Konoha: Uchiha Extremists? Offering Loyalty!

Chapter 211 Orochimaru borrowed money again.

"Old man, this is so disappointing."

"It's not a victory report, it's just another demand for money!"

"Does money fall from the sky?"

Orochimaru burned the Third Hokage's letter requesting resources and angrily leaned back in his chair.

perhaps...

The old man really thinks resources fall from the sky, doesn't he?

In the past two years, Orochimaru conducted an in-depth investigation into the work of the logistics department to understand the basic principles of resource acquisition.

It could be said that the continuation of Konoha Village depends on 'half' and 'half'.

Half of it comes from government funding.

The other half relies on the support of the ninja clan.

The capital city allocated a considerable amount of funds, barely enough for Konoha to support a certain number of upper, middle, and lower-ranking ninja.

Do more?

I'm sorry, I can't do that.

If the village wants to continue to develop and sustain its war expenses...

They mainly rely on the connections within the ninja clan to acquire additional resources to support further development.

During the Mitomon period, the logistics department employed rather drastic measures.

In addition, there was the political correctness of the rise of commoner ninjas and the suppression of ninja clans.

Hiruzen Sarutobi is full of talk about the Will of Fire, and he advocates a "two-pronged" policy: sacrifice and dedication.

The Sarutobi, Utatane, and Mitomon families set an example by contributing resources to support village development.

Then, the money from the three clans was returned in full, and the expenses of the resentful clan were split 30/70.

Incidentally, bestow some vague honors.

The resources are now in hand.

Orochimaru, of course, did not approve of this crude financial management.

The various ninja clans have come to their senses and have gradually stopped recognizing them in recent years.

It's not entirely wrong, just out of step with the times.

During the first and second generations, this was the standard procedure for financial management.

However, at that time, there was a power vacuum in the village.

The village's development was completely undeveloped.

The ninja clan made contributions, and the First and Second Hokage truly rewarded them with ninja organization, clan management, and subsequent ownership.

It can gain everyone's recognition and support, and also bring tangible benefits.

why not?

By the third generation, the situation had completely changed.

The third generation continued most of the policies of the second generation, retaining the money but forgetting to relinquish 'power'.

Donate money?

Okay, you're a good person with the Will of Fire, and that's it.

Exchanging empty fame for real substance, especially the kind of empty fame that only offers a few words of encouragement, isn't that blatant robbery?

From the start of the reforms, Orochimaru abandoned the practice of blatantly seizing fiscal revenue.

It has embarked on a new path of transforming "strengthening" into taxation.

Making money is a difficult problem.

Finding a different way to make money is a form of reform.

Instead of taking money from the ninja clan, it's better to target another, wealthier group—merchants.

The police department set an example for Orochimaru: businessmen have money!

Despite being punished so severely, he still refused to change his ways and remained in Konoha.

This shows just how considerable a merchant's income was!

Hiruzen Sarutobi hesitated, wanting the merchants' money but also concerned about the consequences, so he didn't take action against them.

Orochimaru had no such concerns!

Tax whoever has money!

He divided his income sources into four parts.

Task commission fees, capital city appropriations, commercial taxes, and public resource revenues.

Konoha's original income heavily relied on the first two sources, while the latter two sources are the new income streams that Orochimaru has developed in the last two years.

The practice of families exchanging money for "certificates" was completely rejected and became a strictly prohibited method for advancing ninja ranks.

At the same time, the three organizations—the Dark Bureau, the Snake Squad, and the Police Department—jointly supervise tax collection, checking and balancing each other to reduce corruption.

"Even though we've earned a lot, it's still not enough to fill the old man's gaps!"

"Should we continue selling off the village's public resources?"

"After the new training ground and ninja tool shop were handed over to the Senju and Uchiha to manage, there were no major problems."

Orochimaru also knew that it was only temporary.

Before discussing it with Yuuki, he stayed up all night to brush up on his basic economics.

Orochimaru may not be an expert in economics, but he is an expert in human nature.

Within Konoha, if a certain industry has only one exclusive seller, a price increase is inevitable.

Unless a powerful figure keeps a close eye on this matter, the price will definitely skyrocket once the hype dies down!

Never mind, let's trust the wisdom of those who come after.

Perhaps the positions of Fourth and Fifth Hokage will fall into Yuuki's hands, and he can worry about them.

Orochimaru opened the second scroll, his expression changing again to a blank one.

He thought he was calm and collected enough.

He was wrong.

"That old man is truly talented!"

"With just a little thought, it's something an ordinary person like me can hardly achieve..."

Orochimaru gave a mocking laugh.

On the scroll, a command was written in special small characters and a distinctive font.

Students from ninja academies are selected, graduated early, and formed into teams to gain battlefield experience. The teams are primarily composed of students from ninja clans.

On the surface, this order is for the future of the ninja academy students, to give them early training and prepare them for the life of a ninja.

Thinking about it more deeply, it seems that due to a lack of ninjas, they tried to recruit ninja academy students into the army.

But with the last sentence added, Orochimaru immediately understood what the Third Hokage meant.

If ninja students are deployed to the battlefield, won't the ninja clans behind them also contribute their strength to join the battle?

"The old man is in trouble again." Orochimaru got up and spun around, carefully analyzing Hiruzen Sarutobi's thoughts, and denied it, saying, "No, he may not be in trouble."

Over the past two years, Orochimaru has gone to the front lines and made several brief visits to offer his condolences.

He discovered that the old man spent most of his energy on winning people over, and only secondarily on fighting.

Despite his dissatisfaction, he still believed in the Third Hokage's strength.

Now it seems they might have had ulterior motives.

"The power held by the Third Hokage was greatly diminished by the rise of the Senju and Uchiha clans."

"We can mobilize our forces and barely gain the upper hand."

Orochimaru affirmed, "He's not strong enough. The old man is hesitant to fight freely, fearing losses, which has led to a decline in his power and status."

"Therefore, his new plan is to force the ninja clan to take action."

"We all prosper together, and we all suffer together?"

Sigh, how can we manage Konoha Village well when we work with such an old-fashioned man?

They took over a battlefield with an excellent situation, but instead, they dragged it out and turned it into a field of explosive tags ready to detonate.

After a moment's thought, Orochimaru got up and headed towards the police department.

I can't give up on my own teacher.

...

"Another loan or collateral?" Yuuki looked Orochimaru up and down with suspicion, and advised, "Orochimaru-senpai, you should be more careful with your spending."

"Even if it's under the name of the Ministry of Science and Technology, the impact is still not good."

"When the Hokage returns, you won't know how to explain it to your superiors and subordinates."

Orochimaru sighed softly: "Sigh, let's not worry about that for now. This time, the village wants to mortgage the tax revenue from the shops in the Second District for the next five years to the Uchiha. Name your price."

Yuuki frowned, shrugged with some difficulty, and said helplessly, "Mortgage the shops for taxes again? But you've already mortgaged seven blocks. The tax depreciation rate is very high, and the price is too low."

The five-year tax revenue right, the price agreed upon by Yuuki and Orochimaru, is twice the amount of the full amount of the pre-tax payment for this year.

In short, two years of taxation are exchanged for five years of tax collection rights.

The risk is that after deducting the pure commercial property tax, there is a possibility that the business will go bankrupt, resulting in no income at all.

Of course, the so-called risks are easy to eliminate.

For Youshu, it's not difficult to recoup his investment in six months and double it in a year by using the tax collection rights of his shops.

However, he didn't do that.

Orochimaru didn't want to mortgage the taxes, but he had no choice.

Who told him to have such a big spender?

The rules you set for yourself cannot be overturned at will.

Through fiscal reforms, he imprisoned a number of merchants and ninjas, and seized a large amount of embezzled funds and resources.

We can't just have used up almost all of the 'resources from corruption'.

Why not turn around and overturn the policies aimed at combating corruption?

That's so rude!

Orochimaru laid his cards on the table: "The collateral isn't about what the Uchiha need, but about what the village has."