For this reason, he became a close confidante to Hideyoshi, despite the small size of his domain, which was roughly only 10,000 koku (an unit of assessed crop yields of the land [1 koku: about 180 liter], which was also used to express the size of the land) in Harima Province and others, compared to those of Kiyomasa and Masanori, and was granted the use of the Hashiba name and was appointed as a Karo (chief retainer) of Toyotomi clan and custodian of Hideyori TOYOTOMI after the death of Toshiie MAEDA.
このことから、清正や正則らと違って所領は播磨国内などに1万石ほどしかなかったが、秀吉側近として重用され、羽柴姓を下賜された上、前田利家亡き後は豊臣氏の家老として豊臣秀頼の後見人を任されることとなった。