Because Shimura Danzo and Orochimaru returned to Konoha with only a few dozen survivors, combined with their deliberate concealment, the villagers of Konoha had remained unaware until now that the shinobi alliance had been defeated.
Just as their discussions were reaching a fever pitch, two ANBU agents pushed through the crowd and posted a notice on the street bulletin board.
Once the ANBU left, the nearby Konoha villagers all gathered around curiously.
A second later, their expressions all turned ugly.
"Are you kidding me? The shinobi alliance actually lost? What were they doing?!"
"And where did this Shimura Danzo come from? Why is someone we've never even heard of serving as the commander-in-chief?"
"We have to pay money again? After fighting a war like this, how can they face us?!"
Although compared to the last time, each family only needed to contribute 5,000 ryo, for the Konoha villagers who were already struggling to make ends meet, this was undoubtedly adding frost to snow.
They couldn't even eat their fill, yet they still had to pay compensation...
During the winter, many people had frozen to death!
Their lives weren't like this before. How had they fallen to this state in just one year?
Inside the Hokage's Office.
The Nara clan, Akimichi clan, Inuzuka clan, Hyuga clan, Yamanaka clan, Aburame clan...
The patriarchs of the various Konoha shinobi clans were gathered together, a rare occurrence.
They looked at Sarutobi Hiruzen and spoke up. "Hokage-sama, we have already lost many of our clan's elites in this war. Now you want each of our clans to take out over 100 million ryo for reparations? Isn't that a bit too excessive..."
So many clansmen had died, and they hadn't gained a single benefit. And now they had to pay money...
Where was the justice in that!
However, facing these shinobi clan patriarchs, Sarutobi Hiruzen's attitude was unusually tough.
He took a drag from his pipe and said in a deep voice, "With great power comes great responsibility."
"Everything is for the village."
Hearing this, the expressions of the various patriarchs looked as if they had eaten shit.
Someone was just about to open their mouth to say something when they were glared at by Sarutobi Hiruzen.
"I am the village's Hokage. Do you intend to defy my orders?!"
Feeling the imposing aura radiating from Sarutobi Hiruzen, the patriarchs in the office looked at each other in dismay, and in the end, they could only admit defeat.
When the Uchiha clan left the village, they had thought they would be able to carve up a bigger piece of the cake and had celebrated properly.
But the result? The Uchiha clan was thriving on the outside.
Meanwhile, not only did they fail to get a bite of the cake, but they also had to spit out many of their own benefits.
Thinking about it now, it was truly ironic.
If they had given the Uchiha clan a little more support back then, would things have turned out like they had today?
As for the events occurring in Konoha Village, the ninja of Kumogakure paid them no mind.
Because every one of them was busy with the same thing—
Writing thank-you letters to Konoha Village!
Kumogakure.
Newly installed mailboxes could be seen on every street.
In front of every mailbox stood many Kumogakure villagers and ninja.
Their faces were all filled with excitement, and they held pens and notebooks in their hands, discussing ceaselessly.
"Today is the deadline for writing thank-you letters to Konoha. Do you guys have any more ideas?"
"No more, not a single drop left. I feel like I've been hollowed out."
"Hahahaha... You guys are truly mean. To think you could write so much in a single letter. Those guys in Konoha will probably die of anger when they see these, right?"
"I don't care if they get angry or not. Anyway, what I wrote is all sincere words from the heart."
"Hehehe... Let me see, let's exchange notes!"
Similar scenes were playing out constantly in different parts of Kumogakure.
The Third Raikage and the others watched the happy appearance of the villagers from the Raikage's office, unable to suppress the smiles on their faces.
The Third Raikage said to Uchiha Yuzuru, "Yuzuru, I admire you more and more. To think you could get these roughnecks in our village to write letters so actively."
"You have to realize, usually when we ask them to write a simple mission log, they complain for ages. They start feeling drowsy after writing just a few words."
"To proactively pick up a pen and think hard about what to write like this... it's completely a first."
"When people are doing bad things, their energy is simply comparable to a Tailed Beast."
Hearing the words of the Third Raikage and Mabushin, A, who was standing to the side, couldn't help but let out a light snort.
He hadn't expected this fellow Uchiha Yuzuru to not only be monstrously strong but to also have such a black-bellied personality. He wouldn't dare offend him in the future.
Otherwise, getting beaten up would be one thing, but if Yuzuru managed to make him suffer a social death, that would truly be a regret too late to fix.
Uchiha Yuzuru didn't say much, simply pulling Hatake Sakumo to the desk. "Sakumo, you write a thank-you letter to Konoha as well."
Hatake Sakumo pointed at himself, somewhat surprised. "Me? But I don't know how to write these things."
"What's there to it? I'll teach you."
Uchiha Yuzuru smiled. "Just write about your true feelings after coming to Kumogakure, and then emphatically thank the Third Hokage for the contribution he made to this."
Seeing Uchiha Yuzuru insist, a trace of a wry smile appeared on Hatake Sakumo's face, and he could only start writing.
It was fine before he started, but once he began, inspiration simply gushed forth like a spring.
In just a short moment, he had already written a flowing two thousand words.
After finishing, Hatake Sakumo asked somewhat embarrassedly, "Yuzuru, I'm not very good with words. Do you feel this is okay?"
Uchiha Yuzuru gave a thumbs up. "Strong!"
Kill the person, and then break their heart.
Uchiha Yuzuru felt that the lethality of these thank-you letters toward those bastards in Konoha was absolutely no weaker than the two wars launched against Konoha previously.
After all, physical injuries were easy to heal, but mental trauma was difficult to recover from.
Just as the group was talking, Dodai pushed open the office door and walked in.
"Raikage-sama, Yuzuru-sama. The reparations from the various villages have all been transported here these past few days."
"Iwagakure and Kirigakure each paid 5 billion ryo. Konoha Village paid 10 billion ryo."
"Sunagakure paid 2 billion ryo, and additionally sent over some gold dust and ninjutsu scrolls."
After listening to Dodai's report, everyone present couldn't help but feel a bit agitated.
More than 20 billion!
This money truly came too easily.
If good things like this happened a few more times in the future, that would be great. Aside from consuming some chakra, they hadn't paid any price at all.
After calming his mood, the Third Raikage looked at Uchiha Yuzuru. "Yuzuru, you put in the most effort this time. How do you think we should distribute these reparations?"
Don't look at the fact that the shinobi alliance only sent out ten thousand people; if not for Uchiha Yuzuru's final slash that cut the shinobi alliance until they collapsed, who knew how long this war would have lasted?
After all, with the support of the daimyos, the four great shinobi villages joined forces—they had money and they had men.
If they were dragged into a protracted war, Kumogakure might not necessarily have had the last laugh.
So the Third Raikage felt that as the greatest hero, these rewards should naturally be distributed by Uchiha Yuzuru.
Uchiha Yuzuru didn't act pretentiously. He thought for a moment and said, "Let's do it like last time. The Uchiha clan will take half of the monetary reparations, and the rest will be at the village's disposal."
"The ninjutsu scrolls will be shared between the Uchiha clan and the village."
"After the gold dust is purified, split that equally too."
Uchiha Yuzuru wasn't too greedy.
Although he had indeed contributed the most to this battle, and no one could say anything even if he asked for more, he believed that if others respected him a foot, he would respect them ten feet.
Added to the previous reparations, the Uchiha clan wouldn't be short of money for a very long time.
Leaving it sitting around was just leaving it sitting around; it was better to use this money to build up the Land of Lightning. That could be considered making the best use of everything.
"Good, then we'll do as you say."
Like Uchiha Yuzuru, the Third Raikage didn't feign politeness and directly agreed to Uchiha Yuzuru's idea.
After overthrowing the daimyo, the Land of Lightning had been constantly carrying out infrastructure projects like road repair and bridge building. It was exactly the time when money was needed.
Just as the Third Raikage was preparing to write a few armistice agreements for Dodai to send back to the other villages, Uchiha Yuzuru raised his hand to stop him.
"Yuzuru, what's wrong?"
Hearing this, Dodai explained, "Yuzuru-sama, the Land of Wind is entirely desert. Both their population and resources are extremely scarce."
"Two billion ryo is just about their limit."
"If you count the value of the gold dust and ninjutsu resources, even if it's less, it's not by much."
After listening to Dodai's explanation, Uchiha Yuzuru still shook his head. "No."
"This..."
Seeing Dodai's pleading gaze, the Third Raikage asked in a deep voice, "Yuzuru, then what do you plan to do?"
"Do you want to attack Sunagakure?"
In his heart, he didn't really approve of attacking Sunagakure. Even if they won in a place like that, they wouldn't get much oil from it.
Moreover, the other shinobi villages might be eyeing them covetously from the dark. If they went to attack Sunagakure, they would definitely find it hard to look after both their head and tail.
Once other villages took the opportunity to launch a sneak attack, they would be in a difficult spot.
Feeling the gazes of the Third Raikage and the others, Uchiha Yuzuru smiled. "War is only a means, not the objective."
"It doesn't matter if they don't have money. My intention is to have Sunagakure compensate us with a ninja who possesses a Kekkai Genkai."
Hearing Uchiha Yuzuru's words, everyone's eyes lit up.
If they could obtain a Kekkai Genkai ninja, the value would be immeasurable.
"Good, then we'll do as you say, Yuzuru."
The Third Raikage agreed directly.
So things could be handled this way. Why hadn't he thought in this direction before?
If not for the fact that the other villages had already paid their reparations, and he felt embarrassed to go back on his word and open his mouth like a lion, he would have insisted that the other villages compensate them with a few Kekkai Genkai ninja too!
Mabushin and Dodai glanced at each other, both smiling wryly.
This guy Uchiha Yuzuru... was he a demon incarnate?
With a personality that refused to suffer even the slightest loss, if a manure cart passed in front of him, he'd probably have to taste it to see if it was salty or bland.
Compensate with a ninja possessing a Kekkai Genkai...
To think he could come up with that!
Uchiha Yuzuru naturally didn't know the inner thoughts of Mabushin and Dodai; otherwise, he probably would have thrown the two of them directly into a cesspit.
Seeing that the matter was settled, he said to the Third Raikage, "Then I'll leave this matter to you guys to handle. But don't let Sunagakure just find any random Kekkai Genkai to fool us."
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