Only a few days had passed since Haru got Tobirama settled, and he was still thinking about how to quietly divert some funds under a proper name to build the laboratory.
Then an intelligence report from the Anbu made Haru's pupils contract.
Conference Room
An emergency meeting.
Haru sat in the central seat with a grave expression, while all of Konoha's senior leadership wore mournful faces.
They were far too familiar with this level of emergency meeting. Every time a major war was about to break out, one of these meetings would be held.
Even Mito, who had always been on bad terms with Haru, had come today, which was enough to show that this war would not be small.
"According to reliable intelligence, Kirigakure and Iwagakure are making unusual moves. If nothing unexpected happens, their target is us."
As soon as Haru finished speaking, the room seemed to grow colder by several degrees, and everyone's expressions turned as frosty as ice.
War again...
And they had only just enjoyed a few peaceful days...
"We need to find a way to avoid war."
"If Konoha has to fight on two fronts at once, we can no longer bear that kind of cost."
Takuma's voice rang out. The moment they heard his opinion, everyone present nodded in agreement.
War meant deaths.
War meant burning money.
The funds had only just arrived, and already they were going to be burned up again. Heaven was being far too cruel.
The ninja clans of Konoha had already shed enough blood, and a huge amount of money had already been spent. Anti-war sentiment was extremely high.
As Haru watched everyone state their positions, he began thinking inwardly.
The First Great Ninja War had basically been one giant brawl. Every ninja village was made up of multiple clans, and there were grudges everywhere. If any side got the chance to stab another in the back, they would never let it pass.
That was also the reason Konoha had been able to hold on.
If the other four villages had truly united with one heart and one mind to gang up on Konoha, then Konoha would probably have collapsed long ago.
In the first half of the war, the poorest village, Sunagakure of the Land of Wind, had been beaten badly by Konoha and then quieted down, hiding at home to lick its wounds. Now it had even had its funding cut by the Land of Wind.
At this point, it was probably relying on the Kazekage's Magnet Release to sift gold from the desert just to stay afloat, and likely had to reduce its number of ninja to lower expenses.
The fewer ninja a village had, the weaker it became. The weaker it became, the less willing the Daimyo was to invest money. But with no money, they could not train ninja in the first place, which forced them to cut their numbers further.
Sunagakure had basically fallen into a slow death spiral.
It was not a threat.
Kirigakure and Iwagakure had both been repelled in their first attempt against Konoha, then pulled back and maintained low-intensity border friction ever since.
By contrast, Kumogakure had fought like it had gone insane, chasing Konoha relentlessly from the first half of the war into the second. Who knew what madness had gotten into them.
Konoha's primary war opponent had actually been Kumogakure. But now both Kumogakure and Konoha had each lost a Second Kage, and both were internally chaotic. Konoha had also signed a peace agreement with Kumogakure. At this time, the Third Raikage probably would not do anything reckless to provoke Konoha again.
That meant Kirigakure and Iwagakure, who had always wanted to pick up scraps, were probably just hoping to bite Konoha while its internal stability was shaky.
Haru recalled the original plot of Naruto. If things followed that course, then the coming war development should be this:
The Second Mizukage, Gengetsu Hozuki, and the Second Tsuchikage, Mu, would end up clashing and killing each other.
After their forces fought briefly, Kirigakure and Iwagakure would both withdraw to handle their own internal struggles over who would become the Third Kage.
At that point, the First Great Ninja War would more or less officially come to a close.
Good. Good...
Haru felt somewhat comforted.
This time, the war would probably just make noise without much real destruction. It would not burn through too much money.
"Avoid war?"
"I don't think it'll be that easy."
"We cannot place our hopes in the enemy."
Mito spoke up and directly rejected Takuma's line of thought. This old veteran who had fought her way out of the Warring States era had seen too much. She knew that peace was not begged for. It was fought for.
The Hyuga clan really did produce soft bones.
Mito's words were like a basin of cold water dumped over everyone's heads. Simply wanting a ceasefire on one side alone was hopeless. At the very least, they had to hurt the enemy badly before there was any chance of negotiating peace.
No matter what, everyone present were veterans who had walked through death multiple times. On the question of whether to fight or not, they reached a conclusion quickly.
Then came the very real problem.
Konoha was about to hemorrhage money again.
"As for Kirigakure and Iwagakure, the spies we've planted there are still gathering intelligence. Konoha hasn't recovered from its old wounds yet. If war breaks out, we must urgently purchase military supplies."
"Food, medicinal materials, pig iron... their prices all plunged this month because of the peace agreement between Konoha and Kumogakure. Pig iron in particular has already fallen by one to two times. Once war truly begins, the prices of these materials will likely soar again."
"Pig iron is currently 630,000 ryo per ton."
"Medicinal materials..."
"Food..."
"Pig iron prices fluctuate drastically because of ninja wars. It's recommended we prioritize buying it. Once the war situation spirals out of control, pig iron could rise five or six times like before, or even more than ten times..."
Hiss...
"Wait a second. Why does the price of pig iron fluctuate that absurdly?"
Haru asked. He had actually never paid attention to that phenomenon before.
"Heh. Ninja wars require massive quantities of weapons. Merchants, nobles, even commoners... all hoard supplies during wartime."
"As for food and similar goods, the Daimyo control those more strictly. In a country like the Land of Fire, where food is relatively plentiful, prices usually only double at most, because ordinary people still need to eat."
Shikaru explained it briefly.
Damn. These bastards.
They were already black-hearted to this degree. They even dared profit off ninja.
Haru was too tired to even mock this rotten world anymore. There was no need to guess who stood behind this. Great nobles were definitely involved, and even the Daimyo probably took a share.
And yet these ninja already seemed accustomed to being exploited by ordinary nobles.
Haru thought again of how this round of war would develop. Loud at the start, weak at the finish, ending hastily.
A thought suddenly appeared.
Why couldn't I speculate on pig iron myself?
Futures?
That actually might work.
Haru currently dreamed of making money. Konoha's development needed money. Tobirama's experiments needed money. Everything needed money.
And now an opportunity to make a fortune had just arrived.
In the current situation, once the news spread that Kirigakure and Iwagakure were mobilizing for war, and Konoha aggressively spread rumors of a major war coming, the price of pig iron would probably shoot into the sky.
Haru immediately thought of one of the system's long-term missions: create a financial company and control the economy of a nation.
He could use this chance to set up the shell of a financial company and start with pig iron futures.
The clan already had weapons production as part of its business. Most of it was for internal use, with some sold to Konoha's ninja. So Haru understood the current method of pig iron trading.
Everything was spot trading. The price was negotiated in advance, and once the pig iron was produced, it was sold over.
Any price fluctuations in the meantime were borne by both sides. To avoid selling at a loss or getting ghosted, those black-hearted merchants and nobles all held large amounts of physical stock for direct sale.
The concept of futures did not yet exist. What this needed was a powerful guarantor to make both sides sign a long-term contract.
And for Haru, the guarantor issue was laughably easy. He was the head of the number one violent organization in the ninja world. If anyone dared break the contract, he'd personally send them off to meet the Sage of Six Paths.
The more Haru thought about it, the more it seemed foolproof.
This was guaranteed profit.
And massive profit.
"Everyone, I have a proposal!"
(End of Chapter)
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