Uchiha Shingen Volunteers for the Job / Yugito's Rent

"Shingen, since Iwagakure allied with us, trade between the Land of Fire and the Land of Earth has flourished." The Minister of Administration adjusted his glasses. "The Land of Lightning is also a wealthy country. If we ally with Kumogakure, our funds will surely be even more abundant next year."

"No." Uchiha Shingen shook his head. "Once the war ends, all countries will enter a state of military austerity, except for the Land of Lightning! We need to rely more on the association's profitability. If we let Cloud Village join our alliance of interests, it will only weaken our financial strength. Military austerity is a general trend, and the Daimyo's Court's investment will inevitably decrease. As a result, the villages' self-sufficiency will face a greater test. It's impossible for us to still share profits with Cloud Village, and besides..."

He paused, his gaze unfriendly.

"Cloud Village only has the obligation to pay compensation; they can forget about getting money from Leaf Village."

In Uchiha Shingen's opinion, there was something wrong with the head of the administration department.

It would be best if he didn't accept the money from the lobbyist, otherwise Uchiha Shingen would make him pay.

Uchiha Shingen decided that he would have someone investigate as soon as he got back.

Uchiha Shingen never overestimated the integrity of the ninjas in the administrative department.

They might not betray the village or deliberately harm its interests, but in areas they don't understand, they're bound to use their positions for personal gain.

Chapter Fourteen: Uchiha Shingen Taking the Initiative

Within the association's system, Uchiha Shingen could check the accounts of any of the banks he wanted; no one would refuse him that favor.

Seeing the somewhat chilling gaze from Uchiha Shingen, the head of the administration department chuckled dryly, lowered his head, and pretended to be writing something in his notebook.

I'm glad I haven't taken the money yet; he always does the service first and then collects payment.

However, he harbored some resentment, wondering why Uchiha Shingen needed to target Cloud Village when Leaf Village was so powerful. The Land of Lightning had such a large market, and the village could make more money. It wasn't unreasonable for them to accept some gifts as a side benefit.

"I'd like to remind everyone here," Uchiha Shingen said, turning his gaze to the heads of the other departments, "Don't think that the association's money is so easy to earn! In the end, for every person who makes money, someone else has to lose money. If everyone comes in and makes money, who will lose it? Leaf Village? We can't all just pay out of our own pockets, can we?"

The heads of various military departments nodded in agreement.

They always supported Uchiha Shingen, this god of wealth, during meetings.

If a decision involving money doesn't include something like "Uchiha Shingen said," they might even think the plan is flawed.

However, the administrative and Ministry of Education, which are non-military, have somewhat different views on this statement.

The Ministry of Education has always been a forbidden zone for the Uchiha Clan, who are staunch supporters of the Hokage, because most of the people in this system come from the Senju of the Forest, which had disbanded long ago.

However, this faction didn't really harbor any great animosity towards the Uchiha Clan, because they were only responsible for training ninjas and arranging personnel for graduates. To put it bluntly, they were rather closed off, and in their eyes, people from other departments were all the same, with no difference between them.

This department is the genuine No. 1 Department of Leaf Village. They're lucky if they don't talk back to others; no other department dares to give them a hard time.

They genuinely had no objections to Uchiha Shingen's opinions—everyone has their own expertise, so don't ask them about making money, just don't cut their funding.

Only the people in the administration department felt that Uchiha Shingen's words were very pointed, but they didn't know what to say, otherwise it would be like putting a pot on their own head.

Aside from the Ministry of Education, the administrative department has only so-so relationships with other departments. They're the kind of department that nobody likes, and everyone will take the opportunity to criticize them.

After finishing his speech, Uchiha Shingen's tone softened.

"Cloud Village and Sand Village are villages with strong fighting capabilities, but their style is very crude and their external strategies lack stability. Winning them over with benefits is ineffective; the only way is to suppress them with military means. If it's time to negotiate, then negotiate; there's no need to get involved with anything else. As for their formations, I suggest using commercial means to plunder their resources, and if there's an opportunity, kill their top fighters to prevent them from launching military operations at will."

"This is probably not conducive to long-term peace," someone said.

"With prolonged peace, there would be no need for the ninja villages to exist. Leaf Village needs rivals," said Uchiha Shingen. "Moderate warfare will make us stronger, and during wartime, we can plunder, which will greatly help maintain our financial resources."

The man seemed surprised by Uchiha Shingen's response and hesitated.

The Doves also gained a new understanding of Uchiha Shingen.

This version of Uchiha Shingen is completely different from the one he had in Iwagakure.

"Alright, that concludes today's meeting." Namikaze Minato clapped his hands. "I understand everyone's opinions. Thank you for your suggestions."

Everyone stood up, their minds perfectly clear.

This means that Uchiha Shingen's suggestion has been adopted.

The rumors are true; Uchiha Shingen disliked Cloud Village very much.

The head of the administration department had already figured out how to righteously rebuke the lobbyist when he got back.

This little bit of money thinks it can shake his loyalty to the village? How ridiculous!

The conference room doors opened, and the heads of various departments and representatives of relevant forces filed out, leaving only a few people behind.

The Leaf Five, plus Uchiha Shingen.

Namikaze Minato leaned back in his chair and stretched.

Sarutobi Hiruzen never smoked during meetings, but now he's taken out his pipe and is leisurely putting it in his mouth.

He used to find it very annoying that the Uchiha Clan was always at odds with the Hokage Building.

Now, Uchiha Shingen feels very comfortable when he wants to confront Cloud Village.

He wholeheartedly agreed with the notion that the Cloud Village was composed of barbarians.

If someone had even a modicum of common sense, would they do something like that?!

Now, Hidden Leaf Village has friends all over the world, money and manpower, so even if it were to fight Cloud Village again, he wouldn't be worried.

"Alright, Shingen, is this what you wanted?" Namikaze Minato sat up straight again and asked with a smile, "However, the Cloud Village delegation is already on its way. Why don't you join the negotiations?"

"Okay." Uchiha Shingen nodded.

Without a doubt, the Cloud Village will definitely make an exorbitant demand.

Putting aside personal likes and dislikes, Uchiha Shingen always felt that the higher-ups of Kumogakure) were the best at managing things among the five villages in the original timeline.

The internal cohesion has always been well maintained, unlike Leaf Village, Sand Village, and Hidden Mist Village, which are full of problems. Leaf Village is outwardly harmonious but inwardly divided, while Sand Village immediately started fighting among itself after losing the Third Kazekage, Hidden Mist Village's Bloody Mist Village is another story altogether.

When dealing with external matters, the Kumogakure always plans its actions carefully before acting; it never does so impulsively or on a whim.

Those who were responsible for acting performed exceptionally well, and those who were responsible for doing their jobs thoroughly.

Otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to surpass Leaf Village and become the leader of the Five Villages after the Third Shinobi World War, thanks to the Byakugan incident.

In the original timeline, Leaf Village, completely unprepared for this, was led by the nose, their attention drawn entirely to the Byakugan. By the time they realized what was happening, they had little choice.

Uchiha Shingen wouldn't give Cloud Village such an opportunity again.

You won't let it have a good life unless you peel off a layer of its skin.

"By the way, who are the members of the Cloud Village delegation?" Uchiha Shingen asked. "Since the delegation has set off, the official documents must have already been sent over, right?"

"It's been delivered, but it's not of high rank," Namikaze Minato said. "The envoy is a ninja leader."

"Lord Hokage, you wouldn't agree to them negotiating with you using only a ninja leader, would you?"

"Of course I brought that up." Namikaze Minato shrugged. "While I personally don't care, the ninja leader can't represent Cloud Village, and I'm also thinking about who should receive them."

"What about their documents?" Uchiha Shingen asked.

"Hmm? Shingen, are you interested?"

"Shingen, I know you hate Cloud Village, but don't do anything reckless."

Namikaze Minato and Uchiha Fugaku said different things.

Sarutobi Hiruzen and the two advisors both looked over.

"I'm very interested, but I won't do anything reckless." Uchiha Shingen smiled. "Lord Hokage- sama, I'll handle the negotiations with Cloud Village, but I need their documents."

"I see." Namikaze Minato nodded. "I'll have Kakashi deliver the documents to you, but don't let it get into any trouble."

"Don't worry, Lord Hokage," Uchiha Shingen said with a smile. "I just intend to tell them that the rank of the people speaking must be equal. The ninja leader's rank is too low, so we can't accept this document."

"It's good that you know what you're doing." Namikaze Minato was relieved.

Chapter Fifteen: The Rent of the Yugito Nii

When Hatake Kakashi delivered the document to Uchiha Shingen, Shingen had just finished his afternoon training session.

Compared to before, Hatake Kakashi's eyes had a lot more vitality.

The villagers' apology was useless to people like Uchiha Shingen, but it was very useful to Hatake Kakashi.

Hatake Kakashi gets a discount when he goes out to buy dango these days.

When he went to the bookstore, things got even more interesting. The shop owner assured him that the latest issue of Icha Icha Paradise would be delivered to his door as soon as it arrived.

Hatake Kakashi was very happy; it would have been even better if the shop owner hadn't been so loud.

Why did you make such a loud noise about the Imperial Uncle's incognito visit?

"How have you been lately, Kakashi?" Taking the document from Hatake Kakashi, Uchiha Shingen casually stuffed it into his pocket, the rude way he did so making Kakashi's eyelids twitch.

"Um... Lord Shingen, you should at least return what you gave to someone else..."

"It's alright, the people of Kumogakure are all real men, they don't care about such things."

If he dared to be meticulous about small things, he would teach the simple-minded old man a lesson.

What Uchiha Madara did to Mu and Ōnoki is something many people would like to do.

That's not a black mark on Uchiha Madara. On the contrary, Uchiha Madara's actions back then met the expectations of many people in Hidden Leaf Village.

An alliance with Leaf Village? You think you're worthy?

That's what many people think.

Senju Hashirama was so easygoing that some people mistook him for being easily fooled.

After Uchiha Madara definitively declared dead at the hands of Senju Hashirama, many people simply stopped trying to cover it up.

Without Uchiha Madara, Leaf Village's deterrent power immediately decreased significantly.

This led to the First Kazekage daring to make an exorbitant demand at the first Five Kage Summit.

However, his greed backfired, and he almost got beaten up by the other actors.

In terms of ideology, Uchiha Shingen completely disagreed with many of Senju Hashirama's actions, one of which was distributing the Tailed Beasts. In other words, Senju Tobirama, while Senju Hashirama originally intended to give them away for free.

These Tailed Beasts were originally meant to be weapons of Leaf Village.

After putting away the documents, Uchiha Shingen chatted with Hatake Kakashi for a while before heading to the prison.

Heading south from the Uchiha Clan Compound, past the boundary wall, and then southeast along the mountain range, you will enter the prison's territory.

In the opposite direction, heading southwest, one will first encounter a circular training ground with a river running through it.

That was the Training Ground 44, surrounded by more than 44 locked entrances. The ground was composed of rivers and forests, with a tall tower in the very center, exactly ten kilometers away from the outer entrance.

This refers to the Forest of Death Chunin Ninja Exams the original timeline.

Further west, there's a vast, seemingly endless forest.

In the Land of Fire, this entire forest is called the Leaf Forest because it belongs entirely to the territory of Hidden Leaf Village).

In terms of territory alone, Leaf Village ranks second in the Land of Fire, second only to the Daimyo. The Hokage is essentially a warlord.

This large area has been a military zone since the village was built, and no civilians have ever entered it.

After leaving the clan's territory, Uchiha Shingen first encountered a group of Konoha Military Police Force ninjas. After exchanging greetings, he continued on his way.

As he approached the prison, he encountered patrolling Konoha Military Police Force no less than ten times, to the point that the prison authorities already knew he was coming.

When he reached the door, there were already ninjas waiting there.

Despite appearing to be an independent prison, it is directly managed by the Police Force. Now that the Police Force no longer only has Uchiha Clan ninjas, the prison has become well-staffed.

For example, he was greeted by a ninja from the Aburame Clan.

After joining the Police Force, the Aburame Clan's main job was prison guarding.

The prison environment was far too friendly for the Aburame Clan.

I can balance work and playing with insects.

The prisoners here couldn't distinguish whether the insects that occasionally crawled across the walls or even their bedding were ordinary insects or members of the Aburame Clan.

"Lord Shingen."

"Take me to see those Yugito Nii," said Uchiha Shingen.

The Aburame Clan ninjas maintained their taciturn family style, and without further ado, turned and began to lead the way.

As important individuals under their guardianship, the Yugito Nii were imprisoned at the bottom of the prison.

There's no way you can escape from prison.

After she was captured, the Sealing Squad from Leaf Village even came to give her a special package, and she also received monthly maintenance.