New Year's Clan Affairs

Konoha 42 years

New Year

Early in the morning, a large number of Uchiha clan members gathered in the main conference room of the Clan Affairs Hall.

The young Naraku wore a black robe embroidered with yellow rice ears, with a purple cardigan over it. His black curly hair reached his waist, and his slender eyes revealed a calm and peaceful demeanor.

In the conference room, the Uchiha's Jonin and elites sat in the lower seats.

Naraku at the top of the conference room, flanked by his four advisors Uchiha Okura, Uchiha Sanzang, Uchiha Kyo, and Uchiha Zen.

The elders of the major factions Naraku, while the elders of the smaller factions, who were treated as ordinary Jonin or clan elites, sat below.

On New Year's Day, in a generally peaceful environment, people in the streets of the Uchiha Clan Compound, and indeed throughout Konoha, celebrated the new year with joyful dancing, creating a scene of peace.

"At the beginning of the New Year, as we bid farewell to the old and welcome the new, to celebrate the New Year, the Clan Affairs Hall will distribute a red envelope containing 50,000 taels of silver to each of the clan's children under the age of ten who have not yet graduated from the Ninja Clan."

"Good"

"Happy New Year! We're sending gifts and greeting cards to the clan elders over fifty years old to thank them for their contributions that have allowed the Uchiha to thrive from the Warring States period to the present."

"Good"

"Children are the hope of the Uchiha, and the elderly are the contributors and witnesses of the Uchiha; they deserve to be loved and respected."

Uchiha Okura and Naraku's father, Sanzang, each offered a word of advice. As Advisory Institute of the Clan Affairs Hall, Uchiha Okura was the chief assistant.

Naraku agreed to all the advice offered by his two advisors, and finally concluded with a single sentence.

The Uchiha elites below applauded.

On New Year's Day, the first thing to do is to give red envelopes to the young people in the clan.

Since the founding of the Konoha Ninja Academy, there has indeed been no instance of children going to war like during the Warring States period.

The age for Genin to graduate and carry out missions has been raised to 12 years old, which is different from the Warring States period when children as young as seven or eight, or even five or six, had to learn Chakra and serve their clans.

The founding principles of Konoha, the principles of the First Hokage and Uchiha Madara, despite their political differences, were the same: to prevent children from going to war.

The Third Hokage's administration largely realized their aspirations. This is an undeniable achievement of the Third.

The second thing to do at the New Year's Day family gathering is to present gifts to the elderly and wish them a Happy New Year.

The third thing is the New Year's Day festival at the Naka Shrine, a custom passed down through the Uchiha. Naraku never bothers with these kinds of ritual matters.

The original Great Elder Uchiha Okura, had always been in charge of these matters.

Looking at the time, it was almost time to head to Naka Shrine, Naraku instructed:

"Yashiro, the lucky bags can be sold now. Let's sell them right at the entrance of the Clan Affairs Hall."

"Hi!"

New Year's lucky bags, containing items of much higher value than their retail price, are a popular tradition among the people.

"Let's go! Heading to Naka Shrine."

"Hi!" the crowd responded.

Naraku overwhelmed by these formalities, but as the clan leader, Naraku and give speeches at certain traditional events.

After the sacrificial ceremony, a year-end party will be held in the evening to bid farewell to the old year and welcome the new, and work will not be discussed.

Naraku shook his head and led a large group of people towards the Naka Shrine.

"After the sacrificial ceremony, I'd better personally distribute the red envelopes to the young children in the clan, such as Obito and Shisui."

A thought flashed through Naraku's mind.

Three days later

New Year's Day celebrations have ended.

Meeting room of the Clan Affairs Hall

Nearly twenty people, including the stewards and assistants of the various departments of the Clan Affairs Hall, gathered together. This time, no other clan members were present; all the participants were important figures currently serving in the Clan Affairs Hall.

"Everyone, New Year's Day is over, it's time to sort out clan affairs."

Naraku in the main seat, with no elders from major factions present to accompany him. The elders attending the meeting were all from smaller factions and had to defer to Naraku.

Since the establishment of the Clan Affairs Hall Council, Naraku has maintained a good tacit understanding with the elders of those major factions. Because even if they come, they are just there for show, and nobody pays them any attention.

Unlike classical ceremonies such as sacrifices, which require their presiding, they generally cannot make decisions on other clan affairs.

Naraku's trusted retainer Uchiha Yashiro, was the first to speak and report.

"Clan Chief, last year our clan lost 107 members, 56 of whom passed away peacefully, and 51 died in missions. We had 379 newborns, 209 graduating Genin, and 35 promoted to Chunin."

The Yashiro reported on population changes and the situation of new ninja.

Last year, due to the incident in the Land of Rain, many members of the clan perished in the Land of Rain without warning. Four pairs of Sharingan were lost, including one pair of Three-Tomoe Sharingan.

The renowned Uchiha clan member with the Three-Tomoe Sharingan, Uchiha Mu disappeared; his fate is likely grim, and he can be considered lost.

"What about household registration? Have any new households been added?"

"The number of registered households has increased by 105, bringing the total to 1,985, with 5,900 members."

Naraku was concerned about the Uchiha's household registration. There were nearly four hundred newborns. When Uchiha Naraku over the Uchiha, there were more than 1,200 households. If each household had three people, the population at that time was less than three thousand, with many orphans and elderly people living alone.

The only good thing at the time was that the ninja clan was relatively large, with nearly a thousand members, almost one ninja per household.

Ninja families typically consisted entirely of ninjas, with statistics showing nearly a thousand members, though the actual number could be double that.

Now, thanks to Naraku's governance and encouragement of marriage, childbirth, and family Branch House to increase the number of households, the original number of households of just over a thousand has now reached nearly two thousand, and the population continues to increase, growing by almost 10% every year.

Thanks to the Clan Affairs Hall's Ninjutsu Academy, many Ninjutsu have been made available, and Jonin) instruction has been provided, resulting in an overall improvement in the strength of the clan members and eliminating any disparity in skill levels.

In such an environment, only true geniuses of the Uchiha can stand out.

Because of the improvement in overall strength, the casualty rate has decreased, welfare benefits are good, and the population is booming.

With the population base increasing, it will grow bigger and bigger like a snowball.

Of the 2,000 households, about half (1,000 households) are comprised of elderly people and children who are unable to reproduce. This leaves approximately 1,000 households of middle-aged and adolescents who are of marriageable and childbearing age.

Of the remaining thousand households, if only one-third reproduce, the population will snowball and explode in size over time.

"Good, good, good. Graduated Genin and promoted Chunin can now serve the clan. How much was the Clan Affairs Hall's commission income last year? What were the expenses and the surplus?"

"Currently, the clan has 1,221 genin and Chunin Genin, and has collected a total of 158 million taels in commissions."

Yashiro of officials held the case files, verifying information and reporting simultaneously.

Genin can accept missions. Under the guidance of Chunin within their clan, Genin's annual income is generally between 400,000 and 800,000 ryo. Chunin's annual income is between 1,200,000 and 2,500,000 ryo.

The reward for a D-level mission is 500 to 50,000 taels, and the reward for a C-level mission is 30,000 to 100,000 taels.

Level D missions are simple and safe, and can usually be completed in one to two days. Level C missions take an average of three to five days to complete.

You can complete seven or eight D-level tasks or five or six C-level tasks a month. The task rewards are calculated at the middle value: 20,000 taels for D-level tasks and 60,000 taels for C-level tasks.

The reward is 20,000 taels of silver, which is split among four people in the team. The team leader gets the lion's share, and the team members get the smaller share. They can complete about 10 of these D-level missions a month.

This simple calculation allows us to roughly estimate the annual income of the Clan Affairs Hall, which is not far off from the figure of around 150 million taels.

"What about the expenses of the Clan Affairs Hall?"

The Clan Affairs Hall has considerable annual expenses; the Administration Institute, orphanage, Senior Care Home, Ninjutsu Academy, and Guard Institute are all major expense groups.