Outside the crowd, several well-dressed merchants were quietly observing everything.
One middle-aged merchant's sharp gaze landed on the advertising space in the third section.
Following the note at the bottom of the newspaper, he found the newspaper office's contact address—Wenxin House.
He turned and left at once.
When he reached the entrance of Wenxin House, he froze.
Three familiar faces were already standing there.
They were all renowned merchants of Leaf Village, and whenever they met, they inevitably competed with one another. At that moment, the four exchanged glances, then smiled in unspoken agreement.
"Hahahaha—"
Amid the laughter, everything went without saying.
None of them were fools.
They understood the value of this newspaper better than anyone.
With their arms around one another's shoulders, the four entered Wenxin House together to discuss advertising sponsorship fees.
Land of Fire Balloon Center
This had originally been an abandoned warehouse, but it had now been temporarily converted into a balloon sales point.
Tsunade sat behind the counter with one leg crossed over the other, holding a cup of tea.
Before her stretched a winding line that vanished beyond sight.
It was packed with people.
The queue extended from the entrance all the way to the end of the street, turned a corner there, and continued down another street.
Men and women, young and old, shinobi and civilians alike clutched money in their hands and craned their necks forward, terrified that the balloons would sell out before their turn came.
Stacks upon stacks of account books lay beside Tsunade. The clerk responsible for bookkeeping had already filled three large volumes.
The counter drawer was packed full of money, and boxes had to be used to hold the rest.
She turned a page in the ledger and watched the numbers soar. The curve of her