Lushan was an ordinary man who had fled from the Land of Rain to the Nation of a Hundred Clans.
Because ninja were such a visible part of this world, even ordinary people paid attention to news involving them.
After Uchiha Mu became famous in a single battle, the country under his protection naturally became famous as well.
Once Lushan learned that an overwhelmingly powerful ninja protected the place, he gathered his family’s possessions and moved there without hesitation.
Fortunately, the journey was peaceful.
After reaching the Nation of a Hundred Clans and passing through a series of inspections, he successfully became a citizen.
The first sight of the city stunned him.
The roads were broad.
Carriages and pedestrians moved constantly through the streets.
He was assigned his own home as well—a simple one-bedroom wooden house with a living room.
Lushan was completely satisfied.
In this era, most homes were wooden anyway.
Like many immigrants, he’d arrived with his entire family.
He worked in one of the refrigerator factories, where meals were included.
His position was simple.
His pay naturally couldn’t compare with a ninja’s, but it was still more than enough to support his family with money left over.
People at the factory said they were about to hire another huge wave of workers because an enormous order had arrived.
Unlike ninja, ordinary people like Lushan had to wake somewhat earlier in the morning.
Fortunately, housing was assigned with commuting distance in mind.
“Be careful on your way, dear.”
“I will.
How’s our son doing at the ninja academy?” Lushan asked.
His wife relaxed slightly.
“The teachers said he doesn’t have the talent to become a ninja.
They suggested we have him learn a practical skill instead.”
In her opinion, lacking ninja talent might actually be a blessing.
At least they wouldn’t spend every day worrying whether their son might die.
A ninja’s high salary existed precisely because the risks were just as high.
Once danger appeared, death could come very easily.
“Then he can come work at the factory with me.
He’s still young, so the pay will be lower, but he can still earn something.”
Lushan closed the door behind him.
“I’m heading out.”
He stepped onto the street.
The road had been paved with stone—naturally the work of ninja.
The rooftops had also been specially reinforced so ninja could travel across them without constantly disturbing the people living below.
“Morning, Lushan.”
“Morning, Senior Dashan.”
After exchanging greetings with his neighbors, Lushan reached the factory.
He passed an inspection performed by a miniature Chomei clone, entered the workshop, and began working at his station.
At noon, he ate together with his coworkers.
In the afternoon, he finished his shift and went home.
Ten hours of work per day, one day off every week.
It was busier than before, but he felt secure.
And Lushan’s family was only one tiny reflection of the city as a whole.
…
Inside the administrative building, Uchiha Mu sat at his desk and rubbed his forehead.
Uzumaki Keiko had just informed him that their expenses were exceeding their income.
At their current pace of development, even the money Kakuzu had brought back wouldn’t last a full year.
“Looks like I need to slow down a little.
Developing any faster is pointless if we don’t have enough population to support it.”
Mu looked over the country’s current progress.
Industry was beginning to take shape.
Merchants still didn’t really dare invest here.
More accurately, most of them didn’t even understand the modern concept of investment yet.
If Mu wanted to harvest merchant money, he still had to manufacture products and let them earn the difference through resale.
How long was he supposed to keep doing that?
His gaze shifted toward the laboratory.
Inside were ten shadow clones along with several newly recruited researchers.
With a population above ten thousand, finding at least a handful of people suited to research wasn’t particularly difficult.
“How are the electric-kettle tests going?” one researcher asked.
“All standard tests passed.
Once we complete a little more durability testing, it should be ready for sale,” one of Mu’s clones answered.
Mu intended to start from the basics of food, clothing, housing, and transportation, then steal every household appliance he could remember from his previous life before anyone else invented them.
“What else can make money?”
Mu stopped watching the laboratory.
His clones were handling the paperwork, leaving his real body strangely idle.
Then his eyes fell on a military rations pill.
An idea appeared.
Military rations pills were generally used by ninja during long journeys to fill their stomachs.
As for the taste…
Well, technically they were edible.
Mu wanted to reverse-engineer the formula and create multiple flavors instead.
Military rations pills weren’t difficult to make.
The Uchiha and Senju had fought each other for so many years that they’d experienced practically every type of battlefield situation imaginable.
Naturally, both clans knew how to produce them.
Mu immediately made several batches.
One came out far too sweet.
Another was too salty.
The ratios clearly needed work.
But that didn’t matter.
A few more attempts would be enough to find the right direction.
Why had nobody developed flavored military rations pills after all these years?
Because ordinary people had no use for them, while ninja looked down on researching something so trivial.
Most ninja wanted to become stronger.
Who would waste valuable training time improving the taste of military food?
Mu, however, had shadow clones.
In only three days, he created a wide selection of flavors.
He placed them directly in shops along the commercial district and observed how local ninja reacted.
Hyuga Ryono and Uzumaki Keiko certainly liked them.
They were so busy that cooking lunch was often impossible, so lately both women had been living on Mu’s improved military rations pills during the workday.
Once the product proved viable, Mu opened another factory and contacted Kakuzu through summoned animals.
This invention could be sold directly to other hidden villages and to merchant caravans making long-distance journeys.
Another golden goose had been born.
Mu’s mood improved considerably.
For the first time in quite a while, he opened his system panel.
[Country: Nation of a Hundred Clans]
[Level: Lv.
1]
[Population: 10,231]
[Population Happiness: 86% — Requirement Exceeded]
[Title: Famous Throughout the Shinobi World]
[Note: A country supported by one man alone.
If something happens to you, everything will collapse…]
[Upgrade Conditions Satisfied]
“Upgrade.”
Mu didn’t hesitate.
He wanted to see what rewards the system would give him.
[Upgrade Complete.
Rewards Obtained: Chakra, Spatial Perception Talent, Improved Food-Crop Seeds, Various Blueprints, 10,000 Gold Coins]
Mu’s eyes lit up.
First, his chakra reserves increased again.
He felt as though he now possessed more chakra than most tailed beasts.
The Nine-Tails was obviously excluded.
Even if his reserves couldn’t match Kurama’s, Mu felt that one glance would still be enough to deal with it.
The spatial perception talent was even better.
He could now sense fluctuations in space itself.
Give him a few days and he was confident he could master the Flying Thunder God Technique.
He had become stronger again.
Then came the blueprints.
Those would save him enormous amounts of trial and error while transforming this place into something resembling his previous world’s civilization.
Mu excitedly handed every blueprint to his shadow clones and sent them straight into the laboratory to begin reproducing them one by one.
Next were the seeds.
Food crops from his previous life.
Vegetables and other produce as well.
Mu’s eyes nearly glowed.
This was a complete game changer.
More importantly, he could finally taste many foods from his previous world again.
Then there were the ten thousand gold coins.
His anxiety about money vanished almost instantly.
The currency value of this world was roughly ten times that of Japanese yen from his previous life.
Ten thousand actual gold coins?
He had genuinely struck it rich.
Mu finally relaxed.
There would be no cutting benefits.
From this point onward, they could develop quietly.
The next population requirement for an upgrade was fifty thousand, though.
That was rather high.
Keiko noticed the change in his expression.
“Mu?
Did something good happen?”
“Very good, actually.
We probably don’t need to worry about money anymore.”
Mu smiled, only to suddenly frown.
Wait.
Would gold coins like these even exist naturally in the shinobi world?
“We don’t need to worry about money?”
Keiko put down the document in her hand and looked at him curiously.
They had checked the accounts not long ago.
Even including the money Kakuzu brought back, their current spending rate would drain everything within a year.
“One of my shadow clones outside found a huge cache of gold coins.
Probably belonged to some ninja clan that was wiped out.
Since the clan disappeared, nobody knew the treasure was still there.”
Mu smoothly invented an explanation for himself.
“Huh?”
Keiko stared at him with question marks practically floating over her head.
She immediately stood and came closer, clearly wanting details.
“It was one of my clones outside.
When its chakra dispersed, the memories came back to me.”
Mu spoke with a completely straight face.
With his current chakra reserves, his shadow-clone usage was already approaching Fourth Shinobi World War Naruto levels.