"Lord Toribo, if the tool expenses are deducted from the spoils of war, it might not be enough, right?"
Umino Sasuke looked both meticulous and deeply worried, but his words concealed a small trap.
"How could it not be enough? Ordinary Sand Ninja might not have much worth taking, but there are three Sand Ninja Puppet Masters here. Their Puppets are quite valuable."
Akimichi Toribo spoke with the air of someone knowledgeable teaching an ignorant subordinate, becoming far more generous as he displayed a bold, hearty manner. Then he laughed. "If it's not enough, we'll follow the rules. Everything we captured will be counted toward the losses."
Aburame Shibi hurriedly tugged at Akimichi Toribo's sleeve and quietly reminded him, "Captain, you should finish cleaning up the battlefield before making a decision."
"Right, let's clean up the battlefield first."
Akimichi Toribo finally realized that he might have spoken too confidently. Unfortunately, he had already made his grand declaration and could not take it back.
"Brother, come here. Report the bill for the tool losses."
Umino Sasuke waved a hand and called Tejudo over.
Thus, the Konoha Ninja began cleaning up the battlefield. The work was simple and quick: use Sealing Scrolls to collect the useful ninja corpses, retrieve any reusable tools, and roughly compare the accounts to ensure there was a way to balance them.
Comparing the accounts was mainly to prevent outrageously inflated loss reports, such as using only one Explosive Tag but claiming that a hundred had been consumed.
"What? You said you used a hundred and fifty Explosive Tags just now?"
Akimichi Toribo immediately jumped to his feet. He had just said only a little had been spent on tools.
Was this what he called a little?
He had opened his mouth and claimed over a hundred Explosive Tags. It was customary to pad reimbursement claims somewhat, but this was far too excessive.
Explosive Tags now cost more than double their usual price. Without four thousand ryō, one could not buy even a single one.
A hundred and fifty Explosive Tags meant over six hundred thousand ryō.
That was nearly the reward for an S-Rank Mission during peacetime.
"Lord Toribo, look at the effect of those explosions. I really didn't overreport them."
Umino Sasuke pointed at the location where Tejudo had previously set up the heavenly net trap, wearing an expression of painful distress.
"Do you take me for an idiot? That was at most eighty or ninety Explosive Tags."
"Look over there too. I used more Explosive Tags to blow up two Fuma Shuriken. Those Fuma Shuriken were custom-made in the Land of Artisans. Each cost fifty thousand ryō. Looks like I'll have to live on bran and vegetables for a while."
"Mm, acceptable."
Akimichi Toribo nodded. By that account, the losses had only been inflated by around thirty percent, which was not too outrageous. Other ninja clan disciples often claimed two or three times their actual losses, so this was still acceptable.
The reimbursement ratio was not the problem. The base amount was simply too large.
Umino Sasuke quickly tried to remedy matters and continued his report. "The tools used in Tejudo's Manipulation Technique: Heavenly Blade Chaos can mostly be recovered, so I won't claim them."
"Mm, good."
Akimichi Toribo nodded in satisfaction. Those varied tools were all fine pieces, and there were so many of them. Even if they were recovered, their upkeep and repair costs would be at least tens of thousands of ryō, yet he was not seeking reimbursement. This subordinate was quite sensible.
But before Akimichi Toribo could be happy for long, Umino Sasuke reported again, "Look at those Double Iron Prison Gates. They've been damaged into scrap metal and will probably need to be reforged. I'll only charge for repairs. Just name a price."
"Why don't I just reimburse you for an S-Rank Mission? What do you think?"
"That would be wonderful."
"You wish. Forget it, there's no need to report anything else. You can have all the spoils of war. The Mission Merit Points for intercepting the Sand Ninja this time will all go to you too, so you can recover some of your losses."
Akimichi Toribo looked at the Double Iron Prison Gates. The steel materials alone cost more than a million ryō, and once the manufacturing costs and the Sealing Talisman on them were included, they could not be made for less than several million ryō.
An S-Rank Mission only paid a little over a million ryō.
Those Double Iron Prison Gates alone were worth the Mission Merit Points of several S-Rank Missions. How could he reimburse that?
The victory in this great battle had been built entirely out of money.
Even if all the Mission Merit Points were added together, they could not make up for the loss of those two gates.
"Sasuke, take it easy in the future. I know everything you did was for the village, but you can't keep subsidizing things like this forever. A person's strength is limited. Once you have a wife and children and become the head of a household, you'll understand how expensive daily life is. Sigh, forget it, forget it. I won't nag anymore."
Akimichi Toribo looked sympathetically at Umino Sasuke, whose Will of Fire was exceptionally strong, and earnestly offered him some concerned advice. In the end, he comforted him further. "Your losses this time were great, but you did not come away empty-handed. The intelligence Kagejiro and the others brought back is no trivial matter. When the Mission Merit Points for that intelligence assignment are awarded, aside from Konohamaru and the others' share, we'll split the rest equally. That should help you recover a little more."
"Lord Toribo is truly generous! Thirty percent for me will be enough."
Seeing such fair distribution, Umino Sasuke did not dare be too greedy.
It was not that he did not want more. Intelligence Mission Merit Points were simply too difficult to handle. Getting thirty percent was only possible because Akimichi Toribo, his superior, was backing him. Otherwise, he would be fortunate to receive even ten percent.
"Fine, thirty percent it is."
Akimichi Toribo nodded. His opinion of Umino Sasuke's social awareness rose another level, and he valued this subordinate even more.
There were quite a few ninja who possessed the Will of Fire, but ninja who had both the Will of Fire and a good understanding of social conduct were rare.
If they also had decent combat strength, they were even more worth recruiting.
"I also have to thank you for your support, Lord Toribo."
Umino Sasuke continued flattering him. Keeping his superior happy would ensure that he visited this area more often in the future, so the Sand Ninja would not choose Sasuke's defense sector as their breakthrough point.
By the end of his flattery, Umino Sasuke even took out two packets of homemade dried fish and secretly slipped them into Akimichi Toribo's hands.
"Sniff! Sniff!" Akimichi Toribo immediately took two deep sniffs through his nose, and his eyes lit up. Besides the salted flavor, there was even curry flavor, and it was a secret recipe.
In Konoha, this was not particularly valuable, but on the front lines, it was a rare delicacy.
Under the assault of food diplomacy, Akimichi Toribo immediately fell. He promised that if Umino Sasuke ever encountered unfair treatment, he only needed to invoke his name. He looked every bit like an elder brother ready to protect his little brother.
"Captain, you still haven't reported your Water Bat."
Tejudo stood nearby with the despondent look of a man whose wife had died. Seeing the two chatting happily, he stepped over with his little notebook and seized the chance to remind him.
"Right, my Water Bat."
Only then did Umino Sasuke remember that his Summoning Beast, the Water Bat, had been casually cut into two pieces by the spiky-haired man and swept away by the river.
Just then, a large swarm of black Kikaichū flew over. Within it, a bluish-black mass could vaguely be seen—the Water Bat's two severed halves.
Clearly.
Aburame Shibi had been monitoring the entire battle against the enemy. Before the battlefield cleanup had even begun, he had already used Kikaichū to retrieve the Water Bat's corpse from the river.
Before you continue