These days had finally gotten easier.
Kangetsu took the imported tea Yukine handed him and couldn't help stretching with a long, satisfied yawn.
The A-rank Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Multiple Shadow Clone Technique) was, on paper, a forbidden technique.
With it, all the business meetings, the social calls, the endless polite drinking—he could just shove that onto his shadow clones.
No fighting, no training. Just paperwork and small talk.
So the clones could last a long time. He could use them freely.
But using Kage Bunshin (Shadow Clone) to boost training the way Naruto did? Yeah, Kangetsu wasn't touching that.
He didn't have the Uzumaki clan's ridiculous vitality, and he definitely didn't have the perks of being a Jinchuuriki. Naruto could abuse shadow clones because, frankly, shadow clones were basically his personal cheat code.
If anyone else tried to copy that trick, they wouldn't be "trying it."
They'd be dying from it.
Even Tsunade-hime, with her Senju-blood physique, never dared to play that game. Kangetsu wasn't about to get cocky.
All he could do was hope that once Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Multiple Shadow Clone Technique) hit LV5 on his status screen, it would undergo some kind of qualitative leap.
And speaking of Naruto…
Kangetsu shook his head and kept his mouth shut.
Ever since his awakened memories came back, he hadn't gone anywhere near the kid.
That was not a simple problem. That was Konoha's biggest live wire.
So he'd never once considered building some "protagonist bond" in the first place.
Try it, and see whether Hiruzen and Danzo didn't deal with you first.
With that settled, Kangetsu was fully, completely free.
What, Konoha's higher-ups would see him idle and start assigning missions?
Please.
He was a bottom-tier ninja. Pushing out shadow clones every day was already his limit.
Hiruzen had to be considerate of a loyal workhorse like him, right?
Work him to death, and who was going to make them money?
Once that reality sank in, Hiruzen and the other old men started feeling a little regretful.
They were terrified their "good kid" would grind himself down with clone fatigue, so they nagged him every day to go get checked at the hospital.
Our village's businesses are all balanced on that good kid's shoulders.
You can't be careless about that.
At the same time…
Sarutobi Sasuke had set a full table and was just waiting for his good buddy to show up for drinks. (I know some people think this was a mistake and it was Shinnosuke, but nope, the author was adamant on it.)
The moment he saw Kangetsu, Sasuke hurried over with a grin.
"Kangetsu, little bro! You made it—come on, come on, this way!"
His speech whistled a little, because two of his front teeth were missing.
His vision was a little blurry, because both eye sockets were bruised dark.
And he walked with a limp, because he was leaning on a cane.
To be fair, he hadn't gotten beat up like this in the Land of Fire. The advisor families' people still had some sense of restraint.
No, this was the pure, glorious power of fatherly love.
After Sasuke's little attempt at eating alone failed—and he got caught red-handed—the news made it back to Konoha, and Hiruzen immediately wrote to order his eldest son home.
Sasuke got back, and Hiruzen planted a left-foot kick into him so hard Sasuke started yelping.
Then came the Konoha-style big-stick beatdown, and the young lord was wailing like his life depended on it.
"…Sorry you had to see that." Sasuke gave a bitter laugh as he poured the drinks.
Kangetsu accepted the cup with the expression of a man who understood, spiritually and physically.
"Sigh. Big bro, all I can say is your luck was terrible this time. Next time, be a little more careful."
Terrible luck?
The second Kangetsu put it that way, the vein at Sasuke's temple started throbbing.
Yeah…
"Terrible luck," my ass…
The Shimura clan, I fucking hate them!!
If those Shimura bastards hadn't ratted him out, would he have gotten caught?
If that Shimura elder hadn't grabbed him, would he have been pinned down?
If his little scheme hadn't collapsed at the finish line, would his old man have called him back?
This time, the Land of Fire tobacco business was no longer his.
Because after he got caught, Hiruzen walked away with the impression that his eldest son was capable enough, but not suited to assisting Kangetsu—the village's "good kid"—with business.
And when someone blocks your money… it's like they killed your parents.
Now Sasuke couldn't stand the Shimura clan anywhere he looked.
He wanted to make trouble for them. Real trouble.
"Ahem." Kangetsu glanced around like he was worried about the walls having ears, then stood up and closed the private room's door.
"Big bro, you really can't talk like that."
"The Shimura clan is an advisor family. Advisor Danzo is Hokage-sama's right-hand man."
"If Hokage-sama makes any decision at all, he has to listen to the advisors first. Big bro, for your own sake, don't say that kind of thing again."
Kangetsu's advice was solid. Perfectly reasonable.
Perk up. Don't lose face.
Look at how your old man's getting squeezed by the advisors—if you're the Sarutobi clan's first-in-line heir, you need to stand tall.
Sasuke listened, and his eyes lit up.
Right.
That's exactly right.
"bro, don't try to talk me down. I know you don't want Konoha to start infighting, but I can't swallow this!"
The more he thought about it, the angrier Sasuke got.
He made up his mind: he was going to blow hot air right into his old man's ear.
You're the Hokage. How are you scared to pick a fight with that old bastard?
After Sasuke left, Kangetsu shook his head.
No wonder, after Hiruzen died in canon, nobody from the Sarutobi clan took the seat.
The eldest son and the second son—Sasuke and Asuma—neither of them were built for it. (TL: In the og, Sasuke, aka Shinnosuke is dead, he is the father of Konohamaru.)
If they really took power, the advisors would play them to death.
Kangetsu had only taken a few steps in his wooden geta when someone yanked him by the arm, beaming.
"Kangetsu, little bro! Over here, over here! Drinks! You have to show your face today!"
Shikaku practically dragged him along, shouting toward the room like a man announcing a festival.
"Inoichi! Choza! Look who's here!"
"Oho! Kangetsu, bro! Come on, come on—sit by your big bro!"
"Boss! Boss!! Bring out all the good stuff he stored here!"
The three of them were in absurdly high spirits, clinking cups and drinking like they'd won the lottery.
Kangetsu was a rare guest.
And a god of wealth was the kind of relationship you maintained like your life depended on it.
After all, the "clothing empire" was paying their three families a ten-percent cut.
It wasn't as if they didn't know the advisors were unhappy with them.
That was exactly why: they were taking that ten percent.
But because the god of wealth had said one single sentence—
"The Nara clan is smart. I want to see if I can teach them how to do business."
—Konoha's upper ranks immediately recognized the legitimacy of Ino-Shika-Cho holding a ten-percent share in the clothing venture.
A god of wealth who cut them in like that?
You didn't just treat him well.
You put him on an altar.
So Shikaku's grin was practically splitting his face as he raised his cup and started pounding drinks.
No need for words, bro. It's all in the cup.
He wanted that toast more than anything, because he understood something on a bone-deep level:
The Nara clan didn't know a damn thing about business.
Most ninja in the shinobi world were stuck in a pure "ninja mindset."
Different trades might as well be different worlds.
More than that, Shikaku was scared.
He was scared the brats back home would get cocky and actually try running businesses themselves.
What if they went bankrupt again—lost their underwear all over again?
Would the three clans even survive?
Better to keep eating off the god of wealth. Stable, safe—
And most importantly, profitable.
"Come on, bro, another toast!"
"Hahahaha… please. We'll drink it all. You can take it easy!"
(End of Chapter)
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