Chapter 33: Daily Life in the Hidden Sand Village
"Morning, Miao! You're here early today."
"Morning, Captain Koishi! I was free anyway, so I came early to get familiar with the new factory."
"You rascal, it's no wonder you were able to become a factory manager."
"Haha, not at all. It's all thanks to Lord Kazekage's favor. Haven't you also been promoted, Captain Koishi?"
"Hahaha! It's all thanks to Lord Kazekage's favor!"
...Miao walked quietly through this newly built factory building, his heart filled with infinite emotion.
It had been nearly two years since he fled here as a refugee. From the beginning, he had been lost and helpless, terrified that he would do something wrong and be kicked out, losing this rare safe haven.
But who would have thought that he would one day be promoted to factory manager?
He had to write a letter later to tell Shūko, Dafo, and the others this good news. He was sure they would be very happy when they heard it.
He remembered that two years ago, Dafo was found to have good Ninja talent and was admitted to the Hidden Sand Village's Ninja Academy.
He heard that Dafo had made many good friends there.
There were Kyūsuke, Nagato, Yahiko, Konan, and Sasori. It seemed they all got along quite well... Soon, it was time for work.
Watching the crowd start working, Miao felt a bit at a loss for a moment.
After all, he had been busy for most of his life, and this sudden change in status was indeed a bit hard to accept all at once.
But he would definitely be able to adapt to his new position quickly!
Moreover, Minister Kakuzu said they need to complete the assembly of 150 excavators this month; the task was very arduous.
That's right, this factory was used to produce excavators.
As early as a year ago, chakra battery technology was already capable of mass production.
Thus, in order to relieve Sunasuke from his position as an Iron Sand miner, the Chakra excavator project was officially established at the Hidden Sand Village First Research Institute for research.
Relying on Saito's descriptions and the Hidden Sand Village's unique puppet techniques, the first excavator was officially completed a month later.
Immediately afterward, an excavator production factory was built next to the Hidden Sand Village, specifically responsible for mining and road construction.
This liberated Sunasuke and a group of Sand Ninjas.
Now, another year had passed, and the Shukaku Grand Road was nearing completion. This left a surplus of excavators, some of which were first-generation models with low chakra battery capacity and short operating times.
Originally, the Hidden Sand Village planned to destroy them and salvage usable parts, but Kakuzu was not happy when he heard this.
So he sold off this batch of first-generation excavators. Surprisingly, the results were quite good, especially in the Land of Earth, which also possessed vast underground mineral resources; they wanted to buy as many excavators as were available.
But this made Kakuzu anxious—there was money to be made, but he couldn't earn it!
However, the production lines in the factory outside the Hidden Sand Village had already been upgraded, and the first generation could no longer be produced.
Thus, the excavator factory in the Land of Rain was born, specifically responsible for the external sale of first-generation excavators.
---
Inside the Land of Rain's Trade City.
Kakuzu was dangling a cigarette from his mouth, and Rasa, behind him, quickly pulled out a lighter to light it for him.
He took a deep drag and then spoke to the person opposite him.
"Expensive? I've already made it very cheap, okay? What do you think this place is? A charity!"
"What! It wasn't this price before? That was the second-hand price, of course it was cheap! There are no second-hand ones now; these are new, so of course the price is higher!"
"Why don't you ask around? Everyone in the Trade City knows that I, Kakuzu, am famously fair. The price matches the quality!"
"What! You're asking why the new ones are twice as expensive as the second-hand ones?"
"Please take a good look at the chakra battery. It clearly says second-generation battery; the operating time is a hundred times longer!"
"It's a 2.5-fold increase! Do you know what that means? It means an excavator that could only work for three hours can now work for 7.5 hours! Think of how much ore it can dig up for you!"
[In reality, as Chakra batteries continued to iterate, installing a first-generation battery would actually be more expensive than the most advanced ones today. Thus, they chose the currently cheapest third-generation batteries.]
"What! You say the previous excavators didn't even last three hours? I told you they were second-hand! Of course the batteries were second-hand too!"
...After a long time, the representative from the Land of Earth walked out. After a long period of negotiation and haggling, in the end, they hadn't managed to knock off a single cent.
"Damn, how did the Hidden Sand Village recruit such a Commercial Minister? You really can't squeeze a single cent out of him."
"Pah! A bunch of paupers. 200,000 for an excavator and they think it's expensive? They won't even be able to afford a decent meal!"
Standing in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, Kakuzu watched the Land of Earth representative leave and spat secretly.
"Are there any other big projects to discuss?"
"No, the rest are just small orders of a few million."
"Sigh! Fine, then I'll leave those for you to handle. You've been with me for two years and have learned enough; it's time for you to get some experience."
"Yes!"
..."Lord Shukaku, you're the best! You're number one in the world!"
"Lord Shukaku, you're the strongest! You're the strongest at kicking the Nine-Tailed's butt!"
On the hot sand, a group of fair-skinned, beautiful, and long-legged female Ninjas were holding pom-poms and shouting loudly!
Among them was a woman with an exceptionally beautiful back.
"I say, Karura, why do we have to stand here and shout!"
"idiot, you idiot! It's because you were overheard badmouthing Lord Kazekage."
"I wasn't wrong. Lord Kazekage is just a big pervert, a scumbag! He's even got people living in his house..."
"Stop right there!"
"Stop!"
"I don't want to be overheard by Lord Kazekage again and be assigned more strange tasks."
"Hurry up and keep shouting. If we cheer hard enough to make Shukaku happy today, maybe he'll work a bit more, and we can finish this task early!"
Having said that, she ignored Pakura's grumbling and continued to shout toward Shukaku in the distance.
"Wow! Lord Shukaku is so amazing; such a thick pole went in all at once!"
"Ohohohoho!!!!!!"
"Seeming to feel the enthusiasm, Shukaku let out a burst of laughter."
"Hahahaha! That's right, Lord Shukaku is the strongest, hahaha."
After speaking, he casually used his tail to pick up a concrete pillar 80 meters long and 3 meters wide, thrust it into the ground, and then manipulated the sand on the ground to transform into a hammer, striking it down hard.
With the sounds of "Bong! Bong! Bong!", a foundation pile was driven in.
Then it was the Ninjas' turn. One by one, Ninjas carrying one side of a steel cable ran up, stepping on the foundations on both sides, then laid the cable across. Repeating this, the crossbeams on the foundation were built. Next, they just needed to pour concrete and wait for it to dry, and then that section would be officially completed.
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