Land of Flame, Flame Hidden Village.
The morning light dispelled the last traces of darkness, scattering sunlight across the boundless earth.
Thanks to the vigorous efforts of countless laborers, Flame Hidden Village had finally completed its construction. Divided by a massive natural waterfall, the village consisted of two sections.
Inside the waterfall lay Flame Hidden Village's core district. Centered around the Flame Shadow Building, it was surrounded by important military institutions and could only be entered by Flame Hidden Village's ninja. Though it lacked Konoha's sheer scale, its facilities were no less impressive—perhaps even better.
Outside the waterfall was the residential district, where orderly rows of houses stood interwoven, with every kind of entertainment and leisure facility available. The inner section housed the major clans, while the outer section was for ordinary civilians. A ninja village was not made up entirely of ninja; everyday life still depended on ordinary people. After all, you could hardly make ninja stop taking missions to cook ramen.
With the arrival of new clans and countless outsiders, Flame Hidden Village brimmed with vitality.
But wherever there were people, conflicts arose. For example, in Flame Hidden Village's finance office at this very moment.
Bang—
Shentai (P.S.: After Qingming's death, the new spokesperson for the blacksmith organization.) slammed his palm onto the desk before him. His face was flushed red as he shouted furiously, "Why won't you allocate us more funds?! Do you know we've reached the most critical stage? Once we succeed, we'll be able to forge the eighth ninja sword! Do you know about Kirigakure's Seven Ninja Swords?! Do you understand what that means?!"
Across the table, Kakuzu calmly took a sip of tea before saying unhurriedly, "I have no interest in knowing what ninja tools you're forging. I only know that this month's funding