Naruto: Passerby and Returnee

Chapter 154 Hui's Daily Life

Abundant Sage Chakra, stable Genjutsu output, neat attire and hairstyle, and most importantly, white hair and a smile.

Yes, perfect.

The "Golden Wheel of the Wave Wind" in the mirror spun around to make sure his image was flawless before activating the Flying Thunder God Technique and landing in his office.

Hui's base is already quite large. As an information processing hub and research center, some of its facilities are irreplaceable, and it is further protected by multiple layers of defense. Even though they have taken over Wande City, the location of their command center cannot be moved in the short term. Moreover, this location is relatively safer than Wande, and Hui does not plan to relocate its headquarters until the gold mine behind it is depleted.

"Good morning, Lord Jinlun. Don't you even want to walk the few steps from your residence to here?" The second-in-command of the Construction Department came to the office early in the morning to keep watch. As an Uchiha who should be refined, Xiangyun's long hair was currently sticking up in a mess, especially the part on her forehead, which was obviously from scratching her head a lot while working. However, this did not affect her status as the leader of the Yu clan.

"You know I'm not here." Jinlun smiled calmly. He had always been one of the group and didn't consider himself superior to others.

Xiangyun gave a short hum, slammed the document in her hand on the table, and said, "This is a report on the cleanup of the red-light district in Wande City, which lasted three months and thirteen days. I think you should be very familiar with the details, since you were there."

"Thank you, Xiangyun. You've worked so hard these past few days. This will be a valuable case study for Hui in the future, and it will be promoted to the whole world." Jinlun said with absolute certainty, almost impatiently flipping through the report, without giving the beautiful woman standing in front of him a second glance.

Xiangyun gave a helpless smile, then pretended nothing had happened. Lord Jinlun truly cared deeply for the people; sometimes she even felt that the one with the impure body who didn't need sleep wasn't herself, but Jinlun. He seemed to need no sleep, always available, and to this day, no one knew the location of Jinlun's true form, because he could suddenly appear in any corner of the world.

"Oh, I almost forgot." After looking through a few pages, Jinlun finally remembered the living person in front of him. "Xiangyun, you've been working so hard for so long, take a break. I'll approve some supplies and money for you according to the procedures, and I'll also award you medals of honor."

"I'll give them the day off, but I'll skip it myself. I still have a backlog of drawings to finish." Xiangyun waved her hand, turned around and left. "Report complete. I'm leaving now."

The office returned to silence, broken only by the rustling of papers. It wasn't yet time for the morning document handover; only urgent documents were delivered directly by the department head. Naruto carefully examined each page of the report, even though he had been involved in almost the entire process.

Clearing out the red-light district wasn't simply a matter of physical removal; it required uprooting it from the city, digging out its seeds, and ensuring it never had a chance to regrow. This was difficult, extremely difficult. Initially, they encountered enormous resistance because the public didn't understand and vested interests wanted to rebel.

The women brought back from the brothels were initially uncooperative; some felt they were doing well and had no desire to learn other survival skills. However, the doctors who diagnosed them disagreed. Almost all the prostitutes were ill, and they expended considerable effort just to cure them. If it weren't for the Thousand Hands clan's expertise, these illnesses would have been truly difficult to treat.

Xiangyun, who was in charge of the matter, came up with a solution. She gathered everyone together, tied the pimps who usually oppressed the prostitutes to the stage, and encouraged everyone to share their experiences, adding fuel to the fire of their crimes. As one bloody story after another was revealed, the previously numb women gradually became tearful and enraged, almost ready to jump onto the stage and smash the men's heads. After this open confession, the women's resistance disappeared, and they began to actively cooperate with the treatment, attend classes, and learn a trade. In just one or two weeks, their spirits had changed; their eyes lit up, and they finally began to look forward to the future.

Hui erased their slave status, gave them new names, and sent them to live in a new place. They were no longer roses that bloomed briefly in the red-light district, but saplings that could grow into trees, beginning their real lives.

There are never enough official documents to go around.

This was a conclusion Naruto had drawn from two lifetimes. Because solving one problem only leads to another, completing one mission only brings new challenges. He had seen Kakashi during Konoha's rapid expansion; even with the help of his advisors, the Sixth Hokage rarely looked energetic, his dark circles practically permanently etched on his face. Of course, he himself was no less troublesome as Hokage, and the problems were even more intractable than during the Sixth Hokage's time. Not everyone in office has to fight aliens, and one after another, each more outrageous than the last!

However, the workload back then was nothing compared to now. Managing one village is completely different from managing dozens of villages or a city. Moreover, their management system couldn't continue the old one; they had to develop a management system that suited the local conditions and aligned with Hui's philosophy. Furthermore, most of the official documents Hui submitted involved problems that couldn't be solved locally and required approval from headquarters, making them even more mentally taxing to handle.

His official documents had already been screened by his seniors out of consideration for his young age; any less and he would be out of touch with Hui's operations. Yet, even these documents still seemed like a lot...

After handling some important matters, Naruto decisively slipped out of the office and strolled leisurely to the vicinity of the experimental field. It was early rice planting season, and everyone was working feverishly; no one had time to pay him any attention. He stood on the ridge and looked at the newly appeared behemoth—the result of the research department, which he had glanced at in the report. He genuinely didn't understand machinery; his dismissal was a mere wave of his hand. After all, the applicant was Tobirama, and professionals should handle professional tasks. He hadn't expected a prototype to be built so quickly, and even be able to test it during the early rice planting season.

Naruto watched for a while. It wasn't that he didn't want to go down and help, but the goal of his clone was to last for three days. The mental exertion was already very taxing on his chakra; if he did any more physical work, he'd have to go back to base that night.

I remember this batch of seeds is for lodging-resistant rice, right? If there's no disaster, we'll have to create artificial disasters to test the results. Hopefully, it will be successful; several places are hoping for it.

The relaxation is over, time to get back to work.