Seeing them being silent, Gato became confident, thinking that he had a chance. "How much do you need? Just tell me your price." In the end, Gato looked absolutely confident that they were going to accept his proposal.
After all, who doesn't love money? People might think that the Kages of each village had real power, but this is a facade, a mirage. The one who truly held power was the one with the most Money, a truth that shook the very foundations of societal structures.
Money was everything in this world.
Money could start a war and end a war.
It was Money that controlled the actions of each great Nation and every Shinobi in this world.
Gato refused to believe that these two Shinobi would be able to resist the temptation of Money.
Money was the ultimate weapon of control.
Seeing neither Konan nor Naruto responding, Gato stood up, looking excited, and continued. "Tell me your price. I will buy you two."
"1 Million...?"
"10 Million...?"
"100 million Ryo....!!!"
Hearing this, Konan frowned. She felt insulted right now. Gato was mocking them. She was about to end this good-for-nothing fat, ugly shorty and send him to hell, but Naruto reacted and took action before her.
Naruto stepped forward and grabbed Gato by his throat. Naruto easily lifted Gato from the ground. Gato grabbed Naruto's arm and tried to free himself, but no matter how much he struggled, he could not move Naruto an inch.
"Money is not everything."
"Money can never buy loyalty."
Naruto said in a cold tone.
The next second, he crushed Gato's throat and then threw his corpse away like he was throwing away trash.
And with that, Gato was dead. His reign of terror, fear, and cruelty was over. The millions of people who were suffering because of him were now free. The Land of Wave was free from Gato.
Meanwhile, Konan silently stared at Naruto's back. This was the first time since their meeting that this goofy and also smiling young man had shown such a serious side of him.
'So he can be serious about certain things.....!!' Konan had a small smile on the corner of her face.
"Come with me.....!!" Konan leads Naruto inside Gato's Mansion.
Seeing that she knew the inside of his Mansion so well, Naruto did not ask her any questions. 'I guess she must have gotten this information from one of her spies.' Naruto thought to herself. After all, Konan and Nagato run the entire Hidden Rain Village.
They controlled the flow of information so well that till Jiraiya himself went to Hidden Rain Village to investigate, the world never knew that the legendary Hanzo of the Salamander and his entire family and even his relatives and even the people related to him had been killed by someone else. So it was very normal for this kind of person to have spies in every nation.
'It is possible that Zetsu provided her with this information.' Naruto thought while following her.
Both Konan and Naruto then went to a large room. The whole room was filled with treasures. There was money, gold, and many rare artifacts and antiques. Although Naruto wasn't an expert at evaluating, but he was 100% sure that everything in this room was worth more than 1 billion Ryo.
"Luffy, I will take 60% off everything here. You can take the rest 40%." Konan said in an emotionless tone.
Naruto knew that, unlike a certain immortal member of Akatsuki, Konan wasn't the greedy type. This means that she needs this money to develop the Hidden Rain village or maybe even to fund Akatsuki.
"I am taking more since I have found this room." Naruto just silently nodded his head.
He watched as Konan put 60% of everything in this room inside her room scroll.
Once she was done, she turned to face Naruto, who had been silently looking at her this entire time.
"I guess, this is where we part ways." Although her voice was still cold, there was a hint of reluctance and warmth in it. She enjoyed the time that she spent with this mysterious and goofy boy from Konoha.
"Yeah...!!" Naruto nodded his head in understanding. Even if he told her not to leave, she would still leave. It was useless. So, he had already accepted this parting.
"If you ever have a change of heart or want to find a new home, then you're always welcome to Hidden Rain Village."
"You're saying that like you're the Leader of the Hidden Rain Village?" Naruto jokingly asked. However, he was now sure that Akatsuki's leader was controlling the entire Village from the shadows. So he wasn't wrong.
Hearing this, Konan chuckled. Even if she wanted to be honest with this young man, she couldn't because this would ruin everything she and Nagato had worked for.
"I have some connections in Hidden Rain Village." In some way, Konan wasn't lying. Since she wasn't the leader, it was Nagato who was the Leader and controlled everything.
"I would love to meet you again." Konan knew that it was very out of her character to say such sentences, especially to someone she had met just a few hours ago. But meeting this young, goofy man has made her realize that there are still some parts of herself that she isn't even familiar with. Meeting him has brought out these parts of herself.
She said this sentence because she knew that the chances of them meeting the next time were highly unlikely. And even if they met, they might not be allies anymore. She and he were on opposing sides, with different ideologies.
"Thanks for the offer. I would also love to see you again." Naruto replied with his trademark grin, but Konan could notice that there was a hint of reluctance and loneliness in his eyes. His eyes weren't as bright as before.
"Farewell...!!" Saying that Konan's body turned into small square-shaped white pieces of paper. The white papers disappeared from his sight.
'Next time we see each other, I really hope that we won't be fighting each other like enemies. Hopefully, at least, in this world, we would be able to come to an agreement and make peace with each other before it's too late.' Looking at the small pieces of paper that were leaving his sight, Naruto thought to himself.
Naruto wasn't just thinking about Konan but also about Nagato.
'Now, what should I do with all this money?' Naruto had no need for wealth, which is the main reason why he said nothing, even though Konan had taken away 60% of the money.
Naruto packed everything in a storage scroll and was about to leave Gato's Mansion when he noticed that a man in a black suit was lying on the ground and was pretending to be dead.
"Hey, get up...!!!"
Seeing the man not responding, Naruto was amused. 'Does he think he can fool a Ninja?'
"If you don't get up in two seconds, then I will torture you to death." Just as he said this sentence, the man instantly got up.
"Please don't kill me...!!" The man pleaded. His whole body was trembling. He was sweating heavily.
"Who are you?" Naruto asked noticing that this man wasn't a Shinobi. But he was a normal human.
"I used to work as Gato's subordinate. I helped him manage his large business empire."
Hearing this, Naruto became interested.
"Interesting...!!" Naruto suddenly had an idea.
"What's your name?" Naruto asked.
"Ke...Kevin....!!" The man replied.
He appeared to be around the age of 30. He had short blond hair. He had a slightly chubby face and a round stomach. He was fair-skinned and stood at the height of 5 feet 9 inches tall.
"So Kevin, what will happen to Gato's business now that he is dead?" Naruto asked.
"Without enough funds, all of his business activities will shut down, or probably his remaining subordinates will divide whatever is left of his business between themselves." Hearing this, Naruto nodded his head.
"Tell me, what kind of businesses does Gato run?" Naruto asked.
"There were some illegal ones that sold drugs and slaves. The legal business was the shipping business, tea production,.....!!" Gato had a ton of legal business. However, the majority of his profits came from his illegal businesses.
"I want you to transfer ownership of all his legal businesses to me," Naruto said with a grin.
"I don't think that is possible now that Gato is dead." Kevin didn't sound sure.
"We still have this dead body. Maybe we can use his thumb finger.....!!" Naruto didn't mind using some illegal ways to transfer everything to his name.
"I will try."
"No.....!! No...!! I don't want you to just try." Naruto said while looking at Kevin's eyes.
"I want you to give your everything." Kevin didn't know what to say.
"Kevin, from now on, you will be in charge of running all of Gato's businesses as my subordinate." Saying that, Naruto grabbed his left arm and drew a seal.
"This a very powerful seal. The seal will kill you the moment you betray me or think of betraying me." This was a simple enslavement seal, but Naruto slightly modified it. Unless there was someone who was more talented than Naruto in Fuinjutsu, this seal was impossible to remove. Kevin was tied to Naruto for the rest of his life.
Hearing this, Kevin's face changed. "Don't worry, I won't force you to do anything evil. Rather, you will be making of ton money by working under me."
Naruto and Kevin continued talking for three hours. After that, Naruto left one of his clones with Kevin and returned to Tazuna's house. While his clone remained with Kevin to help him.
Since it won't be that easy to get full control of Gato's companies, Naruto has left his clone behind.
All of Gato's legal companies were going to become the reviving blood of the Land of Waves.
Naruto's money from Gato will be heavily invested in his legal companies. As the scale of the companies increases, more men will be required. Meaning, more jobs will be produced.
These Companies would generate employment for the locals, pulling many people out of poverty. Kevin is going to be the face of all those companies. As for the owner, Naruto's name will be kept hidden. Only a few trusted people will know about it.
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Scene Change______
As Naruto returned, he first met Sakura.
"Hey, Sakura-san....!!" Naruto greeted her with his usual bright smile.
"Naruto, where did you go?" Sakura was worried about Naruto.
"Sorry for worrying you," Naruto said with a smile.
Hearing this, Sakura slightly blushed.
"Are you done with your training?" Naruto asked.
Sakura nodded her head. "At least for now. Training will end." Meaning that, no matter how strong she became, she never intended to stop training.
Hearing this, Naruto smiled. "You have changed Sakura-chan. You have matured in this journey."
Sakura just smiled in response. This whole journey had completely changed her.
"Sakura-chan, where is Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto wanted to tell Kakashi sensei about Gato and what he intended to do.
"He is sitting by the river." Naruto nodded his head and went to have a long talk with Kakashi. Naruto was going to discuss his plans for Kakashi sensei. He believed that with Kakashi's experience, he would only make the plan even better.
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