"Do you have something to discuss with me?"
Minamikawa Yuu spoke softly, looking at Yakushi Nono in front of him.
"Yes, there's something I'd like to ask of you."
Facing Minamikawa Yuu, Yakushi Nono had a smile on her face. "I have to leave the Village for a while. During that time, could I entrust you to look after Kabuto?"
"Leaving?"
Minamikawa Yuu was thoughtful. "Are you going on a mission again?"
"Yes."
With a smile on her face, Yakushi Nono feigned a relaxed attitude. "After all, there are so many more children in the Orphanage now. The funds allocated by the Village are almost not enough."
"As the director, I have to find ways to manage."
For a Ninja, the best way to earn money is undoubtedly to go out on missions.
In that respect, what Yakushi Nono said didn't seem strange at all.
But Minamikawa Yuu knew that her so-called 'going on a mission' was not as simple as she claimed.
If nothing unexpected happened, the missions she had to perform were all assigned to her by Root.
Going out to gather intelligence for Root, or even acting as a spy.
"Must it be this way?"
Minamikawa Yuu let out a long sigh. "Compared to the shortage of supplies, what the children really want is your safety."
As the director of the Orphanage, Yakushi Nono had a heartfelt love for the children there.
She loved these children, treating them as if they were her own.
Similarly, these children also cared for and protected this director.
If they knew that Yakushi Nono was risking her life on missions just so the Orphanage could have enough funds, they likely wouldn't be very willing.
From their perspective, they would rather live frugally and have everyone work hard together than have Yakushi Nono go off on dangerous adventures alone.
"I know."
Yakushi Nono said with a smile, her tone still gentle and unchanged. "But as a mother, how could I be willing to see my children suffer?"
"Instead of that, it's better for me, as their mother, to work a bit harder."
"Then please be careful."
Minamikawa Yuu spoke softly. "In a while, the situation will be very different."
"Before that, Nono-sensei... you must not let anything happen to you."
What he was referring to was the upcoming Hokage election.
What Root could use to blackmail Yakushi Nono right now was nothing more than the Orphanage's funding.
If Yakushi Nono didn't obey, they would cut off the funding, making it impossible for the Orphanage to continue operating.
This sort of thing might have been unavoidable before, but once Minato Namikaze took office, everything would be different.
As a leader without an established power base, Minato Namikaze could indeed be called a 'bare-bones Hokage' when he first took over.
But no matter how bare-bones, he was still the Hokage.
If he didn't know about the things Danzo was doing, that would be one thing, but if he found out, given Minato Namikaze's personality, Minamikawa Yuu wouldn't even need to say much before Minato would act to push back against Danzo's schemes.
At that time, Yakushi Nono would be able to find true peace and, as she wished in her heart, remain here as the director of the Orphanage with a quiet mind.
None of this would take too long.
"Yes, alright."
Yakushi Nono said with a smile. "Then I'll be waiting for your good news, Yuu."
At this moment, she didn't take Yuu's words seriously.
Only those who had truly been in Root could know just how massive the power Root possessed was.
Given Yakushi Nono's situation, it was extremely difficult for her to completely escape Root's control.
In her eyes, Minamikawa Yuu's words were just a form of comfort.
However, she was still very happy about it and couldn't help but pull Yuu into a hug, giving his head a good pat.
"While I'm away, Yuu, you must live well."
She murmured softly, her voice as gentle as ever. "Grow up well, work hard, and don't think too much."
"No matter what happens, I'm still here..."
Hearing Yakushi Nono's words, Minamikawa Yuu was first stunned, then he reacted and a smile appeared on his face.
"I will."
He stepped out of Yakushi Nono's embrace, waved to her, and then walked out.
Behind him, Yakushi Nono watched him leave, looking on quietly.
Her gaze was as gentle as always.
Minamikawa Yuu walked out of Yakushi Nono's office and into the yard.
When he found Uchiha Itachi, he saw a scene that surprised him.
In the Orphanage, Uchiha Itachi was walking around, constantly cleaning up.
And beside him, Yakushi Kabuto was also busy.
Inside the Orphanage, the two of them currently seemed like ordinary children, helping out everywhere and cleaning.
Looking at Uchiha Itachi and Yakushi Kabuto, they already seemed to be somewhat acquainted.
Even though they could only exchange a few words, given Uchiha Itachi's personality, this was already quite rare.
After all, for someone as mentally mature as him, ordinary children were far too naive.
There weren't many children who could talk with him.
However, if it was Yakushi Kabuto, it wasn't that surprising.
Although this child had lost his past memories, he was also naturally precocious and had a meticulous mind, not at all inferior to Itachi.
In terms of social skills, he was much better than Itachi; he could chat pleasantly and harmoniously with people far below him, and he could also communicate with precocious individuals like Itachi.
Just like in the original plot, where he could chat well with the simple-minded Uzumaki Naruto and also communicate pleasantly with someone like Orochimaru.
It wasn't strange that these two could hit it off now.
"Are you two helping out?"
He walked up and asked the two in front of him.
"Ah, Yuu-niichan, you're here?"
Yakushi Kabuto was a bit surprised to see Minamikawa Yuu, but he quickly smiled. "The Orphanage is having a big cleanup. We had nothing to do standing around, so we just came to help out."
"As for Itachi, he's a new friend I made."
He turned his gaze toward Itachi beside him, his face filled with a pure smile.
A friend?
Meeting his gaze, Uchiha Itachi's expression remained calm, and he just nodded silently, acknowledging the point.
There were truly very few children who could talk with him normally, and someone of Yakushi Kabuto's level was even rarer.
To him, calling him a friend didn't seem like an exaggeration.
"It seems you two are getting along quite well."
Minamikawa Yuu smiled. "In that case, I'll help out too."
He didn't stay idle; like the children beside him, he also joined in the work.
A day later, he left with the two of them.
Yakushi Nono had already entrusted Yakushi Kabuto to his care. Since that was the case, he didn't leave him at the Orphanage and simply brought him back home as well.
Anyway, his house was quite spacious, and he usually lived alone, so having one more person didn't matter.
The next day, he went to Minato Namikaze's house early in the morning.
"Ah, you're planning to open a shop?"
Minato Namikaze looked at Minamikawa Yuu, a look of surprise on his face.
"Yes."
Minamikawa Yuu said with a smile, "I saw that the Orphanage is short on funds and many children aren't living very well, so I wanted to find a way to earn some money."
"So, what exactly are you going to do?"
Minato Namikaze asked.
"How about pre-packaged food?"
Minamikawa Yuu said, "Like various types of instant noodles, convenient ramen, and such."
"I've observed for a while, and currently many Ninjas in Konoha need to bring their own food when they go out on missions."
"Things like instant noodles and convenient ramen are very easy to use, and they're much easier to carry than normal food."
The largest consumer group in Konoha Village is still the Ninja.
And in the Ninja profession, whether it's a Jonin or a Genin, they all need to go on missions frequently.
In such cases, normal food becomes very inconvenient to use.
Instant noodles and convenient ramen are different.
For one thing, they're easy to carry and have a long shelf life, so you don't have to worry about anyone poisoning them or anything.
Plus, they're easy to use—you just eat them directly.
The taste is also guaranteed; at least they're much better than those random foods.
"That's a very good idea."
Minato Namikaze nodded repeatedly as he listened to Minamikawa Yuu. "If the taste is good, they should sell very well."
He had come up from the ranks of the low-level Ninjas and had performed many missions.
The source of food for most Ninjas while on missions was indeed a big problem.
Sometimes, when there was really no other way, insects and wild beasts in the wilderness became the food source.
But doing that had major issues; on one hand, it affected one's physical state, and on the other, there was the risk of being poisoned by enemy Ninjas.
In this situation, having this kind of portable food as a supplement would undoubtedly be a very good choice.
"But doing business must be very difficult, right?"
Minato Namikaze asked, "Yuu, do you have any experience?"
He was a pure Ninja and had never done any business in the past, so he had no idea what to expect.
The portable food business sounded good, but how it would actually turn out was really hard to say.
"It's difficult if you say it is, and easy if you say it is."
Minamikawa Yuu just smiled at Minato Namikaze's doubt.
Business, if you have no resources and no experience and start from scratch, is of course very difficult.
But for those who control resources, it's quite simple.
And it just so happened that Minamikawa Yuu had plenty of resources on hand right now.
Minato Namikaze was currently a popular candidate for the Hokage position.
Not to mention the Ninjas who were close to him and supported him, the Ninjas from the Akimichi and Nara clans alone were not a small number.
What's more, he now also had the support of the Uchiha Clan.
The Ninjas from these clans alone were already numerous.
Given Minato Namikaze's relationship with them, not asking for anything too excessive, just having them arrange for the Ninjas within their clans to use Minamikawa Yuu's products—that shouldn't be a problem, right?
As long as that could be achieved, Minamikawa Yuu wouldn't have to worry about his products selling.
This was a quite substantial set of resources.
In the end, for those who control resources, earning some money is easier than anything.
The reason no one had done it before was simply because no one had thought of playing it this way.