Blazing Possessiveness!

There was none of Danzo's calculation in Hiruko's eyes.

Instead, they burned with a heat that was almost possessive.

"You belong to me. You no longer belong to that old man. As for your burdens... I'll take care of them for you."

Nonō's lips were slightly dry, and she unconsciously pursed them.

"So nervous?" he chuckled softly, his fingertip brushing the corner of her lips as if by accident, as though confirming something.

The two of them kissed fiercely, and it felt as though she were submerged in water. Nonō could barely breathe.

Only one thought remained in her heart: follow the man before her.

Perhaps things would become easier for her.

Only after a moment did he let go.

Allowing her to take half a step back and steady herself.

"Feeling relieved now?"

There was a trace of laziness in Hiruko's tone, yet it carried an unquestionable force.

"You are my woman. I will take care of you. As for everything else... you no longer need to worry about it," Hiruko said decisively.

That old man Danzo had probably known long ago that Nonō could not keep watch over him.

He merely wanted Hiruko to owe him more favors.

As for taking Nonō for himself, there was no need to do that upon their first meeting.

They could cultivate their relationship for a while first. He was not as impatient as the rumors claimed.

Even with Pakura, an outsider from another village, he had shown enough patience. Of course, whether Pakura herself liked it was another matter.

Seven days later, Minato Namikaze sat firmly in the Hokage's seat. The Third Hokage gave a light cough and slowly explained the reason for this emergency assembly.

According to reliable intelligence, the Hidden Cloud Village had recently made some unusual moves, seemingly related to the leak of certain information from the research department. They were deeply uneasy about it.

If nothing unexpected happened, the Hidden Cloud's target was Konoha.

Although the Hidden Cloud had not officially made a move yet, Konoha had already prepared for the worst.

After all, armed groups of that level would not act rashly. It would still take time to prepare for a true war.

However, because of Hiruko, the other four great nations would never sit by and watch Konoha grow stronger. They would certainly wait for an opportunity to act.

Though they had not openly formed an alliance, they had long reached an understanding in secret. They intended to wear Konoha down through a war of attrition until blood flowed like rivers.

Konoha's jonin, regardless of rank or position, had already shed their blood for the village. They did not wish to see their comrades die needlessly again.

But as ninja who had lived through war, they knew very well that kindness and justice were often pale and powerless on the battlefield. Konoha's survival was above all else.

Since war could not be avoided, then they would fight to their hearts' content!

Very quickly, everyone in Konoha reached a consensus on this.

At that moment, Danzo raised an extremely thorny issue. "We still know little about the Hidden Cloud's true strength, but Konoha has yet to recover. If war begins now, we will face a fiscal deficit of nearly one billion ryō every month."

"Hokage-sama, do you have any brilliant ideas?" The moment Danzo spoke, he pointed the spear directly at Minato Namikaze.

"Ah!"

Hearing that staggering figure of a full billion ryō, Kakashi could not help crying out in shock.

One had to know that even an S-rank bounty mission only paid a mere one million ryō, yet Danzo had casually mentioned an astronomical nine-digit sum.

That was practically equivalent to completing a thousand S-rank missions!

Kakashi helplessly shrugged, feeling numb inside.

However, Danzo clearly had no intention of stopping his attack on Minato Namikaze. He continued, "This is merely the cost of maintaining the most basic front line."

"If we want to wage a high-intensity war, the monthly deficit will have to be at least two billion ryō."

When that number came out, even the other jonin present felt their scalps go numb.

But Hiruko, who sat to the side, knew that Danzo was not speaking carelessly.

If anything, the estimate was conservative.

Once war broke out, the moment the cannons fired, gold would pour away by the thousands. The consumption of supplies and personnel would vanish like running water.

Take Asuma's head, for example. It alone was worth as much as thirty-five million ryō.

To fight a proper war, the expenditure would be at least ten billion ryō. In the world of Naruto, that was perfectly normal.

After all, in this world, even a plain bowl of ramen cost around sixty ryō, while a single egg cost fifteen ryō.

After hearing Danzo's words, everyone present looked rather grim.

War was already enough of a headache, but the enormous expenditure it brought left them at a loss and filled them with dread.

Konoha still had a large amount of debt left unsettled. Following the Third Hokage's usual style, they had naturally chosen to drag it out slowly.

They relied on Konoha's fixed internal income to repay it little by little, like squeezing toothpaste from a tube.

But now they were going to war again. Where would Konoha get the money?

They could not count on the Land of Fire either, so they could only find a solution within Konoha itself.

This was what the major clans feared most, because most of Konoha's internal businesses belonged to them.

In this world where strength reigned supreme, buying low and selling high was perfectly normal.

Although Konoha was an organized whole, no matter how many restrictions were imposed openly, the major clans always had ways to bypass the rules and achieve their goals.

Now, fifty years later, the large and small clans combined controlled nearly half of Konoha's wealth.

The moment someone mentioned raising taxes to deal with the war, it was practically asking for their lives.

No matter who handled this matter, it was bound to be extremely difficult and draw endless curses.

The Third Hokage looked at Minato Namikaze, then said calmly, "In the current situation, I believe the most suitable course is to raise certain taxes. Everyone must endure hardship and get through this war together."

After hearing those words, Hiruko knew that his opportunity had arrived.

Although seizing the operating rights to the Land of Fire's salt industry would provoke many objections, there would not be too many opposing voices during such difficult times.

This might be his chance to change the current situation and obtain greater benefits for himself. His experiments consumed too much money, and he could not rely on Konoha to personally open new sources of income for him.

Moreover, Hiruko wanted to change the ninja world through his own efforts. This was the perfect experiment.

And if he unified the salt industry, Hiruko had the ability to directly increase salt production, allowing even commoners to eat cheap, reliable salt.

That way, sales would naturally rise rapidly, and money would come in very quickly.

Once he had accumulated the initial capital, Hiruko could vigorously develop the luxury goods industry, attract investment, and draw the impoverished people around Konoha into Konoha.

Asuma raised an objection. "Most of the salt industry in the Land of Fire is monopolized by nobles, and salt production is simply too low.

"Even if we obtain the brand, it will not be of much use.

"There will not be enough salt to sell, so we will not make much money."

Hiruko merely waved his hand and said confidently, "For us, expanding production is not much of a problem.

"Besides, for the Land of Fire, although salt is expensive, its output is indeed too low. It does not hold much value."

"The most crucial thing is..."

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