Chapter 14: Chapter 14 Small Changes
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One month after the Japanese New Year, the Wetland Bridge was completed. However, it is not yet summer in the Wetland, and the fruit flowers have not bloomed, so it is not of use for the time being.
In the second month of the sixteenth year of Konoha, the southern part of Konoha Village was bulldozed and reorganized. After three months, the south part of the village became the cleanest and neatest street in Konoha Village.
Senju Hashirama was walking along the road in the southern part of the village. His wooden clogs made a clicking sound as they hit the stones. It actually hurt his feet, but he didn't care.
Looking with some amazement at the street lights on both sides of the road, the signs, and the shops on the first floor of the buildings...
Although many houses are not yet occupied, it is foreseeable that once the housing problem is solved, the population of these ordinary people may triple in the next twenty years.
With more ordinary people, there will naturally be more ninjas to support them.
Senju Hashirama felt a bit proud. His apprentice was truly impressive. Although not a powerful ninja in terms of combat ability, Senju Hashirama himself had already reached the pinnacle of the ninja world in that regard. Even so, the changes in Konoha Village over the past sixteen years were not as significant as those in the last six months.
Just look at the area in the south of the village. Such a beautifully laid out road. Can you believe that Youya asked those people to pave it?
The materials were brought from the northern cliff of Konoha Village.
Although it's a bit unfortunate for Hokage Rock, the stones from there were indeed very useful.
Previously, the roads in Konoha Village were muddy everywhere. Unlike now, there are drainage ditches on both sides of the road with covers on them. This is the first time Senju Hashirama had seen such a thing, but he immediately understood its purpose.
In fact, the main reason is that Konoha Village didn't consider sewers at all when the village was built. Otherwise, Youya wouldn't have had to deal with this drainage system. By the time the manhole covers are placed, the entire road will be wide and smooth. It won't be like now, where there are open drainage ditches. The problem with these ditches is that they are prone to getting clogged. Leaves often fell into them in the previous setup.
There are cigarettes in the Naruto world, and there are definitely cigarette butts, as well as leaves, shuriken, kunai, and other things that might fall into them.
It's a pity there's no proper sewer system, otherwise someone could have put in a heavy manhole cover weighing tens of kilograms.
With this drainage channel in place, who knows if someone in the future will tamper with it?
Anyway, I'm getting sidetracked. Senju Hashirama saw the changes in the southern village. Thankfully, he didn't drive Youya out of Konoha due to suspicion earlier but gave him a chance to prove himself.
Looking at it now, isn't this amazing?
What made Hashirama feel even more conflicted was that people in other areas were unhappy with the changes in the southern part of the village.
Those in the south were just ordinary people! Ordinary people enjoying such good housing and roads, while we noble ninjas still have to walk on muddy streets! Can this be tolerated?!
With a wave of my hand, I, too, have learned the so-called economy! Just watch, I'll complete this transformation in record time!
Then, construction began in three places at once, and within a week, the renovations were completed. When Senju Tobirama reviewed the accounts and saw that 25 million ryo had disappeared, he fainted from anger.
Youya was speechless. When copying someone else's work, shouldn't you at least check if the conditions are the same?
The ninja families had been motivated, but weren't they just a bunch of tools at this point?
If Youya had handled everything himself, those families might have ended up rich, but the warehouses of Konoha Village would have been full. By then, these families wouldn't even realize the difference between money and supplies. They might think they had made a huge profit.
Unfortunately, that can't be done right now.
But it's fine. Youya feels the benefits given to them now are not without use.
It can numb the nerves of these families, and next time something similar happens, they won't be suspicious.
The current situation in Konoha Village is that various ninja families control all the power structures of Konoha.
However, this is also a common issue in various countries. Only ninjas are qualified to hold power. This isn't a hidden rule, as it's plainly stated.
Youya doesn't think there's anything wrong with this rule. Ninjas do risk their lives to protect the village and fight, so it makes sense for them to have corresponding authority.
But perhaps because of this, most of the leadership focuses all their attention on ninjas.
They don't care much about ordinary people.
In fact, ordinary people can also create value.
And there are far more ordinary people than ninjas. If they are asked to serve ninjas, the vast majority of ordinary people will be left out.
And those who are not valued might spend their entire lives just tending to rice fields.
This can be a devastating blow to an ordinary person's enthusiasm for life.
In the early days, they might have been satisfied with a relatively peaceful environment due to the end of wars, but after things stabilize and they face a monotonous life ahead, they won't necessarily rebel, but their enthusiasm will surely diminish.
That's why Youya still has a second step in his development plan.
That involves building factories.
It doesn't require high-end technology. It can be a clothing and textile factory, a food processing plant, or even various high-tech factories.
When Naruto becomes Hokage decades from now, he'll be able to turn Konoha Village into a technological metropolis using the ninja world's technology. There's no reason such technology doesn't exist at this point.
However, research projects consume money like water. Even if Youya wanted to push this forward now, Senju Tobirama would definitely disagree.
The initial investment would require at least a billion ryo, according to Youya's rough estimate. Senju Tobirama's head starts spinning whenever Youya casually mentions such figures.
Senju Tobirama now understands that Youya seems to have no concept of money.
Throwing out numbers as big as one billion ryo like it's nothing.
That's the total tax revenue of Konoha for several years.
Well, it's clear that without development, the village's economy will remain stagnant.
…
Senju Hashirama's health has been improving lately, but Uzumaki Mito's smile has been fading.
Youya once asked Hashirama in private if there was any way to delay his death.
Hashirama coolly told Youya that there was a way, but he didn't want to take it.
The method was simple: find someone to fight, like he did with Uchiha Madara before, and get himself injured—preferably seriously.
In this way, the cells in his body, which are constantly devouring others, would have new targets. Their survival instinct would drive them to the wound to devour old, damaged cells and foreign cells.
This might prolong his life by a few years.
But Hashirama didn't intend to do that.
The ninja world had finally achieved peace. If he went around picking fights now, that peace would surely be destroyed in an instant.
Hashirama had spent his whole life wanting to end the chaotic, war-ridden world. He succeeded, so even if it meant his own death, he couldn't destroy what he had worked so hard to achieve with his own hands.
Youya could only remain speechless at that.
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