It has been fifteen years since the founding of Konoha Village.
In a Japanese-style building with a courtyard in the village, a boy of about seven or eight years old sat on his knees in a second bedroom with the door open.
A low wooden table was positioned on the tatami mats, with a map spread across it.
The young boy, Shenkin Youya, placed his hands on the table and fell deep in thought, examining the black dots marked on the map.
A few years ago, he was taken in by Senju Hashirama, the First Hokage of Konoha, and now resided in Hashirama's home. Today was a day off from Konoha Academy, so Youya stayed home to study the map.
What he was looking at was the location of gold mine veins in the Land of Fire.
Youya had been electrocuted while playing a mobile game in his previous life and found himself in this world after waking up.
To his surprise, he had also received a unique ability from the game.
The mobile game he played, *The Road to the Strong*, allowed him to summon characters from various popular anime, including *One Piece*. However, he found himself in the world of *Naruto* with this newfound ability, which was quite unexpected.
Youya's initial account had recruited a new character, Gilder Tezolo, who possessed the Golden Fruit.
His golden finger was essentially the Golden Fruit, which could turn objects into gold. However, the downside was that anything touched by this fruit would revert to its original form upon contact with water.
At first glance, the ability seemed useless, especially in the early stages, as being discovered might lead to dire consequences. But once the fruit awakened, it would lose much of its utility.
What he valued more was the ability to sense gold.
Konoha Village was located in the northwest of the Land of Fire, and the area had a wide radius. Whenever Yuya undertook missions, he would search for gold mines in the vicinity.
So far, he had detected three locations, but they were all minor veins, each containing no more than a few hundred kilograms of gold. Eventually, he would need to visit these sites and gather all the gold.
He believed that beneath the surface, there must be a main vein; most of the gold stock lay underground, with only a small amount visible on the surface, typically fifty kilometers deep.
While Yuya lacked the means to dig underground for gold, the small quantities he found were still useful.
For the past fifteen years, the ninja world had enjoyed peace, allowing all nations to develop. To gain strength in the shortest time possible, Yuya knew he had to acquire wealth.
Money held power, and gold was a hard currency in the ninja world. Although the common currency was ryo, there was still a conversion ratio between gold and ryo.
Due to the recent peace, this ratio had decreased compared to wartime, but gold's status as a hard currency remained unchanged.
However, Yuya was not particularly strong at the moment. In this ninja world, personal strength reigned supreme. To aspire to be Hokage, one had to be strong.
With this in mind, he jotted down the three marked points on a piece of paper, putting the map away afterward.
"Bang, bang, bang!" The sound of hurried footsteps interrupted his thoughts. Yuya looked up just as a man with long hair tied back and a silly expression burst through the door, throwing himself at Yuya.
"Yuya! My good disciple! Please save your master!"
This man was none other than Senju Hashirama, the legendary god of shinobi and the First Hokage of Konoha Village, who had single-handedly founded the village and established the one-country-one-village system.
Youya looked down at the man clinging to his leg, his expression unchanged. "How much do you owe this time?"
Hashirama grinned sheepishly. "Three hundred thousand ryo."
"Three hundred thousand?!" Yuya exclaimed in shock. "That's enough to feed Mito-san and me for a whole year!"
"I can't help it! I was winning at first, but then I lost everything! I need to make it up!" Hashirama explained.
Youya stared silently at the man who was now rubbing the back of his head with a sheepish grin.
To be honest, when he had watched the anime in his previous life, he didn't have a strong impression of Hashirama because he had not appeared much in the early episodes.
But after living under the same roof for a few years, Youya discovered that Senju Hashirama, the god of shinobi, was merely an easygoing ninja with a penchant for gambling.
Hashirama was well aware that the gambling venue was questionable but still insisted on going there, often disguising himself to avoid being recognized as the First Hokage.
Though he had won and lost in equal measure, his wife, Uzumaki Mito, never hesitated to mock him when he won back some money or took advantage of him when he lost.
"You're not going to kneel in the yard all night again, are you, Master?" Youya said, his voice laced with sarcasm.
"Of course not! Mito will definitely do that," Hashirama laughed heartily.
Looking at Youya with eager anticipation, he said, "So this is just asking for trouble, right?"
Youya felt embarrassed. "You know my abilities aren't that reliable. The gold I conjure can't touch water…"
Hashirama waved his hands dismissively. "Hey, don't say that! They won't care. As long as you make the gold appear, they can't pour water on it, right? This has happened many times before."
This wasn't the first time Yuya had been dragged into Hashirama's troubles.
Seeing his master's expectant look, Youya sighed. "But… but…"
Understanding his disciple's hesitation, Hashirama quickly assured him, "I'll tell your uncle tomorrow that you don't have to go to school."
Youya's face lit up with a grin. He stood up, picked up a small stone from the yard, and activated his ability. Gradually, the stone transformed into gold.
"Hmm, this is about half a catty… over two hundred grams. Converted to money, that's about a million ryo," Youya announced, tossing the golden stone to Hashirama. "Just remember, don't let it get wet!"
Hashirama nodded vigorously before turning and dashing away.
Youya clapped his hands, feeling indifferent about whether his gambling master would get caught cheating. All he cared about was enjoying his day off tomorrow.
With only one day to spare, he knew it was impossible to visit all three locations, so he decided to head west first.
As he prepared for the following day, he contemplated his chakra attributes: water, wind, and earth.
Having three attributes might seem advantageous, but it meant that if he chose the conventional ninja path, he would have to master all three: Water Release, Wind Release, and Earth Release.
Given the choice, he preferred to focus on improving his golden abilities first; that seemed more straightforward.
Without a golden finger to assist him in learning ninjutsu, his progress was slower than he wished.
Unlike Indra and Asura, he lacked innate chakra, meaning he had to work three times harder than others.
Without the golden fruit, Youya might have had to toil as hard as Lee.
However, with the golden fruit in his possession...
He had to find reliable gold veins.
As long as he could uncover a significant gold vein, he would be on the path to success.
---
**Notes:**
1. The gold on the surface of the Earth accounts for less than 0.001% of the planet's total. Even when considering gold in the Earth's crust, it amounts to less than 0.01%. The majority of gold reserves lie within the Earth's core, making mining difficult. In fact, the costs to mine gold often exceed its market value.
2. The neon gold-to-yen ratio is approximately 1:10,000, but this value is slightly exaggerated, so it was adjusted to 1:5,000.
3. The three major anime franchises, *Bleach*, *One Piece*, and *Naruto*, have each concluded their respective storylines, with *One Piece* still ongoing and evolving in unexpected ways. Recently, the character from the Five Elders transformed into a spider demon, which is quite peculiar. Thankfully, *Naruto* has reached a confirmed conclusion, ensuring there won't be any further unnecessary additions to its story.
4. Despite uncertainties about whether anyone will read a Naruto story now, Youya decided to continue writing at his own pace, without rushing.
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