Mito's face was as cold as frost as she turned her head to the side, unwilling to look at Haru's smug expression.
The Uchiha family's inherited arrogant face, paired with Haru's utterly unrestrained grin, finally made Mito understand why Tobirama had hated the Uchiha so much.
That wicked little Uchiha brat really did not know the first thing about respecting his elders.
Mito grumbled inwardly, yet her body stayed firmly planted in her seat, showing not the slightest intention of moving.
There was no way she was going to miss the next part of this meeting.
The Leaf had just made an enormous fortune.
Naturally, the next step was dividing the spoils.
They had suffered through hard times for so long. At long last, the bitter days were finally ending. Anyone who left the meeting now would be a complete fool.
The clan leaders present all stared at Haru with burning eyes, instantly forgetting every unpleasant thing from the past.
From this moment on, Uchiha Haru was the greatest Hokage in the history of the Leaf.
"Hokage-sama truly sees farther than anyone else."
"You're practically my idol."
"If you do not reject me, I am willing to call you father."
"I heard Hokage-sama likes twins. My clan just happens to have a pair of twin girls, both sixteen this year. If Hokage-sama is interested, I can immediately..."
Faced with profit, these ninja clans had just as little dignity as those vermin from the Land of Fire. Some wanted to become his adopted sons. Some shamelessly offered up women. Every trick imaginable was brought out.
As long as Haru was pleased, they were willing to do anything.
There were now over a hundred billion ryo sitting in the Leaf's accounts.
Who could look at that and not feel tempted?
Since the day the village was founded, the Leaf had never once been rich. Funding had been insufficient from the very beginning. Even with the daimyo's support, life had always been tight.
There were simply too many places where money had to be spent if one wanted to build a fully developed ninja village.
When the First Hokage, Hashirama, was alive, the ninja world had still been relatively peaceful, so people could focus more on construction and development.
At that time, the funds allocated from above could be divided among the ninja clans, allowing them to slowly grow stronger and more prosperous, and letting each clan have a few more children every year.
After all, back in the Warring States era, if a clan lost a few less people each year, that already counted as growth.
But once the First Hokage died, the ninja world immediately descended into chaos. Fighting never stopped. By the end of it, the ninja clans were even forced to pay out of pocket.
Life had become unbearable.
But now that Haru had arrived, the sky was finally bright again.
Hashirama?
Tobirama?
What the hell did they matter?
Could they give the clans piles of silver to strengthen their families?
The dead belonged in their graves.
The living had to deal with reality.
And so, the title of the greatest Hokage in the Leaf's history was immediately placed on Haru's head.
Haru declined it three times in pretense, but unfortunately, his financial power simply would not allow him to refuse forever. In the end, he still accepted the title, bringing himself one step closer to Hiruzen's future reputation.
"Next, we can discuss how this latest round of funding should be used."
Haru had heard enough shameless flattery. He felt there was no point continuing to waste time trading nonsense with these spineless clans. It was time to talk about real matters.
"Hokage-sama, you know it yourself. Back then, it was our clan's ninja eating sand every day on the Sand front line. We were the first ones to withstand the Sand's initial assault..."
"Get lost. The Sand are nothing. They're the weakest of the Five Great Ninja Villages. Hokage-sama, it was our clan's squad that penetrated deep into the Cloud's lines and caught them completely off guard. Without our offensive, the peace talks between the Leaf and the Cloud would have been delayed by months..."
"That's bullshit!"
"When our clan was standing against Mu's Particle Style, where were you..."
"..."
The moment Haru finished speaking, the clans immediately began listing their achievements in the First Great Ninja War. As they argued, tempers flared. What began as boasting about military contributions quickly turned into political attacks, with each side grabbing hold of the others' weaknesses and tearing into them.
If Haru had not been sitting there, they might have started fighting on the spot.
Haru sat in his chair and watched them tear into each other, inwardly sighing at just how much internal conflict existed between the Leaf's clans.
Still, the Leaf had only been founded a little over twenty years ago. For the clans to have fused together this much already was not bad at all.
And it made it all the easier for Haru to win them over and manipulate them from the middle.
Haru had become Hokage through family prestige and personal strength.
But starting today, he finally had personal prestige that belonged to him alone.
That was truly an impressive step forward.
Haru remained seated like a man fishing calmly at the center of a storm, while Shikato and Takuya stood as solid as guardian statues at his side.
The two of them quietly drank tea and watched the clans argue. As the executors of the pig iron futures plan, they had no need to show off merits or flaunt their qualifications.
It was worth mentioning that even Senju Toma eventually failed to hold himself back and jumped into the fight with the other clans.
The Senju Clan was no longer in its former position of dominance, and they had also been among the leaders opposing the pig iron futures plan.
But now that the plan had produced such terrifying profits, even Toma lowered the proud head of one of the Leaf's three great clans and personally stepped into the struggle for benefits.
Face meant nothing compared to strengthening the clan.
That was the helplessness of being a clan head.
They argued for most of the afternoon and still failed to settle anything.
In the end, Haru simply could not stand watching anymore.
For the sake of money, these clans had thrown away even the last scraps of dignity. The vocabulary they used when attacking and insulting one another was so rich that even Haru, a longtime veteran of filthy online flame wars, almost wanted to pull out a notebook and start writing everything down.
They truly had no sense of shame left.
So Haru personally stepped in and divided the benefits.
No matter which clan felt they had received too little, they still had to accept it obediently.
The final battle of the ninja world had been commanded by Haru.
The extra funds on the financial side had also been earned by Haru.
He held both military merit and financial power firmly in his hands.
Only those he allowed to eat had the right to reach for the chopsticks.
That said, the amount of money involved this time was simply too great.
And the clans really had lived through hard years these past few years. On top of that, the previous round of funding had been forcibly pushed into the Leaf's accounts by Haru, with the clans given no room to resist.
So every clan received a number that satisfied them, enough to restore their populations and further train their clan ninja.
Haru was generous with his money.
Every clan leader present looked flushed with excitement.
Even Mito's sour face finally broke into a smile so wide she could barely close her mouth.
Once the silver had been scattered, the people below naturally became wholeheartedly convinced.
"Everyone, while we are gathered here today, we can continue discussing the Leaf's future development."
Haru put on a serious expression, intending to raise the twenty-something-year-old child called the Leaf according to his own will.
The clan leaders all put away their smiles and listened solemnly to him speak.
"First, regarding recruitment for the ninja academy. Because of the war, it was delayed once again. Now it should be put back on the agenda. As for the students and teachers..."
Before Haru had even finished speaking, the head of the Aburame Clan immediately stood up and declared that his clan was willing to send core members to study at the ninja academy.
Shigen had been sitting in the corner the whole time, so low-key that Haru had almost forgotten the existence of this clan obsessed with insects.
Their lack of presence was honestly hard to describe.
A look of surprise appeared on Haru's face.
That clan truly lived up to the phrase, silent until they suddenly astonished everyone.
This was an extremely direct declaration of loyalty to Haru.
Not only was Haru surprised, but the other clans were equally shocked.
Well now, Shigen.
Everyone thought you were an honest and straightforward man, yet without making a sound you had quietly stepped forward, eager to become Haru's dog... no, eager to offer loyalty to Hokage-sama.
Then again, being someone's dog was still being someone's dog no matter who it was.
During the past struggle over the Hokage seat, the Aburame had not dared get involved at all. They were not a great clan like the Hyuga. They could not afford a wrong bet.
But now the situation in the Leaf was already crystal clear.
There was no point acting reserved anymore.
The faster they knelt, the greater the rewards.
Had they not seen how richly the Nara Clan, the very first clan Haru had pulled to his side, had been rewarded? Even the Akimichi and Yamanaka had risen right along with them.
The head of the Aburame Clan was quite interesting.
Haru looked at Shigen with satisfaction.
If he had not stepped forward on his own, Haru probably would have kept overlooking the Aburame Clan entirely.
The truth was, the strength of this clan had been severely underestimated.
Forbidden techniques developed from microscopic insects could spread like plague. In a ninja world where bodies were still relatively fragile, even Haru might die without understanding what had killed him if he were careless enough to be caught off guard the first time.
And insects had tremendous development potential.
They could be used for combat, for intelligence gathering, and in future production as well.
The greatest feature of insects was how quickly they reproduced. As long as they had a mouthful of food, they could multiply endlessly at shocking speed.
Crunchy in one bite.
Five times the protein of beef.
A bizarre mental image suddenly flashed through Haru's mind.
Even more terrifying was the possibility of developing them along a full hive-style growth model.
That kind of idea sounded a bit absurd in the ninja world, but with Tobirama around, maybe it was not impossible to create something interesting after all.
Focus on cultivating them.
Haru made a note of Shigen in his mind.
From now on, that man needed to spend a lot more time in Haru's line of sight.
His clan's presence was just too low.
"Hokage-sama, my Inuzuka Clan..."
Inuzuka Isamu hurriedly spoke up, following Shigen in offering his loyalty to Haru.
The Inuzuka and Aburame Clans were closely tied. Though not quite as inseparable as Ino-Shika-Cho, in a ninja world full of deception and scheming, simply having another clan willing to support each other was already incredibly rare.
Unlike the original Uchiha Clan, who had been wiped out and still found no one willing to speak up for them.
Relationships like this were uncommon across the ninja world.
Mostly because, during the Warring States era, ninja clans worked for employers. For the sake of finishing missions, clans turning blades against one another was all too common. Malicious employers would even deliberately choose close clans to carry out opposing missions.
No matter how good the relationship was, it could not withstand constant manipulation through competing interests.
As for the ones manipulating things behind the scenes...
Haru's thoughts drifted, recalling clans in the canon story that had similar relationships, and his eyes landed on Takuya.
The Hyuga Clan, if he remembered correctly, had always had a close relationship with the Kaguya Clan of the Mist. There were even rumors that the two were distant relatives. One played with eyes, the other with bones. The styles felt completely mismatched, yet the Hyuga and Kaguya truly had been close.
The Kaguya Clan's fate was almost a perfect mirror of the Uchiha's. Both had been pushed out by those above them, then driven into rebellion.
The only difference was that the Uchiha were cut down by their own people, while the Kaguya died fighting for their rights.
The Kaguya had more guts.
I really like your style.
At some point in the future, maybe it would be worth finding a chance to steal a few of them away from the Mist.
As for the Inuzuka Clan, the only thing Haru clearly remembered was Fang Over Fang.
Call it a buy-one-get-one-free situation.
"Good. Both clan heads understand the greater good. The Leaf will not forget your contributions."
Haru acknowledged the loyalty of both clan heads.
Isamu beamed with delight, while even Shigen, whose face was even more expressionless than the average Uchiha, managed to reveal a smile.
Though to be honest, it looked worse than crying.
"Our clan..."
"And ours too..."
The remaining clan heads all rushed forward together to declare loyalty to Haru.
If you were not eager enough to become the dog now, then forget about meat in the future.
You would not even get to eat shit.
Haru nodded with satisfaction.
The ninja academy was the central core of the Leaf's development over the next few years.
Originally, Haru had expected to have to speak to each clan head one by one to secure their support for the academy, and the process would probably have involved plenty of bargaining, coercion, and inducement.
But things were much more convenient now.
Once the money was in place, every one of them was bowing and nodding without hesitation.
"And the second matter is the establishment of the Leaf's Department of Technology. A special fund will be set aside, and everything related to it will be classified as top secret."
"Technology is the primary productive force. The future of the Leaf absolutely cannot rely only on the daimyo's dead salary or the little money earned from missions. The Leaf's future is vast..."
Haru launched into another one of his habitual speeches.
He was far too practiced in the art of painting a glorious future.
The clan leaders below were worked into a fever by his words.
Who did not like money?
The Hokage had already proven his ability.
Following him could not be wrong.
"Agreed."
"Agreed."
"..."
Naturally, Haru's proposal passed with unanimous approval.
At last, he had found a legitimate way to solve the funding problem for Tobirama's laboratory.
Tobirama had opened his mouth and demanded three billion ryo just to build the highest-tier laboratory, and that did not even include the later expenses. The total cost might not be any less than launching a medium-scale war.
The Uchiha could not afford that themselves, nor had Haru ever intended to pay for it.
Tobirama doing research was for the Leaf's development.
Haru could use the Leaf's money to subsidize the Uchiha.
But asking him to use the Uchiha's money to subsidize the Leaf?
That was asking too much.
He simply was not that noble.
"As for the third matter, I plan to establish a company. The Uchiha will buy in. The Leaf still owes all of you a batch of debts from the past. Would you be willing to convert those debts into shares?"
Haru voiced his final proposal.
The best way to change the thinking of these clans was to bind them together through shared interests.
The Leaf was the Leaf.
The clan was the clan.
They drew that line very clearly.
A clan could risk life and death for the Leaf, but at the root of it all, they were doing it for their own family.
Behind the Leaf stood their families.
If forced to choose between the Leaf and their clan, almost all of them would choose their clan without hesitation.
The interests of the Leaf and the interests of the clans were not always the same.
The Leaf was a military organization. It did not interfere with production. Trying to force these ninja to stop refining their strength and make them engage in production instead would have been too much to ask of people who had been poisoned for centuries by the idea that ninja were merely tools.
Let the ninja invest and form a large company together.
Then, when the yearly dividends arrived and they saw piles of silver in front of them, they would understand that there was an equally vast world in production too.
Their initiative had to be awakened.
Once these ninja apes truly experienced the beauty of capital, their steps would never stop again.
"Hokage-sama, the Hyuga Clan agrees. As the head of the Hyuga, I trust Hokage-sama's ability."
"I am willing to offer my loyalty to Hokage-sama!"
Takuya was the first to respond to Haru's proposal.
He was the first one to have eaten the crab, the first to build ties with Haru, and now he was stuffing himself full of oil and grease from it.
No matter what Haru wanted to do now, Takuya had no choice but to support it.
There was no helping it.
Haru's vision was simply too high.
Three stories high.
"I am willing to offer my loyalty to Hokage-sama!"
"I am willing to..."
For a time, the conference room rang with one voice after another.
(End of Chapter)
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