Naruto: IY Ch. 39

Once again, it was the season of revival for all living things.

Spring planting.

The people rely on food to survive. Yahiko had always placed great importance on agriculture. He led the unemployed ninja from Yoake to farm the fields.

The rice paddies were filled with the fresh scent of soil. He held a bunch of seedlings in his left hand, while his right hand moved so fast it left afterimages, planting the green rice seedlings swiftly into the waterlogged field.

This was Yoake's No.1 Rice Planter.

He squatted and moved backward as he concentrated on planting each batch of rice seedlings into the muddy field.

Besides his real self, his shadow clones were also helping in the field. One person was more useful than several.

To his left, Nagato was planting rice. He was Yoake's No.2 Rice Planter.

To his right, Konan was in charge of another field, Yoake's No.3 Rice Planter.

The No.4 and No.5 planters were also busy with their respective tasks in the fields.

Genno held a camera, filming the whole process. He had also saved footage of the day when Yahiko and Jiraiya faced off against Hanzō at the bridge alliance.

If it weren't for Yahiko, this would have gone viral instantly and made him famous throughout the nations.

Jiraiya planned to edit the footage and insert it as a post-credits scene for a movie to show Tsunade.

Hiruko had recently hand-assembled a copy machine, so the newspaper office could finally open.

"We must make Hiruko invent a rice transplanter and fertilizer spreader," Yahiko said.

His face was flushed from the sun, and he gulped water down in big mouthfuls.

---

Evening.

Covered in mud, Yahiko returned to the Yoake's office.

Waiting for him, of course, was B, who hadn't left yet.

"Yo! You don't know, missing-nin report! They were too arrogant, so I knocked them out with one punch!"

Two missing-nin lay on the ground, their Kusa forehead protectors scratched through.

They had been completely defeated by B.

"What's this?" Yahiko squatted down, looking at the two bruised and swollen men.

The two were a bit puzzled, why did the leader of Yoake look like some farmer's kid?

"We're here to seek refuge!" one man with natural green hair cried out.

"Yeah! That bastard Kusao is a beast!"

The other, thin as a rail, looked full of grievance, just like when Shuzen came to Yoake the first time.

According to the two, Kusao had a habit: he would try to persuade surrender before attacking, but if a territory didn't surrender before being taken, he would slaughter everyone afterward.

The captain these two followed was beheaded. They escaped with great difficulty.

Both were jonin. When they arrived, they hoped to be taken seriously and even gain some elite treatment. Seeing how cocky B was, they challenged him to a duel...

Sigh...

After being thoroughly beaten, they became obedient.

Now they were even respectful to Yahiko.

"Get up, no kneeling." Yahiko, always respectful to talent, helped them up, smiling kindly.

"You were once Kusa ninja? Hmm, fine-looking young men, dignified appearances. Kusao must've been blind not to treasure you."

The two were touched, nodding emotionally.

Yahiko's appearance gave them a strange sense of familiarity, and they wanted to talk more.

"Did you used to have a lot of friends who were ninjas?"

They nodded again, but replied with difficulty:

"But most have been killed... very few could've escaped."

"No problem," Yahiko said. "I order you two to return to the Land of Grass and recruit ninja friends. Recruit ten genin, and I'll appoint one of you as squad leader. Twenty people, you'll be platoon leader..."

"One chunin counts as five genin. For every jonin, I'll reward you directly. I'm not afraid you recruit too many, only that you don't recruit enough, do you understand?"

The two savored Yahiko's words, and after a while, their breathing grew heavy.

Squad leader...

Platoon leader...

Even Company commander...

They didn't quite understand what those titles meant, but the monthly salaries just kept getting higher.

And if you became company commander, you even got 0.5% company profit share!

Although Kusa was in the middle of internal conflict, that didn't stop them from keeping up with current trends, they knew exactly how much money was being made from toys and movie merchandise.

That big ship they passed by on the way here? It was still a hot selfie spot to this day.

"We're willing to give it a shot!"

The two missing-nin were genuinely fired up.

"Ah." Yahiko smiled, patted the dust off them, and used medical ninjutsu to heal their wounds.

Mass-recruiting ninjas? Piece of cake. The wisdom of experience wasn't just for show.

This was also why Yahiko focused on entertainment and making money, rather than rushing to train ninjas.

If you didn't engage in entertainment or money-making, what would attract people to join you?

Putting aside overpowered characters like the Sannin, or all those with bloodline limits, what most ordinary ninjas needed wasn't ninjutsu, but experience.

And experience? Only came from completing countless missions.

Instead of waiting a decade for one ninja to mature, why not start recruiting early?

Yup!

"Yoake needs to increase our entertainment revenue!"

Time to check in on how Jiraiya's movie shoot was going.

"B, wanna go watch a movie shoot?"

"Yo!"

---

On the movie set of Rounders...

Since Jiraiya often accompanied Tsunade to gamble, he was extremely familiar with casinos.

He borrowed one of Yoake's shops, casually decorated it, and just started filming.

There were tons of staff.

People from the retirement home volunteered to be extras.

"Tobi! What the hell are you doing? Is the antagonist supposed to be a pervert? You... you... you!"

Jiraiya was surprisingly patient, painstakingly teaching Tobi how to act step by step.

But Tobi's heart was 100% devoted to Madara.

Even if he got hit, kicked, or scolded, it was all for Madara.

He refused to take off his mask, and Jiraiya just let it go. Though it wasn't in the script, he figured the antagonist could be a bit mysterious, half-revealed, leaving room for the audience's imagination, a trick Jiraiya learned from one of Pain's mega hits.

But man...

Every twitch of your eyebrow, every smile, every move you make, you're basically screaming, "I'm playing a pervert!"

"I was wrong..."

Tobi pouted cutely.

Jiraiya was already immune, but he still felt a bit nauseous.

Standing nearby was Shin, who had been given a minor speaking role. He smiled bitterly.

So this is where I lost? If acting means crawling into a man's bed... I just can't do it.

The entire production had stalled at the very beginning, the scene where the antagonist first appears at the underground poker game.

Tobi's performance was absolutely terrible, instead of playing a menacing card shark, it looked like he was just lusting after Jiraiya's body.

Three actresses had already quit after breakdowns playing various roles opposite Tobi.

Jiraiya had to personally pay compensation each time, now holding his head in utter despair.

"Jiraiya-sensei, I came to visit the set."

Since Konan had to attend a parent-teacher meeting, Yahiko changed into a clean outfit and came over with Nagato and B.

As soon as they stepped into the set, a wave of grievance powerful enough to summon demons hit them in the face.

He scratched his head. "What happened here?"

"How can you ask? I'll strangle you!"

Like enemies reunited, Jiraiya broke down crying on the spot, lunging to grab Yahiko by the neck and shake him violently.

"Okay okay... Sensei, Yahiko's about to pass out. Maybe go a little easier?" Nagato whispered.

"Yo! Teacher's getting beat up! Teacher's getting beat up! Bro punches hard!"

Jiraiya glanced over at B, who was jumping around rapping nonsense non-stop.

Wait a second, isn't that the Eight-Tails jinchūriki?

Jiraiya looked at Yahiko in complete confusion, then slowly let him go.