Assets and Investment

That afternoon, Hyuga Hoshishaku took Hyuga Yunfei to inspect his assets in the village.

The first shop they visited was a dango shop on one of the side streets branching off Konoha's main commercial street.

Since dango were a little like mochi, a Chinese dessert, Hoshishaku had tried them a few times before and liked them.

He usually went to the largest dango shop on the main street, though.

He had never actually visited this smaller shop, which could only seat about twenty people at a time.

After going inside, Hoshishaku first showed them the contract, then identified himself.

Once they had completed the necessary formalities.

The three people in the shop looked as though they'd seen a savior.

"Last night, the boss came by and told us the shop had changed hands. He also took all the working capital."

"Now we don't have any money to buy ingredients. We've been waiting for you to come and decide what to do."

The middle-aged woman who handled the register and finances explained.

From Hoshishaku's initial inquiries, he learned that the shop employed two middle-aged women and one young woman. They worked as the cook, the server and cleaner, and the cashier and bookkeeper, respectively.

Their wages weren't high: the cook earned 10,000 ryo a month, the server 8,000, and the cashier 9,000.

The shop's daily revenue had generally been around 6,000 ryo. After deducting its various expenses and wages, its monthly net profit came to 70,000 ryo.

That was only a little better than renting the place out.

It was the kind of business that earned money through hard work.

All he had to do now was inject 50,000 ryo in working capital, and the business could start up again.

Hoshishaku turned to Yunfei and asked, "How much money do I have left?"

Without even looking at the Sealing Scroll, Yunfei answered at once, "Young master, you have 33,000 ryo left."

Hoshishaku sighed. "Money really doesn't go very far."

The shop's three employees looked nervous at that. They were afraid the young master wouldn't keep the shop open and would fire them all.

But they were worrying over nothing.

Not only was Hoshishaku going to keep the shop open, he planned to run it properly.

He sketched out a rough plan in his mind, then called a brief meeting in the shop.

Hoshishaku planned to recreate a combined bubble tea and dessert shop in the world of Naruto.

Whether it made money or not didn't matter.

The main goal was to satisfy his own cravings.

And so, the meeting of five began, though Hoshishaku did most of the talking.

He discussed everything from the decor and new food offerings to improving employee benefits, building a brand culture, and eventually opening chains across the country.

One unprecedented idea after another, concepts no one in the Ninja World had ever heard of, came pouring out.

The meeting lasted nearly three hours. By the end, the other four attendees were amazed by Hoshishaku's imagination and ability.

Still, no matter how bright the future looked,

His plan would require investment to make it happen.

At least another 500,000 ryo.

Maybe once you had enough debts, you stopped worrying about them.

Hoshishaku used the same approach with the fried-food shop.

He planned to turn the larger but more poorly located shop into a snack restaurant serving barbecue, fried skewers, malatang, and more.

That would require at least another 700,000 ryo.

After settling on the investments and plans, they ate a simple lunch.

Once Hoshishaku had completed two daily missions, he got ready to head home and raise some money.

On the way, Yunfei counted on his fingers, apparently working something out.

Hoshishaku grew curious.

"What are you counting?"

Yunfei looked troubled. "Young master, I've only saved up 80,000 ryo over the years. I'm still a long way from 1.2 million."

Hoshishaku couldn't help laughing.

His cousin really was still a kid. He actually wanted to give him money to help him out.

But Hoshishaku only patted him reassuringly on the shoulder and said with an inscrutable expression, "I'm doing something worthwhile. How could I possibly fail to get the money?"

"You should know that those who follow the Way have many supporters, while those who stray from it have few."

After spouting that nonsense, he continued down the road.

Yunfei stood there, staring after him with bright eyes.

This time, Hoshishaku was confident he could get investors. When he'd taken over the assets that day, he'd noticed that the previous owners of both shops had been named Sarutobi.

When he considered the earlier A-rank mission and who had completed it,

along with his clan's uncharacteristically generous reward,

Hoshishaku could piece together most of what had happened.

With Senju Hashirama, the God of Shinobi, keeping Konoha in check, any conflict should be settled peacefully around a table.

He supposed that matter had already been "settled peacefully."

And putting himself in their shoes, if he had a hundred ryo, he'd give his son one at most.

So the clan must have gotten a huge payout, then given him just one grain of sand from between its fingers.

If he didn't squeeze a little more out of them now, he'd miss his chance.

That afternoon, the first thing Hoshishaku did after returning to the clan compound was go ask his father for money.

Hyuga Tianren had been busy for a day and a night without sleep. He hadn't wanted to entertain his youngest son's request, but the boy was too persistent—and had a surprisingly solid case.

His arguments about investment were well reasoned, and his guess about the Sarutobi Clan's compensation was persuasive.

They were both well reasoned and outrageous.

"I'm telling you, the Sarutobi Clan must have paid the Hyuga a hundred billion ryo. The clan's being way too stingy, giving me only a million ryo worth of assets. You have to remember, I was the biggest contributor to this whole affair!"

Hoshishaku declared, as though he were entirely in the right.

Hyuga Tianren's forehead throbbed with bulging veins as he listened. In the end, he invested 1.5 million ryo as an investor, in exchange for a 49% share.

Seeing his father's patience reach its limit, Hoshishaku took the banknotes and promptly left.

At the doorway, Hyuga Tianren suddenly called after him, "By the way, Senju Tobirama has decided to take you on as his student. Report to the First Training Ground in the village at two in the afternoon, two days from now. Make sure you do well and don't bring shame on the clan."

Hoshishaku was surprised, but he still found himself asking, "Do I get a reward if I do well?"

His answer was a weakened version of the Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm.

Outside the house, Yunfei spotted his young master flying out, arms and legs splayed.

He was already used to this. He leaped into the air and caught his young master around the waist, bringing him down safely.

But the words his young master muttered under his breath made Yunfei break out in a cold sweat again.

"The head of a great clan, and all he does is launch sneak attacks."

Back at the small courtyard, Hoshishaku felt he didn't have enough people working for him.

With two new businesses to manage, he needed someone to keep an eye on them and oversee their operations.

Take the investments, for example. There was no way he would hand the money directly to the employees of those two shops.

It wasn't that he thought they'd run off with it. They simply weren't specialists.

After thinking it over, Hoshishaku decided he'd have to find someone else from the clan.

Though, deep down, he thought the Main Family and Branch Family system was inhumane,

when it came to hiring people, the Branch Family members were always the most trustworthy.

Once he had made up his mind, he told Yunfei to stay in the courtyard and arrange his own time to rest or train.

Then he headed to the Branch Family elder's residence.