The Uzumaki clan are blood kin to the Senju, and of course you could say they're kin to the Uchiha as well—trace it far enough back and everyone is one family.
It's just that the Uzumaki had always been closely tied to the Senju; the two clans even joined hands to wage war against the Uchiha.
But Uchiha Makoto doesn't hold grudges.
Those things are all in the past. The era of shinobi clans has ended.
Now it's the brand-new era of shinobi villages.
He had previously invited the Uzumaki clan to join Akatsuki Village, but the messages were left on read and never answered, so he eventually gave up. Compared with Akatsuki, Konoha was still more attractive—though in the original story the Uzumaki didn't join Konoha either.
Yet—
Who would have thought the tide would turn now.
Uchiha Makoto was full of anticipation.
He truly hoped the Uzumaki would join Akatsuki Village. It would not only strengthen Akatsuki but would also effectively make a certain someone in Konoha crack.
So Uchiha Makoto immediately penned a reply: Akatsuki Village would always welcome an Uzumaki visit. To be safe and show sincerity,
he specifically summoned Kazuma to prepare a welcome ceremony and planned to host the Uzumaki in style.
"Yes, Lord Light Shadow."
Kazuma stepped in, nodded his assent, but didn't leave. Holding a folder, he began reporting recent key progress in Akatsuki Village.
First, the acquisition of major publishers and newspapers. Ever since the success of the Yilin-style short story last time,
Uchiha Makoto had it in mind that he must seize the commanding heights of public opinion and fully control a mouthpiece that could speak for him.
On ordinary days it could promote Akatsuki Village.
Those brainwashing, catchy little stories—he had them by the handful in his head. Not an exaggeration to say they could last for years.
As long as the messaging continued consistently, moistening things silently, under the sway of what everyone says, Akatsuki Village would surely be seen as a free, equal, peace-loving, civilized place, attracting more investors, more workers, and more ninja to join.
And in wartime,
the effect would be even greater.
Akatsuki Village had already acquired two or three major newspapers and publishers.
"New Ninja Digest has seen a marked rise in sales. Keep printing more."
"Konoha is the prime focus. The village system has only just been established, and regulations aren't fully set. Public opinion is completely undefended. If some clans want to withdraw from Konoha and turn to Akatsuki, that's perfectly reasonable. Hashirama is a great guy."
"Of course, don't overlook the other four great nations. The elite ninja there are our key targets as well."
Uchiha Makoto's voice rose with excitement. He couldn't openly poach, but if clans in Konoha took the initiative to withdraw and join Akatsuki, well, nothing he could do about that.
Hashirama would probably just feel regret and wouldn't take coercive measures.
And even if Tobirama did go in for coercion and speech control,
Uchiha Makoto wasn't worried. People who pursue freedom and civilization can't be caged. As long as the publicity machine keeps running, there will be plenty willing to slip across the lines and defect to Akatsuki—villagers and ninja alike.
"Yes, Lord Makoto. Also, your personally written Romance of the Warring States is insanely popular. Readers are begging for more. Updating every three days is too slow—they want daily chapters."
"Hm?"
Uchiha Makoto frowned.
Romance of the Warring States was just something he wrote for fun, a fierce remix of Romance of the Three Kingdoms with its core cast and plot dressed in a piece of alternate history from before the ninja rose to prominence in the Warring States era.
He hadn't expected such a fervent response.
"More updates? Impossible."
"I'm not that casual."
"But I heard the Bounty Exchange already has a posting. Someone's offering big money to kidnap the author of Romance of the Warring States and lock him in a little black room until the novel is finished."
"???"
Uchiha Makoto's eyes went wide.
Readers in the shinobi world were far too impolite. How could they casually go after the real author.
Though he wasn't very worried, he still felt using a pen name to mask his identity had been absolutely the right call… luckily the shinobi world doesn't have nuclear weapons.
"Fine. It's just more updates."
"A single Shadow Clone can handle it."
Uchiha Makoto decided that fewer complications were better. He'd listen to the readers and switch to daily updates.
"Anything else?"
"Mm… Lord Light Shadow, over this period we've spent more than twenty billion ryō: education funding, winning over clans, attracting investment, building the medical system, purchasing lab instruments, and various research budgets… all of these are significant expenses."
"You also want to invest in iron mines. That's no small sum."
"And the wartime logistics supply chain you mentioned will be an even bigger money pit. Also… why do we have to guarantee ice cream supplies during war?"
"These are all gold-eaters."
Kazuma went over the recent expenditures. Building a well-rounded hexagonal village burns money. Uchiha Makoto was doing all this to prepare for the First Great Ninja War. This was only the early investment; later it would grow even larger.
If they just ate the mountain and sat on the well without stable, high fiscal revenue, in two or three years Akatsuki Village would fall into poverty like Konoha. That was not what Uchiha Makoto wanted to see.
"We still have to find a way to make more money."
So said Uchiha Makoto.
Even if Akatsuki still held a huge war chest, with no income and only outflows, the terrifying burn rate made him uneasy.
Though the shinobi world's technology would eventually surge—within just four or five decades the five great nations would transform from backward agrarian countries into advanced industrial states—right now the world was still largely agrarian.
Uchiha Makoto had already begun investing in factories to catch the earliest dividends of industrialization, but from construction to profit takes time.
There needed to be a bridge.
So he had to start now with an industry of low technical content, a huge market, fat margins, and fast cash-out.
And he didn't need Kazuma's reminder.
He had been thinking about making money lately.
To race through in a short time what took Konoha decades to develop, every step needed piles of money and time to ferment. It would take years before obvious results appeared.
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