Five trillion.
A terrifying astronomical figure, a number beyond the comprehension of ordinary people.
If you told a shinobi that they could earn tens of thousands of extra ryō a month, they could still understand what those tens of thousands represented.
But if you told a shinobi about trillions, that was no longer a concept they were supposed to concern themselves with.
Shinobi might be easy to fool, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t do the math.
Especially when the people doing the calculations were the heads of the various shinobi clans.
At present, the cost of living in Konoha was quite high. A tonkatsu set meal cost eighty ryō, and adding a few side dishes could easily push the price to one hundred and twenty ryō.
The reward for a D-rank mission ranged from five thousand to fifty thousand ryō. An ordinary shinobi could complete around ten such missions a month, earning somewhere between 120,000 and 180,000 ryō.
If they completed two or three C-rank missions in between, their income would rise to around 200,000 to 300,000 ryō.
Using the higher figure for easier calculations, an ordinary shinobi earned about three million ryō a year.
And one had to remember that shinobi were already a high-income group.
Now, according to the 80/20 rule, the ordinary shinobi who made up eighty percent of the shinobi population received only twenty percent of the total wealth.
By that calculation, the income of the middle and upper ranks could be estimated accordingly.
A Chūnin earned roughly five times the salary of a Genin, giving them an annual income of fifteen million ryō.
A Jōnin earned roughly five times what a Chūnin did, for an annual income of around seventy-five million ryō.
With a total of thirty thousand shinobi, the distribution would therefore be approximately twenty-four thousand Genin, four thousand eight hundred Chūnin, and one thousand two hundred Jōnin.
Special Jōnin were counted among the Jōnin.
Elite Jōnin earned even more, but there were only a little over a hundred notable elite Jōnin in the entire village, and their income was jointly supported by Konoha and their respective clans.
For the time being, they could be excluded from the calculation.
Once everything was added up, Konoha’s military payroll came to 216 billion ryō.
Even if the total military budget was more than five times the amount spent on personnel, the annual expenditure would only be around one trillion ryō.
Because the Third Hokage was gone, the detailed financial records related to his administration could no longer be found.
After making his own estimates and calculations, Nara Shikaku had arrived at this approximate figure.
That was why he had gone to the daimyō to request an additional budget.
After all, Konoha needed money to rebuild.
And Uchiha Kei had already thrown off that burden, so no one dared ask him for the money.
As for Fourth Hokage Uchiha Fugaku, he didn’t have it either.
Everyone knew just how impoverished the Uchiha had become under the suppression of the Sarutobi Clan.
Although Fugaku could swallow his pride and borrow money from Kei, that wasn’t a sustainable solution.
Konoha still had to ask the daimyō for funding.
Thus, Nara Shikaku, the newly appointed Hokage’s chief adviser, had cautiously proposed increasing the budget by twenty percent.
That was another two hundred billion ryō.
Even that had already been an attempt to take the daimyō for a fool.
Who could have expected the daimyō to open his mouth and offer an additional two trillion?
Konoha’s military budget for the second half of the year had reached five trillion ryō.
Only then did Nara Shikaku realize that the astronomical figure he had nervously presented to the daimyō was merely a rounding error in the financial dealings between the Third Hokage and the daimyō.
They had been calculating in units of hundreds of billions.
Compared with the amounts exchanged between the daimyō and Sarutobi, what did a few hundred billion even mean?
After doing the math, everyone discovered that Konoha’s actual military expenditure in the past had accounted for only one-fifth of its total military budget.
Compared with its commercial income, the amount spent on military affairs was practically insignificant.
The result was something that no one in Konoha could accept.
Everyone’s gaze toward Fugaku began to change.
And Fugaku finally proved himself unusually quick on the uptake.
The look in the eyes of someone who had suddenly seen money was truly frightening.
"A sum this enormous being placed entirely under my control as Hokage is really asking too much of me. My abilities are limited, and so is my energy."
Fugaku hadn’t even finished speaking when everyone hurriedly restrained their gazes.
They were afraid he might simply throw up his hands and refuse the position.
"Fourth Hokage-sama, you’re being too modest. Without you, there would be no Konoha!"
Everyone understood the situation.
Konoha had been rebuilt because Fugaku was there.
Without Fugaku, Konoha might not even exist anymore.
Uchiha Kei might not have the ability to govern and rule Konoha, but he certainly had the ability to smash Konoha to pieces.
The Hokage had to be Fugaku.
But the Hokage’s authority also had to be restrained.
That was the consensus throughout Konoha.
Fugaku understood this as well.
He waved his hand, signaling everyone to let him continue.
"Kei was right about something he said back then. Morality is something you use to restrain yourself. Rules are what you use to restrain everyone else.
"The Sarutobi Clan constantly shouted about lofty ideals, yet it still ended up embroiled in such a massive corruption scandal.
"Clearly, relying on one person’s moral character to safeguard everyone’s interests is unreliable."
Everyone nodded.
Their opinion of Fugaku rose even further.
This Hokage wasn’t interested in monopolizing power!
"Fourth Hokage-sama is absolutely right!"
Seeing that everyone approved, Fugaku nodded.
"I propose that we establish a Konoha Financial Oversight Commission, making Konoha’s finances public and transparent and eliminating corruption from the village."
The moment everyone heard this, they immediately burst into applause.
"Fourth Hokage-sama is wise!"
With that single decision, Fugaku firmly established his position as Hokage.
Although the Uchiha Clan still had all kinds of problems, its future had suddenly become bright.
The shinobi of the new Konoha were grateful to have a leader who was willing to discuss matters with them.
They were even happier to have such a massive amount of wealth at their disposal.
Konoha had lost everything.
But it had also gained enough wealth to rebuild everything.
Eight trillion ryō in annual military funding.
Even if the additional two trillion disappeared next year, that would still leave six trillion.
After legitimate military expenditures were deducted, the Sarutobi Clan alone had apparently been able to embezzle nearly five trillion ryō a year.
Five trillion!
That was enough to destroy and rebuild Konoha several times over.
Just how wealthy had the Sarutobi Clan become after ruling Konoha for decades?
This thought arose in the minds of every clan.
No.
They couldn’t allow the surviving remnants of the Sarutobi Clan to remain at large.
What if they had hidden away enormous amounts of wealth?
Five trillion a year.
Fifty trillion in ten years.
And thirty years...
How much would that be?
Even counting on their fingers wasn’t enough.
Everyone knew that the math didn’t really work that way.
But they simply couldn’t stop themselves from thinking about it.
"Ah, if we’d known the Third Hokage was this kind of Third Hokage, there would’ve been no need for Uchiha Kei to make a move!"
That was the unanimous conclusion after the Fourth Hokage’s first council meeting.
The Third Hokage was dead.
He had prestige, but he was no longer a threat.
Everyone began fantasizing about the wonderful life they could have had if they had killed the Third Hokage themselves and monopolized Konoha’s economic power.
"Damn! If I’d been the Third Hokage, I definitely wouldn’t have raised such a useless clan as the Sarutobi."
The clan heads began fantasizing.
If their own clans had five trillion ryō, just how powerful could they become?
They could first raise twenty thousand shinobi.
Whether those shinobi were actually useful didn’t matter.
They could simply march them out and scare the hell out of everyone.
Thinking about it this way, quite a few people began to understand the Third Hokage a little better.
If they had been in Hiruzen’s position, they might not have done any better.
Rules were certainly good for everyone.
But how could anything compare with the sheer pleasure of absolute power?
Ah...
With money in hand, Konoha launched into a massive reconstruction effort.
Its recovery was visible almost by the day.
Its development was no slower than the wild, explosive growth of Nanga.
Because of Fugaku’s influence, Nanga was expanding westward, Konoha was expanding eastward, and the daimyō’s residence was to the north.
The entire Land of Fire seemed to be on the verge of being divided into three parts.
As Konoha gradually became prosperous again, the people of the new Konoha also forgave Nanga for the suffering it had brought them.
Some even began to worship it.
Nanga’s ideology, clothing, and way of life all began influencing the new Konoha.
Many people even took the initiative to rehabilitate Kei’s rebellion in the public narrative.
The Nanga Uchiha who had sacrificed hundreds of their clansmen were great Uchiha.
They were selfless Uchiha.
They had torn down the mountain crushing Konoha, yet had demanded nothing from Konoha in return.
Because of Uchiha Kei’s noble actions, Konoha had ended its dark rule and entered an age of prosperity.
What a magnificent deed!
Throughout Konoha, songs praising Uchiha Kei were being sung.
Indeed, if one looked only at the results, the Nanga Uchiha had lost several hundred red-eyed warriors in that battle and seemed to have gained absolutely nothing.
It really did make Kei look rather selfless.
The people of Konoha had been thoroughly convinced.
If someone helped you without asking for anything in return, shouldn’t that person receive praise?
The people of Konoha couldn’t think of a reason to refuse to forgive Kei.
With the exception of a very small number of people within Konoha’s Uchiha Clan.
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