Delicate

See whether that fellow Jiraiya had gathered any material.

Finally, take Nonō to the Valley of the End to enjoy the scenery.

Today's date ended with a trip to second base, experiencing the delicacy of a white porcelain bowl!

The next day, under Minato Namikaze's arrangements, Kakashi set out for the capital of the Land of Fire alongside the Third Hokage.

As Minato Namikaze's capable disciple—especially with his other two disciples already dead—Kakashi was naturally the obvious choice.

As the pioneer of this matter, Kakashi was naturally the first person they thought of, and this matter also concerned future plans.

Although Kakashi did not want this honor, there was no helping it. After all, he was now the Fourth Hokage's only disciple.

To save time, they mostly camped rough and traveled tirelessly along the way.

Before long, they arrived at the capital of the Land of Fire.

Kakashi had never been here before, but compared to the past, the capital had clearly gained a few more traces of hardship and heaviness. That was what the other accompanying shinobi said.

A nationwide war had inflicted extremely deep wounds upon the entire country. Those wounds were not merely material; they had also been deeply branded into people's hearts.

This place was no exception. The scars of war showed everywhere, but Kakashi did not immerse himself in grief.

They did not even have time to eat before following the Third Hokage to the Ministry of Finance.

In the Ministry of Finance's reception room, they waited for nearly half an hour before finally meeting a broad, fat official with a prosperous-looking face.

Everyone found a meeting room and sat down. After a brief exchange of pleasantries,

the Third Hokage took a thick envelope from his robes and said with a smile, "Konoha is rather impoverished and has no respectable local specialties. This honeysuckle is a specialty of Konoha. I hope you will accept it."

The finance minister picked up the envelope and weighed it in his hand. Its contents brought a broad smile to his face.

He smiled and said, "Honeysuckle is wonderful. Honeysuckle is a treasure. Never mind eating it—even just smelling it can prolong one's life."

Everyone wore knowing smiles, while only Kakashi felt somewhat nauseated.

As a shinobi with keen observation, he naturally knew what was inside that packet of honeysuckle.

Seeing that the atmosphere was good, the Third Hokage took the opportunity to state his purpose. "Konoha is short on funds, so we came up with an idea. There is a plan..."

Given Konoha's scale, it could easily produce a large sum of money.

Even for ordinary wealthy people, this would be an enormous amount of capital, so it was enough for acquisition and consolidation.

Moreover, in actual practice, payment did not need to be made immediately.

After hearing this, the finance minister nodded. "I see. But if that is the case, your pressure will be considerable."

The Third Hokage hurriedly asked, "Why do you say that?"

The fat finance minister sighed and explained, "What other reason could there be? War has continued nonstop these past few years, and there have been no real returns. Even someone as wealthy as the daimyo finds it difficult to keep things running."

"Although tax revenues are quite abundant, illegal salt has become rampant. Even those important figures have committed some unlawful acts. If we want to move against those smaller households, it will be troublesome, with too many people involved."

"If you want to take over the salt industry at this time, those important figures will also be very pleased."

"Speaking of which, those fellows have gone too far. Relying on the protection of important figures, they refuse to pay taxes at one time and refuse again at another. They even make a complete mess of the accounts. They are practically trying to anger the daimyo to death."

"It is good that you are willing to step forward and stop them. That way, the daimyo can rest assured and will not have to worry about trouble. They will not dare deceive their superiors and conceal the truth anymore." The official cursed irritably.

By this point, these matters were nothing more than schemes of deceiving those above and concealing things below. Some people even deceived the very important figures protecting them.

It sounded incredibly audacious, practically suicidal.

Yet to some extent, this was normal. Even a modern industrial nation had corruption and fraud under all kinds of names.

Not to mention the Land of Fire, which was still an ancient society. Who could say clearly what its internal situation was really like?

It had probably long since been nearly eaten hollow by parasites.

"Although salt is expensive, its income is not even as high as the money earned from farming. The reasons behind that are extremely complicated."

After saying that, the finance minister shook his head helplessly.

After hearing this, the Third Hokage understood a little more and realized that this task would not be easy.

Once the Third Hokage came to his senses, he chuckled and agreed.

"However, this matter involves many people after all, so a reliable person must be chosen to take charge." The official spoke with deliberate emphasis.

Earlier, everyone had been easy to talk to, but at the end, he suddenly changed his tone, leaving people somewhat confused.

Fortunately, the Third Hokage was old and shrewd. How could he fail to understand what that meant?

"I understand," the Third Hokage said.

"Hizashi Hyuga and Hyuga Hiashi, the two brothers, will specifically handle this matter from now on. I trust they will not disappoint the gentlemen."

The King of Hell might be easy to meet, but his underlings were hard to deal with. Before taking action, Hiruko had already instructed them to cede a portion of the benefits.

What Konoha truly lacked was not money, but all kinds of capital.

Giving up a portion of the profits would also make this matter proceed more smoothly. It did not matter.

The finance minister understood the Third Hokage's unspoken meaning, and an even brighter smile appeared on his fat face.

"The Hyūga Clan?"

"Precisely that Hyūga Clan."

"That is a prestigious family from the previous era. They are trustworthy—far more reliable than those unknown little brats."

Both sides were delighted, and the officials were in good spirits as well.

After settling the matter, they even kept pulling the Third Hokage into idle chatter.

Somehow, the two of them began talking about the Land of Wind.

The finance minister then told the Third Hokage, "The Land of Wind intends to cut Sunagakure's budget."

The daimyo of the Land of Wind actually wanted to cut the ninja village's budget. Was that not far too foolish?

Even the old Third Hokage could not help muttering to himself.

From the very beginning, shinobi had been told to obey and endure, but no matter what, shinobi still had families to support.

Although mission income was usually considerable, all kinds of expenses had always been tight. Without money, there really was nothing they could do.

People needed to eat, ninja tools needed money to purchase, and explosive tags and various supplies also required money to prepare.

Moreover, compensating the families of fallen shinobi and training new shinobi—what part of that did not require money?

A shinobi's combat strength was directly proportional to the budget.

Why had Konoha been able to suppress the other four nations?

It was because Konoha had the most abundant funds.

For the Land of Wind to directly cut the budget now was simply weakening its own combat strength.

Such a move was truly difficult to understand.

Most crucially...