Watanabe Tianyi, who had been looking for work, hadn't expected the other party to be so approachable and gentle—he was nothing like the arrogant person he had heard about.
Thinking it over, he decided to stay and give it a try.
If the other side had no qualms hiring him, what did he have to lose?
He took a step forward and followed Uchiha Madara into the Flame-Fan Factory.
Once inside, he realized that the factory didn't have many workers at all, and the workload seemed surprisingly manageable. Everyone looked quite relaxed.
This was nothing like the Death Assembly Line—it was just a group of Uchiha calmly and steadily making Flame-Fans.
"Our factory mainly makes Uchiha fans. The work is easy and stress-free, with full room and board provided," explained Uchiha Madara.
"Is this really all there is to the job? Nothing else?"
"For now, we're only handling fan production. We might expand to other products later on—we can't survive selling just fans forever."
"That's fine. I'm definitely capable of doing this kind of work."
No internal competition, no assembly lines—in Watanabe Tianyi's eyes, making any product would do.
Uchiha Madara hadn't expected someone so easygoing either. This was the first villager who didn't look down on the Uchiha.
Though the Uchiha clan appeared proud and aloof, they were actually shunned within the village, facing endless prejudice and criticism.
He had spent days trying to recruit workers but hadn't found a single villager willing to join.
Struggling to contain his excitement, Uchiha Madara gave Watanabe Tianyi a warm smile. "If that's settled, go ahead and take a seat. I'll find someone to show you how it's done."
"If you have any questions or run into problems here at the factory, feel free to come directly to me."
Now that someone had finally shown up on their own accord, there was no way he would let him go. This was the very first step toward harmony between the Uchiha clan and the rest of the village.
The Flame-Fan Factory wasn't about profit for Uchiha Madara; its true purpose was to foster better relations between the Uchiha people and the other villagers.
Madara's kindness made Watanabe Tianyi feel like he had gone straight from hell to heaven. It felt surreal.
How could someone in such a high position be this nice?
And not only that—he was part of the Uchiha clan, a family widely known for being cold-hearted outsiders.
After working for several days and finding everything exactly as promised during hiring, Watanabe Tianyi hesitantly approached Uchiha Madara.
"Lord Madara, I still have some friends who haven't found jobs yet. Would it be okay if they joined too?"
"They're just as hardworking as I am."
Most of these former coworkers had lost their jobs alongside Watanabe because of his past troubles, and he felt guilty for dragging them down.
Hearing this unexpected bit of good news, Uchiha Madara immediately agreed.
"Of course! The factory is short on hands right now. As long as you can bring people in, everyone's welcome at the Flame-Fan Factory."
He was thrilled at the opportunity to bring more villagers together with his clan. He believed that given enough time, the distance between them would fade away.
Within half a day,
a group of common folk arrived at the Flame-Fan Factory, mixing freely with the Uchiha who were already working there.
But soon afterward, Uchiha Madara noticed a problem—the limited workload meant most people ended up with little to do.
In a situation like this, Uchiha Madara didn't have many viable options. He was a ninja through and through, not a merchant.
During this era, ninjas were trained exclusively for combat and killing, with no real talent or experience beyond battle.
This left him at a loss, with no clear way forward.
After all, starting a factory had been a spur-of-the-moment decision, a mere attempt to jump on the bandwagon without any concrete plan or improvements in place.
"What should I do if there's no more work?" Madara fell into despair, sending another hawk messenger to reach out to Fugaku Uchiha as a last resort.
Since he couldn't think of a solution himself, he hoped that Fugaku Young Master might have one. After all, Fugaku was one of the rare intellects within the Uchiha clan.
While the Flame-Fan Factory struggled with a lack of orders, Fire's Root Factory, however, found itself facing the exact opposite problem.
Fire's Root Factory was bogged down by an overwhelming workload. Even ninjas found it nearly impossible to endure such grueling labor.
At the end of the day, Root ninjas were still flesh and blood.
After just half a month of nonstop work, these once-deadly Root ninjas had lost their killer aura completely, their instincts fading into numbing apathy.
They moved like machines operating on pure muscle memory, their bodies locked in habitual motions.
Finally, one exhausted ninja ran up to Lord Tatsuma Aburame and pleaded, "Lord Tatsuma, you have to talk to Danzo! We can't hold on much longer!"
"At this rate, I'm going to lose my mind! I'd rather take on a Kage solo than keep this up!"
"Even captured criminals and spies wouldn't be able to withstand such oppressive torture!"
Tatsuma Aburame stared blankly at his subordinate, his eyes flickering with thought as a thought flickered through his mind.
"I might have something. Say that again—what did you say?"
"Even captured criminals and spies…"
"That's it!" Tatsuma exclaimed, snapping back to awareness as he whispered excitedly to himself.
"Criminals and spies—prisoners in our jails, captured enemy agents—we can put them to work!"
After surviving the grueling assembly line, Tatsuma was struck with inspiration, finally thinking of finding replacements to do the job.
"Captives and foreign spies—Danzo can bring them out for manual labor."
To escape this living hell, Tatsuma seized on this realization, rushing to report to Danzo.
Ordinary workers had Konoha's protection and the Hokage's oversight—but what about criminals and enemy shinobi? They certainly wouldn't enjoy those luxuries.
Coming to this realization, he quickly reported his findings to Danzo.
He had no intention of enduring this hell any longer.
Even Nagare, the mastermind behind the Death Assembly Line, couldn't endure the relentless pace.
Inside the Root headquarters,
With most Root members forced into factory labor, the headquarters had grown eerily empty.
Tatsuma walked straight in and arrived at Danzo's office.
"Lord Danzo, I have something important to report."
Hearing the noise, Danzo looked up and saw Tatsuma, frowning slightly.
"Tatsuma, why did you leave the factory and come here?"
Tatsuma hurriedly replied, "Lord Danzo, I've figured out a solution to our worker shortage. This plan will finally free the Root ninjas from this torment."
"Of course, the most important thing is to free ourselves first."
"Oh? Go on."
"We can send the prisoners from Konoha's jail and all captured spies to the factory. They can work for us at no cost."
Danzo's eyes gleamed—he immediately saw the value in this idea.
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