Watg Fugaku i with the crowd from the stage, Tazuna couldn't help but feel envious. The easy rapport, the natural charisma—even when flustered, Fugaku atention.

  The Uchiha—after all, they were the Uchiha.

  In the minds of Konoha's ninja, they always held a special pce. Their very name carried weight that the Sarutobi, for all their achievements, couldn't match.

  Before the meeting, he had ihought about vying for the position of Hokage Advisor, but as soon as the meeting started, he gave up.

  The current Sarutobi was in a very precarious situation.

  The dahey faced wasn't one of deing strength but of mi.

  The dee in the Sarutobi 's strength was only evident at the highest level. In terms of overall strength, they were still among the top in Konoha, which wasn't an issue given the current circumstances.

  But the mihat was fatal.

  Ninja s were not all the same. While strength could be nurtured and gradually cultivated, the ability of a to sustain itself was difficult to improve after the fact.

  An anization like a ninja vilge was a natural predator for most ninja s.

  Putting aside the mythical stories about the Sage of Six Paths, all the current ninja s were born during the Warring States Period. They emerged within the framework of traditional s, spurred by the o preserve and pass on ninjutsu.

  However, there was an i differeween s with bloodline limit and those without, particurly in terms of sustainability.

  Without a bloodline limit—or at least a suffitly powerful ohe foundation of a ninja y solely in the iance of ninjutsu.

  The ninja vilge model created by Hashirama ily provided a better ptform for individual ninjas without bloodline limits— the most prehensive ninjutsu library and a retively fair meism for accessing ninjutsu.

  This meant that talented individuals no longer needed support to access powerful teiques.

  But for a without a bloodline limit or a unique secret teique, this same advantage became their greatest weakness.

  When individual ninja could learn teiques directly from the vilge, the 's role as a repository of jutsu became redundant. The impa sus was devastating; they could lose their purpose and colpse in no time.

  Ninjas were pragmatic.

  For ninja s without bloodline limit, their inal purpose as guardians and teachers of ninjutsu was undermined by the vilge system.

  With their teiques now accessible through vilge institutions, bonds weakened, with members pg little emphasis on distant blood retions. Their priorities focused solely on their immediate families.

  After all, this was a group fually driven by the pursuit of power.

  The First Great Ninja War accelerated this evolution.

  By the Sed Great Ninja War, many of the civilian ninjas who had swelled in number were inally members of ninja s.

  These individuals chose the ninja vilge over their s, transitioning into small, family-based units of ninjas—during that era, it wasn't unon for aire family of three to be ninjas.

  The Sarutobi 's survival to this point was rgely due to their retively indepe ninjutsu system and Hiruzen's iial role as Hokage.

  However, the independence of the Sarutobi 's ninjutsu system was limited. pared to this, the secret teique s like the Yamanaka, Nara, and Akimichi, as well as the Aburame and Inuzuka s, possessed teiques that were on par with bloodline limit in terms of uniqueness and independence.

  And of course, s like the Uchiha and Hyūga, which relied on pure bloodline limit, didn't eveo be mentioheir dōjutsu ated a bloodline, granting them unmatched cohesion.

  The ninja vilge system had little impa sus.

  Even though they were all called ninja s, fually, they weren't the same. However, suinja s were rare, and the Sarutobi was not among them.

  The behavior of the members at the meeting made Tazuna realize that the Sarutobi 's members were utterly unaware of this reality.

  The Third Hokage had protected them too well.

  As the leader, he bore some responsibility too.

  On a personal level, he didn't o pete for the Hokage Advisor position. If he had been a bit more selfish, he could have lived out the rest of his days fortably.

  But having grown up in this , he couldn't bear to see such a bleak future. Just thinking about it made his heart ache.

  People eventually would die, no matter how strong they were—even someone like Sasuke. After death, they were remembered by only one identity: a powerful member of the Sarutobi .

  He didn't want the Sarutobi 's ninjas to one day vanish from the world.

  This solution might be clumsy, but for the Sarutobi ow, there was er option...

  Tazuna collected his thoughts and looked toward the stage. He wao hear what Fugaku had to say.

  At that moment, on stage, he began his presentation.

  After rec from the initial interruption, Fugaku straightened his posture ahe crowd's gaze directly.

  "Let me tell you about strength," Fugaku began. "Not just the strength of jutsu or bat, but the kind of strength that builds vilges and secures futures. We talk about proteg Konoha, but what exactly are we proteg?"

  He gestured to the marketpce visible in the distance. "We protect the mert setting up his stall before dawn. The craftsman perfeg her tools te into the night. The farmer tending crops that feed our children. These people—our people, are Konoha's true strength."

  His eyes swept across the crowd. "But prote isn't just about keeping e bay. It's about ensuring our people thrive. To make the vilge truly strong, we need financial power. And for our financial resources to grow, we o make everyo just the wealthy few—more prosperous."

  Masashi was right—they're listening now.

  This topic wasn't novel; it was rather old-fashioned and had been brought up before.

  Everyone could practically recite it from memory, as it had essentially been the guiding policy during the Third Hokage's tenure.

  Initiatives to attravestment had started during the Third's era.

  However, as a rising star, Fugaku garnered more patiend attention from his audience. In the crowd, whispers began to circute.

  "Is he suggesting the vilge bee a bank?" one mert muttered.

  "Look at what we've achieved in the Uchiha district," Fugaku tinued, warming to his subject. "Three years ago, we started small. A shopkeeper needed funds to expand. A young ninja needed equipment. We pooled our resources, created a system of fair lending."

  "Today? That shop employs six people. That ninja leads missions that bring io the vilge." He turned slightly to include both civilians and ninja in his address.

  "Now imagihis on a vilge-wide scale. W with the daimyō's gover, we create a system that makes funds avaible to those who hem most. Not just handouts—but real opportunities."

  "When a talented craftsman needs a workshop, when a promising mert needs iory, when a ninja eeds to develop raining facilities—the vilge help."

  His voice grew more passionate. "But this isn't just about money. It's about building a stronger Konoha from the ground up. When we tralize these resources effectively, everyone bes. The civiliaheir business. The ninja gets their equipment. The vilge gets increased revehe cycle feeds itself."

  In truth, Fugaku didn't fully uand all of the ideas that Masashi had proposed, but it didn't stop him from expining them to the best of his ability.

  The success of the Uchiha wasn't a fluke. Even if his expnation wasn't prehensive, he was fident it wouldn't be wrong.

  And besides, some of Masashi's inal phrasing couldn't be repeated verbatim.

  Could he really say something like "robbing the rich to give to the poor" in front of everyone?

  That would undoubtedly cause an uproar among the ninja s present.

  Even though Masashi's interpretation of "robbing the rich to give to the poor" didn't carry that literal meaning, a slight misstep in phrasing could spell trouble with so many ears listening.

  The audience leaned forward, caught up in his vision. Even those who didn't grasp all the eic details could feel the weight of possibility in his words. Throughout the crowd, people began nodding, seeing their own hopes reflected in his pns.

  "But let's be specific," Fugaku tinued, sensing their e. "What does this mean for you? For the mert w to expand their business, it means fair loans with reasoerms. For the ninja developirainihods, it means access to resources without promising their independence. For the craftsman with a new idea, it means the ce to turn that idea into reality."

  He paused.

  In the crowd, people were nudging each other, whisperiedly. This wasn't just talk about abstract prosperity—these were real possibilities they could grasp.

  "Now, some might ask—why not leave this to private lenders?" Fugaku's tone shifted, being more focused. "Because private lenders serve themselves first. The vilge serves its people first. Wheablish this system, every ryō of profit goes bato making Konoha stronger."

  He began ying out the specifics, his words carefully chosen to reach different segments of his audiehe merts in the crowd perked up at mentions of trade iives. heads refereo resource allocation. Ordinary vilgers smiled at the promise of practical support.

  "Think of it as building a work of support," he expined, making plex ideas accessible. "Just as our ninja teams support each other in battle, our eic system should support every vilger trying to build a better life."

  Fugaku was describing a system where the vilge would pool idle resources to lend tanizations or individuals in need, help them resolve their issues, and ter recover the resources in moary or material form. Most of the time, the vilge would act as a guarantor and supervisor.

  It was just a form of lending—ly revolutionary. What gave the audience a fresh perspective was his detailed institutional design to prevent lenders from exploiting borrowers or borrowers from maliciously defaulting.

  But he wasn't just talking about loans. He also discussed various subsidies. Although the process wasirely clear to everyohe oute was: as a special privilege of Konoha, many expenses—like public transportation and produ tools—would be subsidized by the vilge.

  On stage, Minato and Hiruzen listened ily, particurly Hiruzen.

  He uood the cept. If Fugaku's design could be implemented, both the vilge and its citizens would indeed be.

  To be fair, Fugaku's pn, while involving many loan-based measures, was genuinely about tributing to the vilge. It was a solid and practical approach that addressed both fiseeds and the wealth-building aspirations of the vilgers, without prioritizing profit-making.

  The main issue was: where would Fugaku find the resources to fill the gaps?

  There weren't many phinthropists capable of funding such efforts.

  As Fugaku delved deeper into his pn, Hiruzen's eyes began to light up with uanding.