I'll Take All These Quests

It is worth mentioning that the Konoha Consortium and the Department of Finance have achieved remarkable results under the stewardship of Mito and the three elders, managed by the business talents of the Senju Clan.

Families of all sizes have earned vast sums of wealth. Those with heavy investments, such as the three major clans, see the Senju Clan bringing in as much as 100 million ryo per month, while the Hyuga and Uchiha clans earn 30 million ryo monthly. Even smaller families with fewer investments earn at least several million ryo a month—a reward that previously required the entire clan to complete an extremely dangerous and time-consuming S-rank mission, or multiple A-rank missions. Now, they are more than satisfied to earn this easily every month. After all, small families have fewer members and thus lower consumption; on average, their members are actually wealthier than the common members of the major clans.

The Konoha Consortium alone provided 300 million ryo in taxes to the Department of Finance this year. Combined with the commercial taxes paid by the various shopkeepers, hot springs, restaurants, and gambling dens throughout Konoha, the Department of Finance collected a total of 500 million ryo in taxes this year. The Ninja Academy's student loan program has officially been implemented, and the number of new students this year has doubled compared to last year; as the plan progresses, this number will continue to grow.

Today, the Shinobi World is at peace, the village has an independent fiscal income, and the number of ninjas is gradually increasing. All of Konoha is thriving, and everything is moving in a positive direction—all of which was brought about by Nawaki!

The high-ranking officials of Konoha believe that even without considering Nawaki's talent as a ninja, his strategic mind alone is enough to make him an advisor elder of Konoha, ensuring the village's enduring prosperity. He is now so vital to Konoha that not a single mistake can be tolerated. How could the Third Hokage possibly feel at ease letting him go out on missions? If he could, he would keep Nawaki under his own nose twenty-four hours a day. Shinnosuke and Hikari are completely dragged down by Nawaki, though they are oblivious to the situation and simply assume all genin are like this.

With their experience of over five hundred D-rank missions, they are actually qualified to apply for promotion to chunin. Yes, in this era, promoting to chunin is actually quite simple; it does not require participating in a Chunin Exam. One only needs sufficient mission credentials and to successfully challenge any existing chunin, or receive a recommendation from a jonin instructor. Chunin is merely a common rank among ninjas, and any normal adult can be promoted. Special cases like Might Dai, who can only practice taijutsu because he lacks chakra attributes, are very rare.

Incidentally, Might Dai is now seventeen years old, but just like in the original story, he has yet to be promoted to chunin. Due to the massive gap in skill levels, his teammates long ago abandoned him, so he can only accept D-rank missions alone to survive, while suffering the ridicule of other ninjas.

Over the past year, Nawaki's team has accepted missions with him several times, and they have developed some rapport. According to Nawaki's observations, he should have already begun creating his own taijutsu, the Eight Inner Gates.

The reputation gained from D-rank missions has reached a saturation point, and the Wish Power obtained is negligible. After all, once someone has been helped repeatedly by the same person, it is difficult to maintain the initial sense of gratitude; over time, the employers have become accustomed to it, making it hard for them to produce intense emotions.

Therefore, Nawaki decided to use his own methods to break the shackles placed upon him by the higher-ups.

On this day, Torifu Akimichi brought Nawaki and the other two to the Hokage Building to accept missions from the Third Hokage, as was his routine.

The lone wolf Might Dai and over twenty other newly graduated ninja squads were also here.

Seeing Nawaki and the others arrive, the Third Hokage nodded and said, "This is your mission for today: clean up the landfill behind the Inoue family's estate. Their landfill is quite large, so hurry along; otherwise, it will be difficult to finish the mission before dark."

He then took out the mission sheet he had prepared in advance and handed it to Torifu Akimichi, signaling them to hurry off to perform the task. He was afraid that Shinnosuke would start acting up again; being called an "old man" by his own son in front of so many people was truly embarrassing!

"Wait!"

Hearing this, the Third Hokage thought to himself, Sure enough, here we go again. What a headache.

But when he looked up to see who had spoken, he found it was not Shinnosuke, but Senju Nawaki, whom he had always admired. He immediately switched to a kindly expression and asked, "Nawaki, do you have a question?"

Shinnosuke grumbled from the side, "The difference is just too big. Why is Nawaki so popular everywhere he goes?"

Uchiha Hikari, shedding the cold demeanor she had last year, smiled brightly and said, "This is Nawaki's charm. He warms those around him with his kindness."

Shinnosuke shuddered as he looked at her soft eyes. "I get the feeling your gaze is a bit strange. You haven't picked up some peculiar hobby, have you?"

"Shut up! Stop making a fool of yourself here! And from now on, you are forbidden from living with Jiraiya! Look at what you've learned from him!" The Third Hokage could no longer listen and scolded Shinnosuke.

"Tch! Nawaki once said, 'If a son is not taught, it is the father's fault; if a student is not strictly taught, it is the teacher's laziness.' I think that makes a lot of sense. If one's own son and apprentice turn out bad, one should reflect on oneself..." Shinnosuke muttered casually.

However, everyone around heard him clearly and nodded in agreement, almost involuntarily.

The Third Hokage was left speechless, his face turning beet red. Afterward, pretending he hadn't heard, he wore a smile that looked worse than crying and changed the subject: "Nawaki, what was it you wanted to say just now?"

The Third Hokage is truly pitiful to have a son like that. No wonder he has another one later. Come to think of it, was Shinnosuke perhaps slapped to death by him? Nawaki gave the Third Hokage a look of pity and voiced his question: "I've noticed there aren't many hands available in the village lately. Third Hokage-sensei, you must have a large backlog of D-rank missions here, right?"

"That is correct. Since the establishment of the Konoha Consortium, many merchant caravans have appeared in the village, leading to a surge in C-rank escort missions. These missions offer higher pay, so most experienced genin and chunin squads choose to take them. This has resulted in a shortage of manpower in the village. With only Dai and rookie squads like yours, many D-rank missions have piled up and cannot be completed quickly." The Third Hokage looked at Nawaki with deep meaning.

"How many missions are left?"

"Let me see. Immediate tasks like searching for lost items have already been completed. The rest are time-consuming and labor-intensive, such as cleaning landfills, clearing wasteland and weeding, driving away wild beasts, and moving heavy objects... Altogether, there are... over forty of them. Some of these missions have been backlogged for two days! With the village's current manpower, it would take at least two days to finish them. If this continues, new missions will keep piling up. It really is a nuisance..." The Third Hokage puffed on his pipe.

"Leave them all to me!"

"What did you say?"

"Yes, I'll take all of these missions! From now on, I will come to collect multiple missions every day!" Nawaki answered confidently.

Shinnosuke asked in confusion, "But there's no way we can finish that many missions!"