Shingetsu rubbed her hair in frustration and turned her face away, refusing to look at Orochimaru's pitiful expression.
"I did set up a scholarship, but you clearly don't meet the requirements."
Shingetsu was, in fact, an incredibly wealthy woman.
As a princess personally granted her title by the Daimyō of the Land of Fire, she had a dedicated stipend. Though the noble class existed in name only now, Konoha still paid her that money every year of its own accord, multiplying it several times over for good measure.
Put simply, this was the salary Konoha paid her.
Then there was the money the Land of Whirlpools sent her, the money the Uchiha and Senju clans gave her, the spending money from Madara, Hōkaku, Tōka, and Tobirama, and the returns from her various investments.
With all that added together, even Shingetsu herself had no idea how much was sitting in her private treasury.
All she knew was that the money in it kept growing.
Seeing that she had far more money than she could ever spend, Shingetsu simply set some aside for charity, specifically to support students from impoverished families.
The idea had won plenty of approval and support. Not just Madara and the Senju brothers, but many people in the village had generously opened their wallets after hearing about it, each contributing something and earning a good reputation in return.
But Orochimaru clearly wasn't an impoverished student who needed help.
His family background was actually quite good. With both parents being combat shinobi, he couldn't compare to children from shinobi clans, but he was already better off than the vast majority of ordinary people, nowhere near the point of needing financial assistance.
So Shingetsu couldn't give him any of that scholarship money. She took this sort of thing seriously.
She