Uchiha Hikaru leaned against the window, gazing at the open expanse beyond it—the newly constructed gate of Iwagakure. His eyes traced the vast area blasted out by Deidara's explosion as he silently estimated its size, then he turned back.
"At least he's better off in Konoha now than he ever was in Akatsuki, isn't he?"
Ōnoki met Uchiha Hikaru's gaze. He opened his mouth, as if to speak, but no words came. In the end, he could only let out a long sigh.
Yes. At the very least, Deidara was in Konoha now. That was far better than his time in Akatsuki—reviled by every major nation, hunted relentlessly by rogue ninja across the shinobi world.
At least Deidara and I will still have chances to meet in the future. At least… I can still see that brat again.
"You're right," Ōnoki said quietly. "What happened between me and that kid… it's come to this point. No one can fix it anymore."
"Let him live the life he wants in Konoha."
The corner of Uchiha Hikaru's mouth lifted slightly.
With Deidara's matter fully settled between him and Ōnoki, future complications tied to that issue could finally be avoided.
He raised a hand and pointed toward the open land outside the window.
"Old man, since Deidara is still your disciple, I won't take advantage of you. I only want half of this land."
The moment the words left Uchiha Hikaru's mouth, Ōnoki's expression seemed unchanged—but inside, he was already cursing furiously.
Half?!
He hadn't set aside nearly that much land.
In Ōnoki's original plan, two-fifths of the area would be used for shops run by Iwagakure itself. Another two-fifths would be allocated to neighboring small countries and other villages—excluding Konoha.
The remaining one-fifth was meant for Konoha alone.
After all, several small countries lay between Konoha and Iwagakure. And with Konoha's merchant caravans now spread throughout the shinobi world, squeezing more trade benefits out of them and redirecting it into Iwagakure was already difficult.
Not to mention that Uchiha Hikaru had just come from Kumogakure. To spite both him and Iwagakure, A would absolutely try every possible way to expand trade between Konoha and Iwagakure.
Ōnoki had deliberately reserved forty percent of the land so that, after joining the Ninja Association, other small countries and villages could be used to fill the trade gap.
But Uchiha Hikaru's outrageous demand completely disrupted all his calculations. For a moment, Ōnoki couldn't even tell what this young man was really planning.
"Uchiha Hikaru," Ōnoki said slowly, "personally, I'm willing to give half of this land to Konoha."
"But the Land of Earth borders six other countries. Among them, the Land of Rain, the Land of Grass, and the Land of Hot Water lie between your Land of Fire and us."
"Half… is still too much." He smiled bitterly and shook his head, his expression full of helplessness.
Uchiha Hikaru wasn't surprised by the answer. In fact, it was exactly what he'd expected. With Ōnoki's personality, there was no way he'd allow the economic gap between Kumogakure and Iwagakure to grow any wider.
Konoha's current productivity really had reached its limit.
But that ceiling was about to be shattered.
Tobirama had already completed his research on firearms. Orochimaru had finished the Hyūga Clan's commission. Even Sasori—the genius puppeteer—had joined the project.
At present, Uchiha Hikaru had them working on auxiliary facilities suitable for assembly-line production. It wouldn't be long before Konoha's productivity underwent its first comprehensive leap.
After all, Orochimaru could create a mechanical Naruto. How could he possibly fail to build something like this?
"Given Iwagakure's current situation, I admit that half is asking too much," Uchiha Hikaru said calmly.
"But what if I told you… I could change that?"
Those two sentences made Ōnoki stare at him in disbelief.
"Change it how?" Ōnoki scoffed. "Are you saying a massive stretch of land will suddenly appear out of nowhere in Iwagakure?"
"Even if we wanted to expand, we don't have the funds right now. We'd have to wait several years."
Expanding village territory was indeed one option. Konoha itself had done so not long ago—but that plan only worked for Konoha. It had abundant funds, favorable terrain, and expansion was easy.
Iwagakure, surrounded by mountains, was another story entirely. Expanding there would devour manpower and resources at an absurd rate.
"Expansion doesn't suit you," Uchiha Hikaru replied evenly. "But there's another option besides expansion."
"That's road construction."
He recalled the rough terrain and poor roads he'd seen on the way to Iwagakure as he spoke.
Ōnoki froze for a moment. Then he burst out laughing, as if he'd just heard a joke.
"Hahaha! Uchiha Hikaru, are you trying to make this old man laugh?"
"We in Iwagakure have too much money lying around, so we should go build roads?"
"Do you think ninja walk on main roads?"
Ōnoki's words left Uchiha Hikaru momentarily speechless.
As absurd as it sounded, it wasn't entirely wrong. In the shinobi world, the relationship between a country and its village was purely contractual.
A village was only responsible for protecting the country from hostile ninja. Anything beyond that—especially civilian infrastructure outside the village—wasn't its concern.
In that regard, the stubborn Ōnoki was completely different from Terumī Mei.
Ōnoki's heart belonged to Iwagakure alone.
Mei's heart belonged to the entire Land of Water.
As for Uchiha Hikaru himself—hot blood flowed through his veins. His concern extended to the entire shinobi world.
And now, he had no patience left to argue philosophy with this old man.
"The road must be built."
"The Land of Water and the Land of Fire are even constructing a bridge across the sea. Are you telling me Iwagakure can't even build a road?"
"If your village doesn't have that capability, then the shops you reserved for us should be handed over to the surrounding small villages instead."
"After all, there are three countries between Konoha and Iwagakure. Doing business directly is troublesome."
The moment Uchiha Hikaru's tone hardened, Ōnoki felt a wave of panic.
Uchiha Hikaru had always negotiated calmly. Seeing him suddenly become this forceful made Ōnoki's heart sink.
But road construction truly wasn't cost-effective for Iwagakure. Even if the losses could be recouped in the long run, the village simply didn't have the money right now.
As for asking the daimyo…
He couldn't bring himself to do it.
The Daimyō of the Land of Earth had always maintained good relations with him and never delayed funding—but Iwagakure had been on the losing side in both the Second and Third Shinobi World Wars.
Even in the most recent Chūnin Exams, only Kurotsuchi had managed to reach the top sixteen.
It was humiliating.
How could he possibly have the face to ask for more funds now?
And ever since joining the Ninja Association, the daimyo's court hadn't made any clear statement either. Even Ōnoki himself couldn't grasp their intentions.
At this moment, the Third Tsuchikage was utterly lost.