Robbing Outside the Village

When Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu saw Qingcheng's arrival, they both greeted him respectfully, "Fifth Hokage- sama!"

Kakashi immediately called out, "Fifth Hokage, you've arrived! There are some tricky documents here."

Kakashi then said, looking embarrassed, "First, the village's medical equipment needs repair, which will cost 1 billion Ryo."

Kakashi continued, "The Ministry of Agriculture has also applied for 1.5 billion yen in funding to complete the rice irrigation project for the entire Konoha, as well as the upgrade of the power system."

Kakashi then produced another document, a salary application form containing pay slips from various departments in Konoha, including one for a member of the Police Force.

Kakashi, looking embarrassed, said, "Fifth Hokage, last month's salary wasn't paid because of a lack of funds. It's been two months now, and all the department heads of Konoha have submitted their pay slips to the Hokage's Office. The total is 1.3 billion Ryo."

Qingcheng nodded directly, looking embarrassed, and said, "Haven't I received my salary from the month before last? I almost forgot. It's mainly because Tsunade is such a rip-off; she extorted so much from me."

Qingcheng then said with a serious expression, "Medical equipment will cost 1 billion, agricultural irrigation and power system upgrades will cost 1.5 billion Ryo, and paying salaries to the ninjas in various departments of Konoha will cost 1.3 billion, for a total of 3.8 billion Ryo."

Kakashi nodded directly, then said awkwardly, "I haven't watched Icha Icha Paradise in a long time either, I don't know what new ones have come out recently."

Seeing this, Qingcheng immediately reprimanded, "Captain Kakashi has overstepped his bounds again. This is the Hokage's Office! How dare you think about those filthy pornographic books and bring such bad habits to the Hokage's Office? You're just degrading yourself. If you're thinking about women and can't sleep alone at night, go find a female ninja to marry. That will enrich your real life. You're fantasizing in your 'Icha Icha Paradise' Tenten; that's escaping reality."

Hearing this reprimand, Kakashi's face filled with embarrassment and surprise. He said, "This... this is actually escaping reality? I—" Kakashi sighed again, looking resentful, "This is just too troublesome."

Mitokado Homura was also stunned, thinking to himself, "This is too dangerous. To be scolded like this is terrifying. I think I should retire and go back to my hometown. Otherwise, at my age, it's too embarrassing to be scolded like this."

Then, Mitokado Homura said with a fawning expression, "Fifth Hokage, I~"

Qingcheng looked at the smiling Mitokado Homura and directly rebuked him, "You—what do you mean, you want to overstep your bounds too? If you want to retire, I'll send you to guard the border, the one with Hidden Cloud Village, and let you experience the Mountain Barbarians of Hidden Cloud Village."

Utatane Koharu, wanted to speak up, but upon hearing such a reprimand, her face turned pale, and she looked shocked. She thought to herself, "Luckily, I didn't say anything, or I would have been scolded again."

Upon hearing the Fifth Hokage's reprimand, Mitokado Homura's face was filled with terror. He then shouted, "Fifth Hokage, I don't want to retire. I just thought of a good way to help the village solve its financial crisis. Why don't we Land of Fire and ask the Daimyo for funding?"

Upon hearing this, Qingcheng said with a look of disgust, "Do you want to see that fat, dead pig? If the current situation weren't so unclear and there wasn't any other news from the Shinobi World, I would have launched a coup and occupied the Land of Fire."

Seeing this, Mitokado Homura looked completely bewildered and said, "What? They want to launch a coup and occupy the Land of Fire? Doesn't that break the rules? Besides, there are Guardian Ninja in the Land of Fire. They might start a war with Konoha!"

Qingcheng laughed and said, "The Land of Fire only has twelve Guardian Ninja, plus the Fire Temple, and two hundred thousand elite soldiers, but our Konoha has a ninja army of fifty thousand. What are we afraid of about the Land of Fire? However, such things depend on the timing, and I certainly won't launch an attack casually."

Seeing this, Mitokado Homura said with a surprised look, "But the policy left by Lord Hashirama is a system of one village, one country. If we launch a coup, what if the Daimyo of the Land of Fire hires ninjas from other ninja villages to resist our Konoha together?"

Utatane Koharu was also a little flustered, and said with a worried look, "Fifth Hokage, you must be careful about this matter. You must not blindly stage a coup."

Kakashi was also visibly surprised, thinking to himself, "The Fifth Hokage rose to power through a coup, he's already experienced the taste of a coup, and now he wants another one?"

However, Kakashi also knew just how wealthy the Daimyo of the Land of Fire was. The Land of Fire over 50 million civilians, and the annual poll tax alone amounted to over 50 billion yen. Add to that commercial taxes and other miscellaneous taxes, and 100 billion yen a year was easily achievable.

"The Land of Fire only needs to provide Konoha with a fiscal allocation of 10 billion yen annually, and that's enough to make Konoha Ninja fight desperately."

So Kakashi said with a serious face, "The Land of Fire has so many resources every year. If we could give more of them to our Konoha, our Konoha would increase by leaps and bounds. It's just a pity that the Land of Fire is a miser and is unwilling to give any more money to support the Konoha."

Qingcheng smiled slightly and said, "So I'm going to boil the frog slowly, first launching the Fat Water Plan,' come out Shouhon Yihan."

Immediately, a large group of ninja from the Police Force donned the uniforms of Root ninjas, complete with the Root Organization's nameplates.

Shouhon Yihan, also wearing a mask, walked directly into the Hokage's Office and said respectfully, "Long live the Fifth Hokage! Our Police Force is ready. We can now leave the village for the Land of Fire, rob those wealthy towns, and bring the riches from outside into our Konoha."

The current Police Force's revenue has dropped significantly because it can no longer issue excessive fines on the streets. Therefore, every Police Force is training frantically to maximize their strength. They are now mostly at the Apprentice Jonin, with some even reaching the level of Standard Jonin.

They even took over three hundred sets of clothing from the Root Base, dressed themselves in Root ninja attire, and waited for Qingcheng's order to proceed with the Fat Water Plan " in a legitimate and justifiable manner.

Seeing this, Kakashi looked completely bewildered and said, "Wow, that's incredibly cunning! Even more cunning than Danzo! It's astonishing!"

Qingcheng said directly, "You'll be in charge of leading the team this time, Aburame Torune. Remember, you must sneak into the village, don't shoot, focus on robbing money, don't damage too much, leave some trails for the rich so they can continue to accumulate wealth, and we can continue to rob them in the future. That's called a steady stream of income."

Upon hearing Aburame Torune replied with a serious expression, "Understood, Fifth Hokage. Our main goal will be to rob people. If they resist, we will not harm them. We will continue to make money steadily."

Qingcheng nodded directly, saying with an approving look, "Go, plunder all those wealthy areas, and then spread the word that you are the missing-nin of the major villages."

Seeing this, Kakashi said awkwardly, "This is absolutely brilliant! Sending ninjas to be bandits, it's absolutely mind-blowing!"

Immediately, a large group of Police Force personnel ran straight out of the village. Shouhon Yihan, realizing she wasn't part of the mission, looked embarrassed.