As dawn broke, pale golden light spilled across the Hidden Leaf Village.
From atop the Hokage Rock, the entire village resembled a slowly unfolding folding fan.
At the heart of the fan was the administrative district, with the Hokage Building standing majestically at its center.
The surrounding area was occupied by official institutions such as the Administration Department, Education Department, and Medical Department.
A little farther away stood the Police Force headquarters.
The Uchiha fan crest displayed prominently on its facade proclaimed the clan’s position of power within Konoha.
With this area forming a semicircle, the territory extending outward was occupied by the various shinobi clans.
The sprawling compounds of the Uchiha and Hyūga clans retained the style and atmosphere of the Warring States era.
Faint barking could be heard from the Inuzuka clan’s compound, while the Nara clan’s medicinal herb gardens shimmered with verdant green beneath the morning mist.
These orderly yet scattered clan territories surrounded the administrative center like stars around the moon.
Training grounds belonging to the Ninja Academy and courtyards of Konoha Hospital were interspersed among them.
Farther out, the residential districts where civilians lived spread outward along the arc of the fan.
Rows upon rows of densely packed homes stood side by side, while the signs of shops gradually became clearer in the morning light.
Cooking smoke rose from the rooftops of countless households, mingling with the dust and smoke kicked up by the ninjutsu training of early-rising shinobi on the training grounds.
Street after street radiated outward from the Hokage Building like the veins of a fan, connecting the entire village together.
Mitokado Homura stopped before Konoha’s imposing main gate, surrounded by several guards.
The morning light stretched the shadow of the enormous gate into a long, distinct boundary.
He looked back into the village, his gaze landing on an especially conspicuous building in the central district—a structure even grander and more magnificent than the Hokage Building.
A massive Uchiha fan crest was engraved upon its dark walls, its metallic patterns flowing with dazzling golden brilliance beneath the rising sun.
The glare made the corners of his eyes twitch involuntarily.
As long as one was inside Konoha without anything blocking their view, no matter where they stood, the first thing that would inevitably catch their eye upon looking up was that ostentatious fan emblem.
Even from the perspective of Konoha’s main gate, passing travelers and visitors would see it before they saw the stone faces of the successive Hokage.
It was the Uchiha clan’s commercial tower—a towering monument proclaiming wealth and power.
The giant tower had also become the landmark of this place, a city with a permanent population of more than two hundred thousand that was called a village only in name.
“Hopefully, Hiruzen can deal with the Uchiha properly… If only they could be restrained and tamed the way Teacher Tobirama taught Uchiha Kagami…”
The thought had barely surfaced before he cut it off himself, turning it into an almost inaudible sigh.
“…But this is ultimately a time of war, and our power is limited.”
Mitokado Homura adjusted his glasses and turned to walk out through Konoha’s main gate.
Eventually, they vanished along the forest road leading toward the capital of the Land of Fire.
After getting some rest that evening, Utatane Koharu stood before the office window, her gaze solemnly fixed upon the commercial tower that pierced the clouds.
As the elder adviser responsible for Konoha’s logistics and finances, that building represented more than just an Uchiha enterprise in her eyes.
It was also a painfully conspicuous source of tax revenue.
When Konoha had first been established, everything was waiting to be built and the village had been utterly impoverished.
All the shinobi clans had entered the village with their own resources, jointly laying its foundations.
At the time, no one had developed any real concept of taxation.
Then, during the long years of peace, more and more people were attracted to Konoha.
Especially after the First Hokage, Hashirama Senju, clapped his hands together and freely provided the famous Wood Release technique for building detached houses, more and more people who could no longer survive elsewhere came flocking to Konoha.
Thus, Konoha flourished day by day.
It was only during the reign of the Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju, that a taxation system was established.
However, faced with resistance from all the shinobi clans, Tobirama was in no hurry.
Nor did he anticipate that he would die so soon.
As a result, Konoha’s primary source of tax revenue was placed on the compensation shinobi received after completing missions.
As for industries operated by the shinobi clans, only nominal fixed taxes were collected.
For the many small businesses, not even a single coin was taken.
When Hiruzen Sarutobi succeeded him, he naturally followed the existing rules and continued the old system.
With tacit understanding between them, the various shinobi clans operated increasingly prosperous family businesses—
From ninja tool manufacturing to medicinal herb trading, from real estate leasing to loan sharking.
Wherever there was money to be made, the figures of the shinobi clans could be found.
At first, everyone was making money peacefully, and Utatane Koharu hadn’t thought much of it.
But then the Uchiha, who had never been particularly interested in commercial ventures, suddenly rose to prominence, continuously introducing “irreplaceable” products.
And especially after this commercial tower rose from the ground, everything changed.
Rumor had it that its revenue in a single day was enough to surpass an entire month’s earnings for a small clan.
This dazzling building had not only transformed Konoha’s skyline, but also cast an agitated shadow into the hearts of every shinobi clan.
Some shinobi clans even attempted to use their clan secret techniques to steal their commercial secrets.
The result was that they experienced the full force of the Uchiha’s iron fist—
The Uchiha clan of today was nothing like the declining Uchiha during Fugaku’s era.
With the hawk faction led by Uchiha Anlan firmly in control, the clan members retaliated with thunderous methods—and with perfectly legitimate justification!
A simple Sharingan Genjutsu was enough to follow the trail and uncover every one of the spies.
Those involved were thrown into prison.
The Shimura and Sarutobi clans accounted for the majority of them, while the rest were merely small clans that had followed their example.
Major clans such as the Ino-Shika-Chō alliance and the Hyūga had consistently maintained a cautious wait-and-see attitude.
As the situation escalated, Hiruzen Sarutobi was forced to personally step in and mediate.
Not only did he order the clans involved to compensate the Uchiha for their enormous commercial losses, he also made an exception and allocated prime real estate in the center of the village.
He authorized the Uchiha to construct the commercial tower that now overlooked the entire village—a massive complex integrating daily necessities, ninja weapons, dining and entertainment, and leisure services.
Ginza.
All the Uchiha shops scattered throughout the streets and alleys were consolidated into it.
At the same time, while siphoning business from across Konoha’s entire economy, it also attracted numerous shinobi clans to establish businesses there.
This allowed the Uchiha to collect rent while accommodating many non-shinobi members of the clan and improving their welfare, thereby strengthening the clan’s cohesion.
At the same time, by using profit as a bond, they drew in every shinobi clan they could win over.
And so, they had created the gold-consuming paradise now famous throughout the entire Land of Fire.
Utatane Koharu’s fingertips tapped irritably against the account book, her mind filled with thoughts of how she could extract money from the Uchiha.
But she also knew that openly demanding money from the Uchiha would be no different from provoking a tiger.
Those Uchiha genuinely dared to shut down every shop belonging to the Utatane clan.
They could find a whole pile of perfectly valid reasons to do it.
After all, this was Konoha’s Police Force, authorized by Tobirama Senju and possessing powers of law enforcement, legislation, and judicial authority all in one—an organization even more formidable than the legendary Jin Yi Wei.
“The Uchiha aren’t a monolith.”
“The Uchiha clan head’s faction and the dove faction both intend to move closer to us.”
Utatane Koharu’s gaze deepened as an idea surfaced in her mind.
“If Hiruzen approaches them in his capacity as Hokage, appealing to their emotions and reasoning with them… Surely that clan head won’t refuse an olive branch extended by the Hokage.”