"You do realise that most of these kids aren't from Konoha. Which violates the laws for the clans that have been laid out."
I was sweating profusely now. He was right. I had thought that nobody would bother much about checking up on D-rank missions too much. Which in hindsight, was stupid because knowing everything that's happening in the village was in this man's literal job description. I tried to think of answers and excuses, but nothing came to mind. Actually, some things did, but when such a powerful man sits silently in front of you, expecting an answer. You find that lying or even twisting facts becomes a hundred times harder.
The man exhaled a puff of smoke from a pipe that had somehow just appeared between the dinner and this conversation.
Do I tell him the truth, or do I try to trick him using the anime knowledge? A war waged in my mind. In the end, I chose to surrender. "I'm sorry, sir, it felt the right thing to do at the time." I bowed my head and awaited punishment.
Surprisingly, he just chuckled.
"What would you say to a sponsorship?" I looked up. Confused. "Sponsorship?"
"Yes, I will allow your clan to continue. In fact, I will make arrangements so that after passing a test, they will be given proper citizenship. In fact, I will give you even more kids and some money to continue this."
I stared blankly. What?
-----
Hiruzen was looking over reports in his office when an interesting piece of intel caught his attention. Apparently, a new clan had been doing a lot of D-rank missions over the past month. Interestingly, it only had one non-standard genin as its member. He used his telescope jutsu to watch over this little excuse of a shinobi clan. His first instinct was to quash it in its infancy. Until he saw the expressions of the children gathered around to eat.
Usually, now that the war was over and law and order were starting to be enforced in the slums again. These children should be put in a newly made orphanage. But orphanages were a drain on Konoha's treasury. Moreover, a lot of times, the children grew up lonely, bitter, and resentful of Konoha because some were orphaned by Konoha itself. The land of rain had been a brutal battlefield.
But the ones in front of him, they had no hate, at least not anymore. By the time these kids grow up, they will have already spent decades working together with their friends. Konoha will become the home that they have built with their own sweat and blood. And if it was threatened, he was sure, they would fight and die for it.
He had always wished to apply his policy to incorporate defectors into the leaf. But all his methods failed. Hatred, contempt, and suspicion always won out. But somehow, He had stumbled upon a method that seemed to be actually working.
More than anything else, he was interested in the kid leading them all. Kurosawa Ren. He had observed him. He wasn't really ambitious from what he could see. He had no real grand plans for all of this. Honestly, with a quick mental calculation, Hiruzen realised that he was losing money to sustain these kids.
"When the leaves dance, one shall find flames. The fire's shadow will illuminate the village… and once again, the leaves shall bud anew."
The will of fire is strong in this one. In a way, he was burning his own power to sustain the future generation.
Hiruzen had asked someone to retrieve his file. A war orphan whose parents were merchants. Died in the war conflicts while travelling. He, too, was an orphan no more than 10. But still, he was brilliant, and most importantly, he was a Konoha's seed. (The document forgery ring had claws up high. And they hadn't been caught yet.) He was suitable.
-----
I vaguely remember accepting a payment of 300,000 Ryo. The scene of him giving me several low-ranked jutsu scrolls
I also remembered him giving permission to train these kids in jutsu. "Clans train their own shinobis anyway," he said. Although he remarked that with the condition we were in, it would probably take a lot of time for them to learn. But he expected a lot of genin and a 3-4 chunin by the time we all turned 20.
I was still numb by the time he left. Over the next 3 days, as the order was restored in the slums, as now the manpower in the village was now sufficient. Most of the kids, whom Hiruzen personally selected, were sent to me for addition into the clan. An Anbu shinobi would come every day and take 5-6 kids. They would return tired and exhausted but with citizenship documents. I simply bought a few houses around me. And began preparing a proper big clan house now. My tent plus hall was no longer sustainable.
By the time the initial flux was over. I had 120 kids.
Now I needed a new plan. The old one was no longer viable. At first, I went to the tailor and for their uniforms. I hired a few construction guys to help out while the children did most of the work on the clan house. I bought a bit of personal supplies for them, like gloves, shoes, etc. Then I sat down to think.
When they were just 30, the excess I earned covered their expenses, but now, no way was that viable. I needed a stable source of money, and I needed it urgently.
While brainstorming, my eyes fell on the scrolls the Hokage left. And an idea formed in my mind.
I had a faint inkling that the Hokage wanted me to create an actual Shinobi clan. So a shinobi clan is what he'll get.
I opened the scrolls. He had left. There were the 3 academy jutsus: Transformation, clone, and substitution. And there were fuinjutsu scrolls. One was a more detailed and expert work on the explosive tags. Along with paralysis tags, Detection tags, and finally, the legendary storage tags.
There were some taijutsu and kenjutsu scrolls, too. An advanced modified version of the academy version.
All of this could make me way stronger than I was. But relying on myself for long-term sustainment was not a viable option. Especially since this pet project of his had turned serious.