He nods. Chouji is hitting the nail on the head, as he expected.

"To answer your first question... nowhere near as much as we should be. The village can pull together in a crisis remarkably well, but we have no council. If you're looking for people to defend us, we're fine, but if our food and water were cut off we'd be toast in a matter of months, if not sooner. You couldn't get enough from the farmlands and orchard to feed the whole village for long as things are currently."

In a way, it's ironic. Most of the village loathes the Malnosso, but they've yet to move on from being dependent on them.