Night.
After reaching an agreement with Tobirama, Haru immediately selected a suitable sacrifice from the Anbu prison and rebuilt Tobirama's body.
Of course, just like before, Haru placed a long list of restrictive commands on him, making absolutely sure that Tobirama could only stay in the underground laboratory and work for him every day.
Not that Haru was afraid of Tobirama jumping out to oppose him.
But avoidable trouble was still best avoided.
After all, digging up a former Hokage's grave and forcing a dead Hokage to work for you was not exactly the kind of thing that sounded good once it got out.
Tobirama, with a dark face full of resentment, then threw himself into research. In one go, he created more than sixty clones to handle research work.
They were now the strongest research team in the ninja world.
That was already the limit of Tobirama's current Reanimation body. He had completely abandoned combat ability in exchange for clone quantity. A light punch would be enough to turn one of those clones into smoke.
And Tobirama really was born with the body and soul of a workhorse. In only about three weeks, after going all out, he had already completed the light bulb, large storage battery, generator modification blueprints, and the design plan for the power plant.
All that remained was pouring money into carrying out the plan.
This was going to be an extremely profitable business.
In the future, the Leaf's electricity consumption definitely would not be a small number.
Maybe one day, simply selling electricity for a year would be enough to support the current Leaf by itself.
Investing in a power plant was investing in the future.
The cost of building a large power plant was not cheap. At minimum, it required a budget of three billion ryo, and that did not even include research and development costs.
Other than the Leaf, no ninja village would be willing to pour money into a project like this.
In the past, that amount would have been an astronomical figure for the Leaf too.
But now the Leaf's treasury was overflowing. It could definitely afford it.
Still, Haru always had to consider his clan's interests as well.
He directly planned to let the Uchiha buy shares in the Leaf's power plant under his identity as clan head, and he boldly prepared to put up half the money.
An investment on that scale was already a major flagship project for the entire village, so it naturally drew the attention of the Leaf's ninja clans.
That very day, Takuya came to visit Haru with Hyuga Asuka and a pile of gifts.
At this point, if Haru announced he was doing something, Takuya would rush over wanting a share of it no matter what. For all he knew, something that looked ridiculous on the surface might still turn into a miracle under Haru's hands, so of course he shamelessly begged to join in.
Then came Shikato. Then Toma.
It looked like the Uchiha were not going to be able to eat alone after all.
The clans all had money in hand now. Thirty billion ryo, once split across the large and small clans, was not actually that frightening. They even started arguing over contribution ratios and share percentages, which Haru was more than happy to see.
These clans were finally starting to understand things a little.
In the end, Haru settled it himself.
The Leaf would provide thirty percent, the Uchiha twenty percent, the Hyuga Clan...
As long as the Uchiha continued holding the Hokage position, the Uchiha would forever hold veto power over the future development of the Leaf Power Plant.
What remained after that was the labor problem.
The project was too large. The construction teams inside the Leaf simply did not have enough manpower, so outside recruitment became necessary.
The moment the job notice went out, it immediately ignited the passion of the unemployed drifters scattered around the Leaf by the war.
These people had been living in a daze, surviving from one uncertain meal to another on the occasional relief grain given out by the Leaf. The Leaf was not a charity house. The fact that Haru had kept them from starving to death already counted as kindness by his standards.
But now, they finally had work that could fill their stomachs.
Originally, Haru had planned to pay them wages.
The scale of this construction was enormous, and the number of workers needed was huge.
But these refugees, half-crazed by hunger, started undercutting each other on their own just to secure a construction slot.
Food alone was enough.
They were willing to work for the Leaf for free.
Faced with such overwhelming enthusiasm, Haru naturally accepted with a smile.
Emerging capital fit this twisted ninja world like a fish in water.
As a result, the owner of the Leaf's construction team came over with a miserable face to complain. His men also had to live and eat, after all. Back when the Leaf's first generator had been built, it had been this same batch of workers who built it.
Considering that experienced workers were obviously different from refugees who knew nothing, the wages of the construction team remained unchanged.
The Leaf still had to support its native skilled labor.
Time passed quickly, and in the blink of an eye, more than a month went by.
This time, the project drew on more financial resources, material resources, and manpower than any civilian works project in the Leaf's history, and it even stimulated the village's economy in the process.
In the Hokage's office,
Things were progressing beautifully.
Sitting in his office and slacking off, Haru let out a heartfelt sigh.
One hand held the progress report from the power plant construction site. The other held a cup of goji berry tea, from which he sipped slowly. Lately he really had been a bit overworked and needed to nourish himself a little.
The original generator had already been modified and could now be put into use. As for the remaining generators still under construction, an entire row of bottle-shaped buildings had been erected in the power plant area.
Each stood nearly ten meters tall, and there were hundreds of them.
Those had been built by workers laboring around the clock, and they were meant to store tailed beast chakra, ensuring the Nine-Tails could be drained completely in one go.
At the center stood an enormous circular structure connected to all of those bottle-like chakra storage units.
That building was for extracting the tailed beast's chakra.
Everything was ready.
All they lacked now was the Nine-Tails itself, their giant rechargeable battery.
Haru ordered his subordinates to invite Mito to his office.
Once Mito learned what Haru was planning, she was stunned by just how bold he was.
The ninja world treated tailed beasts as weapons.
Haru, on the other hand, was directly treating one like an infinitely rechargeable battery pack.
"Haru, you know this yourself. The Nine-Tails does not exactly have a good temper."
"It won't be easy for me to control it while extracting its chakra."
"..."
Mito started complaining, rambling on and on.
Haru was no fool. He naturally understood what she meant.
He could exploit Tobirama for free.
But exploiting Mito for free was not going to happen.
If he expected Mito to put in work without paying her, then even among the shareholder clans, he would not come out looking good.
Mito was a living person, after all. Her identity was special, her strength was real, and her status was high. The shareholders had not yet evolved into complete capitalists who cared only about money and nothing for appearances. At this stage, they still cared about face.
And besides, they all saw each other every day. Offending Mito and the Senju Clan behind her brought no benefits at all.
"Five hundred thousand ryo per extraction."
Haru named a price.
That was roughly the reward for one A-rank mission.
Compared to burning coal, it was already dirt cheap.
One extraction could power the village for half a year.
As long as Mito agreed, Haru would still be making a killing.
If they relied on coal, a single year would cost money on the scale of hundreds of millions.
Haru had done a full cost investigation and was now taking advantage of the fact that Mito knew nothing about the market.
"Besides, the Nine-Tails has lived inside me for so many years. I've always believed tailed beasts should be moved through love."
"I've spent so much time with the Nine-Tails that the bond between us is something an outsider like you could never understand. At this point, the Nine-Tails can practically be considered one of my closest companions..."
"..."
Mito spoke with deep feeling, shamelessly making things up.
That was definitely not the attitude she had when she was using chains to beat the Nine-Tails down.
Her meaning was obvious.
The price was wrong.
Add more.
And this money would not be going into the Senju Clan's account. It would go directly into Mito's own pocket.
Back in the past, ninja could earn money through missions. But from the day she became the Nine-Tails' jinchuriki, she had effectively said goodbye to mission income forever. That line of earnings had been cut off for years.
Of course, as the Senju Clan's treasured figure, she lacked for nothing in food, clothing, or comfort. If she wanted spending money, she could always take it from the Senju accounts.
But Mito had ultimately married into the clan. Constantly taking money from her husband's family left a thorn in her heart, even if everyone else thought it was perfectly natural.
Still, that was not the main reason.
Mito was thinking ahead for Tsunade.
She had to start saving money for the girl.
Tsunade's gambling was getting worse and worse. Before, it had been a few thousand ryo here and there. Now she had already started losing tens of thousands at a time. She had even disguised herself to gamble and nearly gotten herself detained at a gambling house.
What would happen once she grew up?
Would she start losing hundreds of thousands? Millions?
Those would be gambling debts.
And the Senju Clan was not just Hashirama's private household. It was a giant family with over a thousand mouths to feed. Once Tsunade grew older, how could the clan possibly keep covering her debts forever?
Unless the entire Senju Clan died out and all the inheritance fell into Tsunade's hands.
But that possibility could be dismissed immediately. The Senju Clan had existed for a thousand years.
If you loved a child, you planned deeply for their future.
By now, Mito had already fully recognized Tsunade's gambling nature. She was even worse than Hashirama.
There was no hope of correcting it at all.
Mito knew Haru was a rich dog with money to spare.
She had to ask for more.
She planned to put this money in the bank, so that after her death, Tsunade could receive regular monthly payments. At the very least, that would ensure the girl would not end up living too pitifully in the future.
"One million ryo per extraction. That's already the price of an S-rank mission. Don't push your luck. An ordinary jonin only gets to do a handful of S-rank missions a year, and those missions come with life-threatening risk."
Mito thought it over.
One extraction for one million ryo.
If it happened several times a year, then she would earn at least two million annually. This old body of hers should still be able to live another ten or twenty years without trouble. That meant at minimum tens of millions in total income.
For an ordinary ninja, that was already an astronomical figure.
After all, even the death compensation for a Leaf jonin capped out at five million ryo.
"Deal!"
"Then it's settled. Let's put it in writing right now!"
Still a massive win.
An enormous win.
Once Mito saw the giant profit potential of the power plant and compared it to coal expenses, there was no question she would raise the price on the spot.
Haru hastily drafted a contract, signed his own name, and stamped it with the Leaf's official seal. At this point, the opinions of the other shareholders no longer mattered.
"Sign."
Haru handed the pen to Mito.
Mito had emotional sensing abilities. Even though Haru was trying hard to suppress the joy inside, she still sensed something off.
Why did Haru seem so excited?
Did I ask for too little?
Mito hesitated and did not sign immediately.
"You already agreed. You're not thinking of backing out now, are you? If that happens, I'll just call a shareholders' meeting. Lady Mito, you're basically earning the reward of an S-rank mission while sitting still. I'm taking care of you here. If you don't believe me, go listen to how the jonin from the small clans will whisper about your greed in that meeting."
Haru put on a troubled smile and made as if to take the contract away.
At that, Mito panicked.
In her shallow understanding of money, this was already a high price. She knew absolutely nothing about the scale of electricity consumption in an industrial age.
"I'll sign!"
Mito signed her name.
Haru let out a long breath of relief.
In that instant, Mito sharply felt the joy in Haru's heart surge even stronger.
Damn it.
It really was too cheap.
Regret instantly rose in Mito's chest, but the contract was already signed. There was no backing out now.
Once she returned to the Senju Clan, she absolutely had to gather information on the power plant, especially the cost of coal as an alternative.
She needed to see exactly how much she had lost.
This visit had been far too rushed.
Thinking that, Mito followed Haru to the Leaf Power Plant.
At the Leaf Power Plant,
Mito entered the circular chamber, and a massive wave of chakra erupted from her body.
To keep the Nine-Tails from resisting too violently and damaging the chakra transmission device during extraction, Haru had even sent his own chakra into the Nine-Tails' sealed space to keep watch and prevent it from causing trouble.
Mito placed both hands on a special machine, and enormous amounts of chakra began to be drawn out.
That chakra, naturally, belonged to the Nine-Tails.
As a special life-form made entirely of chakra, the Nine-Tails could be described, in a not entirely appropriate way, as having its health bar and energy bar sucked dry at the same time.
How could the Nine-Tails possibly endure that?
Even though its entire body was bound tightly in chains like a wrapped rice dumpling, it still struggled furiously.
"Mito, I..."
"You damn wo..."
"Haru, you bastard, you're just standing there watching! Save me! I helped you win the Hokage position back then!"
Feeling the massive outflow of chakra from its body, the Nine-Tails finally panicked.
Mito had turned the extraction rate up to the maximum. In only a short moment, enough chakra for several Tailed Beast Bombs had already been drained away.
"Nine-Tails, shut up."
"Nine-Tails, you've been living inside Mito all these years without paying even a single bit of rent. So what if she takes a little chakra from you? You're supposed to be a polite tailed beast. Don't be as rude as the One-Tail. You should know how to repay kindness."
"..."
The Nine-Tails' fox eyes went wide with disbelief.
Haru's words completely refreshed its understanding of reality.
He could actually say something so completely shameless.
It had once believed Haru was a good person.
"Rent? Repaying kindness? You can actually say those words out loud?"
"This pitch-black dump of a place is something I'd have escaped from long ago if not for Mito's sealing technique. You and Madara are exactly the same. Neither of you has ever treated tailed beasts like people."
"Haru, you're completely shameless. How are you planning to pay back what you owe me?"
"Haru, you're the most shameless bastard in the entire Leaf..."
"I'll f****** kill you..."
"..."
The Nine-Tails cursed furiously.
Haru merely waved a hand indifferently. Ever since the whole issue with Kaede and Rin had blown up, his lower limit for shame had already fallen to a brand-new level.
Now, every strand of the Nine-Tails' chakra smelled like money.
And the Nine-Tails' cursing sounded like heavenly music to Haru's ears.
The louder it yelled, the more it proved there was still plenty of chakra left.
"Mito, more power. It still has enough strength to shout. Drain it dry."
A greedy capitalist smile spread across Haru's face.
(End of Chapter)
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