Uchiha's personal opinion

"How ironic..."

Orochimaru suddenly felt a mix of emotions, a feeling he couldn't quite describe.

Honestly, can someone like me really win the support of the villagers and become the next Hokage?

"Sarutobi-sensei..."

Orochimaru then used the Body Flicker Technique to leave.

Soon, the crowds on the street returned to normal.

……

"Knock knock!"

There was another knock on the door of the Hokage's office in the Hokage Building.

"Come in!"

"The Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, shouted with great vigor."

"Teacher, I'm back."

Orochimaru, expressionless, pushed open the door and entered.

"Thanks a lot……"

The kind-faced Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, took out his pipe and took a satisfying puff.

"How's it going? Is everything alright?"

"Uchiha Tokumitsu didn't say much."

Orochimaru answered methodically.

"That's good. I'll transfer the funds to you as soon as possible..."

The Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, nodded in satisfaction, then asked, "What is he researching in his lab? Do you know anything about it?"

"...immortality."

Orochimaru hesitated for a moment, then answered softly.

Chapter 213 Capital and Scientific Research

Undeniably, a genius can indeed support a great theoretical system.

However, conversely, one person absolutely cannot lead a large-scale scientific research project.

Moreover, with the development of the times and the deepening of research, scientific research projects increasingly rely on sophisticated experimental equipment and continuous massive financial investment, which to some extent weakens the absolute dominance of super geniuses over general scientific research projects.

Undeniably, while the profit-seeking desire of capital may lead to short-sightedness in scientific research to some extent, the injection of funds can also stimulate and develop scientific research.

What Uchiha Tokumitsu wanted to do was to obstruct the Hokage's needs in terms of funding and equipment as much as possible, in order to delay the preparation and progress of their experiments, and to give them enough time to obtain the true research objectives of their experiments.

Meanwhile, although the Uzumaki Research Institute did not have a super scientist comparable to Orochimaru, Uchiha Tokumitsu was determined to solve the talent shortage by investing more money and trying things out.

There was no way around it; the Tokugawa Shogunate was just that "rich and powerful."

Furthermore, based on his memories of his past life, Uchiha Tokumitsu made a reasonable deduction and also made a prediction about Orochimaru's research project, which was directly funded by the Hokage faction. Then, combined with the many pieces of equipment that Orochimaru had purchased in the past six months, Uchiha Tokumitsu felt that his prediction was probably close to the actual result.

However, everything requires evidence, and even the police department cannot falsely accuse someone. Therefore, Uchiha Tokumitsu patiently arranged for people to carefully gather information about Orochimaru.

I wonder what Tsunade, as a classmate and friend, would think after learning about Orochimaru's experiments?

"I can't wait..."

Uchiha Tokumitsu thought with a wicked grin.

……

The Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, relied heavily on Orochimaru because it was a last resort.

Of the three disciples, the most virtuous and legitimate is Tsunade Senju, who is a direct descendant of Hashirama. She is the best choice among the three in terms of both lineage and reputation.

However, ever since Tsunade insisted on rebuilding the Senju clan, the master and disciple began to show signs of going their separate ways.

Especially after her two attempts to ambush the Uchiha clan in the Jonin class failed, Tsunade began to gather the power of the various clans' ninjas and seriously accumulate strength, rarely showing her face in public.

Jiraiya, that big fool, first got into a messy situation with the Myoboku lineage, the holy land of summoning beasts, and then was deeply hurt by Tsunade and Dan Kato becoming lovers. He chose to go on a journey and is now stuck in the Land of Rain, getting moldy. He has also taken on two apprentices. Although the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, has sent messengers to call him back to the village many times, Jiraiya refuses to come back no matter what.

However, apart from Sarutobi Shinnosuke, the Sarutobi clan, who were born into the Third Hokage, could not find another new-era ninja capable of shouldering such a heavy responsibility. As a result, they were inferior not only to the middle-aged and young generation combination of Hatake Sakumo and Uchiha Tokumitsu, but also to the new-era ninjas of the Ino-Shika-Cho clans.

Therefore, the Hokage lineage, which is nominally the most powerful in Konoha, has actually fallen into a situation where there is no successor, and can only choose to push out Orochimaru, whose image and popularity are relatively poor.

Even the other two core figures in the Naruto lineage, Homura Mitokado and Koharu Utatane, regarded Orochimaru as "a venomous snake in human skin," which shows Orochimaru's image among the ninjas of his village.

Of course, Orochimaru was not alone. Although he was ruthless and vicious, his unique personality attracted many ninjas who had fought alongside him to join his cause.

However, compared to Hatake Sakumo's Reform Party and Uchiha Tokumitsu's shogunate, Orochimaru's forces were far inferior in both strength and financial resources.

However, this did not prevent the Uchiha Tokukō ninja from setting up a laboratory to target Orochimaru.

After Orochimaru's visit, Uchiha Tokumitsu summoned his attendant ninjas and ordered them to immediately send people to stake out Orochimaru's several secret laboratories to prevent him from changing locations at any time.

The police ninjas who went to stake out the laboratory didn't even bother with disguises; they simply stood on either side of the entrance and began their guard duty.

When Orochimaru learned of this, he was both shocked and angry, but there was nothing he could do.

If we expel them, then a large force of ninja from the police department will surely storm into the laboratory and loot and destroy it.

Ignoring it would only be more disgusting. Even the "consumables" after the experiment became difficult to dispose of, and after a few days, the lab turned into a garbage dump.

"This laboratory is temporarily unavailable..."

Helpless, Orochimaru had no choice but to temporarily close the laboratory.

At the same time, he secretly made up his mind that the newly built laboratory should not only solve the problems of air circulation and sewage disposal, but most importantly, it should not be found by Uchiha Tokumitsu again.

This was also a special instruction given by Uchiha Tokumitsu.

What he wanted was to stir up trouble and alert the enemy.

……

Just as Orochimaru was busy building a new laboratory.

Under the instruction of Uchiha Tokumitsu, the southern islands of the Land of Water, under the control of the shogunate, officially issued the regional legal tender—the Gold Dollar!

Unlike the gold standard used by the major ninja nations, the Shogunate Gold Yuan was anchored to the currencies of the Land of Water and the Land of Fire. In other words, while the Shogunate Gold Yuan could not be directly exchanged for gold coins, it could be exchanged for paper money from the Land of Water or the Land of Fire.

The implementation of the gold yuan within the shogunate's territory was also very simple—the southern islands accepted this currency for paying taxes and purchasing goods from government-run shops.

This was only the first step in Uchiha Tokumitsu's financial plan.

The reason for retaining currency exchange instead of adopting a completely credit-based currency issuance system is mainly because the productivity of the southern islands has not yet recovered. Even if a large amount of currency is issued, it cannot be spent and will not be recognized by merchants outside the jurisdiction.

If the gold yuan does not gain the approval of merchants, it cannot circulate in the ninja world, and its issuance will be pointless, merely wasting foreign exchange.

Therefore, as a supporting condition, Uchiha Tokumitsu issued three construction bonds in succession at the Nakagawa Stock Exchange.

The Southern Homeland Revitalization No. 1 Bond, with a total fundraising amount of one billion taels and an annual interest rate of six percent, will primarily be used to rebuild the numerous shipyards in the southern islands of the Land of Water that were destroyed in the war. Furthermore, Uchiha Tokumitsu will use the shipyard assets as collateral and promises that major investors with investments exceeding fifty million taels will enjoy additional discounts and priority in ordering ships.

There is also the Southern Islands Revitalization No. 1 Bond, with a total fundraising amount of 800 million taels and an annual interest rate of only 5%. The funds are mainly used for infrastructure construction in the Southern Islands, such as seafood processing plants and cold chain supply chains. Individual investors of this bond with an investment of more than 10 million taels can also enjoy priority ordering and free escort services for the special products of the Southern Islands of the Water Kingdom, namely seafood and tropical fruits.

The third bond, named "Advanced Industrial Construction Plan of the Southern Islands," raised a total of 2 billion taels of silver with an annual interest rate of only 5%. Moreover, the purpose and specific use of the funds were not disclosed to the public.

Putting everything else aside, the phrase "advanced industrial construction" in the bond's name alone is enough to spark the imagination.

There is no widely accepted definition of "advanced industry" in the ninja world; since there is no standard, don't blame Uchiha Tokumitsu for using various metaphorical marketing methods.

Moreover, what makes this bond special is that it is secured by the taxes of the Southern Islands—meaning that if the Tokugawa Shogunate is unable to repay the bond in the future, the creditors will be able to directly control the governing body of the Southern Islands and become the uncrowned kings of the Southern Islands!

Although the wealthy merchants knew that the possibility of defaulting on the contract was not high, it did not stop them from investing their idle funds in Uchiha Tokumitsu's bonds.

After all, for underground forces with a lot of illicit money, nothing is more desirable than achieving stable asset appreciation.

Therefore, as soon as the bonds were put out to public, the mysterious wealthy merchants of the ninja world who had been keeping a close eye on the Nakagawa Stock Exchange immediately dispatched messengers to Konoha and checked into a small inn next to the stock exchange.

The Konoha ninjas were once again awestruck by Uchiha Tokumitsu's extravagant gesture.

Putting aside the question of why Uchiha Tokumitsu issued such a large amount of bonds, what Konoha ninjas, especially the ninja clans, couldn't understand was how such a low interest rate could attract so many wealthy merchants eagerly waiting to buy the bonds.

It's important to understand that after the bond crisis was resolved through the bailout of the Naga River Stock Exchange, most ninja clans, with lingering fears, ceased their bond business and reverted to their old tradition of earning money through missions, except for a few clans that managed to retain some credibility by avoiding defaults.

Those most concerned about this matter are naturally from the Naruto faction...

"Teacher, the lab's funding is almost gone, we need more money."

Orochimaru pushed open the door and entered, speaking in a brazen manner.

"I see……"

The Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, rubbed his temples, throbbing with a headache.

He also knew why Orochimaru said he was short of money again.

Due to the large-scale fundraising of the three bonds issued by the shogunate, and the general belief in the ninja world that the construction of the southern islands of the shogunate would require a large amount of resources, the sales prices of various equipment rose overnight in hopes of getting more money from the wealthy Tokugawa shogunate.

Orochimaru's laboratory was an innocent victim of the rampant inflation.

However, the problem is that although Hiruzen Sarutobi is the leader of the village, after the two Jonin Conferences, Konoha's finances, which were originally operated in secrecy, have become semi-public, and the funds that he, as the Hokage, can access are not many.

As for the funds secretly allocated by the daimyo, the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, needed to use them to train the daimyo's ninja army, so he couldn't allocate too much, otherwise it would delay the organization and training of the ninja army.

……

Just when the Hokage lineage was struggling with funding, the worried clan leader Uchiha Yomotsu sought out Uchiha Tokumitsu.

"So much money... what are you going to do with it? Can you even pay it back?"

Uchiha Tokumitsu rolled his eyes at him, "It's used to build ships and factories, and to improve the technology of explosive tags."

Then, Uchiha Tokumitsu casually handed a battle report to the clan head, Uchiha Yomo.

"This is……"

Uchiha Yomo was somewhat confused, so he carefully read through the book.

"Is this real?!"

Uchiha Yomo was also quite shocked.

This battle report comes from intelligence obtained by the Tokukō Shogunate in assisting the construction of the Kirigakure Shipyard.

The day before the bond issuance announcement, the three ironclad warships sold by the Tokugawa Shogunate to Kirigakure killed nearly a thousand Kumogakure ninjas in a large-scale naval battle with Kumogakure, thus completely crushing the Kumogakure invading army.