Haggling

In the Hokage Office, the Third Hokage was in a bad mood and wanted to send Tianyun Hyuga away. Tianyun stopped wasting words with him, tossed a soldier pill over, and said, "Try it, Lord Hokage! This is a special soldier pill I worked hard to make..."

Looking at the pitch-black soldier pill on his desk, the Third Hokage frowned. It looked almost exactly like an ordinary mid-grade soldier pill. He could not see what was supposed to be special about it.

Naturally, the Third Hokage was not worried that Tianyun Hyuga was trying to poison him. Somewhat curious, he picked up the pill and examined it carefully before asking in puzzlement, "Is this soldier pill really some special variety...?"

Tianyun Hyuga curled his lip. "It cost me a million to make. Eat it, and you'll understand what makes it so valuable..."

"A million..." The Third Hokage paused, then tossed the soldier pill into his mouth and closed his eyes to carefully assess the changes in his body.

After five seconds, the Third Hokage's expression began to change slightly. After ten seconds, he was astonished. The soldier pill was remarkably effective: a single pill had increased his chakra by a fifth.

After thinking it over, the Third Hokage opened his eyes and looked calmly at Tianyun Hyuga. "Five hundred thousand each. I'll take as many as you have..."

Tianyun Hyuga slapped his chair in anger and exploded at the Third Hokage. "Old man, weren't you listening just now? They cost a million each to make, and you're only offering five hundred thousand? Are you trying to bankrupt me? Do I look like an idiot...?"

The Third Hokage calmly tapped his desk. "Another fifty thousand..."

"No. Nine hundred and fifty thousand at the very least," Tianyun Hyuga said furiously.

"Six hundred thousand. How about we keep doing business in the future...?" the Third Hokage said.

"Nine hundred thousand. I'll take a little loss out of respect for Lord Hokage..." Tianyun Hyuga replied, looking somewhat aggrieved.

"Six hundred and fifty thousand. I can't go any higher. Any more, and even Konoha couldn't afford them..." The Third Hokage sighed dejectedly.

"Eight hundred thousand. A special price for a friend. I really can't go any lower," Tianyun Hyuga said with a pained expression.

Since Tianyun Hyuga refused to budge, the Third Hokage could not be bothered to keep up the act. He slapped the desk and said, "Final offer: seven hundred thousand. Sell them or don't. If not, get lost..."

"Fine! For Konoha's future, I'll just take a crushing loss..." Tianyun Hyuga let out a long sigh and tossed a large bag of soldier pills in front of the Third Hokage. Looking utterly miserable, he said, "There are nine hundred and ninety-nine here. Including the one you just ate, that's seven hundred million in total. Hurry up and pay. My heart's aching right now. Give me the money so I can leave..."

The Third Hokage stared blankly at the large bag of soldier pills on his desk. Then he looked at Tianyun Hyuga as though he were being taken for a fool and said angrily, "Are you messing with me? You actually made a thousand of these? And now you want seven hundred million all at once? Do you really think the Hokage is an ATM?"

Tianyun Hyuga paid no heed to the Third Hokage's anger. He simply said, "If you don't want to buy them, forget it." With that, he reached out, pretending he was about to take the soldier pills back.

Of course, the Third Hokage could tell Tianyun Hyuga was only pretending. But that bag of soldier pills could more than double the survival rate of Konoha's ninja on missions. Still a little worried that Tianyun might actually take them back, he hurriedly grabbed the bag.

Putting the soldier pills in a drawer, the Third Hokage glared at Tianyun Hyuga. "Get lost already! Come back here for your money in three days. Also, the one I ate doesn't count. Even when you're buying food, you should get to try a sample first! That one was my sample..."

"So stingy. It's only seven hundred thousand..." Tianyun Hyuga was thoroughly dissatisfied.

"Are you leaving or not? Stay any longer, and I'll deduct another million," the Third Hokage said angrily.

"I'm going, I'm going! Happy now?" Afraid the Third Hokage would lash out in embarrassment and dock his payment again, Tianyun Hyuga hurried out of the Hokage Office.

Tianyun Hyuga was not worried that the Third Hokage would refuse to pay. He had known from the start that the Third Hokage could not produce that much money all at once. Three days would be enough for him to distribute the soldier pills among the major clans, who would naturally pay him for them. The Third Hokage might even turn a small profit.

But when Tianyun Hyuga remembered borrowing two hundred million from Hyuga Hiashi that morning to buy and enhance the soldier pills, leaving him owing Hiashi two hundred million, he felt rather gloomy and troubled.

Back in the Hokage Office, after Tianyun Hyuga left, the Third Hokage summoned a member of the Anbu and said, "Go notify the heads of the major clans. Tell them I have something good here for them to appraise. Have them come here at one this afternoon to take a look."

"Once that's done, investigate where Tianyun Hyuga got so many soldier pills and whether any outside forces are involved. Make sure you don't attract his attention."

"Yes..." Upon receiving the orders, the Anbu ninja immediately left to carry them out.

Meanwhile, our Tianyun Hyuga left the Hokage Building and headed toward the Nara Clan, feeling bored. He decided to look around their shop and see what other medicinal herbs he could enhance to make some money.

Early that morning, Tianyun Hyuga had already made several trips to the Nara Clan's shop. At the time, however, he had been focused solely on gathering a thousand soldier pills as quickly as possible and had not been in the mood to examine the shop carefully.

Now, entering the medicinal herb shop in a relaxed mood, Tianyun Hyuga discovered that the herbs sold there were all fairly ordinary. He picked one up and tried enhancing it, only to find that the enhancement fee was merely a few hundred or a few thousand. Even after enhancement, it probably would not be worth much. After browsing for an hour, he lost interest and left.

The thought of returning to those boring D-rank missions the next day put Tianyun Hyuga in a terrible mood. He decided that once he received the seven hundred million from the Third Hokage, he would definitely request permission to take on other, higher-ranked missions. Otherwise, he really would die of boredom.

Besides, once he left Konoha, he could earn money without holding back. There would be some danger, but compared with making money, a little danger was something Tianyun Hyuga could accept.

It would be nothing like being in Konoha, where even the slightest stir drew attention. That did not suit his preference for quietly making a fortune at all.

Feeling a little gloomy, Tianyun Hyuga prepared to return to the Hyuga Clan and give Hinata Hyuga, whose tuition had already been paid, some proper instruction. Otherwise, if Hyuga Hiashi saw him doing nothing and neglecting to teach Hinata, it would leave a bad impression.

Of course, all those thoughts were nonsense as far as Tianyun Hyuga was concerned. The real reason was that owing Hyuga Hiashi two hundred million made him feel a little uncomfortable. Since he had nothing else to do anyway, he might as well go help Hinata Hyuga.