Sarutobi residence.
"That's what happened. There was nothing I could do."
Tsunade sat before Biwako, spreading her hands helplessly.
Biwako, too, looked troubled. "Fifty million ryo..."
That was no small sum, not something just any family could casually produce.
Biwako sighed. "You really know how to cause trouble."
Tsunade appeared rather meek before her teacher's wife, muttering softly, "I never thought they'd chase the debt all the way to the village."
Seeing Biwako struggling with the matter, Tsunade cautiously asked, "Can you... come up with that much?"
Biwako said helplessly, "You'd have to sell me first."
Tsunade looked shocked. "No way. Teacher Sarutobi was Hokage for so long, after all."
Biwako shot Tsunade a glare. "What do you take your teacher for? He didn't become Hokage to amass wealth."
It was precisely because Hiruzen Sarutobi had served as Hokage for so long that his family had never cared much about money. None of them were people who craved material pleasures; having a comfortable quality of life was more than enough.
And after Sarutobi's death, the Fifth Hokage had given their family a generous monthly allowance.
Tsunade frowned miserably. "Then what am I supposed to do?"
After thinking it over, Biwako said, "I'll ask Ryoji for help and have the clan scrape some together for you."
Ryoji was Sarutobi Ryoji.
Tsunade immediately said, "Forget it..."
Like the Uchiha Clan, the Sarutobi Clan's households were scattered all over the place.
It would have been fine if they were one large family like the Hyuga Clan, but for Biwako to gather the money now meant borrowing from more than a dozen, perhaps even twenty-some households.
In the end, Tsunade would owe favors to countless people.
Biwako turned and went into the inner room. When she came back out, she held a thick stack