"Impossible! Your demands are completely unreasonable!"
Konoha, Land of Fire.
Toka Senju slammed a hand down onto the desk and retorted without hesitation, "We simply do not have such a massive quantity of rare metals, and even if we did, there is no way we would hand them over to you."
On the other side of the desk, Kakuzu calmly took a sip of tea and drawled unhurriedly, "These are the terms your Konoha agreed to in the first place. Surely you aren't planning to welsh on the debt now, are you?"
"I didn't say we were welshing, but we never agreed to give you this much rare metal in the first place!"
Toka Senju rubbed her aching temples. Right now, Senju Hashirama was away at the Land of Fire Daimyo Palace negotiating matters with the Fire Daimyo rather than in Konoha, and Tobirama Senju was still in seclusion developing ninjutsu. Consequently, the task of delivering the supplies according to the contract had fallen squarely onto Toka Senju's shoulders.
At that thought, Toka Senju glanced at Enkō, who had been sitting quietly in the corner the entire time. It seemed he was merely there as an escort, and all authority in the negotiations rested with this man named Kakuzu.
The third-in-command of the Uchiha Clan showing up here was within her expectations, as that was simply the current internal dynamic of the Flame Hidden Village: Uchiha Madara was the Flame Shadow in name, but Uchiha Enkō coordinated most of the affairs in the Land of Flame.
Her coming was one thing, but he had no idea where she had dug up a character like this. You could call him a ninja, but his negotiating posture was more mercantile than any merchant's—and not even an honest merchant at that, but a