Spring of Konoha Year 19: Reckless!

At the Ninja Academy, a teacher arrived to teach class that day and found that several students had been ostracized.

To put it simply, the people who were supposed to sit beside them would rather squeeze in with someone else than sit next to them.

The children being ostracized were from the Sarutobi, Shimura, Hyuga, and Inuzuka clans.

The teacher frowned. "What are you doing?

"Go back to your seats! You're so young, yet you're already forming cliques and ostracizing your classmates. You're all in the same class, and you're all friends! What do you think you're doing?!"

A student stood up, chin raised. "But, teacher! Because of them, the pipes installed in our house can't supply any water!

"My mother has to carry buckets all the way to that distant well every day!"

Once one child had spoken up, the others stood and chimed in, too.

Konoha now had one water-drawing point in each of its four districts: east, west, north, and south.

But those points were fixed in place. Some people were too lazy to carry buckets all that way, so they bought water from peddlers who hauled it from the rivers outside Konoha. It was clean and clear enough—at least, it was before industrial pollution became a problem.

The water-drawing points were crowded, and people might have to queue there, so buying water directly saved them the trouble.

Some people had a little money now but still didn't want to pay for water, so they made the long trek to draw it themselves.

In fact, the pipes had already been laid when the four districts were renovated in the first phase. The Water Plant just hadn't been built yet, so there was no water.

—Speaking of which, Senju Tobirama admired his nephew even more. He had planned for the future two years in advance. Tobirama knew he couldn't have done that himself.—

The houses built two years ago had been promised running water. It was supposed to be available by now, but in the end, it still hadn't happened.

Wouldn't that make people angry?

Of course, in Yuya's eyes, the selfish interests of a few clans had blocked the benefits that should have gone to most of Konoha's residents.

Taking away someone's livelihood was like killing their parents. This wasn't quite that bad, but people were certainly unhappy.

Adults were wary of the shinobi from those clans, or worried that souring relations with them would cause trouble.

But when it came to children, the matter was simple and clear.

They didn't want to play with you, so they wouldn't.

Kids were straightforward. They had none of the scheming and politicking adults did.

The teacher could only sigh and lecture the students, telling them they shouldn't behave that way and that it was wrong.

In truth, the teacher himself hated those clans.

If not for them, perhaps he'd soon be able to use the water pipes in his own home...

When their own interests weren't involved, many people could remain unmoved. But when they were affected personally, their true feelings came out.

That was the logic behind the classic saying, "Why would someone donate a million but refuse to donate a cow?" "Because I actually have a cow."

But the children were innocent. No matter how angry the teacher was, he couldn't take it out on them.

The Ninja Academy was just a microcosm. Even though everyone in Konoha was working during the day, they couldn't help complaining about those few shinobi clans while they worked.

Ninja News, which came out once or twice a week with an occasional extra issue, had become many people's favorite way to pass the time.

Buying a copy whenever they passed a newsstand had practically become a habit.

And the first thing they saw in Ninja News today was this mess.

Plenty of people were furious.

But that was how things were. What could they do?

They'd better get back to work.

Meanwhile, the Uchiha Clan was confused.

They were still debating whether to accept Senju Tobirama's proposal, with the hardliners and conservatives arguing fiercely.

Then today, they saw the news and realized there was no point arguing anymore. The other clans had demanded that the Uchiha not be the only ones to get a factory, while they received no benefits at all. The whole thing had fallen through.

The Uchiha Clan was furious.

But what could they do?

They'd spent more than a week debating, and Senju Tobirama hadn't received an answer from them. Meanwhile, the other clans had protested. What else could happen?

The proposal really was a good thing, but in the end, this was the only possible outcome.

And so, in the end, the Uchiha Clan lost the Water Plant, and still had to build the waterwheel upstream on the Naka River.

It could irrigate farmland, so Senju Tobirama wouldn't let the Uchiha get out of building it.

The Uchiha Clan knew that if they refused, the people of Konoha would probably start cursing them along with the other clans.

They decided to let it go and build the waterwheel. It would benefit them, too, since they owned land there.

Now the Water Plant was gone, and people were still saying Senju Tobirama had wanted to buy off the Uchiha Clan. The whole deal had fallen through—so they wanted compensation for that huge Water Plant!

The hardliners in the Uchiha Clan Compound were now in an awkward position, but there was nothing they could do. Building a Water Plant required a huge investment, after all. It had to supply water to hundreds of thousands of people in Konoha.

Uh...

Why did hundreds of thousands of people needing water sound like such a huge number...

For some reason, the Water Plant didn't seem quite so big anymore.

Still, forget it. Yuya would build it to serve a population of a million. It was better to make it too big than too small to meet demand.

Anyway, the plans were ready. Now all they had to do was wait for those clans to back down. Once the Uchiha went to Senju Tobirama and asked for his help, construction could begin.

As it turned out, Yuya had judged correctly.

Those clans weren't quite so stubborn. Yuya had stirred up a wave of public opinion, and they had never faced this kind of war before.

The people in those shinobi clans would rather fight on an actual battlefield than have the whole village condemn them behind their backs.

Once the clans backed down, it was the Uchiha Clan's turn to ask Senju Tobirama to resume building the Water Plant.

Senju Tobirama waited one day, two days, three days...

After waiting a full half month, he finally got a visit from Kagami Uchiha, whose face was full of awkwardness and humiliation. He had no choice but to lower his voice and make his request.

Senju Tobirama was silent for a long time. In the end, all he did was sigh at Kagami Uchiha, then tell him that construction on the Water Plant would begin the following day.

Yuya could tell that Kagami Uchiha felt wronged, but there was nothing to be done.

In the end, he was an Uchiha.

The Water Plant didn't take long to build. When water finally began flowing through Konoha, the whole village erupted in excited cheers.

For Yuya, this was nothing particularly special, but for most of Konoha's residents, it was something they had never experienced before.

Time soon moved on to Year 19 of Konoha.

Huh? What? Had they forgotten something?

Oh, right. The Mizukage and the Tsuchikage had died together. Konoha was supposed to respond somehow...

Well... skip that.

At this point, developing Konoha itself was the way to go. The deaths of the Tsuchikage and the Mizukage were certainly beneficial to Konoha, but the effects that followed weren't much to speak of.

Yuya simply sent the two villages the customary messages of condolence.

He also took the opportunity to ask if the Tsuchikage was interested in joining Konoha's Commercial Street.

The Land of Earth had a steady supply of food. Potatoes really were filling.

But...

Those two countries seemed to have started fighting among themselves over who would become the Third Hokage...

Well... leave them to it. Developing Konoha was the main priority.

Then came spring of Konoha Year 19.

The Raikage sent someone to Konoha.

His message was simple: judging by the situation, it looked like the fighting couldn't continue. How about they called a truce?

Senju Tobirama waved him off. "Like hell we're calling a truce! I'm going to keep fighting you! You think you can decide when we fight and when we don't?!"

But Yuya stopped him.

Yuya offered his opinion: the most important thing for Konoha now was to develop itself. As long as it became strong, it could do whatever it wanted with the rest.

Senju Tobirama accepted Yuya's advice, then laid down a condition: they could call a truce, but the Raikage had to come to Konoha to sign the treaty.

If he didn't come, the fighting would continue!

The Raikage flew into a rage, and Kumogakure continued fighting Konoha into the spring of Year 19.

Even though Kirigakure and Iwagakure could no longer get involved in the conflict between the two, and Sunagakure was busy with the South-to-North Water Diversion project and couldn't join in, Kumogakure still felt it couldn't back down.

It was determined to take on Konoha.

It was all about one thing: recklessness!

It was the fifth today. The first recommendation round lasted only three days, and there still hadn't been a notice about a second round. It was over. Well, that made sense. I'm just some lousy webnovel writer, and so many people have criticized the setting—asking why the gold I create returns to normal after getting wet. No wonder the results are terrible.