Target

The three of them left the Izakaya and headed straight for the Ninja Tool Factory location provided by the proprietress.

They passed through street after street and soon arrived at the center of the Capital of the Land of Artisans. Strangely enough, the center of the capital was not the Daimyo's palace, but the Land of Artisans' largest manufacturing factory.

But none of that had anything to do with Hyuga Kazuya and the other two.

The Capital of the Land of Artisans was not very large. Before long, the three of them arrived within a hundred meters of the Ninja Tool Factory.

In an empty alley, Hyuga Kazuya activated his Byakugan, and the veins around his eyes instantly bulged.

As he carefully observed the Ninja Tool Factory a hundred meters away, he clearly noticed that there were areas within the sizable factory his Byakugan could not see through. There were obviously barrier formations blocking them off.

He then gave Minato Namikaze a detailed description of the rooms his Byakugan could not penetrate.

Beside him, Minato Namikaze carefully compared the factory map provided by the Izakaya proprietress against his observations one by one.

The areas the Byakugan could not see through were bound to be important sections of the Ninja Tool Factory, naturally including where the ninja tools were stored.

Based on the Byakugan's observations and the map provided by the Izakaya proprietress, Minato Namikaze soon roughly determined where the large quantity of ninja tools Sunagakure needed was being kept.

"Looks like it's these rooms." Minato Namikaze muttered to himself, pointing at the locations circled on the map.

"Teacher Minato, which rooms do you need me to search tonight?" Kakashi, who had barely had any presence until now, quickly stepped forward when he saw there might be something for him to do.

Minato Namikaze looked at the eager Kakashi and smiled. "Kakashi, you have another task. I'll go by myself tonight."

"Teacher Minato has the Flying Thunder God Technique, which makes reconnaissance and infiltration extremely convenient," Hyuga Kazuya explained as well. Of course, it was also useful for escaping, but Hyuga Kazuya did not say that.

Kakashi nodded in understanding, then asked, "Then what is our mission?"

"Since the Land of Artisans is a neutral country, we can't destroy the ninja tools Sunagakure purchased within the Capital of the Land of Artisans. To be safe, you two should try to find the Sunagakure people who came to trade for the ninja tools." Minato Namikaze did not say the rest, but they both understood.

They agreed to meet at an inn not far away after entering the capital.

The three quickly used the Transformation Jutsu again and left the alley. Once they returned to the main street, they soon went their separate ways.

Watching Minato Namikaze's departing back, Kakashi looked at Hyuga Kazuya beside him.

"Senior, what do we do next?"

"Come on, let's eat, drink, and have fun."

"What?"

Kakashi said blankly.

Since the two were using simplified Transformation Jutsu to conserve chakra, merely changing their appearances, hiding their Ninja Headbands, and turning into youths with the same build but different faces, eating and drinking would not be affected.

"Ahem, of course not just eating, drinking, and having fun. We need to blend in with the civilians if we want to gather information more easily." Hyuga Kazuya hurriedly explained after accidentally voicing what he had truly been thinking.

After all, Hyuga Kazuya had never left Konoha since childhood. This was his first time visiting a foreign land so far from Konoha.

As he looked at the streets completely different from Konoha's, along with the unfamiliar customs and snacks,

he had finally managed to get out here, so how could he not take the chance to try some food in the middle of a mission?

Hyuga Kazuya then led Kakashi to what seemed to be the snack street of the Capital of the Land of Artisans.

As for how Hyuga Kazuya knew about this place, he had naturally discovered it by accident while looking through the Ninja Tool Factory earlier.

Watching the bustling street and the shops lining both sides,

Hyuga Kazuya found that most of the small shops sold seafood, such as crabs, shrimp, squid, and the like.

Since the Land of Artisans was an island nation overseas, it never lacked seafood.

"Here."

Kakashi looked at the grilled squid and foil-wrapped garlic shrimp in his hands. Smelling the aroma rising from the food, he could not help but feel his appetite stir.

After leaving the snack street, Hyuga Kazuya carried more than a dozen bags filled with all kinds of food.

Most of it was food that could not be found in Konoha at all, or was prohibitively expensive there.

Hyuga Kazuya dragged the reluctant Kakashi to squat in a corner by the roadside. As they ate their respective food, they watched the passersby around them.

Hyuga Kazuya could not help sighing inwardly. For less than a thousand Ryo, I can buy so much food. Especially all this seafood—if I bought the same things in Konoha, the price being several times higher wouldn't be an exaggeration.

Thinking of this, Hyuga Kazuya began mulling it over in secret.

If I established a merchant association and sold seafood from places like the Land of Artisans to inland countries such as Konoha, the Land of Rain, and the Land of Grass, wouldn't I be able to mark up the prices several times over?

Although the idea was wonderful, Hyuga Kazuya knew he simply did not have the ability or time for it.

Besides, this sort of business might already have a competitor. That was right—Gato.

But when shinobi did business, they completely crushed ordinary people.

Never mind all those shady methods; simply investing heavily in Storage Scrolls at the start

would be enough to crush an ordinary multinational logistics and trade company to death over and over again.

In the end, it still required an enormous initial investment.

So the simplest solution was to ask an elder.

Ask Uncle.

With Uncle's connections in the village and prestige within the Hyuga Clan, establishing such a merchant association would be effortless.

It seemed he would have to discuss this with Uncle after returning.

Relying solely on "swindling" money from Uncle and the rewards earned from completing missions would make achieving financial freedom extremely difficult.

Actually, Hyuga Kazuya did not currently need that much money, but he understood that if he wanted to accomplish something great, he could not do without financial support.

Having money meant having influence, and having influence meant that when he brought change to the Shinobi World in the future, it would serve as his backing.

Ultimately, it was because he still harbored fantasies about the position of Hokage.

After all, once he became Hokage and spent some time adapting, he would be able to completely take control of Konoha, the strongest village in the Shinobi World.

But he knew very well that the chances of that happening were slim.

So he could only seek another path.

For example, he could establish a village of his own, or control a country.

No matter which path he chose, money would be a tremendous help.

What was more, if most shinobi still had to rely on mission rewards to make a living in the future, it would be extremely difficult to drive progress in the Shinobi World.

It would be better to gradually bring about change by altering the shinobi income structure.

Changing the shinobi income structure meant developing productive capacity and increasing village revenue. Then the village would no longer care so much about ordinary mission rewards, while ordinary shinobi could earn considerable incomes without needing to fight.

In short, it meant developing productive capacity and creating more jobs, preventing the overwhelming majority of shinobi from flooding into the "mission" market at once and engaging in vicious internal competition.

Among the major nations of the Shinobi World, the quantity and scale of missions they could obtain was also one of the main causes of conflict.

So no matter how he looked at it, money was important.

Thinking back on all this, he wondered what kind of business he could run in Konoha.

For the moment, he truly could not think of anything. As a major shinobi village, Konoha lacked neither everyday goods nor all kinds of shops.

And what business made the most money?

Naturally, monopolies.