Chapter 58: Distribution of Tailed Beasts
In the end, the meeting accomplished its original purpose. Honestly, if it hadn't been for Hashirama Senju's presence, another Warring States period might have kicked off right then and there.
Konoha successfully acquired the Nine-Tails. Raikage's village, leveraging its geographical advantage and deep pockets, directly purchased both the Eight-Tails and the Two-Tails. The Hidden Stone Village wasn't about to fall behind—they dropped serious money to secure the Four-Tails and the Five-Tails. The Mist Village sold everything they had to get the Three-Tails and Six-Tails. That left the Sand Village in the worst position. Flat-out broke, they could only afford to purchase the One-Tail.
"Could we... uh, maybe delay payment for the Seven-Tails until we've raised enough funds?" Reto asked, his tone desperate.
He felt like dying. That one sentence had just announced to all five great nations that the Sand Village was dead broke. But he had no choice—he was the Kazekage. No matter how humiliating it was, he had to fight for his village's interests.
Tobirama didn't even blink. "Sorry, Kazekage. You'll need to raise the money first. Once that's done, we'll send the One-Tails to the Sand Village."
Honestly, Tobirama was just worried the Sand Village would try to weasel out of the payment entirely. Reto had been planning exactly that—trying to snag a tailed beast for free. But Tobirama didn't give him the chance. Reto swallowed his frustration and kept quiet, forced to endure the humiliation.
Throughout the negotiation, Uchiha Izuna and Uzumaki Asaoka stood by, observing. The Five Kage Conference ended with just one issue remaining: the Seven-Tails hadn't yet been delivered. But with the talks done, Konoha had no intention of staying in the Land of Rivers any longer. Hashirama and Tobirama had already spent too much time there.
The journey back went smoothly—until an unexpected visitor intercepted Hashirama.
"You want to buy the Seven-Tails?" Hashirama raised a brow.
"Yes, Lord Hashirama," the ninja said with a polite smile. "I represent Takigakure Village. We'd like to purchase the Seven-Tails, and we've got the funds ready."
Compared to the five great nations, Takigakure was nothing. Even the poorest among them, the Sand Village, could squash them. But everyone in the ninja world knew that Hashirama Senju was a peace-loving man. And Takigakure had caught wind of Sand's financial woes, seeing an opportunity.