"Tell me, what do you want in exchange for doing this service to the village?" Fugaku asked Haruto, already thinking if his decision to turn Haruto into a public target was the right one since he had such a good head on his shoulders.
But since it was already too late to take back the words spoken to the village, Fugaku decided he would spare no expense in keeping Haruto safe and sound. And if that meant giving him protection equivalent to the Hokage, then so be it.
Haruto thought a little. He couldn't directly ask Fugaku for a technique like the Hiraishin jutsu which would give him the ability to survive any attack by teleporting/running away as long as he detected it since he'd already taken something from the scroll of seals before.
Plus, this technological development, while revolutionary enough that it would dominate the next century, didn't mean that much to the village other than real time communication without the need for direct Yamanaka bodies. Only Haruto currently knew its true value.
So Haruto tried to distill his needs a little.
There were two things he lacked the most right now.
Money to build the inventions in his mind from Megamind's knowledge like the Orbital Laser Cannon to nuke Madara.
And knowledge on sealing, something that would open the doors to shinobi world tech to him. He could only imagine what he could pull off with Megamind's scientific knowledge and seals.
So Haruto was about to do something simple, he'd ask for a book on sealing knowledge, something so cheap that Fugaku shouldn't have any issues providing while also planting a thought in Fugaku's mind to give him a private research division in the R&D department.
"Hokage-sama… I would like to learn more about sealing…" Haruto said softly, like a shy young worker who was afraid to take more credit than necessary.
Fugaku nearly burst out laughing if not for the fact that he was an Uchiha and his son was missing, "Is that all? That can be arranged quickly, but I can see the worth of your invention is much greater than that, ask freely, there must be something else that you want?"
Haruto was surprised, he hadn't expected Fugaku to grant him a second reward without having to plant a thought in his head, after all they were at war, 'I underestimated Fugaku's far sightedness… it seems he isn't all that terrible after all… maybe I can use him better.'
So Haruto simply told Fugaku his ideas, "Hokage-sama… I would like to have a special spot in the R&D department. All my future research projects must be approved quickly and the materials required must be procured by the village and handed over to me with first priority."
Fugaku was about to agree until he heard the words 'first priority'.
In this time of war, was it really alright to focus on research first? What if Haruto asked for Chakra metal which would be used to make better weapons for the village to do some strange research.
After all, one must know that only three percent of the research undertaken at the village's R&D department were ever successful.
Could he bear parting with that much money and resources for so little return during a time of war when most research was shuttered anyway?
Fugaku frowned deeply but then Haruto said something that shocked and bamboozled him.
"Honorable Hokage-sama, I want to research a method to allow any person to be able to master their tenketsu instantly without spending years of effort."
Fugaku's eyes narrowed, "That is impossible."
"We won't know until we try Hokage-sama… if we can crack this problem just imagine the amount of shinobi we can prepare in a short amount of time… nearly every shinobi can learn S-Rank jutsu without risking themselves in the process."
Fugaku kept his eyes narrowed and looked at Haruto as if searching him for something.
Eventually after a few seconds of stringent silence Fugaku spoke calmly, "I will give you one chance. You have six months to present me with the results of this research. Until then the village will fund your project to reasonable limits.
In case you succeed in this project the village will fund your other projects as well."
Haruto bowed, "That is all I ask for Hokage-sama."
Fugaku nodded and walked away with Inoichi to a separate tea room in the Yamanaka compound to discuss how many orders the village would place to create a network around the village and the border patrol points.
Haruto sighed deeply.
With nothing to do, Haruto stepped out of the Yamanaka compound and used his training with Korosensei to slip back into the Senju compound unnoticed by the people of the village.
He didn't think he could fool Shisui with his assassination skills just yet, but he was learning day by day.
Sitting down in one of the Senju gardens, Haruto sighed deeply before relaxing completely and playing with Tonton's tail as she lazed right beside him, Haruto didn't pull the tail, he was curling it into springs and watching it straighten out when Tonton pulled it away.
With a calm expression, Haruto thought of something, 'I should learn the secret Yamanaka clan jutsu by myself… then I can make off the grid devices that are connected to the internet.'
'I can even give one to Orochimaru for secret communication.'
'And as long as I succeed in cracking the tenketsu problem I should be able to fund all the inventions that Megamind created. I only need the raw materials… After that I can simply use Edward's alchemy to manufacture everything.'
'Now the question remains… how do I create a device that can figure out how much chakra a person needs to use in each tenketsu…'
Haruto was about to think of ways to do that when suddenly a flood of new memories hit his head.
'Huh…'
Haruto's eyes brightened before he spoke to the air.
"Thank you Mito-sama… thank you for giving me your legacy."
The new memories about sealing gave Haruto insane new ideas all of a sudden but before all of that, Haruto decided he would pull out the new character that he'd been waiting on with all the missions he'd just completed.
He changed his mind about waiting for a while before drawing a new character since there was no longer any Tsunade to help him out when he fought Madara. A new character would give him more powers and abilities to keep Madara on his toes in case he attacked.
So Haruto closed his eyes and went to the Template Roulette Space where a pair of white gloved hands waited patiently for his instructions while shuffling a deck of cards that were golden or above.
Haruto spotted a Platinum Card and spoke up quickly, "Stop!"
Only, this time, he drew a diamond card instead.
As soon as the card landed face up in front of him, Haruto froze looking at the three eyed demonic looking figure inside it.
The figure sneered at him from inside the card, before vanishing, leaving Haruto surprised and his heart beating faster.
'Is that who I think it is…!!!'
Haruto quickly went into the Template Inventory Space to meet his new tenant.
Only there was no one there this time.
"Huh? No one came here?" Haruto asked everyone in the template inventory space looking confused, and they were just as confused as him about it. "I don't think anyone's here Haruto-kun… are you sure you drew the card properly?" Megumin asked while looking around.
"Did something break?" Haruto asked the system but received no response leaving him baffled.
***
Ultra Fighter looked underneath himself and sighed deeply.
The Snake Sage was all curled up around herself, snoozing off in the darkness of the night while the stars shone from high above.
Suddenly a strange voice spoke inside his head.
"Brat! What are you doing?"
Ultra Fighter quickly realised that there was a Template Inventory Space in his mindscape which allowed him to enter it and so he followed with a confused expression on his face since this was the first time such a thing had happened.
Only the main body had been able to access the Template Inventory Space until now.
As soon as Ultra Fighter entered the Template Inventory space he came across the same three eyed demonic figure that Haruto had just drawn.
"WHAT!?"
"HOW!?"
***
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