"Wronged!"
"Let me go, you filthy peasants!!"
"I'll take this to the daimyo! I'll take this all the way to the daimyo!!"
One of the Land of Fire's powerful figures had his clothes yanked and torn by court officers as he screamed like a madman. Before he had even figured out what was going on, he had already been shoved onto a prison cart.
Teams of officers were moving in and out of his estate nonstop. Each time they came out, the carts were piled high with gold, silver, and all sorts of valuables.
Leaf ninja were mixed in among the officers, helping with the confiscation.
Originally, Haru had wanted to take over the entire operation himself and send Leaf ninja to carry out a full-scale sweeping seizure, but the daimyo refused no matter what.
The Leaf had already touched the line between the Land of Fire and the Leaf. There was no way the daimyo would let the Leaf keep interfering directly in the country's internal affairs.
But Haru did not trust the daimyo.
And he trusted the daimyo's subordinates even less.
The intelligence the Leaf had gathered in the past had not been complete, especially when it came to the parasites' assets. If anything, the estimates were too low, not too high.
Those parasites definitely had more than sixty billion ryo in assets, and Haru had no intention of taking even the slightest loss.
More importantly, during a confiscation, when silver and gold were stacked up like little mountains, even an upright man would feel greed stir in his heart. Let alone this bunch of vermin whose hands were dirty to begin with.
Seventy percent of that money belonged to the Leaf.
After some "friendly negotiation," the daimyo finally agreed to Haru's demand and allowed the Leaf to participate in the seizure operation.
The entire confiscation campaign lasted three full days. As for those parasites, their entire families were executed. The massive political storm shook the whole capital of the Land of Fire.
At that point, nobody was paying attention anymore to the little issue involving the Leaf from before.
When the rabbit dies, the fox grieves.
People who had once been just as arrogant and untouchable as they were had lost everything in only three days. Their households were destroyed, and the wealth accumulated over more than ten generations had been stripped away.
It wasn't that no one had gone to the daimyo to beg for mercy.
But when those nobles and ministers came to plead, the daimyo simply threw the charges the Leaf had gathered right in front of them.
There were witnesses. There was evidence. There was nothing to deny.
The daimyo's icy gaze and warning words made the remaining parasites tremble in fear. The daimyo clearly still held many more charges against them in his hands.
No saving them. No saving them at all.
They needed to pray for themselves now.
Before long, the smarter among the parasites discovered something terrifying.
The great figures who had been executed were all the people who had most aggressively attacked the Leaf over the past few days.
That made everything obvious.
The Leaf had struck back.
The tricks they used to hide their filth might have fooled ordinary people, but in front of ninja, it was childish. One simple genjutsu was enough to make them spill everything.
The pampered elites of the Land of Fire finally remembered that they were ordinary humans after all. Every one of them chose to ignore the Leaf's increasingly outrageous behavior and began acting like obedient little lambs.
In private, they all sent people to the Leaf to soften their stance and offered expensive gifts as apologies.
The Leaf
"What a bunch of spineless trash."
"They couldn't just enjoy their peaceful lives. They had to go looking for trouble with the Leaf."
Haru sat in his office. In front of him stood the retainer of one of the Land of Fire's powerful men.
Even though Haru openly mocked his master to his face, the man didn't dare show the slightest dissatisfaction. The recent political earthquake in the capital had nearly scared these people to death.
The blood of those beheaded nobles was still wet in the marketplace. Their rank had been even higher than his master's, and they had still been executed with their entire households. At this point, neither he nor his master dared show even a trace of defiance. Keeping their heads on their shoulders was already a blessing.
Haru casually exchanged a few words with them, then had them all sent away.
If not for the gifts, he wouldn't even have bothered seeing them.
Unfortunately, they really were generous.
In the past few days alone, the compensation the Leaf had received had already exceeded one billion ryo, and that didn't even include the personal gifts the parasites had secretly sent to Haru himself.
Those vermin really were rich.
Haru sighed inwardly. The class rigidity in the ninja world was outrageous. It wasn't just a matter of three generations in business. These people had spent over ten generations farming money through trade and politics.
Compared to them, the Leaf really was just a pauper.
A pauper that happened to possess the strongest military force in the Land of Fire.
What kind of miserable life had they been living before?
Just then, Haru's office door was shoved open.
Kakuzu stormed in, his eyes gleaming like a wolf that had been starving for months.
"Hokage-sama, stop hesitating and let's do it. Lead the Leaf in and kill all those nobles. I, Kakuzu, will take the lead!"
"Kill them all!!"
"With kunai in hand, follow me!"
Kakuzu had spent the past few days sorting through account books, and the endless stream of money had driven him into a frenzy of excitement.
He had known those nobles were wealthy, but he had never imagined they were this wealthy. After spending time around Haru, his old rigid way of thinking had been completely shattered.
Why bother with missions?
Eating the rich was so much faster.
"Take it easy. Their money will all belong to the Leaf sooner or later."
Haru soothed Kakuzu patiently.
This guy's eyes had practically turned greener than usual. Although, to be fair, they were already green.
Now was still not the time to fall out with the Land of Fire. It was enough for those people to calm down for a while.
Eventually, Kakuzu left Haru's office full of obvious resentment.
Once Kakuzu was gone, Shikato came into the office not long after.
"Hokage-sama, the Uzumaki Clan is sending people to the Leaf."
"They're probably here to ask for aid. The Uzumaki Clan helped the Leaf a great deal during the First Great Ninja War, but their situation hasn't been good lately..."
Shikato went on to explain the state of the Uzumaki Clan.
They were an island nation, a small country with a small population.
No money. No people. No food. They lacked everything.
Officially, they had a country and an Uzumaki hidden village. In reality, the whole island was just the Uzumaki Clan, a tiny territory they had carved out and declared their own.
To help the Leaf win the First Great Ninja War, the Uzumaki Clan had burned through everything they had spent years accumulating.
Poor relatives were coming to the door.
A few days later
The Uzumaki delegation arrived in the Leaf quickly.
"So big. So impressive..."
"Clan Head-sama, the Leaf is this prosperous?"
Yayoi Uzumaki looked exactly like a country bumpkin who had never seen the world.
The Leaf's development had been like a car speeding down a highway. In only a few months, the village had transformed completely.
The greatest change was naturally its roads. Haru had directly ordered the walls along the old roads to be torn down so the streets could be widened, and all of them had been repaved with the new cement.
If you wanted prosperity, you started by building roads.
Haru followed that principle without wavering, and reality had already proven it right.
The wider roads had greatly accelerated the Leaf's trade and commerce. Merchants from many countries passed back and forth along the broad, clean cement roads, coming to the Leaf to do business.
The streets were bustling. Crowds flowed through them, and the cries of shopkeepers calling out their wares never stopped.
"The Leaf really has changed a lot..."
"It's unbelievable."
Ashi Uzumaki blinked and didn't know what to say. He could only keep looking around.
"Clan Head-sama, didn't you say the Leaf's situation wasn't good either?"
Ashi ignored Yayoi.
How was he supposed to know how the Leaf had become like this?
The last time he had exchanged letters with the Second Hokage, Tobirama had still been complaining in those letters about the Leaf's financial pressure and how they were waiting for the Land of Fire daimyo's funds to save them.
A few months ago, Ashi had already wanted to ask the Leaf for help.
It was exactly because Tobirama had described the Leaf's situation so miserably in his letters that Ashi had felt too embarrassed to bring it up.
But the Uzumaki Clan truly could not hold on anymore. No matter how reluctant they were to trouble the Leaf, they had no choice now but to come here and ask for aid.
"Grandpa, it smells so good..."
Yozuki Uzumaki pointed at a drink shop. The scent of milk tea instantly captured the attention of the thirteen-year-old girl.
They had sailed over the sea to the Leaf, dusty and exhausted from travel. There had long been no oil or richness left in their meals. The scent of milk tea conquered Yozuki instantly.
"Then let's try some."
Ashi gently stroked Yozuki's hair, his face full of affection.
This time, Yozuki had come to the Leaf carrying a mission.
He could only hope she wouldn't meet the requirements.
"How much is one cup?"
The server gave him a price, and Ashi frowned.
This damn milk tea was expensive.
"Buy one."
For the sake of the child, expensive was expensive.
"Clan Head-sama... what about me?"
"You're a grown man. Do I really have to pay for you too?"
"Buy your own!"
Ashi shot Yayoi a disgusted look and paid for Yozuki's drink himself.
What exactly had happened to the Leaf?
How had it changed this much?
As Ashi walked through the streets, he observed every detail of the village. Everything from top to bottom was full of life.
Meanwhile, Uzushiogakure was still desolate, still trapped in the shadow of war.
No matter how hard Ashi thought, he could not understand why the Leaf had become so prosperous.
In the end, he gave up trying.
The Uzumaki Clan was finally going to be all right.
The Leaf had grown rich.
How could they possibly forget the Uzumaki Clan now?
Big Brother Leaf had made it and was now drinking deeply and eating great chunks of meat.
Surely the Uzumaki Clan, as the little brother, could simply sit at the same table and grab a few bites too.
On the road to the Leaf, Ashi had been full of anxiety. If the Leaf itself wasn't wealthy, then a little food aid would have been enough, and he would not trouble them for anything else.
In his best-case scenario, he had only imagined maybe bringing back one or two billion ryo.
"You little brat, stop slurping!"
"Hey, you idiot, why did you tear the cup open? Why are you digging the pearls out with your hand?"
As they drew near the Hokage building, Ashi straightened his clothes.
He was about to meet the Leaf's Third Hokage.
A poor little brother meeting a rich older brother still needed to mind his manners.
But that fool Yayoi had no shame at all. He had ripped open the cup and was digging out the black pearls stuck at the bottom with his fingers to eat them.
"Clan Head-sama, this is good. This is really good. They said these are called black pearls."
"Yozuki, you think so too, right?"
Yozuki nodded and continued sipping slowly, chewing on the pearls. They were soft, smooth, and sweet.
"You have no self-control at all."
Ashi rolled his eyes at Yayoi and hurried him to finish up and wipe his sticky hands clean.
Hokage Building
"Lord Ashi, why didn't you send word ahead? The Leaf had prepared a grand welcome ceremony."
Shikato looked at the Uzumaki group in surprise. According to the intelligence they had, they had arrived two days earlier than expected.
"Shikato-kun, the Leaf and the Uzumaki Clan are one family. Why would we need any sort of welcome ceremony? We happened to catch a favorable wind on the sea, so the ship came faster."
"As long as Lord Ashi doesn't think the Leaf has been discourteous, that's enough."
Shikato's tone was warm.
The entire Leaf viewed the Uzumaki Clan very favorably.
These were people who had truly treated the Leaf like their big brother.
When the younger brother came to visit, of course the older brother had to welcome him properly.
"Is it convenient for the Hokage to see us now?"
Ashi smiled a little stiffly.
In the past, the Hokage of the Leaf had always been from the Senju Clan. The Uzumaki Clan and the Senju Clan had been close allies for generations. Hashirama himself had even been the Uzumaki Clan's son-in-law, making the relationship even closer.
The Second Hokage, Tobirama, had been Hashirama's brother, and relations with the Uzumaki had remained very pleasant.
But times had changed.
Now the Hokage of the Leaf was an Uchiha. The relationship between the Uchiha and the Uzumaki had never been especially close.
This was his first time meeting the Leaf's Third Hokage, and Ashi was undeniably nervous.
"Of course he has time."
Shikato answered with complete confidence.
Haru was basically a hands-off boss. He spent much more time slacking off than working. He was almost certainly slacking off in the office right now.
"Forgive me for not going out to welcome you personally, Ashi-kun."
Haru had heard the Uzumaki delegation had already arrived and immediately had them invited in. He also ordered three sofas brought in.
Ashi, Yayoi, and Yozuki all sat stiffly on the sofas, a little awed by Haru's office.
Luxurious.
Far too luxurious.
The room was spacious, decorated in warm tones. Bright electric lights shone from above. Even though it was already winter, the room felt perfectly warm. Two potted green plants sat on the desk.
Milk tea, cola, ice cream, cream puffs, little cream cakes.
The table was covered with all kinds of sweets. Haru himself only liked iced cola. The other sweets were favorites of Kaede and Rin, so he simply had someone keep them stocked every day.
This was supposed to be an office?
This looked more like a place for pleasure.
They looked so delicious...
Yayoi's stomach had long since been empty. He had just started to reach for one when Ashi's death glare forced him to stop.
Yozuki swallowed quietly. Girls had no resistance at all to sweets that looked good and tasted good.
"Just some snacks. Help yourselves."
Haru could see how awkward they felt, so he deliberately picked up an ice cream cone and started eating it himself.
Only then did the three of them relax a little and begin attacking the sweets on the table.
The sea was vast. They had eaten so much fish that they were sick of it. Even rice balls counted as decent food now.
Desserts were far beyond what they normally got to enjoy.
"Ahem."
Ashi tried to recover some dignity.
He himself could still enjoy the food slowly, but Yayoi was stuffing whole cakes into his mouth one after another until his cheeks were full and he was nearly choking, then washing it all down with huge gulps of milk tea.
Yozuki at least had a young girl's restraint and ate her cake in small bites.
Ashi looked at Haru a little apologetically.
Haru only smiled and didn't seem bothered.
He understood the Uzumaki Clan's situation well enough. They were already beginning to run low on food. Haru had simply been waiting for the Uzumaki Clan to come to the Leaf and ask for help themselves.
After some small talk, Haru and Ashi moved into another room. Now it was time to discuss the real matter.
"Hokage-sama, the Uzumaki Clan's situation has been grim lately..."
Ashi sighed and explained the clan's circumstances.
"The Uzumaki Clan and the Leaf are one family. The Leaf would never stand by and watch the Uzumaki Clan suffer without helping."
Haru smoothly picked up where Ashi had left off.
Making Ashi himself directly ask for money would have been too uncomfortable.
"How much support does the Uzumaki Clan need from the Leaf? Just name a figure."
Haru spoke very generously.
"F-five hundred million ryo?"
Ashi offered the number cautiously. He didn't dare ask for too much. That sum would already be enough to get the Uzumaki Clan through its crisis.
"Five hundred million?"
Haru's voice shot up by an octave, and Ashi's face changed at once.
"Actually... four hundred million..."
"Ashi-kun, are you looking down on the Leaf?"
"Five billion ryo!"
(End of Chapter)
[Check Out My P@treon For +20 Extra Chapters On All My Fanfics!!][[email protected]/euridome]
[Thank You For Your Support!]