Naruto: I'm really not an evil scientist!

Hiruko's plan nearly wiped out the entire salt industry.

The people present were all in a very good mood when they talked about it.

"Speaking of which, this month's dividends will be released soon. With this income, Konoha's finances will be a bit more relaxed," the Third Hokage said slowly.

The efficiency of three generations of adults is indeed high. After all, those salt companies are readily available, including raw materials, workers, and even sales channels.

Konoha simply sent ninjas to integrate them completely.

In addition, the newly built factory in Konoha also produces some snow salt, so it's a two-pronged approach.

After all, industrialized countries and agricultural countries are fundamentally different.

Konoha went to great lengths to persuade many people, or simply to make them disappear from the face of the earth.

With Danzo's support behind the scenes, this industrial nation, which was bound by the organizational structure of an agricultural country, suddenly unleashed its true productivity.

Being a daimyo in an industrialized country is absolutely awesome.

"How much bonus do you estimate you'll get this month?" Minato Namikaze asked curiously.

"It should be around fifty or sixty million taels."

The three generations of old men were involved in the whole thing, but if you asked him to gather people and calculate the money like a businessman, that's really not his forte.

When some people fabricated accounts to deceive him, he naturally failed to notice immediately.

However, with Danzo, a guy who uses illusions by any means necessary, tax evasion can't be hidden from him at all.

However, based on his past experience, Hiruzen Sarutobi could roughly estimate a number.

The accuracy of this figure can be seen from Danzo's expression; neither of them knows much about economics.

"Fourth Hokage, it's about time you ended your entanglements with the nobles of the Land of Fire," Danzo said expressionlessly.

Minato Namikaze looked at Danzo with a strange expression.

"I admit that Hiruko's actions can indeed bring Konoha some extra income, and I am willing to believe that you are genuinely doing what is best for Konoha. But the most important thing now is to deal with external enemies and future wars."

Danzo took a deep breath, his face grim, making it difficult to fathom his thoughts.

He said slowly, "In order to cope with the war with Kumogakure, Konoha itself will have to bear a huge deficit."

"Now you're investing it in other businesses, which will only make Konoha's deficit even bigger. Konoha isn't a toy you can just control!"

As the group continued their argument, the atmosphere became increasingly tense.

Suddenly, Kakashi, looking flustered, ran in from outside carrying a report.

Minato Namikaze noticed that his little apprentice's face was filled with a strange expression, as if he had encountered something unbelievable.

Danzo shouted angrily, "Kakashi, what are you doing here? Don't you know where you are? Your behavior is so reckless!"

Kakashi was panting heavily, clearly having something urgent to report.

This scene made the already tense atmosphere even more so.

Minato Namikaze ignored Danzo's reprimand and instead looked gently at Kakashi, asking, "What's wrong, Kakashi? The salt revenue isn't even fifty million ryo?"

Kakashi, panting, excitedly replied, "Not fifty million, it's one hundred and eighty billion taels! The first dividend is a full one hundred and eighty billion taels!"

18 billion!!!

What an astonishing number!

In Konoha Village, D-rank missions are considered low-level missions, and both the village chief and ordinary villagers can issue them.

The reward for these kinds of tasks is usually between five hundred and ten thousand taels of silver, because they are relatively easy and mostly involve trivial matters such as taking care of children or finding cats and dogs.

C-level missions are almost identical to D-level missions, and anyone can issue them.

The difficulty is slightly higher, and it may involve escorting personnel or transporting confidential documents, but there is no combat involved. The bounty is between 10,000 and 50,000 taels.

Like C and D missions, B-level missions are also commissions that anyone can post.

However, the difficulty has been further increased, and the mission content may be similar to C-rank missions, such as escorting and transporting confidential documents, but it also includes combat elements with enemy ninjas.

In the world of Naruto, Naruto and his friends often await the arrival of various missions.

Just like that time Naruto received a C-rank mission to escort the architect of the Land of Waves. He originally thought it was just a small mission, but he didn't expect it to be upgraded to a B-rank mission in the end.

Of course, this is only an isolated case; most of the time, the mission level and reward are relatively fixed.

Generally speaking, the bounty for a Rank B mission is between 50,000 and 150,000 taels of silver.

As for Rank A missions, they can't be issued casually. They must be issued in the name of the country. Although they may not be issued by the Hokage himself, they must be authorized by him.

These types of tasks mainly involve requests regarding national trends; in other words, the state assigns you to do anything. The size and outcome of these tasks vary.

Just like the missions to chase Gaara after the Chunin Exams and to pursue Sasuke after his defection, these were both A-rank missions with bounties ranging from 150,000 to 1,000,000 ryo.

S-class missions are those involving national secrets, including requests from other countries, war-related missions, assassinations of important figures, theft of classified documents, and so on.

The rewards for these kinds of missions are incredibly high, often exceeding one million taels of silver.

For the average person, earning a million taels of silver from a single S-rank mission is an enormous reward.

But now, even if Jiraiya, the most capable mission-taker in Konoha, worked himself to the bone, he wouldn't earn that much in dividends of 18 billion ryo.

Of course, if you include Jiraiya's royalties, that's a different story.

However, as a large military organization, Konoha's high-ranking officials have seen a lot of things.

Although they were surprised by the huge dividend, they were able to remain rational.

During wartime, many people have seen large sums of money, but a situation like this, where the first dividend is more than 10 billion in less than a month, is still astonishing.

Perhaps because ordinary people had never bought salt at such a low price before, it was snapped up as soon as it hit the market and sold out immediately.

The fact that they could sell as much as they produced as they wanted stunned the Third Hokage and Danzo; they never imagined this thing could be so profitable.

The older generation knows that those who were in the salt and iron monopoly business were basically guaranteed to make money.

Banks could still lose money, but the salt and iron monopolies almost never did.

Salt, in particular, is something everyone needs, and it's relatively expensive, so sales always skyrocket when prices drop.

For example, Tian Tian's family sells weapons. Although they make a lot of money, it's still not as good as the salt and iron monopoly, since three generations of their family take a large cut.

The success of Tian Tian's family business is largely due to the influence of the Naruto system, which allowed them to grow and thrive under the protection of the Hokage.

Otherwise, this kind of arms deal simply couldn't continue.

It was truly outrageous for the Beiliuhu salt monopoly to make so much money in one go.

Everyone looked at Hiruko in shock.

Only one thought remained in my mind!