Chapter Text
“As I'm sure everyone here is well aware, the social welfare system of the village has been on a dramatic down slide the last fifteen years, and the war had only exacerbated that decline.” It was his turn to speak. It had been a bit scandalous when they'd arrived, Kakashi had went over to talk with Shizune and Tenzo, who always spectated these meetings. A number of the unseated clans had been staring at Saito, who was engrossed in his notes when they arrived. The curiosity spilled over into something else when he greeted Shikaku as uncle- he'd insisted the last few months, if Saito was his elder brother's son, he had to be uncle. (Naruto privately thought it was just some convoluted way to mess with Inoichi, as it required very little physical effort and had the affect of making the blonde feel old despite the fact he was still in his early twenties. Sometimes he felt bad for Choza who was the least ridiculous one amid the trio, but maybe that was only because of his lack of exposure.)
They had wrongly assumed he had come to test the waters to see how the boy would be received. A few of the smaller clans he knew of with daughters around Saito's age began to bother him. Naruto only sighed as his teenage son missed the memo and began to politely try and escape conversation.
When Naruto had asked him if there were any girls, or boys for that matter, he was interested in, Saito had given him a flat look and said he was focusing on his career, and didn't want to think about dating until he was able to fully establish his small company. He pitted whatever idiot fell in love with his kid at this point, given his tunnel vision he probably wouldn't even notice if someone threw themselves at him naked...
Still, it had been a bit funny to see his poor introverted son try and escape middle aged clan heads all trying to find a way to get in with the current hokage's clan. A foot in the door was better than nothing.
This was clearly an unexpected development, as Saito helped him hand out leaflets with the information for his proposal. It wouldn't help him distance himself from the rumors that he was an heir candidate for their clan, but it might help his business.
“Within the Eastern Wall district, there are forty eight registered plots of land, of those, only ten have structures that meet or exceed current building safety codes. The remaining thirty eight either have no standing structures, buildings that are not up to code and have been allowed to run down, or are abandoned structures.
“Is there a point to this, Namikaze-san?” Hiashi interrupted him, clearly trying to figure out his angle. They'd been neutral to one another up until now, given he was friends with Hiashi's brother, but it was clear he might already suspect were this is going.
“There's a bylaw within the village charter that any buildings or properties that have been left abandoned or neglected, specified as being without maintenance for excess of three years, are, if the owner has already received a written warning and nothing has changed within six months, within the villages right to seize.”
That seemed to snap everyone to attention. It stopped the whispered side conversations at least.
“What does this have to do with the villages social welfare, are you suggesting the properties are seized and sold to turn a profit for charities?” Hiashi always sounded condescending, the prick. He didn't know how Hizashi could stand him.
“Not exactly. I do suggest they be seized, but rather than sell them back, as would likely happen, I've drawn up a plan that would allow for their development, with revenue generated being paid into the village. If you wouldn't mind opening the hand out I've prepared.” It was thin paper, and unfolded several times. Saito, who had been fully filled in the week before, had come up with even further ideas for the area. It was extremely ambitious. “The idea is that, by using funinjutsu, we could easily raise permanent structures for subsidized housing, ideally a few would provide housing at no expense so long as residents followed certain guidelines, the displaced earth would create sufficient space bellow the major roadways of the district,while that space could be turned into an underground market. By maximizing the space available in such a way we could easily solve the housing issue in the district as well as give the village a new revenue stream that could be put to other social projects.”
“Don't you think its a bit too ambitious for just one man to accomplish?” He knew why Hiashi was so critical. Some of his clan's backers would stand to lose a good deal of money in this, but he also didn't particularly care.
“My eldest, Saito, has generously volunteered his time to assist me. Between the two of us we could fully finish a building every three days, so long as we could clear the lots efficiently. It could be finished no later than the winter festival so long as we could begin work within the next two weeks.”
“Your civilian son?” Hiashi fired back.
“Saito has a natural talent for the art. He's actually responsible for the design of the subterranean market. Just because he isn't able to use jutsu doesn't bar him from funinjitsu.”
“Without chakra, seals cannot be activated. Unless you expected a shinobi to follow him around-!” Saito had pulled on one of his gloves, having quickly drawn out a seal on a piece of notebook paper and torn it out. The markings on the glove glowed, and the piece of paper shot upward, drawing in streams of ambient chakra that glowed as they reached it while it crumbled. A steady floating ball of light hovered above the now silent meeting.
“Permission to speak?” Enough members of the seated council nodded dumbly, staring at it. “I am fully capable of activating my own seals. My inability to use chakra on my own only spurred me on to find a way to circumvent the limitation I was born with.” He had tucked his notebook into a pocket of his hanten and carefully removed his glove. “I may be young but I have the sufficient skills to help my father if it's for the betterment of the village. Even if only a few buildings are put up before the deadline, there would be that fewer people having to live the winter on the streets.” It wasn't about money. If that's what it took to make the world spin they'd figure something out to ensure it, but at the end of the day the only important thing was the result.
“I support the proposed development.” Shikaku was the first to speak as the rest of those present seemed to soak it in.
“I second that.” Inoichi was quick to agree.
“My clan could benefit from a new market space. I support the development.” Choza winked toward him, he'd have agreed anyway, but the idea of opening a restaurant in such a novel location was probably very attractive to him.
“I see one of the proposed buildings would host an animal shelter.” Tsume had a large grin on her face, “I can get behind that, besides, I've seen the kids skill first hand.”
“The Aburame clan will back the construction.” Shibi tacked on, no doubt interested in the inclusion of rooftop gardens, those that could serve to help pollination efforts as well as lending more natural habitat to native bugs given how difficult it would be for the average person to disturb them.
“The Senju clan gives their support. It falls in line with my grandfather's ideals.” It was almost a threat to the other clans, but she could claim it was an opinon rather than a warning so she'd avoid being spoken to on it.
“It would certainly help civilian crime rates if more housing was opened. People tend to follow laws better when they feel safe.” Fugaku remarked. “So long as a police station is designated in the area you have my clan's full support.”
The smaller clan heads began to speak up their own approval.
“Some of the proposed lands belong to the Hatake clan.” The room was silenced again as eyes drifted toward Kakashi.
“I appreciate your concern, but even if the village isn't able to carry out the proposed plan I already approved the development of the land in my clan's name, it's sat empty for too long.” He looked bored, even as Tenzo finished weaving him a flower crown, dropping it lopsided on his head.
“There is an option within the proposal that ownership of the land can be kept so long as they hand over the development rights, the current landowners could stand to gain from the development, after all, and outright seizing the land would only happen in extreme circumstances. They would also be compensated for the land at the value it was last appraised at.”
Hiashi couldn't think of any additional arguments, but he was clearly furious. Excluding two smaller clans that sided with Hiashi, the vote pushed the development plan through, the next week the citizen council also passed it after hearing the Hokage had endorsed it. (It didn't hurt that palms had been greased and certain people had been blackmailed.)
The attempt to fight it was beaten down when it was leaked to the public that they (the wealthy land owners) had already been ordered to clean up years ago and hadn’t done so.
It was almost a year after they'd moved to the village when Shikamaru was wrapping a scarf around his neck as he and Saito prepared to begin their first site. There was a light chill in the air. He'd already promised Naruto a birthday present once he finished getting everything he needed done for the development done.
He was almost thankful that Yoshino's baby had had so many complications because Shikamaru hadn't had any time to dwell on how it was Ino's birthday.... that said... he was trying to keep his own birthday from coming up among their family this year.
He didn't see a point in slowing down to celebrate it, but it would (if everything went well) be his last year where he didn't share it with baby Naruto. Even still, he had an agenda, making the village safer and more prosperous for his kids. He would look forward to whatever it was Shikamaru had planned, but he was hoping it would pass by otherwise unnoticed.
“Both of you stay warm.” Shikamaru pushed a hat on Saito, who mumbled about not being a child.
“See you soon.”
Saito double checked the seal he'd drawn up as a rough draft, then the one he'd spent the last hour placing. He sprayed down the fuse seal so he wouldn't get hit by the building as it rose, and Haruki looked over it one last time and nodded, there was a small crowd gathered to watch them- they had only asked the crowd not to get within twenty feet of the array.
“Now, remember, Tori, Tatsu, Ne, Tora.” He nodded. The new gloves could be charged with a certain amount of chakra before use, and so he could use hand signs in a limited capacity to that end. He performed them carefully, before touching the smaller seal that was attached at a distance, a line of characters connected it like an explosive fuse to the much larger seal, it was well over four hundred feet in diameter, and had taken most of the morning to draw.
It glowed, charka sparking through the gloves as it connected, then the smaller seal kicked off to the fuse, and the fuse hit the large scale construction seal. It sunk into the earth for a second, before the ground rumbled slightly, and it began to rise up in a far more regular shape. It climbed higher than the Namikaze house did, three floors quickly surpassed as it crawled to be an almost impossible feeling seven. It was sharply tall, the seal still taking affect as the body if the building rose- with each window the earth rolled down and out to make balconies with the excess stone. It was without a doubt the tallest in the village, by a lot.
His heart hammered in his chest.
He had done that.
“Give it five minutes to settle, then we'll get to work.” Haruki clapped his arm, and the gathered crowd had cheered a bit, impressed. He was impressed too to be honest. It was one thing designing a seal, and another thing entirely to see said seal come to life like this- especially at the massive scale it was on.
Next would be reinforcement. Between the two of them it shouldn't take more than a few hours. Choza and his clan had offered to help clear the building cites, so they'd have tomorrow to connect up a system of seals for water circulation in the building and to double check everything one last time. Once water and electricity were hooked up, Haruki would use his shadow clones to lay down flooring and paint, outfitting doors and windows, and a building inspector would comb the structure. The first building would then be moved into by the tenants of the buildings across from them, so the demolition could start on that plot.
The next few buildings already had applicants lined up.
Their family had a good reputation in the area, the donation pantry on the outside wall usually had fresh fruits and vegetables, one shelf had a seal meant to keep things cold and was usually stocked with milk, and there were two water spigots- one hot one cold- and a sheet of paper up for requests. It had been Nanami and Nao who had put most of the work into it. Inei may have suggested it but it was the twins who had taken it over.
Inei never made a fuss over it, but some of the people in the area who slept rough had started to come up to him to ask about basic medical treatments, and he'd seen Inei treat them for any number of things when they'd quietly show up at the gate.
They were little things, but they were making an impact.
The local gang that used a decrepit warehouse as a base had also recently been raided, the group had been manufacturing a number of drugs, and seeing them out of the neighborhood had calmed the less aggressive factions.
Himari and Momo had helped a number of those in the area that had been squatting fill out the application forms for housing. Some because it was difficult, most because they had trouble reading or couldn't do it at all.
It felt.... good.
It soothed some part of him that had been more than a little scared that if he took one misstep out in the real world he could end up homeless, hungry, hurt. He really had been incredibly lucky.
If this was one small thing he could do to ease someone else the way his being adopted had eased him? He wanted to do it.
The building had finished settling and he grabbed another can of chakra rich spray paint, shaking it as he began to draw seals on the outside, Haruki had already made clones and vanished inside. He was more sensitive to chakra now that he'd been exposed to it as often as he had been, feeling seals activate, he did his best to keep up, finishing the outside and going in.
The inside had a similar design to their own home on a larger scale, a courtyard in the center, but rather than rooms there were units, two on each cardinal direction going up, the buildings entry way had two flights of stairs up and down, and so he turned down to start on the lower floors. One floor down and the hall wrapped to go around the outside, there were four entrances and all mirrored this one. From here to the last floor down it was eight stories. That was the planned depth for the subterranean market, which would also allow it to double as a second emergency shelter if the village was attacked- though given the amount of seals they were placing that would constantly be active there was no telling if these buildings could even come down due to natural disasters, let alone the machinations of men.
The bottom floor would be for stores, hopefully markets and other essentials, but there was a very real possibility this area's primary renting would be entertainment and for the most part a tourist trap. Even still, Minato oji had promised he'd make sure there were at least a few things, a grocery store or two, coin laundromats, it would be nice to set up a clinic. Kakashi's land would have the bottom two floors dedicated to charities, and though it wasn't planned, with staircases up and down, Saito had been workshopping a platform that could raise and lower down to the markets level, eighty feet under ground. it would make going and coming easier, and more attractive than allowing it to become some sort of micro city within the city.
To call the whole thing a mega project was to do it a disservice. In some ways it could be considered a sort of... magnum opus. This was what sealing could really do. It wasn't some relic of the past used for minor convenience or to... to trap chakra beasts. It was an extremely versatile art. It was jutsu in physical form as much as jutsu could be considered the same way Inei used his shadows. They might overlap but they were two distinct entities. Sealing was a lasting way to change the world around you.
The design of the seals they used took in nature chakra, but they were also designed in a way to encourage the proliferation of natural chakra. Limits might be placed in later, but with enough buildings in the village producing high levels of natural chakra the village might actually disappear into the leaves, as it tended to drastically encourage plant growth. The ancient trees around Konoha might grow ever taller, which in turn might open up new pathways of utilizing sealing as a way to capitalize on lumber or perhaps even using the trees to expand the city some day. It felt... fitting.
He had finished the first two floors from the bottom up when he spotted Haruki's clones two floors above him- they'd be done even sooner than expected. It felt like a waste to stop here... They could set up the water system tonight instead, that would put them ahead to start deciding how to divide up the space underground.
The proposed subterranean market would actually be a series of wide tunnels, connecting the planned buildings but also with several places up the the surface in various locations. It was the main reason that Saito wanted to make an easier way up and down, both to save time, and to make the market more appealing.
It would also help stock shelves, supply produce, and make the market more attractive to potential vendors to open shops in the market. No one wanted to walk up and down eight flights just to browse, though alternate markets could probably be constructed higher too... like roots to the buildings tree like forms. The plant growth that would be encouraged would likely make them seem more like massive trees than buildings.
He'd look over his seals he'd designed to form a solution to this when he got home.
They started on the water system, finishing it for all but the upper floors, as well as the waste disposal system, and seals were used to keep the building water-tight from anyone wanting an early look around. They had a day off tomorrow so Momo, Himari, and Chiyo would tag along- Chiyo wasn't good at sealing, but she could help put up paint which she seemed eager to do.
A few of the other clans had all put money in a pool to outfit the units with necessary appliances, like a stove and toilets though that was more plumbing, even if they weren't great. They would be put in just before the building was moved into, if everything went well it would be three days, if it didn't... it could be a week.
Saito was welcomed home to hugs, the other kids had watched from behind the wall as the building shot up, and they knew it had been him who'd done that.
This was it. This was the life he wanted. He just hadn't known. Be was so grateful.