"Hokage, I closed another big deal. Those suckers from the Land of Lightning are richer than I expected. They're nothing like those poor ghosts from the Land of Wind, always pinching every coin!"
Kakuzu shouted as he pushed open the door to Haru's office, not caring in the slightest that this was the Hokage's office. However, as the Leaf's gold-medal salesman, with powerful strength, acceptance of a 24/7 work schedule, and self-motivated overtime, an employee like Kakuzu was hard to find even with a lantern.
So Haru had always been very tolerant toward Kakuzu.
At present, only Orochimaru had similar potential in the entire Leaf.
When Kakuzu entered the room, he saw Chiyo sitting there with a dark face, looking displeased.
This green-eyed guy was saying too much truth!
If you want to talk about the Land of Wind, can you at least do it behind people's backs?
Kakuzu discovered that Haru was not in the office again. Without even thinking about it, the Hokage had run off somewhere to slack off again. He would have to wait in the office for a long time again. The contract still needed Haru's signature.
"You are... a Sand Village ninja. Chiyo?"
"That's right."
Kakuzu quickly recognized Chiyo's identity. Everyone in the Leaf knew that the Sand Village had sent a delegation to visit.
Thick-skinned and black-hearted, Kakuzu selectively ignored the offensive words he had just said. He found a chair and sat down, his small green eyes looking at Chiyo as thoughts began turning in his mind.
From the news he had heard from Shikato, this time, the Sand Village was going to form an alliance with the Leaf. It seemed the two villages would also establish trade.
Right now, the Leaf's main clients were the feudal lord of the Land of Fire, nobles, and middle-class civilians. Over the past year, the Leaf's commercial reach had slowly stretched into every industry in the Land of Fire, and companies registered under the Leaf's name had sprung up like bamboo shoots after rain.
Wealthy merchants and nobles of the Land of Fire had jumped ship to the Leaf, obediently handing over money and registering companies in the Leaf. They did the same business as before, paid the Leaf large sums of taxes every year, and longed to integrate into the Leaf, this violent organization currently undergoing transformation, becoming part of a brand-new community of interests. An indescribable capital monster was growing wantonly.
Although the Leaf's commerce was developing rapidly, it had only been developing for too short a time.
Ninja villages and feudal lords were simply not on the same track. For many businesses, the Leaf still had to use the channels provided by the feudal lord, especially when it involved cross-border trade. Only with the help of the feudal lord's channels could they reach those markets. Since the feudal lord had contributed effort, the Leaf inevitably had to share some profits with him.
In business, harmony brought wealth. Fighting and killing would not last long.
Was the Hokage now trying to open his own channels?
Ninja purchasing power was not low.
It was just that choosing the Sand Village...
They were all poor ghosts. There was not much oil to squeeze out. The purchasing power of small ninja villages around the Leaf might even be stronger than the Sand Village's.
Chiyo seemed to sense something, feeling that this green-eyed guy in front of her was thinking something very offensive about the Sand Village in his heart.
Forget it.
Even a fly was still meat, no matter how small. In any case, the Sand Village was still one of the Five Great Ninja Villages. A camel starved to death was still bigger than a horse. He would talk to this poor ghost from the Sand Village first.
After thinking it over, Kakuzu made up his mind. Whether there were dates or not, he would still strike the pole a few times. Asking would not cost him anything. Business opportunities never fell from the sky.
Kakuzu quickly introduced himself. Senior supervisor of the Finance Department, head of the Leaf's commercial negotiations, Commercial Intelligence Division, and a long string of titles stunned Chiyo.
She had not expected this rude guy to actually be one of the Leaf's higher-ups. Could he be the negotiation leader of the commercial team the Hokage had mentioned?
"Selling chakra? The Leaf does have that project. It's quite popular right now. Many disabled ninja and ninja who can't get missions are selling it. The Leaf consumes a lot of electricity, so the price offered isn't low. But if your Sand Village wants to sell it... tsk, tsk, tsk."
"Your Sand Village will need to rebuild a dedicated site. That's one cost. And compared with the Leaf, your Sand Village's electricity consumption is probably negligible. I estimate it will all have to be divided into small containers and shipped to the Leaf for unified recycling. The cost immediately rises. That means the chakra price won't be very high."
"What? The Hokage also wants to send people to the Sand Village to sell food, medicine, and daily necessities?"
"What money can the Leaf make from that? Do you know how high the transportation costs will be? I think the Hokage has gone mad!"
"He also wants to recruit workers from the Sand Village? That part is fine. The Leaf is short of people everywhere, in factories and construction sites. With your Sand Village's environment, the villagers probably suffer just by living. Coming to the Leaf's factories to work counts as incredible luck."
Kakuzu pulled out several portable calculators from who knew where and clacked away in front of Chiyo, constantly calculating costs and returns. The more he calculated, the darker Kakuzu's face became.
If this business ran for a year, would the Leaf lose money?
No matter how he calculated it, the Leaf would not make money.
Had the Hokage gone mad? He was actually doing business that did not make money.
Was he planning to spend his own money to support the Sand Village?
Kakuzu, who pursued money and profit his entire life, sighed repeatedly. He would not sign contracts for these guaranteed loss-making businesses. Let Shikato sign them. If they lost money, let him take the blame.
Watching Kakuzu calculate for a while and then sit there sighing, Chiyo's heart sank. Could the alliance agreement between the Leaf and the Sand Village fall through? Judging by the situation, the Leaf would lose quite a bit of money.
"Farewell. Goodbye!"
Kakuzu left Haru's office without looking back. He relied on commissions to make money. He did not want to waste even a little time on a guaranteed loss-making deal.
Only Chiyo remained, sitting alone on the sofa in a daze. She waited for a very long time, but Haru still did not appear.
"Shikato, why hasn't the Hokage come today? I've been waiting there for half the day. Could it be..."
Chiyo felt very uneasy. After waiting for half a day and still not seeing Haru, she anxiously went to the Hokage's assistant, Shikato, wanting to ask about Haru.
"Miss Chiyo, you can wait again in the afternoon. The Hokage probably has some important matter."
Shikato brushed Chiyo off. He had sent someone to Haru's house in the morning, so naturally, he knew about Haru's heroic feat of taking on two opponents last night. It was impossible for him to come in the morning. Whether he could come in the afternoon was still unknown.
He could not exactly tell Chiyo that the Leaf's Hokage was currently lost in pleasure and did not know what heaven or earth was, so he might skip work for the entire day.
Chiyo spent the whole morning sitting bored in the Hokage's office.
Meanwhile, Madara was enthusiastically wandering through the Leaf Village. After deciding to live in the Leaf, Madara's hesitant and restless mood suddenly improved greatly.
"There really are far more people in the Leaf than before."
Madara walked while sighing over the Leaf's changes. The Leaf at night and the Leaf during the day were far too different, especially in terms of foot traffic. They were simply worlds apart.
Soon, Madara arrived at the Leaf's housing sales office. Under the guidance of the service staff, he toured a model home. It was a simple and exquisite small apartment, and Madara thought it was quite good.
This was only the most ordinary suite. As long as one was willing to spend money, the Leaf could specially design a mansion.
Since they were trying to take money from nobles and wealthy merchants, they naturally had to provide matching services. But Madara did not care about those things. He had already moved past vulgar interests and had long since begun pursuing spiritual satisfaction. An ordinary single apartment was already quite good.
No matter how one looked at it, it would be more comfortable than living in Madara's underground cave.
"The room is equipped with the basics. This is an electric lamp. This is a water heater. This pot can also use electricity. And these are all the latest products developed by the Leaf's laboratory."
The service staff introduced the basic facilities inside the room. Madara walked back and forth through the room, and an unbelievable emotion appeared in his heart.
Although Madara did his best to hide his expression and emotions, the service staff could still sense the emotional fluctuations coming from him. It was not because this staff member was strong. He had simply seen this expression and emotion far too many times. Even lofty nobles looked like this the first time they saw such basic facilities.
Had the Leaf developed that quickly?
What exactly were these strange ninja tools? When had they appeared?
This lamp turned on and off, and the room lit up.
Hot water could be heated at any time.
Electricity. A new type of energy?
What exactly had happened during the time he was away from the Leaf?
All of this, of course, had to be credited to Haru.
Cough, cough. Tobirama could barely be counted too. After all, it was Haru who summoned Tobirama through Impure World Reincarnation and provided him with the most superior research conditions. Tobirama merely provided a little technical support.
Haru had put in great effort to promote the spread of electricity in the Leaf. Everything in the room was a new product combining electricity and chakra. Over the past year, Haru had crazily pressured Tobirama, and he had indeed produced many useful pieces of household furniture.
The scientific research team made up of several dozen Tobiramas had unleashed potential that advanced technological innovation and development in a way Haru could not understand.
However, considering the deformed technological development of the ninja world, which was both backward and advanced, Haru did not find it strange. Right now, it was still purely a backward agricultural country. Thirty-some years later, in Naruto's era, the Leaf's technological development would be close to modern times, and advanced electronic products like computers would appear. By the time Naruto became Hokage in the next generation, barely more than fifty years from now, the technology displayed would become even more outrageous.
At the end of the day, the old author was only a manga artist.
This was simply a special feature of the ninja world.
As an old antique from the previous era, Madara had naturally never lived a good life. These rather modern living facilities were things even a top figure of the ninja world like Madara had never enjoyed.
Even ordinary people in the Leaf can live like this.
Going deep into the grassroots and understanding the lives of the lowest people in the ninja world.
For some reason, Madara suddenly thought of that sentence from the book. The little boy from yesterday, Sosuke Ito, had bought this kind of house for his family.
That junior Haru really did put his ideas into practice quite well.
But none of this was free. The starting point was twenty years. Besides, ordinary houses did not have such excellent facilities. If it were a model home renovated like this one, adding another ten years would probably be about right.
However, Madara did not understand any of this. Even if he knew the price behind it, he would not say anything.
Even lofty ninja had to risk their heads on missions to live freely. If ordinary people worked in factories for thirty years without worrying about food or drink and could live this kind of life, what did they have to complain about?
Starve them for two meals, and they would behave.
"How much does a house like this cost? I'll buy it!"
Madara was very satisfied with this apartment and directly wanted to pay for it. But once the service staff gave him a number, Madara realized that he did not have enough money.
Back when Madara watched a movie, he had to sneak in without paying. The money on him now had been taken from a few reckless wandering ninja who tried to rob him on the road.
"Sir, if you don't have enough money, we do offer loan services here. It's just..."
The service staff looked Madara up and down. He looked like someone who had fled from the countryside, probably barely begging his way to the Leaf while going hungry every other meal.
An old man like Madara, in this ninja world, would normally end up starving to death by the roadside. The fact that he had survived long enough to flee to the Leaf was already very lucky.
But wanting to buy a house in the Leaf was probably impossible in this lifetime. Although the Leaf's mortgage business was growing wildly, even the Leaf had standards for who it would give mortgages to. For an old man of Madara's age, at most, he could work odd jobs at a sweatshop for a few years, scrape by, and live in a cheap wooden shed with seven or eight people, surviving until he died on some unknown day.
At least he could die with a full stomach. That was already a decent death.
The Leaf's high-quality mortgage targets were young workers who worked in factories and construction sites. Give them two meals a day, and they could work like oxen for twenty years.
"Mortgages are usually for twenty years. Sir, if you can't pay the mortgage later, the Leaf will repossess the house. At that time, the money you paid and the house will both be gone."
The service staff tried to dissuade Madara, hoping he would retreat after realizing the difficulty. For an old man, going to the factory each day for temporary work and living in a wooden shed was actually pretty good. At least he would not be exposed to wind or rain, and he would not starve.
"I'll take the loan. I want this house!"
Madara interrupted the staff's well-meaning nagging. He had lived in an underground cave for so long. Although he did not seek material enjoyment, if it was available, he would not refuse it.
Old people also needed to enjoy their later years peacefully.
As for money, that was even simpler for Madara. He could casually send a clone to the bounty exchange, take a few bounty missions, and earn money by collecting some heads.
A very plain concept.
Do missions to earn money!
"Recently, the first batch of houses is about to be completed. Full-payment buyers can skip the lottery... Sigh? Why am I even telling you this? Are you really sure you want to take a loan?"
"..."
"All right. Please show the relevant documents issued to you when you entered the Leaf."
Seeing that Madara had made up his mind, the service staff tried to persuade him a few more times, then stopped speaking. In any case, his salary was calculated based on housing sales commissions and loan business. If Madara could not repay the mortgage later and the Leaf forcibly repossessed the house, Madara sleeping on the street would not be his fault.
Right now, the Leaf's houses were not hard to sell at all, and they were even less afraid of failing to recover the house.
Madara took out the documents he had received upon entering the village. The loan business was quickly completed. The service staff even thoughtfully asked whether Madara had a stable job. If he did not, the staff could introduce him to a factory, which would count as doing a good deed.
"Working in a factory?"
Madara thought of the theories in Haru's book: ninja productionization and the ninja streaming system.
He could agree for now. When the time came, he could send a clone to experience it. It would not waste much chakra.
After going through a series of complicated home purchase contracts and mortgage contracts, Madara paid part of the money and officially took on a twenty-five-year mortgage!
After finishing the various tedious matters, Madara looked at the sun outside. It was already almost noon.
"It's already this late?"
"It's time to return this book to that child."
(End of Chapter)
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