As soon as Mito Uzumaki finished speaking, the Daimyo's smile froze on his face.
For the Daimyo of the Land of Fire, wars between ninja villages did not actually affect him much.
The Daimyos of the Five Great Nations, and even those of the smaller countries, were mostly related by blood.
Even if his country's ninja village lost, it would only mean losing face before the other victors. There would be no other losses.
But face was just face. Money, on the other hand, was something tangible.
And war burned money. Konoha had suffered considerable losses in this war.
If the Daimyo had to cover all those expenses, he would be eating dirt next year.
But there was nothing he could do. His father had indeed signed this contract back then.
Konoha had possessed two gods in those days, strong enough to suppress the entire era.
They could establish Konoha in the Land of Fire, or somewhere else.
To keep them there, the previous Daimyo had made many concessions and signed many such agreements.
He had been generous when signing them, since the previous Daimyo had never imagined that those two would kill each other and cause Konoha to lose its protection so quickly.
The Daimyo understood that he could still fool the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, but Mito Uzumaki was not someone who wasted words with him.
I should've just sent an envoy. Why did I insist on coming here to join the fun?
Though his expression did not change, the Daimyo still wanted to make one last struggle.
"The Fourth Hokage must be joking. This was a contract made by the previous Daimyo. It has nothing to do with me."
Hearing that, Mito Uzumaki looked at the Daimyo with a faint, unreadable smile for a while.
Only after