"Not bad at all, you little brat!"
Kakuzu stood there panting as he stared at Sakumo, his dark green eyes full of surprise.
The little brat in front of him had exchanged more than twenty moves with him without losing, and in close combat had even managed to suppress him. His swordsmanship was already refined enough to show the signs of becoming its own distinct style.
If this kid kept growing, then in just a few years Kakuzu really might not be able to beat him anymore.
That meant he had to beat him up now, while he was still green.
Otherwise he would never get the chance later.
Sakumo's leek bible had already spread by word of mouth throughout the futures圈, and there were plenty of suckers who had gone all in because of Sakumo's salesmanship. The bounty on Sakumo's head in the underground market had already climbed past one hundred million ryo.
That was worth several Asumas.
If Kakuzu had not already become one of Haru's men, then today he would definitely have taken Sakumo's head to the bounty office to recover some of his losses.
Kakuzu made up his mind.
Today, no matter what, he had to beat Sakumo senseless.
There was no chance of settling the score with Haru, so he could only vent on this little brat instead.
"My thanks."
Sakumo looked a little guilty.
He had clearly already put on a mask and stayed shut inside the village this whole time, so how were there still old victims coming after him?
What a sin this was.
Just as Kakuzu was about to keep attacking, Shikato stepped in at the right moment to smooth things over.
Even though Kakuzu had been a bounty hunter who crossed the Hyuga main family's bottom line, Haru had personally protected him and even arranged for him to follow Shikato around and learn the finance department's work.
That was enough to show how highly Haru valued this former bounty hunter.
If Shikato just stood there watching and something went wrong, then Haru would definitely come looking for him afterward.
"That's enough. You're going to be working together from now on. If you want to spar, there'll be plenty of time later."
"Hmph. Little brat, there's plenty of time later. We'll see."
Kakuzu gave Shikato some face and stopped, though he still flashed Sakumo a sinister smile.
Sakumo shivered.
Being targeted by a ninja at Kakuzu's level was not going to end well.
From that day on, Sakumo began living a happy life of being trailed by someone every single day.
"Master, time to wake up."
Rin, fully dressed and neat, gently woke Haru.
The bright sunlight fell across his face and stung his eyes a little. After a few minutes of struggling with the bed, Haru finally won his freedom.
The weather was gradually turning cooler. Feeling the remaining warmth in the bed, Haru found himself wondering whether he ought to install an air conditioner at home too.
Not just one room.
All of them.
The air conditioner production line had already been set up during this period. As for workers, the Leaf had plenty.
Once a war ended, the village was left with a large number of civilians who had nothing to do. The refugees were even more desperate, their eyes fixed on any job that could fill their stomachs.
Haru's black-hearted factory was overflowing with cheap labor, all earning meager wages. Food and lodging were fully covered by the Leaf, but they worked twelve-hour shifts around the clock, even rotating night shifts.
If certain industrialists from another world had seen it, they probably would have cried with envy.
And even with that kind of work, the refugees were still desperate for a place on the line. Those lucky enough to get into the factory early were already singing Haru's praises.
The Hokage of the Leaf really was a great benefactor.
Walking down the street, Haru reviewed the day's schedule in his head.
Another month had already passed.
He had a full slate today. His movie had wrapped filming a few days ago, and now they were working overtime to edit it. Haru needed to personally review every single scene.
He also had to head to the Hokage's office and listen to Shikato's daily report.
His day was packed from start to finish.
"Master, milk tea really tastes great..."
"Really? I still like cola better."
As Haru walked down the street, he held a cup of cola in his hand, while Kaede and Rin each carried a milk tea.
A few drink shops had already opened along the Leaf's streets, specializing in milk tea and cola. Long lines had formed outside all of them. The most notable thing about both drinks was simple.
They were loaded with sugar.
Humans were slaves to sugar. The brain was a sugar-hungry organ. If it did not get enough sugar, it would even break down fats and proteins just to force the body into making more.
Milk tea, sweet and fragrant, struck straight at one of humanity's weaknesses. Girls loved it especially.
Unfortunately, sugar was still expensive at the moment. Ordinary villagers in the Leaf could not bring themselves to spend money on things like that. The only ones who could casually buy multiple cups a day were high-earning ninja.
To build up the name recognition of milk tea and cola, Haru had not only personally endorsed the drink shops.
At every Leaf meeting, he had even approved funds so that every attendee got one cola and one milk tea.
When those above loved something, those below embraced it even more.
And besides, milk tea and cola genuinely tasted good. Business at the tea shops had exploded recently. Some ninja still could not manage to buy a single cup all day.
In the long lines, countless young men waited bitterly just to buy one cup of milk tea, hoping to win a smile from the girl they liked.
Haru's evaluation of that kind of behavior was simple.
The dry starved while the flooded drowned.
One cup of milk tea would never win you your beloved's heart.
It would only turn you into a desperate simp.
Sugarcane and sugar beets were both high-sugar cash crops, but right now most fields still grew grain. People were on the verge of starving, so filling their stomachs mattered more than anything else.
In the future, Haru might need to launch a ninja-world version of replacing rice with sugar crops.
As he continued toward the office, he quietly thought about how to quickly solve the issue of sugar production.
But once capital bared its fangs, things like enclosure movements were entirely possible, and that kind of shift would probably starve a lot of people.
Haru felt that even though he ran black-hearted factories and squeezed the labor of his workers as hard as he could, he was still a good person.
If he really went all the way and did something that rotten, then even he would feel a little guilty.
He truly was a kind man, after all.
Haru sighed inwardly and started thinking of some better solution.
And then he thought of the Aburame Clan.
Bees could gather nectar and produce honey, which was also high in sugar. Since the Aburame specialized in bugs, maybe they could breed a kind of insect that ate grass and produced sugar. Or maybe even one that just sat under the sun and made sugar on its own.
Inside the office,
Haru sat in his chair and looked at Shigen.
"Shigen, there's an important mission for your clan now."
The moment he heard Haru's words, Shigen's face lit up with excitement.
He knew very well where his clan stood inside the Leaf.
The Aburame specialized in controlling insects, but in direct combat they had an obvious weakness: their bugs feared fire-style techniques. Before the clan ever developed microscopic poison insects, their combat power was not especially high.
Gathering intelligence and scouting enemy movements was their true specialty, but in that field the Leaf already had a better option.
The Hyuga Clan.
That left the Aburame Clan in a very awkward position within the village.
On top of that, their family's natural lack of presence had always kept them in the role of minor background characters among the Leaf's clans.
But things were different now.
The Hokage not only remembered him, but was giving the Aburame Clan an important mission.
Whenever Haru assigned a task, that meant opportunity.
If they did well, then it could become their chance to rise.
"Hokage-sama, is this some major infiltration mission that requires the Aburame Clan?"
Shigen's voice was full of excitement as he guessed what Haru was about to order.
"Of course not. Every field has its own expertise. The task I'm giving you uses your clan's specialty. I want you to breed a special kind of insect. I hope you won't disappoint me."
Haru shook his head and spoke slowly.
"Breeding insects? Then Hokage-sama definitely came to the right clan."
"In the entire Leaf, no one is more suitable for this task than us."
Shigen's tone was full of confidence.
Their clan were the top experts in虫子. They literally kept bugs inside their own bodies.
Haru then explained his requirements, which left Shigen full of admiration for Haru's wild imagination.
The Aburame had always focused on making their bugs more destructive and more poisonous, pushing their size to extremes, either enlarging them or shrinking them as far as possible.
They had never once tried breeding insects specifically for sugar production, nor had the thought even crossed their minds.
"The insects' food has to be common and easy to find, something like ordinary grass. And their sugar production has to be high."
"If possible, you should also try breeding another kind of insect that isn't picky about food, reproduces quickly, and contains a lot of protein."
Haru thought of a certain protein block from another world, the kind made from insects. The source material was disgusting and the taste awful, but it could genuinely fill a stomach.
If the Leaf exported food like that, it would definitely have real potential.
"Hokage-sama, the Aburame Clan will do everything in our power. We'll mobilize the entire clan!"
This was the first time Haru had personally assigned the Aburame Clan a task. Since this was also their first time trying to breed this sort of insect, Shigen had no idea how long success might take.
But at the very least, their attitude had to be perfect.
"There's no need to be too nervous. I have a true master of research on my side. You can first create a rough prototype insect and write out the direction of your breeding process. I believe he can help you develop the insects I need much faster."
Haru was already thinking about piling even more work onto Tobirama.
A good workhorse had to keep taking on more weight.
Otherwise he would start slacking off.
"Oh? Hokage-sama has a master of insect breeding on his side too?"
"I wonder when I might get the chance to meet this master."
The moment Shigen heard there was a great researcher of insect breeding, he immediately became excited.
He absolutely had to meet a true expert like that.
"Uh... there'll be a chance eventually. Right now, his research workload is extremely heavy..."
Haru laughed awkwardly and brushed the matter aside.
Whether Tobirama could even breed insects or not, Haru honestly had no idea. There were still professional boundaries between fields. Even a genius like Tobirama needed time to explore and figure out new directions.
It would be better to have the Aburame produce a rough prototype first. That way Tobirama would have a much easier place to start.
Shigen tactfully dropped the subject, quickly took his leave, and rushed back to his clan to gather everyone and begin breeding the insects the Hokage wanted.
Once Shigen left, Shikato entered the office and began the daily routine of reporting to Haru.
"The air conditioner is selling extremely well among the nobles of the Land of Fire. Basically every noble house has bought one."
"The daimyo is still demanding that the Leaf speed up production. He wants every palace building in the royal compound fitted with one."
Shikato's voice was full of delight.
The production cost of one air conditioner was actually very low. The labor cost was ridiculously small. The expensive part was only the materials.
Each unit cost only a little over one hundred thousand ryo to produce, but when Haru sold them to the nobles, the listed price was eight hundred and eighty thousand ryo.
The official explanation was that they were noble-exclusive editions, with the shell carvings supposedly done by jonin.
That was complete nonsense.
All of it was done by ordinary workers.
But the nobles ate up that kind of branding.
The standard version cost only two hundred and ninety-eight thousand ryo, but they would not even look at it.
They were nobles.
The standard version was for commoners.
As true nobles, of course they had to buy the noble-exclusive model.
"Then set up a few more production lines over the next few days. The daimyo is swimming in money right now. He made a fortune from the futures scheme and has plenty of cash waiting to be spent."
"And don't forget to raise the price on the accompanying chakra-powered electrical system. Just say it's rush work and the costs are higher. Those nobles won't care about a little extra."
A satisfied smile spread across Haru's face.
Making money off the big fish really was addictive.
"Also, every cinema in the Land of Fire has to buy air conditioners made by the Leaf. We can give them a little discount on the price. Building the brand is what matters most, and we can't ignore the commoner market either."
"As for the markets in the other countries of the ninja world, the cinemas there will still need promotion through the daimyo's channels. We can give the daimyo a small referral percentage. You can work out the exact number yourselves. And make sure Kakuzu gets involved. He's very interested in this kind of thing, and I think he's got talent for it too."
Haru kept giving instructions to Shikato.
The noble market was huge. They had to open sales not only in the Land of Fire, but in other countries as well. That absolutely required help from the daimyo's networks. Give him a little taste of profit, and he would enthusiastically push the product.
At the moment, the main consumers for light luxury industrial goods like air conditioners were still the nobles. Even a well-off commoner in the ninja world would probably need to save for half a year before gritting their teeth and buying one.
But Haru had no intention of abandoning the commoner market.
And ordinary people could certainly afford movies.
Once the cinemas had air conditioning, people would be able to enjoy warmth in winter and cool air in summer. That was a level of comfort that, until now, only someone like the daimyo could enjoy.
They would definitely be tempted.
The benefits of fitting theaters with air conditioning would also help the movie's box office. Even in other places, plenty of people would go watch a film just to enjoy the free air conditioning.
Buy seven dumplings just for the vinegar.
That counted as another kind of bundled sale.
"All right, Hokage-sama."
"And that bounty hunter Kakuzu really does have talent for business. He's also willing to work hard. For the past few nights he's been burning the midnight oil studying economics."
"..."
Shikato brought up Kakuzu and praised him without holding back.
Especially after Kakuzu learned the production cost, profits, and frightening sales volume of the air conditioner business, he had practically gone mad and thrown himself into studying.
His attitude toward learning business and economics was so intense that even Shikato felt ashamed of himself.
After all, Shikato had also been devoting himself to studying commerce lately in order to serve Haru better.
(End of Chapter)
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