I founded the "Bragging Cult" in Naruto.

Chapter 446 Is infertility a hereditary disease?

The idea of ​​the Uchiha clan strengthening their cooperation with the Hokage is welcomed by both Tatsuma and the Ino-Shika-Cho trio.

As the two major clans that founded Konoha Village, the Uchiha are the ninja clans that have been rooted in Konoha the longest. They own a large number of properties and industries in this land. The Uchiha clan even has its own business district within its territory, not to mention its connections with the outside world.

However, the Uchiha clan's wealth has little to do with the village, or to put it bluntly, with the Hokage lineage; in fact, it's unimaginably little. Other ninja clans are members of the village, while the Uchiha are more like tenants.

They simply lived on this land, but rarely had any connection with the Hokage lineage, who were the "heads of the family." This was destined from the moment Madara Uchiha betrayed the village.

Going back even further, the feud between the two sides began when Tobirama Senju proposed using an election system, which disqualified Madara Uchiha, who was originally "nominated" to be the First Hokage.

Later, during the reign of the Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju, a coup d'état was launched by a group of supporters of Madara Uchiha, led by Setsuna Uchiha, which further deepened the conflict between the two sides.

Later, Tobirama Senju, who established the Hokage position through an election system, disregarded the rules and appointed Hiruzen Sarutobi, a disciple from the same faction, as Hokage. The Uchiha clan was among the most vehemently opposed to this.

After Hiruzen Sarutobi rose to power, his teammates took up high-ranking positions in the village and did many things, both openly and secretly, to restrict the development of the Uchiha clan. It took decades for the conflict to gradually resolve itself as the radical faction within the Uchiha clan fell from power.

In fact, the Naruto lineage, whether it was during Tobirama Senju's reign or the current Hiruzen Sarutobi's reign, has always had a lot of headaches for the Uchiha clan.

Firstly, the Uchiha clan's bloodline limit is too powerful. Although the Byakugan is more effective than the Sharingan in large-scale wars, the Sharingan is arguably one of the strongest bloodline limits in localized wars or battles.

The internal warfare within the village is also within the Sharingan's comfort zone, so preventing the Uchiha from betraying them has always been a major challenge.

Secondly, there is the Uchiha clan's own attitude. Like their signature Fire Release technique, the Uchiha are actually a very volatile clan, perhaps second only to the Kaguya clan with the Shikotsumyaku among the bloodline limit ninja clans.

If they themselves are unwilling to let go of their hatred, the efforts of the Hokage lineage will be of little use. And it was simply impossible for the Uchiha to let go of their hatred before Tobirama Senju died. Therefore, Tobirama Senju could only restrict the Uchiha.

Now that Hiruzen Sarutobi is in power, he finally has a chance, and Fugaku Uchiha, as the new clan head, has provided an excellent opportunity.

The first collaboration between the two sides was to ensure that Fugaku Uchiha could successfully succeed as the clan leader, and this collaboration was clearly successful, but it was obviously not enough.

For both the Hokage lineage and Uchiha Takumi, the current level of integration is not enough. To put it bluntly, Uchiha Takumi does not believe that his son can continue to maintain stability in the entire clan after losing the support of the Hokage lineage.

Deep cooperation, strengthening the ties of interest between the Uchiha and Hokage factions, is the best approach and can be seen as the Uchiha's way of giving back to the Hokage faction.

In a face-to-face conversation, there's no need for polite formalities like the Uchiha clan being members of the village. Uchiha Taku ignored his son, who had become the clan head, and went straight to the point:

"I wonder if the Hokage has considered further cooperation with the Uchiha clan?"

This question should have been answered by Shikamaru, but Shikamaru also looked at Tatsuma, just like Uchiha Takumi did.

Tatsuma suddenly felt a bit of pressure. This was a problem the Hokage should be considering. He had barely paid attention to this matter after he had acted as a go-between for the two sides, and now it was his turn to speak on it.

But Tatsuma was never intimidated. After a moment's thought, he said, "I'm sure you two can see that the current situation in the ninja world is even more turbulent than it was ten years ago."

The Third Shinobi World War was almost inevitable. I believe that you two, along with the three senior members of the Ino-Shika-Cho trio, can understand this without me having to say anything.

Therefore, the village's most urgent task should be to actively prepare, not to start a war or disrupt the situation in the ninja world, but to better protect the village and the country for Konoha and the Land of Fire when war breaks out.

The various supplies needed for the battle were handled by different ninja clans. The Uchiha clan, being large and powerful, was involved in various fields and possessed a large amount of production resources for important supplies such as explosive tags, smoke bombs, and flashbangs.

I understand that this is a vital source of funding for the Uchiha clan, a crucial guarantee for the entire clan's operation. But for the sake of the village, is the Uchiha willing to open up cooperation and pool the resources of the entire village to prepare for this?"

Hearing Tatsuma's demands, Shikamaru breathed a sigh of relief. Tatsuma was asking for a lot, but he phrased it nicely, without making any absolute statements that would cross the Uchiha's bottom line, and even left room for negotiation.

Negotiation is like this: you have to know how to ask for the moon, but you can't bite so hard that the other party can't take it. You have to treat the other party like a kitten treats its owner, making the owner feel pain, but not to the point of being injured.

Only by biting and hurting its owner can the kitten get attention, making the owner realize that it needs to be fed, watered, or played with. If the kitten bites its owner, the owner will rush to treat its wound and may even dislike the kitten because of it.

When Uchiha Taku heard Tatsuma's conditions, his brows furrowed. These conditions were extremely harsh, and if they were agreed to, the Uchiha would suffer significant losses, perhaps even crippling them.

Moreover, if Fugaku signs such a humiliating treaty as soon as he takes office, it will inevitably cause some dissatisfaction within the clan, and those radicals who have already been suppressed may resurface and cause trouble.

Uchiha Taku glanced at his son, wondering how much he should bargain down to, when Tatsuma continued:

"I believe the most important aspect of cooperation is mutual benefit, and I haven't finished stating my conditions."

Uchiha Taku stopped thinking and looked at Tatsuma. Shikamaru also looked at Tatsuma, worried that Tatsuma felt his request was too much and was thus hurting himself, which would be very demoralizing.

After attracting Uchiha Taku's attention, Tatsuma gave Shikahara a reassuring look and said, "Take the explosive tags as an example. The Uchiha's specialty is actually sealing fire jutsu into chakra paper."

It could even be said that every Uchiha has the ability to create explosive tags, but in order to produce chakra paper, as well as for various stages such as quality inspection, warehousing, transportation, and sales, the Uchiha have to use a large number of personnel.

If they cooperate with the village, the village can help the Uchiha solve this problem, allowing the Uchiha to focus on the manufacturing of explosive tags, maximizing production and minimizing costs.

With the same cost, increased production results in a considerable profit margin. Therefore, cooperating with the village isn't just a one-sided sacrifice by the Uchiha clan. What do you think?

Lu Yuan's eyes lit up. Chenma was not only planning to get the Uchiha clan to give up their profits and the Hokage to benefit, but also to get all the ninja clans involved, so that almost every ninja clan could get a share of the pie.

Uchiha Taku's brows relaxed as he understood Tatsuma's meaning. In this way, the Uchiha would not suffer too much loss, and if they were to engage in a more protracted struggle, they might not even need to make any concessions.

Seeing this, Tatsuma smiled and revealed his trump card, saying, "Not to mention, once the explosive tag industry is scaled up and made available to everyone, at least within the Land of Fire, the supply of explosive tags will be quite secure."

Products are important, but the market is equally important. Previously, the market was controlled by ninja tool manufacturers, but once a monopoly is established, who will call the shots?

After this point was made clear, Uchiha Taku's last trace of worry dissipated, and he turned to look at Shikagami. Tatsuma's suggestion was tempting, but the one who made the final decision was Sarutobi Hiruzen, and the one who best represented Sarutobi Hiruzen's wishes was Nara Shikagami.

Lu Yuan did not answer immediately, but was thinking. He was inspired by Chenma. In the past, because the ninja clans were involved in different fields, the entire supply chain was almost entirely handled by their own ninja clan.

However, if we follow Chenma's line of thinking, it seems that not only the product manufacturing process, but also other aspects such as warehousing and transportation that he mentioned, could be integrated.

The importance of Konoha's economy will increase further, which may even reduce the Daimyo's ability to interfere with Konoha. There is great potential for this!

Having figured this out, Lu Yuan didn't plan to tell anyone. It wasn't the right time yet. He had to wait until the Uchiha "experiment" proved that this was a viable path before making any further plans.

He snapped out of his reverie and, seeing Uchiha Taku's probing gaze, instantly knew what Uchiha Taku was thinking. Shiro nodded and said, "I think the Hokage would be happy to see something that benefits the entire Hidden Leaf Village."

Of course, Chenma just used the explosive tag as an example. Our scope of cooperation definitely needs to be expanded. Otherwise, the profit from the explosive tag alone may not be enough to attract the various ninja clans to cooperate.

"I propose that we include the smoke bombs, flashbangs, and poison gas smoke bombs produced in conjunction with detonating tags, as well as the sealing scrolls and other types of trigger-based ninjutsu scrolls that can be produced together, in the collaboration. What do you think?"

Although the chances are slim, Lu Yuan still doesn't want the Uchiha to bring up the explosive tag project when it comes to actual negotiations, so it's still necessary to clarify things first.

Unlike Shikamaru, Uchiha Taku didn't beat around the bush. He simply nodded, since Tatsuma had already mentioned using explosive tags as an example, and he didn't object to the others.

Seeing Uchiha Taku nod, Shikagami, whose face bore a resemblance to Shikaku's, forced a smile and said, "It seems that the Uchiha and the village share the same intention. I believe that this cooperation can become a landmark achievement in Konoha's history."

Congratulations to Chief Fugaku! You've only just taken office, yet you've already brought new and positive changes to the clan and the village. I hope we can continue this collaborative effort in the future.

A hint of "innocence" appeared on Fugaku's fierce face as he nodded. He hadn't done anything yet, but suddenly he was considered someone who had made a huge contribution?

Uchiha Taku glanced at his son, then looked at Tatsuma and said, "Actually, I have another request. I would like to ask Tatsuma to become the teacher of the next Uchiha successor."

"Pfft~ cough cough cough~"

Tatsuma suddenly coughed, looked at the equally bewildered Fugaku, and asked, "Fugaku-senpai, is this... a shotgun wedding?"

"Of course not!" Fugaku quickly denied, saying, "Am I that kind of person?! My wife and I had no improper relations before our marriage!"

Uchiha Takuya explained, "Fugaku will have children eventually."

The expressions on the faces of the Ino-Shika-Cho trio were quite interesting. This Uchiha Taku had truly sacrificed a great deal for the Uchiha clan. Tatsuma wiped his mouth and said:

"In that case, Master Taku should let Senior Fugaku go on his spring night as soon as possible. As for the matter of taking on a disciple, we'll talk about that later."

Fugaku nodded, eager to return to his room, but Uchiha Taku scoffed, saying, "It's just a matter of three to five minutes; it'll all be the same sooner or later."

Fugaku Uchiha hardened his resolve, hardened his fists, but unfortunately, he dared not raise his fist against his own father.

(End of this chapter)