After the commotion inside the door died down, Minato Namikaze looked at Mikoto Uchiha, using his eyes to signal what to do next.
Mikoto tilted her head and pointed at the door, indicating that it was his turn.
Minato hesitated for a moment and then reached out to knock on the door.
"Come in."
Haruki's voice sounded, and it seemed no different from usual.
Minato secretly breathed a sigh of relief and pushed the door open.
Haruki was sitting at the table, but Tsunade was nowhere to be seen.
Minato's high emotional - quotient told him it was better not to inquire what had happened right then.
"Teacher, Mikoto and I followed your instructions to track the latest actions of Sunagakure. Now we're here to report."
"Okay, go ahead." Haruki nodded and said.
He didn't bring anyone else with him this time.
So he assigned the task of gathering information to Minato and Mikoto.
In fact, they were extremely suitable for it.
Minato Namikaze was the fastest man in the ninja world and was excellent at escaping. Mikoto Uchiha's Three - Tomoe Sharingan had extraordinary insight and hypnosis abilities, making her well - suited for gathering information.
In a way, it was a waste.
After all, using the Flying Thunder God and the Sharingan to do Anbu's work.
"After we left, The Third Kazekage immediately called a Jonin meeting to discuss the plan you proposed. Those who opposed were all arrested. After the meeting, Chiyo led many Puppet Brigades to the metropolis of the Land of Wind."
"Oh? He's more decisive than I thought."
Haruki stroked his chin, not very surprised.
When in a desperate situation, one will seek change.
People will firmly abandon their dignity when they are truly at the end of their tether.
If it were Konoha, and Haruki proposed these plans, Hiruzen Sarutobi's first reaction would be to suspect that he had ulterior motives, rather than being overjoyed.
This was because Konoha was far from being in a desperate situation.
Hiruzen Sarutobi had room to consider more.
It's indeed true that a timely help is better than a mere flattery.
"Based on the current situation, The Third Kazekage basically trusts us." Haruki waved his hand. "You two don't have to carry out the duties anymore. Since you're in Sunagakure, you can go around and have a look."
"Okay, Teacher."
After Minato and Mikoto left, Tsunade reappeared in the room.
She really wished she could find a hole to crawl into and didn't dare face them, so she just hid.
Haruki showed a smile.
Seeing this smile, Tsunade got angry.
"Did you notice them earlier?"
"No." Haruki definitely wouldn't admit it. "How could I notice others when I'm with you?"
Tsunade's anger immediately subsided.
She averted her gaze and said, "I'll trust you this time."
Just as Haruki was about to stand up, Tsunade immediately pressed his head down.
"You're going to do something bad again!"
"?"
"I'll go back to my room first."
Tsunade let her hands slide down and gave his face a good rub. Seeing the funny face squeezed out, she couldn't help but smile, and then disappeared.
Haruki blinked his eyes.
What was going on?
He guessed that Tsunade's face might have reached its limit, so she just fled in a hurry.
Haruki didn't have much to do.
After waiting for a while, he planned to ask Tsunade to go shopping. But then, there was another knock on the door.
He welcomed his second group of guests for the day.
The Third Kazekage and Rasa.
When Haruki saw these two, he basically guessed their purpose.
Many of the plans he proposed would be hard to see profits from in a short time. But only the Gold Dust business promised immediate huge profits.
Since the Third Kazekage brought Rasa here, it meant he had agreed to Haruki's deal.
"Please have a seat."
Haruki took a few steps back and then returned to his seat, pouring two cups of tea for them.
He glanced at Rasa, who was silent and seemingly annoyed, but ignored him. Then he asked with a smile, "Hey, Lord Kazekage, what's the matter?"
"It's about the Gold Dust. I saw in your plan that you want to buy Gold Dust at a price 10% higher than the market price. I want to know why?"
"What? Does Lord Kazekage not want to sell?" Haruki raised his eyebrows.
"Of course not."
The Third Kazekage hesitated for a moment and then told the truth. "If it were someone else, I wouldn't ask. But with your amazing insights, I believe you must have a good reason. The profit might exceed my imagination."
"So you want a share of the pie?"
"Let's deepen our cooperation," the Third Kazekage said skillfully.
"Well, it's not impossible."
Haruki thought carefully. The gold industry was extremely profitable, but first, he needed to build the concept of a brand because his target customers were nobles.
It was already a stretch for his people to handle the business in the Land of Fire.
It wouldn't be a bad idea to let the Third Kazekage handle the Land of Wind.
"Could you elaborate?" the Third Kazekage asked eagerly.
"Gold jewelry."
"Jewelry?" The Third Kazekage immediately looked disappointed. Of course, he also knew about jewelry, but the price wasn't much different from that of Gold Dust.
"Right. Your processing of Gold Dust or jewelry is too rough," Haruki couldn't help shaking his head.
In the original story, the necklaces and rings that appeared weren't very nice.
Take the necklace of the First Hokage, known as the "Death Necklace", for example. It was just a string with a jade.
"I don't understand," the Third Kazekage asked puzzledly.
"Okay, today I'll tell you about the concept of luxury goods," Haruki said with a smile, and started to explain the real reason for making money.
"What?" The Third Kazekage widened his eyes.
"Let me give you a simple example. If there were an extremely exquisite gold necklace designed with the concept of the metropolis in the Land of Wind, and then with the help of public opinion to promote it, saying that this necklace represents the noble status and unique aesthetic taste, do you think you'd buy it?"
"I'd buy it," the Third Kazekage thought for a while and said.
"This is the power of a brand. For things of the same quality, a brand with meaning and a story will have a price far higher than the market price."
...
The Third Kazekage sized Haruki up and down.
He once again felt that his intelligence was being crushed and that this kind of tricky move was really crazy.
"So, do you want to cooperate? Let's create a brand together and compile a thrilling origin story for it."
"Of course!" The Third Kazekage agreed without hesitation, and then asked, "Why do we need to make up a story?"
"To add a sense of legend."
Haruki said and explained, "For instance, we can promote this brand in the Land of Wind by claiming it was a keepsake from the Land of Wind's founder to his beloved girl. Sadly, she died in the war before seeing him again, so he tossed the necklace into the desert, and we unearthed it accidentally hundreds of years later."
"Is this gonna work?" The Third Kazekage looked totally gobsmacked.
"No one can prove it's real, and no one can prove it's fake either, right?"
Haruki shrugged. "True or false, as long as someone believes this tragic love story, they'll be willing to pay for it."
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