Chapter 529: A Huge Sum

Chapter 529: Chapter 529: A Huge Sum

The account Kagami mentioned was naturally the verbal agreement he had made with the Third Hokage at the cliff earlier.

At the time, acting as Yama, the leader of Kamigami, Kagami had quoted the Third Hokage a price of ten million ryo for rescuing a Kage and five million ryo for rescuing a jonin.

According to black market standards, the bounty on a jonin from one of the Five Great Shinobi Villages was at least ten million ryo. Some elite jonin even commanded prices reaching tens of millions.

As for the Kage, they had no price.

After all, the black market had no desire to invite trouble upon itself. It would never openly issue bounties on the leaders of the Five Great Shinobi Villages, which ruled the shinobi world, within its own territory.

That night at the cliff, apart from the three Kage, everyone else was a jonin without exception. Many were elite jonin, while some were even elders of their respective villages or candidates for the position of Kage.

Therefore, the price Kagami had proposed was extremely reasonable. This was also one of the reasons the Third Hokage had agreed without a second thought.

Hearing Kagami bring up the account, the Third Hokage nodded and handed him a list that had already been prepared.

After accepting the list, Kagami gave it a cursory glance.

He discovered that it clearly listed the names of all the shinobi from the Five Great Shinobi Villages who had been rescued. It even distinguished between the wounded and the corpses, marking everything with meticulous clarity.

According to the list, Kagami had rescued a total of three Kage—the Fourth Raikage, Fourth Kazekage, and Fourth Mizukage—along with forty-seven jonin from the Five Great Shinobi Villages.

As for the others, they were all corpses of shinobi who had already died in battle.

Excluding the corpses, and calculating the payment based on the three Kage and forty-seven jonin rescued, Konoha owed Kamigami a staggering 265 million ryo!

Upon seeing that enormous figure at the bottom of the list, Kagami immediately lost all interest in scrutinizing whether the list was accurate.

After all, he was already more than satisfied with this huge sum of money.

Kagami had no particular fondness for accumulating wealth. In his eyes, money served only one purpose: funding his scientific research.

Although further developing the Chimera Technique was an unfathomable bottomless pit that could swallow any amount of money, once Kagami obtained this enormous sum of over two hundred million ryo, he could immediately put many of his ideas, which currently existed only on paper, into practice.

Seeing that Kagami had finished examining the list, the Third Hokage coughed lightly twice and said, "Your Excellency should be well aware that Konoha has just suffered a devastating calamity and is currently undergoing reconstruction. Therefore, we cannot pay such an enormous sum all at once."

Kagami replied indifferently, "As far as I know, the other shinobi villages explicitly stated after the battle that they would jointly cover this payment. Lord Hokage, am I wrong?"

Thanks to Yagura, Kagami knew every detail of the secret meeting of the Five Kage held after the battle.

During that meeting, the other four Great Shinobi Villages had explicitly agreed to share the cost of the rescue payment owed to Kamigami.

After all, forcing the severely devastated Konoha to shoulder such an enormous sum alone would be unreasonable, and the other four Great Shinobi Villages would lose face as well.

This was precisely why Kagami had chosen to demand payment while the village was still undergoing reconstruction.

After all, splitting over two hundred million ryo among the Five Great Shinobi Villages meant each village would only have to contribute fifty or sixty million at most. That was hardly a significant burden.

Moreover, with Konoha undergoing reconstruction, the daimyo of the Land of Fire, the wealthiest of the Five Great Nations, would undoubtedly provide substantial support. The other four Great Shinobi Villages would also offer their full assistance.

Therefore, this payment was not a problem for Konoha at all.

The Third Hokage furrowed his brows and probed, "It seems your Kamigami also has cooperative arrangements with the other shinobi villages!"

The postwar meeting of the Five Kage had been classified at the highest level. Much of what had been discussed was known only to the Five Kage themselves.

Thus, the Third Hokage immediately deduced that another of the Five Great Shinobi Villages was cooperating with Kamigami and had even leaked the contents of the secret meeting.

However, he could not determine which village it was.

Kagami replied noncommittally, "That has nothing to do with the account. I have nothing to disclose."

The Third Hokage exchanged a glance with Utatane Koharu, who was seated on the sofa, before saying, "You’re right. The other shinobi villages did indeed agree to cover their respective shares of the payment. However, they have yet to deliver the funds. Therefore, Konoha cannot pay your Kamigami the full amount in a single installment."

Kagami glanced at the Third Hokage and immediately noticed something amiss.

Clearly, it wasn’t that the village couldn’t afford to advance the payment, nor was it trying to renege on the debt. Rather, the Third Hokage was merely using this as an excuse to achieve some other objective.

"Old fox!"

After silently cursing him, Kagami said, "Lord Hokage, just get straight to the point."

The Third Hokage stared at Kagami and said solemnly, "I want to meet your leader, Yama, and have a proper discussion about Akatsuki."

Kagami shook his head. "The time isn’t right yet."

Before the Third Hokage could respond, Utatane Koharu rose from the sofa and demanded, "What do you mean by that?"

Kagami carefully considered his words before replying, "I know what you’re trying to do, but now is not the best time to eliminate Akatsuki. There are many factors involved, and I’m afraid I cannot disclose them all."

Naturally, everything he had just said was an excuse.

There was only one real reason.

They couldn’t beat them!

In the previous battle, Kagami had already exhausted every trick up his sleeve. Whether it was attempting to seal Obito or taking an enormous gamble to force Nagato into retreat, he had pushed his tactical ingenuity to its absolute limits.

However, the disparity in raw strength was plain for all to see. It was not something that could be easily erased by one or two successful tactical maneuvers.

It could be said that Nagato, who possessed both the Sage of Six Paths’ body and the Sage of Six Paths’ eyes, had already left everyone else in the shinobi world far behind, becoming the first to step into an entirely new realm of power.

The Third Hokage asked with a grave expression, "Many factors? I need to know exactly what those factors are!"

"Uchiha Madara!"

After a moment of consideration, Kagami threw out a name.

The Third Hokage was visibly shaken. "Are you saying that the Akatsuki member who calls himself ’Uchiha Madara’ really is Uchiha Madara? He... he’s still alive?!"

Kagami replied, "Of course he isn’t. However, the real Uchiha Madara may very well still be alive, and he could be hiding within Akatsuki. Therefore, it would be best if we didn’t act rashly."

These half-truths were deliberately intended to frighten the Third Hokage. Kagami had no desire to engage in another meaningless conflict with Akatsuki anytime soon.

With funding about to arrive, a clear direction established for further developing the Chimera Technique, and his Kekkei Mora Project progressing smoothly, the only thing he needed now was time.

He needed a period of peace to develop his strength.

No one could say for certain how long Yama’s deterrent would last. However, Nagato, having just suffered a setback, would undoubtedly choose to lie low for a while.

But if the Five Great Shinobi Villages overestimated their own strength and foolishly provoked Akatsuki, drawing Nagato into action once again, the situation would spiral completely out of control...