In just three days, the storm took shape.
Seventeen petitions signed with bloody fingerprints and the village chief's private seal arrived at Uchiha Xuan's desk like snow.
These villages belonging to the Fire Country border areas all requested to be separated from the Hidden Leaf Village tax system and instead be included in the newly established "Scarlet Eye Tax District".
The reasons are surprisingly consistent - "Old debts cannot be cleared".
The yellowed pieces of paper wept about the years of exploitation.
Labor service, military service, disaster donations... these responsibilities that should have been borne by the Daming Prefecture were passed on again and again, subcontracted by local wealthy families, and eventually turned into a mountain that weighed on the backbone of the common people.
Ruthless interest is like a vine, strangling the hopes of generations.
The most shocking piece of paper states that a family owes a sum of money for military service due to their ancestors a hundred years ago, and now they are sentenced to have three generations of their daughters as slaves in order to pay off the debt that has been changed beyond recognition.
Chiyo felt his hands and feet feel cold. This was no longer exploitation, but living cannibalism.
Uchiha Xuan After reading, a cold smile appeared on his face, and there seemed to be flames beating in those scarlet eyes.
"They use the weight of history to suppress people, so I will use a fire to burn all this so-called history."
His voice was steady, but with unquestionable determination. "Chiyo, draft <Scarlet Eye Exemption Decree> immediately. There are two core points: Anyone who voluntarily surrenders to Scarlet Eye Tax District, no matter what old debts they owe, I'm afraid the debts owed to the daimyo will be written off in one stroke. However, all villagers must sign 'New Life Contract', acknowledging New Hall as the sole subject of creditor's rights and adjudication. From now on, their lives and their debts are only under my control."
"Master Xuan, this move..." Chiyo looked worried, "This is tantamount to openly encouraging tax evasion. Five Great Nations will never sit idly by and ignore it. Moreover, once this hole is opened, will it trigger a larger wave of tax evasion and cause our financial system to collapse at the beginning of its establishment?"
Xuan walked to a huge crystal screen, tapped his finger, and a dynamic financial deduction diagram instantly appeared.
On the picture, countless light spots flash, most of which are dazzling red.
"Look at these red dots," Xuan's voice echoed in the quiet room, "They are all 'negative equity villages' that have been drained of every last drop of oil and water by Five Great Nations, but have no strategic value. Their land is barren and their population is declining. It is difficult to maintain their own operations, let alone pay taxes."
He turned around and looked at Chiyo with burning eyes. "I don't earn their money, I want their hearts and their mouths. I want the whole Shinobi World to know that if you follow Hidden Leaf Village, you will be a slave for generations; if you surrender to Scarlet Eye, you will be reborn."
He accentuated his tone and issued more specific orders. "Every exemption document drafted must be burned by the village chief in front of the whole village. All the old account books in the village must be burned. Record them with images and archive them. Tell them that the higher the flames burn, the more food will be rationed by the New Hall!"
Overnight, the slogan "Burn accounts for food" spread like wildfire across the ragged border areas of Five Great Nations.
This is no longer a simple political slogan, but a visible and tangible way of survival.
The shackles of the old world appear so fragile in front of the fire and food of the new world.
A mining town on the Land of Wind border was the first to respond to the call.
Amid the cheers of the miners in the town, the mayor burned the mountain of account books, and the flames soared into the sky and almost dyed half of the night sky red.
However, the joy is short-lived.
At dawn the next day, a Sunagakure law enforcement force descended like ghosts and carried out a bloody suppression of the mining town in the name of "maliciously evading national tax obligations."
The sticks fell, the cries shook the sky, and the newly ignited hope was ruthlessly crushed by an iron hand.
Baba Koichi, who was in charge of the New Hall, received the news and immediately asked for instructions whether to send military support.
"No rescue." Xuan's answer was categorical, even with a hint of cruel calmness. "Not only will we not save him, we will immediately notify all the media puppets we have installed in various places to broadcast the footage of the Hidden Sand Village law enforcement team beating people to all surrounding countries using the highest-definition crystal video. Remember, the faces of those old people and children must be close-up."
Baba was stunned for a moment, and then understood Xuan's intention.
This is a war of public opinion.
Sure enough, when the bloody scene leaked out through various secret channels, public opinion in the entire border area was instantly in an uproar.
Even the observers sent by Naruto, who were supposed to exercise restraint against Hidden Leaf Village's allies, couldn't help but privately question, "Does Hidden Sand Village... still represent the interests of civilians?"
Taking advantage of this wave of public opinion, Xuan immediately launched his second move - the "Scarlet Eye Credit Score" system.
"All those who defect will be given an initial bonus of one hundred points." Xuan explained to Chiyo and a group of core cadres, "If you pay the new tax in full and on time, ten points will be added at a time; take the initiative to report tax evasion and tax evasion by the old forces, and thirty points will be added after verification; actively participate in the New Hall's policy propaganda and become our 'mouth', and fifty points will be added at a time."
"On the contrary," his eyes became sharp, "For those who default on taxes, incite resistance, and spread rumors that are unfavorable to the New Hall, points will be deducted depending on the seriousness of the circumstances. Once the points reach zero, the whole family will be included in the 'Abandoned Citizens Register' and deprived of all benefits and protection under the New Hall system."
The most important thing is that this credit score is completely public and anyone can check it through the terminal issued by the New Hall.
For a time, tacit mutual supervision began between villages and even between families.
Whistleblowing and flattery have become the quickest way to improve your credit score.
The bronze tax collector designed by Chiyo himself has also been upgraded.
When the tax collector walks into the village, the bronze medal on his chest will emit a crisp electronic voice: "Zhang Sanjia's credit score is 120, and the rating is excellent. You can receive an extra half a catty of salt today." "Li Sijia's credit score is 60, and the rating is warning. This month's welfare ration will be halved."
The cold numbers have become the Sword of Damocles hanging over everyone's head, and they have also become the badge of glory that everyone is chasing.
One day when this system was first achieving results, a ragged old accountant came to surrender after going through all kinds of hardships with several large boxes of heavy account books in his arms.
He claimed that his family has served the three major chambers of commerce Fire Country for generations, and he has all their running accounts for the past century. Every dirty transaction and every evidence of collusion between government and businessmen has been recorded.
He is willing to use this in exchange for the shelter of his family in Scarlet Eye area.
Chiyo organized a manual inspection overnight to confirm the authenticity of the account books, and excitedly suggested to Xuan: "Sir, this is top-level intelligence that is enough to subvert Fire Country's economic lifeline! We should seal it and use it as a trump card in future negotiations."
"Seal it?" Xuan chuckled and shook his head, "Why hide such a good thing?"
He issued an order that stunned everyone, "Engrave to me the contents of these account books word for word on a giant stone monument, and place it in the central square of the New Hall! I have already thought of the name of the stone monument, and it will be called - 'Proof of Old-World Bloodsucking'!"
When the stone tablet with numerous crimes engraved on it stood in the center of the square, the entire Scarlet Eye area was boiling.
People rushed to watch and pass on copies. The astronomical figures and dirty transactions that usually only existed in legends were now nakedly exposed to the sun.
The flames of anger were completely ignited, and even more radicals brought the copied evidence back to the territory of Fire Country. A massive "liquidation of wealthy households" movement quietly began under the eyes of Hidden Leaf Village.
Late at night, everything is silent.
Xuan sat alone in the secret room, with a brand new Shinobi World layout suspended in front of him.
On the map, there are no longer traditional national boundaries, but economic spheres of influence composed of three colors.
Large areas of thriving green are the "credit surrender areas" that have been incorporated into his system; patches of shocking dark red are "debt high-pressure areas" that are still oppressed by old debts; and more are gray areas in between that are falling apart, which are signs of the disintegration of the old financial network.
His fingertips gently touched a spot on the map that was turning from red to gray, and he raised a deep arc at the corner of his mouth, whispering to himself, "War is promoted by the footsteps of soldiers. And conquest... is relying on the sound of breaking IOUs."
Outside the window, dark clouds gathered, blocking the moonlight.
Xuan's pair of Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan slowly rotated in the darkness. Deep in his pupils, at the edge of the strange pattern, countless numbers as fine as dust appeared. They were flipping, combining, and calculating quickly, like an invisible ultimate account book that recorded the flow of wealth in the entire world.
Just as he was immersed in this silent war, the door of the secret room was slammed open, and a Anbu member responsible for intelligence rushed in, rolling and crawling, his voice changed with extreme horror and urgency.
"Master Xuan!"
The visitor was out of breath, holding tightly in his hand a top-level secret report that had just been deciphered. The source of that information was far away.
In the deep mountains of Land of Lightning far away from the Naka River.