Kazuma's eyes shone with something dangerous.
"That… that was a good story."
For once, he wasn't being sarcastic, nor perverted, nor the usual lazy schemer who always tried to cut corners. No—this time his face was flushed with excitement, as if Makoto had just handed him the keys to a brand new world.
A brand new door had opened in his mind.
It wasn't the door to justice. It wasn't the door to honor. It wasn't even the door to survival.
It was the glittering golden door of money.
Uchiha Makoto smirked. Good. He's finally getting it.
---
The Tulip Spark
Kazuma replayed Makoto's short story in his head—the tale of the Daimyo spending a fortune on a single tulip, of a minor official cleverly using that act to spark a craze, and of nobles falling over themselves to imitate the Daimyo's refined tastes.
The implications were obvious.
If that story spread across the Land of Fire, it wouldn't just be gossip. It would be gasoline tossed onto the tiny flame of tulip curiosity that already existed among nobles. Overnight, tulips would transform from a niche hobby into the hottest commodity in the noble world.
Kazuma's breathing grew quick. "If… if tulips spread across the entire Land of Fire, then nobles would be desperate to outdo one another! 'Oh, you only have ten tulips? Well, I filled an entire garden with them!'—it'll be chaos!"
Makoto's smirk widened. "Exactly."
Kazuma's imagination went wild. He pictured nobles bankrupting themselves over a single flower. He pictured wagons of gold flowing into their hands. He pictured himself… swimming in riches.
The more he thought about it, the more his heart raced.
"This… this could work. We only need to stock up now, buy tulips at their current price, and when demand explodes, we'll sell them back for two, three, even ten times the profit! Right, Lord Makoto?!"
---
Too Small
Makoto shook his head slowly, like a teacher disappointed in his brightest yet still short-sighted student.
"Kazuma, your vision is too small."
Kazuma froze. "Too small? But… this is a guaranteed profit! Buy cheap, sell high, and—"
Makoto cut him off with a flick of his hand. "That's child's play. Anyone can do it. Even a dog could do it."
Kazuma's mouth twitched. He wasn't sure if he should feel insulted or enlightened.
"Think, Kazuma. Tulips are rare. Even if we inflate the market price ten times over, there are only so many tulips in existence. The total quantity is fixed. With such a limited supply, the maximum profit is capped. A clever player never plays a game where the ceiling is so low."
Kazuma scratched his head, still buzzing with excitement but also confused. "So… we can't rely on just buying and selling tulips?"
"Exactly." Makoto's eyes gleamed. "That's not enough. We're not aiming to make small money. We're aiming for big money. Legendary money. Money that echoes through the annals of Ninja World history."
Kazuma gulped.
Makoto leaned forward, his tone dropping low, like a conspirator sharing forbidden knowledge. "The real target is not the tulips themselves… it's the tulip growers."
---
Contracts, Not Flowers
Kazuma blinked. "Growers? You mean… we'll grow tulips ourselves? But that takes years, and—"
Makoto chuckled darkly. "Of course not. I don't plan on touching a single shovel of dirt."
He raised one hand, tracing shapes in the air as if sketching out a grand blueprint only he could see.
"What we'll do is simple: we sign contracts with every flower farmer who grows tulips. We'll agree to buy their next batch of tulips at a fixed price, no matter what the market looks like. We'll even give them deposits, so they'll happily agree. Once that's done…"
Makoto's Sharingan eyes seemed to glimmer with dollar signs.
"…we won't be selling tulips anymore. We'll be selling future tulips."
For a moment Kazuma didn't get it. Then his jaw dropped.
"Oh. My. God."
He jumped to his feet like he'd been struck by lightning. "I get it! I get it now! We won't even need flowers—we'll sell the contracts themselves! When tulip mania hits, nobles will fight tooth and nail to buy these contracts. It won't matter if they ever see a flower. They'll just trade the paper back and forth for more and more money!"
He burst into manic laughter. "It's genius! Absolutely genius! Even better than buying tulips directly!"
Makoto smirked, his arms folded. Exactly as planned.
---
The Madness of Paper
Kazuma's face twisted into something dark and greedy, a smile so sinister it could frighten children.
"Ha… hahaha! And when the market gets heated enough, no one will care if the contracts are real or not! They'll just keep buying and selling, convinced someone else will pay more later. We can even mix in fake contracts—what difference does it make?!"
Makoto arched an eyebrow. "Oh? You've already leapt ahead that far?"
Kazuma nodded furiously, eyes shining with the fervor of a gambler. "Yes! Yes, exactly! Once greed takes over, they won't investigate. They won't check with farmers. They won't care about authenticity. They'll just scream, 'Buy! Buy! Buy!' until they collapse."
He waved his hands wildly, as if conducting an orchestra of stupidity. "And when the bubble bursts, when everything crashes back to reality… those contracts won't be worth more than toilet paper. But by then, we'll already be swimming in wealth!"
Makoto couldn't help but laugh. A deep, satisfied laugh. "Hahaha! Kazuma, you really are my kind of person."
---
Greed Is the Same Everywhere
Makoto leaned back, folding his hands behind his head.
"Greed is universal. Whether it's nobles on Blue Star, the Celestial Dragons, or ninja lords here in this world—it doesn't change. The moment they smell profit, they'll charge forward like headless chickens. It's human nature. They'll destroy themselves, and all we need to do is sit back and harvest."
Kazuma nodded furiously, like a disciple receiving enlightenment from his master.
The irony wasn't lost on Makoto: here they were, in a war-torn world of bloodline clans, chakra beasts, and godlike ninjas… and what was going to bring nobles to their knees?
Not a Sharingan.
Not a Rasengan.
Not even the Nine-Tails.
But a flower.
A stupid, overpriced flower.
---
Future Glimpses
Makoto closed his eyes for a moment, already imagining the future.
His ninja village wouldn't just survive—it would thrive. Money would flood in. Streets would be paved with prosperity. Shops bustling, taverns overflowing, and shinobi training without worrying about where their next meal came from.
Yes. His village would rise. And it would rise not by war, not by bloodshed… but by finance.
Makoto opened his eyes, smiling. "Kazuma, soon this village will be overflowing with talent. We'll be the beating heart of a financial storm that sweeps across the Ninja World."
Kazuma swallowed hard, his face pale yet thrilled. "Lord Makoto… you're terrifying. But in the best way possible."
Makoto chuckled. "Making money isn't shameful. Remember that."
Kazuma nodded slowly, then broke into a grin. "Making money isn't shameful… hahahaha! You're right! You're absolutely right!"
The two conspirators laughed together, the sound echoing across the night like the sinister duet of a devil and his eager apprentice.
And somewhere, far away, tulips swayed innocently in the wind, unaware they were about to become the most dangerous weapon in the Ninja World.