The Land of Lightning.
Kumogakure.
Three years later.
"Hello?"
"Sakumo, can you hear me?"
Inside the Raikage's office, the Third Raikage, A, Tōdai, Mabuma, and the others all stared nervously and expectantly at the small device on the desk.
A second later, Hatake Sakumo's voice came through the transmitter: "I can hear you. I'm in the Land of Rain right now. Can you hear me on your end?"
"Yes! Yes! Yes!"
"Sakumo, we did it!"
The Third Raikage cut the connection, then broke into an excited grin.
After years of effort, the long-distance communication device had finally succeeded!
Tōdai, Mabuma, and the others were just as thrilled. Even A, who normally only cared about training, let out a booming laugh and swung his arms in triumph.
Watching them, Yuzuru raised an eyebrow. "Seriously… is this worth getting that excited over?"
At his words, Tōdai straightened and replied earnestly, "Lord Yuzuru, this technology is a milestone. Of course we're excited."
"Communication across thousands of kilometers… it actually works!"
Mabuma nodded vigorously. "With this, we can command the front lines in real time. Intelligence transfer will be faster than ever."
"Even the Yamanaka clan's secret arts can't compare to what we have now."
The Third Raikage let out several hearty laughs, then pointed at the device on his desk. "Yuzuru, you're the one who proposed this tech. Why don't you name it?"
Yuzuru said flatly, "Then call it a mobile phone."
"Mobile… phone?"
After a moment of contemplation, the Third Raikage and the others nodded firmly. "A good name!"
"Yuzuru, what reward do you want? I might as well just give you the Raikage position, how about that?"
"Absolutely not." Yuzuru rejected the idea immediately. "Just give me more money or metal ore. I'm not interested in becoming Raikage."
He already held enough power to do whatever he wanted. Why shackle himself with a title?
Becoming Raikage had never crossed his mind.
If anything—he intended to become the ruler of the entire ninja world.
"Fine…"
The Third Raikage sighed in disappointment. "If you ever change your mind, just tell me. I'm not the type to cling to power."
A, unable to hold back, asked excitedly, "Father, do you think I would be suitable?"
The Third Raikage blinked. "Suitable for what?"
A: "…"
————
————
After the meeting ended, Yuzuru stepped out of the Raikage Building.
He had barely walked a few steps when Tsunade came running toward him.
"Yuzuru, I heard from Orochimaru that the communication tech you proposed actually succeeded?"
Yuzuru chuckled. "News reaches you fast."
Walking side by side, Tsunade bumped his shoulder playfully and said with genuine admiration, "You really are full of surprises. To pull off something like this… that's incredible."
To let people ignore distance and speak instantly—
That was practically divine.
But Yuzuru only waved dismissively. "I just provided the idea. It's not a big deal."
The ninja world already had wireless communication. In the original timeline, Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura used wireless earpieces during one of their earliest missions—though the transmission range had been extremely short, making them nearly useless.
One day, Yuzuru mentioned the idea of building signal towers to Orochimaru. Orochimaru took the idea and made it real.
Now, inside the territory governed by Kumogakure, real-time communication was possible in most regions.
Not just that—rail transport, electrical grids, and more…
Thanks to Yuzuru's push, the Land of Lightning was steadily transforming into a modern technological powerhouse.
Given the current technological level of the ninja world, none of these inventions were particularly difficult. The real challenge was preventing enemy shinobi from destroying them.
Especially in the Warring States period, the thought was unthinkable. Even after Hashirama founded the one-village-per-country system, the world barely knew peace.
Large nations, small nations—everyone was constantly fighting.
And with the relatively small number of shinobi, no one had the manpower to protect vast territories. Infrastructure that could be easily sabotaged simply wasn't appealing.
Thus came the familiar sense of disjointed technological development in the ninja world.
But above all, in a world where superhuman power existed, people always relied more on themselves than on technology.
"Hey! I'm talking to you!"
Tsunade's voice snapped Yuzuru from his thoughts.
"What were you saying just now?"
"I asked…" Tsunade grinned mischievously, "did the Raikage give you a lot of rewards again?"
"Lend me some money."
Yuzuru raised an eyebrow and glanced at her. "Tsunade, do you remember how much you've borrowed from me so far?"
Tsunade froze and fell silent.
At first, she had kept record of her debts.
But since Yuzuru never mentioned repayment, she got lazier and lazier… until she stopped keeping track at all.
So now that he asked, she genuinely didn't know the answer.
Seeing her stammer, Yuzuru said calmly, "Let me help you calculate."
"Your first loan was in Konoha Year 51. It's now Konoha Year 55."
"Five years. Even assuming you borrowed only one million ryō a month… you owe me sixty million ryō."
"Care to tell me when you plan to pay that back?"
Hearing this, Tsunade huffed. "Once I win back what I lost, I'll definitely pay you. Ask around—everyone knows I, Tsunade, never default on debts."
Big sister, how do you say that with a straight face?
Do you know how many nations have blacklisted you?
Seeing Yuzuru's amused look, Tsunade's expression faltered. She shoved him lightly. "Forget it if you won't lend me money. I'm leaving."
She turned to go, but Yuzuru grabbed her wrist.
"Tsunade, even siblings settle accounts clearly. I think we need to sort this out today."
"You owe me this."