Heian-kyo, Hiroshima Manor.
Morning light filtered through the delicate lattice windows and fell across the brand-new bed.
Uchiha Cheng (Uchiha Hara) stood by the window on the second floor of the main house, looking down at the overgrown courtyard.
He had two things to handle on this trip: exchange gold and obtain Tsunade's medical inheritance.
The plan to exchange gold had been abandoned, but obtaining Tsunade's medical inheritance still had to continue.
However, before setting out to find one of the legendary Sannin, he had to finish some preliminary work.
Such a large manor could not remain empty forever. It needed people to manage and maintain it, or after one spring, the place would be a mess.
Rather than going to a broker to buy servants who had been "trained" and came with complicated backgrounds, he went directly to the mixed labor market in Heian-kyo's Southern Rakugai District.
The place was filled with common folk from all over, struggling to survive for a single meal.
Uchiha Cheng's gaze swept through the crowd before settling on several sallow, emaciated girls whose eyes had not yet gone completely numb, as well as a group of half-grown children huddled together, their gazes timid yet carrying a hint of wildness.
He selected four girls between twelve and fifteen who looked fairly clever to serve as maids, then chose ten orphans between eight and twelve, boys and girls among them.
After bringing the fourteen of them back to the manor, Uchiha Cheng looked at their anxious, startled-deer expressions and spoke calmly. His voice was not loud, yet every person heard it clearly.
"From today onward, you will live here. The work is simple: keep the manor clean, tend the flowers and plants in the courtyard, and prepare three meals a day. I will provide food,