While I was in my office, I was looking through the papers I had lying around. It was good to use shadow clones, especially for training, but sometimes I had to do it myself, particularly when the clones seemed to only pick up fragments of my personality. Then I had to go and fix it; luckily, I don't let the clones sign and sell things; I always do it myself, which saves me from having to read and process everything. I just glance at the document, and I already know what it is.
"Let's see," I said to myself, checking the list of things I had to do.
Getting the land for the super greenhouse done. That'll be enough to grow exotic fruits, plants, and vegetables to sell to traders at great prices. It's all set.
The construction process is already underway. We're using money to pay the builders while our own ninjas oversee the site—both the few Senju ninjas we have and the few from the Chinoiken clan.
Now, I've got the Chinoiken clan under my wing; their integration wasn't as problematic as I thought. Since the clan leader agreed to be under my wing and have Danzo's support, the Hokage's boyfriend also helped out.
That said, I'd have to lend Danzo my ninjas occasionally; that is, if I didn't join Root. After all, I already work for the mummy, so there wasn't much need. The mummy would use them for torture and information extraction. I told him they were too few to be disposable, something the old man half-understood.
Their integration into the village, and especially into the clan, has been quite smooth. The clan members are very grateful, so there aren't many problems. I also made it clear that the clan is subordinate to me, not the clan, so the rest of the Senju clan can't do anything to them; this necessitates coexistence between the two clans. The good thing is that the clan compound is large and mostly empty, so there's no problem with squatters or anything like that.
I also enrolled the kids in the Ninja Academy, even though I don't like it, since that place is all about brainwashing. The good thing is that the current Chinoiken clan brats know how hard life can be, so they won't swallow the Will of Fire's words so easily; I'll make sure they get that message across anyway.
There are children who didn't want to be ninjas, but I enrolled them anyway so they could learn about the world and how to defend themselves. I told them they could voluntarily fail their final exams and return to the village to start working on their own dreams.
As much as this is a shinobi world, it doesn't run on shinobi alone; it would be good to have an expert in agriculture, an accountant, or a business administrator. In my previous life, these professions were common, but they aren't so common here, since we have farmers, not agricultural engineers.
Progress toward obtaining all the wheat and sugar in the world is very slow; it's very difficult to take away the profits of these emperors, so monopolizing certain things is still something that will happen slowly, at least until we have enough ninjas under my command to dig up their dirty laundry or make illegal deals.
Now, there's the place I legally obtained in the capital. We're currently focusing on the greenhouse; once you finish it, you'll build the shop and, while you're at it, the hidden factory.
Currently, I have my own little greenhouse where I conduct experiments to create plants with unusual properties, like one that releases paralyzing or poisonous spores. It's a work in progress since these plants don't exist yet; the only one that makes you sleep is a default effect of Wood Release. So, I'm crossbreeding plants and, at the same time, creating new poisons that I gradually inject into myself to build resistance when I use them.
"Well, I'll leave that for now," I told myself, glancing at Shizune in the corner of the room, reading a colorful ninja drawing book.
"How's school going?" I asked my younger cousin.
"Good. I heard that a student a year younger than me already graduated," she told me, looking at me intently.
"You mean Sakumo's son? That's a great achievement, almost as good as mine," I said with a smile.
"I heard people say he has high hopes for him, but I don't know how true that is." He replied to ask me to look again at the book I bought him.
"It depends on the child's mindset," I said, continuing with the paperwork.
At that moment, Hitori arrived carrying her son Ryo. She was usually nearby, taking care of her son, but that didn't take much away from her secretarial duties.
"Kosuke-kun came to see you. It has something to do with the team you have," she told me before leaving immediately.
I just sighed. I'm going to have to postpone these papers again, and that means they'll pile up even more on me later.
"Well, Shizune, since I have to go, why don't you go find Tsunade? She wanted to see you about something." I think she wanted to see if she has the skills to learn my father's techniques. I know she doesn't, but it would be strange to say so, especially since they haven't tested it yet.
Now that I think about it, I do have the aptitude for it. I think when I have more time, I'll try to learn her Phantom Transformation Jutsu. It's useful for information gathering and infiltration.
...
After taking all the time in the world, I arrived at Training Ground 6; Kosuke, Minato, and the ero-sannin—or, as I sometimes like to call them, the Three Stooges—were already there.
"I see the clan head must have been very busy, judging by how late she arrived," Jiraiya commented, practically jumping off the ground.
"Don't exaggerate. No wonder I never see you with the same woman every time I see you; you don't know how to treat them," I said, stopping with my hand on my hip.
"That's not true," he retorted.
"Really?" I asked, to which he tried to speak, only to close his mouth and remain still as if he didn't know what to do next. "Well, how about you tell me why we're here?"
"That's right, let's talk about it," Jiraiya announced. He tried to save face, which didn't work, since Minato and Kosuke were giving him strange looks.
"I hope it's not a long mission, since my police duties have me feeling a bit overwhelmed," Kosuke commented, sounding mentally exhausted. It can't be very pleasant being part of that. An unnecessary institution, in my opinion; the proof is that after the clan's fall, it never returned, demonstrating that it was something they were given only to appease the crazy-eyed types and keep them under control, gradually tarnishing the clan's reputation.
"It's not that; the truth is we're going to temporarily pause the team's activities," Jiraiya said, drawing everyone's attention.
"What do you mean?" I asked, trying to understand his point.
"The truth is, Sensei asked me to create a spy network, something I found a bit difficult to refuse," he explained, making it clear that he had to temporarily leave the village and perhaps the country. "Also, Minato will soon be going on a training trip with the toads."
"Are you going to Mount Toads to learn senjutsu?" I asked again, curious.
"Sadly, no. I'm just going to familiarize myself with the area, further train my skills, develop more combined abilities with the toads, and increase my chakra reserves. That's all; I still have a long way to go before I can become a sage," Minato revealed, trying to sound modest.
"Well, good luck then," Kosuke said honestly.
Kosuke's mindset during his time on the team changed for the better, to the point where he recognized Minato as an equal, something difficult considering the Uchiha mentality.
But honestly, Minato has earned it, since I've seen his abilities, and if I'm being honest, he's the fastest ninja with the greatest motor skills and perspective I've ever seen.
"Is that all?" I said sarcastically.
"No, let's do a D-rank mission as a farewell," Jiraiya said with a smile, prompting Kosuke and me to complain while Minato just smiled somewhat uncomfortably.
...
I crept through the sewers like a rat and reached the main room of the lab, where all the Bloodline Limit users we'd brought here voluntarily were gathered.
When I entered, I saw it was packed, and when I say packed, I mean there were ten people.
I stood there staring, completely bewildered, while they froze, as if they'd done something wrong, which might well have been true.
I noticed Orochimaru in the corner, looking at a chart with information, so I quickly went over to him.
"Hey, Pedomaru, who are these people?" I asked. He looked at me with a hint of annoyance; I knew it was because of the name, but I hadn't intended to call him anything else. Now we were both showing our true colors.
"They're people Danzo brought," he said simply.
"That doesn't tell us who they are," I complained.
"They're from Konoha's science division," he replied simply.
I turned around to look at them; I didn't recognize any of them, which made me uneasy.
"And how did I manage to bring them here?" I asked.
"I think she told Sensei she wanted to conduct some experiments and needed help." She spoke, returning to her papers.
At that, I quickly approached a man who looked startled upon seeing me. I ignored this and, using my greatest strength, grabbed his head and forced his tongue open.
There it was, the eradication seal. It wasn't the first time I'd seen it; I had already instructed my tools to show it to me.
I don't know if this will cause problems for Danzo, but it's good that I did it.
Currently, I don't have a way to remove the seal, but I have been able to manipulate it, altering its function.
Now my tools are only allowed to tell Danzo what I want them to say, and I have forbidden them from saying that I know how to modify the seals and other things that I would like to keep secret.
I could perhaps remove the seal, but I have no need to, since I know practically 90% of Danzo's and the Root's secrets. Perhaps I'm missing the information on how many times the old mummy wets the bed, but that's not much use to me other than to mock him.
I released his face, causing him to fall to the ground.
"Continue with your work," he said coldly, to which he nodded and continued with his task; I glanced at the others. "The rest too."
While everyone began working with fear and panic, I looked around, especially at where the ninjas from another country were.
They were in a tube filled with a liquid that kept them stable and cool; they had tubes in their ears, noses, and mouths. The ear tube was to prevent them from waking up with noise. The nose tube was for oxygen, and the mouth tube was for feeding, sending all the food directly to their stomachs.
That's where almost all the village tax goes.
They were all in a coma, something I had induced in all of them; technically, they shouldn't ever wake up, but the giant tube is forceful and has several chakra-suppressing seals.
The idea, obviously, is to keep them alive; that way, we have unlimited genetic material to extract, since cells have a certain amount of regeneration. But there's more material to draw from than a corpse, whose cells die off gradually.
That wouldn't have been necessary if a cell could divide infinitely and I had some way to keep the genetic material frozen. Luckily, refrigerators exist.
I think I should invent an engineering degree in this world; it would greatly help me with technological advancements, obviously those that benefit me.
There's also the fact that chakra is what makes all elemental jutsu possible, so if I want to study their chakra, it's vital to keep them alive. My theory is that you need not only genetic material but also chakra, or in this case, spiritual energy.
"I think I'm going to have to become a shaman or something if the science side of what I'm going to do doesn't work out," I muttered as I put on my lab coat, gloves, and face mask, preparing to take the ninja from the Yuki clan and begin the experiment.