Bab 201: Chapter 201: Some People Like to Save Money, While Others Like to Spend It
"Is it too much?" Outside Konoha Orphanage, Nono looked at the suitcase handed to her by Tatsuma. Although she didn't know exactly how much money Tatsuma had taken, the weight seemed substantial.
"You mentioned that there are many more children now, and the original beds and even rooms are not enough. This money can only help a little. Take it back. I said I'd go back to eat, so I'll leave first."
Tatsuma waved his hand with a smile, then turned and walked away. Nono held the suitcase with both hands, clutching the handle tightly. She watched Tatsuma's figure until he disappeared completely from her sight before coming back to her senses.
Only then did Nono feel the hunger and fatigue. She turned around and walked towards the orphanage. Inside, there was a small playground where many children were playing.
Greeting many children along the way, Nono headed towards the building where the headmistress was located. Halfway there, she spotted a carpentry table surrounded by several pieces of wood.
Seeing this scene, Nono suddenly smiled, quickening her pace as she walked inside.
"Headmistress Yakushi!"
Entering the headmistress's office, Nono exclaimed joyfully, then looked towards a young man around twenty years old, her expression becoming somewhat guilty as she addressed him, "Big brother."
The headmistress, a woman in her fifties with a somewhat pale complexion, dressed in a nun's outfit, looked kindly and benevolent. She waved to Nono, saying, "Come over and have some food."
The young man interjected, "Why don't you continue calling her 'mom'?"
As he spoke, he pointed at the headmistress.
Her expression changed immediately, and she gently tapped the young man's hand, saying, "Hiroda, what nonsense are you talking about?"
"Sorry, Big Brother Hiroda, it's so good that you're back."
Nono lowered her head. Since she could remember, it had been the headmistress and Yakushi Hiroda taking care of her. She had tried to call the headmistress "mom" like Hiroda did, but he always got angry every time.
At that moment, she didn't understand why, but she knew that once, there was a heated argument between Hiroda and the headmistress over something related to her name in the school records. After that argument, Hiroda left the orphanage and didn't come back for a long time. It was said that he went to other towns and became an apprentice carpenter.
Nono only learned later that Hiroda was the headmistress's son, her only son. The other children in the orphanage were just children she had adopted.
After Nono truly understood this, she never called the headmistress "mom" again, and she even corrected other children if they made that mistake. But Yakushi Hiroda never returned.
Until recently, she heard that Hiroda, along with his local cooperative, had come to Konoha to take on some reconstruction projects for Konoha's buildings.
Nono had always wanted to invite Hiroda back, but after asking several times through intermediaries, Hiroda never responded. She hadn't expected him to come back today.
Now, as Hiroda looked at Nono, he found that despite the resentment he had accumulated over the years, he couldn't express it. He used to dislike Nono intensely because he felt she had taken his mother away from him. Moreover, his mother had always sided with Nono. Eventually, she even gave the family name to this girl. That was why he left. At that time, he was just a child.
Hiroda had thought that his departure would make his mother understand his dissatisfaction, but over the years, in occasional exchanges of letters, his mother had always said that after he left, Nono had helped sustain the orphanage.
Hiroda felt that his mother was complaining about him while also successfully praising Nono, which made him even more dissatisfied.
Recently returning to Konoha, he had inquired about the orphanage from the villagers and learned many things he hadn't known while away. This prompted him to decide to return after finishing his work with the cooperative.
Hiroda had expected to dislike this girl, but he couldn't seem to muster any anger towards her, and he didn't know why.
Seeing both of them fall silent, the headmistress forced a smile once again and said, "Your big brother knows that the orphanage doesn't have enough room. He'll come back to help after work."
Upon hearing this, Hiroda wanted to say that he wasn't Nono's big brother, but he hesitated and chose to eat instead.
Anyway, he wouldn't stay here for too long. He had saved up money over the years, all of which he had spent on lumber. Once the house was built, he would leave.
Seeing her son eating silently but with great effort, the headmistress also felt guilty, but she didn't know how to explain it to her son.
At this moment, Nono nodded happily, bringing the suitcase to the headmistress and saying, "That's great, Headmistress. Do you remember Sakamoto Tatsuma?"
"Sakamoto Tatsuma?" The headmistress had a pensive look on her face. She had cared for too many children, and for varying lengths of time, making it difficult for her to remember each one.
Occasionally, while walking down the street, some grown-up villagers, who had settled down and started families, would gratefully call her "Headmistress," which was enough to make her happy.
Hiroda raised his head at this point and said, "That little brat who liked to sleep with a wooden stick and got into fights with many kids, right?"
Nono instinctively nodded. Hearing Hiroda's words, she suddenly recalled her own childhood memories that she couldn't even remember herself. She was surprised that Hiroda remembered them.
But soon she shook her head, feeling like she was disparaging her classmate Sakamoto, even though she didn't say anything.
Nono raised the suitcase and said, "Sakamoto-san is now a very skilled ninja. Even before I graduate, he's already a Chunin. This is the money he asked me to bring back."
"Why don't we use this money to ask Hiroda-san to build houses for the orphanage?"
The headmistress seemed to recall and frowned, saying, "But he's not much older than you, right? How can we take his money?"
Hiroda's expression also shifted uncomfortably. Although he understood that Nono's intention was to allow him to stay longer, and even to take some of the money so he wouldn't lose out, he still felt like an outsider.
Nono explained further, "It was Sakamoto-san who insisted I bring it back. He said he would come back to see it when he had time."
Tatsuma had said there was no time to come back, but Nono chose a better way to put it.
The headmistress took the suitcase and opened it, almost standing up in shock. Inside, neatly stacked, were bundles of notes.
"Wow... cough..."
Hiroda, who was eating, was also startled. Wiping his mouth, he incredulously said, "There must be hundreds of thousands here?"
Nono, who had just learned about this huge sum of money, also widened her eyes in shock. Hundreds of thousands? She had heard that completing a D-Rank mission only yielded little money. How many missions would it take to earn this much money? He must have worked so hard for it.
Nono's nose suddenly felt sore as she realized that when Sakamoto-san came to teach them today, he was clearly injured and hadn't fully recovered. When she tried to talk to him, he barely said anything and always seemed in a hurry. She thought he didn't like being around her.
The headmistress was also stunned. The last time she saw so much money was when she was pregnant. Her husband, who was also a ninja, had been called to the battlefield and killed by the enemy. When she, pregnant, went to see the Second Hokage, Senju Tobirama-sama, to propose building an orphanage to care for children orphaned by the war, Senju Tobirama-sama had also given her a similar amount of money.
It was with that money that she transformed her and her late husband's home, along with the surrounding land, into what is now the Konoha Orphanage.
Unfortunately, the great Hokage-sama passed away not long after.
Seeing the headmistress suddenly burst into tears, Hiroda called out in concern, "Mom."
The headmistress wiped away her tears and looked at Hiroda, saying, "Hiroda, stay in the village. Before, I didn't dare to let you come back because I couldn't see any hope myself. But now it's different. Stay."
Upon hearing his mother's words, Hiroda fell silent. He had never thought about staying in a place that should have been his home because it was no longer his home; it belonged to the other children.
He didn't want to stay, not because of money or any other material thing. Therefore, he couldn't bring himself to agree to his mother's request. As for the hope his mother mentioned, he vaguely felt that it was nothing more than what she had always told him when he was a child: that the orphanage would help children survive, and these children would, in turn, keep the orphanage going.
However, this was his mother's dream, not his own.
Seeing her son still conflicted and resistant, the headmistress shook her head, sighed, and said, "Hiroda, I know this is too unfair to you. Let's forget that Mom said anything. But can you stay? With this money, can we build a more comfortable home for the children?"
This time, Hiroda didn't hesitate for too long and nodded, agreeing to stay.
Even if it would cost him more time and he would lose his current job—the company couldn't wait for him for so long—jobs could be found again. Opportunities like this might come only once.
Seeing Hiroda agree, both the headmistress and Nono smiled. The headmistress closed the suitcase and placed it in the cabinet in her office, which could only deter honorable people, not petty ones.
She then motioned for Nono to sit down, served her food, and then spoke up, "Nono, if possible, invite Tatsuma to come and visit. If he has the time, that is."
Nono nodded and said, "Then I'll ask him when he'll have time the next time I see him."
With that, Nono suddenly began to imagine tomorrow's medical class, wondering if Tatsuma would still come to teach them.
"Achoo! Cough Cough Cough Cough Cough~"
Walking on his way home in the Senju clan's territory, Tatsuma suddenly sneezed, aggravating his injury, and started coughing continuously. He shook his head, took a deep breath, and straightened his back again.
He touched the bankbook that had turned into zero balance and the remaining cash of over twenty thousand. He sighed. Twenty thousand was meant to be returned to Orochimaru, and the remaining nine hundred or so was his last savings.
"It seems I won't get rich in this lifetime. I hope the funding comes through soon, and the village pays its dues early."
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