At noon the same day, at the head residence of the Uchiha clan.
The Konoha Troublemaker had barely lain down for a short nap when his mother yanked him out of his room by the ear.
"Mother, be gentle!"
"You scoundrel, where did you go yesterday? Coming home late the other day was bad enough, but last night you didn't come home at all! Tell me, are you up to no good again?"
Shen felt incredibly frustrated. He never imagined his mother could detect something amiss so keenly from such a small detail.
He quickly tried to justify himself by claiming it was all for the sake of the Uchiha family: "Mom, you've got it wrong! Last night I brought back a kenjutsu genius for our clan—how is that even remotely mischievous?"
Aiko remained unmoved until she saw the documents her younger son handed her.
She immediately scolded him for such wasteful spending: "How could you be so reckless with money—spending one hundred million ryō and offering profit sharing? No matter how rich we are, this kind of spending is unsustainable!"
Shen, gazing upward at the blue sky and white clouds, pulled out a thick stack of papers and spoke in a calm, detached tone: "Money is just paper anyway—we can always make more if we lose some!"
Seeing his nonchalant expression, Aiko inwardly marveled—he looked exactly like her younger self wearing the same expression.
"But still, you shouldn't throw money around carelessly! This time, when your father gets back, I won't cover for you—" Aiko tried to intimidate him with that warning, yet hadn't even glanced through several pages of the documents before suddenly freezing in place.
After quickly recovering from her shock, she asked anxiously: "So that's why you brought those commoners here?"
Shen raised his eyebrows, flashing an arrogant smirk: "The Land of Fire has plenty of wealthy people—don't you think our Gold King Limited Edition home appliances could do well?"
Watching his eyebrows bounce up and down, Aiko's mood instantly brightened: "Good son, then tell me—what cut of profits are we looking at from this deal?"
Business mogul Shen immediately sprang into action: "Originally the Uchiha Corporation had split things fifty-fifty with Konoha, but now with these additional workers, we should get at least seventy percent profit."
Aiko made a quick mental calculation before declaring decisively with great confidence: "We're doing it!"
Mother and son exchanged glances, both smiling softly at each other.
"???"
Fugaku had just returned home after attending a morning meeting on Commercial Street. Spotting the two of them grinning so sinisterly, he immediately felt a familiar sense of déjà vu.
That's right—during the elder's business trip over these past few days, Fugaku had been managing Commercial Street while Aiko continued running their massive company.
Nowadays, the scale of "Uchiha Corporation Limited" was enormous. After two years of development, they had expanded into fields such as food service, consumer goods, publishing, electronics, fashion, and beyond.
Aiko practically visited those factories every single day since she believed these enterprises would serve as dowries for finding spouses for her two children—thus necessitating tight control over them.
Typical mom move—she'd already mapped out their entire futures years in advance.
After lunch, Shen and Aiko dragged the completely bewildered Fugaku out of the house with them.
In a remote corner of the Uchiha clan compound, Uncle Kishige was leading over a hundred civilians from the Land of Fire in constructing their future homes.
"Uncle Kishige, I'm here!"
Looking at the dozens of hardworking civilians wearing sincere smiles on their faces, Shen immediately felt an overwhelming sense of accomplishment.
He truly believed everything he had done mattered. Those genuine smiles were the purest beauty in the world.
Deep in his heart, he silently resolved to protect such beauty with all his strength.
"Shen? Why are you here?" Kishige set down the thick log he was carrying and quickly walked over to greet him.
Shen pulled out a thick stack of documents and explained his purpose, "Uncle Kishige, these materials will be your main products in the future, though there's no rush to look through them now. They won't come into use for about a year."
Kishige accepted the documents and gave him a thumbs up, exclaiming, "Oh? Did you settle everything with the Land of Fire that quickly? The efficiency of the Uchiha clan really is top-notch!"
"Exactly! I've already arranged everything perfectly!" Without skipping a beat, Shen exchanged meaningful glances with Aiko and Fugaku.
"Hmph!" Both mother and son huffed in clear disapproval.
Settle everything with the Land of Fire? That never happened!
Now they even wanted them to cover for this guy? Absolutely not!
"Cough cough," seeing the two pretending to gaze at the sky, Shen coughed twice to draw their attention.
Then, right in front of Aiko and Fugaku's eyes, Shen mimed something like "ding ding ding" with his mouth, and instantly both played along perfectly.
"That's right, Mr. Kishige, you can rest assured. The Uchiha have completely handled everything with the Land of Fire. Next year, we'll definitely send you back home in full glory!"
"How wonderful this is!"
"I never imagined that in my old age, I would actually have the chance to return to that country once again."
"When that time comes, I'll hold my head high so those people can see clearly—we're not useless after all!"
Hearing the civilians chattering excitedly among themselves, Shen nodded with satisfaction.
This was exactly the result he wanted. In just an instant, unity was formed.
As for handling things with the Land of Fire? Well, there was still a whole year. He was sure even the densest person could eventually recognize the value of these goods.
Forceful seizure? Does anyone dare to snatch something belonging to the Uchiha? How about I drop by and leave a nice little 'get well soon' note at your bedside?
Let's not forget the Twelve Guardian Ninja protecting the Fire Daimyo—whose rather lackluster combat performance basically makes Asuma *something like* Kakashi… if you squint a bit, cough cough.
If the Uchiha can't handle it, hey, Konoha's still around, right? Money talks after all—ninja've gotta make a living too.
"Well then, Uncle Kishige, I should be taking my leave first." After saying goodbye, Shen dragged Aiko and Fugaku off with him.
At the Uchiha training grounds,
The mother-son duo, having just completed Musashi's onboarding procedures, brought him to this location.
"How does it look setting it near the training grounds?" Shen pointed to an open space nearby.
Aiko gave it a quick once-over and nodded approvingly, "That works. We'll use that patch of land to build the kendo dojo."
"Long live the honorable mother!" Shen exclaimed excitedly, then turned his back.
Out of everyone's sight, he made an exaggeratedly ecstatic face.
"The Third, tomorrow I'll be bringing you some warmth!"
Aiko fixed her gaze on Mū with slight curiosity. She had a feeling something unpleasant might happen soon.
"Time to go home!" Takumi had already returned to normal after barely three seconds of turning away.
Fugaku had too many things on his mind that he wanted to complain about, but before he could speak, Shen pulled him along.
"Shen, so today was all about this..."
"Fugaku-kun," Shen chirped, "complaining gets you nowhere! Just think of today as broadening your horizons!"
Defeated once again, a frustrated Fugaku realized he still hadn't fully grasped Heguang Xue (the Book of Thick and Black Politics). And he resolved to study it diligently day and night, determined to outmatch the other next time.
Meanwhile, Aiko walked behind the two brothers, Takumi included, in deep thought. She sensed her little son was definitely plotting something grand—something world-shaking across the entire shinobi world.
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