to step onto the stage.

He had to keep developing, little by little.

In the spring of Year 18 of Konoha, Yuya reorganized Konoha's streets, tore them down and rebuilt them, and designated a Commercial Street.

By the summer of Year 18 of Konoha, the Commercial Street was complete. The merchants competing for the fifty shop spots in the first phase had fought tooth and nail for them. Selling the land-use rights for just one year had brought in a full three hundred million Ryo.

When Tobirama received the news on the front lines, even his stiff, corpse-like face couldn't keep from breaking into a grin.

After all, this was only the first year. It was easy to see that the village would earn this much every year from then on.

How could he not be happy?

Kirigakure, with its deep pockets, bought ten shops outright.

The penniless Sunagakure only bought one. It sold everything: Cactus, Desert Chili Peppers, Sunagakure Puppets, Sunagakure ninja tools...

Huh? Puppets?

When Yuya heard that Sunagakure had put Puppets on display in its shop, his reluctance to go vanished at once.

How could anyone resist a moving two-dimensional waifu?

But when he got there, all he saw were crudely made wooden Puppets with simple painted faces...

Yuya fell silent. After thinking for a moment, he pulled the young lady with pale purple hair over to the side.

"What would you like to buy, little brother? Our Sunagakure Desert Chili Peppers are delicious," the young lady with pale purple hair asked gently.

She figured the kid probably didn't have much money, but Sunagakure wasn't rich either, so she wasn't going to be rude to him.

To be fair, poverty had made the people of Sunagakure very good-natured.

Yuya pulled the young lady aside and whispered something to her.

As he went on, her expression changed.

She looked up at Yuya, opened her mouth wide, and roared, "You little brat! What do you take Puppeteers for?! Apologize! You little bastard!"

Yuya stared expressionlessly at the young lady in front of him. "Ten million Ryo."

"Ah..." The furious young lady froze.

She fell silent.

The pride she felt as a Puppeteer made her unwilling to accept the little brat's proposal.

But...

"Gulp." She still couldn't stop herself from swallowing. "How much?"

Yuya grinned. "Ten million Ryo."

"...Deal."

In the end, the young lady couldn't withstand Yuya's money attack and gave in.

Yuya nodded, then took out a drawing and handed it over. "Make sure her figure and face look exactly the same."

"Got it, got it, you little brat!" The young lady with pale purple hair took the picture, glanced at it, and rubbed her chin. Then she said,

"One week. Come back here in a week to pick her up."

Yuya spoke solemnly. "I'm not picking her up. She's my wife. I'm bringing her home."

The young lady's face twisted.

This little beast!

What did he take Puppets for?!

She took a deep breath. Thinking of the price he'd offered, she managed to hold herself back.

"Fine... fine, fine. Bring her... home..." Heaven knew what the young lady was thinking behind that gritted-teeth expression.

Yuya didn't want to think about it and couldn't be bothered to care. He simply pulled a gold coin from his pocket. "Here's the deposit."

The young lady was slightly taken aback. She took it and felt its weight in her hand. A quick estimate told her it was at least two hundred grams.

Then she thought of how much gold had risen in price because of the war...

She quickly pocketed the coin, her face beaming with a brilliant smile. "You're so generous, little brother! One week! I guarantee you'll be able to bring her home in a week!"

Yuya left, completely satisfied.

Meanwhile, a boy who had been busy in front of the shop poked his head out and called impatiently, "Sis, are you done yet? We've got a customer."

The young lady with pale purple hair waved him away. "Oh, go deal with them yourself, Ebizo. Your sister just landed a huge order! I'm not leaving the shop this week."

"Huh?" The boy looked utterly bewildered.

I suddenly realized there's a problem: Senju Tobirama has to die. If he doesn't, the protagonist can't take office. I did consider a peaceful handover, but as long as Senju Tobirama is alive, no one is qualified to accept the position from him.