Meanwhile, the Commercial Minister, who appeared to be merely recording the meeting, was actually rapidly drafting the contract. After finishing, he showed it to both Kage for review. Once confirmed, he copied two duplicates. Torifu explained the concept of a contract to Getsuji, and being a Kage of a village, he immediately understood. He promptly picked up a pen and signed his name. Torifu then took out his seal and pressed it onto the document.
With this, the cooperation between Konoha Village and Kirigakure was thoroughly established. Torifu stood up and extended his right hand. "Pleasure working with you, Mizukage-sama."
Getsuji smiled and shook Torifu's hand. "Pleasure working with you, Hokage-sama."
Without any further small talk, Getsuji quickly left the conference room. Torifu sat on the sofa, his eyes thoughtful. He seemed to be contemplating something.
"Hokage-sama, the Land of Whirlpools' action was clearly leveraging their relationship with our village, calculating that we wouldn't ignore it, which is why they demanded an astronomical price. Shouldn't they be reprimanded?" the Commercial Minister said.
The Minister had been so astonished when he heard what the Mizukage said that it took him a long time to recover. The Mizukage had just bought enough appliances for half a village for only ten million ryō. Half a village had at least ten to twenty thousand people. The Land of Whirlpools had truly price-gouged Kirigakure this time. Furthermore, when the Third Prince came, he didn't mention this matter at all, as if nothing had happened.
"Of course. Starting today, all preferential policies Konoha Village extended to the Land of Whirlpools are canceled. Whatever price other countries pay, that's the price they pay."
The Minister nodded. "Understood, sir."
"Go now and have the secretary call the Tsuchikage and Kazekage."
"Yes, sir."
In this manner, after consecutively meeting the General of the Land of Iron and the Mizukage of Kirigakure, Torifu then held a joint meeting with the Kazekage and Tsuchikage. They were already old customers of Konoha Village, and the appliances sold to them previously had been very well received. So, this time, they were looking to see if there was anything new they could cooperate on.
Unfortunately, although Amado had developed the final products, the factories had not yet set up production lines. Many potential flaws might not have been tested out yet, so Torifu couldn't let them spend money to buy a batch of defective goods. Therefore, Torifu didn't rush to cooperate with them on new products.
The Tsuchikage and Kazekage expressed their regret, then went ahead and pre-ordered a batch of the second-generation appliances. Amado's second-generation appliances were highly popular in both countries. With their cool appearance and improved performance, they were now in high demand. The two Kage signed contracts worth twenty to thirty million ryō with a wave of their hands. Both villages were thoroughly heading toward prosperity, no longer constrained by their feudal lords over money. They were very grateful to Torifu for this. If they hadn't cooperated with Konoha Village, their villages wouldn't be as prosperous as they were today.
The most insightful of them was the Kazekage. Ever since the First Kazekage, he had realized that Konoha Village's strength was far beyond what they could resist. Thus, he chose to cooperate with Konoha, and the relationship between the two villages remained solid to this day. During the time of the First Kazekage, Sunagakure had even purchased saplings from Konoha to build windbreaks.
The Land of Earth's cooperation, on the other hand, began when their village was attacked, and they came to Konoha for information. Before that, they had barely communicated.
Torifu spent the entire morning meeting with all the Kage who wanted to cooperate with Konoha. All matters of cooperation were happily settled, and there were no arguments throughout. Everything went smoothly.
By the time Torifu left the conference room, it was already noon. He called Naori to ask about the moving progress. When he learned that she had long since finished and was currently visiting his Master's home, Torifu smiled. He happened to have something he needed to discuss at his Master's home, so it was convenient.
The Intelligent Puppet remained in the office to process the morning's accumulated paperwork, while Torifu walked directly toward the Senju Clan compound. The guards at the entrance offered Torifu their well wishes, then let him in without obstruction.
As soon as he entered Hashirama's yard, he found Ashina playing with Kushina. She must have just gotten home from school.
"Ashina-sama, I have something to discuss with you."
Hearing Torifu's words, Ashina said something to Kushina, who then went back inside the house.
"What is it, Torifu? Did something happen?" Ashina asked with a smile. Torifu rarely came to him with issues, so Ashina was somewhat surprised.
Torifu feigned a troubled expression, but then explained the situation with Kirigakure and the Land of Whirlpools. It was obvious that Ashina's face went from calm to angry, and then crimson red.
"Those brats! I only left the Land of Whirlpools a few years ago! And they've already caused such a huge mess!" Ashina's anger was not feigned; he was genuinely furious. Torifu had given him the fruit of rejuvenation; not only had he failed to repay that kindness, but his own worthless sons had caused such a big problem! They had forced the Hokage to spend millions of ryō to apologize to Kirigakure, while they had peace of mind swindling Kirigakure out of eight or nine million ryō! How dare they!
"Torifu! I'm leaving right now to return to the Land of Whirlpools! I'll teach those little brats a good lesson! Let's see if they dare do this again!"
Ashina prepared to go pack his bags, but Torifu grabbed him. "Ashina-sama, you don't need to go to all that trouble. You just need to write a letter warning them not to do this again in the future."
"The Mizukage-sama is no longer angry. To Konoha Village, this is a small matter of a few million ryō, but the nature of the incident is poor. Since this happened, Konoha Village will no longer offer any preferential discounts on goods exported to the Land of Whirlpools. Please mention this in the letter as well."
Ashina had no objection to this. He nodded immediately. "Good. I agree with your approach, Torifu. You've already been extremely benevolent by helping to soothe the Mizukage's anger; you don't need to do anything more."
"I think with Konoha Village's help all these years, those little brats have gotten a bit carried away and think they can do whatever they want! Truly worthless individuals!" Ashina was very angry, but his words conveyed more disappointment. It was no wonder he felt disappointed; indeed, none of those princes were particularly promising. The only one Torifu thought was decent was the Second Prince, with whom he had lived for seven days all those years ago. However, the Second Prince was an ordinary person without Chakra, yet he still had his father's favor. Now that their father had left, his influence would naturally diminish.