"What?! You gave ten kilograms of gold bars straight to the Mist Ninja who attacked you?! Have you lost your mind?!" Senju Tobirama's furious roar made the young secretary outside the temporary camp, along with Rou Uchiha and Hyuga Kazuko, quiver in fear.
Putting everything else aside, Senju Tobirama's stone-faced expression was pretty intimidating.
Yuya spoke nonchalantly. "I think it was worth it."
Senju Tobirama slammed his fist onto the table. "That was ten kilograms! Ten kilograms! The price of gold has soared because of the war. It's nearly ten thousand Ryo per gram now! Do you understand what that means?!"
Yuya sighed, then sat down across from Senju Tobirama and looked at him with dead fish eyes. "Uncle, just say what you want to say."
Seeing that his furious expression wasn't scaring the brat, Senju Tobirama could only cough awkwardly and try to justify himself. "I really was worried you'd let all that gold go to waste."
Yuya kept his dead-fish stare as he continued, "The caravan bound for the Land of Water has already set out. If the leading ninja wants to keep those ten kilograms of gold for himself, he has only one option: betray Kirigakure and become a rogue ninja."
There was something Yuya didn't say: ten kilograms was a lot, and at today's prices it was worth over ten million Ryo, but it still didn't seem like enough to justify betraying one's village.
And Yuya's decision to send the caravan to the Land of Water had another purpose. He was ready to have the merchants deliver a letter of introduction on Konoha's behalf.
The letter would make it clear that Konoha was eager to do business with the Land of Water. To show its sincerity, it had even sent a ninja carrying a gift of ten kilograms of gold, with absolutely nothing expected in return. If they didn't believe it, they could ask the ninja who had led the attack on Twin Cliff Valley.
Yuya was sure that as long as the Mizukage wasn't a complete idiot, stubbornly trusting his subordinates a thousand percent, he would ask about the money.
After all... money in someone else's hands was always better in your own.
And even if he didn't spend it on himself, those ten million Ryo could still do something for the village.
So Yuya had plenty of reasons for giving that gold bar to the leading Ice Release ninja.
Exactly how things would play out, though, depended on what Kirigakure did next.
Seeing that Yuya really had a plan, Senju Tobirama realized there was no point beating around the bush. He gave up and tapped the table. "You've definitely got more gold. Hand it over, and we'll call it even."
Yuya didn't so much as blink. "I don't. I gave it all to that guy."
Senju Tobirama grew angry. "You give gold to the Kirigakure ninja who attacked us, but not to your own uncle?!"
Yuya pursed his lips. "If I give you money today, you'll hand it out to the ninja units at the front tomorrow."
Senju Tobirama said, "And that's a bad thing?!"
Yuya sighed. "Uncle, you really don't understand people..."
Senju Tobirama took a deep breath. He was his nephew; he couldn't hit him. He couldn't hit him. Besides, if he did, he'd have even less chance of getting the money. The brat definitely still had some stashed away. Konoha still needed three roads connecting to the main highway, two bridges over the Beimi River, and the river channel dredged. The wasteland south and west of the village needed to be cultivated, farming tools had to be remade, and the war had left them short on food...
The thought alone brought Senju Tobirama to the brink of tears.
They were so short on money. So, so short!
He took another deep breath. His face remained as impassive as a corpse's, but inwardly he was cursing. You little bastard, do you think I'm the sort to waste money?! You're so generous with everyone else, but stingy as hell with me, huh?!
I can't keep doing this Hokage job for another day.
Though he was cursing inwardly, Senju Tobirama spoke calmly. "Since you're so capable, you can handle the follow-up supplies."
He was convinced that if Yuya wouldn't give him the money, the brat would at least spend it on supplies and logistics.
That would take one worry off his shoulders.
Yuya didn't hesitate. He nodded and agreed.
To be honest, this incident had scared Yuya too.
Senju Tobirama had assigned him a place far from the front lines. In theory, no one should have been able to attack him there.
But Kirigakure, those sneaky bastards, had tried to launch a surprise attack without even giving them warning.
Yuya was certain his wasn't the only location that had been attacked. Other places had surely been hit too.
He had no idea how many casualties there were.
But no matter how many people had died, they should avoid fighting Kirigakure if at all possible.
Konoha had more ninja than any other village, but that didn't mean it had to fight all the other villages at once.
If even Twin Cliff Valley wasn't safe, Yuya figured the safest place at this stage was probably Konoha itself.
After all, if a ninja squad could cause trouble in Konoha, it could only mean one thing: the front lines had completely collapsed.
Well, Senju Tobirama, the Second, wasn't exactly the sharpest when it came to politics, but he was still a talented military leader.
He had risen through the wars back when the Shinobi World still had the Five Great Nations, after all.
Even so, no one could keep an eye on every little detail.
Like this time.
To be fair, if Yuya admitted to being Senju Hashirama's student, the other villages might go all out to prevent a second God of Shinobi from emerging—even if it meant trading their lives for his.
After all, Senju Hashirama had kept these nations' ambitions in check for seventeen years.
Seventeen years. They had spent every day sharpening their blades, eager to slaughter Konoha, the fat lamb—held back only by the man sitting on its back.
Now that man was dead, they would definitely try to prevent another Senju Hashirama from appearing.
Fortunately, Yuya had thought of that and promptly said he was from the family of Konoha's richest man.
There was nothing wrong with that. He was the richest man himself.
Of course, the other side didn't see it that way.
Even so, this close call with the sneaky bastards had jolted Yuya awake. No, even if he stayed in the rear, close to the temporary headquarters, he could still be in danger.
So Yuya readily accepted the task of handling logistics.
Then he decided to open Senju Tobirama's eyes.
Watch closely, Uncle. This is how you gather supplies.
And so, in late spring and early summer of Year 17 of Konoha, in front of the Hokage Office Building in Konoha...
Yuya built a raised platform. Standing on it, he picked up a megaphone fitted with a sound-amplifying ninjutsu.
Yuya gave a speech to the residents of Konoha.
With that speech, he truly came into the view of everyone in Konoha.
Of course, Yuya didn't claim to be Senju Hashirama's student. In fact, it wasn't until the day Yuya became Hokage that the people of Konoha learned that Kamigane Yuya, the man who had led them to prosperity, had been Senju Hashirama's student...
It all began with today's speech.
Before you continue