Chapter 323: Ripples of Change
"Ten Nara clan members?" Hiashi muttered, his byakugan-trained eyes narrowing. "For a stadium project?"
An elder of the Hyuga clan, who stood nearby, chuckled softly. "Not just any project. This is Uchiha's project."
The implications were clear. The Nara clan—notorious for their minimal effort and strategic laziness—had somehow become part of the project. If things went according to the norms, even getting one of them to join should have been difficult, but there was talk about 10 of them leaving the Hokage building to join the stadium.
Normally, such details are not available so easily to others, but this is the Hyuga clan we are talking about. The village would not want to keep them in the dark about such big details, so they were provided with some details, though not a complete report. This resulted in Hiashi believing that Kaida and family may have somehow forced the Nara to join the stadium. If he were to know that the Nara themselves wanted to join the business, he would have been much more shocked than he already was.
"The revenue projections are... substantial," the elder continued, sliding another document across the table. "50 million Ryo per month, with the profits split among various stakeholders."
Hiashi's fingers traced the financial breakdown. The numbers were impressive, but what truly caught his attention was the strategic brilliance behind the project. By involving multiple clan ninjas—starting with the Nara—Kaida was creating a complex web of economic interdependence that transcended traditional clan boundaries.
Even though the percentage for the Hyuga clan was not much, it was not so low that they would outright deny it. Aside from getting better treatment for their clan ninjas, they became part of the plan. Now, getting the details in front of him, a single thought was running through Hiashi's mind.
'Why didn't anyone think about something like this before?' But there was nothing he could do now, with Hokage approval and Uchiha clan backing the plan. He just sighed and moved forward to the next part of the meeting.
---
Across the village, similar conversations were happening. In the Akimichi clan's restaurant, Choza Akimichi discussed the project with his son Choji and clan elder Genma.
"For a stadium? That is quite a revenue. Our 5 top restaurants don't make that much," Choza said, being the clan heir he was being trained in such affairs. Hence the discussion. The top restaurants of the Akimichi clans were no joke—one was even in the Fire Capital. One could say they were golden egg-laying hens, and if those restaurants paled in comparison to the stadium, the thing was bound to shift the economic balance of Konoha.
Genma, who had extensive knowledge of clan politics, explained, "It's not just about the stadium. It's about creating a new economic ecosystem. The Nara aren't just working; they're strategically positioning themselves." Being among the Ino-Shika-Cho trio, they also knew about the details, which was a big shock for them as well.
Choji, usually more interested in his meals, found himself intrigued. "How?"
"By making themselves indispensable," Genma replied. "Shadow technique security, financial monitoring, conflict resolution—they've turned a simple construction project into a multi-layered opportunity for clan advancement. With Nara and Uchiha combined, along with the Aburame and Uchiha clan alliance from before, the Uchiha clan is becoming more and more powerful. And I'm not talking about physical strength, this is strength through connection, which was the only strength the Uchiha were lacking."
The expression of all of them turned serious, all having thoughts of making connections with the Uchiha now before they become too big for them.
---
Meanwhile, in the Uchiha compound, an even more tense talk was going on in a house.
"10 million from the bathhouse, 1 million from my mission, and 500k from Kaida's job at hospital," Shisui calculated, spreading the financial documents on the table. "That's 11.5 million Ryo per month."
"And from the previous two months of revenue, we have around 25 million Ryo because of brother's extra missions, which should be enough to begin the construction, right?" Kaida asked.
"It should be. The main cost will be the grandmaster and seal masters we would need for the stadium. From creating safe barriers for the civilians to the safety and security arrays, and the voice amplification arrays for the theater. If these are not enough, the temperature regulator array for the stadium and the premium cabins for the nobles and VIPs. Just the seals and arrays are going to cost us more than our reserves. Luckily, most of them have to be applied after the construction, so we should be able to begin the construction for now," Hae said, researching the topic for quite some time.
"Then it's all good. With how big the project has become, we would need at least 6-7 months to complete it. That much time should be enough to get all the funds from the bathhouse and missions," Kaida said.
"Yeah, this is going to be difficult to build even in 6 months, so by then we should have the necessary funds," Hae said.
"Also, we can now use Nara ninjas to modify our plan to make them as optimal as possible," Shisui said.
"But that would mean sharing every source of our income with them," Hae said.
"Mom, if they want, they would just need an hour max to find them out anyway. So there is no benefit of hiding something like that. Also, they really don't care about money," Shisui said.
"Huh, now I am really feeling you guys are overestimating those guys."
---
"What the hell is this?" Hae was sitting in her office in the bathhouse, with a Nara ninja named Shinji standing in front of her. He had presented a report to her with a detailed plan of all the construction timing, when to contact which person for the construction, and the timing of the funds was also impeccable. If they followed this plan, the process would not stop even for a second and might even get completed in just 5 months—almost a record. To say Hae was impressed would be an understatement.
"I think I understand why my children were praising you so much. Thank you so much for your hard work. This will be enough for today. You can enjoy your day now," Hae said. Even though she would have loved to squeeze every bit of work out of such a talented individual, one thing she had understood about the Nara was that they loved their lazy time too much. So it was better to give them that to maintain their positive relationship. With the use of their intelligence clear, she was not going to miss something like this ever.
…
While that was happening, Kaida was treating multiple patients at the hospital. In 2 months of time, the number of shadow clones Kaida was using for medical operations had almost doubled—not because of an increase in the number of cases, but because of the practice he was getting. Aside from obvious medical jutsu experience increase, his chakra control was becoming better and better day by day.
The training, which was fruitful for Kaida, was actually seen as torture by others. Even Mitsuru called Kaida multiple times to her office so that she could teach him how to maintain a balance.
But Kaida insisted he was fine with the work and could even take more if the need arose, which was really true. Because aside from the hospital, he was also using a similar number of shadow clones for training as well, and the result…