"Indeed. Both boys don't have many ties that bind them to the village. Sadly I haven't been able to really remedy that fact until they graduated from the academy. Now that they are ninja, I can correct the bad influence the civilian council had on them. I only hope that it isn't too late already. That's Kakashi's main task for now. But if I want Kakashi to take over for me once he is ready and his team has been promoted, I need to clean up the current mess as much as possible. Otherwise things wouldn't really change and from Jiraiya's reports I know that things will get troubling sooner than I like." The Hokage said.
Danzo had to agree. He knew from his own spies that there was a mercenary group that took many high class missions for some of the other villages. They consisted of S-rank missing nins, but their goals were unknown so far. Then there was the new village Oto. He hadn't been able to find out much about it. And he had somewhat lost sight of Orochimaru after he had finished the surgery he had hired him for on his arm. Thankfully Hiruzen didn't seem to know about the sharingans he had implanted in his eye and his arm. That wouldn't be tolerated in any way.
"So how do you want me to do this?" Danzo asked.
"I will go through the laws that were passed myself with a few shadow clones over the next few days. I want you to send me two of your ROOT agents that are skilled in administration. One will replace the current secretary and one will go through the jungle of paperwork that is put on my desk each day. I only want him to sort it in categories that make the most sense. Before we can confront the ones responsible, we need to know the whole picture. I want three of your agents to go through the decrees that have been passed since Minato's death. They are to write them down chronologically. I will go through them as soon as they are done. Five of your agents are to inspect the way business is done in the village without being seen.
"I have the suspicion that many businessmen are evading taxes. That and that they demand more taxes than what is legal. I know I have been too passive the past years, but I intend to rectify at least some of my mistakes before I let Kakashi take over. If everything goes well, I will announce him as my successor during the final round of the chunin exams in six months. Normally he should get his team ready to take them in the six months he has. The only shaky candidate is Sakura. I don't know if she will persevere in her choice of career. Kakashi has orders to put his team through the grinder." The Hokage said.
"That is a sound plan. In six months of constant training he should also be back to his past strength and perhaps have got to S-rank level. If I remember right, he was close when he quit ANBU. I will send my agents for the tower in one hour, Hiruzen, and send the ones for the village out as well. How do you want to organize the reporting?" Danzo asked.
"I want your agents to report back to me in three days. They should have a first impression by then. I guess we will need two or three weeks to get all the documents checked." The Hokage sighed.
Danzo nodded. It was good to see that the God of Shinobi intended to go out with a last major strike.
Team seven stood in the mission office to get their first mission. Sakura was relieved to get a mission for a change. A mission meant that she wouldn't have to go through what she had dubbed 'Kakashi's training from hell'. She had been sore every day of last week after training. The weekend had been training free for them, but Kakashi had given them homework. Thankfully it was all theory, but it would be tested during this week's training hours.
She had to spend five hours reading up and practising hand signals that were used by the Konoha military forces. These signals would be part of their teamwork exercises. And of course she had to practise a new chakra control exercise. Sticking five leafs to her arms. She had known how to do it with one leaf since the academy, but now Kakashi had told them they had to stick fives leafs to their arms and keep them there two hours without losing them once. She had hated the exercise. She always lost control and had to start new. Why would it help them to be able to do that exercise?
And she also hadn't had much time taking care of her body to impress Sasuke. Her hair was messier than ever before, her skin was losing some of its shine and she got calluses on her hands. How should she ever get Sasuke this way? More, she couldn't stop herself from eating all the food Kakashi gave them, even if it was way too fat. She had tried to only eat a bit of it, but her stomach was betraying her. Her mother had promised her to take care of her lunchboxes from this week on. She would make sure she ate low fat.
The three genin listened to the Hokage when he told Kakashi the available missions. Sakura was glad. Most of those missions didn't sound that bad. Babysitting for the Minister, weeding a garden for a council member, yes she could do that.
"We take cleaning out the field of Mr Takashima, Hokage Sama." Kakashi decided.
Sakura wanted to cry. That was another hard exercise. And it was a bit outside of the village. Mr Takashima had just started a farm two miles outside of Konoha. There would be no chance to rest and flirt with Sasuke from what she could tell. And she was sure Kakashi would make the way there another exercise.