Naruto: Starting as the Third Hokage with Tears in His Eyes

Chapter 599 A Map to the Future?

future?

Do they still have a future? Does Kirigakure (Hidden Mist Village) still have a future?

After a brief silence.

"I want the people of Kirigakure to be able to eat delicious grilled meat every day!"

Hozuki Shio practically screamed, tears streaming down her face, "I want children our age to no longer have to kill their comrades to survive! I want them to be able to argue in the sunlight about tactics, not life and death!"

This is her simplest and most sincere wish.

Hozuki Kaigetsu stared intently at Sarutobi Hiruzen, a mad and scorching flame now burning in his eyes that had once been filled with despair.

"Hokage-sama!"

For the first time, he used honorifics: "I want to build a grand road in Kirigakure! I want to build a reservoir dam like the Naka River in our country! I want to use ninjutsu to build our homes!"

"I want the word 'ninja' to stop being synonymous with killing!"

The brother and sister finally shouted out their deepest desires without reservation.

Their faces were a mixture of tears and fervor, filled with an infinite longing for Konoha-style peace, but also with a profound sense of powerlessness and confusion about how to achieve it.

They were nothing more than two imprisoned prisoners.

Looking at the two pairs of eyes he had personally set ablaze, Hiruzen Sarutobi finally revealed a satisfied smile.

It became.

The ideological imprint has been made.

Under everyone's watchful eyes, he slowly and deliberately opened the bottom drawer of his desk.

From inside, they took out a huge scroll that had been prepared beforehand, as thick as a brick.

"Thump."

He pushed the reel to the center of the desk with a dull thud.

Hozuki Kaigetsu and Hozuki Shio's gazes both focused on the scroll.

On the cover of the scroll, written in bold, powerful strokes, were a line of large characters that nearly stopped their hearts in their tracks—

"Three-Year Revitalization and Development Plan for Wuyin Village"

The simple dozen or so large characters were written in a vigorous and powerful handwriting that seemed to come alive from the scroll cover.

Together, they struck Hozuki Kaigetsu and Hozuki Shio hard in the hearts of both.

Time seemed to stretch out infinitely, each second feeling like wading through water, heavy and slow.

Hozuki Kaigetsu's throat bobbed violently, and he let out a clear swallow.

His gray-blue eyes, which always carried a cold and ruthless air, were now fixed on the scroll, unblinking, as if he wanted to pierce through it with his gaze.

Hozuki Shio, standing to the side, had her mouth agape, maintaining a dazed and adorable expression, even forgetting to breathe.

Her mind went blank.

Misty Village...Revitalization and Development Plan?

They all knew these words, but when put together, they created a kind of magical chemical reaction that they couldn't understand.

"Open it."

Hiruzen Sarutobi's calm voice broke the deathly silence.

He remained seated calmly in the main seat, holding a cup of still-warm barley tea, his posture leisurely, as if what he had just dropped was not a bomb capable of overthrowing a country, but merely an ordinary village purchasing list.

Hozuki Kaigetsu's hands trembled uncontrollably.

He slowly reached out his hand, and the moment his fingertips touched the smooth, cool scroll cover, he flinched slightly as if electrocuted, but ultimately he firmly grasped it.

My sister and I exchanged a glance, and in each other's eyes we saw the same bewilderment and shock.

The reel slowly unrolled.

The dense text that I had expected did not appear.

The first thing that catches the eye is an exquisite, incredibly detailed, and colorful painting.

It was a port they had never seen before, so bustling it seemed unreal.

On the spacious dock, huge cranes extend their long arms, lifting standardized containers from giant cargo ships and placing them steadily on automated railcars.

On the sea, streamlined ships shuttled back and forth, some spewing steam, others creating silent ripples on either side of their hulls, clearly driven by water-style ninjas.

Behind the port lies a well-planned city.

High-rise buildings stand tall, roads are wide, and you can even see tracks similar to those of Konoha trams running through the entire city.

In the bottom right corner of the drawing, its name is marked in small print.

"This...this is..."

Hozuki Shio's voice was hoarse; she could hardly recognize the place.

Is this really the coastline of my hometown, shrouded in thick fog year-round, cold and damp, with nothing but fishermen's huts and ninja's secret outposts?

But this is just the beginning.

As the scroll was further unrolled, a series of grander and more detailed blueprints crashed against the brother and sister's fragile understanding like a tsunami.

Part One: Fisheries and Agriculture – "Making Every Fish Scale Shine with the Light of Gold"

This part made Hozuki Shio's breathing suddenly quicken.