Chapter 240. There are Many Opportunities to Make Money in the City...
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He ran away?
He really ran away.
He unexpectedly ran away!
At first, even Yuto didn't quite believe it—after all, who was Danzo?
A man who refused to live under anyone's shadow!
When he saw his old friend become Hokage, he wanted to prove himself by becoming Hokage too and would stop at nothing to achieve it!
When he saw others getting rich, he wanted to get rich too—and to expand his business, he was willing to sell even himself!
He was a man with grand ambition and a big vision!
Once he set his sights on a goal, he would give it his all to achieve it—unlike the Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, who was always hesitant, hesitant, always hesitant… until, in the end, nothing was left.
This was Danzo's method… He always screwed up a little, then ran away without hesitation when faced with danger. Just like this time—taking loans, selling himself out, deceiving, forcing others' hands… and after racking up a mountain of debt—
Poof.
Gone.
Yuto glanced at the pile of property deeds in his hand with mixed feelings, then looked at the Third Hokage, who now walked with a hunched back and suddenly seemed to have aged a lot.
In the end—
All the debts fell on his best friend.
And now that Danzo had fled, the situation had turned sour, and Root Studio was now merely a name. These property deeds—
They were all from Root Cinema.
Yuto had bought them all at cost price, including the renovations and equipment, which instantly boosted his own theaters' coverage across the Land of Fire.
But this money…
It was nothing more than a drop in the ocean compared to the debt Danzo had left behind. It might cover a small part of the debt, but without dipping into the Sarutobi clan's savings, it would take at least ten years to pay it all off.
The Third Hokage was an honest man. He not only paid back the losses from stock trading but also didn't follow Danzo's example of ignoring it and running away. Of course, it was probably also to maintain his reputation in the village.
After all—
He was the Third Hokage.
And with two advisors still standing beside him…
It seemed that Yuto's plan to buy out at the bottom could no longer be realized.
A few days ago—
Finally, the Fourth Hokage stepped in, using his own reputation to calm the situation. He convinced the creditors to accept a repayment plan, promising to pay off the debt in installments every year.
He heard that even the Daimyo's court was alarmed at that time!
After all, the people Danzo borrowed from weren't ordinary citizens—most people wouldn't even have that much money to lend in the first place.
Meanwhile, Konoha had already sent out ninjas to search for Danzo—but considering Danzo's strength and experience, it probably wouldn't be easy to find him if he wanted to hide.
Anyway, Jiraiya came over last night with a sigh and had a few drinks with him.
Although the old man had trusted the wrong person and was now burdened with huge debts, he was still his teacher after all—so in the end, Jiraiya took out all the savings he had earned from writing books over the years.
But compared to the scale of the debt… Jiraiya's savings barely made a dent.
After all, he was a prodigal son who collected "materials" wherever he went—it wasn't easy for him to save even that small amount of money.
They drank heavily that night, and Jiraiya sighed, saying he needed to be careful and not end up like the old man… I acted as a guarantor for my friend, but my friend borrowed money, ran away without paying it back, and now I'm being chased by creditors.
You could say—
After that incident with the embezzling of public funds and now this crushing debt, even if the Fourth Hokage was finished, Hiruzen probably wouldn't be able to sit as Hokage anymore.
His twilight years… not looking good!
And Jiraiya—he was already preparing to leave.
This time, he had only returned to the village to congratulate Minato and offer his help where needed, but he hadn't expected to encounter such a mess.
Now, it was time to go.
After all, his best friend Orochimaru had also defected after making a move against Danzo and was on the run!
Thinking about it—he actually felt bad for Orochimaru.
If it had happened just a few years later… this whole tragedy might not have unfolded now.
In fact, Yuto considered warning this old boy—who had spent all his savings for his teacher—about how his "best friend" wasn't much better than Danzo!
But then he thought of Suzune and figured Orochimaru probably wouldn't have Jiraiya act as a guarantor for a massive loan and then run away like Danzo did—so he decided to keep his mouth shut.
As Yuto watched Hiruzen's hunched figure slowly disappear into the distance, he couldn't help but feel sad!
"Phew…" Yuto rubbed his arms and quickly shut the door. "It's quite cold."
Then he turned around and saw Hanabi standing there, still looking stunned. He asked, "What are you staring at?"
Because of Root Cinema's closure, Suzune had been busy with work these days. As for Hanabi… she seemed to have been thinking about what she should do these days!
Hanabi snapped out of it, shook her head, and said, "It's nothing."
But as she turned to head inside—
She stopped and looked back.
Her gaze lingered on the old man stumbling away in the cold wind, her eyes filled with complicated emotions.
Danzo had run off without paying his debts, and the Third Hokage had taken on the huge debt for the sake of his best friend.
In just a few days—
She had witnessed the whole drama unfold with her own eyes, leaving her completely stunned!
For days, she had been in a daze, not knowing what to say or how to process it all!
This illusion—
Really…
It's too poisonous!
…
Time flew by.
In the blink of an eye—
It had already been a while since Root Cinema collapsed.
Although the buzz online had gradually died down, there were still plenty of posts about the incident—especially a certain debt-collecting thread… Rumor had it that Root Studio had yet to settle its final payment.
Their brother… was almost finished!
Unfortunately—
Sarutobi Hiruzen had been pretty busy these days. First, he had to track down all of Danzo's remaining assets, then calculate how much money was left, and finally start repaying the creditors in batches. So… that group of online fake reviewers had probably really been forgotten.
Such a bunch of poor guys.
You have to wonder… would these guys be so angry that they'd go after Danzo directly for payment?
Either way, Konoha's Anbu still hadn't tracked down Danzo's whereabouts. Word was that even the remaining assets in Root's underground base had already been liquidated by Hiruzen.
It can be said that once you start a business... there's no way back!
They had even already started selling off the belongings.
Today.
The weather was cool. Although it had snowed heavily last night and the village streets were still blanketed in snow, the sun was shining today.
The sun shone directly on Konoha.
It was like the Will of Fire itself, warming the heart and driving away the chill.
Asuma stepped out of the house for the first time in days and sighed as he gazed at the sun.
These past few days… because the old man had trusted the wrong person, creditors had been showing up at their house. His mother, unaware of what the old man had done, was shocked by the sudden wave of debt collection. As a result, the old couple, who used to respect each other, had started quarreling. And for the sake of the family…
Asuma…
He could only help the old man with the statistics.
Although his legs trembled when he saw the debt his father owed—and he wanted to change his father and be a brother to Obito—no matter what, he was still his old man. How could he really abandon him?
So—
There was no other choice.
His old man had taken on this burden for his best friend… He would take it too!
"Here—take this."
Just as Asuma sat there, lost in thought, a warm cup of milk tea appeared in front of him. He looked up and saw his friends standing there: Kakashi, Guy, Obito, Genma, Ebisu… His eyes reddened, his heart warmed, and he let out a laugh. "Thank you very much, guys!"
"We've all heard about what happened in the past few days," Shiranui Genma said, taking a sip of his tea. "We're still young and have a lot of time to live. We can definitely pay it back if we take on more missions. And maybe Danzo-sama will turn up in a few days?"
At those words—
Asuma fell silent for a moment.
Assuming the reward for an S-level mission was one million, then... No need to calculate—it was almost hopeless.
The corners of his mouth twitched slightly, and he put aside the unrealistic thoughts. Not to mention whether he could complete S-level missions now—even if he could, there probably wouldn't be enough S-level missions to pay off this level of debt.
But Genma had a point…
Maybe that bastard Danzo would come back in a few days?
But right now—
Asuma thought of the advice the Fourth Hokage had given him a few days ago. He fell silent again, hesitating, his face torn with conflict. Just as the others were about to ask what was on his mind—
Suddenly—
Asuma took a deep breath, clenched his fist, and stood up with a determined look in his eyes. "I've made up my mind! I'm going to the city! I'm heading to the Daimyo's court!"
He had heard…
There were more opportunities to make money in the city…
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