I founded the "Bragging Cult" in Naruto.

Chapter 664 Only when you are prosperous yourself will you have the resources to care about whether others are well-fed and clothed.

What Matsutsugi wants most right now is to find the old minister who suggested he orchestrate a ceasefire and forced Tatsuma to compromise, and give him a good beating to vent his anger.

Only one day has passed since the Daimyo of the Land of Wind forced Sunagakure to hold the Five Kage Summit. The invitation was sent out yesterday morning, and last night, an official from the Land of Wind's garrison was involved in an accident.

This morning, the Daimyo's Mansion of the Land of Wind sent three letters in a row, urging Sunagakure to deal with the rogue ninja who were hunting down officials within the Land of Wind. However, Sunagakure ignored the first letter.

In the second letter, Sunagakure declined, citing their lack of resources to prepare for the Five Kage Summit. However, in the third letter, Sunagakure made an outrageous demand, asking for ten years' worth of funding.

Moreover, it is not calculated as a multiple of the funding from previous years, but rather the annual funding is recalculated, and then the money needed for inflation, military development investment, and the initial capital needed to develop an independent economy is taken into account.

The budget request was quickly leaked, and Song Jie naturally obtained it through his own intelligence channels. When he saw the numbers, he was somewhat terrified.

Let alone the impoverished Land of Wind, even the government of the Land of Fire would be severely strained to come up with this money. As for the Daimyo government of the Land of Wind, it would probably have to empty its coffers to raise this amount.

Logically speaking, under these circumstances, the first reaction of Daimyo Matsumoto would be to strip the ninja village of its military status, completely cut off supplies, and then slowly negotiate terms.

However, the premise is that after a country loses a ninja village, it must still have the ability to maintain stability. The simplest way is to seek help from ninja villages in other countries.

The best targets for the Land of Wind are the Hidden Leaf Village in the Land of Fire or the Hidden Stone Village in the Land of Earth, which are adjacent to the mainland. As for the Land of Rain and the Land of Waterfall, they are small countries with small populations, and their number of ninjas is simply insufficient to meet the needs of larger countries.

But no one expected that Konoha and Iwagakure would issue notices refusing to accept the commission one after the other, directly cutting off the Daimyo's escape route in the Land of Wind.

Unless they are willing to wait a month or two for the Cloud Village and Mist Village to come and maintain stability, but those two ninja villages also issued notices shortly afterward.

The Daimyo of the Land of Wind now has two choices: either let the rogue ninja run rampant in the country, or agree to the extremely harsh demands of the Sand Village.

This scene... it's so familiar.

Matsushita wiped his sweat and looked at Tatsuma, who was holding a luminous cup of grape juice in one hand and a book in the other, enjoying being fed by a maid. Wasn't this the same predicament that the Daimyo government of the Land of Fire had faced a week ago?

They originally thought they could use the situation in the ninja world to restrain Tatsuma, but in the end, things seem to have gotten even worse.

It's obvious to everyone that Konoha and Sunagakure have reached some deep cooperation. As for Iwagakure, which is extremely efficient, there's not much to say, but the tacit understanding between the Kage allowed Onoki, A, Yagura, and others to quickly catch up.

Just a few days ago, Konoha only asked its own daimyo government to open up economic authority, but in the blink of an eye, all five great ninja villages simultaneously demanded it. The culprit behind this situation was none other than Matsumoto, the daimyo of the Land of Fire, Kunimochi.

If he reluctantly agreed to Tatsuma's demands, he would at most be ridiculed by the other daimyo. But now, the daimyo of the other four great nations probably wish they could get rid of him as soon as possible.

And after all that, in the end, nothing changed. This time, he had no choice but to give Tatsuma the economic power he needed, and even had to beg Tatsuma to accept it.

After all, compared to the Sunagakure village's request for funding, Tatsuma's request was not excessive at all. The immediate priority for the Fire Country's Daimyo government was to sign the approval form for the funding request and then have Konoha issue a receipt.

But clearly Tatsuma isn’t in a hurry at all. Things have come to this point, and as long as Tatsuma mentions it, Matsushita is willing to stamp it directly. But if Tatsuma doesn’t mention it, he can’t just stamp it and hand it to Tatsuma, can he?

Besides, it's no use doing that. As long as Konoha doesn't accept the funds allocated by the Daimyo government or doesn't issue a receipt, this matter won't be over.

"Lord Tatsuma, regarding the funding request sent by Konoha earlier..."

"Today's banquet will not discuss business, otherwise it would be a waste of the fine food and wine, Your Excellency, wouldn't you agree?"

The words sounded so familiar. Song Jie kept shaking the folding fan in his hand. Even though it was freezing cold, sweat kept pouring down his face. He hesitated for a long time before finally saying:

"Lord Tatsuma, although the occasion is inappropriate, I still want to say that the funding request sent by Konoha earlier was a bit too harsh on Konoha. Konoha has made great contributions to protecting the territory of our Land of Fire."

Konoha has paid a heavy price and made many efforts for this, which I see and it pains me deeply. However, the compensation I can offer is very limited, only a small amount of money. I hope Lord Tatsuma will consider Konoha's interests and seek more benefits for its ninjas.

After hearing Matsushita's words, Tatsuma sat up slightly and asked doubtfully, "Mr. Matsushita, is the amount of funding I requested insufficient?"

"Too little! Too little!"

Seeing that Tatsuma was willing to talk, Matsushita slapped his thigh and said with great distress, "Since the establishment of the ninja village, no, even before the establishment of the ninja village, the predecessors of the Konoha ninjas, the Senju clans, have been protecting the Land of Fire."

In the past, the Land of Fire had no means to repay the ninjas who protected their homeland. In the past, the subsidies were Konoha's way of being kind, only charging a small amount of necessary funds. But now the Land of Fire has quite a surplus.

Lord Tatsuma, please give the Land of Fire a chance to repay its debts and make amends for Konoha's past transgressions and to become the guardians of its future!

The issue is no longer whether the Daimyo government is willing to give money, but whether Konoha is willing to give money. Matsushita must find a way to get Tatsuma to give it, and even more money would be better.

The more the Fire Country's daimyo government contributes, the less hostility it will face from the other four daimyo governments, if the Fire Country is the one that contributes the least.

Then the other four major nations would unanimously believe that this was a scheme set up by the Daimyo of the Land of Fire, Konoha, and other ninja villages to weaken the economies of the other major nations.

In order to avoid becoming a target of public criticism, Songjie has no choice but to make sacrifices, the more the better.

Tatsuma finally sat up straight, his head no longer resting on the girl's lap, which he had been using as a pillow. He put down his cup and book, and said with a smile:

"Since Lord Matsushita has put it this way, if I refuse, I would be a sinner against Konoha. Since Lord Matsushita believes my proposal is unreasonable, then let Lord Matsushita personally draft one, and we can discuss it further. What do you say?"

"Alright! Enjoy your meal, Lord Tatsuma. I..."

Matsushita was excitedly about to get up and go to his ministers to draft a new plan, but Tatsuma raised his hand to stop him, saying:

"Mr. Matsushita, there's no need to be in such a hurry. Love and good food are the only things that should not be neglected."

Tatsuma smiled and said, "Besides, if we don't refer to the plans of other countries, how can the Land of Fire extract the essence and discard the dross to formulate a plan that is most beneficial to the Land of Fire and Konoha?"

Matsutsuki was stunned for a moment before he realized what Tatsuma meant. He wanted everything the other ninja villages wanted, but he didn't want the price they had to pay.

With an awkward smile, Matsunori nodded and said, "Lord Tatsuma is right. Let's take a look at the plans of other countries and ninja villages."

However, this caused constant unrest in the five major kingdoms, including cholera outbreaks and the massacre of officials by rebellious ninja.

"No rush."

Tatsuma shook his head, opened his mouth and swallowed a segment of orange that the maid handed him. After chewing it a few times, he said, "I have a little understanding of the rogue ninja's purpose in making the move."

There were unidentified individuals who placed bounties at the gold exchange. I had Konoha investigate the officials for whom the bounties were placed, and they turned out to be corrupt officials. Eliminating them through rogue ninjas is also a way to clean up the parasites for the Land of Fire.

What truly opened my eyes was that even the Land of Fire had so many parasites. Indeed, the richer the granary, the more likely it is to breed weevils and rats.

Matsushita's lips twitched slightly as he said, "To become an official stationed in a city, how could one possibly reach this point without some extra income and expenses? It's not just the Land of Fire, it's the same in other countries; it's all tacitly approved."

There aren't that many saints in this world. People always need to become wealthy themselves before they have the resources to care about whether others are well-fed and clothed.

In theory, if the money were divided equally, everyone could have enough to eat and even have some left over. But who can actually divide it equally? While tolerating the existence of corrupt officials may lead to the illegal concentration of some interests, these same people will also allocate some of the money to others.

If there were no greedy people, these benefits would not be able to circulate, and everyone would become poorer and poorer. This is an unwritten rule, but it is not something that outsiders can easily understand.

Tatsuma naturally understood this, but unspoken rules are a weapon against others, but also a weapon against oneself. Now, Tatsuma wanted to use written rules to fight against unwritten rules, and Matsushita could not refuse, nor was he able to refuse.

Shrugging, Tatsuma said, "I don't understand governing a country, but I do understand who deserves to die. We might not be able to completely eliminate parasites, but those that have grown too big to be a problem shouldn't be kept around, right?"

It means: No saving them.

Matsutsu sighed, nodded, and said, "Lord Tatsuma is right. Let's do it this way. Let them serve as examples to warn other officials."

"It would be best if you could understand."

Tatsuma smiled and nodded. It would be best if he could understand, but there was nothing he could do if he couldn't. As for rescuing those people, Tatsuma felt disgusted and decided not to pursue the matter. That was the greatest respect he could give the Daimyo government.

Three more days passed, and the Land of Wind finally couldn't hold on any longer. One official after another was killed, rogue ninjas ran rampant, and the whole country was in chaos. Even the safety of the daimyo's prefecture was threatened by rogue ninjas.

Some officials who were not on the bounty list were also killed or captured by rogue ninjas during the chaos, waiting for the exchange office to issue more bounties so they could exchange them directly.

Ultimately, the government of the Daimyo of the Land of Wind agreed to the funding request submitted by Sunagakure. Initially, it was just an open check, hoping that Sunagakure would take action to maintain stability as soon as possible. However, the Fourth Kazekage, Yoshinari, rejected it directly, refusing to leave the village without handing over the funds.

The Land of Wind racked its brains, even confiscating the illicit assets of its officials, and finally managed to raise enough funds for the Sand Village to allow the Sand Ninja to leave the village and maintain stability.

Meanwhile, Iwagakure, which had just finished its funding talks, took the opportunity to sign a supplementary agreement. The Fourth Raikage, along with his brother Killer Bee and his staff, moved directly into the Daimyo's palace in the Land of Lightning. Finally, they happily returned to the village with the agreement in hand, escorting the funds and supplies.

While Kirigakure is relatively isolated from news, it is said that they also signed a request for economic development funding. Ultimately, the government of the Land of Fire, drawing on the wisdom of various countries and villages, formulated a new plan.

Inside the meeting room, Chenma held Tanhe's hand with a beaming smile, while Tanhe and the other officials looked as if they had lost their parents, but still had to force a smile as if they were welcoming guests to a funeral.

The five village ninjas, who had recently been fighting to the death on the battlefield, achieved an unprecedented level of perfect teamwork without any formal discussion or even communication. This time, the butcher's knife...

They cut off the purse strings of the governments of various countries.

(End of this chapter)