“So what we really need to target is The source market—in other words, the tulip growers!”
“That is the key objective of this operation, and the secret to making the big money.”
“But…
Lord Makoto, tulips take far too long to grow, and their cultivation requirements are demanding.
If we want to grow them on a large scale, we’d need enormous resources…
That won’t be easy.”
Uchiha Makoto smiled.
He had never intended to make money by growing tulips himself.
That method was simply too slow, and the production cycle was far too long.
It could take several years.
By the time a new batch of tulips was ready, the fashionable obsession among the nobles of the Land of Fire might have changed several times over.
By then, it would be far too late.
It would be like trying to catch the wave after the opportunity had already passed.
Obviously, he wasn’t stupid enough to use such a method.
“We don’t need to grow tulips ourselves.
We only need to sign contracts with the tulip growers, agreeing in advance on the purchase price for their next harvest.”
“No matter what the market price of tulips is when the time comes, we’ll purchase them at the price specified in the contract.
We can even pay them a deposit in advance as a guarantee.”
“That way…
we’ll have a large number of tulip purchase contracts in our hands.”
“And what we’ll actually be selling is…
future tulips!”
As Uchiha Makoto spoke, Kazuma immediately grasped his meaning.
He excitedly jumped to his feet and shouted:
“Oh~!
I get it…
I get it!”
“Lord Makoto, you mean that once the tulip market takes off, countless people in the Land of Fire will rush into it.
But tulips are scarce…”
“At that point, we’ll simply take out our tulip contracts.
There will definitely be people willing to pay a premium to buy the contracts we’ve signed with the growers!”
“And then we can completely transform the tulip market from a market for trading tulips into a market for trading tulip contracts!”
“We don’t even need to grow tulips ourselves!”
“We just sell the contracts!”
“Hahahaha…”
Kazuma danced around excitedly, wearing an utterly devious grin.
“Exactly, exactly…
that’s precisely what I mean.”
“Hahaha…
By then, we could even work together with the daimyō to forge fake contracts!”
“Those people whose heads have already been clouded by greed won’t care about that anyway!”
Kazuma had even learned to extrapolate from the idea.
He had already thought of forging contracts.
It might not be legal…
But making money?
Nothing to be ashamed of.
That’s right!
Once the trading of any commodity becomes detached from the underlying physical goods and turns into pure speculation, things can become incredibly insane.
It was obviously just a piece of paper.
Yet by passing it from one person’s hands to another, someone could make one, two, three, or even several times its value.
Anyone could become lost in such rapid profits.
By this point, the people blinded by greed had lost the ability to think rationally.
They wouldn’t bother visiting the growers themselves or verifying whether the contracts were genuine.
They would simply buy, buy, buy, then sell, sell, sell.
They would always assume that someone else would take over the contract.
Until the bubble burst…
And they became the final bagholders.
Therefore, if the daimyō helped behind the scenes, mixing forged contracts among the genuine ones wasn’t necessarily impossible.
After all, once the party was over and the bubble burst, those contracts would be worth no more than scraps of paper.
And surely no one would actually bring one of those contracts to Makoto’s shinobi village to demand delivery…
If they did…
Then Makoto would have no choice but to resort to lethal measures.
“Hahaha!
Kazuma, I knew it was you!”
“You actually managed to think of such a devious method!”
Looking at the utterly devious Kazuma, Uchiha Makoto wore an extremely satisfied expression.
Kazuma really was a fine subordinate.
He had what it took to shoulder major responsibilities!
Makoto could already envision the future of his shinobi village.
It would be overflowing with talent!
Everywhere would be filled with vitality, with everything competing to flourish.
On the very day Uchiha Makoto made up his mind to inflate the tulip bubble in the shinobi world, he sent Kazuma, accompanied by Darkness, to the capital of the Land of Fire as his envoy.
As for why he didn’t have Kazuma bring Aqua and Megumin along…
Well, those who understood, understood.
If those two walking disasters went along, who knew what kind of chaos they would cause?
Uchiha Makoto himself remained at the shinobi village headquarters.
He had more important matters to deal with.
For example, recruiting shinobi clans.
That was currently one of his top priorities.
Unfortunately, the process wasn’t going smoothly.
Among the shinobi community…
The Uchiha clan and Senju clan were unquestionably the most sought-after families.
The thousand-year blood feud between the two clans was common knowledge among shinobi.
Now that these two clans had suddenly made peace, formed an alliance, and established a shinobi village together, every shinobi clan, large and small, was paying extremely close attention.
Clan alliances weren’t particularly unusual in the shinobi world.
Take the famous Ino–Shika–Chō trio, for example.
Not only that, the three clans had their younger generations grow up together from childhood, allowing them to develop bonds and coordination.
They even arranged for members of all three clans to undertake missions together.
But that was as far as it went.
The concept of the shinobi village promoted by Senju Hashirama was far broader than a mere clan alliance.
It could only be described as ambitious.
Having shinobi clans continue to exist under the banner of shinobi villages had obvious advantages.
The clans’ ability to withstand crises would increase dramatically.
After all, there were plenty of minor clans in the shinobi world consisting of only a dozen or so people.
A single shinobi war could leave a clan with too few young members to carry on the bloodline, sending the clan into a vicious cycle of decline.
Eventually, the clan would completely wither away.
Of course, there were disadvantages as well.
Shinobi were renowned for their discipline and obedience to orders.
Once a clan joined a shinobi village, its members would have to confront an important question:
Did they obey the clan head?
Or did they obey the village leader?
Joining someone else’s shinobi village meant that a clan had to make necessary compromises.
It would inevitably lose some degree of autonomy.
Furthermore, during the Warring States Era, the various shinobi clans had been competitors for missions.
When it came to securing lucrative contracts, they could fight until blood was spilled.
As time accumulated, old grudges and new grudges piled up.
Who didn’t have a few enemies?
And the longer a clan had existed, the more enemies it was likely to have.
Living under the same roof in a shinobi village as people who had once been mortal enemies…
It was difficult not to sharpen your blade in the dead of night.
Now that Senju Hashirama had been the first to propose the concept of shinobi villages, countless clans had begun to take notice.
Among them were some particularly perceptive clans that had already sensed the changing times.
It seemed that trying to survive in the shinobi world as an isolated clan was no longer viable.
They had to unite as much as possible.
After all, when making one’s way in the world, connections and power mattered.
These two colossal clans had already joined forces.
Could their own clans really continue surviving independently in the shinobi world?
“You can fight?”
“So what if you can fight?!”
“Can you really fight harder than the Uchiha clan and Senju clan?”
“And now they’ve joined forces!”
Although the shinobi clans of this era were notorious for being conservative and stubborn, when the survival of the clan itself was at stake, they could become remarkably flexible.
Pragmatism was something they couldn’t afford to ignore.
The era of shinobi villages had officially begun.
The powerful major clans were ambitious.
They wanted to follow the example of the Senju and Uchiha clans by establishing shinobi villages of their own and securing an advantageous position in the coming era.
The smaller clans lacked the strength to establish shinobi villages.
So they waited for the right offer.
First, they needed to sell themselves at a good price and find their clans a promising future.
…..
“Rejected again!”
“Hyūga clan, just you wait!”
“Ino–Shika–Chō, you three just wait too!”
“Sarutobi clan, Shimura clan, Mito clan, and Uchiha…”
“The Konoha’s leadership , is it?”
“Just you wait too!!”
“…”
Uchiha Makoto’s recruitment campaign was currently going extremely poorly.
He had adopted an attitude of might as well try and sent invitations to every shinobi clan he was familiar with, inviting them to join his shinobi village.
To make the village sound a little more impressive, Uchiha Makoto had even given it a pleasant name—
Akatsuki.
Akatsuki carried a wonderful meaning.
It represented the dawn of a new day.
The mission of Akatsuki was to unite the shinobi clans and ultimately achieve peace in the shinobi world!
Although all of this had been shamelessly borrowed, remixed, and repurposed from other sources, there was no denying that Uchiha Makoto was genuinely serious about selling his grand vision.
For the sake of peace in the shinobi world—
Join Akatsuki!
Unfortunately…
The shinobi clans were very pragmatic.
When they first heard Uchiha Makoto’s name, they had been extremely enthusiastic.
Uchiha clan?
Could it be that this was a shinobi village established by the Uchiha and Senju clans, and that they had specifically sent someone to invite their clan to join?
Then they absolutely had to seize the opportunity!
They had to join the shinobi village family as soon as possible and contribute to peace in the shinobi world!
As another clan famous for its dōjutsu—
Yes, the Byakugan clan.
The Hyūga clan even immediately sent someone to Akatsuki for an on-site inspection.
But…
After investigating the situation…
They discovered that Uchiha Makoto had long since separated himself from the Uchiha clan and had chosen to establish his shinobi village independently.
“Uchiha Makoto, aren’t you misleading people?”
“I admit that your strength is impressive.
Even three or five jōnin working together might not necessarily be able to defeat you.”
“But…
the number of jōnin at that level that our Hyūga clan possesses could simply have a zero added to the end.”
The Hyūga shinobi thought this to himself before decisively rejecting Uchiha Makoto’s invitation.
“Leader Makoto, our Hyūga clan sincerely appreciates your goodwill.
As for the matter of our clan joining your shinobi village, we’ll need to consider it for a while longer.”
His attitude was still extremely polite.
At the very least, he had displayed the proper bearing expected of a kekkei-genkai clan.
The meaning behind that rejection was obvious.
If the deal couldn’t be made, there was no need to ruin the relationship.
Everyone could leave the other side with some dignity.
Although Uchiha Makoto was extremely annoyed by how pragmatic the Hyūga clan was, he only cursed them privately for the sake of venting.
Deep down, he could understand them.
Even if you were going to work yourself like a beast in a factory, you’d still have to consider the working conditions.
How much was the hourly wage?
Were there benefits?
Did you get two days off a week?
Did working holidays pay triple?
Of course, if you actually went to the factory to work like a beast, you probably wouldn’t get any of those things.
But you could choose not to go.
The Hyūga clan was the same.
Deciding which shinobi village the Hyūga clan should settle in concerned the clan’s future for the next century.
How could they possibly make such a decision casually?
They had to find a shinobi village whose strength and benefits matched the Hyūga clan’s status.
As for the idea that love alone could sustain you…
That was probably something best reserved for dreams.
“Hmph!
The wheel of fortune, thirty years west of the river.
Never underestimate someone’s potential!”
“Today you ignore me.
Tomorrow, you’ll be begging for the chance to associate with me!”
Uchiha Makoto sat in his chair without saying a word, his brows furrowed and his expression frighteningly dark.
He was extremely irritated right now.
Not only because recruiting shinobi clans wasn’t going smoothly…
All right.
It was completely because recruiting shinobi clans wasn’t going smoothly.
After being repeatedly rejected by major clans, Uchiha Makoto had finally begun to recognize the cruel reality.
Akatsuki was still far too weak.
It simply couldn’t attract clans possessing secret techniques or kekkei genkai.
So he lowered his sights and began targeting some of the obscure minor clans scattered throughout the shinobi world.
In fact, these small shinobi clans were the true majority of the shinobi world.
The major families possessing secret techniques and kekkei genkai were ultimately only a minority.
But who didn’t have dreams?
It was simply that Uchiha Makoto’s dreams had temporarily been shattered.
Some minor clans showed considerable interest in Akatsuki.
Some had already begun sending people to establish a presence in the village.
If their clans joined a major shinobi village, they wouldn’t amount to much there.
But in a village like Akatsuki…
They could become the backbone of the entire village.
Better to be a big fish in a small pond!
But…
There were also some minor clans that infuriated Uchiha Makoto to no end.
These were families that could barely scrape together one or two jōnin.
Yet even such tiny clans looked down on him.
Rejecting him would have been one thing.
But they had even mocked him!
“Your Akatsuki village thinks it can talk about peace in the shinobi world?
What makes you think you can—”
Uchiha Makoto could wipe them all out by himself!
He genuinely wanted to charge into the homes of those obstinate minor clans alone and kill them all.
But…
He restrained himself.
At this critical juncture, if he became enraged after being rejected for recruitment and simply ran into someone else’s home to massacre them…
Once that reputation spread, he would have no place left in the shinobi world.
He’d better endure it for now.
There would always be opportunities to settle accounts later.
Uchiha Makoto had already written down the names of those minor clans that had mocked him in his diary.
“Ah…
building a new venture is difficult.”
“If only I had money…”
“Then I could simply throw money at them.
Throw it hard enough to make their heads spin.”
“I’d offer fifty billion ryō in relocation and settlement fees!”
Uchiha Makoto sighed as he imagined what things would be like once he had money.
In terms of strength, his Akatsuki village definitely couldn’t compete with Konoha.
It couldn’t attract those major shinobi clans.
But if he had money…
Things would be different.
He could literally buy his way into attracting major clans.
After all, why did major clans go to great shinobi villages like Konoha?
For a better life.
For a larger share of missions.
Which, when you boiled it down, ultimately meant…
Money.
“By my calculation, Kazuma and the others should have reached the capital of the Land of Fire by now…”
“I hope everything goes smoothly.”
“Once I fleece this batch of investors…”
“So many problems will become easy to solve.”
“Any problem that can be solved with money isn’t a problem!”
Uchiha Makoto muttered to himself.
He then stood up from his chair and stretched before glancing toward Aqua.
She was nodding off.