Naruto: Uchiha Youngjo's Konoha Spring

Chapter 167 Chief Demolition Expert of Yamato Construction Group

To be honest, Uchiha Touko was also incredibly frustrated looking at Deidara, who was beaming with excitement.

When the brat was destroying other people's houses, Uchiha Tokō could still laugh it off, and sometimes he would even applaud Deidara's brilliant ideas. But now that this kid was causing trouble in his own house, Uchiha Tokō just wanted to get rid of him as soon as possible.

“Um, Naruto will be getting out of school soon. I’ll have someone take you there to find him in a bit,” Uchiha Touko said to Deidara.

"Alright, I'll come back to learn from you about art later!" Deidara still regarded Uchiha Touko as his mentor on his artistic path, so he still respected Uchiha Touko very much. He showed no trace of the Iwagakure bully who made Onoki Shu pluck his beard back then.

Uchiha Touko sent Uchiha Inahime, ostensibly to escort Deidara to the Ninja Academy to find Naruto, but actually to monitor the kid and prevent him from causing trouble in the village. After that, he surprisingly took the initiative to make a video call to Onoki.

During this period, it was always Onoki who would call and curse, while Uchiha Touko would just watch Iwagakure have their fun.

Therefore, Onoki was also surprised when he learned that the communication came from Konoha.

"What brings you to Iwagakure, Hokage?" Onoki on the other end of the screen looked a bit agitated. It seemed that the recent news of the capture of Jinchuriki and the disappearance of his disciple had really tormented this nearly seventy-year-old man.

"Have any of Tsuchikage's disciples recently run away from the village?" Uchiha Touko asked.

"Why is the Hokage suddenly showing concern for my disciple?" Onoki immediately became wary upon hearing this.

"Your disciple has come to Konoha today," Uchiha Touko said helplessly.

"What? This brat!" Onoki cursed immediately.

After venting his emotions, Onoki turned to Uchiha Touko and asked, "That kid didn't cause any trouble for your Konoha, did he?"

“No, Deidara is a very polite child,” Uchiha Touko said.

"That's good." Onoki nodded.

"I wonder how Lord Tsuchikage plans to handle this matter. Will you send someone to bring him back now?" Uchiha Touko asked.

"Ding..." Onoki originally wanted to immediately send someone to catch Deidara and bring him back to the village to beat him up, but then he thought, why rush to bring this kid back to the village? Although this kid is quite strong among his peers, he can't be of much help in their special military operations. After returning to the village, he would have to be on tenterhooks and be constantly on guard against what this kid might do. On the contrary, leaving this kid in Konoha can also annoy Uchiha Touko, who has been watching him make a fool of himself recently.

Thinking of this, Onoki immediately changed his expression, suppressing a laugh as he said to Uchiha Touko, "As the Hokage knows, we Iwagakure are currently mired in the quagmire of war and simply do not have the energy to send anyone to pick up this brat and take him home."

"Uh, how about I send someone to take him back?" Uchiha Touko said.

“No need for that,” Onoki said. “Since my good-for-nothing disciple likes to stay in your Konoha, could I ask the Hokage to take care of this brat for a while? I really don’t have the time to look after him right now.”

“Uh…that’s not a good idea.” Uchiha Touko saw through Onoki’s plan; he was trying to dump all the trouble on Konoha. So he politely declined, “After all, this is a disciple on whom Your Majesty the Tsuchikage has placed high hopes. He’s at the age where he should be improving his strength. If he stays with us for too long, I’m afraid it will hinder his growth.”

“Your Hokage need not worry about that. Deidara’s ninjutsu already has its own system. He only needs to hone his ninjutsu and increase his chakra reserves. He doesn’t need you to teach him anything,” Onoki hurriedly said.

"Then what about the child's safety in our village..." Uchiha Touka was interrupted by Onoki before he could finish speaking.

"Does the Hokage and Konoha not even have the confidence to guarantee the safety of a ten-year-old child?" Onoki said, secretly pleased. He had been choked by Uchiha Touko's words before, but now he had the chance to return the favor exactly as they were.

Uchiha Douguang: ...

I'm not worried about this kid's safety, I'm worried about the safety of my village!
"Hokage, if that kid acts recklessly, don't worry about my feelings. He should be beaten if he deserves it. I have other things to do, so I'll hang up now." Onoki didn't give Uchiha Touko a chance to speak and ended the video call directly.

Uchiha Touko, whose video call was cut off, rubbed his head in annoyance. He hadn't expected Onoki to be so straightforward as to dump Deidara on him.

While Uchiha Touko was talking to Onoki, Deidara also met Naruto at the gate of Konoha Ninja Academy, who was walking out with the Seven Stars Study Group.

"Naruto, my little brother!" Deidara waved and shouted excitedly the moment he saw Naruto.

Upon hearing Deidara's voice, Naruto turned around abruptly. At first, he thought he had misheard, but upon seeing Deidara, he excitedly shouted, "Big Brother Deidara!"

The two ran towards each other, gave each other a big hug with smiles, and then exchanged pleasantries.

"Brother Deidara, what brings you here?" Naruto asked in surprise.

“Iwagakure can no longer allow me to perform my art, so I came to find you,” Deidara said with a smile.

"Come on! I'll treat you to the best ramen in the world!" Naruto put his arm around Deidara's shoulder, and the two blond-haired guys, one big and one small, walked towards Ichiraku Ramen under the watchful eyes of the crowd behind them.

"Who is this person?" Kiba Inuzuka, who hadn't gone to Iwagakure last time, couldn't help but ask.

“A member of Iwagakure, a disciple of the Tsuchikage, how could he be in the village?” Sasuke said at this moment.

“I smell trouble on him,” Shikamaru said, his eyes wide with disbelief.

"You really have a good eye for people." Neji couldn't help but say, thinking about the various explosions, big and small, that his group had encountered in Iwagakure.

"Naruto-kun... going with him... will it be okay?" Hinata asked timidly.

"What problem could there be?" Neji said irritably. "These two are just like fish in a pond, and besides, in the village..." At this moment, Neji also realized that they were in Konoha, not Iwagakure. If these two got together, it would be bad if they really caused something to explode.

"Oh no! We have to tell the teacher right away!" Neji said hastily.

"I'll take everyone to keep an eye on them, you go tell the teacher!" Sasuke finally realized what was going on and said.

"Alright, let's split up!" Neji nodded, then sprinted towards the Hokage Building at top speed.

Seeing this, the others followed in Naruto and Deidara's footsteps.

Before long, Naruto and Deidara arrived at Ichiraku Ramen. Naruto took the lead, lifted the curtain at the entrance, sat down at the counter, and said energetically, "Uncle Tetsuya, two deluxe tonkotsu ramen!"

"Naruto?" The hand that was calculating the bill behind the counter peeked out and saw Naruto's figure. A smile appeared on his face. "Why did you come today? And you ordered so much. Kakashi told me not to let you eat too much ramen."

"Uncle Teuchi, today I'm treating our guests who have come from afar to dinner," Naruto said.

At this moment, Teji also noticed Deidara next to Naruto and asked curiously, "Is this your new friend? I've never seen him in the village before?"

“Brother Deidara came all the way from Iwagakure,” Naruto said, then turned to Deidara and introduced him, “Brother Deidara, this is Uncle Tetsuya, his ramen is the best in the world!”

"Really? Since you've said so, little brother, then I'll have to give it a try!" Deidara chimed in, equally enthusiastic.

Soon, Neji arrived at the Hokage's office and reported the incident at the school gate to Uchiha Touko.

“I already knew about this,” Uchiha Touko said, rubbing his head. “Don’t worry, with Inahisa by my side, nothing serious will happen.”

That being said, what to do with Deidara is a huge problem. First of all, it's probably impossible to send him to Fugaku's place. Although Fugaku's family has been used as a daycare center for the village by Uchiha Tokō, there is a Jinchūriki from Takigakure living there. The two of them might fight if they meet.

As for actually controlling Deidara, that's not very feasible. Onoki's attitude is secondary; the main issue is that Uchiha Touko can't bring himself to use force on a ten-year-old child.

"That old bastard Onoki has really given me a tough problem," Uchiha Touko sighed. Just as Uchiha Touko was worrying, news suddenly came from outside the door that Yamato was requesting an audience.

After Uchiha Tokō let the man in, Yamato walked in wearing a suit.

"Hokage-sama." Yamato greeted Uchiha Touko politely.

Uchiha Touko, after looking the other person up and down at their business attire, felt much better.

During this period, Yamato has gradually faded out of the ranks of ninjas and focused his mind on making money. Now, Yamato Construction, as a village-run enterprise of Konoha, has completely monopolized the real estate industry of Konoha and can bring a steady stream of funds to Konoha every year. Moreover, Yamato is also very clear about his position. Whenever Uchiha Tokō needs money, he only needs to send someone to tell him, and the money will be delivered the next day.

"What brings President Yamato to my Hokage office?" Uchiha Touko asked with a smile.

"Lord Hokage, you flatter me. I owe my current success entirely to your rescue back then," Yamato said sincerely. After being in business for some time, Yamato's mind had become sharper. He realized that the life he had endured in Root was inhuman. Therefore, Yamato was extremely grateful to Uchiha Touko and Kakashi for saving him from the inferno and never forgot their kindness.

"Stop with the formalities, just tell me, what brings you here?" Uchiha Touko asked.

"That's right." Seeing this, Yamato also became serious. "It's that piece of land on the east side of the village. Kado and I plan to build a new commercial district there. The blueprints are here."

Yamato took out a blueprint from the sealed scroll and placed it in front of Uchiha Tokō.

After taking a look, Uchiha Touko couldn't help but marvel. In a sense, Gato was truly a genius. The central part of this commercial district's blueprint was designed entirely based on the shopping center from Uchiha's previous life.

"So, what kind of difficulties have you encountered?" Uchiha Touko asked.

“Yes,” Yamato nodded. “This large building at the very center, although I can barely build it with my Wood Release, is too large to be safe with just Wood Release alone. It needs a solid foundation. If we dig it manually, given Konoha’s current labor costs, we won’t make any profit on this project.”

Uchiha Touko nodded. As Konoha developed, the average salary level in Konoha also rose. Moreover, under Uchiha Touko's tough policies, no merchant doing business in Konoha dared to delay paying wages. After all, if a Konoha civilian complained to the Hokage Building because of unpaid wages, Kakashi would really make them go to the Naka River to practice diving.

"So, what are your thoughts?" Uchiha Touko asked.

"I would like to request a batch of explosive tags from you, Hokage. My engineers have already calculated that if we use explosives to excavate, we will only need to bear the cost of transporting the excavated soil. In this way, the cost of this commercial area can be reduced to the minimum."

"Explosion!" Uchiha Touko looked at the 21-square-meter commercial center. If they were to use explosives to excavate it, the cost of the explosive tags would be quite high. Wait, explosion?
"I understand. Just go back and wait. You can start construction in a couple of days. As for the cost of the explosive tags, you can bring them to the Hokage Building yourself." Uchiha Touko looked up and said to Yamato.

"Yes!" Yamato didn't think much of it. After all, with so many explosive tags to use, the Hokage would definitely have to send someone to operate them to be at ease. That's why he brought the blueprints with him today.

After Yamato left, a glint of light flashed in Uchiha Touko's eyes as he thought to himself:

[Old man, you sent your disciple here, don't blame me for treating him like a child laborer!]

Uchiha Touko stood up, took off his divine robe, changed his clothes, and rushed to Ichiraku Ramen. By the time Uchiha Touko arrived, the two blond-haired men had almost finished eating.

"Naruto, this ramen is really good! Much better than what we have in Iwagakure!" Deidara said, slapping the table with satisfaction.

(End of this chapter)