Danzo's matter was more like a friend's complaint.
Jiraiya took a sip of sake and got down to business.
"Take a look at this."
He handed Tsunade an official-looking document.
Tsunade was often very impatient with matters that didn't concern her; usually, she would delegate such written tasks to Shizune.
Now, she patiently read it for three seconds before tossing it aside.
"Just tell me what it says."
"The Lord of the Land of Fire previously supported Danzo.
My document for succeeding as Fifth Hokage was sent to the capital, and they didn't seem to say anything there.
However, a few days ago, the Magistrate's Office sent a document stating that next year's budget would be the same as this year's."
Tsunade picked at her ear: "So?"
Jiraiya shook his head helplessly: "This year, the Village was destroyed by Orochimaru, and we need to undertake large-scale reconstruction.
The Third Hokage's funeral and my succession ceremony both cost a lot of money, almost emptying the Village's liquid funds.
If next year's budget is the same as this year's, the Village's operations will definitely run into problems."
At the mention of money, Tsunade immediately perked up, her lazy demeanor vanishing.
She clutched her purse: "I don't have any money!"
Jiraiya covered his forehead, feeling a bit powerless.
Don't I know whether you have money or not?
He raised a finger: "Xiao Jing's side..."
Tsunade refused flatly: "No way, my disciple's money is my money!"
Jiraiya waved his hands repeatedly: "No, no, you misunderstood.
What I mean is that Xiao Jing is very capable of raising funds, and you have enough connections.
You two, master and disciple, can leave the Village and find a few patsies..."
The next day, Ino discovered that the Village had assigned her another A-rank mission: assisting Tsunade in raising funds for the Village.
Speaking of which, their group could be considered a small team: Tsunade as the leader, and herself, Shizune, and Tonton as members, making exactly four.
"Teacher, the Village needs to raise its own funds?
What does that mean?
Absolutely not! If the Lord of the Land of Fire doesn't give us money, we'll have a good talk with him."
According to her understanding, this was all the Lord of the Land of Fire's business.
The Ninja Village was an mercenary army; the Lord of the Land of Fire maintained this army.
If he didn't pay, were they, the mercenaries, supposed to pay to support themselves?
What a joke!
If he didn't want to do it, they could find another Lord of the Land of Fire who would.
Tsunade nodded like a pecking chicken, very pleased with her disciple's attitude.
This disciple became very energetic when talking about money, just like herself!
"Mm-hmm... that's right, that's right, that's what I told the Fifth Hokage too."
As she spoke, she changed the subject: "The Village sent a document to the capital requesting an increase in the budget, but those bureaucrats are very inefficient.
It's almost the end of the year now, and if the Village doesn't have money, the year-end celebration will be difficult to hold."
With a new Hokage taking office, there definitely needed to be a new atmosphere, and a joyous environment could also clear away the trauma caused by the Konoha Crush.
However, the Village's liquid funds were basically all spent on reconstruction.
The Lord of the Land of Fire's side was either 'needs to study it' or 'needs time to raise funds.'
The Ninja Village still had to follow the rules and couldn't just rob the capital under cover of night, so the situation became deadlocked.
Tsunade knew many patsies, Ino's ability to raise funds was evident to all, Shizune's smile was very approachable, and Tonton could be cute.
Their four-person "gold-gathering" team was officially formed.
Hearing that she didn't have to pay out of her own pocket, Ino's mood stabilized considerably.
Thinking about making money under the Village's banner, she felt this mission was actually quite good?
Should some of the gold buried deep in the desert be sold at that time?
Who cares who she sold it to?
Selling it to Konoha would count as her contributing to the Village's construction.
Ino came to the Hokage's office, logged in with her Ninja ID, and checked her current total number of missions.
7 D-rank missions, 3 C-rank missions, 2 B-rank missions, 2 A-rank missions, and 1 S-rank mission.
She had completed missions of all ranks.
The S-rank mission was the previous Uchiha Itachi retrieval mission, targeting two S-rank Rogue Ninja.
She had indeed fought both of them, and since this mission required strict secrecy and had a gagging nature, it was recorded as one S-rank mission for her.
This mission was entrusted to her by the Village; once the order was given, she had to go.
Similarly, the Village, as the client, also had to pay.
The Village's already tight finances were further depleted by her taking one million ryo.
She took it with a clear conscience, and everyone else thought it was normal.
This was the Ninja's rule; there was nothing to be embarrassed about.
S-rank missions were very valuable, but while not few, they weren't many either.
Taking the Sannin as an example, among the three, Tsunade had completed the fewest S-rank missions, with 95 completions.
Orochimaru was next with 108 S-rank missions, and Jiraiya had the most, this guy completed 138 S-rank missions.
The mission rewards were at least one million ryo, with no upper limit.
When gathering material, most of it was for his own enjoyment, and he also had a side job of writing books; you can imagine how rich he was!
The Sannin completed many S-rank missions mainly because they lived in a time of war and were the absolute main force of that era, doing a lot of hard and tiring work.
By Kakashi's era, S-rank missions began to decrease.
Kakashi, 27 years old this year, had only completed 42 S-rank missions, which Danzo considered insufficient "contribution" to be Hokage.
Asuma had completed 20 S-rank missions, and Yuhi had even fewer, only 13.
S-rank missions held significant weight in the eyes of Ninja; both actual income and reputation could be greatly enhanced.
To become Hokage, one needed to consider seniority, whether they belonged to the Hokage's direct lineage, and then their individual "contributions."
S-rank and A-rank missions were important indicators.
Theoretically, an S-rank mission counts as one mission, and a D-rank mission also counts as one mission, but in reality, they are definitely not the same.
Completing a thousand D-rank missions is not as useful as completing ten S-rank missions, after all, we are choosing a Hokage, not a pig farmer or a weeding expert.
Ino completed one S-rank mission, which further boosted her reputation.
When Ninja fought for the Village during the Chunin Exams, the Village had an obligation to make them famous.
Now, Ino, Sasuke, Neji, Shikamaru, and Shino were considered the new generation's four rising stars of the Village, with Ino at the forefront.
Her bounty at the Gold Exchange had previously exceeded ten million, and now with her growing reputation, the Yamanaka Clan's enemies would certainly not be stingy with money.
Seeing her complete an S-rank mission, the long-legged senior sister was very envious.
Shizune and Kakashi were classmates, but because Shizune followed Tsunade around, she hadn't completed an S-rank mission yet.
There was a hint of excitement in her words and actions, and she kept muttering softly.
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