"You sure are confident, Orochimaru."
After a moment of silence, Danzo spoke, "Alright, I'll give you the Hashirama Cells. You must give me the experimental results in three months!"
"Besides that, I also need 200 million ryo as research funding."
"Two hundred million? Orochimaru, are you insane? Do you know how much 200 million ryo is?"
"Yes, I know, but I think Lord Danzo, you might not understand the value of the Wood Release Bloodline."
Orochimaru smiled, his expression unchanged, "Researching the Wood Release Bloodline will claim countless lives, and requires numerous trial-and-error experiments. If you're unwilling to exchange 200 million ryo for a Wood Release Bloodline, I might as well ask Teacher Sarutobi."
Danzo was silent for a while, then said with a slightly somber expression, "Fine, I'll give you the money, but do you need Root's help for the test subjects?"
"No, I have my own channels."
Orochimaru shook his head and declined. The Uchiha Clan had always provided him with test subjects, which were the death row prisoners from various parts of the Land of Fire. He felt at ease using these test subjects with clear backgrounds.
He feared seeing familiar faces if he were to use test subjects provided by Root.
Then Danzo handed Orochimaru the 200 million and the Hashirama Cells. After Orochimaru left, Danzo's face immediately fell.
The funds that Root had just acquired, along with the money that the Shimura Family had gathered through some disreputable means in other small countries, had been saved for a long time before being sent to him, intended to expand the training of Root Ninja. However, before he could even warm the funds, they were taken away by Orochimaru.
"Orochimaru, you'd better give me a satisfactory answer."
-----------------------------
The Uchiha supermarket and food district opened, bringing quite a bit of 'excitement' to Konoha.
Those few food stores were almost always packed, and the supermarket was also flooded with people.
In Konoha, a place with scarce spending opportunities, the opening of a ramen shop could attract dozens of people lining up, let alone the supermarket and food district meticulously designed by Uchiha Yoichi.
Moreover, most of the customers were Uchiha Clan Members. They could receive a significant amount of money from the Uchiha welfare system every month, and having saved quite a bit already, they could naturally afford to indulge themselves.
Especially the Jonin families within the clan, they were certainly not short on money. If it weren't for the limited supply of Magic Goat meat, they could have eaten it four or five times a month.
Ever since the supermarket opened, Kushina would often come by, especially knowing that Mikota was also there. She would come to chat with Mikota after shopping at the supermarket.
Usually, Kushina would pour out her grievances, and Mikota would gently comfort and counsel her.
The Anbu didn't stop Kushina from seeing Uchiha Mikota. In their assessment, Uchiha Mikota wasn't much of a threat.
But there was one time when Mikota let something slip, revealing that she was quite satisfied, which made Kushina sense something was off. After Kushina's curious probing, Mikota couldn't withstand the pressure and admitted that she and Uchiha Yoichi were together.
This explosive news greatly shocked Kushina. She remembered that Uchiha Yoichi was living with Minami, so how could he be with Mikota... After she found out that the three of them were practically living together, Kushina was surprised for quite a while before she came to her senses.
However, even nobles had several women, and the Daimyo even had a wife and seven or eight concubines. Even the current son's mother wasn't the legitimate wife.
It's just that polygamy was rare among ninja, due to the nature of being a ninja and raising offspring, they mostly formed families with other ninja. One husband and one wife was the norm among ninja.
Kushina wasn't even married yet, though she was almost of age, so she asked a lot of questions; but Mikota had learned her lesson after slipping up once and refused to share any more intimate details. How could she talk for hours about that?
After leaving Mikota's, Kushina inexplicably felt much better, possibly because the surprise had washed away her gloom. She planned to ask Minami another day; Minami might be more talkative than Mikota, she should be able to get a lot out of her.
Returning home, Kushina saw Namikaze Minato standing at the door, so her face fell, and she completely ignored Namikaze Minato, going straight in and shutting the door, leaving him outside.
"Kushina, I'm here to apologize..."
"Apologize for what? You think it's right to monitor me anyway, no matter how strong I get, I should still be under surveillance, and can't even talk to others!"
After saying this at the door, Kushina stomped back inside.
Namikaze Minato smiled wryly, waited for a moment, then decided to find Jiraiya for advice.
This time, Jiraiya, who usually peeked, was surprisingly not doing so. He was at home organizing materials for his novel, though he was at a lack for ideas. Seeing Namikaze Minato come to him, Jiraiya laughed heartily and dragged him out for drinks.
However, just as the two reached the izakaya, they saw a messenger hawk in the air, signaling a summon for Jonin.
Jiraiya clicked his tongue and said, "The old man really knows when to schedule. Minato, looks like we'll have to chat next time, there might be a task waiting."
"Yeah, let's head to the Hokage Building first, Teacher Jiraiya."
Namikaze Minato felt a bit relieved; he really didn't feel like drinking.
When they arrived at the Hokage Office, they found many people had already gathered. After moving to the front and waiting a while, the last few Jonin arrived.
Sarutobi Hiruzen saw everyone was present and began, "Now that everyone is here, let's get down to business. The Chunin Exam is scheduled for half a month from now, and the participating ninja villages will include the Hidden Rain Village, Grass Village, Hidden Waterfall Village... as well as the Hidden Rock Village and Hidden Cloud Village."
"Hidden Cloud Village?"
Everyone was surprised when they heard the last village mentioned. The Hidden Cloud had just ended a war with them and even refused to sign a peace document after their defeat. Why would they participate in the Chunin Exams hosted by Konoha?
"Lord Hokage, why is the Hidden Cloud included?"
Nara Shikaku asked. The Hidden Rock's involvement was understandable, as although there had been multiple skirmishes at the borders, the two had not gone to full-scale war; the Hidden Rock was likely using the Chunin Exam as a chance to showcase their military strength, just like Konoha.
But the Hidden Cloud's participation was a bit...
Sarutobi Hiruzen explained, "The Hidden Cloud requested participation upon hearing about the Chunin Exam. They also want to resume negotiations."
"What is there to negotiate, Yugito has already joined Konoha, they might be planning another assassination attempt on her."
Uchiha Yoichi suggested, "I propose we just kill the Hidden Cloud ninja now, to save the trouble of meeting them on the battlefield later."
The other Jonin couldn't help but glance towards him, thinking that as expected of the Konoha Lightning Fang who fought through the Hidden Cloud battlefield, rumored to have killed hundreds of Hidden Cloud ninja. Perhaps he was so used to it that he instinctively raised his sword upon hearing the word 'Cloud.'
"...That might not be the best course of action, Yang Clan Leader."
Sarutobi Hiruzen's mouth twitched, and he said, "Let's first hear what their intentions are. If it's a normal participation in the Chunin Exam, we have no reason to refuse them."
"Now that the Chunin Exam time is set, let's discuss the participating personnel. Since this is a multinational Chunin Exam, Genin lacking strength and experience are discouraged from participating. Jonin who are also team leaders can recommend their squads."
After the Third Hokage finished, several Jonin stood to recommend their subordinates, along with some already pre-registered Genin squads.
Uchiha Yoichi also registered for Yuhi Kurenai's team, saying, "Team 8 will participate in the Chunin Exam."
Even Orochimaru registered his three students, believing their strength sufficient even though they had only graduated a year ago.
After the recommendations, Namikaze Minato suddenly spoke, "Lord Third, in the Team 7 I lead, Kakashi is already a Chunin. Should we replace him for the Chunin Exam?"
"Hmm... no need, let Kakashi continue participating. Changing members now would affect Team 7's synergy; this stays just between us."
Sarutobi Hiruzen thought for a moment before replying, as he wanted Kakashi to showcase his abilities in the Chunin Exam.