Taxes Are Love for the Village

No one knew how long he had slept in the darkness.

Obito opened his eyes and found himself lying on a stone slab bed. His body was covered by a robe, and it seemed as though something strange had been stuffed inside him.

He sat up and saw Uchiha Madara, who had apparently been waiting beside him for quite some time.

A sickle rested at Madara's feet. There might even have been Hashirama's blood left on it—its record could be checked at the Valley of the End.

It scared Obito half to death. He thought the Grim Reaper had come to claim him.

Once the misunderstanding was cleared up, Obito learned that the old man before him was Madara, the ancestor of the Uchiha.

"Then, Grandpa, do you want some protein powder?"

Only then did Obito notice that the bag he had been carrying had fallen down with him. Seeing how skinny Uchiha Madara was, little more than skin and bones, kind-hearted Obito decided to help him replenish his nutrition.

"Protein powder?" Madara seemed to have heard of it.

Since food was unimportant, White Zetsu never reported on it. However, the Spiral-Faced White Zetsu who loved admiring feces had once curiously wanted to see what protein-powder poop looked like, so Madara might have heard the name back then.

"Two scoops can replace a pound of beef?"

"Yeah, this is Masaichi's—" Obito was just about to brag about how Konoha had produced a genius like Orochimaru.

He suddenly realized something.

Had he handed Rin over to Masaichi?!!

?!!

But he had thought he was going to die at the time!

"Ahhh! Grandpa, I can't talk to you anymore. Take the protein powder as repayment for saving my life. Hurry up and tell me how to get back." Obito jumped around anxiously. If he returned a few days late, would he only be able to attend Rin's wedding?

Rin had always had a bit of a crush on that bastard Masaichi!

And! He had handed his Three-Tomoe Sharingan over to Masaichi too!!

He had suffered a massive loss!

"No. Your body still needs rest." Madara shook his head and had White Zetsu prepare the protein powder for him.

He had never eaten such a rare item in his youth, something where two scoops could replace a pound of beef. If he had eaten this every day when he was young, wouldn't he have crippled Hashirama long ago?

After all, supplies had been scarce during the Warring States era. Whenever there was a famine, he had even needed to save food so Izuna could grow properly.

"Come on! Grandpa, just let me go back. I, Obito, will definitely return to repay your great kindness."

"Dame."

"Um, Madara-sama, can I try the protein powder too?" the Spiral-Faced White Zetsu asked coyly.

"Sure." Obito nodded. Brothers everywhere under heaven—everyone was family.

"But I don't have a mouth," the Spiral-Faced White Zetsu said with a lewd grin.

"Stupid fool," Obito said.

It smelled like milk. After Madara drank the protein powder, he really did feel warmth spreading through his lower abdomen. Hm? This stuff actually worked.

Wait?

"There's... poison in this." The aged Madara was poisoned unconscious just like that.

He hated it. He had not even gotten the chance to trick Obito before Obito tricked him first.

This bucket of protein powder had been intended for Minato, after all. The dose of "poison" in it was no light amount, and it had even been dissolved in water, allowing the body to absorb it faster.

Having been poisoned once before, Obito had built up some resistance this time and collapsed after Madara. The poor kid believed until the end that there was something wrong with his body rather than the protein powder. Before sleepiness overwhelmed him, he drank all the water.

"Lord Madara!"

"Obito!!"

Something major had recently happened in the Hidden Mist Village.

It was joyous news for Konoha Village.

Genin Might Dai and his son Might Guy used the Eight Gates, one opening seven gates and the other opening five.

Working together, father and son reduced the Seven Ninja Swordsmen to only three survivors.

Faced with the astonished praise of his Konoha comrades on the Hidden Mist Village front, Might Dai really wanted to say that it was all thanks to Masaichi!

It was Masaichi who had met him on the Hidden Cloud Village front, given him food and water, and taught him how to train correctly.

Once the Third Shinobi World War ended, he planned to apply for reassignment, quit being a ninja, and become a full-time fitness coach at Masaichi Gym. There was a group of like-minded good friends there! He had even sold more than a dozen sets of skintight suits.

Dai loved praising people, so whenever anyone asked him, he praised the next generation of Konoha that he thought most highly of: his son and Masaichi.

At last!

Masaichi had finally made a name for himself among Konoha's ninjas.

Two people were chatting.

They both found it regrettable. After Ōnoki saw the Hidden Cloud Village massing troops at Konoha's border, he no longer wanted a ceasefire and intended to take advantage of the chaos.

The advance unit Jiraiya had sent to the Hidden Cloud Village front had not even withdrawn before the Fourth Raikage targeted them, killing all but two or three.

"This Masaichi is?" Fugaku had heard the name before, but he wanted to know what exactly was going on.

"Perhaps..." Minato sighed. He did not know where to begin. "I don't know whether Masaichi's existence is good or bad for Konoha either."

He was good at judging people as well.

He could tell that Masaichi was unlike the nobles. Masaichi opposed feudalism and advocated freedom, prosperity, equality, human rights...

Yet Minato could see that Masaichi was fundamentally the same as the nobles, just as full of exploitation.

"As for us Uchiha..." Fugaku trailed off and smiled helplessly. The village had recently planned to impose an additional rich-person tax, with Orochimaru leading the effort.

They had also introduced something called an inheritance tax.

When a father died, a set amount had to be handed over to the village according to the size of his estate.

Most Uchiha were wealthy people who had inherited ancestral fortunes, so the rich-person tax would take a chunk from them.

Now, so many of their brothers had died for Konoha in the Hidden Mist Village! And they would have to pay inheritance tax on top of that! Was this trying to force them into rebellion?!

Masaichi was advancing on two fronts: seizing military authority in the Hidden Cloud Village and having Orochimaru squeeze military funding from the ninja clans.

The strong men of every ninja clan were fighting outside, leaving only widows and orphans at home to be bullied by Orochimaru. Let the strong men grow disheartened if they wanted; they did not support him anyway. At worst, they could return with Minato.

Masaichi and Orochimaru had actually been secretly studying with Danzo whether it was feasible to establish a new ninja village elsewhere.

When the time came, it would be called New Konoha!

It symbolized the arrival of a new era.

Still, if they could become Hokage, they did not want to start a new venture. Starting one was too hard, and the pressure was especially great.

"Does no one in the village control him?" Fugaku asked.

"Masaichi has tied the matter to loving the village. If you don't pay taxes or contribute military funds to the village, then you don't love the village. Who would dare wear such a huge hat?" Minato shook his head with a bitter laugh.

Minato felt that the biggest reason was that the village's underlying ethos still came from the First Hokage: the villagers were the foundation of the village, and Masaichi had not specifically targeted them.

"Then he's pretty ruthless."