Salt and Iron Monopolies

Hiruko's plan had nearly swept up the entire salt industry.

Everyone present was in quite a good mood when discussing the matter.

"Speaking of which, this month's dividends should be coming out soon. With this income, Konoha's finances should loosen up a little." The old Third said slowly.

The Third Lord was highly efficient at getting things done. After all, those salt companies already existed, complete with raw materials, workers, and even sales channels.

Konoha had merely sent ninja over to consolidate them completely.

Coupled with the newly built factories on Konoha's side producing some snow salt as well, they were attacking from both sides.

After all, industrial nations and agricultural nations were fundamentally different.

Konoha had gone to great lengths to persuade many people—or simply make them vanish from the face of the earth.

With Danzo backing them from behind, this industrial nation, once constrained by the organizational structure of an agricultural nation, instantly unleashed its true productive power.

Being a daimyo in an industrial nation was simply incredible.

"How much do you estimate this month's dividends will be?" Minato Namikaze asked curiously.

"Probably fifty or sixty million ryo."

The old Third could be said to have participated in the entire affair, but asking him to gather people like a merchant and calculate assets and goods was truly not his forte.

When certain people cooked the books to fool him, he naturally failed to notice immediately.

But with Danzo, a man who would use genjutsu without scruples, tax evasion and fraud could not possibly be hidden from him.

Still, based on his past experience, Hiruzen Sarutobi could roughly estimate a figure.

Danzo's expression more or less confirmed the accuracy of that number. Neither of them knew much about economics.

"Fourth Hokage, it is about time you ended your entanglements with the nobles of the Land of Fire," Danzo said expressionlessly.

Minato Namikaze looked at Danzo in confusion.

"I admit that Hiruko's methods can indeed bring Konoha some additional income, and I am willing to believe that you truly have Konoha's best interests at heart. But the most important matter now is dealing with foreign enemies and the wars to come."

Danzo took a deep breath. His face was grim, making his thoughts impossible to read.

He slowly said, "To prepare for a war with the Hidden Cloud Village, Konoha itself already has to bear enormous deficits."

"Now you are taking funds to invest in industry. That will make Konoha's deficit even greater. Konoha is not some toy you can control however you please!"

As the group argued without end, the atmosphere grew increasingly tense.

Suddenly, Kakashi rushed in from outside with a report in his hands, his face full of panic.

Minato Namikaze noticed that his young disciple's entire face was filled with a strange expression, as if he had encountered something unbelievable.

Danzo barked sharply, "Kakashi, what are you doing here? Don't you know what kind of place this is? How can you be so reckless?"

Kakashi was panting heavily. Clearly, he had something urgent to report.

This scene made the already tense atmosphere even more solemn.

Ignoring Danzo's rebuke, Minato Namikaze instead looked warmly at Kakashi and asked, "What is it, Kakashi? Did the salt revenue fail to reach fifty million ryo?"

Still panting, Kakashi answered excitedly, "Not fifty million—it's eighteen billion ryo! The first dividend is a full eighteen billion ryo!"

Eighteen billion!!!

What an astonishing number!

In Konoha Village, D-rank missions were low-level missions that could be issued by either the village head or ordinary civilians.

The rewards for such missions usually ranged from five hundred to ten thousand ryo. Because they were not difficult, they were mostly trivial chores like babysitting or finding lost cats and dogs.

C-rank missions were not much different from D-rank missions and could also be issued by anyone.

They were slightly more difficult and might involve escorting people or transporting confidential documents, but they contained no combat elements. Their rewards ranged from ten thousand to fifty thousand ryo.

Like C- and D-rank missions, B-rank missions were also commissions that anyone could issue.

However, the difficulty was further elevated. Their content might resemble C-rank missions, such as guard duty or transporting confidential documents, but they also included combat against hostile ninja.

In the world of the Hokage, Naruto Uzumaki and his companions often waited for all kinds of missions to come their way.

Just like the C-rank mission Naruto Uzumaki had received to escort the architect from the Land of Waves. They had thought it was only a minor mission, only for it to become a B-rank mission in the end.

Of course, that was only an isolated case. Most of the time, mission ranks and rewards remained relatively fixed.

Generally speaking, B-rank mission rewards ranged from fifty thousand to one hundred fifty thousand ryo.

As for A-rank missions, they could not be issued casually. They had to be issued in the name of a nation. While not necessarily issued personally by the Hokage, they were certainly authorized by him.

Such missions were primarily requests concerning national developments. It could also be said that the nation assigned you to do something, with the scale and outcome of the mission varying greatly.

The pursuit of Gaara after the Chunin Exams, as well as the mission to pursue Sasuke Uchiha after his defection, were both A-rank missions. Their rewards ranged from one hundred fifty thousand to one million ryo.

S-rank missions, meanwhile, involved national secrets, including requests from other nations, war-related missions, assassinating important figures, stealing confidential documents, and so on.

The rewards for such missions were frighteningly high, all above one million ryo.

For an ordinary person, earning one million ryo from a single S-rank mission was already an enormous reward.

But now, even if Jiraiya, Konoha's most prolific mission-taker, worked himself to death, he still could not earn as much as this eighteen-billion-ryo dividend.

Of course, if Jiraiya's manuscript royalties were included, that would be another matter.

Still, as a large military organization, Konoha's upper echelon had seen plenty of the world.

Although they were astonished by this massive dividend, they were able to remain rational.

During wartime, there was no shortage of people who had seen vast sums of money. Yet a first dividend exceeding ten billion in less than a month was still enough to leave people speechless.

Perhaps because ordinary people had never bought salt this cheap before, it had been snatched up like mad the moment it hit the market, selling out immediately.

They could sell as much as they produced. This sight stunned both the Third Hokage and Danzo. They had never imagined this stuff could make so much money.

The older generation all knew that salt and iron monopolies were basically guaranteed profits.

Banks could still suffer losses, but salt and iron monopolies almost never lost money.

Salt in particular was something everyone needed, and its price was relatively high. Once the price dropped, sales would always explode.

Tenten's family, for example, sold weapons. Though they also made a fortune, they still fell somewhat short compared to salt and iron monopolies, especially since the Third took a hefty cut from the profits.

Tenten's family business had succeeded largely because of its close ties to the Hokage faction, allowing it to grow under the Hokage's protection.

Otherwise, a weapons business like that simply could not survive.

The fact that Hiruko's salt monopoly could earn so much money in one go was truly outrageous to them.

Everyone stared at Hiruko in shock.

Only one thought remained in their minds!