Konoha: This Uchiha is extremely sneaky

Chapter 470 Loans

"Is this the Fifth Hokage of Konoha?"

After receiving the approval of the master, Bai Shuang, along with the pro-war faction of the Mist Ninja who supported her, mustered all her strength and organized a force of 3000 men to attack the Konoha ninja led by Toshiro.

However, not long after the battle began, they saw the red chakra giant rampaging in the center of the battlefield.

A deep sense of powerlessness filled his heart.

"Lady Bai Shuang, should we... continue the attack?"

Upon seeing this scene, Bai Shuang's subordinates glanced at the battle situation and then turned their gaze to Bai Shuang, whose face was grim.

"For the glory of Kirigakure, for the future of the village... we cannot let..."

"careful…"

Just as Bai Shuang gritted her teeth, preparing to continue urging her cannon fodder to charge forward, attempting to use their numerical advantage and heavy sacrifices to gain a sliver of hope for further advancement.

His subordinate's exclamation interrupted his speech.

boom!

Before she could even see what was attacking her, Elder Bai Shuang was tackled to the ground by her loyal subordinate.

Then came a violent explosion and billowing smoke.

"This must be the Kirigakure's last stand, right?"

With a flick of his wrist, he threw the magatama from Susanoo's hand into the distance. It looked like the leader was standing beside him. Looking at the endless stream of Kirigakure ninja around him, Toshiro began to get a little impatient.

These people pose no threat to me whatsoever.

However, my main purpose in coming to Kirigakure this time is not to kill. If I go too far, it will be detrimental to the subsequent negotiations.

"Immortal Technique: Water Escape - Breaking the Torrent"

The Susanoo, encased in his body, ignored the attacks from the surrounding Mist Ninja. Its four arms formed hand seals in turn, and as Toshiro infused his Sage Mode chakra, the great river behind him began to surge and roar.

Finally freed from the river's constraints, it surged forth like a raging flood, leaving the surrounding misty creatures disoriented.

"Cough! Cough! Cough!"

Elder Bai Shuang, who had just been saved by his subordinates, was full of ambition, dreaming of defeating the invading enemy from Konoha, becoming the Mizukage, and leading the Mist Ninja to dominate the ninja world.

But before he could recover from the attack, a flood washed away his dreams.

"Retreat...retreat..."

Having just narrowly escaped death, Elder Bai Shuang finally came to terms with reality. He gave an order to his subordinate Mist Ninja and then led the way towards the Hidden Mist Village.

They left behind a group of dumbfounded Mist Ninja.

……

The next day, at the main gate of Kirigakure Village.

"Ah! Is this the Fifth Hokage himself? I've heard so much about you! Please... please come in..."

Today is a rare sunny day, and the Hidden Mist Village, which is usually hidden in thick fog, has revealed its full appearance for the first time.

The water source that surrounded the entire village, the low-rise, bluish-gray buildings, and the unique landscape all made the Konoha ninja following behind Toshiro widen their eyes and begin to look at everything unfamiliar around them.

"You're...the one from yesterday??"

Looking at the Mist Ninja who led the way in receiving them, Toshiro vaguely recognized them; they should be the high-ranking Mist Ninja who led the attack on him yesterday.

"Haha~"

"Yesterday was all a misunderstanding... a misunderstanding..."

Being assigned by Master Yuan to receive the Fifth Hokage and his entourage made Bai Shuang feel as uncomfortable as if she had swallowed a fly.

However, upon thinking of that chakra giant, he immediately suppressed the slight unease in his heart and greeted Toshiro with a beaming smile.

"I must thank the Hokage for showing mercy yesterday!"

Twitching his lips, Toshiro disdained such polite words, but he didn't express it to their faces. Instead, he gave Nara Shikaku a wink.

As the Hokage, he should leave such formalities to his subordinates. He has more important things to do than to argue with them.

"Shizune... How is the Fourth Mizukage doing?"

Although Tsunade did not come to treat Yagura herself, after learning about his condition, she still sent her capable subordinate Shizune to help maintain Yagura's life.

"The water shadow's condition has stabilized. With some rest and a few more treatments, she should be able to recover completely, but..."

As she spoke, Shizune glanced around at the Mist Ninja, clearly worried about their medical conditions and whether any unexpected problems might arise after she took over.

"It's alright... as long as this guy doesn't die at the hands of Konoha."

To cover up the fact that Yagura was controlled by the Sharingan, he went to great lengths, using Shisui's eye technique to alter the memories in the other's mind.

Even if he were to hand it over to the Mist Ninja now, he wouldn't have anything to worry about.

……

"That's the Fifth Hokage? He's really full of youthful energy!"

Just as Toshiro led the Konoha members through the gates of Kirigakure, in the distant Mizukage building, the elderly Genji struggled to open his wrinkled eyelids, trying to make out Toshiro in the distance.

However, his blurred vision only allowed him to see a vaguely familiar figure, but the aura emanating from that person, like the rising sun, still left a deep impression on him.

"I never imagined... that the Uchiha clan would produce a Hokage!"

Shaking his head, Yuan Shi, being such an old-fashioned person, was somewhat aware of the grudges between Senju Hashirama and Uchiha Madara.

I originally thought that the Uchiha clan would either be assimilated by Konoha or be dealt with by Konoha one day.

It's quite unexpected that a Hokage would appear.

"Let's go! Let's go greet our guests who have come from afar!"

After glancing at the complex expressions of the Mist Ninja high-ranking officials around him, Genshi led the way down from the Mizukage building to greet Toshiro and his group.

After a series of ceremonial conversations, Toshiro led the Konoha members to a guesthouse arranged by the Kirigakure.

Two days later.

"Hokage-sama, what's happening in the Mist Village..."

Holding a document in his hand, Nara Shikaku handed it to Toshiro with a slight headache, so that the other party could see the progress of the negotiations over the past two days.

Toshiro had no interest in negotiating with the Mist Ninja and entrusted the matter entirely to him and a few other Konoha Jonin.

"...Does the Mist Ninja have absolutely no intention of engaging in peace negotiations?"

Toshiro, who had been staying in the manor for the past few days without moving around much, looked at the information in his hand and turned his gaze to Nara Shikaku.

"...It's not that they haven't considered signing a peace agreement, it's just...their finances are almost completely depleted, and they simply don't have the money to compensate Konoha for their losses!"

With large dark circles under his eyes, Nara Shikaku looked listless, clearly having not rested much in the past two days.

"To show their sincerity, they even showed us their detailed expenditure records."

With a somewhat helpless sigh, Lu Jiu continued:

"We have reviewed the details carefully, and the Mist Ninja truly cannot afford to compensate us right now."

After listening to Shikaku's detailed report, even Toshiro felt like he'd been screwed over.

He knew that Obito hadn't done anything good with the Hidden Mist Village, but... he hadn't expected that this guy would be so ruthless.

The huge Hidden Mist Village has been completely ransacked by this kid, and the Hidden Mist Village hasn't even noticed.

"Since they're broke... don't they still have ninjas?"

He stroked his chin. The Mist Ninja were no longer profitable; apart from the ninjas themselves, they probably didn't have anything of value.

"Have them send out some Mist Ninja to fight off the pirates at sea. Also, take some of the more difficult missions from our Konoha mission quota and outsource them to these guys so they can complete the missions to pay off their debts."

After a moment's thought, Toshiro offered a solution.

"If that's not enough, have them sign a long-term loan agreement with a higher interest rate."

"Loan agreement?"

Upon hearing Toshiro's suggestion, Shikaku was startled and quickly asked for clarification.

"Wouldn't this speed up the recovery of the Mist Ninja?"

He could understand asking the Mist Ninja to help fight pirates around the Land of Fire, and also assigning some dangerous missions to the Mist Ninja.

But isn't lending money to the Mist Ninja akin to aiding and abetting evil? Isn't this actually helping the Mist Ninja regain their strength?

"Shikaku, a loan is just borrowing future profits, and it's also another way of saying compensation. I think the Mist Ninja would be more willing to accept it."

"If you are worried that loans will cause the ninja to recover too quickly, you can stipulate the scope of loan usage and monitor the use of these loans."

He had never witnessed such a thing in his previous life—using so-called aid loans to control and influence other countries—but he had heard of it to some extent.

It's similar to how the Hokage controls a large amount of funds to purchase resources from various Konoha clans, thereby influencing the political leanings of their clan leaders.

As for accelerating the recovery of the Mist Ninja, he wasn't worried about that at all. With his own strength, there was nothing to fear.

Moreover, loans are like this... borrowing is fun for a while, but repaying them is a nightmare.

The Mist Ninja will have to pay back the principal and interest, otherwise, they'll come to collect the debt in a Gundam. Are you scared yet?

"Moreover, even if the terms of reparations are negotiated, the economic situation in Kirigakure is already very bad. If things get worse, Kirigakure will become unstable again, which is not a good thing for Konoha."

Instead of doing that, why not give the Mist Ninja a helping hand now? Just change the name of the compensation payment and postpone the payment date. The benefits would be more than the original compensation. Why not do it?

"This...maybe it'll work!"

After mentally simulating the feasibility of such an operation, Nara Shikaku glanced at his colleagues around him with mixed feelings.

He hadn't expected that Toshiro would come up with such an... illogical solution.

However, according to the Hokage, it seems feasible, only the payment time will be delayed.

(End of this chapter)