"Uchiha Makoto, don't you think you've gone too far?"
"Konoha marched all this way, and this is all you're giving us?"
Senju Tobirama pointed at the copy of the armistice on the table.
He'd been swallowing his anger for a whole day.
He had humbled himself to charge ahead for that born-evil Uchiha brat, only to be taken for a dog and led around. For all kinds of reasons, he couldn't explode on the spot and could only endure.
He waited and waited until everyone finally cleared out.
Now he wanted to talk to Uchiha Makoto about something grown-ups discuss.
The treaty was already signed by all parties.
So the compensation clauses couldn't be changed.
The only tangible benefit Konoha could still take was the second clause; the rest all said "our side"... obviously, for those benefits, Uchiha Makoto never planned to "play with Konoha."
Since it had come to this,
having been played, Tobirama intended to make it up elsewhere and claw back something for Konoha—like that three hundred billion ryō indemnity.
He was kind and honest; he wouldn't ask for much.
Konoha, the Uzumaki Clan, and Akatsuki Village—one hundred billion each, split evenly!
Very fair!
"Three hundred billion ryō. Konoha gets one hundred billion."
Tobirama fired right away.
"Senju Tobirama, even if you're too poor to buy a mirror, you could at least spit on the floor and use that to check your face. How do you have the gall to say that? Konoha didn't kill a single Cloud shinobi from start to finish, and you still think you can just open your mouth and take a hundred billion off me?"
When it comes to hard cash,
everyone's ugly.
Makoto could understand Tobirama doing something this shameless for Konoha's interests. Put himself in those shoes—if he had a big brother standing atop the shinobi world... he'd say he was off beef for life.
Forget face and rules.
Fists are face and rules.
But he still had to deliver the scolding: go check yourself in a puddle, and if there wasn't one, he'd make it for him on the spot.
There'd be no money.
Tobirama was only the number two in Konoha, all bluster and borrowed posture, trying to use big brother Hashirama's stance to force Makoto to yield.
Makoto was glad Hashirama was a nice guy; otherwise that born-evil Senju old ghost wouldn't be trying to snatch meat from his mouth so "gently."
"If Konoha hadn't stepped in to back you, how could your Akatsuki Village have gotten out intact? Don't tell me you really thought you could fight two at once and beat Iwagakure and Kumogakure together."
Tobirama kept a lid on his fury, still trying to argue facts and reason.
Without Konoha as an ally, how could Akatsuki have gotten out unscathed, let alone force such harsh terms on Kumogakure?
Dream on.
Even if Konoha did nothing, just that banner alone was worth a hundred billion.
"Pah!"
"You think I'm scared?"
"At worst, I'll ask Lord Madara myself. I'm an Uchiha. Iwa and Kumo? In his eyes they're chickens and dogs. Senju Tobirama, you think Lord Madara would sit and watch me sink?"
Makoto snorted.
Tobirama had Hashirama at his back; it wasn't like Makoto had no one.
He had Uchiha Madara behind him.
Even if it came to the point of no return, he could beg once—there was a bond there. Madara would stick his hand out once for him. Even if it was only once, it'd be enough.
"Damn you, Uchiha Makoto, you born-evil Uchiha brat—so you were colluding with Konoha's Uchiha Clan all along!"
The moment Madara came up,
Tobirama thought of some less-than-pleasant memories.
The Uchiha Clan. The so-called "Three Virtues of Shinobi." The "Akatsuki Winning School." The near social-death village riot—everywhere the Uchiha's shadow. Makoto had to be colluding inside and out!
He was a natural at manipulating public opinion.
It had to be this bastard behind it.
The Uchiha in the village didn't have that kind of pull—or brains!
"Ugh… Senju Tobirama, you really can't spit ivory from a dog's mouth. Me having normal dealings with my own clansmen turns into 'collusion' when it passes your lips."
"Don't sling mud. Watch Madara throw a sack over your head at midnight… As for Lord Izuna, he hasn't forgotten. He might not kill you, but he can beat you raw. Lord Hashirama will probably just turn a blind eye."
Makoto curled his lip.
Some things couldn't be hidden from Tobirama's eyes, but with his status card in hand, as long as Makoto stuck to the script—
at most Tobirama could grumble or spread rumors in the dark. He wouldn't dare move openly against the Uchiha; otherwise, if he actually roused the clan's fury, Madara really would bag him in an alley.
He wouldn't kill him.
But a beating would be perfectly reasonable.
And Hashirama truly wouldn't care about such a little stunt.
Tobirama's expression shifted. The idea of Madara bagging him was truly scary. His big brother, that man whose elbow bent outward, probably wouldn't interfere. Feeling a bit guilty, he yanked the topic back: "This hundred billion—you'll give it whether you want to or not."
"Playing the deadbeat, huh?"
"I'm not giving a coin. What can you do?"
Makoto's stance was iron.
If Tobirama had jumped in from the start, led Konoha to fight those Cloud brutes with him, then a three-way split would've been fine… For Akatsuki Village, a hundred billion was just two or three months of salt money.
But Tobirama did nothing.
Just loaned the Konoha name.
So even if he talked till the sky broke, Makoto couldn't concede for a banner.
When it comes to hard cash,
he was ugly and greedy too.
And he was certain Hashirama wouldn't meddle. With his temperament, he wouldn't seize by force. Makoto liked honest men like that.
A mere Tobirama's threat—
they'd talk when he was officially the Second Hokage.
"I…"
Tobirama was stumped.
All he could do was threaten by mouth. He couldn't make any real move against Makoto—what, start a brawl with him?
He was only the Hokage's shadow. A shadow is still a shadow.
He couldn't make decisions in the sun.
"Are you really not giving it?"
"How many times do you want me to say it? Not a single ryō."
"Uchiha Makoto, you'll regret this!"
"Enough, Senju Tobirama. You're not the Hokage. You've no standing to lecture me."
Bang.
Tobirama stormed out, the door slamming hard.
Makoto's blunt truth had hit his sorest spot.
Because he wasn't the official Hokage,
Tobirama had eaten loss after loss in name—and there was nothing he could do.
Hashirama was his dearest big brother.
They'd grown up together, fought side by side beating those damned Uchiha.
Their brotherhood ran deep.
So he couldn't imitate that "donkey-cart war god of Gaoliang River" and pull a "candlelight and axe-sounds" stunt.
Even if he went mad and tried, the chance of success was near zero. With a Sage Body, Hashirama's physiology shrugged off poison and other filthy tricks; even a sneak attack wouldn't kill him… number monsters don't play fair.
And Hashirama truly was Konoha's keystone. He just didn't manage the desk work, but his role mattered far more than Tobirama processing documents in the Hokage's office every day.
Tobirama knew this well.
Watching Tobirama's furious back, Makoto knew they had officially torn the mask.
Not that they ever had much of a relationship. The alliance between Akatsuki Village and Konoha could only last for Hashirama's era.
Once Hashirama was gone,
Konoha would be a dubious ally to watch at all times. Compared to external Cloud and Stone, Konoha would be Akatsuki's enemy number one… Britain's atomic bomb wasn't to deter the Soviets; it was to deter the French.
"What happened?"
"Why did Lord Tobirama storm out like that?"
Uzumaki Shinji happened to return just then after seeing off the minor-faction envoys, and saw Tobirama leave in a huff.
"Oh—he wanted a hundred billion out of the three hundred, and I flatly refused, so he blew up."
Makoto, seeing Shinji enter, didn't hide anything and recounted Tobirama's unreasonable demand.
Do nothing and try to take a hundred billion—shameless.
"That's… too much."
"How could Lord Tobirama do that?"
Shinji, too, was displeased by Tobirama's greed. Konoha's table manners were ugly—when it's time to bleed, they don't show, but when it's time to reap, they're all energy, trying to snatch a hundred billion?
That's not pocket change.
Some ally.
"So, Light Shadow, how are we splitting the money?"
After condemning Tobirama in his heart, Shinji's eyes gleamed gold. Three hundred billion was astronomical for the Uzumaki; even before the war he never dreamed of getting such a payout.
War is zero-sum. Winners drip oil from their mouths; losers tighten belts, save, endure… and wait for a turn.
"Akatsuki Village takes two hundred billion. The Uzumaki Clan takes one hundred. Shinji, how's that sound?"
Makoto laid out his plan. Akatsuki had budgeted over two hundred billion for the war, intending to fight a year; it lasted just over four months, leaving over half unused. Taking two hundred was reasonable.
The Uzumaki had spent nearly half of the 36.8 billion ryō alliance support Akatsuki paid before the war. Giving them one hundred was fair—enough to fill the hole, pay every injured Uzumaki who fought, and still leave a healthy surplus.
"No problem."
Shinji nodded.
With that split, the Uzumaki actually came out well. They'd toiled for years doing missions and hadn't earned as much cash as they made in this one year following Akatsuki… This is the kind of big brother worth following.
Konoha, the former big brother, was so lame.
Hesitant when it mattered, then trying to snatch the meat at the end.
Sigh.
"Should we peel off a bit for Konoha? We are allies, and they did, in their way, contribute."
"Sending them home empty-handed… doesn't sit right. My clan and the Senju—your clan and the Uchiha… after all…"
Shinji was a decent man.
Konoha hurts him a hundred times; he loves Konoha like first love.
The Uzumaki and Senju had weathered history together; back then they thumped the Uchiha till they howled… Ahem. Anyway, peeling off a bit maintained the relationship.
"Since you put it that way, we'll do it."
"We each put up ten billion; twenty billion as their courier fee. Konoha's shinobi did make the trip; let them have a cut."
"You hand Tobirama his share. I'll give Uchiha Setsuna the other. How Konoha splits it is their business."
Makoto nodded, agreeing to Shinji.
Konoha's shinobi did make the trip. Though they did nothing, he had used them. A courier fee was reasonable.
Konoha's brand is scary.
If Tobirama's heart weren't so black—if he hadn't opened with a demand for a hundred billion—Makoto wouldn't have refused outright.
Of course, bad deeds still had to be done.
Whoever holds the purse holds the voice.
The Uchiha were probably being smothered under Tobirama in Konoha; ten billion should ease them a lot.
Use it to buy hearts—they would… probably?
Given the Uchiha's poor political instincts… hard to say.
Makoto figured he'd better remind Uchiha Setsuna.
"Mm… all right."
"War… those cruel days… finally over…"
"The number of Uzumaki left injured or maimed…"
Shinji didn't have Makoto's schemes—he simply nodded, happy, and sighed at war's cruelty.
High-intensity shinobi war turns men into ghosts.
War…
"Can they still continue as shinobi?"
"Likely not… but it's fine. The clan will compensate them."
"I have an idea… let's co-found a film company…"
"Heroes' stories shouldn't be forgotten… Beating the corpse again."
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