"If Konoha doesn't make changes and promote internal reforms, the Uchiha clan will always use the Akatsuki Ninja Village to make an issue of me."
"Uchiha Makoto, besides helping with public opinion, in other aspects... like funding... don't you plan to help me?"
"If you want me to help you suppress the Uchiha clan, you have to help me solve this problem!"
Senju Tobirama spoke with righteous indignation, his face showing no sign of embarrassment.
He had completely recognized the cruel and cold reality—the Akatsuki Ninja Village behind Uchiha Makoto always bore the title of Konoha's ally. Coupled with the fact that his brother occasionally took sides indiscriminately and relied on strong economic strength for support, all this allowed him to manipulate the Uchiha clan to do whatever they wanted within Konoha unscrupulously.
And Konoha's current economic strength was definitely lagging behind the Akatsuki Ninja Village, and it might not be able to catch up in a few years.
Money, money, money...
A simple word could drive the strongest ninja to death!
He was simply no match for Uchiha Makoto and the Uchiha clan..... Thinking back to when Konoha was first built, it was still a scene of vitality where all things competed for freedom. Senju Tobirama could never have imagined that Konoha would fall into such a predicament facing the Akatsuki Ninja Village today, not only having to bow and scrape to Uchiha Makoto but also being his tool.
Clearly, Konoha was so far ahead of the other major ninja villages in the ninja world!
But heaven help him....
Now the Uchiha clan had lost their minds and colluded with the high-level officials of the Land of Fire. Although it made him miserable now, this was both a crisis and the best opportunity to make Uchiha Makoto take the initiative to help..... Uchiha Makoto was a thorough black-hearted bastard, calculating not only against him but also against his own family. He had to rely on him to suppress the Uchiha clan. Now, assistance merely on the level of public opinion was not enough; Uchiha Makoto must support him with real money.
Once Konoha had enough funds, he could find a way to persuade those idiot ninja clans in Konoha and promote internal reforms.
As long as this plan was used well to develop Konoha's economy, the Uchiha clan would no longer be able to clamor, and he wouldn't have to suffer everywhere in front of Uchiha Makoto like in the past.
Senju Tobirama's mood was complicated, his eyes staring straight at Uchiha Makoto.
"You really aren't polite at all."
"Do you really think the Akatsuki Ninja Village's money comes from the wind? Even the landlord doesn't have much surplus grain!"
"I don't care about that... or you stop the assistance to the Uchiha clan...."
"Let me think..."
Uchiha Makoto couldn't help but give Senju Tobirama the middle finger.
Once a person's bottom line breaks through a certain zero point, it's like stepping on the accelerator, crashing down rumblingly.
Senju Tobirama had begun to evolve in the direction of a scoundrel, throwing tantrums like a woman!
And facing Senju Tobirama's "unreasonable request."
Uchiha Makoto did not choose to refuse immediately.
... How should I put it, from Senju Tobirama's perspective, this was already the best solution.
The Uchiha clan, and the uncles in Konoha, were all opponents of the reform plan. The Konoha reform plan would also offend the middle and lower-level ninjas in Konoha. Almost everyone from top to bottom in Konoha opposed Senju Tobirama. Without a huge amount of capital entering Konoha as living water, this was almost a dead game.
But when the funds from the Akatsuki Ninja Village poured in...
Ninjas would involuntarily lose their stance. This involved complex social changes and changes in people's hearts.
Konoha actually had such signs now. Uchiha Makoto's value output over the past few years, and the efforts of the vermin of the Land of Fire to fuel the flames were not in vain, but a huge wave had not yet formed in Konoha.
Senju Tobirama was certainly not an idiot and naturally knew such things.
It was just that his situation in Konoha was too bad, making him subconsciously reject these practical problems now.... He had no choice, either fight hard or become a puppet remotely controlled by Uchiha Makoto completely.
And for the Akatsuki Ninja Village...
This was naturally an excellent opportunity to buy Konoha's core assets, high-level ninja clans... grassroots ninjas.....
However, the funds involved were indeed huge. The money Uchiha Makoto lent to Senju Tobirama before could at most be considered a drop in the bucket in his grand Konoha reform plan.
And the Akatsuki Ninja Village had indeed opened up many financial resources and businesses in recent years, but while income was one aspect, investment was another.
Now it was difficult to gather a large amount of cash flow to meet Konoha's needs in a short time.
Now Senju Tobirama was in a difficult position. If he didn't make changes, he would be driven out of the Hokage's office.
Uchiha Makoto was also in a difficult position. At this stage, he simply couldn't come up with so much capital to help Senju Tobirama complete the Konoha reform plan.
"Your Konoha isn't some small ninja village. I simply can't come up with so much capital at once."
"For the rest, how about your Konoha issue bonds..."
"Bonds?"
"That's right, it's actually borrowing money from the outside in the name of your Konoha... that is, village bonds. With Konoha's reputation, you should still be able to raise a considerable amount of funds... These funds... should be enough for you to temporarily promote internal reforms in Konoha, as long as you pay back the money within the deadline."
Uchiha Makoto thought for a while and came up with a standard method.
He could indeed take out a sum of funds from the Akatsuki Ninja Village, but it definitely wouldn't fill such a big hole.
The rest could only depend on Konoha finding a way.
For example, issuing bonds.
Although the wealthy merchants, nobles, and major banks of this era actually didn't like lending money to ninjas. After all, due to the particularity of the ninja profession, maybe the bank just lent the money, and the person was crippled or even died in a mission immediately after. How could the ninja pay back the money then? In this case, the creditor couldn't forcibly collect the debt... The ninja was already so miserable, and you still came to forcibly collect the debt with an IOU. Did you really think the kunai in the ninja's hand was a decoration, and you weren't afraid of dying from a few shurikens in the back when you went out during the day?
But this time it was borrowing money from the outside in the name of Konoha.
This was different.
Traditional ninjas had a single way of obtaining money, relying on executing missions to make money, so ninja villages valued credibility extremely highly. This was the foundation of the village's survival.
Konoha, such a big village, couldn't do something that would smash its own signboard. Issuing bonds to the outside should have many people willing to pay for it.
"Do you think I haven't thought about it?"
"This matter isn't something I can decide alone. The key is that the opposition in the village doesn't agree."
Senju Tobirama nodded. He could understand the meaning of bonds; wasn't it just borrowing money?
But he hadn't not thought about the method of issuing bonds to the outside.
For such a large sum of funds, the bank needed collateral.
—Konoha's large tracts of land were extremely high-quality assets.
However, such a major matter must obtain the consent of the large and small families in Konoha. This group of people were opponents themselves. Hearing that Senju Tobirama wanted to incur such a large debt to the outside, how could they let Senju Tobirama mess around?
If they earned, they would naturally be happy... but if they lost, who would it count on? Everyone would have to carry it together?
So, Uchiha Makoto mentioned Senju Hashirama.
Senju Hashirama was Senju Tobirama's brother and the Hokage of Konoha. If he came forward, it should be relatively easy.
"Isn't Senju Hashirama the Hokage? Let him do this!"
"That guy, my brother, shrank his head directly after seeing the meeting results... You don't know my brother's character, hesitant, likes to favor outsiders, and will stab me, his brother, in the back at critical moments.... He won't push through things that the village fully opposes with strong power."
Senju Tobirama's expression became even more resentful.
He couldn't help muttering in his heart.... That guy, his brother, clearly agreed to support him fully, but hesitated as soon as he saw the opposition results of the meeting. When asked to prepare to flip the table and forcibly push the resolution, he acted like a shrinking turtle.
"Can't the Akatsuki Ninja Village also issue bonds... You come forward, and then transfer it to Konoha. This is borrowing money from the Akatsuki Ninja Village. With the face of you, Lord Kōkage, I will go to my brother then.... The opposition in the village will be much smaller."
"You really dare to think."
Senju Tobirama couldn't help but target Uchiha Makoto.
Konoha couldn't decide to issue bonds to the outside because of the opposition in the village, but the Akatsuki Ninja Village could.
It was just an extra transfer.
That group of opposition in the village didn't trust him, but they had a filter for Uchiha Makoto, especially the Uchiha clan. It was hard for them to say no to Uchiha Makoto. Then let his brother, that turncoat, come forward to negotiate again, and it would be almost done.
Uchiha Makoto couldn't help rolling his eyes at Senju Tobirama.
What was the difference between this guy's behavior and asking someone to cash out credit to lend him money... Sooner or later, he would have to repent.
Of course, this was actually a good method that could work at present.
The Akatsuki Ninja Village's finances had been very wealthy in recent years. Although they spent a lot, they earned a lot too, and hadn't reached the point of issuing bonds at all. And the credibility accumulated by the Akatsuki Ninja Village in recent years, coupled with media publicity, was enough to attract a large number of wealthy merchants and nobles to buy bonds, and it would definitely be a snatching frenzy.
"Transferring a sum of money and lending it to Konoha, I'm really not afraid that Konoha won't pay it back."
"And Konoha's foundation is actually not bad. After all, it is a top-level large ninja village in the ninja world. After getting on the right track, paying back this hole is actually not a problem."
"Actually, even if they can't pay it back... it's not impossible to solve. At that time, take some high-quality asset of Konoha as collateral, then finance externally, continue to publicize, blow a bubble, and then sell these assets mixed with bonds. There will definitely be greedy merchants and nobles to take over. That group of guys' nature is like this.... Then round after round of subordination, splitting...."
"Hiss... wait, this gameplay is so familiar!"
Uchiha Makoto followed Senju Tobirama's line of thought and incidentally diverged his own thinking.... Then he was scared by his own idea.
Splitting, subordinating, and selling infinitely like this, once it breaks at a certain link... This gameplay absolutely cannot be tried in the Land of Fire!
"Hey, what are you thinking?"
"No matter what, you have to find a way to help me solve this matter."
Senju Tobirama's urging voice came to his ears.
Uchiha Makoto shook off those messy thoughts and thought about serious business.
The Akatsuki Ninja Village issuing bonds, gathering a sum of money, and then transferring it to Konoha was indeed not a problem.
But he didn't intend to agree to Senju Tobirama so easily.
Last time, the Akatsuki Ninja Village had actually lent a low-interest loan to Senju Tobirama, and this loan was entirely in currency issued by the Akatsuki Ninja Village. With Uchiha Makoto's silent promotion and the cooperation of Arasaka-affiliated wealthy merchants, this money was well absorbed by Konoha. On this basis, more and more currency issued by the Akatsuki Ninja Village flowed into Konoha through various ways, and Konoha ninjas and villagers were not very resistant to these currencies, which were already circulating in the Konoha market.
This was a good phenomenon.
As everyone knows.
Nine out of ten traditional ninjas were a group of people who only knew how to fight, and strategists like Senju Tobirama were rare.
And knowledge about finance was even scarcer. In this era, not only did the ninja world rarely teach ninjas about finance, but even the high-level officials of those big countries didn't know much about it. Their experience in dealing with financial invasion was pitifully small, negligible.
The entire high-level of Konoha were all financial novices, each as innocent as a lamb to be slaughtered.
And Uchiha Makoto had been coveting Konoha's monetary and financial sovereignty for a long time.
Although the currency issued by the Akatsuki Ninja Village was already circulating among the people of Konoha, it had ultimately not received the official orthodox endorsement of Konoha.
Uchiha Makoto was not worried that the Uchiha clan would stop his actions; only Senju Tobirama, this naturally evil old Senju demon, would stand up to oppose him.
But this time, Konoha's large-scale borrowing from the Akatsuki Ninja Village was an excellent opportunity.
If the plan went smoothly.
In the future, even if Senju Tobirama tried his best to develop Konoha's economy, it would be nothing more than making wedding clothes for the Akatsuki Ninja Village.
At that time, the Akatsuki Ninja Village could completely harvest Konoha's leeks repeatedly and silently through releasing water and raising interest rates...
... Just the seigniorage in the early stage was a considerable income!
A little investment now was actually nothing.
"It's not impossible to agree to this matter... but there are conditions."
"First, the Akatsuki Ninja Village Bank wants to open a branch in your Konoha. Second, I hope that trade within Konoha Village will use currency issued by the Akatsuki Ninja Village from now on. You need to help me promote this matter in Konoha. Also, trade between Konoha and the Akatsuki Ninja Village should be free, and setting up trade barriers requires consultation with the Akatsuki Ninja Village..."
"If you agree to these conditions, the interest part, we can discuss it!"
Uchiha Makoto listed all the tricks he could think of at the moment to suck Konoha's blood in the future.
Facing Uchiha Makoto's lion's mouth....
Senju Tobirama still couldn't understand what these conditions meant behind the scenes.
But a very familiar feeling rose in his heart—the feeling of being pitted again!
Damn it, Uchiha Makoto, what exactly do you want to do again?
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