Two hundred million ryo!

Hyuga Village, morning.

The shop run by the merchant from the Land of Fire had taken down its door boards early.

Commoners who had settled outside the village carried shoulder poles through the village gates.

Their baskets held freshly picked wild greens, which they hoped to trade for some brown rice at the shop.

After making their trades, the commoners carried their empty baskets back out of the village.

People came and went through the gates in the wooden wall, making it much livelier than a few months before.

Shinichi made a circuit of the village.

Inside the merchant's shop, several Hyuga Clan members were feeling the coarse cloth and asking its price.

Shinichi followed the road out of the village.

On the hills outside the wooden wall, many of the commoners who had settled there were turning the soil with hoes to clear new farmland.

One of the commoners working there saw Shinichi and hurriedly put down his hoe.

"Lord Shinichi!"

Shinichi nodded to him.

He had just reached the village entrance when the sound of wheels rolling over dirt came from the gates again.

A merchant caravan with horse-drawn wagons was slowly entering Hyuga Village.

Shinichi left the gates and followed the newly built road to the village training ground.

In the clearing, a group of Hyuga ninja stood in a row, practicing with shuriken.

One volley of whistling sounds followed another.

The thick wooden posts ahead were densely studded with shuriken.

Scarface stood beside them with his hands on his hips, watching.

He raised his booming voice and shouted at the people on the field.

"Find every shuriken you throw!"

"Look carefully! Don't lose a single one!"

"Even the damaged ones have to be brought back!"

None of the Hyuga ninja on the field spoke. Once a row had finished throwing, they hurried over to gather around the posts and pull the shuriken out.

Just then, a young Hyuga ninja nearby let his hand shake, failed to control his strength, and threw his shuriken off target.

The piece of iron sailed past the wooden posts and whistled into the grass behind them.

Scarface's eyes widened. He strode over and pointed at the grass.

"Go find it in there!"

The young ninja shrank back and repeatedly agreed.

Still not satisfied, Scarface raised his voice and added another shout.

"If you can't find it today, don't come back!"

The young ninja hurriedly plunged into the grass, bending down and parting the blades to search.

Shinichi's eldest uncle entered the training ground with a ledger in his hand.

He glanced around, then walked straight up to Shinichi.

His uncle opened the ledger and held it out in front of him.

How many kunai remained, how many shuriken, and how many explosive tags-every entry was clearly recorded.

"Shinichi, take a look at this."

"All the ninja tools in our village are old stock we forged back at the clan grounds in the Land of Fire."

His uncle pointed at the Hyuga ninja gathered around the wooden posts, pulling out shuriken.

"We need them for daily training now, for guarding the village at night, and for missions outside."

"We use these things up every day, but since we moved here, not a single one has been added to the storehouse."

He pointed to the bottom line in the ledger.

"At the rate we're using them, we'll have no ninja tools left in a few months."

Shinichi looked at the ledger without immediately speaking.

After a while, he looked up and asked his uncle.

"Can't we buy some?"

His uncle sighed and shook his head.

"We can't find any to buy."

"Ours is the only Shinobi Village in the Land of Rice Fields. There isn't even another ninja clan here."

"The merchants here can sell some coarse cloth and brown rice, but who can sell you kunai and shuriken?"

Shinichi looked at him and asked another question.

"Then what do we do?"

His uncle closed the ledger and held it in his hand.

"If we want shuriken, there are only two ways."

"Either we forge them ourselves, or we go to another country and buy them from a ninja clan."

After hearing that, Shinichi pressed further.

"Could we forge them ourselves?"

His uncle looked toward the Hyuga ninja training in the middle of the field.

"We could forge them ourselves."

"Back when we were at the clan grounds in the Land of Fire, we forged all the clan's shuriken ourselves."

At this point, his uncle spread his hands.

"But forging ninja tools takes ore."

"We don't have any iron ore here now."

"Without iron ore, even the best cook can't make a meal without ingredients!"

After hearing his uncle out, Shinichi stood there without a word.

He knew full well that what his parents had was no substitute for having it himself.

For a Shinobi Village, things like kunai, shuriken, and explosive tags were strategic supplies.

If war broke out one day, all of them would be consumed at an extremely rapid rate.

When that time truly came, even if you brought money to buy them from someone else, they might not be willing to sell.

Supplies this vital had to be kept firmly in their own hands.

The best solution was to be able to produce them themselves.

But producing them themselves required raw materials.

Forging shuriken and kunai required iron ore.

Hyuga Village did not have a single piece of iron ore right now. If they went out looking for an iron deposit first, there was no telling how long it would take.

Even stretching their supplies to the limit, the ninja tools in the storehouse would only last a few months.

The village used them every day and simply could not afford to wait.

Distant water could not quench an immediate thirst.

They could only approach another ninja clan and spend money on a batch to meet their urgent needs first.

Since they needed to buy a large batch, they had to find a major ninja clan.

An ordinary small ninja clan could not supply such a large quantity.

Shinichi mentally went over the surrounding area.

The closest place to the Land of Rice Fields with the most major clans was Konoha, in the Land of Fire to the south.

Major ninja clans like the Senju and Uchiha had deep reserves.

They had been forging their own ninja tools for years and had large stocks of shuriken.

Besides, Hashirama Senju was on friendly terms with the Hyuga.

A few months earlier, he had even come to the Land of Rice Fields in person and used Wood Release to help the Hyuga build houses.

If they went to him, the purchase would be easiest to negotiate.

Buying from Konoha was the most convenient option.

Having made up his mind, Shinichi turned to his uncle.

"Uncle, I'm planning to make a trip to Konoha."

"I'll buy a batch of ninja tools to get us through this shortage first!"

His uncle nodded at first, then his brow furrowed again.

"Buying from Konoha should be an option."

"But Shinichi, we turned down Konoha's invitation back then."

"Now that we're short on shuriken, we're turning around and going to their door to buy some."

"Will they be willing to sell to us?"

Shinichi's expression did not change as he listened to his uncle.

"Uncle, we'll know whether Konoha is willing to sell once we get there!"

Shinichi did some calculations in his head, then spoke.

"Let's buy a batch to deal with the immediate shortage first."

"We'll start with ten thousand shuriken."

"And five thousand kunai."

Shinichi paused, then added another sentence.

"We'll buy five thousand explosive tags too."

At those numbers, his uncle's fingers stopped turning the ledger's pages.

He lowered his head and began calculating in his mind using market prices.

"Market prices in the Land of Fire aren't cheap."

"A shuriken costs three thousand ryo, and a kunai costs five thousand."

His uncle looked up, grimacing at the expense.

"Explosive tags are even more expensive. Each one costs twenty thousand ryo."

"Shinichi, if we buy that many..."

"It'll cost around a hundred and fifty million ryo in total."

His uncle patted the ledger in his hand.

"Those five thousand explosive tags alone will cost a full hundred million ryo."

Shinichi did not so much as furrow his brow after hearing that.

"Uncle, prepare two hundred million ryo in banknotes."

His uncle put away the ledger and nodded.

"All right. I'll go get them from the storehouse now."

Shinichi turned and looked toward the middle of the field.

He called out in that direction.

"Scarface!"

Scarface had been shouting as he watched the others search for shuriken. Hearing the call, he hurried over at a jog.

"Clan leader, did you call me?"

Shinichi looked at him and gave his instructions.

"Go back and pack your things."

"You're coming with me to Konoha first thing tomorrow morning."

Scarface froze for a moment.

To Konoha?

Then his mouth spread into a wide grin.

"Sure thing!"

"I'll go get ready right now!"