Chapter 37

"Morning, Doctor Kōshi. Heading to work? What are you having today?"

On the streets of Sunagakure, a Middle-aged Uncle wearing a headscarf greeted a pretty, gentle young woman with red hair.

"Yes, Uncle Reili. Just a bowl of plain rice porridge and two vegetarian steamed buns."

Kōshi Responded with a cheerful smile.

"Sure, no problem. Just wait a moment, it'll be ready right away."

My child's illness last time was all thanks to you."

Middle-aged Uncle Reili said with a hearty laugh.

Watching the growing number of people heading to work along the streets, Uzumaki Kōshi felt deeply at peace.

Before the Land of Whirlpools had been destroyed, she had been a Whirlpool Shinobi.

She possessed an extraordinary amount of Chakra, which she could use to help people recover.

Back then, she had been especially busy, mainly researching Medical Ninjutsu.

After coming to Sunagakure, she joined Whirlpool Hospital as a doctor.

As more and more people came for treatment, her status rose higher and higher, and her life grew increasingly busy.

Yet she truly liked this kind of life—no fighting and killing, no scheming against one another.

Among the Uzumaki Clan, most who could cultivate Chakra and had decent ninjutsu became doctors, while women who were nimble-fingered and brave enough became nurses, handling various supporting duties.

Whirlpool Hospital supported most of the Uzumaki Clan.

Those who could neither become doctors nor work as nurses either did manual labor, worked in factories as textile workers, planted trees, or went into the Desert to cultivate cacti.

Sunagakure's enormous number of jobs was rapidly absorbing the incoming population.

After arriving at her office, she looked over the hospitalized patients' records organized by the nurses, then went to check on them.

Uzumaki Kōshi began another day of work, receiving patients.

Kōshi felt that one reason she liked Sunagakure was that it gave her the feeling of having a home.

Whenever she saw ordinary people smile happily after being cured by her, Uzumaki Kōshi felt happiest in that moment.

Inside the Kazekage's Office, Yunqing looked over the past month's tax revenue and revealed a satisfied smile.

"As expected, commerce is the real tax powerhouse. The money from ninja missions doesn't even amount to a fraction of the commercial tax."

Yunqing looked at the pitifully small deductions from mission fees.

Most of Sunagakure's current missions were handled by Genin who had only recently graduated, and they were nothing major.

A very small portion was taken on by Jonin who had nothing better to do.

Yunqing had already discarded missions in the assassination category.

They did not pay much, yet people had to risk their lives for them.

The Jonin could earn a great deal of money just from their daily Water Creation missions. Making water for a few days earned as much as an A-rank mission, while working for a dozen or so days earned as much as an S-rank mission. Since that was the case, why risk their lives?

"Lord Kazekage, many Elders have submitted petitions saying that we are losing more and more of our ninja spirit. The younger people in particular talk about nothing but money."

Pakura could not help but take a jab at him.

Just thinking about how indignant those Elders had looked during the meeting made her shudder.

That group of old men was troublesome.

"Hmph."

Yunqing snorted through his nose, expressing his disdain.

"Ignore them. Those Jonin are not afraid of them. They have taken their business and caused them to lose quite a bit of money. Especially the Tax Officers—having to pay taxes, watching the money from one S-rank mission after another get taken away, naturally hurts them."

Yunqing indicated that he understood those people all too well.

Yunqing had long known that tax collection would be a major issue, so he had specially formed a group of qualified Tax Officers.

They were all made up of Jonin and Chunin. There were not many of them, only a few dozen.

Every one of them possessed exceptional skills and was a direct loyalist of the Kazekage faction.

Their salaries were more than adequate, and they also received anti-corruption allowances.

Sunagakure was now a mixed bag of all kinds: wealthy officials and nobles from Daimyo City, major merchants from the Five Great Nations, and Elders from Ninja Villages.

The Ninja Clans of the Land of Wind all now had businesses in the Land of Wind.

The saying that money could make even ghosts grind millstones was no joke. With so many commercial transactions and such enormous profits involved, how could they possibly behave themselves?

Afraid that they would cause trouble, Yunqing had acted ruthlessly from the very beginning.

No matter who you were, not a single coin of the money owed could be missing. Otherwise, these people would dare to shit on your head.

Yunqing knew one thing well: he could not show weakness. No matter what, he could not back down. Taking one step back would not open up a vast horizon—it would lead straight into a bottomless abyss.

Yunqing could imagine it clearly. The moment he showed weakness—if he missed even one household while collecting taxes, or collected even a little less—everyone else would swarm forward, and never pay another cent more.

Those with power and status might even reach their claws deep into the tax system.

Naturally, those people could only curse under their breath before handing over one large tax payment after another.

Yunqing understood, but that did not mean Pakura did. At that moment, Pakura was staring at him with a look of utter surprise.

After thinking it over, Yunqing decided to explain. If his little secretary failed to understand and was used as someone else's tool one day, that would be far from ideal.

"Go back and ask your clan head how much money your Ye Clan's bathhouse and sauna shops make. Then talk to him about taxes, and you'll understand."

Yunqing spoke to Pakura helplessly.

If you did not understand all the twists and turns involved, it was very easy to be used as someone else's tool.