Danzo and his Root operatives moved swiftly toward the battlefield where Sakumo and the troops were stationed, aiming to investigate the situation firsthand.
Accompanying them were several Hyuga clan members, including Tsukasa.
Whether a negotiation was on the table or not, the presence of the clan leader would help stabilize the growing unrest among the branch family.
Haruki, however, did not join them. Instead, he made his way to the basement of the research facility in the Ninja Academy.
Within a week, all the ninjas from his Chamber of Commerce should have arrived.
"Lord Haruki, long time no see."
A young man greeted him the moment he stepped inside.
"Shinji? I didn't expect Oshima to send you." Haruki raised an eyebrow at the sight of him.
Shinji Hira was the strongest fighter under his Chamber of Commerce. He possessed the Ice Release kekkei genkai and hailed from the distant Land of Snow.
"The President said Lord Haruki needs me more here." Shinji smiled.
"That so? Well, what's the current situation?" Haruki moved past the pleasantries.
"This time, we brought in fifty-eight ninjas in total," Shinji reported. "Three of them were selected by Danzo and placed into Root. Hiruzen's Anbu took in ten. The remaining forty-five are stationed in the Research Institute."
"Better than I expected." Haruki nodded, satisfied. Training this many capable ninjas in just three years wasn't an easy feat.
"Bring me the list of those in the institute," he instructed.
"Understood." Shinji handed over the roster.
After scanning it, Haruki marked twelve names.
"Call these ones to me."
"Yes!" Shinji responded immediately.
As he glanced at the names Haruki had selected, a flicker of confusion crossed his face.
All of them were Genin. Older, average in talent and recruited primarily for assisting with research and menial tasks. Still, he didn't question it. Orders were orders. He quickly left to summon them.
——
"Satoshi, you're in charge from now on." Haruki called over one of the more experienced ninjas and laid out his instructions.
"Your first task isn't too complicated. Open or acquire a publishing house or bookstore, legally, of course."
"Understood!" Satoshi responded without hesitation.
Like the others, he owed his life to Haruki. And under Haruki's leadership, there was no distinction between civilians and ninjas.
Everyone was treated the same. He had even spent half a year farming once, so running a business wasn't an issue for him.
"Good. I have another task for you today." Haruki tapped his chin thoughtfully. "Hire people to go to public places such as restaurants, ramen shops, hot springs, and casually spread a rumor"
"The Hyuga main family refused to exchange hostages, leading to the deaths of forty branch family ninjas."
"Understood!" Satoshi replied.
"Keep it vague, let it sound like gossip. Mysterious, exaggerated. No one should appear more than once to avoid catching Anbu's attention." Haruki added.
Rumors always spread fast.
With a mix of truth and speculation, the village would be buzzing in no time. Especially when it involved one of Konoha's most prestigious clans.
"Once we control at least a fifth of the publishing industry, we'll release our first book," Haruki said, smiling.
"The debut title would be an adventure novel written by none other than the legendary Sannin, Jiraiya."
Thinking about it, Haruki felt nostalgic.
There was already a bookstore in Konoha, but its marketing was terrible. Unless you went looking for it, you wouldn't even know what books were available.
"Master Haruki, what should be the name of our publishing house and bookstore?" Satoshi asked.
"New Konoha." Haruki thought for a moment and then grinned.
"Also, start preparing for the Konoha Daily. Keep the early content light, no sensitive topics. We'll need to recruit editors and reporters."
"Got it!" Satoshi acknowledged.
"That's all for now. If you run into any issues, report to me immediately."
After leaving the basement, Haruki paused as it would it be weird to see Tsunade now.
'I just told her I was heading to the battlefield two days ago. Now I'm back already… won't she think I lied to her?'
So, Haruki arrived at the Ninja Tools Group, where their current project was developing a new long-range weapon in cooperation with the Byakugan.
"Lord Haruki," Muramasa Ichiro, the head of the group, greeted him.
Ichiro came from a long line of blacksmiths, his family having forged weapons for generations.
Haruki nodded, glancing around. The heat from the iron furnace made the air thick and stifling.
"You're making a hand crossbow?" he asked, observing the forge.
"Yes. With the Byakugan's wide field of vision, a crossbow is the most suitable long-range weapon."
Ichiro took down a prototype and strapped it to his right wrist.
"It's miniature, more like a bracelet. By channeling chakra into it, the iron arrow fires like lightning, three times farther than a shuriken."
"What are its drawbacks?"
"Two major ones," Ichiro admitted. "First, the longer range means higher chakra consumption than a shuriken. Second, reloading takes time."
Haruki pondered for a moment.
"Replace the arrows with detonating tags," he suggested. "Wrap them into projectiles and use those instead."
Ichiro hesitated. "Detonating tags? Wouldn't that be too expensive?"
Explosive tags sealed Fire Release ninjutsu into paper, making them extremely versatile but costly. Even Shikamaru had complained about their price in the original series.
"It's fine. The Hyuga family has money," Haruki said nonchalantly.
"And if they don't want to pay, they can start making their own detonating tags."
Ichiro opened his mouth but couldn't argue. Only Haruki would dare suggest forcing the Hyuga clan to mass-produce detonating tags.
"The detonating tag ensures the crossbow's power while freeing up more chakra for range. Your main challenge is timing, make sure it doesn't explode mid-air."
Haruki pointed to the back of the crossbow.
"This will serve as a magazine."
He grabbed a sheet of paper and sketched a rectangular magazine.
"Load pre-prepared explosive projectiles into it. Instead of replacing individual arrows, you swap magazines, eliminating reload time."
Ichiro's eyes widened.
"This… This is genius!" He was practically shaking with excitement.
Hand crossbows were rare in this world, and repeating crossbows didn't exist at all due to ninja combat limitations. Haruki's innovation was groundbreaking.
"Don't celebrate yet," Haruki warned. "The detonating tag is dangerous. You need to design a safety mechanism so it only activates when fired."
"I understand!" Ichiro was already itching to get to work.
Haruki chuckled at his enthusiasm.
"Master Haruki, what should we name it? 'Hand crossbow' doesn't feel right."
Haruki stroked his chin. He was terrible at naming.
Back in his past life, even picking a username for games took him half an hour.
Then, an idea struck him.
"Skyfire," he said.
"Let's call it Skyfire."
________________________
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