Chapter 503
I, Tobirama, will never become someone like Makoto Uchiha!
Chapter 503 I, Tobirama Senju, will never become someone like Makoto Uchiha!
Just as Tobirama Senju was immersed in his own world.
Meanwhile, during their conversation, Uchiha Makoto and Senju Hashirama were intentionally or unintentionally steer the conversation toward Konoha's recent actions.
During this period, following Tobirama Senju's orders, Konoha's Anbu ninjas accepted high-paying missions from the Daimyo and nobles of the Land of Fire. They infiltrated the one-fifth of the territory that Akatsuki had just taken over, not only rescuing the nobles but also "professionally" packing up and stealing all of their enormous wealth.
On the surface, Uchiha Makoto spoke earnestly, as if he were merely complaining to Senju Hashirama about Konoha's inappropriate behavior of "aiding and abetting evil" and "obstructing the Land of Fire from eradicating its cancerous growth."
But in reality...
Damn it!
The mere mention of this incident filled Uchiha Makoto with pent-up anger.
Those insect nobles in the Land of Fire who have been sucking blood from the locals for hundreds of years, aren't they all rolling in money?
Each and every one of them is ridiculously wealthy!
In Uchiha Makoto's strategic plan, all the mountains of gold and silver they had were to be invested in Akatsuki's production construction, factory construction, and various water conservancy reconstruction projects in various places!
Unfortunately... this plan was disrupted by Tobirama Senju.
Even though Akatsuki has made preparations for this and plans to urgently transport all the huge amount of confiscated wealth back to Akatsuki headquarters for proper storage, the Konoha Anbu under Tobirama Senju are not to be underestimated, and their actions are equally swift.
Especially in the current passive situation of "the enemy is in the dark and we are in the light", Akatsuki has to disperse its ninjas to maintain local security in order to take over one-fifth of the vast territory of the Land of Fire. This has stretched the entire battle line to an extreme length, and it is inevitable that various strongholds will have to be neglected.
This gave Konoha a huge opportunity to take advantage of the situation.
The Konoha ANBU ninjas repeatedly succeeded through various means, successfully escaping with the nobles and storage scrolls filled with gold and silver.
The Akatsuki Village has suffered considerable losses during this period!
It's a terrible thing to just give away all that pure silver to Konoha like that!
That's all money from my Akatsuki Village!
That's my money for Light & Shadow!!
Hearing Uchiha Makoto's "heartbreaking" complaints, Senju Hashirama, who was sitting cross-legged on the tatami, couldn't help but frown.
In fact, he already knew about the Konoha Anbu's rescue of nobles and transfer of their property along the borders of the Land of Fire during his journey to Akatsuki Village.
Originally, he was still feeling conflicted and confused about right and wrong in this matter.
But now, after Uchiha Makoto's righteous explanation, and recalling the undisguised contempt and verbal attacks from ordinary people along the way when they mentioned Konoha,
This is definitely not the scene that Hashirama Senju hoped to see when he founded the village!
However, although Hashirama Senju was naive, he knew that he had now stepped down from the position of Hokage. The current Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju, was in charge of Konoha. In the end, matters concerning the village's major strategic policies and the mobilization of the Anbu still required the approval of the current Hokage, Tobirama Senju.
Then, Hashirama Senju turned to look at his younger brother Tobirama, who was sitting in the corner with a gloomy face.
"Ahem... Tobirama..."
"I think... Makoto is absolutely right. He did a great job. As an ally of Akatsuki, Konoha should not only not try to stop him, but should fully support him."
"Moreover, along the way, you've witnessed firsthand the attitude of ordinary people towards Konoha... If this continues, Konoha will become infamous among ordinary people."
Hashirama Senju rubbed his hands together and said this in a pleading tone.
Senju Tobirama, who was immersed in his own world, was suddenly pulled back to reality by his older brother's words.
He looked up and saw the sincere and pleading look on Hashirama Senju's face. The anger that he had managed to suppress suddenly surged up again!
Damn it!!
That guy, Big Brother, is truly an incorrigible scoundrel!
Uchiha Makoto, that naturally evil Uchiha brat, was easily fooled by a few sweet words, leaving him completely bewildered!
Abandon the mission? Support the Akatsuki?
How could such a thing be possible?
This is not only a golden opportunity for Akatsuki to expand its power, but also an opportunity for Konoha to grow stronger!
The enormous wealth brought back from the covert "rescue" operations alone, if a small portion were secretly kept and invested into his own treasury, would instantly swell his pockets.
With this astronomical sum of wealth, how much can I, as Hokage, do?
Makoto Uchiha, that naturally evil Uchiha brat, just relied on the wealth and power of Akatsuki Village to corrupt and win over the opportunistic ninja clans within Konoha with real money and benefits, didn't he?
As long as I can afford to pay the same amount, these opportunistic guys will naturally shut up and start groveling before me again!
As for the vast majority of the remaining wealth...
Once these nobles, like stray dogs, flee into Konoha Village seeking refuge, will they still have any room for negotiation?
He had plenty of ways to force these nobles to take out their hard-earned money and invest it in various industries in Konoha, thereby boosting Konoha's economy and making the entire village rich and prosperous!
In other words, once this job is done, he can use the red dates that can distribute huge profits in one hand and the big stick of reckoning in the other to subdue those Konoha ninja clans who each have their own ulterior motives.
Even setting aside these most direct interests, Konoha still needs the support of the nobles.
Without the support of the nobility in various aspects, how will Konoha catch up with Akatsuki in terms of economy?
We can't really rely on the meager money that Konoha ninjas earn from carrying out missions, can we?
That's right.
Now, after being interrogated by Makoto Uchiha in various ways, Tobirama Senju has completely abandoned the traditional idea that "ninjas must rely on the daimyo and honestly do missions to earn money" regarding the "sources of income for ninja villages".
Even in his attitude towards those high-ranking nobles, Tobirama Senju's bottom line and understanding had already been unconsciously converging with Makoto Uchiha's attitude—nobles are nothing but fat sheep to be used to extract gold coins.
The future of Konoha must not be led by the nose by these insect nobles.
However, due to the Second Hokage's pride, his deep-seated prejudice against the Uchiha clan, and the narrative logic of "everything for Konoha," Tobirama Senju stubbornly refused to admit that he had actually become the same kind of person as Makoto Uchiha.
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