Early the next morning, Sato Fan and Morishita Kunihiko met at the entrance of the inn.
Morishita looked the same as always, wearing a dark blue coat, a short sword tucked at his waist, and an unlit cigarette dangling from his mouth.
He glanced at Sato Fan, gave a slight nod, and said nothing.
The two of them left the inn and headed towards the commercial district.
The four suppliers on the list were all located in the east, less than a twenty-minute walk away.
The streets were already bustling, with vendors selling vegetables, cloth, and breakfast calling out their wares one after another.
As Sato Fan walked, he observed his surroundings while mentally planning the day’s arrangements.
The first place was called ‘Inbe Products,’ which sold building materials.
The storefront was sizable, with two shop spaces merged into one, filled with lumber, bricks, tiles, and nails.
The owner was a portly man in his forties, whose smile resembled that of the Maitreya Buddha.
Sato Fan handed over Konoha’s procurement list.
The owner took it, glanced at it, then looked back at Sato Fan.
His smile remained, but his eyes changed slightly.
‘Ninja-sama from Konoha,’ he said.
‘I heard things haven’t been peaceful over there recently?’
‘There was an incident.
We’re in the midst of reconstruction,’ Sato Fan replied without hiding anything.
After all, such a major event would be impossible for a well-informed merchant not to know about.
The owner nodded, placed the list on the counter, and picked up an abacus, clicking the beads rapidly.
After finishing his calculations, he quoted a price.
Hearing it, Sato Fan’s heart sank—it was nearly forty percent higher than the reference price Section Chief Yamada had mentioned.
‘Boss, isn’t this price a bit high?’ Sato Fan asked.
‘We didn’t pay this much in previous purchases.’
‘That was then, this is now,’ the owner said, putting down the abacus and spreading his hands.
‘Konoha had such a major incident.
Supplies are scarce, demand is high, so prices naturally differ.
Besides, shipping from the capital to Konoha, freight costs have risen too.
You might not know, but transport teams are now afraid to go to Konoha.
Who knows if there are still Ninja lurking around waiting to attack you?’
Sato Fan knew the owner was taking advantage of his youth to exploit the situation.
But he didn’t argue, simply saying, ‘I’ll check other places.’
‘Fine, take your time looking,’ the owner said with a smile.
‘But let me tell you, building material businesses in the capital all have similar prices these days.
You’ll see after visiting a few.’
Leaving Inbe Products, Morishita Kunihiko was leaning by the entrance, smoking.
He glanced at Sato Fan.
‘Price hike?’
‘Forty percent.’
Morishita said nothing, extinguished his cigarette, and followed him to the next place.
The owner was a tall, thin man in his fifties, wearing a pair of round-framed glasses.
Sato Fan presented the list, but the owner glanced at it and didn’t take it.
‘From Konoha?’ Yamamoto asked.
‘Yes.’
‘I don’t dare take your order.’
Sato Fan was taken aback.
‘Why?’
‘I heard you suffered heavy casualties over there, even the Hokage died,’ Yamamoto said, pushing up his glasses, his tone matter-of-fact.
‘Given your current situation, can you even pay?
When will the funding from the Land of Fire arrive?
What guarantee do you have?
Without clarity on these matters, how can I dare ship goods?’
Sato Fan fell silent for a few seconds.
He hadn’t expected suppliers to worry about Konoha’s ability to pay.
He only had deposit funds on hand; most payments were due upon delivery.
But upon second thought, it made sense—news of Konoha’s attack had spread throughout the Land of Fire.
The Third Hokage had died in battle, and the Village was severely damaged.
The outside world didn’t know Konoha’s true situation, so having reservations was normal.
‘Konoha’s finances are supported by grants from the Land of Fire’s Daimyo.
We have never defaulted on payments to suppliers,’ Sato Fan stated.
‘That was before,’ Yamamoto shook his head.
‘The situation is different now.
Let’s talk again after things stabilize on your end.’
With that, he pushed the list back and turned to attend to other customers.
Sato Fan stood in place, holding the list, his expression blank but his heart heavy.
Two shops—one raised prices, the other refused the order.
Two remained, but the situation likely wouldn’t be much better.
Morishita Kunihiko stood at the shop entrance, watching him.
‘Tough negotiation?’ Morishita asked.
‘Tough.’
Morishita didn’t ask further, simply saying, ‘Then, next one.’
The third shop sold medicine.
The owner was a woman in her forties named Nakamura, who spoke quickly and worked efficiently.
She reviewed the list and quoted a price ten percent higher than normal.
‘Konoha needs medicine most right now.
And with the scale of your losses this time, who knows if you can even make payments?
I’m taking a risk too. This chapter was copied from g.com without permission.
A ten percent increase is within a reasonable range.’ That was all Nakamura said, nothing more.
But what the shopkeeper said made sense.
Sato Fan thought it over and agreed it was reasonable.
He placed the order directly, instructing the owner to expedite delivery.
Other items could wait, but medicine couldn’t—the wounded urgently needed it.
The shopkeeper’s markup was still within tolerable limits.
Hadn’t he seen in his previous life how prices for things like banlangen would skyrocket whenever a crisis hit?
The fourth shop was an alternative supplier for building materials, owned by a man in his early thirties named Kobayashi.
He didn’t raise the price too much—only twenty percent above normal—but he reduced the quantity, agreeing to supply only half of what was originally available.
‘My inventory isn’t large,’ Kobayashi said.
‘If you take less, I can give you the normal price.
More than that really isn’t possible.’
By the time they finished visiting all four suppliers, it was already afternoon.
Sato Fan and Morishita Kunihiko sat down in a small tea house, ordering two bowls of tea.
Sato Fan spread the list on the table, staring silently for a long time at the prices and quantities now messily altered.
The first shop raised prices by forty percent, the second refused the order, and the fourth limited quantities.
With the procurement funds provided, at these prices, they could purchase less than half of what was expected.
Morishita sat across from him, drinking tea without speaking.
‘Senior Morishita, have you ever encountered this kind of situation during missions before?’ Sato Fan asked.
‘I’m not in this line of work, so I don’t know for sure.
But…’ Morishita put down his tea bowl.
‘After a war, material prices rising is normal.
But hikes this big are rare.’
Sato Fan folded the list and put it in his pocket.
These capitalists truly had guts.
Knowing Konoha had suffered a disaster, with high demand and low supply, if they didn’t take advantage now to make a killing, the opportunity would be gone once Konoha recovered.
Weren’t they afraid of earning money they might not live to spend?
After all, this was a Ninja Village.
Konoha currently had no Third Hokage, Tsunade hadn’t returned, and no one knew when the funding from the Land of Fire’s Daimyo would arrive.
Everything was uncertain.
The suppliers were betting on Konoha’s urgent need for supplies—rare goods command high prices.
But he had no better choice.
Konoha desperately needed these materials; he couldn’t return empty-handed.
Just as he was preparing to go back and negotiate further with those shops, the tea house door opened.
A man in a gray kimono walked in.
He appeared to be in his thirties, of medium build, with a round face and a smiling expression, looking like an amiable merchant focused on prosperity.
He glanced around the few customers in the tea house, his gaze lingering on Sato Fan for a moment before he walked straight over.