Jiraiya was left speechless by Uchiha Yorin's retort. In the end he could only let it go with a laugh.
After that, though, he stopped talking to Yorin. He agreed with Yorin deep down, but as one of the Legendary Sannin, being talked down to by a junior still stung his pride.
Besides, Yorin isn't Naruto—he doesn't have a Kotoamatsukami growing on his tongue.
So Jiraiya turned to Minato. "Minato."
"Jiraiya-sensei."
"I'll admit—when I heard you'd become Hokage at such a moment, I worried whether you could handle it. But seeing you now, I'm relieved."
Which was indirectly praising Uchiha Yorin—saying that with his help, Minato could sit tight on the throne.
Minato: "Mm. I also… am very grateful to Yorin."
Yorin felt Minato's words were less than heartfelt—like pinching your nose to eat durian mixed with stinky tofu and blue cheese.
Uchiha Yorin: "Big guy like you, still feeling aggrieved? It's not like I'm making you eat chi-shi; it's just stinky tofu with durian."
…
And so the matter of the Ryūchi Cave virility powder came to a close.
Next came a flood of merchants, doing everything they could, cash in hand, swarming Konoha and shouting to double, triple, quadruple the Ryūchi Cave bone-strengthening powder. The factory brothers worked overtime—996 around the clock.
That isn't exploitation. In the ninja world, 996 really is a blessing—plenty of people want 996 and can't even get a 6.
Yorin's factory had a political design: priority jobs for war-disabled veterans missing limbs and their families.
He took both shinobi army and Anbu veterans. That boosted Konoha's employment rate while plugging a bit of the gap in unpaid benefits—costing Minato a couple more hairs.
It also built Yorin's political capital—useful the next time he stepped up to pick the speaker.
Ninja can shoulder anything—mere 996? They might even thank us for it.
…
Yorin was riding high. His investment had been a huge success.
Earlier he'd burned the boats—plowing all his newspaper money and long-saved cash into factories—and it was the right call.
Not in a year, not in half a year, not even in three months—two months was all it took for Yorin to earn back his costs—and that was just on deposits.
By standard ninja-world terms, deposits and principal usually split 20/80.
In other words, once this wave of business closes, Yorin's return will be 4× his investment.
He wasn't worried about not recovering principal.
These merchants are from the ninja world, not Hindustan. There are scammers, but not that many.
More importantly—
—and this was only the first wave. More merchants would arrive yelling "shut up and take my money," buying Ryūchi Cave virility powder at n-times markup.
And that was only the Fire Country. The other four nations and a raft of small ones weren't even counted yet.
Yorin's plan was to scale Konoha into a high-tech industrial zone—steel, autos, shipbuilding, light and heavy industry all the way—shaking off the "backward" label for good.
If 90% of Konoha's civilians rely on the Uchiha for a living—would they dare not elect an Uchiha Hokage?
Aren't they afraid Yorin would pull investment and run?
Well, that was just talk—there aren't many cities in the ninja world safer or more convenient than Konoha.
If the Forest of Death around Konoha feels inconvenient, it's only because you haven't seen the other four hidden villages' barren mountains and bad waters. Compared to them, Konoha is paradise on earth.
When these merchants come to Konoha, they won't only import virility powder. They'll buy and sell all sorts of valuable odds and ends—activating Konoha's market economy and creating more tax revenue for the Hokage's office.
When they leave, most will hire Konoha's transport corps to move their goods—maybe hire ninja for protection from assassins sent by rivals, or hire ninja to be the assassins.
Naturally, Yorin gets some credit. And all of his virility powder moves through Konoha's transport corps—keeping profits in the family, with a 20% discount to boot.
Everyone making money—that's real money. From Konoha's macro view, increasing liquidity matters more than how much you pocket personally.
…
Minato was very satisfied with Yorin's generosity; so was Jiraiya. Neither knew Yorin also diverted a slice of profits to Orochimaru—R&D funding twice what he used to get from Danzō, and set to grow.
That erased Orochimaru's last concern. Next, he could betray Danzō gloriously and without mercy.
At the same time, neither Minato nor Jiraiya imagined the phrase "political contributions."
When Yorin's funds become crucial and irreplaceable to Minato, Yorin's voice will naturally surge—skyrocket—explode.
And if the two ever clash—facing the terror of a severed funding chain—would Minato really dare say to Yorin, as the Third did to Danzō:
"I am the Hokage!"
Yorin's smile was very content.
"Orochimaru-sensei, I've done everything I promised. Now I'll be waiting for your good news—heh heh heh."
If Minato and Jiraiya hadn't been standing there, Yorin would already have let loose the standard Uchiha laugh.
"Ah-hahahaha…"
Laughing just on the inside should be fine.
"Ha—hahaha…"
…
With that, the discussion of Ryūchi Cave virility powder ended on a cheerful note.
Next, Yorin's talk with Jiraiya and Minato moved into deep waters:
Amegakure, Akatsuki, and those troublesome pupils of Jiraiya.
"Danzō will never admit it."
"Sending ordinary ninja likely won't work."
"An official diplomatic envoy?"
"…Decided."
After Yorin and Minato debated for a long while without reaching a conclusion, Jiraiya slapped the table: "I'll go myself!"
Seeing Jiraiya's resolute face, Yorin couldn't help imagining:
Next episode: The Death of Jiraiya!