"Tell me, what kind of ramen do you want?"
Upon hearing Ayame's question, Shishou, Ino, and Hinata all looked up at the menu board, thinking about which ramen to order.
Finally, the three of them ordered two bowls of tonkotsu ramen and two bowls of seafood ramen. The seafood ramen was for Shishou and Ino, while the tonkotsu ramen was for Hinata.
"Hey, Ayame-neechan, why have your ramen prices dropped again?"
After ordering, Ino noticed that the ramen prices had decreased significantly and asked curiously.
While preparing the noodles, Ayame replied:
"Recently, the price of food in the Land of Fire has dropped a lot. The cost of flour and pork has decreased significantly, so we've lowered our prices as well."
"I see," Ino and Hinata nodded in understanding.
Hearing Ayame's explanation, Shishou smiled.
After promoting his fertilizer in the Land of Lightning and the Land of Water, the food production in both countries had increased several times over in a single year.
Seeing this, other countries in the ninja world also started buying or producing their own fertilizer the following year, making Shishou a lot of money.
As a result, the price of food in the ninja world had been steadily decreasing, improving the lives of civilians considerably.
Before long, the three of them finished their ramen and returned to school for the afternoon classes.
...
Fire Source City.
Outside the headquarters building of the Ninja World Union Bank.
Wearing his Akatsuki cloak, Kakuzu warned the newly joined Kurosuki Raiga:
"You need to follow the rules here, or you'll cause trouble. Do you understand?"
Kurosuki Raiga glanced at the Ninja World Union Bank building and said indifferently, "I'm not an idiot. I've heard of the Union Bank's reputation."
"Good to know!"
Kakuzu replied, carrying a box as he headed towards the first-floor lobby of the Union Bank.
The box contained the bounty he had just collected.
"Deposit!"
Entering a small booth specifically for rogue ninjas, Kakuzu handed the box to the bank teller behind the glass counter.
The female bank employee, wearing light makeup, glanced at the rogue ninja emblem on Kakuzu's forehead and opened the box.
"Mr. Kakuzu, may I have your bank card?"
Since Kakuzu frequently came to deposit money, the female employee specializing in handling rogue ninja transactions already recognized him.
Kakuzu took out a bank card and handed it to her.
The Ninja World Union Bank accepted all customers, even rogue ninjas, and provided them with their own bank cards.
Moreover, depositing money would earn interest. For fixed deposits, the more money and the longer the time, the higher the interest.
Earning money passively was very appealing to someone like Kakuzu, who had lived a long time!
The employee glanced at Kakuzu and asked:
"Mr. Kakuzu, will this be another fixed deposit? Thirty years?"
Kakuzu nodded, "Yes!"
Thirty years was not a long time for someone with Kakuzu's longevity.
After completing the transaction, Kakuzu walked out of the Union Bank and saw Kurosuki Raiga looking warily in a certain direction.
Kakuzu turned to see a black-robed, eagle-masked woman carrying a charred corpse in one hand and a bag of money in the other, slowly approaching.
Kurosuki Raiga, staring at the charred corpse, said gravely:
"That's Sunagakure's rogue ninja Sand Jutsu, a Jonin-level ninja. I didn't expect him to be taken down in one move."
"This woman is very strong!"
Kakuzu, expressionless, said:
"She's not even the strongest among the women of the Union Bank."
In a world where the strong preyed on the weak, any rising power or company would inevitably clash with other forces, leading to bloodshed.
The women behind the Union Bank had demonstrated their terrifying strength in these bloody conflicts.
Anyone who coveted their power was eliminated one by one, disappearing from the ninja world.
Kurosuki Raiga gritted his teeth and continued:
"I heard our Akatsuki organization is planning to recruit them?"
Kakuzu chuckled, "That's not something we need to worry about."
Although Kakuzu was a veteran member of Akatsuki, he didn't concern himself with anything unless it was a direct mission from the leader.
To him, it was more productive to hunt down bounty targets for rewards.
Pakura, the masked woman, glanced at Kakuzu and Kurosuki Raiga's Akatsuki cloaks and frowned slightly.
Because of Shishou, she had no goodwill towards Akatsuki members.
However, since they weren't causing trouble, she decided to ignore them.
"Ma'am!"
Several Union Bank security personnel rushed out upon seeing Pakura.
"Get the bounty office to identify the body and return the stolen money to the casino."
Dropping the corpse and the money bag on the ground, Pakura gave a brief instruction and headed back to her place to continue her training.
If it hadn't been for this rogue ninja from Iwagakure using Earth Release to steal money from the casino and being detected by the sensory guards, Pakura wouldn't have personally intervened.
Mikoto, Hyuga Rimei, and Kushina's strengths were growing rapidly, so Pakura had to train diligently every day to avoid falling too far behind.
Just as she returned to the main office building, Pakura saw Chikako, the chief director of the headquarters, running towards her.
"Lady Pakura, Lady Mikoto and the others have arrived and are waiting for you on the top floor," Chikako said respectfully.
"I see," Pakura nodded and headed straight for the elevator to the top floor.
Upon reaching the top floor room, she found Mikoto and Kushina going through the company's accounts and project records.
Hyuga Rimei was leisurely sipping tea.
As someone whose eyes were 'blinded,' she could afford to be a bit lazy.
"I just saw some Akatsuki members at the Union Bank entrance."
Pakura removed her mask and robe, sitting on the sofa.
Hearing this, Kushina and Hyuga Rimei looked at Pakura.
Mikoto, startled, asked:
"Which two?"
If it was her disobedient son Itachi, Mikoto was ready to kill him herself.
With Sasuke growing up, she needed to prevent a fratricidal conflict by taking action personally.
"It was the rogue ninja Kakuzu from Takigakure and another new member."
Hearing it was Kakuzu, Mikoto breathed a sigh of relief.
Kushina frowned and said, "I really want to kill them right now!"
After two years, Kushina had reached the super-Kage level.
Since Akatsuki had targeted Naruto, she had no goodwill towards them.
"Shishou won't let you act recklessly," Hyuga Rimei said with a smile.
In the past two years, Akatsuki had remained silent, at least on the surface, not engaging in any dangerous activities.
According to their agreement, Shishou's people couldn't attack Akatsuki members.
Kushina sighed, "I know."
Mikoto glanced at Pakura and asked:
"What are Akatsuki's members doing here?"
**********
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