Konan and Sakura left together, leaving Naruto alone atop the tower. He watched their retreating figures disappear behind the door before his expression immediately collapsed.
"Money? Where am I supposed to get money?! I'm this handsome and still broke… who the hell is making all the money?!" He paced around the office like a disgruntled farmer, muttering to himself.
Who makes all the money? The nobles, of course. Or tycoons like Gato, whose wealth rivals nations.
But while nobles were common, wealthy idiots like Gato, who practically handed over their fortunes, were rare.
Naruto couldn't think of a solution right away, so he turned his gaze toward the nobles of the Land of Fire.
Back when he had clashed with those Land of Fire's nobles, those bastards had just stood by coldly, watching. It wasn't until that upstart noble was killed that they suddenly started sucking up to him.
Even though their attitude had been polite, the underlying message was still infuriating, 'We won't provoke you, so don't mess with us either. Don't go stirring up trouble for no reason.'
To put it bluntly, in the eyes of the Land of Fire's Daimyo and nobles, the people of the Land of Fire are nothing more than green cabbages ripe for harvesting.
Even if war breaks out, their reaction would be something like, "Ah, this year's yield isn't good."
Shinobi bleed on the frontlines, while the Land of Fire's Daimyo only needs to ponder what to name a medal.
Between feasting, sleeping, and hosting orgies, in his post-nut clarity, he might seriously deliberate whether to call it the 'Dick Medal' or the 'Lone Warrior Medal'.
He's long been dissatisfied with the Daimyo of the Land of Fire. They're essentially Celestial Dragons, sitting atop unimaginable wealth while being guarded by the so-called 'Twelve Guardian Shinobi'. What a joke!
…
Konoha.
Shikamaru stared at Naruto, a rare visitor, and for a moment, he felt dazed. Work had been so intense lately that he hadn't gotten proper rest in over a month. He was on the verge of joining his ancestors in the afterlife.
Now, seeing Naruto suddenly appear in the Nara Clan's compound, he wondered if he was hallucinating.
"What brings you here this time?"
"Just visiting." Naruto glanced around to make sure no one was nearby before stepping closer, "Are you free? How about taking me to see Asuma?"
"Asuma? You need something from him?" Shikamaru frowned.
"Sort of. Got some questions for him." Naruto nodded vaguely.
"I'm not that close to him, so I don't know where to find him.
"Fine." Shikamaru didn't think too much about it and agreed. "Wait a minute. Let me finish up some work, then I'll take you there on the way."
Naruto sat down to wait. He idly touched the antlers mounted on the wall, then stood up and stared at a large deer hide in deep thought.
Shikamaru couldn't stand his restless energy and sighed.
"Want to sit down and have some tea?"
"No, no, just do your thing," Naruto waved him off, "I can handle something as simple as pouring tea myself. Don't mind me."
Shikamaru: "..."
'Is this really about pouring tea? You are pacing around like a caged animal, making it impossible to concentrate.'
But Shikamaru was used to Naruto's antics and forced himself to finish his tasks.
On the way to Asuma's house, Shikamaru suddenly realized that if he were in Naruto's shoes, he'd probably struggle to ask for a favor so casually.
He might come up with a formal excuse, anything to avoid barging in so shamelessly.
Shaking his head, he dismissed the thought. Lately, drowning in work and political maneuvering, he'd started instinctively strategizing how to climb higher.
It was almost ironic. He used to hate trouble, yet his own intelligence kept pulling him deeper. To make his life easier, he'd begun scheming without even realizing.
Meanwhile, Naruto didn't care about any of that. But then again, with his status and power, he didn't need to.
…
Knock, knock, knock.
Shikamaru knocked on Asuma's door. Naruto finally got to meet Asuma, but since Kurenai and their daughter were home, he made up an excuse to pull Asuma outside.
"What's up?" Asuma asked with a smile.
He had a decent impression of Naruto. Even after the rumors about him two-timing Ino and Hinata, Asuma hadn't held it against him.
Romance was personal, and at least in terms of connections, Naruto could be said to have the strongest connections in Konoha… about ten times Kakashi's influence, roughly three Jiraiya stacked together.
So, 1 Jiraiya = 3 Kakashi.
After all, when Hiruzen died, of the three remaining veterans of Konoha's F4, the two Advisors, excluding Danzo, prioritized asking Jiraiya if he was interested in becoming the Godaime Hokage.
"I wanted to ask you something about the Daimyo." Naruto scratched his head and cut to the chase, "Weren't you part of the Twelve Guardian Shinobi, Asuma-sensei?"
"Yeah, why?"
"Well… Wasn't Chiriku-san also one of them?" Naruto circled around before revealing his real goal, "I wanted to ask about the 'Twin Jewels Incident'."
"That incident, um... why do you suddenly want to ask about that?" Asuma didn't seem bothered by the question and casually glanced at him.
"I've ran into some related stuff recently, so I figured I'd ask." Naruto said vaguely, after all, he couldn't say he was going to give the Daimyo a slap, right?
"The Twin Jewels weren't that complicated… just a legend." Asuma took a sip of tea, then set the cup down, "The Twelve Guardian Shinobi were established after you were born."
The moment those words left Asuma's mouth, Naruto's eyelid twitched, 'No beating around the bush… straight to the point, linking it to the Kyubi's Attack.
"What do you mean?"
"Originally, there was no such thing as the Twelve Guardian Shinobi. Konoha alone protected the Land of Fire's Daimyo in the capital." Asuma had no reason to hide anything and spilled everything he knew.
"But after the Kyubi's Attack, the village was devastated. The sheer destructive power of a Biju made the Daimyo paranoid, and he feared the Shinobi would overthrow him. So he gathered elite Shinobi from all over and formed the Twelve Guardian Shinobi."
"Back then, I was young and hot-headed. I clashed with the Sandaime Hokage's ideals, so in a fit of anger, I joined the Daimyo's Twelve Guardian Shinobi."
"Among the Twelve, there was a guy named Kazuma who believed Konoha should serve the Daimyo directly… that under the Hokage's rule, the village was growing weak."
"Then… we fought. Five of them died, and the Twin Jewels incident faded into obscurity."