"I fought for you to the very end, and you stabbed me in the back first, you bastard! I'll kill you!"
After hearing this, Tsunade cursed loudly and mercilessly slapped Hizashi across the face, hitting him until he didn't dare utter another word.
Shikaku also disagreed with Tsunade's proposal.
He pointed out that, as Hokage, she could not continue a war simply because of a momentary fit of anger.
Konoha had already experienced too many wars. Its strength was exhausted, and it could not afford any more losses.
Tsunade remained silent, but it was obvious she did not accept Shikaku's suggestion.
So she chose to ignore his opinion and stick to her own position.
Then, the gazes of all three turned toward Sho, because at present, the only force in Konoha capable of countering Kumogakure was the Uchiha Clan.
Sho's strength was already well known. He had single-handedly killed more than half of the Uchiha Clan, ruled the entire clan with an iron fist, and personally taken his elder brother's eyes to obtain the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan.
Such an astonishing record was unique in the entire Ninja World. The current Sho was practically a younger Uchiha Madara. If he took action, the threat from Kumogakure would be nothing to worry about.
However, Sho ignored their gazes, having no intention of getting involved in something that required effort, offended people, and offered no benefits.
Seeing this, Tsunade immediately understood Sho's meaning and stated that, as long as Uchiha Sho went to the battlefield against Kumogakure, fifty percent of Kumogakure's war reparations would be awarded to the Uchiha Clan.
This condition was undoubtedly extremely tempting, as money and profit were irresistible temptations for anyone.
Upon hearing this proposal, Sho's eyes instantly lit up, and he agreed without hesitation.
Then, to the utter bewilderment of Tsunade and the other two, he immediately slaughtered the remaining Kumogakure delegation on the spot.
Sho led the Konoha Ninja Army and crushed Kumogakure's forces with lightning speed, sweeping irresistibly toward the capital of the Land of Lightning and forcing the nation to surrender unconditionally.
After this war, the Land of Lightning was forced to sign a series of unequal treaties and pay an enormous indemnity.
Rather than negotiating with Kumogakure, Sho chose to lead his troops directly to the Land of Lightning Daimyō's doorstep, seizing wealth straight from the Land of Lightning's treasury.
He understood very well that negotiating with Kumogakure would only bring limited gains. How much money could a bunch of rough laborers possibly have? At most, they could offer a few mission quotas.
War is an extension of politics; every battle must serve one's own interests. Negotiating directly with the Land of Lightning Daimyō would bring far greater benefits.
Otherwise, even a powerful village like Konoha would eventually end up with no one left to use.
Therefore, Sho's true target from the very beginning was the Land of Lightning Daimyō.
Through plundering the Land of Lightning Daimyō, nobles, and wealthy families, Sho obtained a one-time fortune equivalent to Konoha Village's military budget for the next fifty years, along with numerous indemnity treaties and mining rights.
This staggering haul shocked the entire Ninja World.
Everyone was dumbfounded by this astonishing wealth, having never imagined that riches could be acquired in such a manner.
Previous Ninja Wars, no matter how fierce, had merely been conflicts between ninja.
But Sho led Konoha's ninja forces to directly plunder more than half of the Land of Lightning, seize the Daimyō's residence, and force the Daimyō to sign unequal treaties.
This action struck directly at what every Daimyō and wealthy merchant in the world feared most.
Soon afterward, the Fire Daimyō publicly announced that Konoha must hand over the culprit, Uchiha Sho, or the Land of Fire would cease providing military funding to Konoha Village.
The Daimyō of the other four great nations, along with numerous smaller countries, also publicly placed bounties on Uchiha Sho, demanding that the Hokage hand over every participant in the plundering for execution.
Faced with this situation, Sho remained completely calm.
Instead, he took his spoils of war and went to Tsunade's house to split the loot with her.
However, when Tsunade looked at the mountain of banknotes, gold, silver, jewelry, and antique treasures Sho placed before her, she silently burned the Daimyō's letter.
Are you kidding? With this much money, why would I still need you to provide military funding?
The two of them then found Hiashi and Shikaku, gathered the members of Konoha F4, and began discussing how to deal with the bounties issued by the various Daimyō.
Hiashi and Shikaku stared blankly at the mountain of wealth before their eyes.
A moment later, their eyes lit up as they eagerly joined the discussion, as if the door to a whole new world had been opened.
After discussing throughout the night, the four quickly drafted a letter and sent it to the Four Great Ninja Villages, expressing their willingness to cooperate with them in making money together.
The proposal in the letter was extremely tempting.
The villages would accept commissions from the Daimyō and demand the highest possible rewards.
Konoha Village would then symbolically resist while gradually retreating.
During this process, the major ninja villages could freely plunder the wealth of the nobles and wealthy merchants.
Afterward, Konoha would launch a counterattack while simultaneously raiding the common people's assets within those territories.
Finally, Konoha guaranteed that all spoils seized by each side would belong entirely to the side that captured them, with no later redistribution or accounting.
This proposal was incredibly tempting to the Kage of every Ninja Village.
Even many ninja from the villages of smaller countries were deeply tempted and wanted to join this grand feast of plundering mortal wealth.
The reason wars constantly erupted throughout the Ninja World was, at its core, to reduce the population.
After all, every country had only limited resources and missions, which were insufficient to support too many ninja.
As a result, they could only wage war and seize missions from other countries in order to survive.
However, when Uchiha Sho shattered thousands of years of convention, extended his demonic claws toward ordinary civilians, and plundered immense amounts of wealth, he directly opened the door to a completely new world for all ninja.
The ninja suddenly realized that even if Uchiha Sho robbed the Daimyō's wealth, the only thing the Daimyō could do was hire other ninja for revenge.
When dealing with ninja, the only weapon available to ordinary people was money.
In that case, rather than accepting employment from those commoners, wouldn't it be better to cooperate with Konoha and jointly plunder the wealth of ordinary people?
Besides, how much money could they possibly earn by fighting Konoha?
Anyone who had fought Konoha knew exactly how terrifying its military strength was. It was a force capable of fighting one against four and still emerging victorious.
In contrast, the wealthy merchants and nobles of the Land of Fire were overflowing with riches. Without Konoha's protection, robbing just one of them would be enough to cover several years' worth of expenses.
Although, for thousands of years, ninja who adhered to the principle of loyalty to their sovereign had never dared lay a hand on the Daimyō of their own country,
the Daimyō of another country were an entirely different matter.
After all, the ninja profession had always been used to assassinate high-ranking officials, wealthy merchants, and nobles of enemy nations.
This was already a familiar line of work.
In the past, they merely carried out assassinations.
Now, they were simply changing from assassination to plunder, which did not increase their psychological burden in the slightest.
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