"The alliance agreement between the Leaf and the Sand Village... How is the Hokage considering it? If there are difficulties, we can still discuss them."
Chiyo's tone was humble.
After being frightened by Kakuzu that morning, she had long since lost her usual calm. Then Haru had left her sitting coldly in the office for the entire morning, making her panic even more.
When people grew anxious, their minds liked to run wild. Women were especially prone to this, and Chiyo was no exception. Right now, Chiyo was very afraid. Could Kakuzu have been deliberately sent by Haru, using Kakuzu's mouth to say things Haru himself was unwilling to say?
She had come to the Leaf on a mission. The Kazekage had entrusted such an important task entirely to her. The agreement Haru had promised was, for the current Sand Village, no longer just rain after a long drought. It was practically grain falling from the heavens.
If things continued like this, people in the Sand Village really would starve to death.
As one of the Five Great Ninja Villages, the Sand Village had a terrifyingly low tolerance for mistakes compared with the other four villages. It could even be said that it had no tolerance at all. One failed war could plunge the Sand Village into a death spiral: insufficient funds, reduced spending, a downgrade in the village's ninja scale, the village becoming weaker, and the feudal lord becoming even less willing to allocate money.
To earn more money, the village had already started lowering mission prices, hoping to make up for it with mission volume.
The only comfort was that the Sand Village had an outstanding gold miner who made money every day and subsidized the village.
Otherwise, the village had only been established for barely twenty years, had been taught a brutal lesson by Tobirama, and the feudal lord was so poor he refused to increase funding. He had even cut funding. Without Mosa, this outstanding gold miner, the Sand Village would probably fall apart within a few years.
To make the alliance between the Leaf and the Sand Village succeed, Chiyo had to put in one hundred and twenty percent effort.
As long as Haru's demands did not touch the Sand Village's bottom line, such as the tailed beast, even some precious ninjutsu secrets could be brought out for trade.
After Chiyo finished speaking, she looked into Haru's eyes. Her whole body became uneasy. She hoped Haru would fulfill his promise. Kakuzu's intense reaction that morning had truly made Chiyo's heart pound. The Leaf probably really would lose quite a lot of money.
Haru smiled slightly. Looking at Chiyo's tense appearance, he pretended to hesitate, making Chiyo's heart rise into her throat. After waiting for a moment, he said,
"Although the Leaf will suffer quite a loss, as the Hokage of the Leaf, I naturally keep my word. However..."
Before Haru had even finished speaking, Chiyo's body instantly relaxed. As long as the alliance agreement would not be canceled, that was good.
But then Chiyo's body suddenly shrank again.
As expected, he was still going to add follow-up conditions. However, as long as the conditions Haru proposed did not touch the Sand Village's bottom line, Chiyo could agree on behalf of Kazekage Mosa first and report afterward.
"I hope the shops the Leaf opens in the Sand Village can receive tax reductions."
"Books, music, and movies published by the Leaf should also be allowed to be sold normally in the Sand Village. As Hokage, I hope the Leaf's Will of Fire can bloom throughout the ninja world. This is also one of the main reasons I formed an alliance with the Sand Village."
"In addition, for merchant caravans traveling between the Leaf and the Sand Village, the Sand Village needs to take responsibility for their protection. You must specifically send ninja squads to escort them."
"There is also the exchange student arrangement I discussed with the Kazekage. I hope... After all, this concerns the bond between the next generation of the Leaf and the Sand Village."
Haru listed a series of supplementary conditions and requirements, inserting the most important one among them.
The influence of spirit and culture could not be underestimated.
It was time for the Leaf to add a new department: the Propaganda Department.
They would need to hire some writers from the Land of Fire at high salaries to act as paid supporters, specifically responsible for praising everything about the Leaf. From the Leaf's system, ideology, and even its people, everything had to be praised. The Leaf's excellence was something the Sand Village could not compare to. Rather than staying in that poor and backward broken ninja village, people should move to the Leaf as soon as possible and shine for the Leaf.
Ninja had no village boundaries. If a ninja village could not bring happiness to ninja, then ninja had no duty to risk their lives for that village forever.
This was the so-called freedom of ninja.
The Leaf had to be promoted as the lighthouse of the ninja world. This was the best ninja village for freedom, happiness, and realizing a ninja's dream.
The Leaf's propaganda machine had to spread the Leaf's radiance to every corner of the ninja world.
Even if this did not make money, even if it lost money, it had to be done. If you did not occupy the high ground of public opinion, someone else would.
Haru still planned to throw this task to Shikato.
Mainly because he really did not have enough useful subordinates. Shikato was the only one who was easiest to use.
His absolute confidant, Tomiya, had put his whole heart into the Anbu. Handling the Leaf's complicated affairs was simply not suitable for Uchiha. Uchiha were better suited for combat missions involving fighting and killing. It could even increase the probability of awakening their eyes. It was killing two birds with one stone.
Takuya was busy reorganizing the Leaf Security Force. As for urban management, Haru had directly cut that business away from the Uchiha clan. Having the Uchiha do that job offended too many people. The Leaf's commerce was no longer as simple as before. It was expanding extremely fast.
If the Uchiha clan continued using crude handling methods, it might cause major trouble. An excellent business environment was crucial for commerce. For commercial disputes involving great merchants and nobles, the Hyuga clan behind Takuya was the most suitable group to handle them. Their clan had already been quite well received in the noble circles of the Land of Fire.
As for Toma, he was not worth mentioning.
During previous meetings, Haru had always seen him looking dispirited. He was probably aware that his hopes of becoming Hokage were gone, and he himself had been marginalized by Haru. His mind had long since left the Leaf's power field. He often stayed behind closed doors, and Haru did not know what he had been doing recently.
Perhaps he was still unwilling and regretful, wanting to do something.
Or perhaps he had accepted his fate and was busy giving Tsunade a younger brother, the unlucky one who would die from an explosive tag.
Although Shikato's work pressure was already very high, ninja had to learn the excellent skill of eating grass and producing milk.
But Tobirama was still the chosen worker in Haru's heart. He worked 24/7 all year round without rest.
After Haru finished speaking, he saw Chiyo remain silent. His mind began wandering wildly. Only after quite a while did Chiyo finally speak.
"These conditions... I can agree to all of them on behalf of the Kazekage. Thank you for your generosity, Hokage."
Chiyo's tone was excited. After hearing Haru's conditions, she wanted to agree to them immediately. To the current Sand Village, these conditions were simply insignificant.
The Leaf's merchant caravans would cross the desert, endure wind and sand, scorching sun, desert bandits, and possibly even life-threatening danger, only to come to the Sand Village and earn meager profits. They might even lose money. If the Sand Village still wanted to collect taxes from them, even Chiyo herself could not watch that happen.
As for music, books, and movies, they currently had little market in the Sand Village unless they were free. Villagers so poor they were close to starving might not even glance at them. They would probably take them home and burn them as fuel that very night. Desert nights were very cold, and there was no firewood to burn. Coal was too expensive too. It was better to hide under the blanket and endure it. That could save a little money for food.
As for the exchange student program between the Sand Village and the Leaf, Kazekage Mosa had already discussed it. They would send a large group of children from high-level families to study in the Leaf.
All of Haru's conditions were insignificant to Chiyo. Being able to obtain material aid, work opportunities, and financial support was better than anything else. However, she still pretended to be reserved and thought for a while before agreeing to all of Haru's demands.
"Then let us wish the alliance between the Leaf and the Sand Village a long-lasting friendship."
"The Sand Village could ask for nothing more."
Haru revealed a satisfied smile. He stood up from his chair and shook hands with Chiyo. After that, he called Shikato over. The remaining details of implementing the agreement would still be left to him.
As long as he could be exploited without dying, he had to be exploited to the limit. The high salary Haru paid him was not something one could obtain casually.
Chiyo and Haru exchanged some meaningless polite words. After praising Haru for a while, she happily followed Shikato to coordinate the work.
After sending Chiyo away, Shikato brought Haru several large stacks of paper. These were all the registration records for people who had newly entered the Leaf within the past three days.
Haru had always felt that Madara had already infiltrated the Leaf. With Madara's strength, quietly infiltrating the Leaf and avoiding Haru's personnel checks would be extremely easy. However, Haru still planned to personally look through the Leaf's recent personnel registration records.
It was not to discover traces of Madara. It was simply to seek peace of mind, so he could sleep a little more peacefully.
What if Madara really used the plainest and simplest infiltration method, entering through the Leaf's main gate?
Rather than constantly worrying every day, it was better to directly face reality.
"There really are a lot of them. The flow of people in and out of the Leaf has already reached this level. Forget it, I'll look through them slowly. I don't have anything else to do anyway. Once it's time, I'll just go home."
Haru looked at the several large stacks of paper in front of him. After making up his mind, he flipped through them one by one.
He read for a long time. This dry and boring task made Haru's eyes almost blur.
Perhaps I am just too sensitive.
The roulette system occasionally went crazy and issued him some strange missions. At this time, Madara was definitely still in some dark underground cave trying to awaken the Rinnegan.
The current ninja world situation was different from the original story, but...
Well, it had indeed deviated quite a lot.
But not to the point of attracting Madara, right?
He was not Hashirama.
Haru shook his wrist. Continuously flipping through paper had made his wrist sore. If there were no results after another half hour, he would simply leave work.
Haru casually flipped through the remaining pages. Not a single piece of information that could arouse his alertness appeared.
Until...
"Madahashi?"
"Damn, this name... Really?"
"Madara and Hashirama?"
Looking at the name on the paper, Haru's previously drowsy eyes immediately widened, and his whole body shivered.
With these two characters combined together, it was impossible for Haru not to let his thoughts run wild.
This also truly fit Madara's personality. When naming things, he mainly relied on doing whatever he felt like.
Back then, when Hashirama asked Madara what the ninja village they were founding should be called, Madara had a leaf in his hand and directly named it the Leaf.
"The time he entered the village was last night?"
"It matches. It really matches. The system mission was issued last night!"
Haru did not believe there were that many coincidences in the world. When coincidences piled up, they became deliberate.
The system mission really was...
The heart Haru had kept suspended finally died.
That old man Madara really had come to the Leaf.
Calm down. Calm down!
Haru felt his heartbeat accelerating. To make himself calm down, Haru forcefully rubbed his face. Only after several minutes did his mood settle.
Since he had already confirmed that Madara was in the Leaf, he had to figure out Madara's purpose.
At this point in time, Madara definitely had not awakened the Rinnegan.
Could it be for the Nine-Tails?
A moment later, Haru rejected this idea. To ordinary ninja, the Nine-Tails could be considered a disaster-level creature. Even Haru would find it somewhat troublesome to face the Nine-Tails. Only by consuming his precious eye power could he easily suppress it.
His eyes were not Eternal Mangekyo right now. If he used them too much, he would definitely go blind.
But to Madara, the Nine-Tails was merely a tamed wild beast. He would not take it seriously at all.
A mere Nine-Tails was not worth Madara making such a big move and wasting the time he needed to try awakening the Rinnegan by making a special trip to the Leaf.
For the Uchiha clan?
Probably not.
Mito?
Impossible. Absolutely impossible!
Several guesses flashed through Haru's mind one after another, and he denied them all himself.
When you eliminated all impossible situations, what remained, no matter how impossible, had to be the truth.
"Madara should be here for me."
Haru collapsed back into his chair. Deep down, he kept rejecting this guess, but no matter how he thought about it, this was the only possibility.
He was the only variable in the original timeline of the Naruto world. The butterfly effect he had stirred up had already become strong enough to draw Madara out.
Hiruzen was someone with no background, no bloodline, and no strength. A three-no person like that would not attract Madara's interest at all.
Only an Uchiha from the same clan could make Madara feel even the slightest interest.
Madara had probably taken a liking to him.
That old man had tried for ten years and still had not forced out the Rinnegan. It was only when he was about to die of old age that he finally forced it out. Haru knew the future, so he knew Madara would awaken the Rinnegan. But right now, Madara did not know that.
An Uchiha who had awakened the Mangekyo Sharingan and become the Leaf's Third Hokage was simply too suitable to become Madara's successor. Madara probably wanted to use him as a backup for the Eye of the Moon Plan.
Haru kept analyzing in his heart, and the more he thought about it, the more he felt that this was exactly what was happening. His feet unconsciously turned cold. A chill ran from the soles of his feet upward.
He did not know whether everyone had experienced this feeling before. When he could not solve math problems during his college entrance exam, he had personally experienced it. Last year, when he took the postgraduate math exam, it had been the same.
Sadness.
As for the result of being targeted by Madara, one could refer to Obito, that hopeless simp. His beloved died right in front of him, and his entire life was manipulated like a puppet.
Although Obito ultimately backstabbed Madara, did not revive Madara according to the plan, and directly absorbed the Ten-Tails himself to become the Ten-Tails host, if Obito had not been targeted by Madara, perhaps he really could have simped until the end and obtained everything.
His teacher was the Fourth Hokage, and he could have married the goddess Rin.
It was even possible that Minato would eventually pass the position of Fifth Hokage to Obito.
Obito's entire life had been ruined by Madara.
Now it was Haru's turn?
(End of Chapter)
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