Entering the Towns of the Land of Iron

Shanxi, the leader of the caravan, saw that the situation was resolved and signaled his hired hands to load the captured samurai onto the wagons and secure them.

Shanxi had hired Hyuga Shinichi before and understood why he wanted to keep these people alive.

Most of those who turned to banditry were defectors from various nations, and they usually carried a bounty on their heads.

It had been agreed beforehand that their caravan would provide the wagons to transport these captives, and in exchange, they would receive a share of the bounty. Since this meant some unexpected income, Shanxi naturally wouldn't refuse.

In terms of social graces, Hyuga Shinichi didn't act superior to ordinary people like other ninjas did. This made Shanxi very optimistic about his future; even if he didn't become an incredibly powerful ninja, his networking skills would certainly be top-tier.

"Ah, thanks to you and your team, Shinichi. Seeing so many samurai rush out with blades drawn earlier, I was so scared I could barely stand."

"What are you saying, Brother Shanxi? We're on the same side. Everything is settled now—should we rest for a bit, or keep moving?"

"Keep moving, let's keep moving. We'll rest once we enter the Land of Iron; this border area is too dangerous."

Before entering the Land of Iron, they saw the landscape blanketed in white snow. The wind blowing through felt biting, and after crossing the border, the group found a cave to rest in.

Hyuga Shinichi, his two companions, and the dog sat with Shanxi by the fire, chatting. During their conversation, some of the things Hyuga Shinichi said left Shanxi deeply shocked.

"How has business been lately, Brother Shanxi?"

"So-so. I only made a bit of profit thanks to that shipment you guarded last time—items that weren't available in the village. My usual goods, like daily necessities, only have modest sales, which is why I expanded the team this time, hoping to stock up on more merchandise."

"Brother Shanxi, you could try using vouchers."

"What's a voucher?"

"It's a slip of paper that can be used to offset a portion of the cost. You could issue five-ryo or ten-ryo vouchers. If a customer spends a certain amount, they can use the voucher to deduct some of the price. You could even let everyone who visits the shop draw one; as long as they have a voucher, it stimulates spending."

"Huh? You can do that?"

"Yes. If you want to scale up, you could even apply to the village for a plot of land to build a department store."

"What's a department store?"

"It's a place that brings all kinds of merchants together under one roof. You could put clothing vendors on the first floor, daily necessities on the second, and so on. By centralizing all the merchants in one location and allowing vouchers to be used on all goods within the store..."

Listening to Hyuga Shinichi, Shanxi felt his heart racing. He realized that Hyuga Shinichi was truly a genius.

If he could open this department store, decorate it properly, and promote it well—especially since there were no competitors yet—he would be the first department store in the Land of Fire. By attracting investment and selling advertising space to other merchants, he could make money just by sitting there.

Although the major clans had their own industries, he could partner with them or form joint ventures, offering them special preferential policies to encourage them to move in. That would be great advertising, and he could create many jobs, ensuring the village would support him as a major taxpayer.

But the next sentence from Hyuga Shinichi was like a bucket of cold water, cooling Shanxi's excitement.

"However, you can't make it too big. Brother Shanxi, you know as well as I do that the border has been increasingly unstable lately. If you want to go out for more stock, you'll have to post escort missions, and I suspect that will be very difficult to manage soon."

Hyuga Shinichi gazed at the snowy scenery of the Land of Iron and fell into deep thought. It was currently the 32nd year of Konoha. In a few years, the Second Great Ninja War would break out, and the Land of Iron, despite being a neutral nation, would be invaded by the Land of Rain.

In the end, it was a samurai named Mifune who stood up, sacrificing his own life to save his companions, which earned the admiration of Hanzo. Coupled with the fact that the Land of Iron was too far from the Land of Rain, Hanzo eventually halted the invasion.

Trying to go out for trade during wartime was essentially putting one's head on the chopping block. Even a behemoth like the Land of Fire would face declarations of war and invasions.

The Land of Fire was currently no different from other nations; its manufacturing sector was lackluster, and it relied on purchasing goods from other countries that it couldn't produce itself.

Ninjas only did what ninjas were meant to do, while policy decisions were made by the Daimyo. The Kage of each nation were essentially just village chiefs managing their own settlements.

Fortunately, the Daimyo of the Land of Fire was no fool; the development within the Land of Fire over the past few years had been quite impressive. Hyuga Shinichi's ideas were merely standing on the shoulders of giants.

After resting, they resumed their journey. Shanxi spent the entire time in the wagon deep in thought, so he didn't chat with Hyuga Shinichi and his team. Only Hyuga Shinichi and Inuzuka Gai occasionally talked to the drivers and hired hands, keeping the journey from being too boring.

Upon arriving in a town in the Land of Iron, they encountered a patrol. Hyuga Shinichi spotted a young Mifune among them and pretended to ask for directions to an inn just to get familiar with him.

Eventually, he told Mifune about the group of wandering samurai they had captured, and Mifune immediately led them to the guard station to collect the bounty.

After collecting the reward, Hyuga Shinichi and Shanxi invited Mifune and his colleagues to a meal, but Mifune declined, citing his patrol duties. It was clear that even then, Mifune was an upright man.

As a neutral nation, the Land of Iron attracted many merchants from various places to trade, so the population was quite diverse. The patrols were there to prevent ninja escorts from different nations from clashing with one another.

The group eventually found an inn to rest. Hyuga Shinichi wasn't very tired, so he went out for a stroll alone.

On the way to the trading grounds, he ran into several ninja escorts from other nations, all of whom were wary of one another. The Land of Lightning had the most guards present.

The technological development of the Land of Lightning was ahead of the other nations, and among the goods they brought were a few electrical appliances. Hyuga Shinichi took a liking to an electric fan.

Hmm, buying one to take back for Grandma would be nice. It won't be so hot in the summer.

Hyuga Shinichi approached the caravan, crouched down, and began examining the electric fan. It was a model with adjustable speeds. He reached toward the ninja tool pouch at his waist to pull out his coin purse.

The Land of Lightning ninja escorts saw that Hyuga Shinichi was a Konoha ninja and noticed his Byakugan, so they drew their kunai and watched him vigilantly. Even when they saw him pull out a coin purse, they didn't lower their guard.

"Boss, how much for this electric fan?"

The boss was a dark-skinned man with a thick beard. He wasn't surprised that Hyuga Shinichi knew the name of the appliance; after all, he wasn't the only one who could get these items to sell.

Although the Land of Lightning's current level of technology was quite good, production speed was an issue. Since so many people were ninjas, farmers, or brewers, he had resorted to becoming a merchant.

After some haggling, Hyuga Shinichi managed to buy two electric fans for the price of one, effectively cutting the original asking price in half.

This left the Land of Lightning ninja escorts and the onlookers stunned—they had never seen anyone haggle like that.

Of course, even at half price, the merchant still made a profit. The profit margins on these appliances were high, often several times the cost price.

As Hyuga Shinichi paid and left with the fans, the onlookers who had been watching gathered around the merchant, hoping to learn his haggling techniques, but they were all shooed away.

The reason Hyuga Shinichi succeeded was that he was simply too persuasive. The boss couldn't keep up with his logic and ended up so dizzy he almost started calling him "brother." He agreed to the deal just to stop the price from dropping any further.