The three members of the Elder Council stood with their hands behind their backs, each leaving their backs exposed to the others.
Yet not one of them could say a word.
Koharu Utatane couldn’t see what was really going on, so she didn’t dare reveal her ignorance.
Danzō wanted to explain things to someone capable of understanding them.
Homura Mitokado, however, became increasingly uneasy the more he thought about it. His mind raced through all kinds of possibilities.
In the end, Homura was the first to speak.
"Danzō, what exactly is Sarutobi trying to do?"
Danzō sat down cross-legged, signaling that this conversation was going to take some time. He might as well make himself comfortable.
"Mitokado-san, Sarutobi is selling anxiety."
He casually brushed the dust from his legs.
His tone was relaxed, but Homura and Koharu found his words extremely difficult to process.
"What do you mean?"
The two asked in unison.
Danzō leisurely drew something on the ground as he spoke.
"Fear and anxiety have always been a business. There have always been people in this world who make a living by selling fear and anxiety—convincing people to spend money on things they don’t need, obey unreasonable orders, and maintain a fragile sense of security."
"There’s nothing surprising about that, the two of you."
"But does Sarutobi really need to do that?"
Koharu still admired Sarutobi. She had admired him since she was young.
Danzō had no such blind admiration.
He believed that the only difference between himself and Sarutobi was that Sarutobi had been luckier.
"Heh. You think the Third Hokage is at the height of his power. But Hiruzen Sarutobi himself knows that his prestige is no longer enough to support his rule."
After seeing one person after another turn against Hiruzen—including himself—Danzō had come to realize that prestige was not as absolute as people imagined.
Once someone openly declared that they no longer accepted your authority, and you were unable to do anything about it, no matter how great your prestige had once been, it would crumble.
Koharu Utatane, however, was something of an idol worshipper and refused to accept this explanation.
"How could that be? Sarutobi has trained so many powerful shinobi. Even that new watermelon-headed fellow beside him shouldn’t be underestimated."
Indeed.
Judging from Sarutobi’s attitude toward that watermelon-headed young man, he certainly wasn’t someone to underestimate.
But Danzō had seen the young man spending every day with that Uchiha who had awakened his Sharingan.
He had long since lost hope in whatever relationship existed between that young man and Sarutobi.
Shisui Uchiha’s eyes could twist people’s thoughts.
Who knew what ability that seemingly unkillable fellow’s eyes possessed?
But did he need to tell these two about that?
Of course he did.
Wasn’t Danzō himself selling anxiety right now?
Danzō had drawn eight circles on the ground.
He erased one of them first and spoke gently.
"Are all these powerful shinobi actually standing on the same side as Sarutobi?"
The Konoha elders might possess lofty status, but they had little actual authority. They had no personnel they could directly command, and even their personal combat abilities were inferior to those of the elite shinobi council.
When their support was needed, they were Konoha’s elders.
When it wasn’t, they were nothing more than ceremonial mascots.
"They aren’t?"
The two genuinely didn’t know what the current situation looked like.
Danzō continued speaking as he crossed out the circles one by one.
"Of course not."
"First, Orochimaru stopped listening to him a long time ago. Tsunade treats Sarutobi more like a family tutor than a teacher."
As he mentioned those two, Danzō crossed out another two circles.
"Minato is easy enough to persuade, but he listens to his wife even more. And Kushina’s recent behavior has been rather intriguing."
Two more circles disappeared.
"Jiraiya is obedient enough, but there’s a prerequisite: Sarutobi can’t put him in direct conflict with Orochimaru or Tsunade."
Now only two circles remained.
Danzō stopped drawing.
Then he raised his head and looked at the two people watching him.
"With all that in mind, do you still think Sarutobi has overwhelming combat power?"
Homura Mitokado desperately wanted to know who the remaining two circles represented.
If one of them was Hiruzen Sarutobi himself, then who was the other?
Could it be that the Sarutobi Clan had secretly hidden another Kage-level powerhouse?
With a clan as powerful as the Sarutobi, it wasn’t impossible.
"So Sarutobi isn’t planning to solve this problem through force at all."
Danzō himself hadn’t expected Shisui to be excluded so obviously from the Sarutobi faction.
Perhaps no shinobi clan would have thought of it that way.
If even one’s relatives couldn’t be trusted, then who could a shinobi clan trust?
Unfortunately, Danzō had no idea what Homura was thinking.
"That’s right. Sarutobi doesn’t want to use force. He plans to solve the problem with money."
Homura Mitokado didn’t think much of that plan.
If money could solve the problems between shinobi clans, the daimyō wouldn’t have to endure the annual burden of funding them.
"Danzō, that’s not going to be easy."
Danzō himself had once thought it was impossible.
But when someone calmed down and carefully examined history and past events, they would discover something important:
Force could eliminate the people causing a problem, but it couldn’t solve the underlying problem itself.
Most problems still had to be solved with one’s brain.
"Homura, we think it’s difficult because we don’t have the brains for it. But after seeing Sarutobi’s methods, it seems it isn’t impossible."
Danzō had deliberately gathered intelligence.
He couldn’t predict how a situation would unfold in advance, but playing the hindsight strategist was certainly within his abilities.
"What methods?"
Homura didn’t even have his own intelligence network.
All he could do was hope that his old friend would lend him a hand for the sake of their past relationship.
Danzō was more than happy to explain.
If he could make them wary of Sarutobi’s methods, the three of them would have an even stronger reason to stick together.
"Hiruzen Sarutobi first used the threat of war to frighten everyone. Those small clans terrified by the coming war would naturally seek protection."
As he spoke, Danzō drew a one on the ground to represent the first step.
He continued.
"Once these small clans became frightened, they would naturally seek protection. Some would turn to the Sarutobi Clan. Sarutobi would agree to protect them and then lend them money to develop their clans."
Danzō pressed his finger down firmly on this part of the diagram.
"Do you understand? It’s equivalent to accepting their request for protection and guaranteeing that protection with money."
"At the same time, he’s transferring Konoha’s financial risk."
He said "the two of you," but he was really explaining this part for Homura’s benefit.
"By issuing war loans, he puts money into circulation, drives up prices in Konoha, and lets the small clans spend the money. Once all those resources are dispersed, the flow of funds becomes much harder to notice."
Danzō drew a circle around the small clans.
Then he drew an equals sign between them and Konoha’s public funds.
"You have to understand. Most of Konoha’s civilian industries are controlled by the Sarutobi Clan."
"So as long as Konoha’s money is spent within Konoha, most of it will eventually flow back into the Sarutobi Clan’s hands."
"He’s effectively moving money from his left hand to his right hand. Not only does the money multiply through circulation, but public assets within the village are gradually transformed into private assets."
At this point, the diagram on the ground had become clear.
Konoha, the Sarutobi Clan, and the small shinobi clans had formed a stable triangle.
A perfect closed-loop distribution chain.
Homura nodded, indicating that he understood.
But then he asked another question.
"If that’s the case, why go to such lengths to organize such a massive ceremony? How much money would this cost? Sarutobi wouldn’t waste his own clan’s money, would he?"
Danzō sneered.
"By using those small clans engaged in commerce and real businesses, Sarutobi is turning Konoha’s economy into an internal cycle."
"But money coming in from outside still has to be absorbed."
Danzō wrote DAIMYŌ outside the triangle, followed by MISSION ALLOCATIONS, and continued.
"The daimyō’s money has to be spent somehow, doesn’t it?"
"If this were Sarutobi’s own money, Hiruzen Sarutobi would be heartbroken to spend it."
"But this is the daimyō’s money."
"As long as he can provide some justification for where it went, that’s enough."
"When it comes to the daimyō’s money, what matters is how much you can obtain—not how you spend it."
Danzō wrote LAND OF RIVERS on the ground.
"For example, the Land of Rivers. They needed Sarutobi’s help, so naturally they were willing to pay a huge price."
"An opportunity like that doesn’t come around often."
"So Sarutobi naturally had to take a big bite, using the money to maintain Konoha’s prosperity for a while."
Having said that, Danzō crossed out the words Land of Rivers.
"That makes the money even more useful to Sarutobi."
"As for the justification given to the daimyō, they can make up whatever reason they like."
"Even if they call it a pre-war mobilization ceremony, the daimyō will accept it."
Koharu Utatane stared at him in stunned disbelief.
"So you’re saying that Sarutobi is simply spending money recklessly in order to turn the daimyō’s money into the Sarutobi Clan’s money?"
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