Chapter 214: The Uchiha Clan's Old Compound Development Plan
Ino sifted through Tayuya's memories.
The Sound Village's 'village flower' primarily relied on using her flute to control her 'Three Idiots' for their 'hitman' service. Ino scrutinized this ability from every angle but found nothing particularly remarkable about it.
However, Tayuya's Genjutsu: Dreamy Sound Lock was a B-rank illusion technique of considerable value. Ino absorbed the method of execution, the key principles, and all the accumulated experience directly from her memories. This was a jutsu she could definitely practice later.
She also briefly reviewed the Four Violet Flames Formation that Tayuya knew. At this point, Ino wasn't particularly impressed by this kind of jutsu; its tier was too low. Tsunade knew the Four Red Yang Formation, the advanced version, and Ino could learn that from her later.
After planting a stronger mental suggestion in Tayuya's mind, Ino transformed into a streak of silver light and returned to the Leaf Village.
A quarter of an hour later, the Sound Village's 'village flower' groggily stumbled to her feet.
Did I pass out earlier? she wondered, feeling a bit disoriented.
"Huh?" She suddenly noticed a sealed scroll marked with the character "Sound" in her hand.
Cautiously, she opened the scroll.
As white smoke dispersed, Tayuya saw a corpse that was half-mechanical, half-flesh and blood, its back covered in dense red tumors, and a vibrant, giant flower blooming from within its neck. Although it was headless, she was far too familiar with this massive physique – wasn't this Jirōbō?
The petals of the giant flower spread open, countless stamens looking at her like eyes.
She was no delicate young girl; her hands were stained with blood. Yet, even she felt a considerable mental pressure at this sight. "Dead fatty, is that you? Didn't you die...?" she asked.
The giant flower on Jirōbō's neck seemed to hear something and gently swayed, nodding as if it were human.
Tayuya stared.
A chill ran down her spine!
The sealed scroll contained instructions. She could use her flute to control this Jirōbō, who barely looked human anymore.
Tayuya continued flipping through the scroll and found more writing further down.
"I am Orochimaru. I am not dead, but recuperating in a secret location. I cannot show myself now. I need you to help me acquire some funds. Once I have recovered, the Sound Village will be yours!"
After reading this passage, Tayuya let out a scoff. The powerful suggestion implanted in her mind, mixed with Orochimaru's accumulated past intimidation, led her to believe that "Orochimaru" turning Jirōbō into this ghastly state was both a threat and a means of surveillance. This did indeed seem very much like Orochimaru's style of doing things.
Upon learning that Orochimaru was still alive and could continue to 'torment' her, her anger was surprisingly minimal. Instead, there was a hint of delight. How wonderful, how truly wonderful... Lord Orochimaru is still alive!
She took out her transverse flute and rudely shouted, "Dead fatty, come over here! Let me see how much power you still have!"
Having successfully shifted a small problem onto Orochimaru, Ino was quite pleased.
Tsunade's 'blame,' the First Hokage's 'blame,' Orochimaru's 'blame'—none of the recent matters were major, but accumulating small ones added up. She had also gained two more 'Blame Points'.
She planned to increase her 'Spirit' stat from 9 to 10 but needed to save up for a while longer.
Seeing the two 'Blame Points' just sitting there, she was afraid she wouldn't be able to resist using them immediately. She needed to stir up some trouble to distract herself.
Remembering the saying, "Having accepted someone's entrustment, one must fulfill their duty faithfully," she had promised to handle the rentals, and she had to do it.
Time to find tenants!
Dirt-poor civilians just wouldn't work. The Uchiha clan's old compound was incredibly desolate, an absolute haunted house. No one wanted to live there. These tenants needed to be a specific kind of people.
Seeing Sasuke training hard at the training grounds, sweating like rain while practicing his swordsmanship, Ino transformed into Sasuke's appearance and went to the homes of his fangirls to find people.
"See, my place is quite large, isn't it?" she conveyed in Sasuke's guise.
"Now, I'm planning to rent out the empty rooms in my home. Are you perhaps interested? The location is a bit out of the way, but the rent isn't expensive at all—only 38,000 Ryo a month."
The fangirls were ecstatic. Even a fool understood the principle that proximity offers the first opportunity. What more was there to say? Rent it, rent it, rent it! Not renting makes you not a Leaf Village person!
Ino treated everyone equally; she didn't even spare her classmate, Sakura.
"You don't want some other shameless rival taking on the Uchiha surname, do you?"
Sakura immediately went all out, renting the courtyard closest to Sasuke.
It was truly close—they were only separated by a single wall—but it was also truly expensive.
The rent alone was 50,000 Ryo a month. It was only because everyone, spurred on by Ino recently, had been frantically grinding missions, and Sakura, riding on the coattails of Naruto and Sasuke, had completed quite a few, that she had saved up some money. Otherwise, she wouldn't have been able to afford the rent.
At 38,000 Ryo each, Ino rented out twelve homes in one go. Adding Sakura's 50,000 Ryo, that was...
She handed Sasuke 200,000 Ryo and stated that he would receive this amount every month from now on.
Sasuke was utterly amazed. My old broken-down houses can rent for this much? Impressive!
He then signed a full power of attorney for Ino, completely washing his hands of the house matters.
With full authorization in hand, Ino was completely free to act.
Is just collecting rent enough?
This is just the beginning!
"You don't want the decor in your home to be old-fashioned and then be looked down upon by Sasuke, right?"
"You don't want the courtyard you rent to be dilapidated and then be disliked by Sasuke, right?"
"You don't want your house to be exactly the same as other shameless rivals, lacking individuality, and then be ignored by Sasuke, right?"
"Luxurious furniture, neat and orderly courtyards, houses with unique styles—the Cross Guild can provide all these! Beautiful ladies, come sign the renovation agreement!"
Ino sent Karin out to negotiate with each family individually.
As the project grew larger and larger, many families found it a bit overwhelming.
It wasn't that some families didn't see this as a rare opportunity, hoping their daughters could snare Uchiha Sasuke and then bring him in as a son-in-law, incorporating the Sharingan bloodline limit into their own clans. But more families were just ordinary civilian ninja families without such grand ambitions.
Ino was demanding money too fiercely. They discussed with their daughters, thinking, See, tasks like making furniture and painting, we can do ourselves. We can also do some of the work like leveling the courtyards. There's no need to hire outside help for everything.
Over ten families moved into the Uchiha clan's old compound with their daughters. At this point, every little bit they could save helped.
The Uchiha compound was quite desolate and lacked everything. They needed to eat and required basic living necessities. Moving in now also stimulated some business opportunities.
Ino seized the opportune moment to propose the [Old House Renovation Plan] and the [Grand Development Plan for the Naka River and surrounding land] to the village.
As a Chūnin, she had proven her capabilities in public and had the right to make suggestions to the village's higher-ups. Furthermore, she was Tsunade's disciple and an heir to the Ino-Shika-Cho formation, giving her even more hidden influence.
Jiraiya decided to come and see for himself. Stuck in his office all day, he felt like he was about to grow moldy.
When he arrived and saw the scene, heh! It was really lively! So many pretty girls...
What was once like a wasteland, the Uchiha compound now had over ten additional families, totaling several dozen people. Add in the carpenters and masons from the Cross Guild, and for a time, people were bustling about everywhere. It truly looked lively.