As the rules were set, I quickly left the main building as it was time to work my magic! If I remembered correctly, the villages do have a food problem which I can't possibly fix in 3 months, so farming wouldn't be an option at least for now. I am thinking of introducing corn to the market but I know for a fact that it still wasn't selectively breed to maximize the yield. Thinking about corn, I started ordering people that were appointed to me to search for the plant around the village.
Drugs are one of the easiest things to profit from, so I started describing the shape of the plant to some other followers, and soon I sent people on a searching spree for a lot of drugs and flowers that have high medical values. My followers were confused at this point but they didn't dare question my decisions.
The difference between me and Fū's strategies comes from the fact the Fū will sell odd things and Danzo will buy them from Fū increasing the 'income' that Fū brought to the clan; which honestly is a good thing for me so I can horde that money after I win this competition.
My strategy on the other side is to create medicines which are one of the most expensive commodities in both this world and my pervious world. All I need is a huge amount of food, in which my followers will provide by hunting down animals, and capturing some for domestication.
I have studied the Akimichi's Calorie Control in depth and came with a pill that would provide ninjas with chakra in times of need, but it might damage their organs in the long run or in case of overdosing it might cause death. All I need to do is to strike a deal with Choza and the Akimichi clan.
Another idea is to hunt down anything that contains caffeine like coffee, tea leaves, cacao beans and many other plants that contain caffeine. I also asked the clansmen to mark down the location of the trees so I can later use them to create a farm.
'How does the caffeine help?' you may ask; caffeine is used in energy drinks, pain killers, soda and a lot other things. I might not have the time to create painkillers or anything complex, but we are talking about a world in which pharmacy has been neglected due to the ninja abilities on inflecting harm on others. The common people have almost no access to medicine, so a pill made out of 30% caffeine and some fillers could be sold to the small villages for a modest price. Later, as money becomes available, developing energy drink as a brand to help academy students and ninja to stay energized, would be very profitable.
The caffeine pills and the chakra pills will help me both economically and politically since it will make the voiceless poor appreciative for providing ‘medicine’. It will also convince a lot of clans into sponsoring my efforts.
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Despite chakra pills and caffeine pills are bot brilliant ideas, they still need initial funding. With the amount of money granted to me at the start, and the support of both the Nara and the Akimichi, I still wouldn’t be able to hire enough people to hunt down animals, drugs and trees for me. So here I am right now heading to the Hokage’s building to ask for my reward for contributing to the village with my ninjutsu.
(Economic Ideas Skip)
As I arrived at the Hokage’s office, I was asked to leave since I don’t have any appointment with the Hokage, so I took a seat and waited. The Anbu were monitoring me as I sat on the chair from 10am to 4pm without moving. I knew not to waste that much time without doing something productive, so I was thinking of the most efficient ways to make the pills, the specifications, and the selling price in which it will bring the best profit. The math was going through my head, and whenever I felt like if I was stuck, I took a long breath and started meditating until I felt enlightened to continue thinking.
Finally, after 6 hours the secretary told me that the Hokage is ready to meet me. I nodded and walked upstairs to meet Sarutobi Hiruzen, the third hokage. I entered and lowered my head in acknowledgment, not bowing nor kneeling. Hiruzen had a bad impression of my performance but he didn’t comment on it, instead he went straight to business “What did you come here for?"
I raised my head and looked him straight in the eyes saying with a very natural tone “I have contributed with an A-rank ninjutsu, but I never received the reward. I am here to receive the reward for the ninjutsu you took without asking for my permission."
Hiruzen tried to convince me otherwise saying “Your ninjutsu is hardly a B-rank! And I have already gave you the reward by paying for your hospital room for 5 months and giving your clan 300,000 Ryo. I have been very generous and you are asking me to give you more?”.
I countered the Hokage’s argument by pointing out “The ninjutsu is quasi S-rank! The reason why you couldn’t see its real power is because your people aren’t qualified and lack the necessary knowledge to put the technique to practice. I could prove to you that Mind Body Withering Technique is at least A-rank, but you have to give me a target so I could show you."
the Hokage started sweating but then shook his head and said “And how much do you want if you proved that it is an A-rank ninjutsu?"
I said with confidence “The money you gave to my clan was mismanaged and wasted, but I won’t ask you to pear the responsibility for it. According to the contribution board, whoever comes with an A-rank ninjutsu will be rewarded with 1,000,000 ryo, and you already paid half of it. So I will ask for 500,00 ryo. It may seem as much, but I promise that in the long run, it will be the best investment you ever made for the sake of the village. I shouldn’t remind you of my achievements, so please be fair and give me a chance to prove it to you”.
Hiruzen seemed to think for a while and then said “We have caught a snake from the land of demons during one of the missions. The snake has an impenetrable scales! As long as you can melt those scales I will admit that it is an A-rank ninjutsu, and if you could melt the whole snake in one go, then I will acknowledge that it is indeed a quasi S-rank ninjutsu and give you 1,000,000 ryo instead of 500,000 ryo. Sounds fair?"
A confident smile appeared on my face as I said “Don’t regret this later. To prove that my Mind Body Withering Technique is practical, release the snake and allow me to fight it. Based on the books I read, the animals in the land of demons can use chakra just like us."
Hiruzen was shocked by my vast knowledge about the world, but agreed to my request nonetheless. It was finally time to show my brilliance!