Inside the office, Senju Tobirama was furiously berating Sarutobi Hiruzen and Shimura Danzō.
The two stood stiffly, like chastened underlings, trembling as they listened to Tobirama's tirade.
Even their fathers—Sarutobi Sasuke and Shimura Shishin—stood nearby, equally uneasy.
After a long while—
Tobirama finally stopped shouting. Exhausted, he sank back into his chair and began thinking about what to do next.
Five hundred million ryō.
For Konoha, that was an enormous sum.
And now, with more and more ninja clans joining the village, expenses were only going to increase.
According to Tobirama's plans, Konoha would soon need:
a special covert unit nominally under Senju Hashirama's command but in reality answering directly to Tobirama,
a ninja academy,
a village hospital,
and many other institutions.
All of it required money.
And worse still—
The Fire Daimyō had yet to send a reply.
If this continued, Konoha's cash flow would collapse entirely. The supplies meant to stabilize the village and attract clans were already gone.
The more Tobirama thought about it, the angrier he became.
His cold gaze swept over Hiruzen and Danzō.
For a moment, he genuinely felt like killing them.
"Lord Tobirama," Sarutobi Sasuke said grimly,
"my worthless son has committed a grave offense. If punishment is required—even execution—we will accept it. This disaster is of their own making."
Shimura Shishin nodded beside him.
As fathers, they could no longer shield their sons.
Tobirama snorted coldly but said nothing.
If killing Hiruzen and Danzō could bring back five hundred million ryō, he would have done it without hesitation.
But it wouldn't.
Five hundred million ryō was worth far more than their lives.
Killing them now would be meaningless.
The priority was damage control.
"'Tulips'…" Tobirama said slowly.
"I've heard that name before."
"You two idiots—tell me everything. From beginning to end. Not a single detail omitted."
From Tobirama's perspective, losing such an absurd amount of money in such a short time wasn't easy to accomplish.
His instincts told him something was off.
Was someone deliberately targeting Konoha?
Almost reflexively—
The Uchiha clan surfaced in his mind.
A case of locking onto an enemy out of thin air.
Of course—
In this instance, Tobirama's intuition wasn't wrong.
The mastermind was an Uchiha.
"Yes, Lord Tobirama."
Hiruzen and Danzō explained everything they knew.
From Danzō's initial success in the tulip market,
to Hiruzen giving in to temptation and joining in,
to their early profits,
and finally to their complete loss of control—consumed by greed until they lost five hundred million ryō.
"Lord Tobirama," Danzō said urgently,
"we really did make a lot of money at first. We even planned to donate it all to the village—to earn your approval. We never expected things to turn out like this."
He wasn't lying.
He truly had planned to use money to force Tobirama's recognition.
Hiruzen nodded beside him, his face filled with regret.
If only they had stopped while ahead—
If only they had returned with a fortune—
How perfect that would have been.
"Enough," Tobirama snapped.
"Do you still think this isn't shameful enough?"
His face remained icy.
Those empty promises meant nothing to him now.
His mind replayed everything they had said.
No Uchiha appeared anywhere in the story.
This realization left Tobirama feeling both relieved—
And inexplicably disappointed.
The sense of disappointment confused even him.
Why did I expect it to be them?
Frowning, Tobirama suppressed the thought and turned his attention back to the problem.
From Hiruzen and Danzō's account, tulips were a luxury flower favored by nobles and the daimyo.
Speculation followed.
Though Tobirama had little experience with commerce—and didn't yet fully grasp the mechanics of contract trading—he immediately identified the core issue:
Tulips themselves.
Prices had risen from low to high.
Even now, after the collapse, demand still existed.
If Konoha could obtain a massive supply of tulips, it might be possible to recover the losses.
With that in mind, Tobirama asked about tulip cultivation.
"Lord Tobirama," Hiruzen replied carefully,
"tulips are extremely difficult to grow."
"From seed to bulb takes seven years. After that, it takes another eight months before flowering."
"That's why contract trading even appeared in the first place."
"If your intention is to grow tulips to recover the losses…"
"I'm afraid it's impossible."
They immediately understood Tobirama's line of thinking.
Even in collapse, tulips were still luxury goods.
Tobirama wanted to flood the market to reclaim losses.
But the long cultivation cycle made it unrealistic.
"You idiots know nothing!"
Tobirama sneered.
He hurled one last insult at them before storming out of the office.
He was going to find his older brother.
Enough wandering around with Uchiha Madara!
The village is in crisis—this is when the man in charge steps in!
Yes—
Tobirama had thought of Wood Release.
Hashirama's unique kekkei genkai could accelerate plant growth—entire forests could be created in moments.
Tulips were flowers.
In theory, Wood Release should work on them too.
Even if technical issues arose—
Tobirama was confident he could solve them.
"Big brother!" Tobirama barked.
"Use Wood Release on these tulip seeds—now!"
"This concerns the future of the village!"
Hashirama, dragged over in confusion, had been about to protest—
But the moment he heard "the village's future," he immediately activated Wood Release on the seeds.
And then—
A miracle occurred.
"What the hell?!"
"Unlimited tulip supply?!"
"Is Konoha insane?! Do they want money or death?"
"At a time like this, they're charging in to completely smash the market?!"
"Do they still want to accept ninja commissions in the future?!"
"Do they realize how furious half the shinobi world's nobles and merchants already are?!"
"Perfect… the scapegoat has appeared!"
Uchiha Makoto stared at the intelligence report in his hands.
He had been worrying about how to clean up the aftermath.
Even if nobles couldn't overturn the shinobi world, the damage they could cause was still significant.
But now—
Everything had resolved itself.
Wonderful.
This has nothing to do with me anymore.
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