Ryuzaki Santo turned his head and exchanged glances with several other leading merchants.
The others all looked at him with trusting eyes.
Ryuzaki's expression shifted slightly, then he gritted his teeth and said, "Please, Lord Hokage, stand up for us!"
Rengoku was speechless, this guy was quite the little schemer, "How much did each of you spend? Do you have the records?"
Ryuzaki Santo, already prepared, took out an account book. On it were details of what properties they'd bought and how much money had been spent.
Rengoku picked up the ledger and flipped through it quickly. With the dynamic perception of the Sharingan, no matter how fast he turned the pages, he could see everything clearly.
He finished reading the contents in no time, mainly focusing on the total amounts.
Among the forty-seven trading companies, Ryuzaki Santo's Hirata Trading Company had spent the most, a full seven billion.
Their purchases included, but were not limited to, the ownership of all the houses and shops on the three streets that once belonged to Kushina, as well as the Sarutobi Clan's former properties.
Rengoku thought for a while. The Daimyo was still somewhat useful for now, since he was being obedient, Rengoku would settle things with him later.
As for this money, it really had nothing to do with the Daimyo anyway.
"These accounts were signed between you and Hiruzen. They have nothing to do with the current Konoha Village."
With this one sentence, Rengoku set the matter straight.
All the merchant representatives turned pale instantly.
"But…"
Rengoku's tone shifted slightly, "But I've already sent someone to demand the Nine-Tails' jinchuriki from Hiruzen."
"You can have your accounts collected together with that. Whether the other side will actually pay up, though… that, I can't say."
Ryuzaki Santo stood there dumbfounded for a while. He actually knew the power structure of the ninja world quite well. After all, he traveled among the various ninja villages for business.
Right now, Konoha's situation was unstable, on the brink of war. There weren't many people capable of demanding money from Hiruzen.
"Lord Fifth Hokage, is there any chance we can get our money back?"
Ryuzaki Santo had no other choice but to ask humbly.
Rengoku shook his head regretfully, "You can't even begin to imagine how low Hiruzen's bottom line goes."
"To carve a piece of flesh off him won't be easy. All I can say is, give me your records, and I'll try my best for you."
"How much I can recover, I make no promises."
Ryuzaki Santo turned and glanced at the other merchant representatives. All of them closed their eyes in pain and nodded silently.
What else could they do? Were they going to demand money from the Uchiha instead?
Even if both sides got what they wanted, no matter how much they received in the end, they'd still have to say thank you, or they wouldn't get a single coin.
Ryuzaki Santo spoke miserably, "Then we'll trouble you, Lord Hokage."
Rengoku smiled faintly, "Once the others arrive, leave all your transaction certificates and ledgers behind."
"When there's news, we'll notify you."
"Of course," Rengoku added casually, "since Hiruzen is such a dishonest man, if he reaches the Daimyo's palace, I imagine the Daimyo's situation won't be too pleasant either."
Hearing that, Ryuzaki Santo immediately caught the hint.
"Lord Hokage, we understand what to do."
———
[Hiruzen's Camp]
After being ambushed two days ago, their group had only just managed to reorganize today.
Inside Hiruzen's tent came the sounds of an argument between him and Jiraiya.
"Old man, you never said you were going to take the Nine-Tails' jinchuriki with you!", Jiraiya still had deep feelings for Konoha, and he strongly disagreed with Hiruzen's act of stealing the Nine-Tails' jinchuriki away.
Hiruzen frowned and barked, "You think I don't know that? I did this purely for self-preservation."
"With the ruthlessness of the Uchiha, do you really think they'd let us go so easily?"
Jiraiya's expression shifted, "But the Uchiha haven't even come after us! Right now, Cloud, Rock, and Sand are all getting restless."
"If Konoha doesn't have the Nine-Tails' jinchuriki, how can it possibly defend against three hidden villages attacking at once?"
Hiruzen knew Jiraiya to be a simple-minded and stubborn man, so he naturally played along with his words.
"I left Konoha precisely to avoid direct conflict with the Uchiha."
"If the Nine-Tails' jinchuriki stays in their hands, we can't protect ourselves, and to the Uchiha, it would just become a weapon to start a war."
"But now that we control the jinchuriki, if Konoha is attacked, we can always step in to support them."
"In this way, the conflict between me and the Uchiha can also be resolved."
Seeing Jiraiya's expression soften a little, Hiruzen sighed dramatically.
"Yes, I have selfish motives. I need to secure a future for my clan."
"Everything I've done is only to keep my people from dying under the Uchiha's blade." [T/N: Author is testing out patience very hard. I am about to erupt.]
Seeing Hiruzen like that, Jiraiya couldn't help but sigh too.
After a moment of silence, he asked, "If the Cloud ninjas attack, are we going to support Konoha?"
Hiruzen answered firmly, "Of course. If Konoha Village is destroyed, even in the Daimyo's palace we wouldn't be spared."
"But first, we must send these civilians to the Daimyo's palace, to prevent the Uchiha from targeting them."
Hiruzen's reasoning wasn't entirely wrong. If another Uchiha had taken power, that person would likely have been thinking about how to wipe out the Sarutobi clan as quickly as possible.
But Rengoku was different. He didn't think like a traditional Uchiha.
After inheriting the influence of his original self, he valued his own reputation and preferred acting under justifiable pretexts.
Even if he did want to wipe out the Sarutobi clan, he wouldn't personally swing the blade, he'd take a more indirect route, or let someone else do it.
Given that there were many Mangekyo wielders among the Uchiha now, Hiruzen wasn't planning to fight them head-on with the Nine-Tails' power.
Instead, his goal was to use control over the jinchuriki as leverage to negotiate with Konoha.
In the ninja world, a jinchuriki was essentially a nuclear weapon of war. Unlike the Mangekyo Sharingan, a tailed beast possessed nearly limitless chakra, making it far more useful in battle.
Hiruzen's original plan was to withstand the Uchiha's first wave of attack, complete his "Gozu Tenno" plan, summon Sarutobi Ishishu, and, with Jiraiya's help stand on equal footing with the Uchiha.
He had already sent word of Konoha's situation to the outside. Cloud Village would definitely not miss this opportunity.
When the Uchiha were too busy dealing with their own problems, Hiruzen could then decide whether to sit back and watch or strike the other ninja villages from behind.
Although things hadn't gone perfectly, the Uchiha hadn't come to pursue him, and instead Hiruko and Sand had, the massive civilian deaths still allowed him to complete the sacrifices for the Gozu Tenno plan.
Previously, Hiruzen held one trump card, Sarutobi Ishishu. Now, he had added another: the Nue, born from the successful completion of the Gozu Tenno.
Their group had indeed suffered losses in the attack, but with the appearance of the Nue, the Third Hokage hadn't really lost much.
After all, it was mostly civilians who'd died, even if some were his own clansmen, they weren't that important.
Jiraiya, meanwhile, was the type of person who was deeply lazy, lazy in action, lazy in thought.
After hearing the prophecy of the Toad, he had stopped thinking about anything else. All he needed to do was slowly look for the Child of Prophecy.
Now, with the Third Hokage's "reasonable excuse," Jiraiya didn't bother to consider other options at all, he simply followed Hiruzen's line of thinking.
And so, after just a few sentences, Hiruzen had completely talked Jiraiya into submission.
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