"Hokage!"
Before the person even entered the room, Haru heard a crisp voice. With a snap, the door to Haru's office was pushed open.
A high ponytail, blond hair, a green training outfit, and her chest...
Well, plain and ordinary. She had not yet entered her rapid growth stage.
"Hokage... Tsunade insisted on coming with us. I couldn't stop her."
Orochimaru sounded helpless. He really could not control Tsunade. The moment Tsunade saw Orochimaru, whom she had not seen in a long time, return to school, and learned that he was going to bring Jiraiya, that idiot, to meet the Hokage at noon, she volunteered to come along too.
Everyone in the Leaf knew Tsunade's identity. She was Hashirama's granddaughter and a princess personally titled by the feudal lord of the Land of Fire. Once she decided on something, how could Orochimaru possibly persuade her otherwise?
"Forget it. If she came, she came. Anyway, Tsunade used to come to this office often."
Haru waved his hand. Having the yellow, gambling, and poison trio gather together could be considered one of the Leaf's distinctive features. His office had been inherited from the brothers Hashirama and Tobirama, so Tsunade might be even more familiar with this building than he was.
"Great! Hokage, your office is much more comfortable than Grandpa's and Great-Uncle's!"
Tsunade casually sat down on the sofa, her eyes looking at the snacks on Haru's tea table.
These past two days, Kaede and Rin had been battling Haru every day. Although it was Haru against two, a ninja was still a ninja, and ordinary people were still ordinary people. The victor would inevitably be Haru.
Kaede and Rin had not come to work at the Hokage Building in the mornings for several days, but the daily desserts and snacks in Haru's office had never been interrupted.
"Hokage...!"
"Eat, eat!"
Haru rested his chin on both hands and looked at the playful Tsunade. The young Tsunade was truly very different from the irritable old woman who appeared in Shippuden.
So cute.
After receiving Haru's permission, Tsunade happily picked up a small cake and began eating on her own.
Haru looked at Orochimaru and Jiraiya.
Orochimaru stood there calmly, waiting for Haru's instructions. He was already very familiar with Haru. In the underground laboratory, he often saw Haru and Tobirama cursing at each other, and their words were quite filthy. The dignified filter around the Leaf's important figures had already been worn away almost completely.
Jiraiya, on the other hand, looked timid and cautious, standing like a small fry. It was similar to the first time Haru had met him.
"Orochimaru, the Summoning Technique I asked you to teach Jiraiya. How is he learning it?"
"He hasn't learned it yet. Jiraiya's current chakra volume is still insufficient. His chakra control is poor, and his hand seals are unfamiliar."
Orochimaru reported Jiraiya's learning progress seriously. After one morning of learning, Jiraiya had performed like an idiot.
Haru subconsciously scratched his head and looked at Jiraiya.
Jiraiya was still a student. The theory classes and practical classes taught at school were all very basic. The ninja academy's students were still mainly taught the fundamentals of ninja training, such as extracting chakra, practicing hand seals, and throwing shuriken. As long as they learned the Transformation Technique, Clone Technique, and Substitution Technique by graduation, they could be called rookie genin.
Geniuses like Kakashi were still far too rare.
The Summoning Technique counted as a relatively advanced ninjutsu. The current Jiraiya was still grinding hard to build chakra. He had probably just started with water-walking and tree-climbing.
"Hokage, I... I..."
Jiraiya's reply was a little stuttered. His self-esteem had suffered a huge blow. In just one morning, Orochimaru had beaten Jiraiya down completely. Orochimaru, trained by the famous teacher Tobirama, and Jiraiya, who was still playing house in the ninja academy, were no longer on the same track.
"No need to be discouraged. Jiraiya, the potential within you is far stronger than you imagine. It just needs time to be refined, along with a little bit of luck. In the future, you will become an outstanding ninja."
Haru comforted Jiraiya. Jiraiya could be considered a hard-working genius. His own talent was already good, and he persistently trained in Sage Mode, eventually building up enough foundation to become the famous Toad Sage of the ninja world.
He had overlooked this issue.
Extending the ninja academy system was a good thing for ordinary people, but for talented children like Jiraiya and Orochimaru, keeping them in the academy to receive ordinary instruction was truly wasting their precious growth period.
"Really?"
Jiraiya's eyes lit up. He had never imagined that the Hokage would evaluate him so highly. Even Tsunade, who was eating heartily, and Orochimaru, who stood to the side, showed surprise.
The Hokage was actually this optimistic about this perverted brat?
"My eye for people has always been accurate."
Haru's tone was firm. Jiraiya's future achievements were extremely dazzling.
However, now he had to consider finding a teacher for him. Keeping him in the ninja academy would only waste his talent.
The yellow, gambling, and poison trio should still be kept together neatly.
Haru did not want to split up Jiraiya, Orochimaru, and Tsunade. However, there were not many suitable candidates in the Leaf to become their teacher.
Orochimaru could not stay with Tobirama in the laboratory forever either. Although Haru did not want Orochimaru to experience too much darkness of the ninja world, as a ninja, these were unavoidable fates.
He himself was not impossible.
Slacking off at work every day and sneaking out to teach students in his free time should be quite interesting.
However, there seemed to be a tradition of students killing teachers among Hokage. Orochimaru killed Hiruzen, and Obito killed Minato. Superstition could not...
No, maybe he should believe it a little. If he was killed by this curse, he would lose far too much.
He would first take Jiraiya and train him in the Summoning Technique. When the time came, he could throw the three of them to Sakumo. That little white-haired Sakumo was currently following Kakuzu around as an assistant every day, only responsible for minor things like reading account books and safeguarding Kakuzu's calculators.
He had to find something for him to do.
After thinking it through, Haru decided to let Jiraiya stop wasting time at the ninja academy from now on and follow him to study for a while. When the time came, he would arrange an assessment and let him graduate directly from the ninja academy.
"Really?"
After hearing Haru's arrangement for him, Jiraiya's face was full of disbelief.
He was going to study beside the Hokage for a while?
"Hokage, what about me?"
Orochimaru's face was full of expectation.
Compared to wasting his life in the ninja academy, surrounded every day by a bunch of fangirling little girls and unable to follow Tobirama in experiments, studying beside Haru was also an excellent choice.
"You? Uh... Come along too. Teaching one is teaching. Teaching two won't take much more effort."
Haru looked at Orochimaru's expectant eyes and agreed very simply.
"Hokage, me, me, me! I'm coming too!"
Tsunade had not even wiped the cream from the corner of her mouth before impatiently raising her hand. Since Jiraiya and Orochimaru were both going, she had to go join the fun too.
Not having to go to school and studying beside the Hokage would definitely be much more interesting than staying at school.
"Tsunade... As for you, you should first get your grandmother Mito to agree. I don't want Mito coming to knock on my office door."
Mito had always been uneasy about Haru, guarding against him strictly. She kept a very close watch over Uzumaki Hizuki. Of course, Tsunade was the same.
Haru was far too young. Speaking of which, Tsunade and Haru were not that many years apart. Their ages were quite suitable. However, Haru had never shown strange intentions toward Tsunade, so Mito did not watch Tsunade as strictly as Hizuki. As long as Tsunade did not gamble, it was fine.
If Tsunade followed Haru to study now, Mito would suspect that Haru had ulterior motives. After all, in Mito's eyes, Haru was morally corrupt, had no integrity, and loved women. He was really unsuitable to become Tsunade's teacher.
Haru was too lazy to entangle himself with Mito at this time. If Tsunade wanted to study by his side, she had to first obtain Mito's agreement.
"Grandma Mito has been teaching Sister Hizuki sealing techniques recently and doesn't have time to care about me. Hokage, I'm so bored staying alone in the ninja academy. I've already learned everything the school teaches. Mm..."
Tsunade used her special skill.
This move worked every time on Hashirama and Tobirama. Haru held out for a while, but he also lost.
The playful and cute Tsunade acting spoiled was indeed very lethal. It was completely different from the Tsunade in his memory, giving her a strange contrast.
Cute.
"Then the three of you can come together. I'll treat you to lunch at noon, and teaching officially begins this afternoon."
The streets of the Leaf.
Early in the morning, Madara climbed down from a tree. Madara, who had slept on rocks for years, did not resist sleeping in a tree. Then he aimlessly wandered through the streets of the Leaf.
The bustling scene...
Madara could never look at it enough. The Leaf and the rest of the ninja world were practically two different worlds. The gap was like heaven and earth. When could the entire ninja world become like the Leaf? Madara truly hoped all of this could spread throughout the ninja world.
But this required time.
The development of productive forces and the innovation of technology all required time. The future described in Haru's book did not give an exact time. In the more distant future, humanity's desire to pursue a better and happier life was endless.
A pleasant-sounding phrase.
Human greed was endless.
Madara had not read much, and he had not yet savored the true meaning behind it. But Haru's beautiful vision, breaking the fate of ninja as tools, developing productive forces, breaking unequal production relations, and a series of theories beyond Madara's field of vision all made Madara unable to see the end of this road.
No end represented an infinite future.
The Eye of the Moon Plan was ultimately an empty dream. Using the lives of all humanity in exchange for a beautiful dream, or pursuing a distant, beautiful, and real future. Deep down, Madara leaned more toward the latter.
Reality, compared to illusion, was still more attractive to a figure at Madara's level.
Moreover, he still had not obtained the key item for the Eye of the Moon Plan, and he did not know when he would obtain it.
If everything in the Leaf now had been completed under my leadership, that guy Hashirama would surely have to lower his head and admit defeat to me.
Madara looked at the Leaf's prosperous scene, the vibrant realm of vitality and competition right before his eyes. He really wanted to drag Hashirama out of the Pure Land.
The Leaf led by my Uchiha clan is a hundred times stronger than what you and that bastard Tobirama managed.
And it will become even better in the future.
You lost, Hashirama!
"My stomach... is a little hungry."
Near noon, Madara's stomach began protesting. However, he had no money in his pocket.
Should he go find that brat Sosuke to freeload a meal?
Madara felt that he still had some dignity. Constantly freeloading meals from a child was really...
It seemed making money was urgent.
Madara took out the address from his pocket. At that time, the agent had left Madara a work address. When he arrived, he only needed to report the agent's name to obtain a work station, as well as a free shared dormitory and free cafeteria.
He would go there first to get a meal.
Robbing...
Cough, cough.
Sharingan illusions...
Madara ultimately maintained a strong person's dignity. Using such methods against powerless villagers just to freeload a meal was something he still could not do.
A certain Leaf factory.
"So it's you. Why didn't you report yesterday? Forget it. Considering you're an old man, it's fine that you came today."
"You get one day off every two weeks. Ten hours of work a day. If you add night shifts, twelve hours. But there are basically night shifts every day. Night shift wages will... Do you understand? If you're willing to work here, sign here."
Madara nodded. He had no intention of working here long-term. Before coming, he had already sent a clone out to accept bounty missions. It probably would not take a month to earn several million ryo back.
This was just experiencing life, while also solving his food and lodging problem during this period.
"Then sign."
"Madahashi."
Madara signed his fake name. Then he received two sets of factory uniforms and was taken to his dormitory bed.
A wooden shed, eight-person dormitory, bunk beds.
"This is where you'll sleep at night. Kiki, you're the dorm leader. Take care of this old man. Everyone here fled to the Leaf to survive, so you should help each other."
"Got it!"
Kiki had a loud voice and agreed immediately.
"Grandpa Madahashi, since you just arrived, according to the rules, you start work officially tomorrow. This afternoon, you can get familiar with the environment first. It's about time to eat, so come with me. I can introduce you to your roommates along the way."
Kiki patted Madara's shoulder and gestured for him to follow. They went to the cafeteria together to prepare for lunch.
"Grandpa Madahashi, this cafeteria is free for employees. Food is distributed in fixed portions every day. Today there are rice balls, protein blocks, vegetables, and soup... There are meat bones in it!"
"Eat more. It's your first day at work this afternoon, so you need to eat more. The work here isn't easy after a full day, but compared to the lives we had before, it's much better. There's food, there's drink, and there's something to look forward to. I bought a house in the Leaf too. Recently, they'll draw lots for move-in. I don't know whether I'll have that blessing."
Kiki talked nonstop along the way. He was someone who got familiar quickly and kept talking to Madara. At first, Madara was fine, but later, he found it a little annoying. Old people liked quiet. However, he did not find Kiki unpleasant.
Cafeteria.
"Rice balls, protein blocks, and meat-flavored soup."
"The food is not bad."
Madara bit into a protein block. It was sticky and had no flavor. Then he took a sip of soup.
Mm!
Delicious.
The taste was excellent!
Madara wondered what exactly Haru's factory did every day while eating a rice ball. Curiosity rose in his heart.
(End of Chapter)
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