"Treasure! The treasure is on the mountain?" Tsunade's eyes lit up as she looked past Haruto Saito. Her face immediately broke into an excited grin.
"Uh… yeah, it's on the mountain," Haruto replied, but deep down, he started to feel uneasy. Seeing how excited Tsunade was, he worried she might try to snatch the treasure for herself. He turned to look at the other man present and asked, "And… who's this? Aren't you going to introduce him?"
"He's Aken." That was all Tsunade said before she flickered out of sight, leaving only an afterimage behind. In the next instant, she was already up the mountain, eagerly searching around. It seemed like she was even more impatient than Haruto himself.
Haruto grew even more concerned. He saw Aken standing there with a helpless expression, so he stepped forward and said, "Nice to meet you, I'm Haruto Saito."
"I know who you are," Aken responded with a friendly smile. "The Hokage wants to take you in as his personal student…"
"I'm Inuzuka Ken. Nice to meet you, Haruto-san."
"I'm Tōmaru!" The black dog beside him wagged its tail enthusiastically and introduced itself in a surprisingly fluent manner.
"A high-level ninja dog," Haruto noted, glancing at the canine in surprise. Not all ninja dogs of the Inuzuka clan could speak human language—only a select few had that ability. However, all of them could understand human speech.
Additionally, the Inuzuka clan had a special way of communicating with their ninja dogs, even if they couldn't speak.
BOOM!
A loud explosion suddenly echoed from the mountain. Haruto turned around to see that Tsunade was moving massive boulders, digging around.
"So, Aken, right?" Haruto stepped closer to Inuzuka Ken and lowered his voice. "How exactly did Tsunade force you to come with her?"
Inuzuka Ken gave him a surprised look. "How did you know?"
"I know her too well." Haruto shrugged. He had already figured that Inuzuka Ken must have been coerced, since as a soldier of Konoha's defensive forces, he couldn't just leave the village without permission.
"She kidnapped me," Inuzuka Ken admitted with a helpless expression. "But to be fair, she did it for my own good. Since she kidnapped me, it means I wasn't technically deserting my post—so the responsibility is on her."
Haruto nodded. That definitely sounded like Tsunade. Simple, brutal, and effective.
"Haruto-sama!"
A voice called from the distance. Haruto turned to see Minato Namikaze running toward them. Earlier, Haruto had left him far away to avoid any risk of the mountain collapsing on him.
"Aken-sensei!" Minato stopped and bowed respectfully to Inuzuka Ken.
"You know him?" Haruto raised an eyebrow and glanced at Inuzuka Ken. "Teacher?"
"I once substituted at the academy a few times, teaching basic tracking techniques," Inuzuka Ken explained. He then looked at Minato. "Minato, what are you doing here?"
Minato immediately glanced at Haruto.
"I brought him," Haruto answered with a grin. "We're treasure hunting together. Gotta let him see the world a bit!"
Inuzuka Ken nodded, though he was still a little confused. What exactly was the relationship between Haruto and Minato?
Whoosh!
A blur of movement. Tsunade suddenly appeared beside Haruto, her afterimages flickering away as she skidded to a stop. She frowned.
"There's nothing there! Just rocks, more rocks, and even more rocks."
Then she narrowed her eyes at Haruto suspiciously.
"Brat, did you already find something? Did you take it?"
"No, I haven't found anything yet," Haruto shook his head.
When Tsunade had arrived at the top, she had seen the massive pit Haruto had dug out, which made her think he had already retrieved something. However, the treasure was actually buried much deeper than she expected.
"Haruto-sama, are you digging for the Mei—ow!" Minato yelped mid-sentence as Haruto suddenly pinched him, cutting him off before he could say "Meiji Treasure."
No way could he let Tsunade know it was the Meiji Treasure! She would definitely try to snatch it!
"Ow, what was that for?" Minato winced.
"Kids shouldn't be meddling here. Go stand over there!" Haruto scolded him fiercely.
"Oh." Minato obediently walked off to the side.
He wasn't the type to argue anyway. He was used to Haruto's unpredictable mood swings, so he didn't take it personally.
Tsunade, however, squinted at Haruto and Minato. Her gut told her that the brat was hiding something.
"Tsunade-sama!" Haruto suddenly raised his voice, shifting her attention. "Do you remember that unlimited request you owe me? You lost three bets to me. I've already used two, but there's still one left, right?"
"Yes, I remember. Why?" Tsunade nodded. She wasn't too concerned about it, since she knew Haruto wasn't the type to make unreasonable demands.
"I want to use that request now," Haruto declared. "I want you to help me dig for the treasure. How about it?"
"Of course!" Tsunade agreed immediately. But then, her eyes gleamed with mischief.
"But… once we find it, I get half of whatever we dig up."
"Hey, hey, that's too much!" Haruto protested. "We don't even know what we're digging up! What if it's just one object? How do we split that? Besides, I'm using my request to hire you for this—your reward is already covered by the request! Why should you get half?"
"And why shouldn't I?" Tsunade shot back, crossing her arms. "It's an unclaimed treasure. Whoever gets their hands on it first gets to keep it!"
She had completely abandoned all sense of shame.
After all, why had she chased him all the way here? For money, of course! And as she said, unclaimed treasure belonged to whoever found it first.
Haruto clenched his teeth in frustration. This damned woman had no moral boundaries! There was no way he could reason with her—her fists were her reasoning.
"…Five million!" Haruto suddenly declared. "I'll give you five million ryo on top of my request! That's my hiring fee! No matter what we find, I'll pay you five million, and you have to promise not to steal anything from me. Deal?"
Inuzuka Ken was stunned.
Whoa! Just like that, five million ryo?! How rich is this guy?!
But Tsunade looked unimpressed. She curled her lips in dissatisfaction.
She knew Haruto had at least seventy or eighty million ryo in assets, so five million wasn't a big deal for him… Her eyes flickered with thought.
It felt like a gamble.
If she refused and the treasure turned out to be worth less than ten million ryo, she might not even get five million if they split it. But if it was worth more than ten million, taking half would be much better.
She folded her arms and thought for a long moment. Then, seeing Haruto's frustrated face, she secretly enjoyed his misery—but kept her expression serious.
Finally, she held up one finger and declared:
"Ten million! Pay me ten million ryo, and I'll help you dig. No matter what we find, I won't take a single coin from it. One-time deal!"
Inuzuka Ken was stunned.
Holy crap! That was daylight robbery!
Haruto glared at Tsunade, his teeth grinding in frustration. He was even breathing heavily. Finally, he growled:
"Fine! Ten million! You damn woman! One day, I swear, I'll be rich enough to bury you in money!"
"Hahaha! Deal! I love you, kid!" Tsunade burst into laughter, feeling completely satisfied.
But what she didn't know was—
Haruto was secretly overjoyed.
Because if this was truly the Meiji Treasure, it was worth over a billion ryo!