There was no way they could simply follow the second-in-command and eat his leftovers, right?!
Then who was actually in charge of the village?
On the surface, there was naturally no doubt that it was Senju Hashirama.
But in reality, the person calling the shots was the very Senju Tobirama sitting before them!
Senju Tobirama was nominally an aide, but in reality, he was effectively the regent!
When it came to Konoha’s development, his word was absolute!
Sarutobi Sasuke had personally witnessed the legendary Senju Hashirama being scolded by Senju Tobirama and made to squat in a corner drawing circles on the wall.
And that wasn’t even the best part.
Afterward, Senju Hashirama had to bow and scrape, begging Senju Tobirama not to be angry.
After witnessing such an iconic scene…
Sarutobi Sasuke could now fully appreciate just how terrifying Senju Tobirama’s influence within the village was.
It could only be described as having overwhelming authority!
If the Sarutobi clan wanted to obtain sufficient resources and secure long-term development within the village, they inevitably had to establish a close relationship with Senju Tobirama.
In the shinobi world…
Aside from blood relatives, the closest relationship a shinobi could have was that between master and disciple.
If Sarutobi Hiruzen could become Senju Tobirama’s disciple, the Sarutobi clan would have a powerful backer within the village.
At the same time, it would also serve as the Sarutobi clan’s pledge of allegiance.
“Lord Tobirama, leave this matter to me!”
“I’ve already become a shinobi capable of handling matters on my own!”
At his father’s signal, Sarutobi Hiruzen immediately stepped forward.
His voice was loud, and his expression was filled with confidence.
“Lord Tobirama, I’m the same!”
Shimura Danzō also stepped forward, albeit a beat slower as usual.
“So that’s how it is…”
Senju Tobirama raised his head and looked at Sarutobi Hiruzen and Shimura Danzō standing before him.
Although neither of them was an adult yet—they looked only fourteen or fifteen—the cruel shinobi world was different.
For a child to survive to fourteen or fifteen was already enough to be considered a shinobi capable of standing on his own.
After all, Tobirama himself had already been accompanying his father onto the battlefield at the age of seven or eight to eliminate the naturally troublesome Uchiha!
“Lord Tobirama, you can safely leave this matter to Hiruzen!”
“I was also planning to have him take responsibility for purchasing the supplies this time.
Hiruzen is my son, and sooner or later he’ll have to shoulder the burden of leading the Sarutobi clan…
It’s time for him to…”
“Delivering a letter is merely something he can do along the way.”
Sarutobi Sasuke spoke as he unconsciously praised his son to the heavens.
“I happened to have the same thought…
It’s time for Danzō to…”
Shimura Shima was doing the same.
For the sake of the Shimura clan’s future, he also hoped that Senju Tobirama would take Shimura Danzō as his disciple.
“Hmm…
Since both of you put it that way, very well.”
Senju Tobirama nodded.
It was only a matter of delivering a letter to the Fire Daimyō.
Sarutobi Hiruzen and Shimura Danzō would also be traveling to the Land of Fire’s capital to purchase supplies along the way.
What could possibly go wrong?
Seeing Senju Tobirama nod in agreement, joy appeared on Sarutobi Hiruzen and Shimura Danzō’s faces.
Delivering the letter was merely an excuse.
The most important thing was that they had secured an opportunity to spend time with Senju Tobirama.
What followed was Sarutobi Hiruzen and Shimura Danzō’s time to perform.
To ensure the letter-delivery mission was flawless, Sarutobi Hiruzen proactively talked about the Fire Release ninjutsu he excelled at.
Beside him, Shimura Danzō began boasting about his own Wind Release.
Senju Tobirama cooperated with their performance and even took the opportunity to point out their shortcomings in understanding ninjutsu.
By this point, he had more or less figured out what Sarutobi Sasuke and Shimura Shima were thinking.
Taking them as disciples…
It wasn’t impossible.
Aside from the disadvantage of having to spend his precious time teaching students, there were practically benefits everywhere else.
In the future, both the Sarutobi clan and Shimura clan would support him.
They wouldn’t be corrupted or recruited by the naturally troublesome Uchiha.
With the backing of these shinobi clans, it would be much easier for Senju Tobirama to consolidate his control over the village in the future.
After going back and forth for a while…
Sarutobi Sasuke and Shimura Shima finally revealed the second reason they had come today.
“Lord Tobirama, you truly are an exceptionally powerful shinobi.
Your knowledge is incredible, and you can point out their shortcomings without the slightest effort.”
“We were wondering…
Would you be willing to take Hiruzen/Danzō as your disciple?”
“Take them as disciples…
Hmm.
But…
my standards for choosing disciples are not low.”
Senju Tobirama spoke deliberately.
Although he really did intend to accept Sarutobi Hiruzen and Shimura Danzō as his disciples, he certainly couldn’t agree immediately.
As the saying went, good things took time.
There was still a proper process to becoming his disciple.
They would have to pass a series of tests.
Besides, he was Senju Tobirama.
No matter what, he couldn’t take two useless students.
He had his reputation to maintain!
The necessary tests could not be skipped.
Sarutobi Hiruzen and Shimura Danzō, meanwhile, were visibly excited.
During their brief exchange just now, the two had already been thoroughly impressed by Senju Tobirama.
Being able to identify shortcomings in their understanding of ninjutsu in such a short time was something even their fathers couldn’t do!
Even if they put the future of their clans aside, they still wanted to become stronger.
They had to find a way to become Senju Tobirama’s disciples.
“After you return from the Land of Fire, I’ll test you.”
“If you can earn my approval, I’ll take you as my disciples.”
“Lord Tobirama, I won’t disappoint you!” ×2
Sarutobi Hiruzen and Shimura Danzō spoke loudly together.
Both sides had reached an agreement.
Senju Tobirama then returned to the more mundane matters.
They discussed the supply-purchasing list, the relocation of the shinobi clans, shinobi village planning, and a whole series of other issues.
Sarutobi Hiruzen and Shimura Danzō listened from the side while thinking about how they could earn Senju Tobirama’s approval as quickly as possible after returning from the Land of Fire.
“Then it’s settled.”
“The village also needs to purchase supplies recently, so I’ll have to trouble you to handle it along the way…
That should also get us a better price.”
The Sarutobi and Shimura clans each planned to spend roughly two hundred million ryō purchasing supplies.
The village could subsidize each clan with another fifty million ryō while contributing an additional three hundred million ryō of its own toward the purchases.
That brought the total to eight hundred million ryō.
With such a large-scale purchase, they should be able to negotiate a discount of roughly five percent.
Five percent might not sound like much, but once calculated against such a huge sum, it represented a considerable amount of money.
The money they saved wouldn’t need to be returned to the public coffers…
They could keep some of it to purchase research equipment.
Hehehe…
This was the fruit of his wisdom!
How exciting!
Senju Tobirama silently calculated the numbers in his head.
Considering that this was a full clan relocation, there would be no shortage of carts, horses, luggage, and other belongings.
There were also women and children within the clans who needed to be taken care of.
The round trip would probably take quite a while.
Therefore, after only a few days of rest in the village, Sarutobi Sasuke and Shimura Shima prepared to leave with Sarutobi Hiruzen and Shimura Danzō.
Sarutobi Hiruzen and Shimura Danzō left Konoha reluctantly.
During the few days they had spent resting there…
Even Senju Tobirama’s occasional casual guidance had already benefited the two enormously.
Now, both of them desperately wanted to accomplish something that would make Senju Tobirama look at them in a new light and become his official disciples as soon as possible.
At the village entrance…
“Hiruzen, who do you think will become Lord Tobirama’s disciple first?”
Shimura Danzō looked at the village in the distance as he spoke.
There was a distinctly challenging tone in his voice.
Although he and Sarutobi Hiruzen were around the same age and had gotten along quite well during the few days they had spent together…
Danzō couldn’t help but try to one-up Hiruzen.
Perhaps it was simply youthful competitiveness.
Perhaps it was fate.
Whatever the reason, whenever the two did anything, Danzō always wanted to beat Hiruzen.
They competed over everything.
Who ate more at mealtimes.
Who ran faster.
Who could endure longer.
And there was no need to mention their training and sparring.
“That would obviously be me!”
Sarutobi Hiruzen answered confidently.
He wasn’t willing to give Shimura Danzō even an inch!
All you know how to do is brag.”
Shimura Danzō curled his lip and immediately fired back.
The atmosphere instantly became tense.
“All right, enough nonsense, you two brats!”
“Time to go!”
Sarutobi Sasuke suddenly interrupted Sarutobi Hiruzen and Shimura Danzō’s bickering.
The two could only stop.
But both were still seething inside.
They exchanged a glance, then strode forward and began their journey.
…….
Capital of the Land of Fire
“Make way…
I’m buying one hundred tulips today!”
“Why are you pushing?!”
“Get in line!”
“….”
The entrance of a tulip shop in the capital of the Land of Fire was already packed with an enormous queue.
People had begun lining up as early as dawn.
And even if they were willing to endure this level of competition…
They still couldn’t get to the very front.
Because some people had actually started lining up outside the shop the previous night!
Scenes like this…
Were not limited to the capital of the Land of Fire.
The entrances of tulip shops throughout the rest of the country were exactly the same!
And the reason for this unprecedented frenzy…
Was naturally because Uchiha Makoto had inflated the Tulip Scheme.
To be honest…
Uchiha Makoto had somewhat underestimated the Fire Daimyō’s influence.
He had even more seriously underestimated the vanity of the nobles of the Land of Fire.
They really were rich.
They were willing to spend enormous sums of money just to preserve their pride and status for a moment.
Any noble who possessed an entire room full of tulips could easily become the center of attention at a ball.
They would also earn the favor of the beautiful young ladies present.
Those women all wanted to see what an entire room filled with tulips looked like.
Then they could take pictures and show off, proclaiming themselves refined young ladies of a prestigious family with impeccable taste.
If it was a rare and exquisite tulip variety…
That was even more extraordinary.
Even the Fire Daimyō would invite you to bring that tulip along so that he could admire it with you.
Which noble wouldn’t want to establish a connection with the Fire Daimyō?
At present…
The tulip market was like a barrel of explosives that Uchiha Makoto had set ablaze.
As the actual operator behind the scenes, Kazuma quietly continued pushing tulip prices higher.
The process had gone far more smoothly than he had expected.
They barely needed to inject any capital at all.
Wherever there was profit to be made…
Capital naturally followed.
The nobles were willing to spend lavishly for the sake of their reputation and to win the Fire Daimyō’s favor.
And when the wealthy merchants of the Land of Fire saw this scene, their eyes immediately lit up.
It was like sharks smelling blood.
They all pulled out their capital and began betting on tulip prices going higher.
They were ready to charge into battle!
For a time, an enormous amount of capital flooded into the tulip market.
Fire Daimyō’s Palace
“Your Highness, you’ve arrived.”
Kazuma’s eyes practically shone with the light of gold coins.
He was manipulating the abacus in front of him while calculating the profits from the past two days against the account books.
When he looked up, he saw the Fire Daimyō entering the room.
“Hmm…”
The Fire Daimyō nodded before finding a sofa and sitting down.
He had come this time because he wanted to know how the plan was progressing.
Well…
Actually…
He wanted to know how much money they had made so far.
“Your Highness, the situation is far better than we imagined!”