Even Konoha had no supplies to spare!

On the streets of Konoha.

Shinichi walked through the crowd with Scarface.

The Hyuga were running out of kunai and shuriken, and there were none to be bought in the Land of Rice Fields.

Carrying banknotes worth two hundred million ryo, Shinichi had come to Konoha to buy a batch of ninja tools to meet their urgent needs.

"Clan leader, Konoha is really crowded now."

Scarface looked at the rows of shops lining the street.

Shinichi was just about to reply when a tall man approached them.

The man wore dark, wide-sleeved casual clothes, his long black hair hanging down his back. Upon seeing Shinichi, he immediately laughed loudly and waved.

"Clan Leader Shinichi!"

His voice was so loud that quite a few people along the street looked over.

Shinichi stopped.

"Lord Hokage."

The newcomer was none other than Hashirama Senju.

Hashirama strode up to him and clapped a hand on his shoulder.

"Have you settled into the houses I built?"

Shinichi nodded.

"Thanks to you, Lord Hokage, our clansmen have settled in very well."

"I came to Konoha today because there's something I'd like your help with, Lord Hokage."

Hashirama spoke loudly.

"Whatever the trouble is, just tell me!"

Shinichi explained why he had come.

"The Hyuga are running out of ninja tools, and we can't buy any in the Land of Rice Fields."

"I'd like to buy a batch of ninja tools from Konoha."

"As long as Konoha is willing to sell, money is no problem."

Upon hearing this, Hashirama immediately thumped his chest.

"And here I thought it was something serious."

"No problem!"

"Leave it to me!"

After thumping his chest, Hashirama suddenly reached up and scratched his head.

"Although, I don't really handle the village's day-to-day affairs."

"Tobirama usually manages Konoha's supplies and accounts."

"You'll have to talk to Tobirama about buying ninja tools."

"Come on, I'll take you there right now."

The three followed the street toward the Hokage Building.

Hashirama talked nonstop along the way.

"Shinichi, how many people are living in your Hyuga Village now?"

Walking beside him, Shinichi answered.

"Over three thousand clansmen. Quite a few civilians have also come to the outskirts of the village, where they've cleared land and settled down."

Hashirama turned his head and asked curiously.

"I heard you cleared out all the bandits in the Land of Rice Fields in just a few months?"

"Is that true?"

Shinichi nodded.

"We cleared them all out. Not a single one was left."

Hashirama laughed and clapped his hands.

"The Hyuga really are something!"

"So many bandits, and you wiped them all out in just a few months!"

Scarface followed behind them, grinning so widely he could not close his mouth.

Lord Hokage was praising the Hyuga like this right out on the street. Once he told the clansmen back in the village, he would have enough to boast about for days.

Before long, the three arrived at the Hokage Building.

Hashirama led them upstairs and pushed the office door open without knocking.

Tobirama was sitting behind his desk, reviewing documents.

At the sound, he raised his head and glanced at the people coming in.

Seeing that it was Shinichi following Hashirama, Tobirama said nothing and waited for Hashirama to speak.

Hashirama walked casually up to the desk.

"Tobirama, the Hyuga want to buy a batch of ninja tools from our Konoha."

"Arrange it for them!"

Tobirama set his pen on the desk and pointed to a nearby chair.

"Have a seat."

Shinichi walked over and sat down, while Scarface stood behind him.

Tobirama looked at Shinichi and asked directly.

"How many ninja tools do the Hyuga need?"

Shinichi looked at Tobirama behind the desk.

"Lord Tobirama."

"The Hyuga would like to buy ten thousand shuriken."

"Five thousand kunai."

"And five thousand explosive tags."

After hearing this, Tobirama fell silent for a moment.

He knew exactly how many ninja tools remained in the village's storehouses.

He looked at Shinichi across from him.

"Konoha's ninja tools are all forged by the individual clans."

"Our usual output can only cover the needs of Konoha's own ninja first."

"The ninja tools the village currently has amount to only a small fraction of what you're asking for."

"If we gave all of them to your Hyuga..."

"Konoha's own ninja would have none left to use."

Standing behind Shinichi, Scarface did not dare make a sound as he listened.

Hashirama, who had been standing nearby with a smile on his face, froze.

He had just thumped his chest and given them his word out on the street.

Hashirama's smile faded, and he turned to Tobirama.

Tobirama ignored him.

In truth, Konoha still had plenty of ninja tools in stock, but he simply did not want to sell them, especially not to Hyuga Village.

Hyuga Village lay directly north of the Land of Fire, firmly blocking its doorstep.

Now the trade routes in the Land of Rice Fields had been fully opened.

Large numbers of merchant caravans were heading there, and Hyuga Village had plenty of money on hand.

They had money, and a daimyo backing them.

If Konoha supplied them with a large batch of weapons at this point...

Hyuga Village would only develop faster.

Just a few days earlier, he had been rebuffed at the Land of Fire's daimyo's residence.

He was watching merchants and money from the Land of Fire pour into the Land of Rice Fields.

And Shinichi Hyuga had chosen this very moment to show up and ask for such a large batch of ninja tools.

He would never agree to that.

"That's not right, Tobirama."

"Didn't Konoha stockpile plenty of ninja tools before?"

"Never mind anything else, our Senju Clan's old storehouses alone had piles of them."

"How can we not even spare this much?"

His expression unchanged, Tobirama looked at Hashirama and spoke.

"Brother, you never concern yourself with any of this, so you don't know how many ninja tools the village consumes every day."

"The Sarutobi Clan and the Shimura Clan have only recently moved into the village."

"And the Ino-Shika-Cho Clans have also been joining Konoha one after another."

"Settling so many people in the village is extremely expensive."

"Those clans haven't even finished setting up their own forges for making ninja tools yet."

"More than half the ninja tools we had stored away have already been distributed to them."

"As for the little that remains, Konoha's own ninja go on missions every day, and we still need them ourselves."

"Konoha has no supplies to spare now either."

After hearing this, Hashirama stood before the desk without a word for a long while.

The Sarutobi, Shimura, and Ino-Shika-Cho ninja clans had indeed only recently joined Konoha.

Having just moved into the village, those major clans needed ninja tools for everything. It did seem to make sense.

Worst of all, Tobirama had managed the village's supplies and accounts ever since its founding, and Hashirama had never so much as glanced at them.

He wanted to argue, but could not come up with a single rebuttal.

The Hokage who had just been thumping his chest and giving his word on the street suddenly wilted.

Shinichi rose from his chair.

"Since Konoha can't spare them either, I won't trouble you any further, Lord Tobirama."

Tobirama nodded, picked up his pen, and continued reviewing his documents.

His face full of shame, Hashirama hurried after them.

He escorted Shinichi and Scarface all the way out of the building.

As they walked down the corridor, Hashirama sighed several times.

"Shinichi, I let you down today."

"I clearly promised you out on the street."

"I'm really sorry."

Shinichi turned his head.

"This isn't your fault, Lord Hokage."

Hashirama patted his shoulder again.

"If the Hyuga need anything else next time, just come to me!"

Only when they reached the entrance to the Hokage Building did Hashirama stop and head back inside.

Shinichi had not believed a single word Tobirama had just said.

But whether he believed him or not made no difference. Tobirama refused to sell, and even Hashirama could do nothing about it.

Konoha being unable to provide that many did not mean the individual ninja clans had none either.

Without Tobirama's approval, the Senju certainly would not sell either.

Aside from the Senju, Konoha's other major clan was the Uchiha.

Shinichi turned to Scarface.

"Come on, we're going to the Uchiha Clan Compound!"

"Let's go meet Madara Uchiha!"