The Hokage, having traveled here, of course he'd unify the ninja world!

Chapter 369 Mental Laziness

Ryuzaki Mitsuto turned his head and exchanged glances with the other members of several top business associations.

Everyone else looked at him with trust.

Ryuzaki Sando's expression changed, then he gritted his teeth and said, "Please, Hokage-sama, do us justice!"

Qian Yao was speechless; this was indeed a clever little devil.

"How much did each of you spend? Do you have any accounts?"

Ryuzaki Mitsuto had prepared in advance and produced an account sheet showing which properties they had purchased and how much they had spent.

Chiyo picked up the accounts and flipped through them quickly. With the Sharingan's dynamic vision, he could see everything clearly, no matter how fast he went.

He quickly finished reading the contents, mainly focusing on the amount.

There are 47 chambers of commerce, the largest being Hirata Trading Company, owned by Ryuzaki Santo, with a total of 7 billion yen.

The purchase includes, but is not limited to, ownership of shops and residences on the three streets of Kushina.

The original houses and property of the Sarutobi clan.

After some thought, Qianyao realized that Da Ming was still somewhat useful. Since he was obedient, he would deal with him later.

Now, this money has nothing to do with him anymore.

"This account was signed between you and Hiruzen Sarutobi, and it has nothing to do with the current Konoha Village,"

Qianyao's first words defined the nature of the matter.

All the chamber of commerce representatives were deathly pale.

"but……"

Qianyao changed the subject: "However, I just happened to find someone to ask Hiruzen Sarutobi for the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki."

"You can collect your debts together, but I don't know if they'll pay you back."

Ryuzaki Santo stood there for a long time, though he actually had a clear understanding of the power dynamics in the ninja world.

After all, he needed to travel to various ninja villages to do business.

The situation in Konoha Village is not good right now; a war could break out at any time. There aren't many people who have the ability to ask Hiruzen Sarutobi for money.

"Fifth Hokage, is there any chance we can get our money back?"

Ryuzaki Mitsuto had no choice but to humbly inquire.

Chiyo shook his head regretfully: "You can never imagine how low Hiruzen Sarutobi's limits are."

"It's not easy to cut flesh off him. All I can say is, give me the bill, and I'll try my best to help you."

I can't guarantee how much we can get back.

Ryuzaki Mitsuto turned to look at the other chamber of commerce representatives, who all closed their eyes in anguish and nodded silently.

What else can you do? You don't dare ask the Uchiha for money, do you?

Even if it's a mutually beneficial arrangement, you should still say thank you no matter how much money you're given in the end.

Otherwise, you won't get a single penny.

Ryuzaki Mitsuto said with a pale expression, "Then I'll have to trouble you, Hokage-sama."

Qianyao smiled and said, "When the others arrive, leave all the transaction receipts and bills behind."

"We will let you know when we have any news."

"Of course, if someone as dishonest as Hiruzen Sarutobi were to arrive in the daimyo's capital, the daimyo's situation would probably not be too good either."

Chiyo left behind this message, and Ryuzaki Mitsuto immediately understood:

"Lord Hokage, we know what to do."

……

Hiruzen Sarutobi's team.

The team was only able to regroup today after being attacked two days ago.

Inside Hiruzen Sarutobi's tent, the sounds of Jiraiya and Hiruzen arguing could be heard.

"Old man, you didn't say you would take the Nine-Tails' help with you!"

Jiraiya still had feelings for Konoha Village and strongly disagreed with Hiruzen Sarutobi's actions of stealing the Nine-Tails' help.

Hiruzen Sarutobi frowned and scolded:

"Do you think I don't know? I did this entirely to protect myself."

"Given the ruthlessness of the Uchiha clan, do you think he would let us go so easily?"

Jiraiya's expression changed several times:

"The Uchiha clan didn't come, but now the Hidden Cloud Village, the Hidden Stone Village, and the Hidden Sand Village are all eager to make their move."

"If Konoha doesn't have the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, how can it withstand the attack of three ninja villages?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi knew that Jiraiya was extremely dull and stubborn, so he naturally went along with what Jiraiya said.

"I left Konoha to avoid direct conflict with the Uchiha."

"If the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki is in the Uchiha clan, we will be unable to protect ourselves. For the Uchiha, we will become a weapon for them to start a war."

"Now that we have the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, we can provide support to Konoha at any time if they attack."

"This will also eliminate the conflict between me and the Uchiha."

Seeing that Jiraiya's expression had softened slightly, Hiruzen Sarutobi also let out a feigned sigh:

"I do have my own selfish motives; I also need to find a way out for my people!"

"I did all this because I didn't want my clansmen to die under the Uchiha's sword."

Seeing Hiruzen Sarutobi like this, Jiraiya couldn't help but sigh.

After a moment of silence, he spoke up: "If the people of Kumogakure attack, should we go to support Konoha?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi said decisively:

"Of course, if Konoha is destroyed, we will not be spared even if we are in Daimyo Prefecture."

"However, we should first send these civilians to the Daimyo's residence to prevent the Uchiha from attacking them."

Hiruzen Sarutobi's speculation is correct. If another Uchiha clan had come to power, they would definitely have thought about how to quickly annihilate the entire Sarutobi clan.

But Chiyo is different; firstly, he doesn't have a pure Uchiha ideology.

Influenced by the original owner of the body, he became more protective of his reputation and insisted on having a legitimate reason for his actions.

Even if it meant killing his entire clan, the Uchiha would definitely not be the executioner.

Instead, they use other roundabout methods or get others to do it.

Given that the Uchiha clan possessed a large number of Mangekyou Sharingan users, Hiruzen Sarutobi did not intend to use the Nine-Tails' power to directly confront the Uchiha clan.

Instead, he wanted to negotiate with Konoha by claiming that he could control the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki.

The difference between Jinchuriki, who are the nuclear weapons of war in the ninja world, and the Mangekyou Sharingan, is that the Tailed Beasts possess almost unlimited chakra.

Its role in the war was far more effective than the Mangekyou Sharingan of the Uchiha clan.

Hiruzen Sarutobi was originally prepared to withstand the first wave of attacks from the Uchiha clan and complete the Bull-Headed King plan.

He recalled Sarutobi Sekishu, along with himself and Jiraiya, to fight against the Uchiha clan.

Since he had already informed the village of Konoha about its situation, Kumogakure would certainly not let this opportunity pass.

When the Uchiha are too busy to take care of themselves, they will have to decide whether to sit back and watch the fight or to attack the other ninja villages from the rear when the time is right.

Although the plan went slightly wrong, the Uchiha clan didn't come to hunt them down; instead, Hiruko and Sunagakure took their place.

However, the large number of civilian deaths still allowed him to complete the sacrifice plan for the Bull-Headed Heavenly King.

Hiruzen Sarutobi previously had the card Sarutobi Seishu in his hand, and now he has added another card: Nue after the success of the Bull-Headed King's plan.

Their team suffered losses from the attack, but the appearance of Nue meant that the Third Hokage didn't lose too much.

After all, most of the deaths were among civilians, and even if they were their own people, it didn't really matter.

Jiraiya was the kind of person who was extremely lazy, lazy in both action and thought.

After learning about the toad fable, I stopped thinking about anything else and just focused on finding the prophesied child.

Now that he had the Third Hokage's "good excuse," Jiraiya didn't consider any other methods and just followed Hiruzen Sarutobi's line of thinking.

So he was completely fooled by Hiruzen Sarutobi in just two sentences.

……