In Konoha, inside the Hokage building.
Seiki, who had just returned from a mission, looked at Minato with an expression of resignation and asked, "So, am I heading to Sunagakure again right after coming back?"
"Sorry," Minato replied smoothly while skillfully passing the responsibility onto him. "It was already agreed upon by Kazekage and the Third Lord long ago—and they specifically requested you for this exchange program."
"The agreement between Kazekage and the Third?" Seiki questioned, confused.
"According to the Third Lord," Minato continued, "this was decided during the Chunin Exams as one of the conditions for Suna's participation—that you would spend some time exchanging knowledge and offering guidance at Suna's ninja academy."
"So I got sold without even knowing about it!" Seiki sighed helplessly.
"Haha, when you really think about it, isn't it not that bad?" Minato chuckled. "Think of it as a paid trip—at least it beats me sitting in this office all day!"
"Even if it's a trip, choosing a desert as the destination is just… too much," Seiki shook his head bitterly. "Well, whatever. I'll go prepare in advance. After all, it is a rare opportunity for exchange. I'll bring Kabuto and the others along with me to Suna."
Minato folded his hands together and pleaded, "I'm counting on you!"
…
Back in Konoha, at the orphanage.
"Woah! Brother Kabuto and everyone are here!"
"Sister Ren brought so much delicious food!"
With their arrival, cheers rang out across the orphanage.
The recent war had just ended, leaving resources scarce across the board.
Though Konoha came out relatively better than other villages in this war, there truly were no real winners—only varying degrees of loss.
For the orphans, the situation was even more dire.
What Nonou earned alone was barely enough to make ends meet.
Fortunately, some of the older orphans who had become ninjas could earn money through missions—but even then, their earnings weren't substantial. The real big earners were Kabuto and his group.
Of course, the term "big earners" was only big by the kids' standards.
After finishing handing out food, Nonou pulled the three aside, sighing half tenderly, half sorrowfully, "You've worked so hard. But your own income isn't actually that high—you shouldn't keep giving everything you earn away to support everyone else. I'll manage the orphanage somehow on my own."
"Not at all! We earned so, so much money!" Ren exaggerated, stretching her arms wide.
"And we're medical ninjas—we don't take risks or have to buy equipment like Rushi and the others do. We literally have nowhere to spend our money!" Mist proudly declared.
"Really?" Nonou squinted doubtfully at the trio.
"Of course…" Ren began confidently, but suddenly her stomach let out a loud growl—"guu—". Her face flushed red as her voice faltered.
Nonou immediately frowned severely, "None of you three even ate yourselves today?!"
Kabuto weakly raised his hand, "We did grab some free meals at the cafeteria!"
Mist nodded repeatedly, "It's all because Ren has such a huge appetite!"
Tears welled up in Nonou's eyes. She crouched down and pulled the three into a tight hug, murmuring softly, "You sweethearts… Promise me you'll never do this again."
Right then, a soft voice filled with slight exasperation came from behind them.
"You kids are making me, your teacher, feel so embarrassed!"
Upon hearing this familiar voice, the three of them excitedly turned around and called out.
"Seiki-sama!"
"Teacher Seiki!"
"Seiki." Nonou also wore a big smile, then glanced at the woman beside Seiki and asked, "Who is this?"
"This is Pakura, special envoy from Sunagakure." Seiki explained briefly before bending down to ruffle the heads of the three children. "Next time when you have problems, you should come straight to me. Promise me no more of this nonsense."
"Okay okay!" The three obediently nodded their heads vigorously.
Then Seiki stood back up, wearing an apologetic expression as he spoke. "Big Sis Nonou, I'm really sorry. I had no idea the orphanage's situation had become so difficult!"
Nonou gave a slight shake of her head. "You're now the Hokage Assistant. You must be worrying about many things. I wouldn't want to bother you with such small matters."
"How can this possibly be a small matter?" Sighing, Seiki continued, "How about I put forward fifty-three and a half million ryō first. Will that be enough?"
"Where did you get so much..." As Nonou spoke, she herself couldn't help but chuckle. Given Seiki's current status and position, having this much money was only natural.
"I can't accept it; this amount is just too much!"
But Seiki remained completely indifferent. Was fifty-three and a half million ryō that much? Compared to what would come later, that was barely equivalent to thirty Asumas' bounty.
"One hundred million ryō," said Seiki calmly, "that's the bounty for the Mizukage at the Black Market. If I ever lacked money, I could just kill a few rogue ninjas anytime."
"One HUNDRED MILLION ryō!" The three little workers' gazes sparkled with pure awe as they stared at Seiki.
They had worked so hard doing menial tasks at the hospital, earning barely a few hundred thousand ryō, while their teacher could earn one hundred million in an instant.
Beside him, Pakura couldn't help asking, "Seiki, have you claimed that one hundred million ryō reward yet?"
"I heard the Black Market requires the complete corpse for widely known targets. Even though the Mizukage might not be someone particularly respected, desecrating his body still seems inappropriate." Seiki shook his head.
"As long as you can prove your identity, even without the corpse, you could claim half the bounty for deeds that spread far and wide." Pakura added.
"Oh? Is there actually such a rule?" Smiling, Seiki looked at Pakura. "Didn't expect you to know so much about bounties."
Pakura slightly shook her head, fixing a serious gaze on Seiki. "The reason I study bounties is precisely because of you!"
Seiki pointed at himself in considerable surprise. "Because of me?"
"You might not know this yet, but you've already set a new record at the Black Market!" Pakura said gravely. "Their bounty offer is ten billion ryō!"
"What? Ten BILLION?" All three kids and Nonou exclaimed together, astonished.
Thirty Asumas' bounties... Seiki wasn't worried at all. He still had room for some mental sarcasm.
Seeing Seiki remain unimpressed, Pakura reminded him, "I know how powerful you are, Seiki. In direct combat, perhaps no one in the shinobi world could beat you!"
"But those dogs have always been ruthless, resorting to assassination, poison, and traps. They'll stop at nothing — and believe me, there are some real heavy hitters among them!"
Seeing Nonou and the other three looking at him with concern, Seiki smiled and said, "Don't worry. I have plenty of experience dodging assassins. Back during the early days of war, if a few days passed without someone trying to kill me, I couldn't sleep soundly!"
Hearing Seiki proudly refer to himself as a "regular target practice for assassins," Nonou couldn't help but give a bitter smile and said, "Well then, try to keep your head down a little more."
Seiki nodded smilingly. "Then in exchange, Onee-san Nonou, you should take this money."
Nonou remained silent for a moment before sighing deeply. "Seiki, thank you — truly, deeply, from the bottom of my heart."
"Think nothing of it. Money's not important to me. Looking back, the happiest times I ever had with it were when I was working part-time at the hospital as a kid!" Seiki replied while reminiscing.
The three kids believed every word Seiki said without question. After hearing him speak, their eyes only grew more starry with admiration.
"Truly worthy of being Lord Seiki! In the future, I must cultivate this kind of awareness too!"
"So it was actually the happiest time working part-time? We must cherish this period properly!"
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