“Exactly!
Exactly!”
“Broke shinobi should stay out of this!”
While Danzō was still hesitating, the people waiting behind him had already begun impatiently urging him on.
Mocking remarks came at him from all sides.
For a moment, Danzō was completely at a loss.
In his mind, Sarutobi Hiruzen’s lecturing face appeared again.
“Danzō, you simply don’t have what it takes to get involved in the tulip business!”
“I…
I…
Who says I don’t have the money?!”
“One million ryō.
I’ll buy it!”
“The deal is already done?”
“I really just spent one million ryō in a single go?”
Shimura Danzō paid one million ryō for the tulips in a daze.
Only after the transaction was completed and the trader took him to the warehouse to collect his purchase did he finally come to his senses.
He had really spent one million ryō on a pile of tulips!
One million ryō!
But it was already too late to regret it.
The money had changed hands and the goods had been purchased.
A refund was hardly realistic.
Besides…
Danzō couldn’t afford to lose face.
“Shinobi, these are the tulips you purchased!”
“They’re all premium specimens in full bloom!”
The trader enthusiastically introduced the tulips before him.
Danzō looked at the flowers and had to admit that they really were beautiful.
But…
One million ryō for a pile of flowers was still…
He really had acted on impulse!
At this moment, Danzō was nothing more than a novice who had just stepped into the world of speculation.
He was nervous, frightened, and excited all at once.
In short, it was an emotional state that couldn’t be explained to outsiders.
Only someone who had experienced it could truly understand.
“Shinobi, are you planning to have all these tulips transported home?”
“If you’re staying nearby, we can deliver them for free.
But if you’re going somewhere farther away, tulips are extremely delicate, so you’ll need to hire professionals to transport them.”
“The trading house also has professional staff available to serve you…”
“And if you’d like to store your flowers here for a while, the trading house also provides storage and custodial services.”
“The price is a little expensive, but it’s absolutely worth it.”
“If any tulips are damaged during storage, we’ll compensate you according to their full value!”
The trader adhered to the principle that the customer came first.
He thoughtfully went over every possible service with Danzō, providing what was practically flawless after-sales support.
That was precisely how their tulip trading house intended to capitalize on this opportunity and grow stronger.
“Hmm…
You people really have thought of everything.”
Danzō nodded.
He liked businesses with this kind of service.
Their customer service was excellent…
Unlike those swindlers he’d dealt with that morning!
Naturally, he had no intention of taking the tulips back with him.
There were far too many of them.
The lodging he shared with Sarutobi Hiruzen couldn’t possibly hold them all.
More importantly, Danzō absolutely did not want Hiruzen to find out.
This was his own private operation.
“I’ll leave them in storage here.”
“Understood, sir.”
The trader smiled.
Another customer speculating on tulips.
He had seen plenty of people like this already.
What he hadn’t expected was that shinobi had now gotten involved in the tulip business as well.
The trader then quoted Danzō the storage fee.
The number immediately made Danzō’s brow furrow.
Expensive.
Damn, that’s expensive!
But Danzō still obediently paid.
There was no turning back now.
He could only hope the tulips really would make him some money.
Even if it was only a few tens of thousands of ryō, that would be enough.
Once all the transactions were completed, Danzō immediately left the tulip trading house and intended to resume the day’s supply-purchasing mission.
However, he had barely walked out of the trading house when his heart began pounding uncontrollably.
An inexplicable sense of dread welled up inside him.
“Forget it.
The supply-purchasing mission can wait.”
“There’s no rush.
It’ll take at least a month to buy everything on the list anyway…
What’s one afternoon?”
“One million ryō!”
At this moment, Shimura Danzō had completely lost the will to continue the supply-purchasing mission.
His entire mind was occupied by the tulip trade.
He quickly convinced himself that there was nothing wrong with going back, turned around, and returned to the tulip market.
The market was just as lively as before.
People came and went, while the constant shouting and din of transactions filled the air, saturated with greed, anger, and delusion.
But the moment Shimura Danzō entered the place, his rapidly beating heart gradually slowed.
That inexplicable sense of dread also began to disappear.
He suddenly realized something.
He really loved this place.
The traders here were so pleasant to talk to.
Coming here felt almost like coming home!
“Shinobi, you’re back already?”
The trader who had served him earlier spotted Danzō wandering around the market and thoughtfully approached him.
An excellent salesman could never afford to let a potential source of profit slip away.
“Oh…
I didn’t have much to do this afternoon.”
“I just came by to take a look.”
Naturally, Danzō couldn’t tell the trader the truth.
The moment I leave the tulip market, my heart starts racing and I become anxious.
Only here can I actually relax.
“Oh~ I see.”
“Then why don’t you go sit in that room over there?”
“They provide free tea inside, and they also display the current market price of tulips.”
“This was jointly established by several major figures and a group of wealthy merchants.
They’ve already managed to update the prices once a day.”
“In the future, they might even update them twice a day…
or perhaps once every few hours.”
The trader immediately saw through Danzō’s thoughts.
He had encountered plenty of customers like this.
But rather than expose him, he thoughtfully recommended that Danzō sit in the room.
That way, Danzō could drink tea while watching the price movements.
“Mm…
yes…
Thank you for the advice.”
“You’re too kind, Shinobi.
If you want to buy tulips again next time, remember to ask for me first.”
Danzō nodded.
After all, this trader really was considerate.
He also hadn’t expected the tulip market’s services to be so thorough.
They could even provide daily updates on tulip prices.
As a shinobi, Danzō was extremely sensitive to information gathering.
He knew very well how difficult it was to collect and organize information of this sort.
Those major figures must have considerable influence!
Still, Danzō didn’t dwell on it.
He simply walked into the nearby room.
The moment he entered…
Danzō saw a huge blackboard.
Not only did it display the day’s tulip prices, but it also showed the recent price trend.
The graph was almost a steadily rising wave.
Not long ago, there had even been a massive price explosion—the price had doubled within a single day.
Afterward, it continued fluctuating upward at a steady pace.
Even when tulip prices experienced a brief decline, they almost always returned to their previous level the very next day.
“This market is so healthy.”
After analyzing everything, Shimura Danzō reached his conclusion.
The other people in the room noticed that a newcomer had arrived and began gathering around him.
A group of speculators gathered together.
There was nothing else to do besides analyze how wonderful the market was and brag about how much money they had made.
Before long, Danzō smoothly joined them.
He had only just entered the market.
He desperately needed a sense of security!
Time passed quickly.
An entire afternoon quietly slipped away.
Shimura Danzō reluctantly left the tulip trading market because it was almost time to meet up with Sarutobi Hiruzen.
“Danzō, how did things go this afternoon?”
“I ran to three or four different shops and finally managed to settle on one…”
Sarutobi Hiruzen asked Danzō about his afternoon.
But Danzō had spent the entire afternoon sitting in the tulip market, drinking tea and boasting with a group of speculators.
So he could only brush the question off.
“Hiruzen, don’t even ask.”
“All I ran into were a bunch of swindlers.”
“I’ll try again tomorrow.”
Danzō answered dismissively, wearing an irritated expression.
Hiruzen didn’t suspect anything.
After all, he had also encountered a group of swindlers and had only barely managed to negotiate an acceptable price with one shop.
It was understandable that Danzō had simply been unlucky.
“Then let’s call it a day.”
“Let’s go have dinner first and get a good night’s rest.
We have to continue tomorrow.”
Hiruzen spoke as he made the suggestion.
Unlike Danzō, who had spent the afternoon sitting in the tulip trading hall, drinking free tea and chatting with speculators, Hiruzen had actually spent the afternoon working.
He felt parched and utterly exhausted.
“Mm.”
Danzō nodded, secretly letting out a sigh of relief.
I finally managed to fool Hiruzen.
The two returned to the restaurant where they had eaten lunch. Get faster updates on novelping.com.
As usual, they first ordered two bowls of miso soup to soothe their throats.
“Miso soup really is delicious.”
The moment the miso soup was placed on the table, Sarutobi Hiruzen eagerly took a large gulp and sighed in satisfaction.
But when he raised his head…
He saw Shimura Danzō absentmindedly stirring the soup with his spoon.
Unlike Hiruzen, Danzō wasn’t drinking at all.
“Danzō, why aren’t you drinking your miso soup?”
“Oh…
oh…
I think it’s too hot.”
“I’ll let it cool down first.”
Danzō snapped back to reality.
His body was sitting in the restaurant, but his heart had already been left behind at the tulip market.
As for the miso soup?
He had spent the entire afternoon drinking tea in that room.
He wasn’t thirsty at all!
Before long, the rest of the food was served.
Just like at lunch, Hiruzen ate heartily.
Danzō, however, only took a few bites before putting down his chopsticks.
Several times, Hiruzen tried to strike up a conversation, but Danzō brushed him off.
Hiruzen, however, understood his companion’s mood.
Danzō must be upset because he came away empty-handed this afternoon…
Sigh.
Heh…
Though I suppose I’m a little better than him.
Still, I can teach him some bargaining tricks tonight.
There was a trace of pride in Hiruzen’s thoughts, but he still intended to cheer Danzō up that evening.
After all, no matter what, they were comrades!
Danzō, meanwhile, was thinking about something else.
Will the tulip price go up tomorrow?
If it shoots up, I’ll be able to prove Hiruzen wrong.
In an atmosphere of silence, the two finished dinner while each was harboring his own agenda.
Afterward, they returned to their lodgings.
Hiruzen wanted to break the silence and teach Danzō some useful bargaining techniques.
But Danzō refused.
His tone was practically that of a middle-aged man who had worked all day and returned home exhausted, only to be confronted by his wife.
“Hiruzen, I’m exhausted today…
Let’s talk about it tomorrow.”
“All right…”
Hiruzen could only nod.
The two settled down for the night.
That night, Hiruzen slept like a log.
Before long, he was snoring away.
He really had worked hard all day.
Danzō, on the other hand, tossed and turned, completely unable to sleep.
He couldn’t stop thinking about the tulips.
It was a one-million-ryō investment!
After a long while, he finally drifted into a hazy dream.
Danzō had two dreams in succession.
In the first, he dreamed that he had lost everything.
To make matters worse, Senju Tobirama discovered what he had done.
That frightened him awake instantly.
After calming himself down, he closed his eyes again and pretended to sleep.
Before long, he slipped into another dream.
This time, he had made a huge profit.
Senju Tobirama praised him repeatedly and even accepted him as a disciple.
And in the end, he even…
Morning soon arrived.
After a good night’s sleep, Sarutobi Hiruzen was completely refreshed.
He nudged the still-dreaming Shimura Danzō.
“Danzō, wake up…”
“Enough, Hiruzen!
I am…
the Hokage!”
“What Hokage?
Danzō, wake up!”
Shimura Danzō opened his eyes.
He saw Sarutobi Hiruzen urging him to get up.
He quickly returned to reality and couldn’t help feeling a little disappointed.
So it was only a dream…
“Danzō, let’s go have breakfast first!”
“Just like yesterday, we’ll split up and work separately!”
Hiruzen planned to teach Danzō a few bargaining tricks over breakfast.
Danzō nodded.
The two quickly got dressed and headed to a breakfast shop.
“Danzō, as for bargaining…
let me tell you.”
“First, you need to slash the asking price in half.”
“After going back and forth a few times, you can pretend to walk away.”
“Count to three silently in your head.”
“The shopkeeper will definitely call you back.”