"The daimyō sent over twenty billion ryō today."
Danzō's hand trembled as he held the brush. With that kind of money, the village's development would skyrocket.
He was certain that in just a few years, they could leave the other shinobi villages far behind.
Those Kage had never thought of treating the daimyō as an ATM, so it was normal their villages couldn't develop.
No—Raikage had already been doing this.
"Twenty… billion?!" Hiruzen stared wide-mouthed in shock.
This was absolutely an enormous sum—enough to completely kickstart the village's economy.
For killing just one daimyō, they gained all this.
He regretted it.
He regretted not killing the daimyō sooner!
"That's only the allocation for the second half of the year. There's more coming at the start of next year," Renya said, feeling Hiruzen was being overly dramatic.
Sure, the daimyō's mansion was rich, but was it really that surprising?
That money had already been Konoha's.
It was merely being stored temporarily in the daimyō's treasury.
When they wanted it, they could simply go get it.
And the new daimyō would surely be more than willing to return all wealth to its rightful owner.
"There's more next year?!" Hiruzen looked like someone who had never seen the world.
As the Hokage's assistant, he knew better than anyone how important money was to the village.
"Of course. The daimyō collects taxes at the start of the year," Renya explained. "By then, the village will receive even more than now."
"Th-this…" Hiruzen was so overwhelmed he couldn't speak.
Danzō's breathing grew heavy, his face flushed, and he unconsciously clenched his fist.
The brush in his hand snapped in half, and he didn't even notice.
Although he knew the daimyō was wealthy, he had never imagined this level of wealth.
Such riches were unimaginable!
No wonder the Land of Lightning had developed so rapidly in recent years…
With an endless stream of money poured into village development, Kumogakure would have to be cursed not to grow.
...
Now Konoha had the daimyō's support too. He believed their future achievements would surpass Kumogakure by far.
Danzō had absolute confidence in his plans.
"Renya, Danzō… I misjudged you both." Hiruzen lowered his head in shame.
At first, he thought killing the daimyō was an unforgivable act of treason.
Only now, seeing the results, did he realize that killing one daimyō wasn't a big deal at all.
As Renya said—just replace him with another.
"Hiruzen, remember this—everything I do is for the village!" Danzō said in a deep voice.
He was still displeased that Hiruzen had tried to block him earlier.
But now that Hiruzen understood his mistake, that was enough.
As long as he understood where he stood.
"Hiruzen, you need to learn to break free of your 'shinobi thinking,'" Renya reminded calmly.
Some problems could be solved perfectly by simply changing one's mindset—no need to stubbornly cling to dead-end logic.
That only made things worse.
For example, if Renya hadn't killed that foolish daimyō, Konoha would never have obtained such massive financial support.
The village's development would've remained completely stagnant.
The same applied to the other shinobi villages. Those daimyō would never willingly provide such funding.
Aside from Kumogakure and Konoha, the remaining three Kage were probably already at their wits' end.
This was what happened when one was chained down by shinobi thinking.
The daimyō was clearly a fat sheep, yet instead of butchering it for meat, they only tried to pluck its wool.
As for eating the meat—they never even considered it.
But Renya believed this situation would soon change…
"The news of the daimyō mansion providing massive funds to the village has probably already reached the ears of the other Kage."
Renya looked at the two excited men and spoke.
There was no attempt to hide the daimyō mansion's money transfer. The spies lurking in the village had likely already leaked the information.
Shimura Danzō's smile faded, and he frowned.
"You mean those people will realize we killed the daimyō?"
"If it's exposed, how are we supposed to explain it?" Hiruzen asked nervously.
Killing a daimyō was an extremely serious matter in the ninja world.
Especially if the killer was from Konoha.
If the news spread, wouldn't Konoha be seen as back-stabbing traitors?
The village's reputation was crucial!
If this got out, who would ever issue missions to Konoha again?
"What are you afraid of? Even if they learn the truth, they won't expose our actions."
Renya spoke with layered meaning.
Danzō's eyes flickered at those words—he seemed to understand something.
"You're that certain?"
"More or less." Renya smiled.
Hiruzen's expression kept shifting as he listened.
Would the other Kage really do that?
...
Land of Earth, Iwagakure.
Tsuchikage's office.
The Third Tsuchikage, Ōnoki, stared at the scroll his subordinate delivered, falling into deep thought.
The new daimyō of the Land of Fire gave Konoha twenty billion ryō in support?
What a joke!
He knew exactly what kind of person a daimyō was.
Forget twenty billion—if they got two hundred million, it would be a miracle.
Normally they could only squeeze out a few tens of millions.
How did he know?
He had just returned from the daimyō's mansion not long ago.
"Impossible! Absolutely impossible!"
Ōnoki angrily threw the scroll onto the floor.
But he quickly calmed down, silently picked it up again, and reread it.
He still couldn't understand it.
Had the new daimyō of the Land of Fire been dropped on his head as a child?
There was no other explanation except brain damage.
Wait—a new daimyō?!
Ōnoki finally noticed the key point and ordered his ANBU: "Investigate the new daimyō of the Land of Fire."
Soon, the ANBU returned with information.
"Heh…" Ōnoki chuckled. "The former daimyō was poisoned. A dozen of his brothers as well."
Only the eldest son survived.
Such an explanation might fool commoners, but not him.
The first thing the new daimyō did was order an investigation into the poisoning.
Then he granted Konoha twenty billion ryō in support.
Ōnoki quickly pieced together the truth, horror flashing in his eyes.
"The Third Hokage is bold indeed… to dare…" Ōnoki whispered. "Still, this is also an opportunity for Iwagakure."
If Konoha could do it, then Iwagakure could too!
Ōnoki suddenly remembered the rapid development of the Land of Lightning…
Back then, he hadn't understood where Kumogakure got the money.
Now he finally knew.
So someone had already committed such heretical crimes long ago.
Damn it—those black-skinned muscleheads in Kumogakure found a path to wealth and didn't share!
If not for the Land of Fire publicly sending money, they would all still be clueless.
"Heh… how amusing." Ōnoki laughed. "A genius idea."
As long as he killed the daimyō, Iwagakure would never lack money again.
How to do it?
Konoha had already provided the standard answer.
All they needed to do was imitate.
Similar realizations were unfolding in the offices of the other Kage as well.
----------------
Pls Drop some Power Stones
+100 chapters and support me on Patreon(.)com/Jixo