Kaga was struck like a bolt of lightning!
He couldn't believe Haruto Saito would say something like that!
He knew who Haruto Saito was. It wasn't his first day in Konoha, and he had heard about Haruto's "legendary experiences." Especially recently, the story of Haruto bombing the Kirigakure vanguard camp had made him realize even more that his benefactor was an extraordinary existence!
As the direct disciple of the Hokage, Haruto Saito was undoubtedly a central figure in Konoha. Kaga heard rumors about him almost every day!
He also knew that Minato Namikaze was Haruto's direct disciple!
Speaking of Minato Namikaze, Kaga could only look up to him… because Minato had been recognized as a genius since his days at the Ninja Academy. Now, Minato had already graduated through a special examination!
Rumors had it that Minato had possessed the strength to graduate long ago, but due to some special reasons, he had delayed his graduation!
A genius like him was the only kind of person qualified to be Haruto Saito's direct disciple!
As for Kaga… he knew himself well. Although he was occasionally praised by his teachers, he had only been in the Ninja Academy for less than two months.
In that instant, Kaga was lost!
He didn't understand why Haruto Saito was being so kind to him, even offering to take him as a direct disciple!
Seeing Kaga's wide-eyed, shocked expression, Haruto Saito asked again, "Do you not want to be my direct disciple?"
"I! I do! I do!" Kaga snapped back to reality and immediately knelt on the ground, kowtowing to Haruto Saito!
This guy was far more respectful towards Haruto Saito than that brat Minato Namikaze!
"Ding! The host has established a master-disciple bond with Kaga. The Bond System has officially activated. Current bond index between the host and Kaga: 28 points."
As Kaga kowtowed, Haruto Saito heard the notification from his system.
Another master-disciple bond had been established!
Moreover, Kaga's initial bond index with him was quite high. Back when Haruto Saito first bonded with Minato Namikaze, the initial bond index had only been 10 points, whereas Kaga's had reached 28!
This was clearly because Kaga saw Haruto Saito as his benefactor!
"Good! Kaga, from today onward, you are my direct disciple!" Haruto Saito lifted Kaga up and then looked at Minato Namikaze. "Minato, from now on, he will be your junior disciple. When I'm not around, if he has any questions, you must teach him!"
"I will, Teacher!" Minato Namikaze responded obediently.
At present, Minato Namikaze and Kaga had a good relationship!
Originally, they had no interaction, but on the day Tsunade returned, Haruto Saito had asked her to bring Kaga here to stay. Afterward, he met Minato in the training grounds and told Minato to be close to Kaga!
Kaga lived here!
And Minato came here every day to train, so over time, the two became familiar with each other!
"Kaga, is the Ninja Academy on break today?"
"Yes, Benefactor!"
"Call me Teacher!"
"Yes, Teacher!"
"Hmm… Let's go! We all need to leave here, quickly!" Haruto Saito urged the two youngsters to leave, his tone slightly urgent.
"What's wrong, Teacher? Are we going to eat?" Minato Namikaze asked.
"No! We just need to change locations! This place is unsafe!" Haruto Saito said strangely.
"Unsafe?" Minato Namikaze was puzzled. "Isn't this the training ground built specifically for you by the Hokage?"
"I mean this whole residence is unsafe… Hmm… Bad feng shui. I estimate that this house might collapse today, so let's leave quickly…"
******
One hour later.
Hokage Tower, Hokage's Office!
"Teacher, you are being too much!" Tsunade slammed the table and glared at Hiruzen Sarutobi angrily. "Taking the opportunity to extort Haruto Saito—how could you do such a thing?" Tsunade had woken up not long ago, thought things over, and decided she had to do something. So she came to argue with Hiruzen Sarutobi.
Hiruzen Sarutobi had a headache just looking at Tsunade's expression!
Currently, there were only two people in Konoha who could give him such a headache—one was Haruto Saito, and the other was Tsunade!
"I did it for the benefit of Konoha!" Hiruzen Sarutobi rubbed his forehead. "This isn't extortion. You should be clear about everything Konoha has done for Haruto Saito. He made a mistake, so he must be punished!"
"There should be a limit to punishment!" Tsunade fumed. "Two hundred million ryo just to release him! In the entire ninja world, there's no second case of such a punishment! And Haruto Saito has done so much for Konoha! If you treat him this way, won't it break his heart? Driving away a once-in-a-lifetime genius—how is that beneficial to Konoha?"
"How would it drive him away?" Hiruzen Sarutobi frowned.
"It wouldn't?!" Tsunade's voice rose. "Two hundred million ryo! Just because he has money, you're going to fleece him like this?"
"Don't yell!" Hiruzen Sarutobi tapped the table, then asked, "Did something happen? Why did you suddenly come here to argue with me?"
Tsunade was breathing heavily, but Hiruzen clearly had no intention of arguing with her.
She forced herself to calm down and said, "Last night, Haruto Saito came to see me. He said…" Tsunade briefly explained the situation from the night before.
She was genuinely worried!
Cases of ninjas betraying Konoha due to unfair treatment weren't unheard of. She didn't want this to happen to Haruto Saito!
And from what she saw, Haruto Saito was already feeling resentment!
Hiruzen Sarutobi was puzzled after hearing her out!
That didn't add up!
Clearly, he had made concessions in negotiations, and he and Haruto Saito had reached an agreement in the end. Why would Haruto Saito hold a grudge?
"Did Haruto Saito not mention… that I rewarded him?" Hiruzen Sarutobi asked.
"He did! When I was advising him, he told me—he was promoted to head of the ANBU assassination squad, given a residence, and appointed as an honorary advisor to the Jonin class. What kind of lousy rewards are these?" Tsunade became more agitated. "He earned all of those! He contributed so much, but these rewards are too perfunctory! Too unfair!"
Hiruzen Sarutobi narrowed his eyes slightly.
Tsunade had missed the most important reward!
"Did Haruto Saito not tell you that I appointed him as Minister of Commerce?" Hiruzen asked.
"What Minister?" Tsunade was stunned. "Commerce? Do we even have such a department?"
Hiruzen Sarutobi sighed. He understood now—Haruto Saito had fooled Tsunade!
"The Commerce Department is…" Hiruzen opened a drawer, took out a scroll, and tossed it to Tsunade. "See for yourself…"
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