Just as Hibari reached the street near the Senju clan's main residence, he saw Tobirama, wearing the Hokage hat and his perpetually donned blue layered armor, even in this cold winter.
Hibari quickened his pace a little, then cheerfully approached and said, "Yo, isn't this Hokage-sama? Why are you back so early today?"
Tobirama stopped when he heard Hibari's voice and looked at him with amusement, saying, "Isn't this the Anbu Deputy Commander? Didn't go to work today either?"
Being rebuffed by the Hokage, Hibari chuckled awkwardly, then replied, "I'm just a subordinate; I'm not that busy. Ojiisan, you don't know, Hiruzen-jisan is such a tyrant, he doesn't give me any room to intervene at all, so there's no point in me going. I might as well be busy with my own matters."
Tobirama almost burst out laughing at Hibari's words. He then said, "You say Hiruzen is a tyrant? Then why does Hiruzen complain to me every other day, saying you, kid, don't show up for work properly, or sometimes you just show your face and disappear, leaving him to handle everything, busy to death..."
Hibari's expression showed surprise, then he said, "I never would've thought! To think Hiruzen, who usually acts so honest and upright, would actually tattle on me behind my back? When I get back, I'm cutting his profits for this month by twelve percent!"
Hearing Hibari say this, Tobirama didn't pay it any mind. He knew very well that Hibari was just grumbling for the sake of it and wouldn't be so petty.
"Although your Mitsumine Group has brought many benefits to the village, you can't neglect one thing for another. When you have time, you should go look around more, otherwise, the people in Anbu won't even recognize you soon," Tobirama said with a smile.
"Got it, Ojiisan. Tsunade and the others are graduating from the Academy soon. Then Hiyoko will have less on her plate, so I'll have him watch over the Mitsumine Group, and then I can serve you well, Hokage-sama... Well, speaking of which, I'm still a student, so it's understandable if I don't go, right?" Hibari said with another chuckle.
"Student? You've never even personally been to the academy once, and you call yourself a student?" Tobirama said with amusement.
After teasing Hibari for a bit, Tobirama asked again, "Oh, right, the situation is getting tenser. War could break out at any moment. Have the matters I entrusted to you been arranged?"
"Don't worry, Ojiisan. For the past two months, Mitsumine Military Industry's production hasn't been sold externally at all. We're just waiting for the village to need it, and then we'll sell it all to the village. Don't worry, I'll only charge cost; I definitely won't profit from war..." Hibari said with a cheerful guarantee.
Tobirama also nodded. It was indeed reasonable for them to charge cost. They couldn't expect Hibari to put in effort and resources only to lose money in the end; no one would be willing to do such good deeds in the future.
"Two months of accumulation... It's not a lot, but we still need to make more preparations. Can you keep up?" Tobirama asked again.
"Isn't Hashirama-jiisan estimated to be back in the next two days? I asked him to get the permits for opening the mines over in the capital city, and he should be bringing them back this time. Once we have those permits, we can immediately start mining. Then, with an endless supply of iron ore, you definitely won't be short on military supplies, don't worry!" Hibari said with a chuckle.
Opening a mine was, naturally, a low-investment, high-return business. Not long after the military industry began operating, Hibari thought of finding an opportunity to get permits and then blast open mountains to mine.
However, at that time, their Senju clan had just entered the political arena of the Land of Fire. If Hibari rushed into such matters, it would inevitably affect the Senju clan's reputation, and it would be bad if it then impacted the clan's future.
But this time, the timing was very different. Hibari was raising the banner of 'for the country and for the people.' Now, even those freeloaders in the Daimyō's palace could see that the world was no longer in stable peace; war could break out at any time.
Since they were going to war, they naturally had to prepare supplies. Otherwise, if they lost, they would all suffer. At this moment, Hibari stepped forward saying he needed permits for mining to inject blood into the military industry. It was perfectly reasonable, so there were no obstacles, and he obtained them very smoothly. All that was left was for Hashirama to bring them back.
"Hmph, you really know how to seize an opportunity..." Tobirama snorted softly, saying with a laugh.
"Ah, I put in effort for the Land of Fire, and the Land of Fire puts in effort for me. Isn't that very normal?" Hibari chuckled.
The difficulty with mining permits lay in the first one. Once that door was opened, it wouldn't be as difficult for Hibari to get more permits in the future. People would think, after all, this guy put in great effort during the war, so giving him some benefits wouldn't be wrong. Then, bit by bit, wouldn't their Mitsumine Group establish this Mining Department? And who knows, they might even be able to open mines in other countries, how delightful.
Listening to Hibari's words, Tobirama also showed a somewhat nostalgic expression, then said, "Three years ago, when I first heard about this, I thought you were just messing around again. But I didn't expect you to actually succeed. The Mitsumine Group... Thanks to you, the living conditions in our Konohagakure have also improved. Merchants from all over come here, and our tax revenue has increased significantly as a result, allowing us to provide more conveniences for everyone in the village..."
Hibari smiled, walking as he spoke, "It's all as it should be. With you as Hokage, I have to support you to the best of my ability."
"Hahahaha, that's true..." Tobirama chuckled, then he paused slightly, looking at Hibari again and saying, "Looking at these past few years, although you've been unreliable in many ways, your way of doing things is quite good. Your strength is also formidable now. After I serve for a few more years... this Hokage position..."
"Forget it, Ojiisan! If our Senju clan serves another term as Hokage, wouldn't the people in the Daimyō's palace spit blood from anger? You should pick someone else. When we were chatting before, didn't you say you favored Hiruzen-jisan the most? He's been the Anbu Commander for a few years now, and he has his own influence. As long as you support him, who in the village can compete with him? I think he's very suitable!" Hibari quickly interjected.
"Do you also support Hiruzen?" Tobirama suddenly asked.
Hibari was also stunned for a moment. His relationship with Hiruzen was well-known throughout the village. Although they were of different generations, they practically regarded each other as brothers. If he didn't support Hiruzen, would he support Danzō?
Just as he was about to speak, Hibari seemed to realize something and said with some surprise, "I say, Ojiisan, you haven't been thinking all this time that I was planning to compete with Hiruzen for this, have you? Do I look like someone so unreliable?"
Tobirama chuckled, then said, "You, kid, have achieved so much at such a young age. Who knows if you'll become arrogant? Never mind, since I've understood your thoughts, I won't hesitate anymore... Let's go, it's still a bit cold outside..."
After saying that, Tobirama resumed his pace, walking towards the entrance of the Senju clan's main residence, while Hibari was momentarily taken aback.
"Hesitate?" Hibari rubbed his head, thought for a moment, then a smile spread across his lips. He quickly caught up in a few strides and asked, "Ojiisan, judging by what you just said, if I insisted on vying for the Hokage position, you would have considered supporting me? Aren't you afraid of pressure from the Daimyō's palace?"
Tobirama didn't even look at Hibari. As he walked, he said, "You are my grandson."
Although Tobirama didn't explicitly say anything in his words, Hibari had already understood his meaning. His heart warmed, and he felt that the winter wasn't so cold anymore. He followed with a chuckle and said, "Ojiisan, I had someone bring some glacial snow lotus from the Land of Snow. It's very nourishing. I'll send some over to you later, to help our Konohagakure's Hokage recuperate."
"If you brat just stop annoying me a few times, I could live to be a hundred," Tobirama said with a laugh.
As soon as they stepped through the door, they saw little Tsunade, now almost nine years old, hurrying out of the courtyard. She was accompanied by two enormous brown bears, wearing specially crafted armor, looking incredibly majestic and imposing.
These two brown bears were the bear cubs Hibari caught with little Tsunade on the back mountain years ago. They were originally brought back to be raised and then killed for meat, but just as Hibari expected, little Tsunade grew fond of them as she raised them.
She fed them large amounts of fish and meat daily, often even infusing the fish and meat with chakra, which slightly awakened their intelligence. Now, they were even stronger than ordinary ninja animals, but it seemed that was their limit.
However, paired with little Tsunade's current strength, they were actually quite suitable. These two creatures now spent all their days with little Tsunade, throwing their weight around. And here they were again, off to do who knows what.
"Tsunade, where are you going? In such a hurry?" Hibari asked with a chuckle, looking at little Tsunade as she ran towards them.
Tsunade, seeing Hibari and Tobirama, also said happily, "Ojiisan, Hibari-nii, Ojiisama is back! I heard he's at the village gate, I'm going to meet him."
"Meet him for what? He doesn't get lost. He just came back two months ago..." Hibari said with a chuckle.
Tobirama, however, immediately saw through little Tsunade's intention, raising an eyebrow and saying, "Tsuna, the family is about to have a new addition soon; the baby could be born at any moment. If you dare to sneak off to the gambling den with your Hashirama-ojii, your Mito-obaa will be angry when you get back."
Tsunade, seeing that her ojiisan had seen through her, scratched her head in slight annoyance and said, "I know, I'll be back as soon as I meet Ojiisama..."
After speaking, she even made a face at Tobirama, then flipped onto one of the large bears and quickly rushed past Hibari and the others.
"Ojiisan, when you retire, if you're interested, you could train Tsunade for the Hokage position..." Hibari said to Tobirama with a mischievous smile.
Tobirama glared at Hibari and said, "I still want to live for a few more years; I don't want to die of anger."
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