"Not there, meow, not there, meow!"
"You're so annoying, meow! Don't touch me randomly, meow!"
"Believe it or not, I'll scratch you, meow!"
As soon as Haruki arrived at the cat café, he heard Hina's angry voice.
It was being held in the arms of a cute little girl, feeling quite exasperated.
But out of professional courtesy, it only used its mouth and not its claws.
After a few moments of grumbling, its work time ended, and it quickly jumped away.
"I'll come find you next time," the little girl waved happily at it.
"Don't find me, find another cat, meow." Hina stepped back in fright.
Haruki smiled and looked around. As expected, the cat café was packed.
Most of the customers were ordinary residents of Konoha.
"Miss Hina, you're still so popular."
Haruki walked up to it, squatted down, and reached out to pet its head.
"Wait a moment." Hina pressed his hand down with a small paw. "Where's my gift?"
"Here you go." Haruki took out a light green ball.
"What is this, meow?" Hinata was a bit disappointed it didn't see the gold ball it liked, and wasn't as enthusiastic about Haruki.
"Catnip," Haruki said mysteriously. "More stimulating than a gold ball."
"Really, meow?"
Hina took the catnip and instinctively sniffed it. Immediately, a sensation of indescribable pleasure passed through its brain and spread throughout its body.
"What... what... is this, meow?"
Hina's body trembled, quickly moving the catnip away, using great willpower to control its impulse to roll on the ground.
"You can think of it as a kind of candy. It has no harm." Haruki chuckled. "Are you satisfied, Miss Hina?"
"Alright, you pass, meow." Hina thought of the feeling of being in heaven just now and put away the catnip, ready to find a quiet place to indulge in it.
"How's business lately?" Haruki asked.
"As you can see. Besides some people who can't keep their hands to themselves, it's pretty good, meow. Some people massage me, some people feed me. I'm starting to wonder if the pets are us or you humans."
"Maybe it is." Haruki joked. "It's called 'cute is justice.'"
"I really don't understand you humans." Hina licked its paw. "What are you here for today?"
"Uchiha Obito." Haruki stepped aside, revealing Obito who was blocked. "I want you to find him a summoning animal. One that's cute and pretty."
"I'll say it again, we ninja cats are running a legitimate business, meow." Hina looked at Haruki with disdain.
"No, you misunderstand." Cold sweat appeared on Haruki's forehead. He wasn't a pervert, and wouldn't do anything to a cat.
"Hope so." Hina waved, and Haruki leaned in as it spoke. "Next time, bring me more catnip."
"No problem."
"Deal. Kid, follow me to see Granny Cat." Hina got up and walked gracefully inside.
"Go ahead." Haruki said.
After Obito left, he also left the cat café.
Looking at the endless stream of people, Haruki thought it might be time to expand.
He brought Uchiha Obito here to make a contract with a summoning animal but also hoped the pet could release his emotions.
Studies in the previous life showed that pets could alleviate loneliness and anxiety to some extent.
The cause of Obito's terrible future was nothing more than past experiences, primarily his childhood.
Countless facts have proven the profound impact of childhood on a person.
Parents deceased, classmates mocking, then misled by Uchiha Madara, witnessing the girl he liked dying in Kakashi's hands, plus the Uchiha's emotional stimulation for eye awakening, not becoming dark would be harder.
What Haruki is doing now is avoiding the birth of these fuses.
Returning his thoughts, he arrived at the Hyuga house.
Because Hyuga Saori was in Sunagakure, Golden Jade Union had not officially opened yet.
In Haruki's plan, he intended to hire members of the Hyuga clan as the main force for crafting jewelry.
With their Byakugan, they could perform extremely intricate carving work.
Currently, jewelry in the ninja world is quite rough, belonging to the primary processing category, while he aimed for advanced processing with higher added value.
Without advanced processing machines, ninjas could replace them, fully utilizing productivity.
"Kasumi." Haruki knocked and entered.
"Haruki-sama." Hyuga Kasumi, dressed in a kimono, stood up and spoke gently, "I was looking at the jewelry catalog you gave me."
"What do you think?"
"Very beautiful!" Kasumi's mood soared when she talked about it, showing a woman's inherent love for beauty. "I've never seen such exquisite jewelry!"
"If even you like it, it will surely be well-received."
"It definitely will." Kasumi nodded firmly.
"Sunagakure will soon send the first batch of gold sand. Then, please gather the manpower to start. You can issue missions in Konoha under the name of Golden Jade Union, making it more acceptable." Haruki suggested.
Ninja rules, though somewhat outdated, were very beneficial to him.
No matter how bad the situation, as long as there were missions, everything was negotiable.
Haruki often marveled at the simplicity of ninjas, not merging with the aristocracy, not caring about the economy, nor ruling over civilians.
This saved him a lot of trouble for his future grand plans.
Ideally, ninjas should be a pure military force.
"I understand." Kasumi said.
"Yes, and one more thing, I hope you can create a diamond ring and ten diamond kunai for me." Haruki seemed to remember something and said.
In the ninja world, diamonds were still an expensive item like in the previous life.
In the original work, Tenten once gifted a diamond kunai at the wedding of Uzumaki Naruto and Hyuga Hinata.
"Okay." Kasumi nodded.
She was the Hyuga family's chosen representative and the head of Golden Jade Union in Konoha.
Haruki hadn't expected the Hyuga family to let Kasumi take charge.
Hyuga Hiashi explained that she didn't like fighting and was interested in beautiful jewelry, so he let her handle it.
"Here, take this." Haruki handed over a scroll.
"Artificial diamonds?" Kasumi opened the scroll curiously, her Byakugan widening.
"Yes, I'll have Mikoto come over to help."
After learning about diamonds, Haruki had this idea. Artificial diamonds looked almost indistinguishable from natural ones but were much cheaper and not difficult to make, just requiring experimentation.
The high-temperature, high-pressure synthesis method was very suitable for ninjas.
And Uchiha Mikoto was good at Fire Release, so having her try it out while also training was perfect.
"Once this method is successful, besides gold jewelry, our Golden Jade Union will have another stable income." Haruki smiled. "But don't rush, take your time."
"Did you come up with this?" Kasumi asked, looking at the scroll.
"Sort of."
"Amazing." Kasumi couldn't suppress her amazement. She had never thought diamonds could be made artificially, but she was sure a big upheaval was coming.