Sarutobi Hiruzen

"I lunged at it! Grabbed that tiger by the tail! Then I swung it away with all my might! The tiger came at me again, so I did a sliding tackle! Used my kunai to slice its belly wide open! Then I roasted the tiger and ate it~"

In a classroom at the Ninja Academy, Yuya held his head high, bragging to the students with a smug look on his face.

He was a professional at hoodwinking these little brats.

"Alright, alright, class is starting. Yuya, stop boasting about your tiger-hunting exploits and sit down!" A young man walked in, adjusted the forehead protector on his head, and chuckled at the group of kids. "I'll be teaching you today. Your teacher Miho isn't feeling well, so I'm filling in for the day."

Yuya curled his lip and whispered to the girl beside him, "Who's this guy? He looks so young, probably just a genin, right?"

The girl had smooth black hair and fair skin, though her pupil-less eyes were enough to make anyone feel a shiver.

Hyuga Kazuko rested her chin on her hand and said with an impatient look, "Who knows? These kinds of middle-aged men are always so greasy."

The young man on the podium stiffened, then continued to introduce himself, "Um, my name is Sarutobi Hiruzen. Could everyone please sit in their seats and listen to the lesson?"

However, the children, who had been sitting obediently, saw that the young man seemed to have a soft temper and began to act increasingly brazen.

Yuya and the girl from the Hyuga clan also started to make a ruckus.

The classroom descended into chaos.

Sarutobi Hiruzen panicked, trying to stop the rowdy children, but ended up getting pelted with books and backpacks.

For a moment, Sarutobi Hiruzen could only cover his face with his hands, looking utterly disheveled.

Finally, unable to bear the humiliation any longer, Sarutobi Hiruzen roared, "Everyone, be quiet!"

Then, he immediately pressed his palms together: Earth Style: Earth Wall (miniature version).

Stone platforms rose from beneath each child's feet, the edges curling up to trap them inside.

"Whoa! Cool!" Yuya's eyes sparkled.

After using this Earth Style technique to intimidate the brats, Sarutobi Hiruzen began the lesson.

At three in the afternoon, the Ninja Academy let out. Yuya declined invitations from several kids to play in the hills behind the school and sprinted toward the Hokage Office Building beneath the cliffs of Konoha.

Upon arriving, Yuya saw a crowd of men huddled outside the office, noisy and filled with urgency.

A few of them spotted Yuya and knew he was the apprentice of the First Hokage, Senju Hashirama, and currently lived in the Senju household. Senju Tobirama was his master's brother, but they had come today to demand money, and they weren't about to leave empty-handed just because they didn't want to lose face in front of a child.

As mentioned before, Konoha's development from nothing to its current state was thanks to Senju Hashirama's charisma and the full support of the various clans.

Back then, without the cooperation of clans like the Inuzuka, Sarutobi, Hyuga, and Aburame, it would have been impossible for the Senju and Uchiha clans alone to build the foundation of Konoha.

Because the Senju and Uchiha were mercenary clans—simply put, the ninjas in these families were experts at killing, but they didn't produce anything, and the resources required by ninjas were immense.

If nothing else, the daily consumption of food alone was staggering.

But the ordinary people within the two clans couldn't afford to feed so many mouths.

This was why, despite their immense strength, the Senju and Uchiha could only take on jobs that involved killing for others.

It was all just to make a living.

Simply put, in terms of raw power, all the other clans combined might not even equal Senju Hashirama, but the contributions these clans made to Konoha were tangible and undeniable.

Konoha's current scale was also due to the help of these clans.

But here was the problem.

Before, when everyone was poor, there was nothing to say; everyone was in the same boat.

But now, word had spread that the Second Hokage had found a gold mine...

That was a gold mine!

Something that could allow everyone in Konoha to live well for decades!

How could these people not be tempted?

When everyone was poor, it was fine, but now that there was such a benefit, you couldn't just forget about them.

That was likely the mindset that brought these men here to try and get a piece of the pie.

Yuya knew he couldn't get in right now, so he wasn't in a hurry; he sat on the wooden floor outside the room and leaned back to doze off.

Inside, Senju Tobirama was swearing to the heads of the Hyuga, Sarutobi, and Shimura clans:

"I really only obtained those dozen or so kilograms of gold! How did it turn into me finding an entire gold vein?! Who is spreading these rumors?!"

Senju Tobirama was furious. Well, it was no wonder; he had only secured a dozen kilograms of gold, yet through gossip, it had inexplicably turned into this.

Senju Tobirama was frustrated!

Seeing that Senju Tobirama was practically ready to rip his heart out to prove his sincerity, the heads of the three clans felt a bit awkward.

The main thing was that being poor together was fine; they could all tighten their belts, and they would survive.

But once they heard there was money, they were terrified it would go to someone else, so they had rushed over immediately.

Senju Tobirama explained to the three clan heads that this money was intended to build a stone bridge over the wetlands on the west side of Konoha.

That area was a vast marshland, and it was slowly beginning to turn into a lake.

Across the marsh was a wetland where many high-value medicinal herbs, plants, and seasonal crops grew.

In the past, every autumn, the chunin of Konoha would basically spend a month doing nothing but harvesting resources from those wetlands.

Even so, the seasonal crops and fruits brought back each year were only a tiny fraction of what was available.

Because these items could not be stored inside scrolls; theoretically, they were plants, and plants were living things. Unless you dried or roasted the fruits, they could not be sealed away.

In the past, they could only look at them and drool.

Senju Tobirama's first reaction upon receiving this money was that they must build a bridge to the Wetland.

The members of the Three Great Clans had no objections to the money being used this way.

As long as you didn't give it to one specific clan, everything was negotiable.

If the Wetland Bridge was successfully built, they could all share in the benefits.

At the very least, the commoners of their clans would be able to go to the Wetland to gather fruit in the future.

Once the Three Great Clans were settled, the other clans could basically be handled as well.

After Senju Tobirama came out and explained things to the other clan heads, he finally managed to resolve the farce. Once he had sent the clan heads away, he saw that the little guy, Yuya, had already fallen asleep leaning against the wall.

Senju Tobirama shook his head, the corners of his stern mouth lifting slightly, and walked over to hoist Yuya onto his shoulder.

Since I promised to teach you ninjutsu, I will not go back on my word...