Naruto: Yes, Uchiha-sama.

Chapter 140 Uchiha Makoto has gone mad! He's going to create a new ninja world! (Seeking monthly votes!)

"What are you doing?"

"That inherently evil Uchiha brat."

Tobirama Senju muttered to himself.

However, he still consciously followed Uchiha Makoto out of the room.

The daimyo of the Land of Fire has gone so far as to issue twelve imperial edicts a day urging him to resolve the issue.

If this continues...

The consequences will definitely be very bad.

The most crucial issue is that if this matter cannot be resolved and the Land of Fire cannot be given a satisfactory outcome, Konoha's funding for next year has not yet been determined. Konoha relies on subsidies from the Land of Fire to continue its development and growth, so as not to fall behind Akatsuki, which has extremely abundant financial resources. However, the important figures in the Land of Fire are not easy targets. If they use this as an excuse to cut Konoha's funding, then everything will be over.

Tobirama Senju did not want this incident to tarnish his reputation as the Nine Thousand Year Old, the Shadow Hokage of Konoha.

Funding is going to be cut.

The ninja clan definitely has something to say about this!

The root of the problem is Uchiha Makoto, the mastermind behind it all. Even if no conclusive evidence can be found, Tobirama Senju is determined to get an explanation from Uchiha Makoto no matter what.

For no reason at all, Makoto Uchiha has been unfairly blamed again. Does he really think he's the one who gets blamed?
Tobirama Senju followed Makoto Uchiha while cursing under his breath.

The two soon arrived at a village.

Indeed
The village is still in a bad state, but it's much better than it was before. With the help of the ninjas' earth-style techniques, the villagers have completed the construction of a large number of shelters, which should be more than enough to get through the winter.

To better advance the business plan.

The technicians from Arasaka Corporation planned to upgrade and renovate the village's extremely backward infrastructure. The village was so backward that it didn't even have a decent road!
If there isn't a decent road.

If it were still just farming like before, there wouldn't be a problem. But the Arasaka Company is going to start developing industry, and this large area of ​​land won't all be used to grow food. If we continue to maintain this state, many things will become very inconvenient.

Meanwhile, the villagers were enthusiastically carrying out the tasks assigned by the Arasaka Company according to the plan. It was impossible for these villagers to be idle every day after eating the food from the Arasaka Company; they all had to work!

Filled with doubts, Tobirama Senju followed Makoto Uchiha into the village. Even though he had never been here before, he could roughly guess the situation in the village.

Because of the journey we've taken.
Even though Tobirama Senju spent almost all his time traveling to get here as quickly as possible, he only had a few breaks to drink water and eat a soldier's ration pill to replenish his strength.

But it was during the break that...

Tobirama Senju also saw many ordinary people in the Land of Fire who had no food or clothing. They lived numbly, aimlessly, and hopelessly in this ninja world, just like their ancestors, generation after generation.

During his youth, Tobirama Senju felt pity for this situation and even wanted to change it.

But he's a ninja, this is none of his business.

Instead of worrying about the lives of these ordinary people, you should think about how to quickly become stronger and then kill those evil Uchiha!
Years of experience as a ninja had made him accustomed to all of this, as if it were his birthright.

This ninja world is a cesspool.

It's not just ninjas whose lives are inherently painful; ordinary people experience the same.

Oh no!
Ordinary people's lives are even more painful. After all, ninjas at least have power that surpasses that of ordinary people, while ordinary people don't even have the power to resist. The existence of extraordinary power makes the saying "Are kings and nobles born with a special destiny?" a complete joke.

Because the strong truly value lineage.

So for ordinary people...

A life of suffering is the norm.

The prosperous Konoha is more like an anomaly, a beautiful homeland that these ninja clans have worked so hard to create by uniting together.

The villagers who were able to relocate to Konoha were the lucky ones who seized the opportunities of the times.

With that in mind.
Tobirama Senju thought he was about to see another group of numb, struggling villagers, but unexpectedly, he saw a scene he rarely saw.

Although the village in front of us is dilapidated, it is full of vitality.

An unprecedented vitality.

The villagers, who were busy at work, had an even brighter look in their eyes.

He knew very well that villagers with light in their eyes and villagers with empty eyes gave people a different feeling. Looking at the vibrant village and its villagers, Tobirama Senju felt a strange, indescribable feeling arise in his heart.

This feeling was similar to the feeling he had when he came to the streets of Konoha after working until he was exhausted, watching the villagers of Konoha working hard to make a living. His anxious mood was relieved, and he felt much more relaxed.

Makoto Uchiha walked along the roadside.

His glamorous clothes made it clear at a glance that he was no ordinary person.

Even though the villagers didn't know Uchiha Makoto, the Akatsuki insignia on his head made them recognize him at a glance—he was a ninja from Akatsuki Village.

Moreover, he is a high-ranking and powerful ninja in Akatsuki Village.

Driven by an innate fear of powerful figures, the villagers dared not get too close to Uchiha Makoto.

However, they still timidly approached a little closer and expressed their feelings in the simplest and most straightforward way—kneeling down to greet Uchiha Makoto, their eyes revealing hope and gratitude, or even piety.

Before the ninja masters of Akatsuki arrived.

What kind of life did they lead?
They've had one meal but no next.

During years of famine, they often go hungry.

It's harvest season.
They, too, were not getting enough to eat.

Every year, a portion of the harvest must be handed over to the nobles. In good years, they have to hand over several percent more, while in bad years, they have to consider the risk of starving to death.

They struggle to make ends meet and live frugally all year round.

Being able to eat a steamed bun at the end of the year is considered quite good.

But now?

We've suffered a disaster.

Are ninjas now being fed three meals a day?
Although this is only temporary.

But I heard from literate people that next year Lord Ninja will build several new large factories and promote the conversion of rice paddies to mulberry fields.

They didn't understand what it meant to switch from rice paddies to mulberry fields, since the ninja master had told them to switch to mulberry cultivation.

Then they went and planted them.

The women in the family also found work. The newly built textile factory needed female workers, and their wages could supplement part of the family income. Most importantly, the factory provided two meals a day.

Providing two meals a day is already considered benevolent!

They still paid the workers!

Although it's a pitifully small amount, it's still an income we never had before.

Because of its ample cash flow and strong backing, Arasaka Corporation promises that payment and delivery will always be settled promptly and without delay, and the prices are also very reasonable.

According to the contract's purchase price, the family's income will be at least two to three times higher than before when they farmed.

With money, they could stock up on more bags of rice and buy more pieces of cloth, and life finally had hope.

As long as you can have enough to eat, that's a good life!
Some ninja masters even said they wanted to set up a school here to help their children learn to read and write. If a child was particularly talented, they might even have the opportunity to be taken back to Akatsuki Village by the ninja masters to study at the ninja academy and become a ninja master in the future.

This was a life-changing opportunity for their family.

Even a low-ranking ninja whom Uchiha Makoto called a "minor" was still a ninja master whom an ordinary person could never reach in their lifetime.

The meager earnings from D and C level missions represent a fortune that ordinary people who toil in the land their entire lives would have to work hard for a long time to earn.

The villagers didn't know why the ninja was helping them.

But never mind.

This is great news! With such a large Akatsuki village, would those high-ranking ninjas really lie to them?
What do they have that's worth the ninja masters scheming against?

"Ninja-sama!"

"Ninja-sama!"

Uchiha Makoto waved his hand repeatedly, indicating that they did not need to perform such a grand ceremony.

However, it's not very useful.

Unknowingly.

There were already dozens of people kneeling around.

Uchiha Makoto was still not used to having people kneel for so long, so he had no choice but to quickly disappear from the villagers' sight.

"Uchiha Makoto, what have you done?"

"You didn't use illusion magic on innocent villagers, did you?"

Tobirama Senju found it hard to believe what he had just witnessed. Based on his familiarity with and stereotypes about the Uchiha clan, he was more inclined to believe that Makoto Uchiha had secretly used his powerful Sharingan to cast a genjutsu on the group of villagers.

"Tobirama Senju, you born evil old devil with the Senju hand!"

"Your thoughts are truly despicable."

"Have you become so useless that you can't even detect when I use a large-scale illusion in front of you?"

As Makoto Uchiha listened to Tobirama Senju's outrageous remarks, his face darkened.

What the hell!
If I could really use a large-scale genjutsu in front of you, Tobirama Senju, without anyone noticing, the first thing I would do is beat you up!
Let me show you what the ultimate humiliation of the Uchiha is!

"Hmm, that's true. I didn't sense you using chakra just now."

"But that only makes it more important to know, what exactly did you do?"

Tobirama Senju chuckled.

That is indeed the case.

He hadn't noticed any chakra fluctuations in Uchiha Makoto just now.

But that makes it even stranger.

Tobirama Senju was well aware of the image of ninjas in the minds of ordinary people.

under normal circumstances.

Ordinary people regard ninjas as a monstrous threat, and will actively avoid them upon seeing them, or even run away if necessary.

But this is not the fault of ordinary people.

During the Warring States period.

Great ninja clans generally only ensure the safety of the area near their clan, essentially minding their own business.

In many other places, the areas are very chaotic.

Some impoverished minor ninja clans and rogue ninjas would even agree on their own areas and raid them from time to time.

There's nothing I can do. I'm poor.

They still need to eat.

The nobles would never entrust their work to these untrustworthy individuals.

Reputable ninja families are the preferred targets for nobles.

Of course, the nobles were well aware of these looting activities and even adopted a somewhat laissez-faire attitude.

If a stray dog ​​isn't fed, it will bite.

Once they're full, they won't bite anymore.

Anyway, they were hiding in their own large manor, which was heavily guarded. These rogue ninjas wouldn't dare to mess with them. It was much safer to plunder ordinary people.

If you can't steal much from one place, just steal from a few more.

While the nobles were dissatisfied with this situation, they felt that asking the ninja clans to deal with these people was too costly and not worth it for a few commoners.

It sounds silly, but that's just how it is.

Therefore, as long as it's not particularly outrageous, the nobles tend to turn a blind eye to these situations under their rule.

The long-term influence and the dissemination by those with ulterior motives.

From the perspective of ordinary people...

There's practically no difference between ninjas and bandits.

The reputation of ninjas has only improved in recent years.

With the establishment of ninja villages, the major ninja villages began to centrally collect and distribute missions. The unified rules ensured that all ninjas in the ninja villages could receive missions. In order to maintain a stable environment, daimyo and nobles often joined forces to issue missions to eliminate ninjas and bandits who refused to comply.

but.

The reputation of ninjas is still not much better.

After all, ninjas go to maintain order simply to complete missions and earn commissions; they don't intentionally publicize these things.

The nobles, on the other hand, promoted these things as their own achievements.

Under the traditional ninja mindset, Tobirama Senju found it difficult to break free from his preconceived notions and consider the meaning behind these things.

Ninjas exist as tools.

Tools only need to complete tasks efficiently and quickly; does the reputation of a tool really matter?
Moreover, ninjas don't need to care about the opinions of ordinary people, because ordinary people will neither become the employers nor the superiors of ninjas.

So Tobirama Senju just felt utterly absurd and astonished.

Before our eyes, Uchiha Makoto, this naturally evil Uchiha brat, has quietly and in such a short time turned around the reputation of ninjas in this area.

From being infamous to receiving rave reviews!

"Is it difficult to understand?"

“I can make sure they have enough to eat.”

Uchiha Makoto's lips curled up into a smile as he spoke, each word deliberate and deliberate.

"It's that simple?"

Tobirama Senju's tone was somewhat incredulous.

"It's simple, indeed. As long as we ninjas take action, it will be very easy."

"Grain merchants dared not take the opportunity to raise prices, and those responsible for distributing grain dared not embezzle. Of course, I almost forgot that the wealth of that great noble family also played a crucial role, but the value of that enormous family fortune was created by these villagers themselves."

Do you know why I call myself "Light and Shadow"? It's because I hope that behind me are the lights of countless homes, and the combined brilliance of those lights.

"Tobirama, can you understand what I mean?"

Tobirama Senju's expression changed rapidly.

Even though he was bound by traditional ninja thinking, he sensed a different message in Uchiha Makoto's words.

He didn't even dare to continue thinking along Uchiha Makoto's lines of thought.

His innate political sensitivity told him
If Uchiha Makoto is allowed to continue his actions, sooner or later the ninja world will be engulfed in flames of war, burning everything to ashes.

(End of this chapter)