This was a meeting room.
When Sandaime arrived, Homura, Koharu, and Orochimaru had already been waiting for quite some time.
When he first entered, the atmosphere had clearly been somewhat delicate. With his arrival, however, that delicate tension gradually dissolved.
He sat down.
"Hiruzen, you're here." Mitokado Homura greeted him heartily.
"Sensei." Orochimaru also greeted him with a smile.
Utatane Koharu spoke next. "Hiruzen, the village comes first."
She was reminding Sandaime of where he stood.
Sandaime nodded.
Then Utatane Koharu turned to Orochimaru. "Orochimaru, we need to properly discuss how the security fees will be allocated and used after they are collected."
Orochimaru smiled and glanced at Sandaime before saying to Utatane Koharu, "Senior Utatane, since this money comes from the Joint Security Plan, it should naturally be used for the plan. Do you see any problem with that?"
Utatane Koharu thought for a moment, then shook her head. "No."
She was no fool. She understood that such an enormous plan required sufficient funding to support it.
After all, they could not truly rely entirely on those merchants, could they? The security fees were what Konoha would use to maintain leadership over this plan.
"Senior Utatane, I'm glad we share this understanding." Orochimaru nodded. "That's right. This money must be used for the plan. After all, this plan carries the vision that led Lord First to establish the village!"
Once such unimpeachable words had been spoken, Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura had no way to refute them.
Orochimaru continued, "I'm very pleased that the two seniors have joined us to discuss the allocation and use of these funds."
Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura finally breathed a sigh of relief. This was what they wanted.
To involve themselves in something like this, to seize in the final years of their