Fugaku, Let's Stop Contacting Each Other. I'm Afraid Clan Head White Dove Will Get the Wrong Idea!

Money!

A mountain of money~!

On a platform several meters high, stacks of banknotes and coins had piled up, with even a few golden glimmers among them.

Gold Ban!

It was practically the hard currency of the Shinobi World.

All this money added up to no less than two hundred million ryo.

What did that amount mean?

Even an S-rank mission started at just one million ryo, and those missions already involved other countries and elite jonin.

At the Bounty Station, ten million ryo was enough to place a bounty on a jonin. Even the Hokage's son was worth only thirty-five million ryo.

Seeing all that money, the Uchiha below stared with green eyes.

With the higher-ups suppressing them, the Uchiha had been living in dire straits. Their biggest source of income—the Konoha Military Police Force's wages—had also been repeatedly cut and withheld, to the point that they had started neglecting and cutting back on maintaining their ninja tools.

Some Uchiha had even begun to lose strength because they lacked enough secret medicines and supplies.

Ordinary clan members had even starved to death.

And it all came down to a lack of money and resources.

With such a huge sum right in front of them, how could the Uchiha not be green with envy?

"Every Uchiha clan member can come up and collect fifty thousand ryo. Members of the New Uchiha will get double that. And I guarantee that next month, everyone will receive the same amount!"

White Dove didn't waste time. He went straight to explaining how the money would be distributed.

One hundred thousand ryo!

What did that amount mean?

By Ichiraku Ramen prices, an ordinary bowl cost sixty ryo, while an egg cost eight.

At those prices, one hundred thousand ryo was no small sum.

The clan members below erupted into cheers as soon as they heard White Dove's plan.

"That's wonderful!!"

"Waaah, long live Clan Head White Dove!"

"...How do I join the New Uchiha? It's not because of the money. I just admire Lord White Dove!"

"Just register at the One Heart Chamber of Commerce!"

"Thanks, I have to use the restroom!"

Amid the excited shouts, people kept pushing out of the crowd and dashing toward the Konoha Military Police Force—in other words, the One Heart Chamber of Commerce.

White Dove naturally saw them from the platform, but he made no attempt to stop them.

The deliberate difference in treatment was meant to attract more clan members to join the "New Uchiha" he had founded, rather than the old Uchiha.

As for the old Uchiha, its power structure had already calcified. He had no say in how it was run.

But the New Uchiha was different.

All its power was in his hands, and since it had only just been established, it wasn't bound by a host of rotten rules and restrictions.

He had deliberately handed out the money differently to draw people in.

All they had to do was register and join the New Uchiha to receive twice as much. Anyone with any sense knew which option to choose.

Besides, the clan members urging people to "register first, then come back for the money" were all employees of the One Heart Chamber of Commerce. This was White Dove's open, aboveboard scheme.

Watching all this, Uchiha Fugaku's eyes dimmed.

"Fugaku!"

Uchiha Mikoto held Sasuke's hand. Seeing her husband's expression, she worriedly reached out to steady him.

"I'm fine. I just..."

Uchiha Fugaku's voice sounded bitter.

If White Dove hadn't stepped forward, he wouldn't have realized there was anything wrong with his leadership as clan head.

But compared to White Dove, he was left in an awkward position.

At the very least, under White Dove's leadership, the Uchiha had not only made the village's oppression of them known to others, but had also secured plenty of benefits.

Well, Fugaku hadn't heard the exact terms, but he wasn't blind. He could see what White Dove was doing.

The money was being distributed by "head," not by household.

And from now on, whenever White Dove offered benefits, he would distribute them the same way.

He was encouraging people to have children!

The more Uchiha there were, the better it was for him.

They were his foundation.

"Here, two hundred thousand ryo. This is assistance for the two of you. I hope you'll believe in the clan and the New Uchiha!"

White Dove handed two stacks of money to a married couple who worked for him.

"Thank you, Chairman White Dove!"

Uchiha Hanaha, a woman who was newly pregnant, thanked him gratefully while holding her husband's hand.

She had dared to get pregnant because joining the One Heart Chamber of Commerce had given her a stable income. Otherwise, the couple wouldn't have dared to have a child.

"It's nothing. It's what I should do. But when we're with the clan, just call me Clan Head!"

White Dove accepted her thanks—he had earned it—but still corrected the way she addressed him.

At the chamber of commerce, people called him chairman. At the Konoha Military Police Force, they called him chief. Within the clan, they called him clan head. It all depended on the setting and the speaker's relationship to him.

After receiving the money, Uchiha Hanaha was already planning what ingredients to buy so she could celebrate properly with her husband.

And she wasn't the only one. Most of the other Uchiha who received money were planning to celebrate too.

For a while, everyone was in high spirits.

Naturally, they trusted and appreciated Uchiha White Dove even more for bringing them these benefits.

Even without them, they would have followed him for the sake of the Uchiha. But no amount of zeal could survive constant exhaustion.

Now that they had tangible benefits, their zeal wasn't fading. If anything, it had grown stronger and burned brighter.

When Tekka's family received five hundred thousand ryo, Tetsuga and Tessui suddenly turned to face White Dove. They clenched their right fists and tapped them against their chests, shouting,

"Loy-al-ty!"

White Dove had taught them this gesture as a joke, saying it was a way to show how excited they felt.

Though they were older than White Dove, that didn't mean they admired him any less than they admired their big brother, Tekka.

With this money, they could prepare to become ninja.

Attending the Ninja Academy wasn't the only way to become a ninja.

In fact, only a little over a hundred students graduated from the Ninja Academy each year. Most ninja came from clans.

The Academy's biggest role was providing training resources.

Resources!

That was its most important role.

Otherwise, civilians couldn't afford the cost of training a ninja.

As for the Uchiha, only Uchiha Sasuke attended the Ninja Academy. It wasn't that the others didn't want to go. The Academy simply wouldn't give them any spots.

Now that they had money, both Tetsuga and Tessui wanted to become ninja.

No matter how dangerous being a ninja was, it was still far better than being a farmer or an ordinary person.

But once the two of them made that gesture, it was as if they had flipped a switch.

"Loy-al-ty!"

"Loy-al-ty!"

One Uchiha after another tapped their fists against their chests, showing White Dove how excited they were and that they supported him.

He had invented the gesture himself. The fact that they used it to respond to him spoke volumes.

"Loy-al-ty!"

White Dove answered solemnly.

At that moment, if he gave the order to storm the Hokage Building and chop up F4, plenty of clan members would probably follow him.

Ninja were efficient, and Yezue, Yashiro, Inabi, and the others were helping hand out the money. So the distribution was finished in just over an hour.

White Dove also took the opportunity to chat with the clan members, ask about their lives and difficulties, and promise that things would only get better.

He wasn't even trying to hide how blatantly he was winning people over.

Still, neither Uchiha Fugaku nor Uchiha Tenzan reacted as they watched White Dove. Their expressions were both gloomy.

Stop him?

That would be practically suicidal.

Copy him? They couldn't even scrape together a fraction of this money. How could they imitate him?

After receiving their money, the Uchiha didn't leave right away because no one had dismissed them. They stayed in the square to watch the others collect theirs, their eyes filled with hope. Whenever they glanced at the figure on the platform, there was a hint of fervor in their gaze.

A clan head who could lead them in standing up to the village's higher-ups and bring them benefits—that was what made a good clan head.

As for Uchiha Fugaku?

Let's stop contacting each other. I'm afraid Clan Head White Dove will get the wrong idea!

"Clan members!"

Uchiha White Dove's voice rang out through the Amplification Technique after everyone had collected their money.

"From now on, we Uchiha can take on missions from the Mission Hall too!"

His announcement filled them with excitement.

The Uchiha's main path had always been to join the Konoha Military Police Force. But their pay had kept shrinking, their workload kept growing, and villagers even pointed at them and cursed them to their faces.

Now they could finally take on commissions. How could they not be excited?

Taking commissions meant they could leave the village instead of being trapped in Konoha like birds in a cage.

White Dove pressed his hands down to quiet the crowd, then continued with more good news.

"At the same time, the surveillance outside our clan compound will be removed. The village will no longer treat us like criminals!"

As he said this, he glanced at Uchiha Fugaku.

It was because of a clan head like him that the Anbu dared to go too far, openly watching them right outside their compound.

"Long live Clan Head White Dove!"

"That's wonderful!"

"We won't be watched anymore!"

Fervent cheers rang out across the square.

Meanwhile, just as the entire Uchiha clan was celebrating, the atmosphere in the Hokage's office was exceedingly tense.