December 28th.
Konoha Village entered its New Year holiday, and even the ANBU Ninja were given time off, with only a few on duty.
After breakfast, Kitazawa arrived at the ANBU Base.
"Kitazawa." Konan was still waiting for him in the office.
"This is for you." Kitazawa took out a document and handed it to her.
"Silver Jewelry Promotion Plan?" Konan subconsciously read out the title on the cover of the document.
"Your silver jewelry targets the lower-tier market, and the New Year is a great time, as everyone has free time." Kitazawa smiled and said.
"I understand, I'll go inform them to open." Konan felt a surge of excitement as well.
They had prepared for so long; it was finally time to put it into practice, or rather, to make money.
"Promote it before opening." Kitazawa pointed to the promotion plan with his finger and said.
Konan nodded and opened the promotion plan to read it.
The promotion plan contained a lot of content, but summarized, it consisted of roughly four types of promotion.
First, various media promotions, such as television, movies, and newspapers. Although it sounded incredible, these three media existed in the Ninja World.
After some time, once they made money, they could even directly produce movies and TV series, inviting celebrities to promote them.
Second, financial sponsorship, such as for shrines and various small shops. As long as they weren't direct competitors, they wouldn't refuse such an offer of money.
Moreover, many small shops could form linkages, such as gift shops and matchmaking agencies.
Third, hosting a New Year's Eve party, with a beauty pageant as the main event.
The Akatsuki's silver jewelry stores currently only have three branches, located in the major cities of the Land of Earth and Iwagakure.
The focus, of course, was on the major cities of the Land of Earth. Since it was the New Year, Konan could fully leverage the Akatsuki's connections and money to host a New Year's Eve party.
As for why a beauty pageant was the main event, it was also simple.
It had enough gimmicks to attract an audience. And participants in the beauty pageant had to wear their silver jewelry.
Fourth, New Year's promotions: first raise prices to market level, then offer discounts.
Inexpensive and attractive items would always find buyers.
The silver jewelry sold at the Akatsuki's silver jewelry stores all came from Kitazawa's designs, or rather, classic designs from his previous life.
In terms of appearance, they have already far surpassed other silver jewelry. And with discounts on top of that, they would achieve good sales.
The reason Kitazawa dared to offer such discounts was that the Akatsuki's silver jewelry had lower costs, or rather, almost no costs.
Their mines were from the Land of Rain and cost nothing.
Kakuzu mined, so there were no labor costs. Transportation was handled by summoning beasts, eliminating shipping fees.
The only expense was the wages of the residents of the Land of Rain working in the processing plant.
The residents of the Land of Rain were poor, so wages were generally not high. In fact, if Konan were ruthless enough, she wouldn't even need to pay them.
After all, the Land of Rain was controlled by the Akatsuki Organization.
Even more ruthlessly, they may have Kakuzu and others use Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu or have numerous White Zetsu work.
After Konan finished reading, she fell into a daze. This promotion plan had a huge impact on her, or rather, on her traditional Ninja way of thinking.
Most of the promotion methods mentioned she had never seen before.
But she couldn't be blamed; not only had she not seen them, but other merchants were also in the same boat.
Aside from the Ninja villages, the Ninja World was essentially a feudal society, and promotion methods were still very old-fashioned.
These promotional methods of Kitazawa were common in his previous life, but were basically unheard of in the Ninja World.
Konan increasingly felt that the Akatsuki relying solely on bounties and missions to make money was too narrow-minded.
"You should return to the Akatsuki today." Kitazawa reminded her, "Hurry up, so you don't miss the best promotion window."
"Thank you." Konan carefully put away the promotion plan.
"It's nothing, after all, I'm also your Advisor." Kitazawa said indifferently, "I really hope you all make a lot of money."
"But without you, we wouldn't make this much money." Konan shook her head and said.
"We haven't even started making money yet." Kitazawa said with a smile, "Let's not thank each other back and forth."
Konan paused slightly, her lips curving upward, but she quickly returned to normal.
She said goodbye to Kitazawa and left Konoha Village.
Konan looked back, and Konoha Village was in a state of peace and harmony. She felt envious, wondering when the Land of Rain could be as prosperous as Konoha Village.
As Konan thought, her mind drifted back to Kitazawa. The longer she spent with him, the more he revealed, and he seemed very unlike a Ninja.
---
Two days passed in a flash.
December 31st, the last day of the year.
In the early morning, the snow that had fallen all night stopped, and the sky was unusually clear.
Kitazawa stood in the open space in front of his house, performing activation with Yang Release Chakra.
He felt as if he had been woken up in the middle of the night to attend a bonfire party. His entire body had awakened, and his cells felt very active.
After an unknown amount of time, the door opened.
"When did you get up?" Kurenai yawned and asked.
"About the same as usual, seven o'clock," Kitazawa answered casually.
"Pervert!" Kurenai couldn't help but retort.
She was referring to Kitazawa's body. They had clearly exerted the same amount of physical energy the day before, yet Kitazawa was still full of vigor the next day.
She, on the other hand, was different; she felt completely exhausted, groggy, and it took her an extra three hours of sleep to fully wake up.
Kurenai felt that if this continued, even a Jonin like her wouldn't be able to handle it.
"Thank you for the compliment." Kitazawa stopped his training and said, "After breakfast, we'll go shopping."
"Let's just eat breakfast out." Kurenai stretched and said, "It's already so late, I'm too lazy to cook."
"That works too." Kitazawa nodded.
Although it was the New Year holiday, many shops were still open. After all, the New Year brought the largest food traffic.
"Are you two going out?" Shizune's voice rang out.
"Kitazawa-Sensei, Happy New Year!" Karin said with a big smile.
"Here's a red envelope for you." Kitazawa casually took out a red envelope and handed it to her.
"What about me?" A fair hand reached out to him.
"Lady Tsunade, shouldn't you be giving me a red envelope?" Kitazawa met Tsunade's gaze and retorted.
"No red envelopes, but I have IOUs." Tsunade said brazenly, completely without shame, "If you want them, take as many as you like."
"Lady Tsunade!" Shizune couldn't bear it any longer and quickly reminded her.
"I'm just kidding." Tsunade pouted and said.
"Here you go." Kitazawa handed her a red envelope.
"Shizune, he gave this to me willingly; I didn't ask for it," Tsunade said, then smilingly accepted the red envelope.
She opened it and glanced inside, then froze.
Normally, New Year's red envelopes were given to juniors for good luck, usually only a few hundred to a thousand ryo. But her red envelope contained a bankbook.
"Let's go, we'll go shopping together," Kitazawa said with a faint smile.
He was actually offering someone else's generosity; the money in the bankbook was actually Tsunade's share from the Ocean Heart Jewelry Store.
"Lady Tsunade, you can't go gambling these two days!" Shizune suddenly thought of something and said with a serious expression.
"It's already the holiday, why are you still monitoring me?" Tsunade glared at her and asked.
"Even on holiday, you're still the Hokage. What kind of propriety would it be if someone saw you at a casino during the New Year?" Shizune retorted.
"Tsk." Tsunade twitched her lips, annoyed but unable to say anything.
Kitazawa's mind stirred, and he had an idea. He could open a casino and steal business from other casinos in Konoha Village.
Actually, business wasn't important; as long as it could attract Tsunade, no matter how much she lost, it would just be moving money from one hand to the other.
Kitazawa could open a new type of casino based on his memories from his previous life. Better service, more games, plus sufficient fairness, it was bound to overshadow other casinos.
Of course, he wouldn't personally get involved in opening a casino; Kado's shipping company could do it.
And if Tsunade knew it was his casino, she probably wouldn't go. After all, she always pursued the thrill of real gambling.
The group strolled through the streets, eating whatever looked delicious and playing whatever looked fun, completely relaxed.
These happy days lasted for five, until January 5th, when the New Year holiday ended.
Although the Ninja Academy had not yet reopened, the Ninja had returned to work and missions.
However, diligent students also began training again.
When Kitazawa arrived at the Ninja Academy's Training Ground, he saw Sasuke, Naruto, and others diligently training.
Especially Naruto and Rock Lee, it was quite lively.
Besides the students, Kakashi, Chen, and Kosuke were also there.
"Sasuke, Naruto, Hinata, and Neji." Kitazawa thought for a moment, then called out, "Come here."
"Kitazawa-Sensei." Hinata was the first to arrive in front of him.
"Happy New Year, Teacher Kitazawa!" Naruto greeted him with great enthusiasm.
Hinata immediately felt a pang of regret; she had forgotten to say Happy New Year.
"Happy New Year." Kitazawa nodded and said, "I called you here because I have a special mission for you."
"What rank is the mission?" Naruto instantly became excited, asking impatiently.
"S-Rank Mission," Kitazawa replied.
"S-Rank?" Naruto's eyes widened.
Sasuke, Neji, and Hinata also felt surprised. This mission rank far exceeded their expectations.
"Gather at the Konoha Village main gate tomorrow at 9 AM." Kitazawa patted Naruto's shoulder and said, "You don't need to worry too much; you'll have quite a few teammates for this mission."
Apart from Naruto, the other three understood.
This S-Rank Mission was clearly not for the four of them to execute alone; they were just going along to gain experience.
"I understand!" Naruto said excitedly, "Teacher Kitazawa, I will definitely complete the mission and show you my youth!"
"Idiot." Sasuke couldn't help but retort.
"Alright, you all can continue your training." Kitazawa smiled and said.
After they left for training, he also found a place to practice Wood Release: Deep Forest Emergence.
---
The next day, January 6th.
"What?" Sasuke asked in surprise, "Brother, are you going too?"
"Mm." Itachi smiled and said, "This is our first mission together, you know."
"That's great!" Sasuke couldn't help but laugh, confidently saying, "Brother, just watch my performance then!"
If Naruto were here to hear this, he would definitely be very confused. Because he had said something similar yesterday and was then called an idiot by Sasuke.
"This is an S-Rank Mission; you must be careful." Itachi poked his forehead and said.
"With Brother here, an S-Rank Mission will definitely be a piece of cake!" Sasuke said without hesitation.
"Itachi, remember to take good care of Sasuke," Mikoto said with some worry.
If Kitazawa hadn't specifically named Sasuke to participate, she would have definitely stopped him.
"Mom, don't worry!" Sasuke waved his hand and said, "Brother and I will finish the mission and be back very soon!"
"This is a good thing," Fugaku said with great satisfaction.
Being taken by Kitazawa to execute an S-Rank Mission at the age of eight indicated that Sasuke had already become a core Ninja of the next generation.
Fugaku felt that his chances of becoming Hokage were growing greater and greater.
If there were no competitors, he would have wanted to laugh out loud. Unfortunately, Sasuke had many competitors, such as Naruto and Hyuga Neji.
"Brother, what's the mission content this time?" Sasuke asked as they walked, "What do I need to do?"
It was his first mission with Itachi, and he wanted to perform well, so he was very eager.
"Lord Kitazawa will explain later." Itachi replied, "We'll know once we reach the village gate."
"Mm." Sasuke stopped asking, following Uchiha Itachi happily all the way.
Soon, the two arrived at the gate of Konoha Village.
Because Izumo and Kotetsu had already joined the Cursed Seal Unit, the current Konoha Gate Guards were new faces. At least Kitazawa was seeing them for the first time.
There were simply too many Ninjas in Konoha Village.
During the Fourth Shinobi World War, Konoha Village mustered nearly ten thousand Ninja.
Kitazawa had never met many of the Genin and Chunin.
"Sasuke!" Naruto waved enthusiastically.
"Why aren't you responding?" Itachi glanced at Sasuke and asked.
"Naruto, good morning." Sasuke greeted him obediently.
Kitazawa couldn't help but smile.
Only Itachi could break Sasuke's facade. In front of him, Sasuke didn't seem so aloof.
Fortunately, Sakura wasn't there; otherwise, she would surely think she was under a genjutsu.
"Everyone's here; let's go." Kitazawa interrupted their conversation.
"Is it just the six of us?" Naruto scratched his head, feeling confused.
He clearly remembered Kitazawa saying yesterday that they would have many teammates. Why was there only one more person?
"Of course, it's not just the six of us." Kitazawa paused and said, "You all come out."
Shadows emerged, quickly filling the area around them. There were seventy ANBU in total, and Kitazawa took twenty-eight of them, seven ANBU squads.
Kitazawa waved his hand, and they disappeared again.
"So cool!" Naruto couldn't help but exclaim, seeing them appear and disappear without a trace.
"They are all ANBU Ninja." Kitazawa said casually, "They are different from ordinary Ninja; they are accustomed to acting in the shadows."
Naruto nodded.
Neji, however, noticed a problem. The number of ANBU Ninja was simply too many.
One must know that those who could join the Anbu were at least elite Chunin, with Special Jonin making up the majority.
Were they going to assassinate the Kage or the leader of some other Ninja Village?
Hinata didn't think too much; she was just happy to be able to go out on a mission with Kitazawa.
Sasuke was also the same. If Itachi wasn't present, he would think, but if he was, he would give up thinking.
"Our mission objective is the Box of Ultimate Bliss." Kitazawa briefly explained the content of their mission.
"Can it grant any wish?" Sasuke asked after listening, "Then if I wish to be as strong as my brother, will it come true?"
"It will come true." Kitazawa blinked and said.
"Huh?" Sasuke didn't expect to receive an affirmative answer and was momentarily stunned.
"If you're going to make a wish, you can wish to awaken the Three-Tomoe Sharingan." Itachi reminded him.
He was worried that the Box of Ultimate Bliss might not grant Sasuke's exact wish. After all, he didn't have the Three-Tomoe Sharingan, but the Mangekyo Sharingan.
"It's actually true?" Naruto puffed out his chest and said without thinking, "I want to wish to become Hokage!"
"I'll make my wish first!" Sasuke snapped back to reality and quickly said.
If he could awaken the Three-Tomoe Sharingan, he could definitely defeat Naruto and Kurama Yakumo, and become the top of the Genius Class.
"Alright." Naruto said generously, "You go first."
"Don't you two have any wishes?" Kitazawa looked at Neji and Hinata and asked.
"I don't think such a Ninja tool can exist," Neji said calmly.
"I don't have any wishes." Hinata glanced at Kitazawa, shook her head, and said. Her current life was already very fulfilling, and she had no regrets.
The group chatted as they traveled. After leaving the Forest of Death, they stopped chatting and traveled at full speed.
By night, they had crossed the northwestern border of the Land of Fire and entered Kusa no Kuni.
Hozuki Castle was an isolated island surrounded by water on all sides. However, what was called a sea was actually more like an inland lake.
After resting for a night, the group arrived at the seaside.
"Are you a Ninja from Konoha Village?" Four Hozuki Castle jailers surrounded them.
Kitazawa glanced at the boat by the sea.
Normally, various Ninja Villages would send prisoners, and then the jailers would escort the prisoners onto the boat, eventually sending them to Hozuki Castle.
"Where are your prisoners?" One of the jailers asked.
"Itachi." Kitazawa walked towards the boat by the sea.
"You..." The four jailers were about to speak when they saw a flash of scarlet, and then they fainted.
"So amazing!" Naruto couldn't help but blurt out.
He just saw Itachi glare, and all four jailers fell; it was truly effortless and cool.
"This is the Three-Tomoe Sharingan!" Sasuke said proudly, "Once I awaken my eyes, you'll never be able to beat me again!"