Naruto: Uchiha Youngjo's Konoha Spring

Chapter 130 The First Nanhe River Diving Competition
"Since everyone has said so, then let's set the new tax law. Also, don't say that I won't give those big businessmen a way to survive. As long as they are willing to invest and build factories around Konoha and provide jobs for the people, then we can also provide tax reduction and exemption policies. In this way, the people will have jobs, they will make money, and we will also have taxes. This is a win-win situation for all three parties." Uchiha Douguang said slowly.

"The Prime Minister's move was well thought out, and we admire him," said Kazuo Miura.

"Also, you all need to pay attention to the price issue I mentioned earlier." Uchiha Douguang glanced at the ministers in the court, "I will only give you one month. The prices of various necessities of life must return to normal levels. I don't want reports that the ninjas in the village can hardly afford to eat to appear on my desk again. Anyone who dares to make trouble for food will have his head taken. Do you understand?"

"Understood." The ministers nodded quickly.

"Don't take this lightly." Uchiha Douguang warned coldly, "If civilians can't afford to eat, they may just leave their homes, but if ninjas can't afford to eat, they will kill people."

Uchiha Douguang's words made the hairs of the court officials stand on end.

"Also, I don't care what you did before, now in this Hidden Leaf Village, you'd better restrain yourself. Don't think that you are doing it secretly. Your tricks are not worth mentioning in front of the ninjas." Uchiha Douguang said.

After hearing Uchiha Toukou's words, all the officials in the court, especially those from Miura Kazuo's faction, lowered their heads deeply, not daring to attract Uchiha Toukou's attention at all. The fact that Uchiha Toukou had just casually produced the evidence of Murayama Takuya's corruption made them understand that Uchiha Toukou was not talking nonsense.

Their money-making methods were naturally no problem in the Fire City in the past, but now, Konoha is full of ninjas doing intelligence work. It can be said that their every move is completely under the nose of Uchiha Tokou.

After going to court and reprimanding the ministers, Uchiha Douguang returned to his Hokage office.

Soon, what happened in the court this morning spread throughout the village.

Even the most unruly villagers in the village could not argue with Uchiha Douguang's policies. After all, this was a policy that actually improved people's livelihood. Even some villagers who had just been released from the Sanqing Education Team and had to bury their dissatisfaction with Uchiha Douguang deep in their hearts after suffering torture, could only pinch their noses and say that Uchiha Douguang finally did something for the people.

Under Uchiha Tokou's iron-fisted policy, the soaring prices in the village were quickly curbed, especially the price of grain had completely returned to normal levels. Those grain merchants who wanted to hoard goods at high prices wanted to work together to resist at first. After all, most of the grain in Konoha was in their hands. If they didn't sell, the village would have no food to eat.

However, less than half an hour after the major grain stores in the village put up their closing signs, Kakashi arrived at the door with ninjas from the security team.

Not long after, the grain merchants who had gathered together last night to hold a meeting and plan to unite to fight against the price reduction policy reunited at the banks of Nanhe River.

By the Nanhe River, these grain merchants who used to be extremely wealthy in the Fire City now had their hands and feet tied and were kneeling in a neat row beside the Nanhe River.

"Let me introduce myself. My name is Hatake Kakashi, the captain of Konoha's security force. You are so brave that you even dare to defy the orders of the Grand Minister. I asked you to lower prices, yet you united and closed down your shops." Kakashi said with a forced smile as he looked at the row of grain merchants.

"Lord Kakashi, we are wronged!" One of the grain merchants quickly said, "Our family's food reserves are indeed insufficient."

"Insufficient food?" Kakashi took out a booklet slowly and flipped through it before finding the information of the man who had just spoken. "Naoto Kawakami, right? That granary in the northeast of Konoha should be yours, right? There are mountains of food piled up inside. If this is considered insufficient food, then what about the people in Konoha who can't afford your high-priced food?"

"Lord Kakashi, the prices of the grain we sell are all normal prices. There is no such thing as high-priced grain." Another grain merchant spoke up.

"You call 40 taels per catty of grain a normal price? In the past, the price of grain in the village has never exceeded 6 taels per catty." Kakashi said.

"Konoha is now the capital of our Land of Fire, so the price naturally cannot be calculated like this," another grain merchant spoke up at this time and talked to Kakashi about economic theories such as the large influx of population into Konoha now, and the shortage of supply will naturally cause prices to rise, and the invisible big hand will naturally adjust prices to an appropriate level.

Kakashi nodded repeatedly after hearing this. Seeing that there was a way, the grain merchant spoke even more enthusiastically.

"So, today's grain prices are the result of natural market development. Your Excellency, please don't wrongly accuse us."

"Yes, yes." Seeing this, the others quickly agreed.

"So this is a normal economic choice?" Kakashi said. "What you said has enlightened me. It's clear that you all understand economics."

"Yes, yes, in my opinion, this is all a misunderstanding. We didn't explain it clearly to Lord Kakashi in advance. We will definitely come to your house to apologize in a few days." At this time, Naoto Kawakami spoke.

"It's true that I don't understand economics as well as you do, but as a ninja, I also know some things that you don't understand. As a reward for your help in clearing up my confusion, I would like to exchange some information with you." Kakashi said with a sneer, "Zaidou."

Uchiha Zaito came to Kakashi's side.

"Several wealthy people have explained to us some economic principles. In return, let's let them understand our ninja's torture methods," said Kakashi.

"Yes!" Uchiha Zaidou nodded and waved his hand.

At this time, several security team members in the rear walked up to the people who had worked the hardest, picked them up one by one, and threw them into Nanhe River.

As the mother river of Konoha, the Nanga River is not very deep and the water is not very fast. It can be said that as long as you can swim a little, it will be fine if you fall into it. But at this moment, the hands and feet of those who entered the water were tied up, and they were thrown into the river unexpectedly, so they struggled violently as soon as they entered the water.

"You...what are you doing? Let me remind you that we have the nobles of the Fire Nation behind us, so don't go too far!" At this time, a man on the shore said sternly.

"Really? So there are nobles involved. Can you tell me which noble family is behind this?" Kakashi said with a smile.

"You..." The man who had just spoken paused. They did have the support of nobles behind them, and most of the money they earned went into the pockets of those nobles. However, at this moment, he did not dare to reveal the identity of the nobles behind them.

"Let me see." Kakashi slowly flipped through another booklet. "Your name is Shimizu Lianjie, right? Your parents are both elder sisters of the previous daimyo of the Land of Fire. They were servants in Princess China's household. Because they had some talent in business, they were sent by the princess's household to manage the household's business."

"It's good that you know," Shimizu Lianjie said, "Even the daimyo has to give the princess some face. If you do this, once the princess gets angry, you will definitely not be able to withstand her wrath!"

"Really?" Kakashi put away the information and said, "Come here, this guy doesn't seem to be in a clear mind, let him brainwash himself in the Nanga River." As soon as Kakashi finished speaking, a member of the security team stepped forward and kicked him into the Nanga River.

The remaining people on the shore were also kicked into the Nanhe River one after another.

The originally peaceful Nanhe River became chaotic with the entry of these people. They continued to struggle violently, splashing large amounts of water.

Kakashi sat on the chair, took out his favorite intimate paradise slowly, and read it leisurely.

After a while, the group of people who were thrown into the river first also found the trick. They struggled to stick their heads out of the water and took deep breaths of the hard-earned fresh air.

However, at this moment, Kakashi put down the book and turned to look at the guards behind him.

"How are you doing with the ninjutsu issued by the security team recently?" Kakashi asked.

"Report to the Captain! We have mastered the ninjutsu issued by the guard team!" A member of the guard team stood up and spoke.

"Really?" Kakashi said with a smile, "Well, you guys can demonstrate it here. Although we in the Guard don't have to face powerful enemies as often as the Anbu, we can't fall behind in our own strength. You go first."

"Yes!" The man who was named came to the river, quickly formed seals, and puffed out his cheeks.

"Art fire escape ho fireball!"

The man suddenly spewed out a huge fireball, which shot towards the opposite bank along the surface of the Nanhe River, and then exploded in the center of the river.

The sound of blazing heat waves coming from overhead startled the grain merchants who had stuck their heads out of the river to breathe.

"Very good, do it more often." Kakashi clapped his hands, then said to the other members of the security team, "You too, let these friends who just worked so hard to solve our economic problems see the strength of us Konoha ninjas!"

Soon, dozens of guard team members stepped forward one after another and performed various ninjutsu by the river.

In an instant, various five-element escape techniques exploded one after another along the surface of the Nanhe River like colorful fireworks, and the scene of the Nanhe River became more lively. However, this made it difficult for the swimmers who were still struggling in the Nanhe River.

At this moment, every time they stick their heads out of the water to breathe, their lives are in danger.

Half an hour later, Kakashi ordered the team members to stop the ninjutsu practice and rescue the people from Nanga River.

After returning to shore, these big businessmen were all dying, and a few of them with slightly poor swimming skills were even close to death.

At this time, the medical ninja of the guard team came forward. If he was teaching them the ninja's torture methods before, now he was showing these people the military doctor's rescue techniques.

These medical ninjas stepped forward one by one and stepped directly on the fat bellies of these people to assist in vomiting. Those who were dying did not care whether forcibly stimulating cellular energy would shorten their lifespans, and directly used the Palm Immortal Technique. Not long after, these people regained consciousness.

"Now, what do you think the grain price in the village should be set at?" Kakashi sat on a chair, a kunai flying up and down in his hand like a butterfly flying through flowers.

At this point, these businessmen no longer dared to fool Kakashi with the invisible big hand trick. After all, the invisible big hand they mentioned was invisible, but the visible kunai in Kakashi's hand could really take their lives!

"Ten taels! Including the transportation costs, we can reduce the price of grain to ten taels per catty at the lowest." The representative of the grain merchant said hurriedly.

"You don't really think that we ninjas don't understand economics," Kakashi said coldly, "Come here, send this guy down to calm down."

"Eight taels! Eight taels! This is really the lowest price." Seeing the members of the security team approaching again, the man said with tears in his eyes.

"That's more like it," Kakashi said, then turned to look at the other merchants selling meat and other necessities.

Soon, these people all gave a reasonable price.

Kakashi let them go only after recording the prices they each offered. After dealing with these things, Kakashi went to the Hokage Building again.

"Well, have those guys behaved themselves?" Uchiha Toguchi asked after seeing Kakashi arrive and pouring him a cup of tea.

"Those guys have become much more honest. However, their high profits probably went into the hands of those nobles. Among the nobles behind them, the most powerful one is Princess China, whose fiefdom is in the northeast of the Land of Fire." Kakashi said.

"Princess China? The Daimyo's aunt?" Uchiha Douguang took Kakashi's report, read it through, and then raised an eyebrow. "Then I'll trouble you to go an extra mile and tell that old woman that the Minamoto family no longer has the final say in the Fire Nation."

"Hey, why do I feel like I'm even busier after following you than when I was in Anbu?" Kakashi complained casually after drinking the tea in the cup in front of him.

"Thank you for your hard work." Uchiha Douguang said, "I don't trust others to do this."

"Alright." Kakashi said, "By the way, there's still one spot left for your personal disciple. How about I let Naruto become your disciple?"

"Of course, I was just about to tell you about this." Uchiha Douguang nodded.

(End of this chapter)