The War Nearing its End

"Boss, you're back."

Upon seeing Karn return, Xia Chuan stepped forward to bow and greet him. Following behind Karn was another person missing an arm-that should be Jiekang Weilai.

Karn had already been away from Konoha for some time, so the Karn Pharmacy had opened up for business. After receiving training, Jiekang Weilai, who knew Medical Ninjutsu, had also stepped into his post and started working.

"Mm, I'm back. You must be Jiekang Weilai, right? I'll leave the Karn Pharmacy in your capable hands. With a store manager who knows Medical Ninjutsu, I can finally set my mind at ease."

Karn offered Jiekang Weilai a few words of encouragement, which moved him somewhat. Karn did not disdain him for being disabled and yet entrusted him with a heavy responsibility. Jiekang Weilai hurriedly bowed and said, "Please rest assured, Boss, I will work hard."

Karn nodded, then entered the shop to check out the recent revenue.

The income from snacks remained very touching; “the money of children and women is the easiest to earn” was truly a golden saying. Once the Confectionery Factory opened, Karn Sweets could be supplied to all parts of the Land of Fire.

Other items were selling well too, but food supplies seemed to have hit a ceiling. Various ninja clans within Konoha had their own purchasing channels, and those who came to the Karn Food Store to buy food were mostly commoners, while the number of commoners inside Konoha was not very large.

The food category would be written off from Karn's Spatial Backpack from now on. Although food in the United States was very cheap, there was no need to bring it over using the Spatial Backpack to sell; it was not worth it. It would be better for Karn to play the local tycoon in the Shinobi World, first hiring people to resell food locally in the Shinobi World, and then going to develop in the Small Countries.

However, Karn would not be like Gato; the Karn Family did not have people that stupid, handing themselves a god-tier opening only to play themselves to death.

"Boss, Kushina said you allowed her to pre-order sweets. After others found out, quite a few followed suit. This is the list and the pre-ordered quantities."

While Karn was looking at the revenue and deep in thought, Xia Chuan also reported a matter to Karn, and then handed him a list.

After reading it, Karn was slightly surprised. "Over eighty places? More than three million ryō? Are there really this many people in Konoha who like eating sweets?" He had merely thought of earning children's money, but judging from the quantities and money pre-ordered on the list, a fair number of ninja clans with quite substantial family fortunes had also placed orders.

Ordinary commoner families could not possibly pull out tens of thousands of ryō to buy sweets; that was completely inconsistent with their income.

Xia Chuan nodded and said, "There are indeed quite a few ninjas coming to pre-order. Some of them also really like eating chocolate. Even I... cough cough." She had secretly bought some too, letting herself and her children at home taste it. It was indeed very delicious, and after eating it, they still wanted more. If it weren't too expensive, Xia Chuan would have wanted to buy a box to take back.

"I know. I'll handle this matter." Karn put the list away, and then spoke to Xia Chuan about the matter of the Kawaki Town Sweets Factory. "Xia Chuan, there is something I need to ask of you. Hand this place over to someone else for now, and recruit a few more people. There is a business outside Konoha that I need your help with."

The Confectionery Factory in Kawaki Town needed a trustworthy person to watch over it. Currently, the only person Karn could trust was Xia Chuan. Although the time spent dealing with her was short, overall she was still quite honest.

After hearing what Karn had to say, Xia Chuan pondered for a moment before making a decision. "I understand, Boss. There are still quite a few people from the former Senju Clan who have nothing to do. If there is a job to take them in, they will definitely be willing."

Besides, the salary Karn gave was not low-eighty thousand ryō a month, which was roughly equivalent to more than a dozen quality D-rank missions. If they were unwilling to go even for this, it could only be said that their families were loaded and they were unwilling to come out and do work.

Karn exhorted: "Although Kawaki Town is not far from Konoha, accidents can still happen. Xia Chuan, you and the others must pay attention to safety when you go. In addition, I will also recruit some guards."

"I know, rest assured, Boss." After speaking, Xia Chuan smiled shyly and continued to say to Karn, "Actually, all of us know a little bit of ninjutsu after all; we're a ninja family..."

The current generation of the Senju Clan still harbored some thoughts of guarding Konoha to varying degrees. When nurturing the next generation, they all planned to have them enter the Ninja Academy. Xia Chuan's child was not yet of age; when he turned six, Xia Chuan would also send him into the Ninja Academy.

However, before sending him into the Ninja Academy, pre-school training was definitely necessary. Since the Senju Clan had lost its surname and disbanded, they could only let parents conduct advance ninja training. Xia Chuan herself knew the Three Basic Techniques and a few C-rank elemental jutsus, but she had never attended the Ninja Academy nor possessed a Konoha ninja identity. She also had no intention of becoming a ninja; otherwise, if something happened to her on the battlefield, her four-year-old child would likely be sent to an orphanage.

"It looks like I still underestimated you, but as long as safety can be guaranteed, that's fine." Karn smiled at Xia Chuan and said, "I'll take you there when the time comes. Besides you, there need to be eight other people. Pick them yourself; I trust you, Xia Chuan."

"I know. Thank you, Boss." Xia Chuan nodded and said, while feeling a great deal of gratitude toward Karn in her heart. Without him, she and many of her relatives and friends certainly would not have such a lucrative and relatively relaxing job.

After entrusting this matter, Karn next waited for Xia Chuan to gather the personnel completely, and then he could take them to Kawaki Town.

Four people would help Karn manage the Confectionery Factory, and another five would patrol the cocoa tree plantations. This time, besides getting the personnel properly arranged, Karn also needed to purchase a batch of land.

Although the cocoa trees could not grow the best quality here, making do with them for the early stage would do. After a while, Karn would go to the Land of Tea to expand his sphere of influence; that place was the most suitable location for cultivating cocoa trees.

Aside from the expansion of his influence, Karn was also paying attention to the momentum of the Second Shinobi World War.

Recently, ninjas from the battlefield had been returning one after another, mostly ninjas from the Land of Rain battlefield. After Amegakure surrendered, Sunagakure did not hold out for long either, directly using the action of retreating to the border to indicate that they had lost this war.

However, Sand Ninja outwardly still maintained quite a hardline stance. Even after retreating to their own borders, they did not sign the peace agreement initiated by Konoha. That document called a peace agreement was actually just the exploitation of Sunagakure by the Hawk Faction headed by Danzo.

Konoha had let Amegakure off, so it had to exact benefits from Sunagakure. Although many ninjas had withdrawn from the Land of Rain battlefield, the remainder were still more than enough to deal with Sunagakure.

However, what the Konoha ninjas who withdrew from the battlefield discussed the most was still the Tailed Beast Jinchūriki deployed by the Sand Ninja on the battlefield. Although it wasn't stated outright, Karn could guess from their descriptions and discussions: a tanuki as huge as a mountain pile, and Wind Release Ninjutsu as powerful as a natural disaster.

If Danzo and Orochimaru hadn't found a solution, Konoha's ninjas would have suffered a huge loss.

However, this kind of matter was not something the present Karn could get involved in. His goal was very clear: to expand his influence in the shortest possible time.

Ninjas were a very strange group. Brainwashed generation after generation, no matter how powerful a ninja was, they could not break free from the identity of being a ninja, and needed to be reined in by wealthy and powerful ordinary people.

Perhaps Madara Uchiha had stepped out with half a foot, but there was an even stronger Hashirama Senju who beat him back!