Chapter 28: The Powerful Money Escape
"Lord Torifune, if the blades are destroyed, the reimbursement has to be deducted from the spoils. It won't be enough," Sasuke said, feigning careful calculation and concern.
"How could it not be enough?" Torifune said, showing off his knowledge. "Ordinary Sand ninja don't have valuable loot, but there are three puppet masters here. Their puppets are very valuable." He spoke with a bold and generous air. "If it's still not enough, then we follow the rules. The entire haul will be considered combat losses."
Shibi, standing to the side, quickly tugged on Torifune's sleeve and whispered, "Captain, you should clean the battlefield first, then make a decision."
"Yes, clean the battlefield first." Torifune finally realized he had spoken too hastily, but it was too late to take back his bold words.
"Tekudō, come here and report the blade losses," Sasuke said with a wave of his hand.
And so, the Konoha ninja began to clean up. It was a simple matter of using sealing scrolls to collect the useful corpses and salvageable blades, while simultaneously cross-referencing their inventories to see if there were any discrepancies—a necessary step to prevent anyone from reporting an outrageous loss, like claiming one hundred exploding tags were used when it was only one.
"What? You said you used one hundred and fifty exploding tags just now?" Torifune stood up in shock.
"Lord Torifune, look at the effect of the explosion. I really didn't exaggerate," Sasuke said, pointing to the blast crater with a pained expression. He then pointed to the two shattered Fūma shuriken. "Those two were custom-made from the Land of Artisans. Fifty thousand ryō each. It seems I'll have to eat plain food for a while."
"Well, alright," Torifune relented. The claimed loss was only about 30% higher than the actual expenditure, which was far from an exaggeration by ninja clan standards. The base number, however, was still shockingly high.
Sasuke quickly remedied the situation, adding, "The tools Tekudō used in his Heavenly Blade Ranman can mostly be recycled, so I won't report those."
"Good, not bad," Torifune nodded, satisfied. He knew that recycling those excellent blades would still cost tens of thousands in maintenance. For Sasuke to not claim reimbursement for them showed he was a sensible subordinate.
But before Torifune could get too happy, Sasuke reported again, "Look at the two Iron Prison Gates; they're completely ruined, just scrap metal now. They'll have to be re-forged. I'll only charge you for the repair costs. You can name the price."
"I could reimburse you with an S-rank mission's worth of merits. How about that?" Torifune joked.
"You're dreaming," he continued, before sighing. "Forget it. No need to report any more. I'll give you all the loot from this battle. The merit points for this mission will also belong to you. That should help you recover some of your money."
He looked at the two gates. The raw steel alone was worth over a million ryō. Add in the production costs and the sealing formulas, and they were worth several million. A single S-rank mission only paid out a little over a million. These two gates alone were worth several S-rank missions. The victory in this battle had been won entirely with money.
"Sasuke, take it easy from now on," he said with a touch of pity, seeing the fiery will in the young man's eyes. "I know it's all for the village, but it's not a good idea to keep subsidizing the war effort like this. Manpower will always be exhausted. In the future, when you have a wife and children, you'll know how expensive things are." He then comforted him, "But this time you still made a profit. The intelligence Kagejirō and the others brought back is extraordinary. When the merit points are divided, you'll get 30%."
"Lord Torifune is generous! But 30% is more than enough," Sasuke replied, knowing he couldn't be too greedy.
"Alright, 30% it is then." Torifune nodded, his appreciation for Sasuke's interpersonal skills growing.
After the pleasantries, Sasuke even secretly slipped Torifune two bags of his homemade dried fish. Torifune sniffed them, his eyes lighting up at the secret curry flavor, and he immediately promised to protect Sasuke in the future, like a big brother.
"Captain, your water bat hasn't been reported yet," Tekudō interrupted, looking as depressed as if his wife had died.
"Yes, my water bat." Sasuke remembered that his summon had been sliced in two by the porcupine-headed jōnin and washed away by the river.
At that moment, a swarm of black parasite insects flew past, and within them, faintly visible, were the two halves of the water bat's body. Shibi had been observing the entire battle. Before they had even started cleaning the battlefield, he had already used his kikaichū to retrieve the summon's body from the river.