The Demon Legion of the Land of Demons, in Rengoku's eyes, was simply something ridiculous.
It was only because the people of the Land of Demons wanted to protect their homeland that they cared about it at all.
The stone golems moved extremely slowly. If the people of the Land of Demons abandoned their own country, those stone golems would be left dumbfounded, unable to do anything.
They would either have to cross the entire Land of Earth or go around four smaller nations before they could reach Konoha Village.
By the time those golems arrived, Rengoku would've long since been done with his business.
And without civilians dragging them down, it was even questionable whether the demon Moryo could win against the Shrine Maiden.
After stuffing his clone into Minato's shadow, Rengoku turned his attention to the matters in Konoha Village first.
Although there hadn't been an official announcement to the whole village yet, everyone had already tacitly accepted Rengoku as the Fifth Hokage.
Once Rengoku finished dealing with the affairs in the Land of Demons, something else in the village came up that required his decision.
Since the Hokage Building had been burned down, the current office was temporarily relocated to the Akimichi Clan's meeting hall.
———
"What? The merchants from the Daimyo's side have come to take over the houses?", When Rengoku arrived, he received news that surprised him a little.
Shikaku directly brought out several copied documents, all transaction certificates.
Rengoku said, "Where did Hiruzen get the money to pay Kakuzu? On what grounds did he dare separate from Konoha?"
Turns out, Sarutobi Hiruzen had sold off the properties inside Konoha Village, out of the five streets belonging to Kushina, he had sold off three, including all the various houses and shops on them.
Even several other clans' industries had been sold in advance.
The land of Konoha Village itself belonged to the village; there was no such thing as buying or selling it. After all, the Land of Fire was vast and resource-rich, with few people and plenty of land.
Konoha, being the largest trade hub in the Land of Fire, naturally had many people who wanted to live there.
So the houses and shops built on that land could fetch quite a price.
This wasn't something that could be sold in a day or two, it just showed that Hiruzen and the others had planned their departure from Konoha long ago.
Shikaku looked at Rengoku with a questioning expression, meaning, what did Rengoku intend to do about it?
No wonder they said such things needed Rengoku to make the call.
Rengoku wasn't in a hurry, "Looks like this money bag isn't very obedient."
"If that's the case, we might as well replace it."
In Rengoku's view, the Daimyo was just someone who managed the commoners of the Land of Fire's various towns and cities.
All kinds of taxes collected from across the land would eventually be sent up each year as subsidies for Konoha Village.
The Land of Fire was a huge nation, managing it all was actually quite troublesome.
But in truth, the Daimyo's status here in Konoha wasn't very high.
A lot of it was just face-saving formality. After all, many commoners still acknowledged the Daimyo's authority.
Except for the Sand Village of the Land of Wind, the situation was about the same everywhere else.
The reason the Land of Wind was special was because Sunagakure sat in that barren, sand-filled wasteland.
Finding someone who could govern such a miserable place, and even squeeze money out of it, was no easy task.
So when the Daimyo of the Land of Wind wanted to cut funding, he could just do it freely, without worrying about angering Rasa.
If Rasa killed the Daimyo of the Land of Wind, his own losses would be even greater. After all, not just anyone could manage a place like that.
Then Sunagakure would just end up poorer.
When Shikaku heard what Rengoku said, he immediately tried to dissuade him, "Fifth Hokage, Konoha is unstable right now. It's not the time for such a big move."
"If the Fourth Great Ninja War breaks out, we'll still need their logistics support."
"And besides, the Daimyo's people aren't showing bad attitude, you should at least meet with them first."
As an Uchiha, it wasn't surprising that Shikaku had no faith in the Daimyo's authority, he knew full well Rengoku could replace the Daimyo at any moment.
That's why he chose his words carefully.
"Alright then, call them in," Rengoku said casually.
Shikaku immediately sent people out.
After a while, about a dozen people filed into the meeting room one after another.
Rengoku raised his eyebrows, he had thought it'd be just one or two people, not this many.
As soon as they entered, all eyes fell on Rengoku.
Shikaku introduced, "This is the Fifth Hokage of Konoha Village, Uchiha Rengoku."
Everyone bowed, removed their hats, and saluted, most wearing ingratiating smiles.
They began introducing themselves one after another:
"Greetings, Lord Hokage. I'm Ryuzaki Santo from the Hirata Trading Company…"
"Greetings, Lord Hokage. I'm Iwano Katsu from the Masayama Trading Company…"
"Greetings, Lord Hokage. I am…"
In total, there were fifteen of them, each representing a different trading company.
Rengoku looked at the first man who spoke, Ryuzaki Santo, "You fifteen, are you all the trading companies?"
Ryuzaki Santo answered properly, "We fifteen companies are just representatives. There are actually forty-seven trading companies involved in this matter."
Seeing that their attitude was decent, Rengoku didn't make things hard for them. After all, these trading companies had brought great economic benefit to Konoha Village.
"Alright, tell me then, how exactly did you buy these shops from Hiruzen Sarutobi?"
Ryuzaki Santo's face darkened, "Lord Hokage, we were all deceived by Hiruzen…"
From what Rengoku gathered, Hiruzen and other clan members had previously approached these trading companies, claiming Konoha was going to expand, that the village would soon accommodate more people.
They said the ninja clans would be relocating, and managing those shops and houses in the current districts would be inconvenient, so they needed someone to take them over.
When the companies heard that, they thought, 'Wow, what a great opportunity!'
They immediately waved their money around and started buying like crazy.
As for why no one suspected the Third Hokage, well, it was the Third Hokage.
Hiruzen, who had sat in the Hokage's chair for decades.
Who had fought through multiple Great Ninja Wars.
Besides, these companies had long been exporting goods to the Land of Fire with semi-official connections.
Hiruzen and his clan had lived in Konoha for so many years, surely they wouldn't just run away, right?
Heh. Guess what?
They really ran.
When they heard that Hiruzen and the others had been jointly expelled from Konoha by Uchiha and Tsunade, these trading companies were completely dumbfounded.
They immediately set out for Konoha overnight.
The other merchants hadn't sent representatives yet, it wasn't that they trusted others to handle it, but rather that they hadn't even arrived.
"Heh!", Rengoku couldn't help but find it all quite entertaining, the Third Hokage's reputation really had its uses.
Even if it was just a one-time scam, these trading companies sure got swindled badly.
"You went to see the Daimyo?", Rengoku asked calmly.
Ryuzaki Santo shook his head, "The Daimyo refused to see us."
'Oh? So the Daimyo still has a bit of self-awareness, staying out of it, not daring to intervene.'
'Looks like these companies are just using the Daimyo's name as a pretext to get through the door.'
Rengoku's fingers tapped the table lightly, "Then what do you intend to do about this matter?"
He kicked the ball right back to the merchants.
Ryuzaki Santo looked at Rengoku in mild surprise, he hadn't expected the Hokage to be so easy to talk to.
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