Chapter 195: A New Mission
Danzo's matter was more like a friend's grumble. Jiraiya took a sip of his sake and got down to business.
"Take a look at this." He handed Tsunade an official-looking document.
Tsunade often lacked patience for things that didn't concern her directly. Usually, she would pass such written materials to Shizune. However, she forced herself to look at it for three seconds before casually tossing it aside.
"Just tell me what it says. I don't want to read it."
"The Daimyo previously supported Danzo. The official document for my inauguration as the Fifth Hokage was sent to the capital, and it seems there were no objections. However, the other day, the Magistrate's Office sent an official letter stating that next year's budget will be the same as this year's."
Tsunade picked at her ear. "So?"
Jiraiya shook his head helplessly. "This year, the village was damaged by Orochimaru, and we need to carry out large-scale reconstruction. The Third Hokage's funeral and my inauguration ceremony also cost a lot of money. The village's liquid funds are almost completely depleted. If next year's budget is the same as this year's, the village's operations will definitely be in trouble."
Mentioning money immediately perked Tsunade up, and her lazy demeanor vanished. She clutched her wallet. "This old lady has no money!"
Jiraiya rubbed his forehead in exasperation. Whether you have money or not, don't you think I know?
He held up a finger. "Little Ino over there..."
Tsunade refused outright. "No way! My disciple's money is my money!"
Jiraiya waved his hands repeatedly. "No, no, you've misunderstood. I mean, little Ino is very capable of raising funds, and you have enough connections. You two, master and disciple, can leave the village and find some easy marks..."
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. The leader was Tsunade, and the members were her, Shizune, and Tonton – exactly four of them.
"Teacher, are we supposed to raise funds for our own village? What's the meaning of this? Absolutely not! If the Daimyo doesn't provide the money, we'll have a good talk with him!" In her understanding, this was all the Fire Country Daimyo's business. The ninja village was like a mercenary force; the Daimyo supported this army. If he didn't pay, were they, the mercenaries, supposed to pay for their own upkeep? What a joke! If he didn't want to do it, they could replace him with a Daimyo who would.
Tsunade nodded vigorously, like a chick pecking at rice, very satisfied with her disciple's attitude. This disciple became energetic as soon as money was mentioned, just like her!
"Yeah, yeah... that's exactly what I told the Fifth Hokage." As she spoke, her tone shifted. "The village has sent an official request to the capital for an increased budget, but those bureaucrats are incredibly inefficient. It's almost the end of the year, and if the village doesn't have any money, the end-of-year festival will be difficult to hold."
The inauguration of a new Hokage definitely needed a fresh start, and a festive atmosphere could help clear away the trauma caused by the previous Konoha Crush.
However, the village's liquid funds were almost entirely spent on reconstruction. The Daimyo's side kept saying they "needed to study it" or "needed time to raise funds." The ninja village still had to follow the rules; they couldn't just go and rob the capital wearing masks. The situation had reached a stalemate.
Tsunade knew quite a few easy marks, Ino's fundraising abilities were obvious, Shizune's smile was very approachable, and Tonton could be cute. Their four-person "money-gathering" team was officially formed.
Hearing that she didn't have to spend her own money, Ino's mood stabilized a lot.
Thinking about raising money under the village's banner, she felt this mission was actually quite good.
Perhaps she could sell some of the gold buried deep in the desert? Selling it to Konoha was as good as selling it to anyone else, and it would also count as contributing to the village's construction.
Ino went to the Hokage's office, logged in with her ninja registration number, and checked her current total number of missions.
D-rank missions: 7 times, C-rank missions: 3 times, B-rank missions: 2 times, A-rank missions: 2 times, S-rank missions: 1 time.
She had completed missions of all ranks.
The S-rank mission was the previous Itachi retrieval mission. The targets were two S-rank rogue ninjas, and she had indeed fought them. Since this mission required strict confidentiality and had a non-disclosure clause, it was recorded as an 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, had to pay.
The village's already tight finances were further depleted by one million ryo that she took. She took it with peace of mind, and everyone else thought it was normal. This was the rule for ninjas; there was nothing to be embarrassed about.
S-rank missions were very valuable, but there weren't too few or too many of them.
Taking the Sannin as an example, among the three, Tsunade had completed the fewest S-rank missions, with a total of 95. Orochimaru was next, having completed 108 S-rank missions. Jiraiya had the most, with a whopping 138 S-rank missions.
The minimum reward for a mission was one million ryo, with no upper limit. Most of the time, it was just for show, and he also had a side job writing books. You could say he was very wealthy!
The Sannin completed many S-rank missions mainly because they lived during a time of war and were the absolute main force of that era, doing a lot of hard and tiring work.
By Kakashi's time, S-rank missions had started to decrease. This year, the 27-year-old Kakashi had only completed 42 S-rank missions, which Danzo considered insufficient "contribution," making him unqualified to be Hokage.
Asuma had completed 20 S-rank missions, and Kurenai had even fewer, only 13.
S-rank missions held significant weight in the eyes of ninjas, greatly enhancing both their actual income and reputation.
Becoming Hokage depended on seniority, whether one belonged to the Hokage's direct lineage, and then on individual "contributions." S-rank and A-rank missions were important indicators.
Theoretically, an S-rank mission counted as one mission, and a D-rank mission also counted as one mission, but the reality was definitely different. Completing a thousand D-rank missions was not as useful as completing ten S-rank missions. After all, they were choosing a Hokage, not a pig farmer or a weeding expert.
Ino's completion of an S-rank mission further boosted her reputation.
Ninjas fought for the village during the Chunin Exams, and the village had an obligation to make their names known.
Currently, Ino, Sasuke, Neji, Shikamaru, and Shino were considered the village's new generation of top talents, with Ino at the forefront.
Her previous bounty at the exchange station had exceeded ten million ryo. Now that her reputation was growing, the Yamanaka clan's enemies would definitely not be stingy with money.
Seeing that she had completed an S-rank mission, her big-legged senior sister was very envious. Shizune and Kakashi were classmates, but because she followed Tsunade around, she hadn't done an S-rank mission yet. Her words and actions showed a bit of excitement as she kept muttering softly.
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