Haruki didn't expect things to go so smoothly.
He thought he'd have to do a lot more talking to convince them.
But on second thought, it was a problem with his mindset from his past life.
He'd taken history classes and deeply understood the importance of an army and the necessity of controlling it.
But the Daimyo didn't.
In his perception, this was a world that valued bloodline and status.
He'd been the Daimyo from birth to death and wouldn't change because of anything. Nor would anyone stand up and shout, "Are kings and generals born with their status?"
Not only him, but the ninjas also seemed to agree quite strongly.
Take Zabuza and Gato for example. Gato, an ordinary wealthy man, was extremely arrogant towards Zabuza.
If Zabuza hadn't been set on death, he wouldn't have killed Gato but would have endured it.
It was simply absurd.
You know, Zabuza was a ruthless person who had killed his classmates during the exam and even attempted to assassinate the Mizukage.
Given his power, he could just kill Gato and seize his wealth.
Haruki pulled his thoughts back. If he thought from the perspective of the original story, he could understand what the Daimyo was doing.
The Daimyo only thought that Haruki was providing weapons and instructors, while the command and control of the army still belonged to the Land of Fire.
But he didn't know the horror of a military mutiny or the power of new ideas.
Haruki left the theme hotel.
After some time, he would go to the metropolis of the Land of Fire with Minato Namikaze.
The reason he didn't go immediately was that, firstly, the Daimyo needed time to form the army, and secondly, Minato Namikaze also needed time to make changes.
Besides, Haruki had another idea.
He wanted Minato Namikaze to take Mikoto Uchiha and Kushina Uzumaki along with him.
And he would inform the people of the Cloud Hidden Village.
According to the current timeline, it was almost time for the Cloud Hidden Village to abduct Kushina.
In the original story, Minato Namikaze rescued Kushina.
He wanted to add Mikoto in to see if she could unlock the Mangekyo Sharingan.
In terms of age, she was old enough. She was seventeen this year.
Haruki vaguely remembered that Itachi Uchiha had unlocked it at around thirteen.
But just being abducted wouldn't be enough of a stimulus.
Haruki planned to team up with Minato to create a fake death scene.
"Minato."
Haruki knocked on the door and said, "At three o'clock this afternoon, your teacher invites you for tea."
"Ah?"
Minato leaned out, looking confused. Haruki had never invited him for afternoon tea before.
"Come to my place."
Haruki didn't give too much of an explanation.
Minato nodded upon hearing this, closed the door, and followed him home.
"Have a taste."
Haruki brought out a plate of colorful pastries and poured him a cup of black tea.
"Thanks, Teacher."
Minato felt a bit awkward. It seemed to be the first time he'd had tea alone with Haruki. In the past, there had been at least Mikoto and Kushina.
He picked up a pastry, ate it in a few bites, then picked up the teacup and took a couple of sips.
"Teacher, just tell me if there's something."
Minato couldn't stand the strange atmosphere. He wiped the corner of his mouth and quickly asked.
"Okay, it's about the Twelve Guardian Ninja of the Land of Fire and the new army instructors."
Haruki went over the details of the deal with the Daimyo and finally added, "Your current strength has reached the level of a Jonin. With the end of the war, there will be a peaceful period. So I hope you go to the Land of Fire."
If he remembered correctly, there was a buffer of several years between the Second Great Ninja War and the Third Great Ninja War. Naturally, such an opportunity couldn't be wasted.
Minato obviously didn't expect this.
After listening to Haruki's words, he fell into deep thought.
Judging from the description, his duties were quite heavy.
To turn this new army of the Land of Fire into the army of the Xia Organization was not an easy task.
He had to outwit both the Daimyo and the nobles and find a way to gradually unify the ideas of the new army.
But Minato was not a ninja who feared difficulties.
In the original story, he almost single - handedly changed the outcome of the Third Great Ninja World War. In terms of wisdom and ability, he was definitely among the top.
Without the knowledge from his past life, Haruki was far inferior to him.
After all, he was just an ordinary citizen of the Flowering Clan.
All his knowledge came from school.
"I can give it a try," Minato scratched his head. "But I'm not absolutely sure."
"If you promised with 100% certainty, I'd actually be more worried."
Haruki glanced at him and said with a smile, "If it fails, don't blame yourself. I'm just making an attempt."
"Okay, Teacher." Minato let out a sigh of relief. Since the teacher said so, he would go all out without any concerns.
"Alright, while I have the time, I'll tell you about the army. First, the training methods..."
Haruki rummaged through the knowledge in his mind. Part of it came from his college military training, and part from the movies and TV shows he had watched.
Unlike ninja training, what really matters for an army is strict obedience to orders.
In his opinion, ninjas were like special forces.
Of course, the ninjas in this world had less discipline than the elite soldiers in modern armies.
Minato listened to the strange training methods Haruki was talking about. If it weren't for his absolute trust in Haruki, if someone else had said these things, he would have thought that person was crazy.
Could an army really be trained just by lining up in formation and shouting slogans?
He couldn't understand it.
But what the teacher said should be right.
He had learned the truth that practice makes perfect.
If one subconsciously refutes others just because their words differ from one's own perception, then his progress will be quite limited.
Minato's approach was to learn and find ways to improve.
Just like after he learned Flying Thunder God and Rasengan, he started thinking about how to better combine them and develop more... oops, more Ninjutsu.
"After talking about the army, there's another thing."
Haruki hesitated for a moment. In planning for Kushina to be kidnapped, the person he felt most sorry for was naturally Kushina.
He didn't want this lovely apprentice to suffer such hardships for no reason.
However, she needed a special event to notice Minato's excellence and his feelings for her.
Actually, she should have also noticed, but couldn't tell if it was friendship or love.
Another reason was the extremely outrageous way to awaken the [Mangekyo Sharingan].
One has to witness the death of one's closest and dearest ones.
Judging by Mikoto's personality, she'd either have her parents come, or Kushina, Minato, or herself.
But Mikoto knew that Minato and he possessed the Flying Thunder God Technique, which could easily arouse suspicions.
"During this trip to the Metropolis in the Land of Fire, I'll have Mikoto and Kushina go with you."
Seeing the surprise on his face, Haruki couldn't help but smile. "Meanwhile, I hope you'll do something for me."
As Minato stood there, somewhat gobsmacked, Haruki started to talk about his plan.
Actually, it was quite simple.
He would tip off the spies of the Cloud Hidden Village about Kushina's whereabouts in advance.
Judging by the performance of the A–B Combo last time, they were quite interested in Kushina. However, Kushina had always been in Konoha Village.
Now that she was going to the Land of Fire, there would be many opportunities along the way.
"Don't worry. Kushina won't be hurt at all. It'll just be a bit of a scare."
After obtaining the Sage Body and Sage Mode, Haruki naturally had the confidence to say such things.
Minato slowly nodded.
He wasn't a pedantic man.
If the final result was as Haruki said, he'd naturally be willing to cooperate.
"Minato."
Haruki patted him on the shoulder and said earnestly, "After the matter is exposed, as my apprentice, you have to take on more responsibility."
"…?" Minato stood there, stunned.
Sending the information to the spies of the Cloud Hidden Village without any flaws was actually not that easy.
First of all, you had to be able to find out who the spies were, and just this part was quite difficult.
Secondly, you couldn't arouse their suspicions. You had to make them believe that they had obtained very important confidential information by themselves and pass it on to their superiors.
Under normal circumstances, Haruki might have been troubled.
But he found that the disbanded Root had really helped a great deal.
Now that Tanzo Shimura was extremely resentful, it was quite reasonable for him to casually leak the confidential documents of Konoha Village, isn't it?
Haruki saw Minato Namikaze off, who had a resentful look on his face.
Thinking about the double - team he was going to face from Kushina Uzumaki and Mikoto Uchiha in the future, he finally understood that the role of an apprentice was to take the blame for the teacher.
"Minato, come for tea next time."
Haruki stood at the door and said unhurriedly.
Minato's body trembled, and he disappeared instantly. After this afternoon, he might have developed a phobia of tea.
Haruki couldn't help but smile.
It was really interesting.
He checked the time and sent someone to inform Shinji Hira.
Haruki sat upright on the sofa and reheated the cooled tea.
A few minutes later, Shinji Hira appeared in front of him.
"Have a seat and have some tea."
Haruki pushed the teacup in front of him.
"Thanks."
Shinji Hira was slightly startled, then took the teacup, sipped it, and asked, "Lord Haruki, why did you call me here?"
"How is Tanzo Shimura doing now?"
Instead of answering directly, Haruki asked about Tanzo's recent situation.
"He has temporarily restrained his ambitions."
"As expected."
Haruki tapped on the teacup. Although Tanzo had done many evil deeds, when it came to matters concerning Konoha, Hiruzen Sarutobi could firmly keep him under control.
After being witnessed by thousands of people, Tanzo's reputation had further plummeted.
Although his reputation wasn't very good before, it had never been this bad.
Now, Konoha definitely doesn't want to see Tanzo causing trouble anymore.
Hiruzen Sarutobi took the opportunity to keep him in check.
Otherwise, given Tanzo's character, he would have started taking revenge long ago.
Although what Haruki did was secretive, it wasn't difficult for Tanzo to find some clues with his abilities.
"Root should know about the spies in Konoha, right?" Haruki asked again.
It's quite normal to have a game of spies within spies.
"Yeah." Shinji Hira nodded, "Although Root was disbanded in name, it still exists secretly and hasn't completely disappeared. All the information is well - preserved."
Haruki smiled. In a sense, Anbu and Root have the same origin. If Anbu doesn't reform, Root will still survive by relying on it.
Moreover, since Tanzo Shimura is still alive, Root can't really be disbanded.
"I'll give you duties. Pass a message to the spies in Cloud Hidden Village and make sure it reaches the ears of the high - level eventually."
"Sure." Shinji Hira answered without hesitation.
"Casually let it slip that Kushina Uzumaki will be going to the Metropolis in the Land of Fire on a duty soon."
"Okay."
Shinji Hira didn't ask why he had to expose Kushina's whereabouts.
After being trained in Root, he was used to unconditionally executing orders.
It would take time to change this habit.
But he trusted Haruki.
If Haruki didn't tell him, there must be a reason.
He didn't stay any longer. After finishing a cup of tea, he left and rushed back to Root to prepare to target the right people.
Haruki pondered for a moment.
To be honest, he really had the same concerns as Minato.
He didn't dare to predict what would happen in the end when Mikoto and Kushina found out about this.
But in this world, one can't get anywhere without strength.
Especially Mikoto, she has too many things to shoulder in the future.
There's a somewhat hesitant Fugaku, two troublesome sons, and a group of arrogant clan members.
Without the Mangekyo Sharingan, it would really be difficult for her to participate.