Considering this is a clan relocating as a whole—with carts, horses, and plenty of luggage—and there are women and children to look after, a round trip will surely take a lot of time. So, after only a brief rest in the village for a few days, Sarutobi Sasuke and Shimura Shima planned to set out with Sarutobi Hiruzen and Shimura Danzo.
Sarutobi Hiruzen and Shimura Danzo left Konoha with great reluctance.
During that short rest, even the occasional, idle pointers from Senju Tobirama were hugely beneficial to the two of them.
Now both boys were eager to do something that would make Senju Tobirama look at them in a new light, and to become his official disciples as soon as possible.
At the village gate—
"Hiruzen, which of us do you think will become Lord Tobirama's disciple first?"
Shimura Danzo glanced at the village in the distance, his tone laced with provocation. Although he and Sarutobi Hiruzen were about the same age and had gotten along well over the past few days, still—
When facing someone of similar strength like Sarutobi Hiruzen, perhaps out of youthful pride, perhaps out of fate, Danzo always wanted to come out on top.
At meals and when running, they had to compare who ate more, who ran faster, who lasted longer—even when relieving themselves, they compared who could pee farther.
As for sparring during training—needless to say.
"Obviously me!"
Sarutobi Hiruzen answered with full confidence, refusing to give an inch to Shimura Danzo.
"Hmph, all talk."
Shimura Danzo curled his lip and shot back without hesitation.
The air instantly crackled with tension.
"Enough, quit yapping, you two brats!"
"Time to move!"
Sarutobi Sasuke suddenly cut off their bickering. The two boys had no choice but to drop it, though they were still burning inside. They exchanged a look, then strode forward and set off on the road.
…
Capital of the Land of Fire.
"Make way—I'm buying one hundred tulip bulbs today!"
"Don't shove!"
"Get in line!"
At the entrance of a tulip shop in the capital, the line already stretched a long way.
People had been queueing since the early hours before dawn, and even so they could not take the very front spots—because some had lined up at the shop door the night before.
This scene wasn't unique to the capital.
Other tulip shops throughout the Land of Fire were the same.
As for the cause of this frenzy—
Naturally, it was Uchiha Makoto who had inflated a tulip bubble.
To be honest, Uchiha Makoto had underestimated the influence of the Daimyo, and even more so the vanity of the Land of Fire's nobility. They truly had money to burn, and would spend lavishly on tulips for the sake of appearances.
Any noble who could fill a whole house with tulips would instantly become the center of any ball and win the favor of the young, beautiful ladies there. They all wanted to see what a houseful of tulips looked like, to take pictures and boast that they were tasteful, high-class ladies of good breeding.
If it was a rare, exotic tulip, all the better. Even the Daimyo would invite you to bring it along so he could appreciate the art with you.
And what noble didn't want to forge a connection with the Daimyo?
At present, the tulip market was like a powder keg that Uchiha Makoto had lit.
As the real operator behind the scenes, Kazuma quietly pushed the price of tulips higher. The process went more smoothly than he had imagined, to the point that it hardly required any capital at all.
Where there's profit to be made, money naturally flows in.
The nobles were willing to throw around fortunes for the sake of face and to win the Daimyo's favor.
Seeing this, the great merchants of the Land of Fire had their eyes light up like sharks scenting blood. They took out their funds and began going long on tulips—bayonets fixed, ready to charge.
A massive flood of money poured into the tulip market all at once.
Daimyo's palace.
"Your Highness, you're here."
With eyes sparkling like gold coins, Kazuma worked the abacus and tallied the past two days' earnings in the ledger. Looking up, he saw the Daimyo step into the room.
"Mmm."
The Daimyo nodded and sat down on a sofa.
He had come today to find out how the plan was progressing—or, to be precise, how much money they had made so far.
"Your Highness, things are going far better than we expected."
"The nobles are even richer than I thought."
Kazuma stood, a delighted smile on his face.
The tulip market was red hot, prices were surging, and they had sold only one-third of their inventory—yet they had already earned nearly 1.3 billion ryō.
Terrifying profits.
"That much?"
The Daimyo's expression turned to surprise.
It was even more than he had imagined.
"Looks like those bastards really are loaded."
"Last year there were floods in the north of the Land of Fire. We asked them to donate, and every one of them cried poor."
"Vermin."
The Daimyo couldn't help recalling last year's flooding. Even though the Land of Fire occupied the best territory in the entire shinobi world, it still had to face the natural disasters common to agricultural nations.
Floods, droughts.
With the addition of natural energy in this world, floods were even more ferocious.
When faced with surging floodwaters, even a whole group of Earth Release ninja were useless. Raise an Earth Flow Wall and it would be smashed apart in less than half a day.
In the face of natural disasters, ninja were as powerless as ordinary people. Of course, someone like Senju Hashirama didn't count—could he even be called human?
"The contracts with the flower growers are all signed, yes?"
The Daimyo couldn't help bringing up the second half of the plan. The money earned so far was just an appetizer; the real feast lay ahead.
Tens of billions of ryō—is that much?
Well, it's a lot.
But still not enough to justify all the effort the Daimyo had poured into planning this. For the sake of the tulip scheme, he had been making constant public appearances, repeatedly displaying his love for tulips.
He had already hosted five or six banquets just "for the vinegar that accompanies the dumplings"—for the tulips.
This time, they had to strike it rich.
Bleed those parasites dry.
"Rest assured, Your Highness. Everything is ready."
"The price of tulips is still climbing. It's not just the nobles anymore; the big merchants have joined in too. We're nowhere near the top. Please look at this price analysis chart—when we approach the peak, that's when we make our move."
Kazuma smiled as he spoke.
With the Daimyo's resources behind them, they had practically taken control of tulip pricing, supply, and capital inflows. Add in professional analysts to chart the market based on that data, and everything was in the palm of their hand.
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