"Impossible!"
Mito shouted.
She had finally gotten a fellow Uzumaki clan member by her side, and after spending this period of time together, Mito had long since started treating Haruno like her own granddaughter.
Yet Haru actually wanted to target Haruno too. As long as Haruno moved to Haru's place, Mito was certain that within a few days, Haru would trick Haruno into his bed.
Hiss.
Could it be that Haru wanted to use this opportunity to make a move on Haruno?
The more Mito thought about it, the more likely it seemed. Maybe it was even that shameless old man Ashina who had given Haru the idea.
A man like Haru, with no morals, no shame, and a future where he would be surrounded by a whole crowd of women, was absolutely not a good match for Haruno. She should still find an honest, dependable man like Hashirama.
Preferably one without any strange men hanging around him.
If Haruno truly fell in love with a lustful bastard like Haru, that would be one thing. But Mito absolutely could not accept sacrificing Haruno's beauty in exchange for benefits for the Uzumaki clan.
But how could the cute and sensible Haruno possibly fall in love with a bastard like Haru?
"Hmph. Don't even think about targeting Haruno."
"I'll handle this matter!"
Mito had no intention of giving Haru the chance to get close to Haruno. Otherwise, who knew when Haru might seize an opening, and the two of them would directly turn uncooked rice into cooked rice?
It would be best if, before she closed her eyes for good, she could find an outstanding boy for Haruno and watch her get married. Only then could Mito rest easy and go meet that dead man Hashirama.
"Hmph. No need to trouble Lady Mito!"
"I think Haruno would be very happy to help me with this."
Haru spoke in a strange, sarcastic tone. Since Mito dared act smug in front of him, he had to slap back!
"You bastard. So you really are targeting Haruno."
"I'm telling you, Haru. I will never agree to this!"
Facing Mito's hollow threat, Haru smiled disdainfully, then slowly said,
"Tch. So what? I'm the Hokage. In the Leaf, I'm the biggest."
"Mito, you don't respect me at all. I came to you for help because I thought highly of you!"
"You aren't even willing to call me Hokage. In that case, I can only find someone who is willing to help me and can respectfully call me Hokage!"
Mito still wanted to say something, but for a moment, she choked on her words. What Haru said was actually not wrong at all.
Haru was now the Hokage. Although his character was terrible and his morals were practically nonexistent, Mito still had to admit that Haru was an exceptionally excellent Hokage. He was even better than Tobirama and Hashirama. But that did not affect Mito's contempt for Haru as a person.
When living under someone else's roof, one had no choice but to lower their head.
For Haruno's happiness for the rest of her life...
I'll endure it!
Mito kept mentally preparing herself, forcefully suppressing the urge to punch Haru's arrogant handsome face. After taking a few deep breaths, she slowly said,
"Hokage, I misspoke earlier. I am willing to serve you to the best of my ability."
Mito squeezed out that string of words from her throat, then turned her head to the side. This was far too humiliating.
"Hmph. This Hokage is magnanimous. I'll let it go this time."
That felt good.
Haru revealed a smug smile and did not push further. It was enough that Mito backed down. If he went too far and Mito truly exploded, it would still be somewhat troublesome.
"Let's go. Judging by the time, the Nine-Tails' chakra can be squeezed again. We can deal with this matter along the way."
Although Mito usually tied the Nine-Tails up like a rice dumpling, whenever Mito extracted the Nine-Tails' chakra, Haru still had to accompany her.
The Nine-Tails was the Leaf's nuclear weapon. There was no such thing as being too cautious.
Before long, Haru brought Mito and Aunt Chiyo to the Leaf's large power plant. The scale of this place had expanded quite a bit again. Tobirama had not been idle during this period either. He had been constantly upgrading and improving some of the power plant's facilities.
"Hokage."
The ninja on guard saluted Haru, then opened the gate.
Chiyo followed Haru and Mito, an astonished expression appearing on her face. She was amazed by the Leaf's large power plant.
The Sand Village also had machines for generating electricity. However, compared with the Leaf, the Sand Village's machines were not only backward, but also insignificant in scale. The electricity generated by the Leaf in one day could equal more than ten years of the Sand Village's power generation.
At present, the Sand Village was so poor it was practically bleeding, so it had no qualifications to use something as luxurious as electric lights on a large scale. Once a sandstorm swept through, all outdoor electric lights in the village would be scrapped.
A facility that occupied such a large area, the construction of machinery and equipment, research and development costs...
Chiyo did not dare imagine how much money the Leaf had poured into this power plant, and she was unwilling to think about it. Even if the Sand Village threw all its financial funds into it, it probably still could not build something like this.
What exactly had happened to the Leaf?
How had it become this rich?
Did they rob their feudal lord?
Aunt Chiyo was full of questions, but she tactfully did not ask them. This belonged to the Leaf's secrets. Asking would be pointless.
"This is the Leaf's power plant. It is responsible for supplying electricity to the entire Leaf power system. In the future, this power plant will extend its reach across the entire Land of Fire. Power stations, utility poles, and power lines will spread throughout the Land of Fire. Power plants of this scale will also bloom everywhere in the Land of Fire."
"But this is only the first step toward the Leaf's sea of stars. Letting the Leaf and the Land of Fire enjoy the convenience of electricity is nothing impressive. I want all of this to benefit the entire ninja world. What I pursue is the unity of the ninja world!"
"The First Hokage's Will of Fire is to devote one's life to the future of the ninja world."
While introducing the basic function of the power plant, Haru skillfully began painting a blueprint for the future. The Will of Fire never left his mouth. Never.
Haru's casual speeches filled with dreams were becoming increasingly skilled. Everything he was doing now proved that he was not speaking empty words. He truly was working in that direction.
Chiyo was force-fed a heavy dose of motivational soup, and her whole body shivered. What was this boiling-blooded feeling that made her want to throw herself into the Leaf and help it complete this great undertaking?
She was clearly a Sand Village ninja!
But the aura revealed in Haru's words, the charisma that flowed out unintentionally, and his blood-stirring language made it impossible for Chiyo to avoid the light radiating from him.
Even Mito temporarily forgot her usual prejudice against Haru. She actually saw Hashirama's shadow on Haru, and the two images were slowly overlapping.
Back then, Hashirama had also described a beautiful future to those around him with this same vigor, encouraging everyone to follow him and advance toward that goal.
It was similar. This feeling was far too similar!
For a moment, Mito was dazed. Perhaps Haruno marrying Haru was not such a bad choice after all.
"Hokage, you truly have the entire ninja world in your heart."
Chiyo sincerely praised him. It seemed the Kazekage had truly not been wrong. The Leaf really had produced an extraordinary Third Hokage.
"All right, this is the place."
In front of Haru stood a circular building. Haru and Mito entered the room with practiced ease. Chiyo silently followed behind them, observing everything in the room.
However, Chiyo could not understand the machinery before her. The technology involved was far too advanced.
Mito skillfully walked to the operating platform, and powerful Nine-Tails chakra erupted from her body. A layer of tailed beast cloak even appeared on the surface of her body.
Haru placed one hand on Mito's shoulder. His eye power mixed with chakra entered the Nine-Tails' sealed space to prevent any accident from occurring.
Safety came from caution, and accidents came from carelessness. He could not afford to be careless at all.
"Again?"
"Mito, you damned old hag..."
"I'll curse your..."
"..."
Inside Mito's sealed space, the Nine-Tails began its routine cursing. Every time its chakra was extracted, the Nine-Tails would howl for a long time. It was always the same few lines. The Nine-Tails' vocabulary for cursing seemed to have not updated in a very long time.
If it wanted to curse, then let it curse. Since they were extracting the Nine-Tails' chakra, they had to give the victim some chance to vent its emotions.
In any case, it was cursing Mito, not him. Haru felt it did not matter.
"And you, Haru! You're not a good person either!"
"You're all beasts!"
"***"
Haru frowned and had Mito use chains to bind the Nine-Tails' mouth. After that, the world became quiet.
Chiyo curiously observed everything from the side, but she could not understand the Leaf's advanced technology at all. What appeared before Chiyo was only an extraction device.
The true core components were underground, connected to the extraction device. Tobirama had completed them in the laboratory, then brought them to the power plant, where elite Leaf ninja specially assembled them. Each of those ninja had been marked with a seal that prevented them from revealing secrets.
After that came a long wait. The Nine-Tails' chakra was extremely vast, and extracting it once took a long time.
Haru was bored, so he began thinking about how to smoothly extract One-Tail Shukaku's chakra. The Sand Village did not have the same exceptional conditions as the Leaf.
The device for extracting tailed beast chakra could be made again by Tobirama. As long as a self-destruct mechanism was added, the issue of keeping the technology secret could be easily solved.
The main difficulty still lay with the Sand Village. Their sealing techniques were backward and not as powerful as the Uzumaki clan's. Bunpuku's strength was also far from being as formidable as Mito's, who could casually whip the Nine-Tails with sealing chains.
Facing the negative effects of becoming the One-Tail's host, Bunpuku could only endure it by force, going decades without sleep.
Would the Nine-Tails have a solution?
Haru's mind became active, and his gaze shifted to the Nine-Tails. The Nine-Tails had always been at odds with One-Tail Shukaku. During the long years when the tailed beasts had not yet been captured by humans, the Nine-Tails must have fought Shukaku often.
Maybe the Nine-Tails had a way.
"Kurama, there's something I'd like to ask you about."
A smile appeared on Haru's face. When asking someone, no, a tailed beast, for help, he at least had to show a kind attitude. A gentle smile might move the Nine-Tails and make it let go of past grudges to help him.
Oh, right. The Nine-Tails' mouth was still bound.
Haru hurriedly had Mito release the chains.
"Kurama..."
"Get lost! Get lost!"
"None of you Uchiha are any good! And you still have the nerve to call my name?"
"Ungrateful bastard!"
As soon as the Nine-Tails' mouth was freed, its fox mouth sprayed filth like it had been smeared with garbage.
Without even thinking, Haru, that bottomless bastard, definitely had something he wanted its help with. This time, no matter what came out of Haru's dog mouth, it would not believe a single word he said.
"Kurama, don't be so irritable."
"Didn't your elders ever tell you that foxes should be polite?"
"Screw you!"
"Get lost!"
"***"
The Nine-Tails kept cursing nonstop. Helpless, Haru could only have Mito bind its mouth again. Otherwise, there was no way for Haru to make the Nine-Tails seriously listen to him.
"Kurama, I have a small favor I'd like you to help with."
"You know, the Leaf's demand for electricity is growing larger and larger. Your tailed beast chakra automatically replenishes after being consumed anyway. It doesn't harm your foundation. At most, after being drained, you'll just be sluggish for a while and a tiny bit weakened."
"I really don't understand why your temper is so bad."
"You truly have no spirit of dedication at all."
Haru casually chatted with the Nine-Tails. Those simple words instantly broke the Nine-Tails' composure.
Dedication, my ass!
Haru, you are utterly heartless!
Old man of the Six Paths, open your eyes and look. This is how your descendants treat the tailed beasts!
However, the Nine-Tails' mouth had already been bound, so Haru could only watch as the Nine-Tails' body kept trembling, its fox eyes wide like copper bells as it stared at him.
"Tailed beast chakra is such a high-quality energy source, so of course, the more the better. That's why the Leaf contacted the Sand Village. Their village also has a tailed beast."
"It's just that the Sand Village's tailed beast has an even more violent temper than you. It probably won't cooperate with chakra extraction. But the Sand Village's sealing techniques and the strength of their host aren't very good. I wonder if you have any good ideas."
???
What?
The Nine-Tails understood what Haru meant. This beast Haru wanted to stretch his claws toward the other tailed beasts now.
Haru, what kind of tailed beast do you think I am?
Am I the kind of fox who sells out his tailed beast brothers?
Impossible. Absolutely impossible!
"Shukaku's chakra isn't as much as yours, and it only has one tail, but even a mosquito is still meat."
"If you help, then about the promise from back then, don't worry. I definitely won't go back on my word."
"Tailed beast chakra is indeed beneficial to the peaceful development of the future ninja world. Everything I'm doing is for the ninja world. There isn't the slightest bit of selfishness mixed in. The Sage of Six Paths would probably be happy if his spirit in heaven saw this."
Hiss. Hiss.
Extracting the chakra of that stinking raccoon, the One-Tail...
This... this...
If he were the only tailed beast in the entire ninja world being brutally squeezed for chakra, that would be too painful.
Tailed beast comrades did not have to share wealth and honor, but sharing hardship was acceptable.
For the future of the ninja world, for peace...
Cough, cough.
Shukaku should also be like him and show some spirit of dedication.
The Nine-Tails' thinking changed exceptionally fast.
Its main principle was that tailed beasts should share both sweetness and suffering!
(End of Chapter)
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