Konoha.
Thanks to the powerful abilities of the ninja, the ruins of Konoha from just a few days ago had already been filled in, and countless houses had sprung up where there was once a giant crater.
Inside the temporary Hokage office building, the Seventh Hokage Uzumaki Naruto was furiously slamming his desk, his face twisted into a fearsome, almost demonic grimace.
The ninja present in the office to report to the Hokage felt a tense atmosphere, with a hint of fear flickering deep in their eyes.
"Lord Hokage, this is a letter from Darui, the Fifth Raikage of Kumogakure in the Land of Lightning. He's asking if we can lend them some money."
"They need money to rebuild Kumogakure—don't we need money to rebuild Konoha, too?!"
If Naruto hadn't heard this before, he might have been fine, but upon hearing it he became even angrier, pounding on the desk again. The negative energy from the Chakra Fruit made his temper flare even more uncontrollably.
"L-Lord Hokage!"
"Shut up!"
Naruto's palm slammed down and shattered the desk, tearing up the reports piled on top of it.
"Money, money, money! Everyone's asking me for money! The village needs money to rebuild, and you said Amegakure needs aid, and we have to compensate the families of our casualties. Now Kumogakure is asking too!"
Naruto clutched at his hair in frustration, a simmering rage building inside him with no way to vent it.
"Naruto, isn't money just paper? You're Hokage now—why not just print your own money?"
At that moment, the Nine-Tailed Fox sealed inside Naruto spoke up, trying to soothe his anger.
After all, before the Sage of Six Paths went to sleep, he'd specifically warned not to provoke Naruto's rage, especially under the influence of the Chakra Fruit's negative energy.
"Print money!"
Naruto froze, his anger instantly replaced by a look of surprise.
"Why didn't I think of that? Money's just a bunch of paper! We can print as much as we need!"
Naruto's fury vanished as quickly as it came. He grabbed a stack of documents and burst out laughing.
"Go and deliver my orders: the funds for rebuilding and compensation are coming soon, and there'll be disaster relief for Amegakure and aid for Kumogakure too!"
"Yes, Lord Hokage!"
The Konoha ninja didn't dare linger a second longer and hurriedly left after receiving the order.
"Print as much as you can! Anbu, spread the word: print without restraint; if a hundred billion isn't enough, make it a trillion, and if that's not enough, six trillion!"
Naruto laughed loudly, and even the Nine-Tails inside him seemed satisfied.
"See, old man? Naruto's mood stabilized just like that. Easy as pie."
"Kurama, you're clever!"
"Naruto, we Tailed Beasts are smart, you know."
Despite being Hokage for over a decade, Naruto never learned much about politics or economics.
If he understood, he wouldn't be so exhausted in the office with mountains of paperwork every day.
Especially now, under the negative influence of the Chakra Fruit, he was obsessed with the idea of endless money.
Just imagining endless green bills pouring into the village's reconstruction brought a smile to Naruto's face.
"Not just that—we should help every other nation in the ninja world! This disaster was huge. Send them money! Let's make sure everyone in the ninja world can eat ramen and barbecue."
Naruto was completely convinced his idea was sound. The sealed Nine-Tails felt something was off, but as a beast, it didn't care.
The Nine-Tails grinned excitedly.
"You humans are so rigid. You call this green paper money and if it can buy food and stuff, why not just print more? It's not like it's an exploding tag, which needs special chakra-sealed paper."
The sealed Nine-Tails looked down on the humans of the ninja world.
"Such an easy solution—just print more money and the fiscal problems are solved."
"Kurama, it's all thanks to you."
With this major financial problem out of the way, Naruto finally felt a rare sense of relief.
...
Meanwhile, in the secret mint room at the Fire Daimyo's estate, guarded by both Land of Fire and Konoha ninja...
"What? Are you kidding me? Do you want us to run the mint at full capacity? And print six trillion?!"
The mint employees had been enjoying easy days, but after the order arrived from Konoha's Root, the manager's eyes went wide.
"Are you crazy?!"
"It's the Hokage's order!" The Root ninja was cold and emotionless. "The Seventh Hokage's order!"
Hearing it was Naruto's direct order, the mint manager dared not say another word.
Despite Naruto's usual friendliness, everyone knew his power after the Fourth Great Ninja War—he could destroy the ninja world if he wanted.
So the Fire Daimyo always kept a low profile, letting Konoha make all the decisions.
"I—"
"Is there a problem?!"
The Root ninja's cold voice made the manager's face flush red. Under that icy stare, he nervously swallowed.
The fat manager turned away and shouted into the loudspeaker:
"All employees, start all machines immediately! Switch all presses to the highest denominations—print! Print as much as you can! No one goes home until we've printed six trillion!"
The normally relaxed employees at the mint stared in disbelief.
All machines running, and six trillion to print?!
Insane!
But after another angry shout from their boss, the machines began to roar to life.
The Root Ninja, all leftovers from Danzo's era, might have mellowed a bit over the years.
But they'd grown up learning to kill, taking pride in being tools. They didn't care about such things.
The green, high-denomination bills began to pour out of the mint in endless waves.
"Sir!"
Seeing every machine running, the manager hesitated. He wasn't worried about the machines; as long as the money hadn't left the plant, it was fine. But now he was anxious.
"Sir, what are we going to do with so much money?"
He kept his deeper concerns to himself, knowing these ninjas weren't to be trifled with.
Print this much money and the ninja world is bound to descend into chaos!
But the Root ninja only gave him a cold glance, making the manager break into a cold sweat and hurriedly say:
"Sir, I'll personally supervise everything and make sure the six trillion is printed as quickly as possible."
Wiping the sweat from his brow, the manager rushed away from the terrifying ninja.
The Root ninja watched the machines until he was sure they were all running, then said in a low voice to his subordinate:
"By order of the Hokage, all this money is to be used for village and ninja world reconstruction. Once printed, it will be delivered immediately to its destinations."
"Special times call for special measures. No need for the Daimyo's approval; this order comes directly from the Daimyo himself."
"Understood!"
"Eight hundred billion for Kumogakure, five hundred billion for Amegakure, Konoha needs..."
The Root ninja's cold voice echoed. This time, the Seventh Hokage was being extremely generous. Not only Kumogakure, but even his close ally Sunagakure got a share.
After all, they were his staunchest allies. He gave Sunagakure a whole trillion to help their village environment.
Nearly every ninja village received some money. No one expected the Hokage to be so generous.
When the villages first saw the stacks of green bills, they were stunned, then overjoyed.
As soon as the freshly-printed money—still reeking of ink—arrived, the Root ninja efficiently carried out the Hokage's orders.
From relaying the order to firing up the mints to delivering the cash, the ninja's efficiency was unmatched in the world.
...
Sunagakure.
"What? Naruto's giving us a trillion?!"
In the Kazekage's office, the red-haired Fifth Kazekage Gaara was dumbfounded.
He wasn't clueless—a trillion is no small amount.
The Root ninja before him nodded calmly.
"This is a direct order from the Hokage. The full trillion has already been delivered."
Gaara frowned, thinking deeply.
"Could Naruto be trying to draw attention across the ninja world—to unite everyone and prevent outside interference?"
"Or maybe... there's a deeper strategy here!"
Gaara nodded to himself. Since Naruto was doing this, he must have his reasons. He waved his hand decisively.
"Spread the word: Sunagakure will distribute the money as Naruto suggested. Tell the finance department to start buying fruit and meat—we should reward everyone in the village."
"Yes, Lord Kazekage!"
Clearly, Gaara understood only a little.
He'd been raised as a weapon of war, then had to take over as Kazekage when no one else could.
His siblings Kankuro and Temari were just supporting him.
Gaara was, at heart, a pure ninja.
A trillion—he knew it was a lot, but the exact issues were beyond him.
But deep down, he trusted Naruto—his comrade would never harm him.
So the money was spent freely and quickly.
...
Kumogakure.
"Lord Raikage! The Hokage has lent us eight hundred billion—and says we don't even have to pay it back!"
When the messenger delivered the news, Fifth Raikage Darui's troubled face broke into a look of joy.
"How much?!"
"Eight hundred billion, Lord Raikage! All of it's outside, escorted by Konoha's Root ninja!"
The messenger looked proud, expecting praise.
Darui burst out laughing.
"That's Naruto for you! I knew he wouldn't abandon us. You're a hero—let's reward you later, but right now, rebuilding the village comes first!"
He waved his hand grandly.
"Spend all eight hundred billion rebuilding the village. Buy resources, lots of them! We lost so many elite ninjas—train new ones as fast as possible. Don't worry about the money. Strength for Kumogakure is worth more than cash!"
"Yes!"
"Long live Lord Raikage!"
"Long live!"
After recent devastation, Kumogakure finally erupted in cheers.
Eight hundred billion!
Enough to rebuild the village twice over.
Darui was flush with cash and ready to spend.
Amegakure wasn't originally involved, but after the Akatsuki's Nagato reappeared and unleashed a Super Shinra Tensei, Naruto's promise came to the fore.
Even though Konoha suffered greatly, Naruto, for the sake of ninja world peace, set aside his grudge.
This time, he included Amegakure—if the ninja world was getting money, everyone would get a share.
Naruto ordered Root to start handing out cash, skipping the elders and Jonin council, making the order directly from the Hokage's office.
Root acted instantly.
...
Amegakure.
"Oh my god, the Hokage still remembers us in Amegakure!"
"Long live the Hokage!"
"Long live!"
After the Fourth War, Amegakure had been shunned for producing the Akatsuki.
With the Akatsuki gone, the village was divided into factions.
When Konoha's money arrived, everyone's eyes went green with envy.
"This is mine!"
"Shut up! The Hokage gave it to me!"
"Enough! The Hokage wouldn't want us to fight—he's always loved peace!"
One faction tried to avoid civil war by invoking Naruto's peaceful ideals.
Sure enough, the tension eased.
Though everyone still coveted the money, they wanted to avoid conflict for the sake of peace.
In the end, the factions started negotiating how to split the money.
Most villages immediately started buying supplies with their new wealth, while others put it in reserve, or let their leaders skim some off the top.
No one realized Konoha was giving money to almost every village.
No one would have guessed the Seventh Hokage Naruto, would hand out cash to the entire ninja world.
And printed six trillion of it!