I'll Handle the Logistics

"What?! You gave ten kilograms of gold bricks directly to the Mist ninja who attacked you?! Have you lost your mind?!" Senju Tobirama's roar made the secretary outside the temporary camp, along with Rou Uchiha and Hyuga Kazuko, tremble in their boots.

If nothing else, Senju Tobirama's "zombie face" was quite intimidating.

Yuya spoke with an indifferent expression, "I think it was worth it."

Senju Tobirama slammed his fist onto the table with a "bang": "That was ten kilograms! Ten kilograms! Because of the war, the price of gold has skyrocketed; it's nearly ten thousand ryo per gram now! Do you have any idea what that means?!"

Yuya sighed, then sat down across from Senju Tobirama, staring at him with dead fish eyes: "Uncle-Master, just say what you really want to say."

Seeing that his furious demeanor couldn't bluff this brat, Senju Tobirama coughed awkwardly and tried to justify himself: "I was just worried that your ten kilograms of gold would go down the drain, that's all."

Yuya maintained his dead fish eyes and continued: "The merchant caravan heading to the Land of Water has already set off. If that lead ninja wants to keep those ten kilograms of gold for himself, there is only one path: betray Kirigakure and become a rogue ninja."

There was one thing Yuya didn't say: while ten kilograms was a lot—worth tens of millions of ryo at current prices—it wasn't quite enough to justify betraying one's village.

Furthermore, Yuya's instruction for the caravan to head to the Land of Water had a hidden meaning: he was already prepared for these merchants to deliver a formal letter of intent in the name of Konoha.

The letter would state that Konoha was very eager to do business with the Land of Water, and that they had even sent a ninja to bring a token of sincerity—ten kilograms of pure gold, a gift with absolutely no strings attached. If they didn't believe it, they could simply ask the ninja leader who had led the raid on Twin Cliff Valley.

Yuya believed that as long as the Mizukage wasn't a brain-dead, one-track-minded fool who trusted his subordinates one thousand percent, he would definitely inquire about this money.

After all... money in someone else's hands is never as sweet as money in one's own.

Even if it didn't end up in his pocket, those ten million ryo could still be used to do something for the village.

So, the gold brick Yuya gave that Ice Release ninja had many purposes.

However, the specific outcome would depend on how Kirigakure acted next.

Seeing that Yuya did indeed have a plan, Senju Tobirama couldn't keep beating around the bush. He decided to give up and tapped the table: "You brat must have more gold. Hand it over, and we'll call it even."

Yuya didn't change his expression: "It's gone. I gave it all to that guy."

Senju Tobirama was incensed: "You give gold to the people from Kirigakure who attack you, but I'm your Uncle-Master!"

Yuya curled his lip: "If I give you the money today, you'll just distribute it to the ninja troops on the front lines tomorrow."

Senju Tobirama: "Isn't that a good thing?!"

Yuya sighed: "Uncle-Master, you really don't understand the human heart..."

Senju Tobirama took a deep breath. This was his nephew-in-training; he couldn't hit him. He couldn't hit him, mostly because if he did, it would be even harder to get money out of him. This brat definitely still had a stash. Konoha still needed three roads to connect to the main artery, the Beimi River needed two bridges, the riverbed needed dredging, the wasteland south and west of the village needed to be reclaimed, farm tools needed to be remade, and food was in short supply due to the war...

He hadn't wanted to think about it, but once he did, Senju Tobirama felt like weeping.

They were so short on money; they were truly, desperately short on money!

Taking another deep breath, Senju Tobirama kept his zombie face, but inside he was cursing: You damn brat, do you think I'm the kind of person who wastes money?! You're so generous to others, but you're this stingy with me?!

He couldn't go on being Hokage for another day.

Although he was cursing inside, Senju Tobirama said calmly on the surface: "Since you're so capable, you handle the follow-up supplies."

In his heart, he was certain that since this brat wouldn't give the money to him, he would surely use it to handle the logistics.

That would be one less thing for him to worry about.

Yuya didn't hesitate and nodded in agreement.

To be honest, this incident had scared Yuya too.

The location Senju Tobirama had arranged for him was far from the front lines; logically, no one should have been able to attack him.

Yet, those sneaky bastards from Kirigakure had attacked without even a warning.

Yuya was certain that they weren't the only ones attacked; other places must have been hit as well.

He didn't know what the casualties were.

But no matter how many people died, he was determined to avoid fighting Kirigakure if at all possible.

Even though Konoha had the largest number of ninjas, that didn't mean they had to fight every other ninja village.

If Twin Cliff Valley wasn't safe, then Yuya figured the safest place at this stage was inside Konoha itself.

After all, if a squad of ninjas could make trouble in Konoha, there was only one possibility: the front lines had completely collapsed.

Well, although the Second Hokage, Senju Tobirama, wasn't very sharp and wasn't sensitive to politics, he did have talent in military matters.

After all, he had fought his way through wars back when the Shinobi World still had the Five Great Nations.

Even so, it was impossible to account for every single detail.

Like this time, for instance.

Truth be told, if Yuya admitted he was a student of Senju Hashirama, it wouldn't be impossible for them to go all out to trade lives with him just to prevent the emergence of a second God of Shinobi.

After all, Senju Hashirama had suppressed the restless ambitions of these nations for seventeen years single-handedly.

Seventeen years. They had been sharpening their blades every day, wanting to slaughter the fat sheep that was Konoha, held back only by the man sitting on top of the pig.

Now that the man was dead, they were definitely going to prevent the next Senju Hashirama from appearing.

Fortunately, Yuya had thought of this and decisively claimed to be from the family of Konoha's richest man.

That was technically correct; he was the richest person there.

But of course, the other side didn't think so.

That said, the near-miss with that sneak attack from the rat had served as a wake-up call for Yuya. No, even in the rear, close to the temporary base camp, danger could still find him.

So, Yuya decisively took on the task of handling logistics.

And then, he decided to open Senju Tobirama's eyes.

Watch closely, Uncle-Master, this is how you gather supplies.

Thus, in the late spring and early summer of Year 17 of Konoha, in front of the Hokage Office Building in Konoha.

Yuya erected a high platform, stood atop it, and picked up a megaphone, using a Ninjutsu to amplify his voice.

Yuya delivered a speech to the residents of Konoha.

This speech truly brought him into the view of everyone in Konoha.

Of course, Yuya did not introduce himself as Senju Hashirama's disciple. In fact, it wasn't until the day Yuya became Hokage that the people of Konoha realized that Kamigane Yuya, the man who had led them to prosperity, was actually Senju Hashirama's disciple...

Everything began with today's speech.