"Since you're being so direct, then just tell me—what exactly does Kirigakure want to commission?"
Uchiha Hikaru leaned back on the couch, arms casually resting across the backrest, eyes half-lidded in a look that carried both amusement and caution.
"But you better be ready for the cost. A village-level commission isn't something to take lightly."
He smirked.
"I think Sunagakure's going to bleed hard this time. They chose to pay us in minerals. Honestly, we might be draining nearly all of their reserves."
"Prepare yourselves and think carefully about how Kirigakure plans to pay."
His words made Mei Terumi's heart lurch. She'd anticipated that a commission of this scale would come at a steep price—but she hadn't expected it to be that steep.
All of Sunagakure's mineral reserves? That was their economic lifeline…
But what she didn't know was that Rasa, the Kazekage, was currently in the desert working as a literal gold miner—experiencing both pain and joy as he labored under the sun.
He kept hypnotizing himself: "It's fine to be a little tired… If I suffer now, the Sand Village gets a forest and an oasis later…"
In other words, Rasa still had no idea that Hashirama Senju himself had been deployed to plant trees for them.
When he finally saw Hashirama in person, he'd probably throw himself at the man's legs in tears.
[Please, brother! No—Sir! Just plant more! Don't treat me like a human being! And if it's not enough, summon my master back from the Pure Land—he mines faster than I do!]
…
After a long silence, Mei Terumi finally weighed the pros and cons and made her decision. Her gaze sharpened, her posture straightened, and the air around her shifted with newfound resolve.
"In the name of the Fifth Mizukage, I formally commission Konoha to construct two transoceanic bridges for Kirigakure," she declared. "One connecting Kirigakure to Konoha, and another connecting Kirigakure to Kumogakure."
"Mission reward: 10 billion ryō."
"Five billion in the first year, with 1.25 billion to be paid annually thereafter. Can we do it in installments?"
Mei stared straight into Uchiha Hikaru's eyes as she spoke, her teeth clenched, her will steeled to the highest degree.
Uchiha Hikaru blinked slowly, absorbing her offer.
What a crazy woman…
"Five billion ryo upfront?" he asked, incredulous. "Can Kirigakure really afford that all at once?"
"Even with all the revenue you've scraped from tariffs these last few years, dropping that much money at once would wipe you clean. You'd be burning through three years of economic growth overnight and returning to your pre-restoration poverty."
His gaze sharpened like a blade, slicing through her expression as if trying to pierce directly into her thoughts.
"Or… are you planning to overthrow your daimyo with Kirigakure's forces?"
"In the short term, if you want the village to develop without disruption, there's really only one possibility—rob the daimyō and the nobles."
"You might even make a fortune doing it."
"But have you really thought this through?" His tone darkened. "You planning to raise your blade against the lords of the Land of Water?"
"The political structure of your country is very different from the Land of Fire. I don't need to explain that. Think carefully."
"We'll eat first. It's too early to act recklessly."
With that, Uchiha Hikaru leaned back and closed his eyes, shifting his attention inward, continuing to refine the flow of natural chakra and his own within his body—testing how the two harmonized as they cycled through his chakra pathways.
Across from him, Mei Terumi sat in silence, frowning, her thoughts spiraling.
Everything he'd said was true.
If Kirigakure wanted fast money—enough to fund large-scale infrastructure—there was only one viable option: seize it.
That had been her original plan.
She hadn't spent the past month idly lounging in Konoha. Every other day she visited Tsunade to gather intelligence on other villages and the shifting balance of trade. Sometimes she sat in cafés or dessert shops near the main gates of Konoha, watching the flow of people, identifying their origins by their clothes and forehead protectors, building a mental map of who was trading with whom.
And despite Kirigakure starting trade with Konoha three years earlier than the others, the number of caravans from the other three villages had already caught up.
Sunagakure, Iwagakure, even Kumogakure—each had only a small country or two separating them from Konoha. Their land caravans could make a round trip in ten to twenty days.
But Kirigakure?
Even though ninja ships could reach Konoha in two or three days, they were absurdly expensive—powered by chakra and fitted with advanced engines built in Konoha's shipyards.
Ordinary cargo ships were another matter. They relied on wind or manual rowing, sometimes taking as long as a month for a round trip—if nothing went wrong.
And sea travel? It was fraught with risk. Pirates, storms, whirlpools—any mistake and both ship and crew were lost to the sea.
Worse, few merchants even owned ships large enough for meaningful trade. The only functioning fleets were state-funded—by Konoha and Kirigakure themselves.
As the other great villages opened up and started exchanging goods, many merchants had already begun abandoning Kirigakure for more reliable routes.
If nothing changed, Kirigakure would die a slow death.
The bridges had to be built—no matter what. Even if other daimyos viewed it as an act of aggression and tried to cut Kirigakure off from the market, as long as Konoha supported them, there was hope.
But what Mei Terumi didn't know was that Uchiha Hikaru had said all those things on purpose.
He was testing her.
Watching her from behind closed eyes, Hikaru observed every tremor in her chakra, every hesitation in her aura.
He understood the weight of what she was considering.
She ate lunch distractedly, every bite heavy with doubt.
One path: delay the bridge construction, let Kirigakure slowly rot as it fell behind the other great villages.
The other: gamble everything, rely on Konoha, and take the first step into the unknown.
Her conflicted expression didn't escape Hikaru.
But he said nothing.
She had to make the choice herself.
Because in his vision for the future—where the ninja world was free of parasitic rulers, free of political stagnation and inherited decay—any ally would need not just power, but conviction.
Even if weak now, they had to have the guts to defy the old order.
The daimyos had ruled the sky over the shinobi world since the Warring States Era—bloated, decadent parasites who treated ninja like tools, igniting war for profit, hoarding wealth while others bled.
And yes, perhaps people had rebelled before.
But every dragon-slayer eventually became the dragon.
[The world has rotted for too long. But I'll start a new era.]
[The ninja world needs new pioneers, new wind to fill its sails.]
[And I… I'll be that wind—pushing the ship of progress forward, full speed toward the future.]
And the first person he needed aboard that ship—
—was Mei Terumi.
Whether she'd step onto it or not… depended entirely on her next choice.
-------
Send Power Stones
Bonus Chapter at 150 Power Stone
Second Bonus Chapter - 300 Power Stones
---------------------
Join my Patreon and get access to 50+ early chapters before anyone else! 🔥
https://www.patreon.com/UK21
Your Support is Truly Appreciated