Welcome back to the Smoke and Mirrors AU.
----------------------------------------
“Ah, Hattori Yanmaru. I remember my son told me about your Clan’s project. A city, due west near the Tawa River.”
“Yes, we began construction just over a year ago.”
“The funds to manage a project like that is… extraordinary, to say the least. Enough to fund an army or two.”
Hattori chuckled politely. “Yes, the cost of it is extreme. My Clan can manage the drain on our funds though.”
He tactfully did not mention it took every penny he had.
“I see.” He saw Sasuke deliberate for a moment, thinking about something, before continuing. “You said your Clan only has twelve members including yourself. Yet, almost two dozen civilians currently reside in your city.”
“Yes. Seventeen civilians, all experts in the architecture field to help build the city. They will live there permanently.”
“I see. Well, that’s essentially twenty-nine Clan Members.” Sasuke smiled oddly. Hattori had to suppress a shiver; he felt kind of scary right now.
“Our alliance then, Sasuke?”
“I’ll have it drafted and sent to your city in the morning.”
It was Hattori’s turn to flash a demonic smile.
…
After Hattori returned to his house, for the first time in a long time, he rested entirely peacefully.
He woke before dawn as he usually did, woken by the sound of Sukuna and Miwa training with blades.
He stretched as he got up, silently. The envoy from the Shinja clan with official alliance documents would come soon. He assumed once those arrived, his relation with them would change on his Clan Relations menu.
Hours passed before the envoy arrived. He carried with him a veritable novel in pages, easily numbering in the high dozens.
The man, like most Shinja, was rather average looking. He had a black bandana tied around his forehead to signify his clan. Hattori was thinking about getting something similar for his clan, but…
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
His first meeting with Tako had dissuaded him from the idea of a cloth headband. Perhaps metal? But it would be too tight…
Those thoughts dissipated as the Shinja called out.
“--woahh. Oh, Hattori Yanmaru-san!” He bowed extremely low, his hands held out. “These are the letters of alliance from our Clan Head.”
Hattori grabbed them politely, and watched the boy rise from the bow.
“This looks like it’ll be awesome once it’s done. Think it’ll happen in my lifetime?”
Hattori chuckled. “I don’t know. How old are you?”
“Twenty-six.” Hattori blanched. Huh? This… this guy looked like a child, and was pushing thirty. By ninja standards, he was an elder…
“Ah… Well, the ninja life is perilous, so who can say…” Hattori looked away awkwardly. Luckily, the Shinja envoy did not seem to take it negatively.
He laughed boisterously. “Haha yeah. I have almost died three times this year, you know?”
Hattori tried not to let his grimace show. This guy really knew how to bring down the mood.
Like that, hours passed before the envoy left.
Hattori briefly checked his relations menu, ecstatic to finally see that the Shinja clan were marked as allies to the Yanmaru.
Ally (Shinja) – The Shinja Clan has formally allied with you. Any attacks on either party are expected to be met with assistance from the other. Attacking an allied Clan will result in a net loss of fame to all related factions of both parties.
Hattori was honestly just glad to finally have someone he knew would fight for him if his Clan was attacked. The Uchiha were quite terrifying. He had learned from one of his Clan Members on a recent trip to Yamatari that they were investigating the death of Yugito.
The man had gotten to their Clan compound and died there. He was actually quite worried about it. Even though they had killed Yugito in their Anbu uniforms, it was quite literally in their compound – and soon to be their city.
He blanched.
Their city?
“Ha… Hahahah!” Hattori felt giddy. Yugito, of course, did not die in their compound. He died in some random city. Of course. “I don’t have to worry about it as long as construction speeds up.”
He eyed the current progress. The wall was maybe 10% completed. All four bridges have long been completed, being used frequently by resource shipments he had purchased from the Land of Fire shogunate and private sources.
The roads, by now, were complete as well. Houses had their plots cleared and were waiting for construction to begin. The same could be said for the entirety of the city: every tree within it had been cleared.
Rocks had been removed, ground had been smoothed. One could see from any wall to the next. In Hattori’s entirely unbiased opinion, he thought it was looking pretty good so far.
The progress of construction in the residential area was at maybe 5%. Even still, that meant there was roughly enough room for four hundred people, if he decided to only include families.
He wondered idly if he should finish the schools before continuing, and then hire staff to work them. Advertising free housing and education, both civilian and Shinobi, his city would fill up quite fast.
And, with more population, the faster the city could be constructed. He could have more and more money by sending people out on missions…
Hattori’s face, usually stoic, had been wrong all day. Even now there was a peculiar smile on his face! His eyes seemed to reflect dollar signs!
Tomo tapped on his shoulder from behind, so he quickly masked his odd expression. He turned around and saw the man’s face, which was calm and collected like always.
“Hattori-san, I would like to discuss something important about the future of the city.”
“Ah, Tomo. Of course.”
“There are two directions we can take. First, we can become a largely trade-based city, or we can be a self-sustaining city. Which path would you like to take?”
Hattori thought about it for a moment. He understood what Tomo was getting at. Right now, and even when the current city blueprints were finished, there was a lot they were missing to maintain a proper city.
“Of course, a self-sustaining city. I assume this is about food?” Hattori asked, and Tomo just nodded.
“So, here’s my plan…”