At Zou Hyuga's words, Taro Utada looked as though he wanted to speak, but hesitated.
Zou Hyuga immediately frowned. Had Taro Utada run into trouble?
At Zou Hyuga's insistence, Utada explained the situation and told him about the trouble he had encountered recently.
To speed up the merchant association's expansion, Utada had brought quite a few nobles from the Land of Fire into its ranks. Through their combined efforts, the association's businesses were spreading throughout the Land of Fire and gradually expanding beyond its borders.
But as the pie grew larger, several nobles had become dissatisfied with their existing share of the profits.
They had quietly banded together to push Utada out, trying to discover who was backing him. Some even suspected that Utada was merely an ordinary man who had stumbled upon a stroke of luck and was bluffing about having a powerful backer.
Utada had hesitated because he feared Zou Hyuga would weigh the pros and cons and replace him as the person in charge.
"What about your guards?" Zou Hyuga asked. After the merchant association had been established, he had sent the other ninja under his control to assist Taro Utada.
"A few guards remain loyal. Most are staying neutral. They seem to intend to side with whoever wins."
Utada answered obediently, inwardly relieved. His leader was still on his side, and he had witnessed his leader's strength not long ago.
"It seems those people have forgotten!"
Zou Hyuga snorted softly, then remembered that he had erased their memories to ensure his own safety. He suddenly felt awkward.
Next, Zou Hyuga asked where those nobles lived. Utada told him one by one, asking him not to cause too much of a disturbance. Harmony was the key to doing business, after all.
Zou Hyuga readily agreed. He was