In the name of military control, Konoha Village controlled every village, every town, and especially every city in the Land of Fire.

From this day on, all taxes of the people of the Fire Nation were paid to the Konoha Ninjas. In exchange, they did not need to pay any fees when submitting ninjas.

Konoha Village is willing to carry out missions for free as long as they are from the Fire Nation and the submitted mission does not contain any deceptive elements.

The people of the Fire Nation suddenly found that their cost of living had become lower.

The Konoha ninjas suddenly discovered that the bonus for the mission had suddenly increased by more than five times.

Even if they were carrying out D-level missions such as harvesting farmland, the income earned by the Konoha ninjas was enough to meet their living needs, and even enough to support their families.

Moreover, the number of tasks in the village has increased greatly, which has almost given all the Genin the illusion that there are endless tasks to complete.

In fact, the task is really endless.

Villages that were previously unable to release tasks because they could not raise enough bonuses are now eager to release their tasks.

It's free after all.

The Konoha Village suddenly discovered that taxation was so attractive.

The task of collecting taxes on liquidity alone can generate thirty times more income than the funds transferred by the daimyo.

The key is that these incomes are stable and will not change because the bonuses will be reduced because the Konoha ninjas killed the bandits.

Nara Shikaku even worried about having too much money to spend.

The Fourth Hokage Orochimaru asked in confusion: "How much money do you have that worries you to this extent?"

But after hearing the number reported by Nara Shikaku, Orochimaru couldn't help but sigh with emotion: "There are so many, this is really not easy to deal with."

Of course there is no problem. Once it falls into Uchiha Yu's hands, the problem is no longer a problem.

"Fourth Hokage, what's a thousand? What about your research? Start now! Invest ten or a hundred times as much in it."

Uchiha You waved his hands and shouted: "If you want to be rich, build roads first!"

"Make the road smooth, wide and flat enough for six carriages to travel on together."

"As long as the road is open, you will find that everything is open!"

"The lives of ordinary people in the Land of Fire will get better, the income of Konoha Village will increase, the income of Konoha ninjas will skyrocket, and except for the nobles who want to go crazy, everyone else will live well."

Orochimaru had never experienced such a historical upheaval, but he was good at calculation and deduction, and soon found that this made sense, so he accepted Uchiha Yu's instigation.

In the summer of the 46th year of Konoha, Konoha Village entered a positive cycle. The huge demand for tasks led to a surge in the demand for ninjas, so much so that the ninja school had to organize ninja students to complete those D-level tasks efficiently.

The ninjas from the Sand Village, the Mist Village, the Kusagakure Village, the Takigakure Village, and the Rain Village also appeared in Konoha Village, begging for food.

If just labor could bring generous rewards, ninjas wouldn't be so warlike.

When faced with productive D-level tasks, they did not show any dissatisfaction when the task bonuses reached the level of past C-level tasks.

As long as the money is paid, even a jonin will not find it a problem to build houses and harvest crops.

Making money is not shameful!

"The ninja world is now peaceful enough. Let me see what the Six Paths Sage has planned. He should be able to avoid my observation now..."

Uchiha You stared at the peaceful ninja world with bright eyes, wondering what the Six Paths Sage was doing or had done.

Until this day, Uchiha Shigenobu came to him and made a request to him: "Master, I want to transfer a task and need your approval."

"Oh?" Uchiha You asked curiously, "What task are you going to hand over? Most importantly, who are you going to hand it over to?"

Shigenobu replied, "It's a mission from Loulan. The reward is quite good. I plan to pass it on to Minato Namikaze."

Loulan was one of the names that Uchiha You paid the most attention to, and it immediately caught his attention.

He smiled and asked, "The Loulan Kingdom mission... this comes with an extra reward, and you're actually going to hand it over. Is it possible that there are enemies from the Sand Village that you can't handle?"

Uchiha Shigenobu said disdainfully: "How is that possible?"

"But the reward for this mission is really high. Minato Namikaze is short of money recently, so he came to me for help. I gave it to him for the sake of my comrades."

Uchiha You's pupils shrank slightly, but he smiled and asked, "After Namikaze Minato became the Hokage's assistant, I remember he was already very busy. How could he still have time to do missions?"

"Is this kid so short of money?"

Assistant Hokage is a new position created by the Fourth Hokage. In name, it is Orochimaru's assistant or secretary, but in reality it is a tool for him to get rid of heavy government affairs and select his successor.

Therefore, even though this position is extremely busy and the income is not very high, it is the most coveted job among the 30,000 Konoha ninjas.

It is not surprising that Minato Namikaze was able to get this position. Although he did not have the opportunity to be praised by the Third Hokage and fight in all the battlefields around the Land of Fire like Konoha White Fang, he also got the support of the Fourth Hokage and led the Snake Army to defeat the Hidden Mist Village.

In that battle, Minato Namikaze commanded with confidence and made extremely accurate judgments. He did not make any mistakes, which convinced the Uchiha soldiers of the Tiger Unit.

Moreover, he led by example and killed 21 jonin of the Kirigakure in one battle. His brilliant record was second only to Uchiha Yu who killed the Fifth Mizukage.

It has to be said that because the Fifth Mizukage and the Seven Ninja Swordsmen are not well-known, in the eyes of ordinary Konoha ninjas, Namikaze Minato is far more dazzling than Uchiha Yuu and Might Dai.

So much so that many people regard him as the only candidate for the Fifth Hokage.

Minato Namikaze served as the Hokage's assistant and began to do the work of the Hokage without even being questioned.

Under such circumstances where everyone was paying close attention, he actually accepted the mission. To Uchiha You, this was even more surprising than the incident in Loulan.

Sure enough, the final result was surprising.

Uchiha Shigenobu smiled and explained the reason: "Minato told me that he has a child and he must hurry up to earn more money and buy a house of his own."

"But the Fourth Hokage Orochimaru's importance to him prevented him from spending a lot of time on the mission, so he needed to spend the least amount of time and earn the most money, so he asked me for this mission."

"Brother You, all the missions in Loulan belong to our Uchiha clan. If I want to change this mission, it would be equivalent to exchanging the interests of the clan. I need the approval of you, the clan leader."

Uchiha You smiled meaningfully and said, "Okay, I agree."

A few hours later, Uchiha Yu's wooden clone saw Namikaze Minato. He excitedly left Konoha Village with Hatake Kakashi, Rin and Might Guy, and quickly moved towards the southwest.

Might Guy was specially added to Minato's team by the Fourth Hokage after the war.

Orochimaru hopes that Minato Namikaze, Jiraiya's disciple, can make up for Might Guy's lack of knowledge in training, help Gai complete the Eight Gates Ninjutsu, and develop subsequent physical techniques of Chao Kongque.

At the same time, he also hopes that through Might Guy, Might Dai can become a supporter of Minato Namikaze and clear the obstacles for the Fifth Hokage to become the emperor.

Uchiha You looked at the team configuration in front of him and couldn't help but smile: "Since Namikaze Minato got the Flying Thunder God Technique, he has become very confident."

"That guy from Loulan is still a bit troublesome."

"But it shouldn't be a big deal. They should encounter additional reinforcements and eventually complete the mission successfully."

"I hope everything goes well, Minato can meet his son, Uzumaki Naruto can meet his young father, and I will get Loulan and the Dragon Vein."

The country of wind, the land of snow.

This fake snow town covered with white sand is now experiencing a real snowstorm.

A large number of puppets had difficulty moving in the blizzard and were gradually frozen into ice sculptures.

Then a figure rushed forward, waving three orange fireballs in her hands, accurately hitting the frozen puppet core.

Burning Escape: Heart-Devouring Fire

The power of the flames accurately penetrated the core of the puppet, heating the core to a red-hot temperature of over 300 degrees.

The expansion of the core and the contraction of the outer shell caused the puppet's body to explode and shatter into several pieces, becoming garbage all over the ground and soon covered by the howling blizzard.

The battle was over quickly. With the Scorch Release, Ye Cang destroyed hundreds of puppets one by one without even using up three fireballs.

Ye Cang felt the blizzard around her. She could feel the strong wind and the coolness, but not a single harmful coldness was transmitted to her body.

Such precise control of power made this powerful Kage-level ninja sigh: "The Snow Clan of the Hidden Mist Village is such a powerful ninja clan, and the power and strength of the Ice Release is far beyond my imagination."

Ai gathered her chakra, ended the snowstorm, and said with a smile: "My ice escape alone cannot destroy these puppets. Ye Cang, your scorch escape can help me amplify the destructive power. It's great."

Ye Cang smiled and shook his head, saying: "It is because of the combination of our two bloodline limits that the effect of thermal expansion and contraction can reach such an ideal level."

Ai smiled and said, "Do we need to add a little more understanding of the puppet structure?"

Ye Cang was stunned for a moment, then said sadly: "You figured it out."

"Um."

Ai nodded without hesitation, it was too obvious.

From the moment he saw these puppets, Ye Cang’s attacks were so precise.

Each time he could use the least amount of strength to attack the weakest link, and then use the ice escape to freeze the target with a fatal blow.

There is no doubt that she knows these puppets very well and is familiar with all their information, especially having carefully studied their weaknesses, which is why she can achieve such precise destruction.

Ye Cang sighed and said, "Although there are significant differences between this puppet and the puppet from the Sand Village, the core of the production has not changed. This should be a puppet made by a puppeteer from the Sand Village."

Before she opened her mouth, she felt it difficult to speak, but after she opened her mouth, she had no more worries and spoke out all the doubts in her heart.

"However, these puppets are able to break away from their puppeteers and conduct reconnaissance and combat completely autonomously, which far exceeds the limits of what a puppeteer can achieve."

"From this perspective, these puppets are beyond the level of top puppeteers such as Chiyo from the Sand Village. Even the legendary Master Monzaemon cannot make puppets like this."

"but……"

Ye Cang picked up a piece of puppet debris on the ground. It was the core that was almost melted after being attacked by her.

"Although I am not a puppeteer, as a contender for the Kazekage, we have studied puppets carefully."

She pointed at the core and said, "The production level of this core is not high at all. Moreover, the puppet line is obviously not used to control the puppet, but the operating core of the puppet line is left, and no modification is made at all."

"This level of puppet manufacturing is extremely poor, not even qualified among Chunins."

"I think this is a rebel ninja from the Sand Village who accidentally mastered some kind of super power and used this power to create this batch of extremely powerful, yet extremely inferior puppets."

Ai nodded in agreement and said, "You are right. You know that there is a barrier in Snow Village, which has the effect of interfering with and expelling ordinary humans. Even puppets will be strongly repelled."

"Under the effect of the barrier, people, animals, and puppets will be strongly disturbed and will unknowingly walk out of an arc and bypass the Snow Village."

"This is a miracle accomplished by our former clan leader Ying and our Fire Spirit God."

Ai looked at the tall Ye Cang and continued, "Unless you are in a special situation like you who is semi-conscious but still has your only belief, you can walk in a true straight line without being affected and directly enter the Snow Country."

"These puppets were able to break through the restrictions and enter the Snow Village. They must have super powers that exceed the restrictions of the barrier."

"Before the clan leader left, he once said that there is a powerful dragon vein active in nearby Loulan, which is a super power that exceeds chakra. It seems that these puppets come from Loulan."

After saying this, Ai knelt on one knee and prayed devoutly to the god he believed in:

"The Lord of Fire who commands all fires, the protector of the fire of civilization."

“An explorer with courage, passion, and curiosity.”

"The golden wise primate."

"Your followers are reporting to you that something unusual has happened in Loulan!"

Ai recounted his discovery in detail and repeated it three times until an inexplicable force came and rewarded him with divine power.

Ai stood up happily. She was very satisfied with the reward she received. She showed it off to Ye Cang with a smile on her face.

"Look, my Lord has rewarded me again, improving my potential and making my Bloodline Limit Ice Release even stronger."

Ye Cang looked at the pretty boy with a strange expression on his face, and couldn't help asking, "Your Snow Clan is really weird. You actually believe in a fire god. Don't you find it weird?"

Ai smiled and replied, "I don't feel awkward."

"My Lord said that fire and ice are one and the same, both are products of the flow of heat."

"Flames give heat to others, while ice and snow take away others' heat. If one day we can control heat at will and merge ice and snow with flames, that will be the highest pursuit of both."

Ye Cang listened thoughtfully and nodded, "As expected of the God of Fire, what you said makes a lot of sense."

Ai suddenly said, "Ye Cang, I have received a mission from God to go to Loulan to gather intelligence. Do you want to go with me?"

Ye Cang was stunned and asked curiously: "Can I also do the mission of the God of Fire?"

Ai was like a devout charlatan, actively recommending to Ye Cang: "Of course, God will never refuse friendly help, and is willing to spread His glory."

"Your bloodline limit is very close to the power of God, so you should be able to receive more teachings from God."

Ye Cang had lived in Snow Town for several months, and all he heard all day was the belief in the Southern Fire Spirit God, and he had long been tempted.

After all, a closed environment is the best environment for brainwashing. Even the so-called pyramid schemes are difficult to eliminate for this reason.

In addition, she is surrounded by devout believers, and Ye Cang is not a person with strong will, so she cannot escape the influence of thought resonance.

But the female ninja was still stubborn and unwilling to give in so easily, so she thought of a reason to try to refuse: "Humph, you will get a reward from God for completing the mission, but what can I get?"

"Of course, if you ask me, I will definitely go. After all, I owe you and the Snow Clan two lives."

Ai shook her head repeatedly: "No, no, no, this is not a request, nor a plea, but an invitation."

"And my Lord is a righteous God who adheres to the principle of equal exchange. If you complete the task He has assigned, my Lord will definitely give you appropriate compensation. Don't worry."

So Ai, Jing and Ye Cang formed a team and headed towards the desert country of Loulan.

Along the way, Ye Cang kept muttering to himself, "Really? This god is so mean. He didn't even give me a chance to repay the favor. If this goes on, when will I be able to repay the favor of saving my life?"

"My life, and Juan's life, it's really hard to keep dragging it on like this."

"I hope that this mission will bring me some unexpected results, so that I can show my prowess and save these two people from danger. Only then can I live peacefully in Snow Country in the future."

Jing Heai: “…”

Jing couldn't help but complain: "Is this woman stupid? How can she curse her benefactor and give herself a chance to repay the favor?"

"Ai, aren't you angry?"

Ai laughed and said, "Don't be angry. Ye Cang doesn't have any bad intentions. He is just a little silly. He thinks about problems directly and doesn't beat around the bush."

"If she knew how to adapt, she wouldn't have fallen to the point of working for the Sand Village and being killed by the Sand Village as a traitor in the end."

"She is such a silly woman."

Jing's eyes lit up.

She could hear that there was something wrong with Ai's last sentence, and it actually carried a hint of emotion.

After Ying left, Ai gradually became the leader of the Snow Clan, and he always left everyone with the impression of being extremely calm.

Beneath the seemingly gentle smile lies cold calculation and planning, without any emotion.

This was the first time Jing discovered that Ai had feelings.

During the rest of the journey, she carefully observed Ai, and finally confirmed that when Ai looked at the female ninja from the Sand Village, a gentle light appeared in her eyes.

Jing's heart suddenly burst into laughter, as happy as a mouse that had stolen eggs.

[Oh my god, Ai actually likes the Sand Village female ninja, he is not an ice man! ]

The fire of gossip is burning fiercely.