Chapter 320: Undercurrents

"Then I will give it my approval," Hiruzen said with a smile, but then he turned to Kaida once again. Being old and that too in such a high position, Hiruzen's perception was top-notch, maybe the highest in whole Konoha if not the world.

From the conversation so far, he was able to deduce that it was Kaida who was behind the idea of the stadium, so he decided to have a direct conversation with him.

"So how are you planning on bringing other clans into this idea of yours?" Hiruzen asked, because even though the benefits like winning rewards are enough for some civilian ninjas, ninjas affiliated with various clans can't actually do something this major without clan approvals.

Kaida smiled, already expecting this question. That's why the family of Shisui, Hae, and Kaida had already had this conversation before coming here.

"Simple, grandpa. We are planning on doing this," Kaida said, giving another file to Hiruzen. It had the details of the profit share every clan would get from the stadium, just like the village, but unlike the village, the most a clan was getting was 4 percent, given to the three royal clans of Konoha: Uchiha, Hyuga, and Aburame clan. Aside from them, every major clan was getting 2 percent of shares. All in all, almost 25 percent of the profit was going to be distributed among the clans.

But there was one anomaly that Hiruzen noted.

'Nara clan is getting 3.5 percent of the shares. Hmm, interesting.' There was hardly any other better person aside from Hiruzen to know the meaning of this. Nara were not only good in finding the best tactics on the battlefield or in small skirmishes, but they were also great politicians.

With their help, the stadium could grow considerably. But Hiruzen's eyes looked toward Kaida.

'Is it him who had the foresight of adding the Nara clan in such a way? If yes, then I may have underestimated this boy.' Many people knew about Nara's intelligence, but very few actually utilized it with anything other than battle tactics. Them being added to any merchant business was almost unheard of, but that was such a waste of their talents. A brain that can analyze a chaotic battlefield while taking into account the various personalities of tens and hundreds of leaders can certainly find the twists and turns of trade with little challenge.

It was just their laziness that prevented them from working on any business aside from their traditional medicine industries. Otherwise, the Nara may have become the most wealthy clan of Konoha long ago. But this same weakness would prevent this proposal of leveraging Nara intelligence.

'Let's see if this boy has just taken into account their intelligence or even their laziness,' Hiruzen thought, his gaze becoming analytical for a second. But then he turned his attention away from the point and focused on the profits.

With 20 percent to the village, 25 percent distributed among various powerful clans, and the rest 5 percent to other nobles to stay away from the business, the family would only have 50 percent of the profit even after doing all of the hard work.

For others, this may be seen as a steal, but for any experienced person, this would be a very lucrative offer. Just the expectation of the profit the stadium would generate was so high that many people from higher-ups, clans to nobles, would jump at it like vultures.

If it was opened by any civilian, the stadium would have most likely fallen under the village, with that civilian getting 10-20 percent of the profit and that too when the time was peaceful.

But with Kaida and family being under the Uchiha clan and having two powerful ninjas, one S-rank and the other above elite Jonin level, the amount of deterrence they had was not low, resulting in a smooth process flow.

"Hmm, this should do the trick. So do you want village help with the construction or something?" Hiruzen asked, offering a loan which would give the village many benefits aside from the construction cost. Hiruzen may also just try to increase the profit percentage, with his goal being simply increasing 2-3 percent, and he would bear all of the construction costs.

In the long run, he could see the profit far outweighing the cost, but Kaida also knew this. He smiled and said, "Thank you for the offer, grandpa, but we will be able to manage it somehow. With how bad the situation is around this time, we don't want to increase the village's burden any further." It was a reply which was not a clear denial, but a refusal out of care for the village.

'Spoke like a politician. Maybe I should consider him as well,' Hiruzen thought as he looked toward Kaida, maintaining the same grandfatherly smile the entire time.

"As you wish, but do come to me if you want any help during any time of the construction," he said. Kaida and the others nodded their heads one last time before going out. As they left, Hiruzen rang the bell on his table, and an Anbu ninja appeared in front of him.

"Bring me the details of all of the business of this family," Hiruzen said. The Anbu ninja bowed his head and left, as Hiruzen was now responsible for both light and darkness. It was now his duty to maintain the security of the village. The Anbu ninja who initially only maintained data on enemies and other villages now also do the same for Konoha.

Within minutes, a file was present in front of Hiruzen.

As he read the details, his eyes went wider and wider.

'No wonder they didn't want the village's help. They are already making tens of millions per month. Heck, when the stadium starts running, they will have more money than many minor village economies,' Hiruzen thought, going through the complete process. Finding nothing wrong with it, he just sighed and closed the file. With money gone, there were very few ways he could reward them, which meant fewer ways to control... influence them.

But since there was nothing he could do, he turned back his attention to other details plaguing him.

…

In two months' time, other villages had done everything they could, from assassination attempts on various nobles to sending rogue ninjas as bandits and even attacking Konoha ninjas openly with some excuses.

Even though they also suffered, the combined effort of Kumo and Iwa, with some attacks from Suna in between, had stretched Konoha forces thin.

The effects were not limited to the injured ninjas. Many chunin and genin lost their lives during missions that were supposed to be easy training missions.

But on a bigger scale, Konoha was not only holding on its own but was also doing much better than before. From getting more economic activity than the two previous years combined to an increase in reputation, the trade was worth it not only for Hiruzen and other higher-ups of Konoha but even for the ninjas who were doing the missions.

Though the efforts of other villages were not completely in vain either. They not only managed to poach some of the merchants back but by making their stance clear, they prevented other merchants from their village from having any plans of leaving for Konoha or building any ties.

With all of this happening, all the Kages of three villages were working on overdrive, Hiruzen included. Even giving time for such a meeting was only possible because of Shisui and Kaida's importance to him. Both of them had potential of reaching S-rank; he couldn't ignore them.

…

In a remote cave of unknown location, a Venus flytrap-like plant emerged from the ground, with a man with half white and half black body emerging from it.

"Things are getting more and more interesting day by day. Konoha is going back to its previous strength, and the major role in this is being played by your own clan. Uchiha are shining like the sun in Konoha. There are rumors that two people have eyes similar to yours in the clan, while other two are talented enough to have them in the future.

If that happened, our future plan may get affected," Black Zetsu said, but the man he was saying that to didn't react to any of that. He kept doing meditation, trying to control the rampaging chakra flowing inside his body.

Even though it had been months since he had implanted Hashirama cells, he still couldn't control the surging boost of chakra it provided. Even with the training he got from THE Madara Uchiha, he still was not in complete control.

But those words were not completely empty for him either. He slowly opened the eye visible through the orange spiral mask on his face.

"You already gave me these details. Nothing will change by repeating them. I will do something about this soon," Tobi said.

"I know, but there is something more interesting going around as well, which may alter something you are planning on doing..."