While everyone was distracted by the battle outside Konoha...
Shimoku's Clone Technique had been running wild throughout the village without restraint.
Soon, he located the residence of former advisor Homura Mitokado and instantly subdued him.
He then interrogated him using Genjutsu.
Unfortunately...
He couldn't extract from Homura the current location of Konoha's Vault.
After all, now that Homura had been stripped of office and confined to his home,
All administrative duties had already been consolidated under The Second Hokage, Tobirama.
Naturally, he didn't have any idea where the New Vault was located.
Therefore, Shimoku didn't have time to dig up every inch of Konoha. He had no choice but to abandon the idea of raiding the Vault.
Of course, if the Vault was out of the question,
There were still other places worth considering.
After all, money wasn't only kept in the Vault of Konoha Village...
In fact,
As a specialized violent institution within a major country, there weren't mainstream financial institutions like banks inside [Konoha Village].
The revenue from mission taxes, trade profits, national aid, etc.,
Were all distributed to two main locations.
First: more than ninety percent of the funds would be handed over to the [Administrative Department] for unified allocation—to pay out mission rewards, maintain medical care, education, commerce, and other necessary village expenses...
This cash basically couldn't be kept—it went straight back into the village economy the moment it came in.
And this money mainly circulated in the form of [Land of Fire] paper currency and coins,
Valid only within [Konoha] and the [Land of Fire].
Second: the remaining small portion would be exchanged into real gold and silver and stored in the wartime reserve vault.
After all, once war broke out,
Paper currencies from various countries would significantly devalue and become hard to circulate. Gold and silver remained the safest option.
One must understand that before Ninja Villages were established, there weren't any national banknotes.
Those ancient ninja clans that had survived for thousands of years persisted through real gold and silver. Therefore, the villages composed of these great ninja clans inherited these customs as well, placing more trust in tangible gold and silver.
However,
With three consecutive Ninja World Wars, countless smaller regional conflicts, and the [Nine-Tailed Beast's Rampage], among others,
It led to the constant shrinking of Konoha's [Wartime Reserve Vault].
To the point where even the maintenance fund for many orphaned children of fallen heroes had been cut repeatedly.
This was also one of the reasons why Nonou, director of Konoha Orphanage, had previously sought funding from the village, eventually being forced to sell herself to Danzo...
In short, despite Konoha's advantageous geographical position, backed by the strongest [Land of Fire],
Its internal economic condition wasn't ideal.
In fact, its situation wasn't nearly as rosy as Kumo or Iwagakure Village.
Adding to this the last devastating battle, which nearly destroyed half of Konoha,
It was like someone had shattered Konoha's spine!
To rebuild the village and provide aid to the families of the fallen...
The entire Konoha [Administrative Department] not only emptied the Vault completely, they were practically selling their last pair of underwear.
Still unable to fill this massive hole.
Eventually, they could only ask for aid again from the [Land of Fire].
Fortunately,
Upon hearing that both the First and the Second Hokage had returned from death.
The corrupt officials of the Land of Fire were scared out of their wits.
In a hurry, they sent over a huge sum of Silver Notes as aid.
Up until now, three major batches of assistance had already been delivered.
This was what allowed Konoha to stabilize the situation quickly and begin reconstruction.
...
According to Homura Mitokado's memories,
Although after the first three batches of funding arrived, they were immediately distributed like water sprinkled everywhere,
Leaving practically nothing remaining.
However, it was said that the fourth batch of aid had only just arrived this morning.
Most of it still remained under the Administrative Department, not yet allocated to various sections.
Truly a golden opportunity to grab... cough...
I mean, temporarily *borrow*!
Though these Land of Fire paper notes couldn't be directly exchanged for Value Points and coins,
They would still need to find ways to convert them into cash before being able to exchange for gold.
But still beats walking away empty-handed!
"Oh!"
"Dear aid money, here I come!"
Shimoku's clone let out a satisfied chuckle, erased Homura Mitokado's memory, then headed back toward the Hokage Tower.
Despite this only being Shimoku's clone, some habits simply couldn't be changed.
...
Moments later,
After completely looting this batch of Silver Notes sent by the Land of Fire,
Shimoku's clone left the village.
With just one [Flying Thunder God Technique], he returned to his original body outside the village.
The clone handed two storage scrolls to his original form, then dispersed voluntarily.
Meanwhile, the original Shimoku quickly learned everything that happened in the village,
As well as the total amount stored within two scrolls he now held: one hundred and five and a half million in aid funds!
The Land of Fire really did go all out!
Just at a single stroke, they gave aid totaling over a hundred million.
Reportedly, the previous three aid shipments had been several times larger; clearly demonstrating their emphasis on and firm support for Konoha Village.
Of course, don't let such an enormous sum fool you.
It would still take considerable time to eventually convert all this into cash, and there would be considerable loss during conversion.
But altogether, this was still considered quite a substantial haul.
It was even more profitable than those previous times when he had hit the Konoha Vault!
So much so that Shimoku even began considering
Whether he should just regularly stake out future aid deliveries—it was far more efficient and simpler than raiding the vault.
...
Additionally, while stealing this batch of aid,
Shimoku also considered whether he should take the opportunity to eliminate that pest Danzo.
But eventually abandoned the idea.
After all, once the First and Second Hokage returned, there would no longer be any role for Danzo.
Whether Danzo lived or died wouldn't affect Hashirama and Tobirama's absolute control over Konoha.
Leaving him alive could even plant a time bomb inside Konoha.
Killing him, though, might only deepen Tobirama's hatred of him.
Not worth it at all.
Even though Tobirama already harbored deep suspicions against his Uchiha clan.
"Well then, enough for today."
"Caught quite the show, left an imprint leading to Mount Myoboku, and walked away with over a hundred million in aid funds."
"This is truly quite satisfactory."
"No need to get greedy now..."
Shimoku put away the two scrolls, letting out a quiet chuckle.
He cast one last glance at Hashirama and the others in the distance.
Originally, he had planned to launch a surprise attack—
wouldn't it be great to seal away Hashirama while he was still weakened?
But the fight hadn't even ended properly
when Jiraiya and Tsunade also arrived at the battlefield…
That changed things significantly.
Jiraiya on his own might not be too concerning,
but Tsunade, who already carried Hashirama's bloodline, was most likely qualified as a living host for the Impure World Resurrection of Hashirama.
Though the thought of Impure World Hashirama possessing Tsunade
and fighting while staring at her ample chest
was simply too disturbing to imagine...
theoretically speaking, with a living body as a vessel, Hashirama could continue to forcibly activate the [Eight Gates].
After all, even someone as powerful as Lord Madara fell to Hashirama's Eight Gates!
Shimoku had no desire to stir up more trouble.
Sure, if he went all out and spent twenty thousand coins buying a [Tailed Beast Form] to forcibly activate the [Baryon Mode],
Hashirama would definitely die!
Yet spending twenty thousand coins just to eliminate Hashirama
and ending up bankrupt overnight wasn't worth it at all!
Besides, Lord Madara might come after him in a rage afterward!
All in all, it just wasn't worth it.
Besides, today's gains were already more than enough.
It was better to return home and rest for now.
After all, a certain Fifth Mizukage lady back home was probably growing impatient by now, wasn't she?
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