Kakuzu knelt on one knee before the gold brick.
His hands pressed firmly against the cold gold bar, the metallic chill seeping up his palms.
He didn't feel cold. His chest felt as hot as if it were filled with a furnace.
He looked up.
Its green eyes were fixed on Shu Shiraishi, gleaming with greed.
Shu Shiraishi stood in front of Jinshan.
He took out his cigarette case, pulled out a cigarette, and put it in his mouth.
He struck a match. The flame illuminated his expressionless face.
Machine guns, armor-piercing rounds, and high-yield fertilizers.
Shu Shiraishi took a deep breath and exhaled a cloud of grayish-white smoke.
Smoke drifted amidst the piles of golden light.
"And there's the low-spec steam pump that Orochimaru just created."
Shu Shiraishi's finger, which was holding a cigarette, moved down slightly.
Pointing at Kakuzu's nose.
"You have complete control over the pricing of everything that comes off the assembly line in Konoha's industrial zone."
Kakuzu swallowed a large mouthful of dry saliva.
The Adam's apple slid violently across the neck covered in sutures. It got stuck for half a second, then rolled down.
" Lord Hokage." Kakuzu was dry, like two rough pieces of sandpaper were grinding against it.
"What is the cost price?"
I don't care about the cost.
Shu Shiraishi flicked his cigarette ash onto an empty wooden crate next to him.
"You decide how to sell it and who to sell it to."
He looked at Kakuzu's stitched-up face.
"I want you to cut off the export of steel and fertilizers. Drive them to the brink of despair."
Shu Shiraishi took half a step closer, his military boots striking the gold brick with a dull thud.
"I want other ninja villages. I'll trade them mines, water sources, and land."
"Take their underwear. Understand?"
Kakuzu gripped a gold bar tightly with both hands.
A fingernail painstakingly scratched a tiny dent into the pure gold surface.
He lived for almost a hundred years and had never fought such a rich war.
This isn't doing business; this is using the state apparatus as a tool for robbery.
"Clear."
Kakuzu nodded without hesitation.
He gently placed the gold bars back in their original position, as if he were placing his own son's cradle.
"I'll get on it right away. I'll squeeze them dry, leaving them nothing but scraps."
Two weeks later.
The top floor of the newly built finance building in the center of Konoha.
Behind the large mahogany desk, Kakuzu sat in a high-backed genuine leather chair.
He was holding a rosewood abacus in his hand.
His fingers flew across the abacus beads.
"Clap clap clap."
The sound of the wooden beads striking each other was crisp and rapid, like a downpour.
Across the table sat the envoy of the Daimyo of the Land of Grass.
The envoy was a thin, middle-aged man dressed in an elegant silk robe.
But he doesn't pay any attention to that now.
The special envoy clutched a white handkerchief, frantically wiping the sweat from his forehead.
Sweat soaked through his handkerchief. He wrung it out, and a few drops of water splashed onto the carpet.
" Kakuzu... the price of this fertilizer..."
The envoy's voice trembled, and his tongue seemed to be tied in knots.
"Last month it was 100 taels a bag. How come your order has quadrupled today?"
Kakuzu stopped what he was doing.
One of the abacus beads slipped off. He picked it back up with his little finger.
He raised his eyelids, his green pupils looking at the special envoy.
"Too expensive?"
Kakuzu pushed the abacus to the corner of the table.
"Don't buy it if you think it's too expensive. Turn right when you leave."
He opened the drawer and took out a new supply order.
" The Land of Wind is in dire need of fertilizer. They're willing to pay five times the price for this batch."
The envoy's face turned deathly pale instantly.
He suddenly stood up. The chair tipped backward and crashed heavily to the floor.
"No! We can't stop the supply!"
The envoy placed his hands on the table and leaned forward.
" The Land of Grass is suffering a severe drought this year. The fields have yielded no harvest."
"Without Konoha's high-yield fertilizer, half of the Daimyo's granaries will be empty this winter. Tens of thousands will starve to death!"
"Tens of thousands of people die. What does that have to do with me?"
Kakuzu leaned back in his chair, his fingers interlaced.
He looked at the special envoy with a cold eye.
"If you don't have money to buy it, you can pawn something."
Kakuzu slammed a thick contract onto the table.
The parchment made a crisp "snap" sound.
"Those two iron mines east of the Land of Grass, near the border of the Land of Fire."
Kakuzu pointed to the red circle on the contract.
"Thirty years of mining rights in exchange for 100,000 bags of fertilizer to get through this winter."
The envoy gasped.
His eyes were wide open.
"This won't do! That's the daimyo's private property! This is ceding territory!"
"Cease territory?"
Kakuzu gave a cold laugh.
The Akatsuki cloak on its back suddenly bulged.
"Sizzle."
The clothes ripped open, and several black Earth Grudge Fear burst forth from its body.
Like several venomous snakes, they leaped directly over the large desk.
They wrapped their arms tightly around the envoy's neck.
The black line tightened.
The envoy's feet were off the ground, suspended in mid-air.
He flailed his arms, trying to pull at the black thread around his neck. Instead, the thread cut his fingers, drawing blood.
His face instantly turned purplish-red, and his eyeballs bulged out.
I won't force you.
Kakuzu seated in his chair, not moving.
"You leave now. Tomorrow, all trade routes connecting the Land of Grass to the outside world will be closed."
He said calmly, "There will be thousands of wandering samurai armed with heavy machine guns."
"Don't even think about getting a single grain of rice in."
The envoy's legs twitched twice in mid-air.
My crotch was soaked, and the smell of urine filled the office.
He nodded frantically, making gurgling sounds of pleading.
Kakuzu's mind stirred.
The black thread loosened, and the envoy slammed heavily onto the floor.
He clutched his neck and coughed violently, coughing up a mouthful of bloody, acidic fluid.
He scrambled and crawled toward the desk.
He grabbed the calligraphy brush from the table, but his hand trembled so much he could barely hold it.
I signed my name crookedly in the bottom right corner of the contract.
He took out a large red clay seal and pressed it down forcefully.
Red mud smeared onto his clean silk sleeve, leaving a large patch.
Kakuzu pulled out the contract and blew on the still-wet ink.
Satisfied, I stuffed it into the drawer.
This is the tactic of a business genius: monopoly, supply disruption, and military intimidation.
Without losing a single soldier, two large iron mines fell directly into Konoha's pocket.
afternoon.
An underground money exchange on the border of the Land of Fire.
In the cellar, which never sees sunlight, several braziers of charcoal were burning to keep out moisture.
The air was filled with the smell of blood and cheap alcohol.
Kakuzu pushed open the wooden door and went inside.
Dozens of bounty hunters carrying knives in the tavern all turned their heads.
Upon seeing Kakuzu's face, the hall fell silent instantly. No one dared to speak.
Kakuzu walked to the counter.
He threw three heavy tin boxes onto the counter.
"Bang. Bang. Bang."
The solid wood counter was smashed and had several shallow dents.
He opened the box.
The golden croakers and gold bars dazzled the eyes of many under the glow of the charcoal fire.
Several hunters nearby couldn't help but swallow hard.
Konoha has issued a bounty.
Kakuzu turned around and looked at the group of desperados in the hall.
"Target: All high-level blacksmiths, seal masters, and mechanical blueprint surveyors in Kumogakure, Iwagakure, and Kirigakure."
He pointed to the gold on the counter.
"Bring living people and blueprints to Konoha to report for duty. 100,000 taels per person."
"The man is dead, but the blueprints were brought back. Fifty thousand taels."
A heavy breathing sound echoed in the hall.
The ruthless men exchanged glances, their hands already reaching for the hilts of their knives.
"Who dares to take the order?" Kakuzu pulled out a stack of wanted posters from his pocket.
He slammed his hand on the counter.
"Come and get the portrait."
The words had barely left his mouth.
The tavern erupted in chaos.
Dozens of bounty hunters pounced on the counter like hungry wolves, vying for the stack of portraits.
The sake bowl on the table was knocked over, spilling cheap sake all over the floor.
Someone, in a fight to grab the top portrait of the highest-paying job, pulled out a knife and slashed the shoulder of the person next to them.
Blood splattered everywhere.
Kakuzu bothered with this petty dogfighting.
He glanced at it indifferently, then turned and walked out of the money exchange.
This black market bounty has been offered.
The research and development departments of the four major ninja villages will be thoroughly infiltrated by this group of profit-driven madmen within half a month.
Konoha's industrial technology pool is about to surge again.
Once the machine for rampant money-making is started...
And then it just wouldn't stop.
A newly built freight train station outside Konoha.
The roaring noise continues every night.
A line of black steam trains, pulling dozens of long carriages.
Emerging from the acrid white steam, it drove into Konoha.
It was loaded inside the carriage.
It contains iron ore from the Land of Grass, coal from the Land of Rivers, and high-quality timber from the Land of Tea.
There were also chests of gold and silver forcibly obtained from caravans from various countries.
These resources were all obtained by the Kakuzu in exchange for hundreds of heavy machine guns and tens of thousands of bags of fertilizer.
Konoha's national treasury... in just one month.
It was expanded three times.
Originally three underground levels, they dug up to six underground levels.
Orochimaru's specially made, thickened, explosion-proof steel door, even the widest size, is still a bit difficult to close.
There wasn't enough room to pile up the gold bars, so they had to be put in sacks and stacked in the aisle like bricks.
Top floor of the finance building.
It was late at night. The wind outside made the glass rattle and whistle.
Kakuzu sat in a large, high-backed leather chair.
The main lights in the room weren't on. Only a brass desk lamp was lit on the desk.
The yellow light shone on the mountain of ledgers in front of him.
Dozens of thick kraft paper ledgers.
They were piled up higher than his head.
Kakuzu held a bald-headed brush and quickly wrote equations on scrap paper.
"Six and a half million... plus four million in mine depreciation..."
He was muttering to himself.
After finishing the calculation, he picked up the vermilion pen beside him and drew a heavy red circle on the ledger.
He put down his pen.
Looking at the long string of numbers on the last summary table.
Ones, tens, hundreds, thousands, ten thousands...
Count to the end.
Kakuzu stopped breathing.
He grabbed the parchment with both hands and brought it close to his eyes.
The green eyes were wide open. The sutures around the eye sockets were stretched taut.
His perpetually expressionless, deathly face.
The corners of his mouth uncontrollably twitched upwards.
It's getting more and more outrageous.
His mouth stretched from ear to ear in a wide grin.
The thick, black hemp thread used to sew up the chin was pulled too much.
With a "snap," two of them broke.
A few drops of dark blood trickled down his chin and onto his collar.
He ignored it.
He just wanted to laugh.
Konoha's monthly income is dozens of times more than all the bounties he's received in the past ninety years.
This overwhelming wealth was dumped right into his arms.
"I've struck it rich!"
Kakuzu let out a dry, maniacal laugh, his shoulders heaving violently.
The parchment in his hand rustled as he squeezed it.
Just then...
"Bang!"
Two heavy mahogany doors were suddenly pushed open from the outside without warning.
It hit the rubber pad on the wall with a dull thud.
The cold wind from the corridor blew directly into the office, scattering a stack of white papers from the corner of the desk.
Kakuzu's laughter caught in his throat.
The muscles in his face froze. The severed sutures hung in mid-air.
A Anbu Ninja) wearing a cat-face mask.
He rushed into the office.
The military boots pounded on the carpet. The steps were hurried, making a dull screech as they trod.
The Anbu was panting heavily, his chest heaving violently.
He walked to the desk.
He was holding a parchment scroll in his hand.
The scroll was not presented on a wooden tray.
The Anbu raised his arm.
He slammed the scroll heavily onto the table in front of Kakuzu.
"Smack!"
The scroll landed next to the ledger.
The force was so great that the brass desk lamp on the table shook and the light flickered.
The edge of the scroll emitted a strong, earthy smell.
Sealing point.
It bears the mark of a dark yellow clay seal.
On the mud surface, the large red seal of Iwagakure was clearly stamped.