Actually, strictly speaking, there are quite a few Ninja Clans within Konoha that operate industries.
For example, the Yamanaka Clan runs flower shops, while the Nara Clan deals in medicinal herbs and the like.
Even the Uchiha Clan has many industries under its control to supplement the clan's finances.
These industries form the foundation upon which these Ninja Clans can maintain their existence.
However, the industries of these Ninja Clans are nothing special; in Minamikawa Yuu's eyes, their revenue and scale are merely child's play.
Given Minato Namikaze's connections and reputation, as long as Minamikawa Yuu doesn't directly compete with these clan industries, there shouldn't be any major issues.
Even the Sarutobi Clan, from which the Third Hokage hails, would show him some respect and wouldn't reject him openly.
And for Minamikawa Yuu, this was already a massive advantage.
As the saying goes, it's easier to get things done when you have people in high places.
In Konoha Village, Minamikawa Yuu's situation wasn't just having people in high places—it was that everyone at the top was one of his people.
Under these circumstances, how difficult could it be for him to start a small business?
"Mm, go ahead and do whatever you want to do."
Minato Namikaze wasn't entirely clear on Minamikawa Yuu's plan.
But he understood Minamikawa Yuu's abilities and character, knowing he wouldn't do anything without being certain, so he simply gave him a free hand.
"I might actually need your support for this, Sensei."
Minamikawa Yuu spoke softly, "Otherwise, it'll be hard to take the first step."
Besides wanting to borrow Minato's influence, there was another very important reason he came to see him.
To borrow money.
Yes, Minamikawa Yuu had no money.
This was perfectly reasonable.
After all, although he had graduated from the Ninja Academy, he had only been working at Konoha Hospital for a short time.
He had some savings, but it was far from enough to start a business.
In contrast, Minato Namikaze before him was a wealthy man.
Not only was he an elite Jonin, but he also had few places to spend his money.
Over the years, the savings he had accumulated were quite substantial.
"So there are things that even you can't solve, Yuu."
Hearing Minamikawa Yuu's intent, Minato Namikaze couldn't help but smile, finding it quite interesting.
He was used to Minamikawa Yuu's confident side and rarely saw him in such a predicament.
Seeing it now, he couldn't help but find it amusing.
Without much hesitation, he took out all his savings and handed them to Minamikawa Yuu: "This is all I have for now. If it's not enough, Kushina should have some as well."
"However, getting money from her might be a bit troublesome."
"So it's probably better not to."
Compared to Minamikawa Yuu, Minato Namikaze was quite well-off, but Uzumaki Kushina was truly wealthy.
She had come with the inheritance of the Uzumaki Clan. Although most of it was gone after the clan's destruction, the remaining assets alone were enough to make her a rich woman.
Unfortunately, getting money from her private stash wasn't easy.
Given her fiery personality, a lecture was inevitable.
Minato Namikaze didn't want to deal with such a headache.
"It's fine."
In response to Minato's words, Minamikawa Yuu just smiled: "This is enough; there's no need to trouble Sister Kushina."
He only lacked startup capital, and Minato's money was sufficient.
As for Kushina's side... he didn't want to go looking for trouble.
"Consider this money as an investment in shares, Sensei."
He said with a smile, "Perhaps in a while, I'll be able to give you a surprise, Minato-sensei."
"Then I shall wait and see."
Minato Namikaze laughed, not thinking too much of it.
In his view, while Minamikawa Yuu was smart, he was still a child and had no prior business experience, so the hope of success wasn't great.
Doing business wasn't that easy.
The reason he gave the money to Minamikawa Yuu was just to let him try his hand at it, without any other expectations.
Minamikawa Yuu could more or less sense Minato Namikaze's thoughts.
He didn't explain anything, just smiled and turned to leave.
He moved very efficiently and recruited personnel in no time.
Then, he moved on to the next step.
He first approached the Uchiha Clan.
"What, open a factory?"
Fugaku looked puzzled at Minamikawa Yuu's intent: "Why would you do that?"
"It's part of the plan,"
Minamikawa Yuu explained, "If handled correctly, it might help with the Hokage election."
What, help with the Hokage election?
Hearing Minamikawa Yuu's words, Fugaku immediately perked up.
Without any hesitation, he directly allocated a sum of money to Minamikawa Yuu and gave him an idle piece of Uchiha Clan land to use as a production site.
As the Uchiha Clan Head, he certainly had this much authority.
Setting aside the production site for a moment, the funds he allocated alone were a huge sum for Minamikawa Yuu—several times more than Minato Namikaze's savings.
It couldn't be helped; after all, he was the Uchiha Clan Head, and he was generous with his resources.
After securing funds from the Uchiha Clan Head, Minamikawa Yuu proceeded unhurriedly and approached the Yamanaka, Nara, and Akimichi clans one after another.
Many people in these three clans were former comrades of Minato Namikaze; even their clan heads had once served as Minato's subordinates, so there was quite a bit of goodwill.
Using Minato Namikaze's name, Minamikawa Yuu was almost unstoppable in these places.
The heads of these three clans quickly met with Minamikawa Yuu. Upon learning that he was preparing to start an industry and had Minato Namikaze's support, they didn't say a word and directly invested money.
In a very short time, even before Minamikawa Yuu's factory and storefronts had opened, he already had the support of the Nara, Yamanaka, Akimichi, and Uchiha Clans.
This was actually far from the limit.
With Minato Namikaze's reputation, if he wanted to, he could bring in even more people to invest.
If he were even more unscrupulous and used Jiraiya's name, perhaps even the Sarutobi Clan would invest in him.
The reason he stopped at this point was simply because it was enough.
With the support of several major Ninja Clans for funds and no shortage of land for production and sales, it was time to get to work.
He acquired a similar enterprise from outside Konoha and put it into production after some slight modifications.
In just a few short days, a large number of Minamikawa Food Stores opened in various locations within Konoha Village.
The food store's initial product line was limited, consisting only of some portable instant noodles and other convenient, good-tasting products.
In Minamikawa Yuu's view, this was clearly not enough.
In the coming days, he would continue to send people to various places to purchase more products to fill the shelves.
But even this level of variety was greeted with great enthusiasm by the villagers of Konoha.
On opening day, Minamikawa Food Stores everywhere were packed.
A large number of people from the Uchiha, Nara, and Yamanaka clans swarmed in, overwhelming the business at every location.
You might ask why?
Because consumer vouchers were issued.
As a capitalist, Minamikawa Yuu certainly didn't forget to provide benefits to his investors.
On the day Minamikawa Food Stores opened, any Ninja from the Uchiha, Nara, Yamanaka, and Akimichi clans received free shopping vouchers from Minamikawa Yuu.
With these vouchers, they could shop in the food stores, which naturally attracted a huge crowd.
These people would then attract even more people into the stores, who would continue to spend.
As for the small cost of issuing vouchers, it was considered an opening promotion.
Unsurprisingly, the food stores did indeed do very well.
The people living in Konoha Village had good spending power, as there was often a Ninja in the family.
And Ninjas in this era were definitely a high-income group.
For these people, as long as their needs were met, they didn't mind spending money.
Moreover, the various foods introduced by Minamikawa Yuu didn't taste bad at all; he had not only hired specialized masters for R&D but also held many tasting events to select the best types and flavors.
Under such circumstances, and with no similar competitors, the results were naturally quite good.
"Everyone, be careful."
In the Orphanage, Yakushi Kabuto was carefully directing the orphans to work.
The opening of Minamikawa Food Stores had changed many people's lives.
And among them, those whose lives were changed the most were undoubtedly these orphans in the Orphanage.
There were many orphans in the Orphanage. Although they were young and couldn't do heavy manual labor, they could handle basic tasks like packaging and labeling.
To improve the lives of the orphans, Minamikawa Yuu deliberately outsourced part of the work to the Orphanage; as long as these children could complete the work regularly, they would receive payment.
This greatly improved the lives of the children in the Orphanage.
In the past, although they had a place to eat and stay, their lives were very strained.
At the very least, things like pocket money were out of the question.
Now that Minamikawa Yuu had come, they could at least rely on their own efforts and exchange their labor for some compensation.
And it wasn't just in the Orphanage.
The same was true within the Ninja Clans.
After the Minamikawa Food Enterprise opened, most of its workers came from the Uchiha and the Ino–Shika–Chō clans.
Even within Ninja Clans, ordinary people made up the vast majority.
After all, there were many who lacked ninja talent.
Konoha's finances were limited, and it was impossible for everyone to be on the official payroll as a ninja.
And with limited industries in this era, even within Ninja Clans, most people could only make a living from farming besides running small businesses.
At this time, Minamikawa Yuu's food factory gave these people a new choice.
Working in his food factory not only offered good benefits and decent work but was also much easier.
The better Minamikawa Food Stores' business was, the better the treatment for those working for him.
In this short period alone, his enterprise had recruited over a thousand employees.
All of these were people from those Ninja Clans.