Naruto-Start by eating the golden fruit

Three months later, as they looked at the steel plants that were being built one after another, the families realized belatedly that the second-generation Hokage, who had invested 10 million taels in the early stages and had done nothing since, had clearly made his presence felt only after the plants were completed. These ninja tool families, who had worked hard to find people and land, hired laborers to construct another five steel plants, deducted the workers' wages and ore costs each month to manufacture ninja tools, and sold them, were netting hundreds of thousands of taels in profit. However, half of this profit went to the second-generation Hokage, who had invested 10 million taels initially and had not contributed further.

It was only then that these ninja families discovered the second generation's far-sighted vision. They felt cheated.

But what could they do? In the early stages, he invested 10 million taels while they only invested hundreds of thousands. The most any of them had invested was 1 million taels, and if they invested less, they would naturally earn less.

Looking at this situation, they feared that the second generation would recoup his initial investment of 10 million taels in two years and then acquire half of the equity of these several steel plants for little to no effort...

The hearts of these families bled, but there was nothing they could do. Their operations were sound. If they had invested earlier, they could have made a significant profit. Now, since they had chosen not to invest, they had no one to blame.

Consequently, in comparison to the historical evaluation of Senju Tobirama as a Ninja Doctor, later generations added that he was also an outstanding economist. Hokage God Kin Yuya, who took office many years later, learned all his economic knowledge from Senju Tobirama.

As a result, the resentment of people from other countries toward Senju Tobirama has never been higher. After all, if some countries became rich, others would inevitably become poor...

But these are all matters for later. Now...

At the beginning of the seventeenth year of Konoha, thousands of ninjas suddenly mobilized at the border of the Kingdom of Thunder. It was clear that this was a prelude to an impending war...

Senju Tobirama naturally noticed this, but while he paid attention to it, he was not overly alarmed. As he told Senju Hashirama before, he, Senju Tobirama, was not afraid to be their enemy.

*Knock, knock.*

"Please come in."

A pretty lady with a ponytail opened the door and said respectfully, "Hokage-sama, those members of the Ninja Family have signed a letter again."

Senju Tobirama suddenly felt a headache coming on and rubbed the center of his brow.

The so-called joint chamber of commerce established by Youya had truly impressed him.

In a maximum of two years, he could recover all the 10 million taels he invested, and he would gain five steel plants for free, allowing him to make even more money each year in the future.

The key was that the money earned came from ninjas who needed to purchase ninja tools. Ordinary citizens had no need for this, so it would not impact society.

The employment generated by establishing the steel plants was one benefit, and the consumption by ninjas was another.

Even Senju Tobirama, who did not understand economics, knew he could not let money accumulate in the hands of ninjas; otherwise, significant problems would arise.

As it stood, not only was he losing money, but he was also draining the wallets of the ninja families.

No money? Then go do missions.

But there were not enough missions...

Senju Tobirama was troubled again.

Additionally, now that they saw the profits from the steel plants, those families could not remain passive.

But it didn't matter; was he Senju Tobirama a person controlled by others? Impossible.

"What do they want to do?"

Senju Tobirama had a justified reason for his bad attitude. Naturally, these merchant families would not let go of such a lucrative deal, but they were cautious around Senju Tobirama. As a result, they had no choice but to seek his cooperation.

They wanted to recruit new members.

Senju Tobirama asked Youya about it, and Youya advised against absorbing more members at this stage.

So, Senju Tobirama decisively refused.

"Not this time. This time they want to jointly invest 5 million taels," the female secretary said, her eyes shining. "Five million taels! How many detonating charms can you buy with that?!"

Senju Tobirama was momentarily stunned, touched his chin, thought for a moment, and then replied, "I'll think about it. You can go out now and close the door."

"Okay~"

After the female secretary left, Senju Tobirama used Flying Thunder God to teleport to Senju Hashirama's courtyard.

Only Uzumaki Mito lived there now, and Yuya had built a small wooden cabin outside the house.

The reason was to avoid any suspicion regarding his relationship with his master's wife.

When Senju Hashirama was alive, he could act freely, but now he could not. Even though Senju Hashirama's death could not be made public, Yuya could not continue living there. It was not a matter of hiding; if he continued living there, once the news of Senju Hashirama's death became public — which was inevitable — people would look back and think, "Oh, your master is dead, yet you are still living with his wife. What do you think that implies?"

The blow to his prestige and reputation would be unparalleled.

Senju Tobirama naturally understood this, so he left the yard and found Yuya, who was studying a map.

During this time, Youya had taken the opportunity to absorb loose gold from the third place he had previously explored. His total gold amount had now reached 500 kilograms.

But it wasn't enough; it was far from it. This amount could increase his strength, but not sufficiently.

At least 500 tons would be necessary.

Senju Tobirama found Yuya and stated the demands of the ninja families directly.

Youya suddenly laughed. "At the end of last year, they all refused to invest money, and now they want to buy 15% of the shares for an additional five million taels?"

He continued, "Tell them directly that today is different from the past. If they want to buy shares, they can. The annual income of those steel plants is about 100 million taels, with a total net profit of around 15 million taels. If they want to purchase shares, they must consider not only these profits but also the factories, workers, equipment, and land. Remember, the right to use Konoha's land is in the hands of the Hokage.

Let them calculate how 5 million taels corresponds to a one percentage point share."

Senju Tobirama was taken aback. "Isn't this too much?"

Youya glanced at Tobirama and smiled. "Uncle Master, believe it or not, by next year, they will be crying and begging you to sell them a percentage for 5 million taels."

Senju Tobirama was silent and then nodded.

Youya continued, "But I still need to sweeten the deal for you. Uncle Master, you can do this..."

Naturally, these businessmen were unwilling to accept Senju Tobirama's proposal. They considered one percentage point for 5 million taels to be exorbitant.

At least, that was what they thought at the moment.

However, the plan Tobirama discussed with them sparked their interest.

It was really simple.

They could send their steel production capacity to other countries, centering operations around Konoha.

Selling ninja tools could lead to conflicts with local families, but raw materials...

They were in demand everywhere.

And against this backdrop, in the seventeenth year of Konoha, the Cloud Hidden Village of the Kingdom of Thunder launched an attack on Konoha, initiating the first ninja war.

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