Inside the Hokage's Office.
"What! Print another trillion!?"
Kakashi's eyes bulged in disbelief as he stared at the nonchalant Naruto before him.
Naruto had grown up, but at this moment, as the Seventh Hokage sitting at his desk, there was a glimpse of the same impulsive, naive Naruto from years past.
It was as if Naruto hadn't matured at all over these years.
Oblivious, Naruto flashed a devilish grin.
"Yes, Kakashi-sensei. The village needed rebuilding, and then Darui from the Hidden Cloud sent envoys to borrow money. All our funds over the years went into reconstruction, so where would we get so much money?"
"So, I just ordered the printing department to make more money. Now, Konoha isn't short on cash at all."
Naruto's ignorance made Kakashi see stars—he nearly fainted.
"Naruto, you even lent money to the Hidden Cloud!?"
Naruto printing money on his own was already outrageous, but lending it out—unthinkable.
Kakashi was stunned. If it had just been private printing, there might still be a chance to fix things.
"Naruto, be honest. How did you do all this? How much did you print? How much did you lend to the Hidden Cloud? How much is still left in the village—or rather, how much has already been spent…"
Kakashi fired off questions as rapidly as a machine gun.
"Kakashi-sensei!"
Sensing Naruto's displeasure, Kakashi was startled and remembered Naruto's current status.
He mustn't anger Naruto—he had to keep him calm.
"Naruto, just explain everything clearly."
Kakashi took a deep breath to steady himself, speaking as gently as possible while contemplating silently. Naruto was unreliable, but as Hokage, after all these years, he ought to have some sense of restraint.
But Naruto's next words made Kakashi's blood pressure spike and left him speechless.
"Kakashi-sensei, you're too nervous. The village is tense, but it's just printing money. I first ordered six trillion, then another six trillion."
"It wasn't just the Hidden Cloud—everyone got some. Previously, in the Hidden Rain, every ninja village in the Shinobi World got a share. This way, everyone will trust and understand each other…"
Naruto spoke of printing over a trillion as if it were nothing, oblivious to the fact that Kakashi's mind was buzzing at his words.
"You gave money not just to the Cloud, but to every village in the Shinobi World? For free?"
Kakashi nearly fainted, staring at Naruto in disbelief. He never imagined Naruto would cause such a disaster.
"Hurry! Stop all this now! Stop the minting, and recover any money already given to the other villages—get back whatever you can, even from within our village…"
Before Kakashi could finish, a masked ANBU appeared in the office.
"Reporting to the Seventh and Sixth Hokage: Right now, every ninja village—Rain, Land of Heaven, and more—is all expressing their gratitude. Especially in the Rain Village, several factions are growing stronger with your support, vying for your favor to become their leader…"
Kakashi nearly passed out, disbelief in his eyes as he shouted, "What did you say? All those villages have already split up the money!?"
The ANBU was at a loss, Naruto was dumbfounded, but Kakashi was at his breaking point.
"Naruto! You've made a huge mess. The Shinobi World is going to be in chaos. We have to call a Shinobi World Conference immediately and recover the distributed money; if not, we must come up with countermeasures…"
By the time Kakashi realized the scale of the disaster, the Shinobi World was already in turmoil from runaway inflation.
…
"A loaf of bread costs five hundred thousand! Are you robbing me!?"
"You greedy parasites, do you even know how much five hundred thousand is!?"
The first to be hit were the commoners—the monetary system collapsed entirely. Prices were no longer changing daily but by the hour.
At the worst, the price of a loaf of bread increased thirteen times in just eight hours.
"Heavens, how are we supposed to live?"
"Damn it, our wages are so low. At this rate, my family will starve."
"Get lost! If you can't afford it, scram."
Unrest broke out everywhere in the Shinobi World.
With money flooding the market, every ninja village hoarded supplies and built up their forces, driving prices even higher.
The nobles, ever sharp-eyed, saw profit and began hoarding, driving up prices for their gain.
A vicious cycle was created.
Within days, currency across the Shinobi World was devalued to insanity, and bartering began replacing money in some places.
By the time Kakashi caught on, it was too late. He notified the other villages, but with money in hand, who would return it? Many had already spent theirs.
Some villages, after spending Konoha's money, secretly rejoiced at their good fortune.
Others regretted saving theirs—today's five hundred billion might only buy a hundred million's worth of goods tomorrow.
…
Amegakure.
"Chief, the Hokage has called for a live conference at 8 PM with all village leaders and national lords."
The strongest faction leader in the Amegakure slammed the table in anger.
"They give us money, then say it was all printed, causing inflation—are we supposed to clean up Konoha's mess?!"
Furious but powerless against Konoha's Hokage, the leader ordered, "What are you waiting for? Spend all the money now, before it turns to worthless paper!"
"Yes!"
…
Kumogakure.
The Sixth Raikage, Darui, frowned at Konoha's urgent message.
"Even as the Seventh Hokage, Naruto's still this reckless—printing over a trillion and flooding the market! Doesn't he realize the consequences!?"
As one of the Five Great Villages, Darui was calm, but the village was still in shambles. He sighed and addressed his advisers.
"Everyone, you've seen the chaos spreading. What should we do?"
The Hidden Cloud's elites grumbled in frustration.
"Raikage-sama, we already spent all the money, but prices skyrocketed and blew our budget."
"Konoha was reckless. If they had no money, they should've said so instead of causing this mess."
"What do we do now, Raikage-sama? We've already spent half; we can't just stop."
Darui shook his head helplessly. The money was already spent, and projects had begun—it was impossible to just halt everything now.
A calm kumo ninja scowled, then spoke gravely:
"Raikage-sama, this is no longer just Konoha's problem—it's the entire Shinobi World. The money caused chaos. Some suppliers have defaulted, others have gone bankrupt due to currency collapse…"
Darui's face grew more serious. When the money left, it became a disaster for everyone.
Three months ago, families receiving orders were overjoyed, hoping to profit. But with the currency's collapse, their money became worthless, and they still owed on large contracts—a total loss.
Some ran away, some refused to pay, and some even committed suicide.
And that was among the wealthy; the poorest were hit hardest.
You might earn tens of thousands this month, but next month a single meal might cost tens of thousands.
The entire Shinobi World was in turmoil.
…
At 8 PM, in the Konoha Hokage office, countless video feeds appeared, showing the leaders of every ninja village and the lords of every country.
"Hokage! What are you trying to do? Because of you, the entire Shinobi World is in chaos!"
"Hokage, you must bear the blame as the greatest criminal in Shinobi World history!"
"You said you gave our country eighty billion, but I only got fifty! Damn it, those old bastards must have taken a cut!"
What was supposed to be a stabilizing video conference quickly devolved into finger-pointing—no one wanted to take the blame.
Then, as accounting errors surfaced, the villages and lords argued fiercely.
"Daimyo! The Hokage gave you two hundred billion, but you only gave your ninja village ten billion. You're too greedy!"
"Abe! You bastard, the Hokage gave you a hundred and fifty billion, but your report only says eighty billion!"
The meeting fell into chaos, with anger flaring between the lords and the villages.
The lords were greedy, the nobles were greedy, and even the ninja villages had greedy people! In the end, the commoners bore the cost.
…
Land of Earth, Iwagakure.
"What kind of world are we living in? Led by Konoha, these nobles printed endless money, collapsing our economy—a bowl of noodles costs a thousand today, ten thousand tomorrow!"
The Fourth Tsuchikage, Kurotsuchi, dressed in red, spoke passionately outside the Tsuchikage Tower.
"These greedy parasites stuff their pockets with wealth, leaving nothing for the commoners…"
The chaos affected Iwagakure too, though they had prepared by storing supplies.
Crowds of ninjas and civilians listened with grim faces.
Kurotsuchi, clutching a red book—My Struggle—railed against the greed of the elite.
"This world is sick! Konoha injected a poison into the Shinobi World, concentrating wealth among the lords and nobles, while commoners can't even afford bread…"
"You're all ninjas or merchants from other countries, but why is the Shinobi World like this? Commoners can't live in peace, merchants go bankrupt, and only the nobles thrive… It's all the Hokage's fault! He colluded with the lords, orchestrating this disaster to concentrate wealth in their hands!"
As Kurotsuchi spoke passionately, the crowd shouted in anger.
"To hell with Konoha! To hell with the nobles! To hell with the lords!"
"Yeah, these man-eating demons!"
"What destiny's child? He's just a devil letting the rich live in luxury! We don't need his salvation!"
"We want food! We want bread!"
Anger erupted in Iwagakure, and this sentiment spread like a virus throughout the Shinobi World.
The lords and nobles, not wanting to be blamed, secretly encouraged this rage, pinning all the blame on Naruto.
The Shinobi World was in chaos; internal wars and riots broke out across countries.
On a mountain above Iwagakure, Shioru watched the events unfold with a calm gaze.
"Those who bring disaster upon themselves cannot escape it. Naruto trusted a fox's advice without consulting anyone else."
Beside him, Black Zetsu nodded enthusiastically.
"Father, Naruto and Hagoromo are the same. Back then, Hagoromo trusted a toad and outsiders, but not mother."
Black Zetsu spoke excitedly—no one could have guessed that Naruto himself had created this disaster, paving the way for the true Will of Fire to ignite.