Hyuga Village, half a year later.
Shinichi stood on high ground in the village and looked out.
The commoners' huts outside the village had now joined into one continuous stretch.
Houses built from yellow mud and timber extended all the way to the distant mountain road.
Far more people passed through the village's southern gate than before.
People pushing carts and carrying loads on shoulder poles lined up outside the wooden wall, waiting to enter.
His eldest uncle walked up the mountain road to the high ground, holding a ledger.
He was smiling, the creases at the corners of his eyes bunching together.
"Shinichi, the payment for the bandit-clearing mission has arrived!"
His uncle opened the ledger in his hands.
"The three hundred million ryo put together by the daimyo and several noble families has all been delivered to the village."
Shinichi looked away from the view and glanced at the ledger.
His uncle slid his finger down the ledger.
"That nobleman who lost his rice paddies turned out to be a man of his word."
"His share was supposed to be twenty million ryo."
"When he saw we'd wiped out the bandits, he insisted on adding another thirty percent."
"He sent us a full twenty-six million ryo!"
His uncle turned another page of the ledger with his finger.
"And then there's everything we brought back from clearing out the bandits."
"We hauled back all the gold, silver, grain, and cloth the bandits had stolen over the past few years."
"I had someone make a rough estimate. Converted to money, it's worth at least around a hundred million ryo."
Following his uncle's gaze, Shinichi looked toward the tall wooden buildings halfway up the mountain.
Those were the warehouses Hashirama had built with Wood Release back then, tall and spacious.
His uncle patted the ledger in his hands.
"Those big warehouses are almost too full to hold anything else now."
"The grain we brought back is enough for everyone in the village to eat their fill for quite a while."
"And those bundles of cloth are enough for every household to make new clothes."
With that, his uncle snapped the ledger shut.
He added up those sums in his head to calculate the total.
The creases on his face smoothed out completely, and he grinned from ear to ear.
"Shinichi, our village really is well-off now."
Just then, a sudden bustle rose at the village's southern gate.
A long caravan entered the village, pushing one large cart after another.
At the very front was none other than the silk-robed merchant from the Land of Fire.
The merchant spotted Shinichi from far away and hurried over with a smile to bow to him.
"Hyuga Clan Leader, the journey here from the Land of Fire was wonderfully peaceful this time."
"We didn't see so much as a single bandit the whole way!"
He pointed at the heavily laden carts behind him.
"I brought plenty of fine goods this time, everything from food to daily necessities."
"I'd like to open a shop here in Hyuga Village. Would that be all right with you?"
Shinichi looked at the carts of goods and nodded.
"Yes, go ahead."
The Hyuga clansmen nearby immediately brightened when they heard a shop would be opening in the village.
Several clansmen who were moving things gathered together, grinning.
"This is great. With a shop in the village, we won't have to run into town to buy things anymore."
The daimyo's residence in the capital of the Land of Rice Fields.
An attendant jogged into the main hall and reported breathlessly.
"Your Highness, Hyuga Village has cleared out every last bandit and wandering ninja within our borders!"
"It's only been a few months, not even half a year!"
The daimyo's teacup stopped at his lips and remained there for a long while.
He stared blankly at the attendant, speechless for quite some time.
Back then, he had paid a fortune to hire wandering ninjas to suppress the bandits, and they had spent years at it.
Yet despite all the money spent, the more they fought the bandits, the more bandits there were.
The Hyuga had only taken over a few months ago, yet they had actually cleared them out completely.
"Your Highness! Wonderful news!"
A nobleman dressed in silk strode in from outside, his face wreathed in smiles.
"I just received word from my men. There isn't a single bandit left on any of the roads!"
"My family's caravans, which have been held up for half a year, set off first thing this morning!"
The daimyo set down his teacup and let out a long breath.
He leaned back in his chair, looking somewhat relieved.
"Letting them build a village here was the right decision."
"Hyuga Village truly is capable."
"With so many bandits and wandering ninjas in the country."
"The Hyuga cleared them all out in less than half a year."
The Land of Fire.
News that there were no more bandits in the Land of Rice Fields slowly reached this country.
None of the merchants in the Land of Fire believed it.
They gathered in their shops, waving their hands dismissively.
"It has to be an exaggeration."
"Bandits in the Land of Rice Fields are as thick as weeds."
"Cleared out in a few months? Who would believe that?"
One bold merchant took a caravan out to try the route.
Pushing his goods along, he traveled from the Land of Fire straight through the Land of Rice Fields.
The caravan followed the main road all the way to the Land of Iron in the far north.
They truly did not encounter a single bandit along the way.
After selling his goods, the merchant returned to the Land of Fire with empty carts and spoke of it in the street.
The merchants of the Land of Fire were all stunned.
They crowded around him, asking him over and over again.
Once they confirmed that the trade route really was open, none of them could sit still any longer.
One wagon of goods after another was pushed onto the main road.
More caravans headed toward the Land of Rice Fields with each passing day.
Inside a teahouse in Konoha.
Several merchants from the Land of Fire sat around a table drinking tea.
"The trade routes through the Land of Rice Fields really are easy to travel now."
"They certainly are. My caravan just passed through the Land of Rice Fields, and we didn't see so much as a single bandit the whole way."
"I heard it was all the work of that newly established Hyuga Village."
"It's incredible. In just a few months, they actually cleared out every last bandit in the Land of Rice Fields!"
Hashirama and Tobirama happened to be sitting at the next table.
Every word of the merchants' chatter reached their ears.
After listening, Hashirama slapped his thigh and broke into a broad grin.
"That kid from the Hyuga Clan really is capable!"
Tobirama held his teacup without responding.
He quickly turned the matter over in his mind.
The bandits in the Land of Rice Fields had been cleared out in a few months because the daimyo and the nobles had pooled their money.
They had given the Hyuga one large mission to clear out the entire country.
But what about the Land of Fire?
Here, the nobles hired Konoha to clear out bandits one commission at a time, each family acting on its own.
Only when a family's trade route ran into trouble or its rice paddies were occupied did it think to put up some money.
A patch here, a patch there, with no coordination at all.
No sooner had Konoha's ninjas cleared one mountain than another band emerged in the wasteland elsewhere.
They had kept chipping away like this until now, yet the bandits within the Land of Fire still had not been fully cleared out.
If only the daimyo and nobles of the Land of Fire could also pool some money.
And give Konoha a mission like that to clear out the bandits throughout the country.
Tobirama set down his teacup and looked at Hashirama.
"Brother, I need to go to the capital and see the daimyo."
Before you continue