"Tomita, who are these people?"
Haru had already been promoted, so he naturally moved into Tomita's old room and officially began his life as clan head.
"Clan Head-sama, these people are the Uchiha Clan's accountants."
Tomita pointed at the row of people standing there. They were all professional accountants hired by the Uchiha, and every one of them was an ordinary Konoha civilian.
As for why not a single one of them was an Uchiha, the reason was simple. Uchiha were only good at cutting people down. Looking at these dry, complicated account books was enough to give them all headaches.
Tomita gave them a look, and the accountants immediately began reporting on the clan's current situation.
"Clan Head-sama, as of now, the clan's weapons industry is running at a continual deficit. In order to support the war, Konoha currently owes more than five hundred and thirty million ryo for the purchase of the clan's shuriken, kunai, explosive tags, and other products..."
"Clan Head-sama, the profits from the clan's shops are also in poor shape. More than thirty percent of our tenants have overdue payments exceeding six months, totaling one hundred and thirty million ryo. The specific details are as follows..."
"Clan Head-sama, the compensation for the clan members who died in battle has still not been paid out. Quite a few people are already making a fuss about it..."
"..."
The four or five accountants in front of him kept rattling off figures from the ledgers in their hands.
In the end, all their words boiled down to one meaning.
Money.
Pay up now, and the more the better.
Haru's expression turned ugly.
He had only just taken office, and they were already hitting him with this?
Surely the clan was not about to go bankrupt in his hands.
"Enough. One sentence. How much cash flow does the clan still have, and how long can it last?"
Haru could no longer stand the chant-like reporting and demanded the result directly.
"Roughly one hundred and fifty million ryo. If we do not include compensation for the clan's dead, we can probably hold out for about one month."
Hiss.
That little?
Only one month?
"Tomita, has the clan's finances really gotten this bad?"
Haru looked at Tomita.
He had barely taken office, and the finances had already exploded. How was he supposed to play this game?
"Clan Head-sama, you know very well that this war has gone on for far too long. It is not just the Uchiha. Every clan in Konoha is in the same state."
Not only that, Konoha's ninja had not taken missions for a very long time. They had all been dispatched to the front lines, which meant one of Konoha's major sources of revenue had been completely cut off.
At this point, the village had only been maintained through the continuous bleeding of the various ninja clans, both in money and in manpower.
Damn it.
"What about the Daimyo? The Fire Daimyo?"
"He didn't send money?"
Haru was getting annoyed. The ninja were out there risking their lives, and the Daimyo was unwilling to contribute even a little.
"The Daimyo's yearly allocation to Konoha is twenty billion ryo. Over the last three years, that was even raised to twenty-five billion."
"But..."
Tomita did not finish the sentence, but the meaning was obvious.
It had already all been spent.
The production cost of a single explosive tag was no less than three thousand ryo. In even a small-scale battle, no one could count how many explosive tags were used in a single day.
And that did not even include the countless kunai and shuriken flying around the battlefield.
And that still was not counting soldier pills, food, medical supplies...
This was not war.
This was burning money.
No, money burned slower than war spent it.
Konoha truly could not keep fighting anymore.
If the war went on any longer, the village would collapse from within. No clan could withstand that kind of hemorrhaging forever.
Not to mention the casualties among the clans' people.
An entire generation was practically dead already.
"Do not worry too much, Clan Head-sama. The Daimyo and Tobirama-sama had already reached an agreement. A large sum of money will be allocated for Konoha's reconstruction."
He had no choice.
If he kept refusing to bleed a little, Konoha would have to start considering whether it should replace him with a Daimyo who was actually willing to pay.
After all, in the nearly thousand-year history of the ninja world, there had been more than a few Daimyo with bad judgment who failed to provide enough funds and were quietly dealt with by the very ninja serving under them.
At the end of the day, they were all serving the Land of Fire anyway.
If the Daimyo died, there would still be a son or a brother somewhere who could be dragged out to inherit the title.
Seeing Haru looking like he was about to die, Tomita decided to give him a little encouragement.
A newly appointed clan head absolutely could not quit just because there was no money. If that happened, the Uchiha would be an utter laughingstock.
"Exactly how much?"
"Tobirama-sama never said. That part was confidential."
Damn it.
Pulling something like this again?
Was that bastard Tobirama planning to stuff his own pockets?
Now that massive fund was waiting to be distributed by the next Hokage.
Who got to eat more and who got to eat less would all depend on a single word from the Hokage.
This time, the Senju absolutely could not be allowed to seize the initiative first.
"Haru-sama, you absolutely must become Hokage."
Tomita looked at Haru with blazing eyes.
His gaze had practically started sticking to him.
If he became Hokage, he would gain the authority to distribute the reconstruction funds for Konoha.
Wasn't that exactly why ninja clans wanted the Hokage seat?
Officially and properly take money from the Fire Daimyo, then distribute it downward, while the clan quietly siphoned off a little for itself to train its ninja and strengthen the family.
And that was only one part of it.
There were also all kinds of invisible sources of profit.
Mission assignment within Konoha, land deals, commercial secrets...
Those were all powers that only the top tier could control.
Every clan was doing everything it could within Konoha's structure to seize more, take more, and occupy more, then use that to raise stronger ninja for the clan, which in turn increased the clan's strength, repeating again and again through the generations.
Whichever clan produced a Hokage naturally got to feast the hardest.
And right now, this was the closest the Uchiha had ever come to the Hokage seat.
They absolutely could not miss this chance.
The clan badly needed to recover now.
"I will become Hokage."
Haru made the promise.
Not just for himself, but for the clan, and of course for Konoha as well.
In the original story, Hiruzen became Hokage, the Senju disappeared, the Uchiha disappeared, and the grand feast left behind by the fall of those two great clans was devoured by none other than the Sarutobi Clan.
Damn it.
He had fed his own clan well, while Konoha itself only grew weaker and weaker.
"I naturally believe in Haru-sama."
Tomita had a great deal of confidence in Haru.
Who in Konoha could possibly stop an Uchiha who had awakened the Mangekyo Sharingan?
"Haru-sama, these are the documents the clan head needs to handle."
Tomita brought over another large stack of papers.
These were the documents he had normally been responsible for as clan head.
There were all sorts of them.
Promotions within the Uchiha Military Police, patrol assignments for Konoha's streets, spy arrests...
There was also clan business, as well as important guests the clan head was required to personally receive. Naturally, these people were either rich or noble, major merchants and aristocrats from the Land of Fire.
The next such meeting would be the day after tomorrow.
It was with a major merchant who had long cooperated with the Uchiha and supplied the raw iron materials needed for the clan's weapon production.
Most likely, he was coming to collect debt.
The Uchiha had nearly half a year's worth of payments still unsettled.
The last time he had come, Tomita had drunk with him until the middle of the night before finally smoothing things over. He had practically exhausted all his good words and only barely managed to drag things out a little longer.
Of course, now this mess had become Haru's headache.
(End of Chapter)
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