Time flew by.
The afternoon slipped away.
Reluctantly, Shimura Danzo left the tulip exchange. It was almost time to meet up with Sarutobi Hiruzen.
"Danzo, how did it go this afternoon?"
"I went to three or four shops in a row and finally closed one deal."
Hiruzen asked about his progress, but Danzo had spent the whole afternoon chatting with speculators at the exchange, so he fobbed him off.
"Don't get me started. Nothing but profiteers. I'll try again tomorrow."
Hiruzen had no reason to doubt him. He had run into profiteers too and had only just managed to secure one decent price. Danzo's bad luck sounded plausible.
"Let's call it a day. Dinner first, then a good rest. We continue tomorrow."
Unlike Danzo, who had been sitting in a hall drinking free tea and bragging with traders, Hiruzen had been on the move all afternoon. He was parched and exhausted.
"Mm."
Danzo nodded, quietly relieved that he had kept Hiruzen in the dark.
They returned to the same restaurant as at noon and, as usual, ordered two bowls of miso soup to soothe their throats.
"Miso soup is really good."
Hiruzen took a big gulp the moment the bowl hit the table. Raising his head, he noticed Danzo staring absentmindedly at his spoon rather than drinking.
"Danzo, why aren't you drinking?"
"It's too hot. I'll let it cool."
Danzo snapped out of it. His body was in the restaurant, but his heart was still in the tulip exchange. As for miso soup, he had drunk tea all afternoon and wasn't thirsty at all.
The dishes arrived. Hiruzen dug in like at noon, while Danzo put his chopsticks down after a few bites. Hiruzen tried to chat a few times, but Danzo brushed him off. Hiruzen figured Danzo was upset about coming up empty in the afternoon.
"Danzo must be discouraged. Well, I did a bit better than he did. I'll teach him some bargaining tricks tonight."
Danzo, meanwhile, kept wondering whether tulips would soar tomorrow. If they did, he could slap Hiruzen in the face with it.
In that muted atmosphere, the two of them, each with their own thoughts, finished dinner.
Back at their lodgings, Hiruzen tried to break the silence and pass on a few haggling tips, but Danzo refused in the weary tone of a middle-aged man home from a long day's work.
"Hiruzen, I'm exhausted. Tomorrow."
"All right."
Hiruzen nodded. They turned in for the night.
Hiruzen was out like a light and soon snoring. He really had worked all day. Danzo tossed and turned, unable to sleep, still hung up on the tulips. It was a one million ryō investment.
After a long while, he drifted into a hazy dream. In the first dream he lost everything, and Senju Tobirama discovered it. He jolted awake in fright, calmed himself, and dozed off again. In the second dream he made a fortune, Tobirama praised him and took him as a disciple, and eventually even…
Morning came quickly.
Refreshed, Hiruzen nudged the still-dreaming Danzo.
"Danzo, wake up."
"Enough, Hiruzen. I am the Hokage."
"What Hokage? Wake up."
Danzo opened his eyes and saw Hiruzen urging him up. Clarity returned, and a pang of loss followed. So it had only been a dream.
"Breakfast first. Then we split up like yesterday."
Hiruzen planned to pass on some bargaining tips over breakfast. Danzo nodded, and they headed to a breakfast shop.
"About haggling. First, slash the price in half. After a few rounds, pretend to walk away. Count to three in your head and the owner will stop you."
"What if he doesn't?"
"Then switch shops. That one's a profiteer."
Hiruzen spoke earnestly. Danzo let it go in one ear and out the other. He was dying to get to the tulip exchange to see today's price.
After breakfast, the moment Hiruzen walked off, Danzo looped around a couple of streets and hurried to the market he couldn't stop thinking about.
The tulip exchange was buzzing.
It felt even more crowded than yesterday. Danzo headed straight for the same room as before. Today's prices were being updated.
The moment he entered, a bold number leapt out at him.
A surge.
Up thirty percent.
"I made three hundred thousand ryō overnight?"
Joy spilled across Danzo's face. The fear and worry of the long night finally eased.
The room filled and the chatter swelled again. Danzo ran into the new friends he had made yesterday. They sat together, sipping tea and talking shop.
"Knew it would rise again."
"Rumor says a big group of wealthy merchants from the Land of Earth just arrived. You newcomers picked the right wave."
"Why didn't you share that tip with me? I would have added to my position yesterday."
"Tips cost money. I paid for it."
Beaming, Danzo soaked up every scrap of tulip news.
"Hey, newbie. Danzo, right? How much did you make?"
"Not bad. Three hundred thousand."
"Three hundred thousand and you're that happy? Everyone here starts at a million. Ten million is common. Some have cleared a hundred million. The bold ones who go all-in have made over a billion, even tens of billions."
Danzo drew a sharp breath. He didn't even know what they meant by all-in, but those figures were terrifying.
"Brother, what does all-in mean?"
"You don't even know that? Total newbie."
"Going all-in is a kind of wisdom."
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