The Four-Nation Commercial Alliance

Senju Tobirama was bewildered. "Your Iwagakure has already finished selecting the Third Tsuchikage?"

The man who came from Iwagakure was a burly fellow named Akatsuchi. He stated, neither humble nor pushy: "Actually, the village is still fighting, but everyone reached a consensus that making money doesn't conflict with the selection of the Third Tsuchikage."

"Although we had conflicts with you Konoha before, didn't Kirigakure also nearly ambush and wipe out a Konoha squad? Neither side has any deep-seated hatred; there's nothing wrong with talking about money when it's time to talk about money."

Yuya, listening from the side, was stunned.

No, brother, are you really this straightforward?!

Akatsuchi continued, neither humble nor pushy: "Our Iwagakure prides itself on being honest. Before, when Kumogakure gave us money to help them fight you, we fought. Now that you can bring benefits to our Iwagakure, we have set aside our disputes to come and discuss cooperation with you."

Senju Tobirama didn't overthink it. The fact that Iwagakure was definitely not going to interfere in the upcoming war between Konoha and Kumogakure was great news for Konoha, so he agreed first.

Yuya agreed as well. Besides, it wasn't easy for them to travel all the way from Iwagakure, and peaceful coexistence was beneficial for both villages.

Consequently, Yuya discovered a problem: Konoha didn't have a dedicated place to host foreign guests.

Hmm...

It seemed there never was one.

After some thought, Yuya wrote this down in his little notebook.

Konoha would definitely expand its outer city in the future, but while it was fine for people from small villages to stay in the outer city, having people from major villages of equal standing to Konoha stay there...

That wouldn't just be losing face for them; it would be losing face for Konoha itself.

However, looking at the space within Konoha's inner city...

There really wasn't any more room to convert into accommodations for foreign guests.

The only thing that could be moved...

Yuya's gaze landed on a residence; it was where he had lived for the past few years...

His teacher's wife still lived there now...

Yuya shook his head. No, this place absolutely could not be touched.

Although Yuya knew that if he asked, Uzumaki Mito would not refuse, Yuya could not bring himself to do such a thing.

Rather than having Uzumaki Mito sacrifice her own interests for the sake of the big picture, it would be better to...

Yuya looked toward the clan compounds of the other families in Konoha's inner city.

The Uchiha compound was too remote, not suitable for building a hotel to welcome foreign guests.

The most suitable one was definitely... the Hyuga clan.

This clan was located in the northwest of Konoha and occupied one-twentieth of the inner city's size. It was smaller than the Uchiha compound, but the Uchiha compound was far from the core area of Konoha, while this place was very close to the core...

However, now was not the time to requisition land.

Those muscle-headed idiots from Kumogakure hadn't signed a peace treaty yet; he couldn't stir up internal conflict in the village at this time.

Withdrawing his thoughts, Senju Tobirama took Yuya to the conference room to discuss the cooperation matters with the Iwagakure envoy, Akatsuchi.

However, after Akatsuchi handed over the document filled with terms to Tobirama, Tobirama opened it, and his eyes immediately flared with red light. He looked at Akatsuchi dangerously and said, "Is this Iwagakure's idea of cooperating with our Konoha? This is clearly an attempt to get something for nothing!"

Akatsuchi remained expressionless. "Our Iwagakure is very trustworthy. If Konoha does not agree, there is nothing we can do."

Yuya, standing behind Tobirama, saw it clearly. Iwagakure's terms were actually quite simple: Konoha would lend them one billion Ryo, to be paid off in ten years, with an interest rate of 5% per year—that is, 50 million Ryo per year.

Then, Konoha would invest in building factories in Iwagakure. The Land of Earth had iron ore, and quite a lot of it.

Twenty percent of the output from the first three years would go to Konoha.

Then, both sides would abolish tariffs on commercial trade to allow merchants to pass through without obstacles.

Konoha's goods would be sold to Iwagakure at the original price...

The above was basically a copy of the treaty Konoha had signed with Kirigakure.

Strictly speaking, Yuya saw no problems with these terms.

However, in Senju Tobirama's eyes, he didn't believe for a second that Iwagakure would actually pay back the money after getting the one billion Ryo.

And why should the interest rate be so low?

It should at least be 10%, right?

Senju Tobirama's first reaction was to refuse. Yuya coughed, and Senju Tobirama turned to look at him. "Do you have something to say?"

Yuya nodded.

At this moment, Akatsuchi also noticed Yuya and asked curiously, "And this is..."

Yuya: "I am a nameless junior learning under the Hokage-sama. Please, don't mind me."

Akatsuchi nodded. It was normal for a youth to follow the shadow of a village to learn; it showed that the youth was trusted and valued by the leader.

Yuya whispered a few words to Senju Tobirama. Senju Tobirama thought for a moment and said to Akatsuchi, "I will take these terms back to review and will give you a reply another day."

Akatsuchi nodded. "Then I will trouble you, Hokage."

In his heart, he had already lost hope and prepared to return to Iwagakure after waiting for the result here in Konoha.

Akatsuchi left, and Senju Tobirama and Yuya began to discuss these terms.

Yuya felt that this one billion Ryo could be lent out.

However, Senju Tobirama refused to believe that Iwagakure would honor the contract and repay the money on time.

Yuya sighed helplessly; Senju Tobirama, in the end, still did not grasp the mechanics of economic warfare.

The one billion Ryo would certainly not be lent for free; Iwagakure would have to provide collateral.

What did Iwagakure have in abundance?

The rich mineral deposits of the Land of Earth, of course.

Unlike the Land of Wind, where the surroundings of Sunagakure were dirt poor while the Daimyo of the Land of Wind was exceptionally wealthy, the Daimyo of the Land of Earth was all about trust.

Perhaps it was also because he understood that the Land of Earth could only be peaceful if its ninja village was strong, so the Land of Earth heavily subsidized Iwagakure, ensuring their annual funding was quite sufficient.

In any case, news of people starving to death had never emerged from the Land of Earth.

It was completely different from the Land of Wind.

After all, the mineral deposits, oases, and other prosperous areas of the Land of Wind were all in the hands of the Land of Wind's Daimyo.

Sunagakure wanted them? They had to beg; if the Daimyo was in a good mood, he might toss them some money, but if he was in a bad mood, they could get lost.

Yuya's target was clearly the mineral deposits within the Land of Earth.

Unfortunately, Senju Tobirama was unimpressed by this proposal, because he felt that even if Iwagakure agreed, if Konoha sent people to collect, the other side would surely renege and refuse to pay. It would be a waste of effort, so why not just refuse from the start?

Yuya could only sigh; there were some things he could not say. If Iwagakure agreed and then reneged, the team Konoha sent to collect would be permanently detained in Iwagakure. However, Yuya could guarantee that Iwagakure's future commercial credit would drop to freezing point, and merchants would be unwilling to go to the Land of Earth. Yuya could slowly strangle the economy of the Land of Earth and then bleed it dry to fatten Konoha. The only loss would be a single team sent by Konoha.

But he certainly could not say that out loud.

Very well, since Senju Tobirama distrusted Iwagakure so much, he would change the approach.

Lend one hundred million per year, with the one billion spread over ten years. At the same time, Iwagakure could offset this one hundred million Ryo in aid by providing Konoha with goods of equivalent value, such as grain or crops.

Or they could provide ninjutsu scrolls, which Konoha would purchase at twenty percent above the market price.

However, as long as the future Tsuchikage of Iwagakure wasn't a fool, they would never use ninjutsu scrolls for such an exchange.

Senju Tobirama expressed satisfaction with this plan proposed by Yuya.

Why didn't he just give this plan from the start?

He had to insist on that ridiculous proposal he made earlier.

Yuya sighed helplessly, then slipped away immediately after finishing work to collect gold from a small gold mine he had previously discovered.

There was plenty of gold here—dozens of tons—but unfortunately, most of it was deep underground. Although Yuya's abilities had improved, he could only explore up to ten kilometers deep. To go any further, he would have to wait for his abilities to grow further.

But there was no rush; getting a few hundred kilograms this time was enough.

Yuya was thirteen years old this year; he had plenty of time, so he could take it slow.

In total, Yuya already had over a ton of gold.

It sounded like a lot, but if he used his ability to compress a ton of gold into a cube, it would be less than 40 centimeters in length, width, and height. It was quite small—a regular suitcase could hold it, though whether one could drag it was another matter.

Yuya could even choose not to seal this gold in a scroll and instead have it cover his body.

But carrying a ton of gold while walking would be far too heavy, unless he used his ability to support it at all times...

Hiss...

That actually seemed like a good way to train his ability.

Very well, Yuya decided to train his ability.

That was one thing he could not neglect.

The next day, on this day in the 19th year of Konoha, with Akatsuchi having held absolutely no hope, Senju Tobirama found him and proposed the loan plan of one hundred million per year, with Iwagakure allowed to repay the debt with supplies.

Akatsuchi was a bit stunned; they actually agreed?

Although...

Iwagakure had never actually intended to renege on the debt in the first place.

Akatsuchi thought about it carefully and understood: Hmm, it must be that Konoha doesn't want us, Iwagakure, to intervene in the conflict between Konoha and Kumogakure.

Yes, that must be it.

It had to be said that, to a certain extent, the people of the Land of Earth, the Land of Wind, and the Land of Water really did have quite a lot in common.

In the 19th year of Konoha, the four villages of Konoha, Iwagakure, Sunagakure, and Kirigakure formed a Commercial Alliance.

It was said that on this day, the Second Raikage of Kumogakure was so angry that he smashed everything in the Raikage's office.

There is a video on Bilibili of a foreigner picking up 35 kilograms of gold; those interested can look it up. It's just a bit larger than a palm and weighs 35 kilograms. A ton is just nearly thirty of those combined, so it really isn't a very large volume.