"Everyone, line up. No need to rush."
"There's enough for everyone!"
If Haru wanted to win people over and bring these Uzumaki disciples closer to the Leaf, the simplest and most practical method was to hand out money.
Using the Leaf's public funds to win over the hearts of the Uzumaki clan's new generation was truly a good deal. This was the power of being Hokage.
Haru glanced at Mito. There was not a single person beside her. She stood there alone, her feelings complicated. She was clearly unhappy inside, yet she still had to pretend to be pleased.
The Hokage was handing out money to the Uzumaki clan's children. What would it look like if Mito stood there with a sour face?
Envy, jealousy, hatred...
"It's just money. It isn't even your Uchiha clan's money. You annoying brat, couldn't you have let me participate when handing out the money?"
"Bastard!"
Mito roared wildly in her heart.
She also wanted to build a relationship with the younger generation of the Uzumaki clan. Although she was from the Uzumaki clan, she had lived in the Leaf for many years. The younger generation of the Uzumaki clan had only heard of Mito. They had never even met her in person, so where would any affection come from?
Mito looked at Haru eagerly. She really wanted to take part in handing out the money.
However, Haru had no such intention.
Winning people over was the exclusive privilege of the Hokage.
Yuan used the Qing court's money to personally distribute military pay and uniforms, turning the army into his private force. Even when the Qing court removed Yuan from his position, they still could not command the army.
Names and instruments of authority must never be lent to others!
Haru winked at Mito with a rather provocative meaning.
Mito's clansmen were all gathered tightly around him. Was this not also a kind of NTR?
How satisfying!
"Bastard."
Mito's back teeth made a grinding sound. She glared fiercely at Haru, then turned her head away.
She would not look. She would not look.
The more she looked, the more irritated she became!
Haru distributed the living allowance one by one. Every child's face overflowed with smiles.
Coming to the Leaf really had been the right choice. They had just arrived and were already receiving money.
Wonderful!
"Mito, do you want to come eat with us? I reserved seats at a restaurant. The whole place is booked today."
"I'm going. Why wouldn't I go?"
Mito immediately agreed.
To build a bond with the Uzumaki clan's new generation, money alone could not buy people's hearts...
Uh...
Actually, it seemed to be quite effective. Mito looked at the Uzumaki clansmen present. Everyone was gathered around Haru, their eyes shining brightly.
And precisely because of that, Mito had to go even more.
She was already behind.
"Right, remember to bring Hizuki. She's also a member of the Uzumaki clan. We can't forget her for this clan gathering."
Haru led the Uzumaki youths toward the restaurant while reminding Mito to bring Hizuki along.
The moment Hizuki was mentioned, Mito instinctively became vigilant, like an old hen guarding her chicks.
"You aren't having strange thoughts again, are you? I'm telling you, Hizuki and you are impossible."
"Tch, nagging old lady."
Haru waved his hand and ignored Mito.
How did Mito end up thinking of him as so filthy?
He had been working hard for the future of the Leaf all along.
Haru had been very busy lately. In the morning, he handled all of the Leaf's affairs. In the afternoon, he trained. At night, he went to Tobirama's laboratory to keep an eye on the experiments, then returned home for a two-on-one battle.
Small matters like love and romance were things he simply had no time to ask about.
Of course, there were exceptions.
For example, if Hizuki took off her clothes and blocked him on his bed.
But the probability of something like that could basically be ignored.
Besides, the two at home were still waiting to be fed.
Kaede and Rin were very clear about their positions. They were merely playthings. Although Haru treated them very well, the difference in status was like a chasm they could not cross.
Sooner or later, Haru would marry a wife who matched his identity. Of course, there might be several. The ninja world was not monogamous. Polygyny was the norm.
The death rate among ninja clans was so high that fertility rates had to be raised.
Since Kaede and Rin could not stop it, they decided to stay wrapped around Haru every night, transforming into full-power juicers so Haru would have no energy to think about other women.
They still did not want Haru to go around attracting women.
Mito looked at Haru's back and ultimately decided to go home and call Hizuki. It would not be good for her to miss this kind of occasion.
But some things could not be stopped.
Mito returned home and called Hizuki, who was practicing sealing arts. When Tsunade heard that the Hokage had booked an entire restaurant to treat everyone to a meal, she impatiently ran over and insisted on going too.
"Grandma, I want to go too. I want to eat a feast!"
"...Fine. You can come with us."
Mito looked fondly at Tsunade, who was clinging to her arm and acting spoiled.
It was just going to eat a meal.
The money came from the Leaf's accounts anyway.
If they did not eat, they would lose out for nothing!
"Yay!"
Haru brought the Uzumaki clan to eat a banquet.
At the same time, Madara was also eating.
It was just that what he ate was a little worse.
Rice balls, protein blocks, a bowl of seaweed egg drop soup, and a large piece of braised meat.
Very rich!
Compared to the workers in other groups, every worker in Madara's group received a large piece of braised meat. This was the daily meal exclusive to excellent work teams.
Being able to eat meat every day was already an incredible thing for these workhorses.
The little kindness Haru had toward these workers was that they could eat their fill every day, preserving enough physical strength to dedicate their labor power to the Leaf.
As for what they ate, that was not something Haru needed to consider.
"Damn, can you stop smacking your lips when eating meat? And why are you tearing it into little pieces? You could clearly finish it in a few bites!"
"Exactly!"
"Hmph, you're just jealous. I can eat however I want. I barely ate meat when I was young. Now that I can eat meat every day, what's wrong with eating it carefully?"
One of Madara's group members swallowed a piece of meat and ignored the jealous workers around him.
He was not doing it on purpose. He had simply been poor for too long.
The dream that had been out of reach in his childhood, eating rice balls and meat every meal, had now become reality so easily.
The surrounding workers looked at the fragrant braised meat with envy.
How did this bastard get so lucky, being assigned to a ninja lord like Team Leader Banzhu?
Because of his outstanding performance and because his identity was that of a ninja, Madara had already been promoted from bottom-level factory dog to assembly line team leader under the policy direction of ninja productionization.
Not only had his salary increased, the authority in his hands had also grown accordingly. To a certain extent, he could decide the performance rating of his team members, influencing a month's wages.
Of course, this was not the limit of Madara's career as a worker.
In the future, workshop senior team leader, workshop deputy supervisor, supervisor, deputy factory director, and even coveting the factory director's seat...
His future was simply promising!
Madara was thriving in the factory. The daily workload was nothing to him. It did not interfere with his attempts to awaken the Rinnegan at all. He only needed to continuously supply chakra and vitality.
"Living hidden in the Leaf like this isn't bad. It doesn't delay anything."
Madara rather enjoyed his current life.
Every day, he did a tiny bit of work in the factory. When he had free time, he went to the highest statue in the Leaf to look at the scenery. His Rinnegan attempts were not delayed at all.
It was quite fulfilling. Even the loneliness and emptiness in his heart had diminished somewhat.
Madara, who had lived year-round in a lightless underground cave, was a standard lonely old man. While grinding hard to awaken the Rinnegan, he liked to reminisce about the past.
His younger brother's death, Tobirama's backstabbing, Hashirama's bluntness and lack of understanding. All kinds of negative emotions continued like that. Add in not seeing the sun for years, and any person would go mad.
In the end, elderly people needed company.
Now, Madara worked every day, and even lived in an eight-person dormitory. It was really hard to feel lonely.
As for his original target, Haru, Madara still had not prepared himself.
What kind of posture should he use when meeting Haru?
Convince and recruit Haru to join the Eye of the Moon Plan?
It seemed unworkable.
Haru already had his own path. Before that path reached its end, Haru would not give up on his goal.
Moreover, Madara had not even awakened the key tool for the Eye of the Moon Plan, the Rinnegan.
Even if he forcibly made Haru join the Eye of the Moon Plan now, it would not have much use at present.
Or should he just directly return to the Leaf and work together with Haru, putting the Eye of the Moon Plan aside for now?
After all, he could keep trying to awaken the Rinnegan. The two did not interfere with each other at all.
It was just that he could not save face.
An old fellow from the previous era who had betrayed the Leaf, attacked the Leaf, faked his own death, and schemed so carefully to leave the Leaf...
After wandering the ninja world for ten years, he now wanted to come crawling back to the Leaf.
Tsk.
Humiliating.
Damn humiliating!
Madara valued his dignity very much. He would not do such an embarrassing thing.
Even if he returned to the Leaf and joined Haru's plan, he had to do so in a powerful posture.
For example, when the Leaf was in danger, when the entire ninja world wanted to eliminate the Leaf...
If Haru's path continued to its end, the Leaf would become the enemy of the entire world. Unifying the ninja world would not be something those small fries accepted obediently. They had to be beaten hard first.
At the Leaf's most dangerous and difficult moment, he would descend from the heavens, driving an unrivaled Susanoo, sweeping away all enemies.
Only that kind of entrance suited his identity.
He would wait a little longer.
No need to rush.
Haru was still the Hokage in the Leaf. He could not run away.
And it seemed his reputation had already improved.
In a few more years, Tobirama's posthumous reputation might not even be better than his.
Rumors in the streets said that Tobirama liked men and had a forbidden romance with his disciple...
What was his name again?
Right, Hiruzen.
No wonder Tobirama had never married or had children for so long. It turned out that he was secretly abnormal.
Madara's own statue had even been placed at the gate of the ninja school. Haru had also made a movie for him.
What a good junior.
That was exactly how it should have been filmed!
I, Madara, sacrificed too much for the Leaf!
Hm?
He still had not finished this meat. Chewing it was a little difficult.
Braised meat was tasty and had a good chew. Young people should like it very much. For him, eating it got it stuck in his teeth a bit.
Rice balls were still better.
Madara ate slowly and methodically, his mind wandering as usual.
He imagined what posture he should strike for his grand entrance.
"Has the clone returned?"
Madara took a bite of meat and sensed that the clone he had sent out to take bounty missions had returned.
After eating, he planned to meet up with the clone.
"Team Leader Banzhu, are you coming back with us after eating?"
"No... I'm going out for a walk to digest."
"All right. Remember to come back early. We still have work in the afternoon."
Madara said goodbye to the workers in his group and went to a corner of the Leaf.
His clone walked toward him and tossed him a package before vanishing into smoke.
"More than two million ryo. Not bad. It should be enough for me to live in the Leaf for a while."
The clone's memories flowed into Madara's mind. He weighed the package in his hand. It was full of banknotes in the highest denomination.
It seemed it was time to regain his dignity!
Back then, he had promised that brat Sosuke he would get the cards. He had spent all his money and still had not drawn one.
Although Sosuke had not said anything, Madara could not accept this.
He, Madara!
Never broke his promises.
Especially not a promise made to a child.
Back then, he had promised Hashirama that he would not take revenge on Tobirama. A man's word was worth its weight. Madara had forcefully endured his desire for revenge and spared Tobirama's life all that time.
During this period, Madara had been too embarrassed to look for Sosuke.
The reason was simple.
He had no money!
But now things were different.
He, Madara, had money.
A full two million ryo!
It was enough to buy that card shop!
Madara decided to go all in. He would draw every card and gather a full set for Sosuke. That way, he could regain his dignity.
Should he go now?
Probably not.
Some cards had extremely low rates. Even if he bought them all and opened them one by one, it would take a lot of time.
He would go at night.
There was no night shift tonight, so he had time.
He still had to work in the afternoon. He had just been promoted to team leader, so he had to lead by example and not arrive late or leave early.
After thinking it over, Madara suppressed his desire to return to the card shop and slaughter everything with money. He decided to go back to work first and go all in at night.
Luxury Restaurant.
It was still the same restaurant. Haru had already sent someone to speak with the manager. Today, he would reserve the whole place to entertain the Uzumaki clan.
More than a hundred people had come from the Uzumaki clan.
"Hokage!"
The manager had already been waiting at the entrance. From far away, he saw the vast crowd approaching, all with red hair. It was extremely eye-catching.
At the very front walked Haru, wearing his Hokage robe. He looked incredibly handsome.
"Good. This version is right. I want the arrogant, unruly version."
"Respected Hokage, welcome."
Haru looked at the manager's cold, indifferent appearance and nodded in satisfaction.
He was old money.
What he was eating in this restaurant was status.
With a wave of the manager's hand, a line of servers came out from inside and led the more than one hundred Uzumaki clansmen to their seats.
"Hokage!"
"I'm here!"
As soon as Haru sat down, a familiar, crisp voice rang beside his ear.
So it was Tsunade.
Why was she here?
And what was with this vague sense of unease?
(End of Chapter)
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