Konoha: Rebuild the glory of the Uchiha

Chapter 78 When the sickle falls, not a single leek is grown in vain.

Futures Trading Hall

"Ha, a bunch of suckers!"

Kakuzu stood confidently on the third floor, looking down at the retail investors still in the lobby on the first floor. After more than a month of trading, Kakuzu's capital had successfully entered the VIP room!

"Lord Kakuzu, the fruit platter and desserts are here."

The servants placed plates of beautifully presented food in front of Kakuzu. This set meal was not cheap; it cost 8888 taels for one meal.

The taste is naturally excellent, but at this price, it's clear that what you're paying for isn't the taste, but rather a sense of status and ritual.

To put it bluntly, it's a scheme to rip off wealthy people.

In the past, Kakuzu would never have ordered this kind of set meal.

But things are different now. Making money is so easy. With Kakuzu's current financial size, he can make millions of dollars in business every minute.

In the past, he worked tirelessly, rain or shine, doing bounty missions 365 days a year, and the money he earned was less than what he made in just one month.

Money is so easy to earn, and life used to be so hard. What's wrong with enjoying yourself now?

Kakuzu waved for the servant to leave, took a toothpick from the plate, picked up a piece, and savored it. It was truly sweet!

While eating, Kakuzu skillfully opened his account. The earnings were followed by a string of zeros, making Kakuzu's dark green eyes practically bulge.

Virtual transactions have moved away from paper money, with transactions involving tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, or even millions of taels of silver. The rising bull market amplified Kakuzu's greed.

Kakuzu, who originally only planned to invest a small amount of money, abandoned his previous principles immediately after witnessing the speed at which financial magic could generate wealth. He continued to increase his investment, and has now thrown in more than 300 million ryo!

The returns are naturally substantial; the total value of the futures contracts has tripled, while the price of pig iron has reached its previous high, increasing eightfold.

However, the price of pig iron is already high, and it could plummet if there is any disturbance.

In the past, pig iron prices were controlled by nobles and merchants. If the price fell to a certain level, they would actively support it and raise the price. This time, the situation is much more complicated, with too many retail investors entering the market.

Street vendors, landlords, wandering samurai, rogue ninjas, bounty hunters—all sorts of people got involved in this deal. Some of them didn't even understand the concept of futures before buying in.

Once prices fall, a panic-driven collapse will instantly sweep through the entire futures market, causing prices to plummet to a level that would be unrecognizable even to one's own parents.

It's trading sideways.

This time, the price remained flat for a full day and a half.

As Kakuzu watched the prices fluctuate, the sweetness in his mouth diminished slightly, and he felt somewhat uneasy. This situation had never occurred before, given how long the market had been trading sideways.

In the past, when prices remained flat, they would often rise again after an afternoon. This time, however, it's clearly different.

Kakuzu's eyes drifted to another large room, the room where White Fang was. White Fang was still reading there unhurriedly, completely unconcerned about the horizontal board in front of him, as if everything was under his control.

Seeing White Fang's calm and composed demeanor, Kakuzu's heart calmed down once again. Now, White Fang was surrounded by layers upon layers of aura.

"The God of Futures Trading!"

"The White Manipulator of the Market"

"A man blessed by money."

These past few days, White Fang's divine intervention in front of everyone has made him seem almost divine in the eyes of these retail investors. It is White Fang who has repeatedly predicted the rise and fall of prices, saving them from dire straits.

Whenever the market fluctuates, White Tooth always steps in to reassure people and predict the upward trend. Every time, White Tooth's predictions are absolutely accurate!

Even nobles and merchants looked at this young man, White Fang, with new respect. Every time he spoke, they marveled at his theories and found them to be quite reasonable upon closer examination.

The clever ones among the insects were skeptical of White Fang's theories, listening to them but not taking them seriously. However, they were certain of one thing: White Fang had inside information!

Therefore, you can place an order before the price goes up or down!

Kakuzu held White Fang in the highest esteem, to the point that he practically wore out the secret manual White Fang had given him.

Following the instructions in the manual, Kakuzu correctly predicted some rises and falls, but he was not always right. Kakuzu dreamed of mastering the contents of the manual to the level of White Fang.

Kakuzu approached Sakumo more than once, hoping Sakumo could give him some pointers.

However, the results were always unsatisfactory. White Fang knew nothing about futures trading, and every speech he gave was a memorized script. The content in the book was written by the Hokage, so how could he possibly explain it clearly?

More importantly, the Hokage once solemnly warned White Fang that futures trading is used by insiders and traders to fleece retail investors, and that one should never trade recklessly but must always follow instructions.

Faced with Kakuzu's humble request for guidance, Sakumo Hatake always told Kakuzu to read more books and practice more.

White Tooth is also very anxious about the current price of pig iron. This price has made White Tooth's heart jump. In just over a month, the price has soared eightfold.

The last time pig iron prices reached this level was during the fiercest battle between the five great ninja villages.

Now, the war has only just begun, and the price has already risen to this level. On the day the price stabilized, White Fang wanted to sell all of his futures.

That's a whopping 80 million taels! That would save White Tooth from struggling for more than ten years!

After a day of anxious waiting, Shiroya finally received the information from Nara Shikamaru.

The final harvest is about to begin.

The scythe that had been laid out for so long was finally about to fall. The simple words in the intelligence report sent a cold sweat down White Fang's back. Although he had long expected this day, when it actually arrived, White Fang still felt dizzy.

With such a huge price increase and such a massive amount of capital involved, everyone in the Land of Fire with a little savings threw their money in.

Ordinary people struggle to survive, constantly on the verge of starvation. The main groups include the middle class, wandering samurai, rogue ninja, and the most formidable nobles and wealthy merchants.

When the bubble bursts, the middle class will put on a spectacular aerial acrobatic show, while wandering samurai and rogue ninjas will likely hunt them down relentlessly.

Meanwhile, nobles and wealthy merchants would display their white teeth prominently at the gold exchange.

In this grand scheme of harvesting韭菜 (a metaphor for exploiting retail investors), White Fang plays the role of pushing them into the abyss, acting as a cheerleader for the manipulators behind the scenes.

This money was incredibly difficult to earn, but no matter how difficult it was, there was no turning back for White Teeth.

Now is the time. White Fang has memorized this script and it's time to send these韭菜 (leeks, a group of easily exploited people) to the sickle.

White Tooth took a deep breath, sat up from the chair, and slowly walked to the side of the stairs. As a futures trading star, every move of White Tooth attracted much attention.

"It's Master White Teeth!"

"Master White Fang is about to speak again, everyone be quiet!"

Is it still a good time to buy a Master White Teeth at this price?

"."

The futures trading hall immediately became lively, with retail investors looking at Bai Ya like pilgrims, hoping to receive his tips.

"Getting nervous again, aren't you? Starting to think about handing over your chips again?"

"I've said it so many times, every time you sell them off cheaply, you'll buy them back at many times the price next time!"

"You must remember this: the current price isn't important, you know? What's important is what will happen in a month or two. You won't see this price anymore!"

"Now is the best time to buy at the bottom. If you are still panicking now, ten years from now, when others have already achieved financial freedom, you will still be doing nothing because you are still hesitating today."

"Buy the dip, you bunch of useless fools!"

"."

White Fang's voice became deep and magnetic, rising in volume like a demon bewitching hearts.

The carefully crafted persona that Uchiha Nan had painstakingly built for Sakumo was now proving effective. Sakumo's words were like a battle cry, and the price of futures contracts surged once again.

"The Ninja World War has begun, and this war will be far more brutal than ever before. The price of pig iron is still only halfway up the mountain!"

"Charge! If the price isn't right, I'll cover it for you, White Teeth!"

"."

The fervent emotions, accompanied by White Fang's shouts, had reached their peak. The gullible investors, blinded by greed, were even planning to throw their entire savings into the scheme. White Fang's image was simply too perfect, causing them to lose their reason.

The shouts, the noise of queuing, and the red curve of rising prices made Kakuzu's heart pound. The price of pig iron was still halfway up the mountain.

If I invest the remaining 700 million taels, wouldn't it double to 1.4 billion? Greed and reason are locked in a battle.

More than a month of futures trading has raised Kakuzu's threshold. Earning tens or hundreds of thousands of taels from a single task is simply too slow. Kakuzu no longer finds such a rate of making money appealing.

Futures trading is still a faster way to make money.

In the end, greed overcame reason, and Kakuzu gambled his entire fortune. White Fang's predictions have never been wrong, and this time will be no exception!

All in!

The nobles and wealthy merchants, being somewhat rational, did not throw their fortunes into the scheme like the common people. They were still waiting for news, for news of the ninja war.

This time, the news came faster than usual: Kirigakure had already landed in the Land of Fire, Konoha and Kirigakure had already clashed, Iwagakure and Konoha were locked in fierce battle, and there were even rumors that Kumogakure would once again join the war.

Among them, Uchiha Nan released a mix of true and false information to confuse the public, and these nobles and merchants had little ability to distinguish between the truth and falsehood in the face of the information spread by the ninja.

Whether it's true or false is no longer important. All the news indicates that the war is still escalating and there are signs that it is reminiscent of the First Shinobi World War.

That kid White Fang really does have inside information!

Even the nobles and big merchants who were still hesitant about increasing their positions have joined the ranks of retail investors and started a new round of bottom-fishing, causing the price of pig iron to soar once again.

Nara Shika, on the other hand, was slowly unloading his stock. This time, the amount involved was as high as 10 billion yen, and with the price increasing nearly tenfold due to speculation, he couldn't unload too much at once and needed to sell it little by little.

To ensure the daimyo wouldn't make any rash decisions, Nara Shikahara took over all of the daimyo's accounts and handed them over to Konoha for management.

With funds amounting to hundreds of billions, Nara Shikagawa was overwhelmed and had to urgently draw on manpower from his clan to bring the situation under control.

Gradually, the price increase of pig iron began to slow down, but it was still rising every day. There were just too many leeks (investors), all of them throwing money in with greedy eyes. The nobles and big merchants were also very wealthy, and with the high-IQ Nara clan manipulating things, everything went exceptionally smoothly.

Rock Hermitage

Sitting in the makeshift camp tent, Tsuchikage Mu had bloodshot eyes. The intense war of attrition was causing Tsuchikage Mu heartache.

Several times, the Tsuchikage Mu wanted to have a one-on-one duel with Uchiha Tomita. He believed that if he could eliminate the frontline commander, the situation would turn around.

However, Uchiha Tomita gave the Tsuchikage no chance at all. Uchiha Tomita's strength definitely held a place in Konoha. Although he had not awakened the Mangekyou Sharingan, he was still a formidable powerhouse.

Even though Tomita Uchiha would be at a disadvantage in a one-on-one fight against the Tsuchikage Mu, Tomita was not alone. He was surrounded by a group of elite Jonin with the three-tomoe rank. If the Tsuchikage Mu were to be alone for even a moment, he would be at risk of being hunted down.

The situation reached a stalemate. Tsuchikage Mu watched the resources being depleted like flowing water and began to consider retreating. The battle lines had been stretched too far, and if this dragged on for another month, they would lose all their resources.

We've fallen into Konoha's trap!

The Tsuchikage felt a bitter taste in his mouth. It seemed that this attack on Konoha would not yield any benefits, and it was time to find an excuse to return to the village.

In any case, this time they attacked into the heart of Konoha, which can be considered acceptable. They won in terms of face but lost in terms of substance.

Konoha had already been exhausted by the barbarians from Kumogakure. This time, Konoha would not fare well in the war of attrition either. Since everyone was exhausted, it meant that no one was a loser!

Tsuchikage comforted himself in this way, his mind racing, preparing to find an opportunity to return to the village in a dignified manner.

It would be best to get Konoha to take the initiative to negotiate with me and extort some compensation from them.

The most direct way would naturally be to kill Uchiha Tomita, but Uchiha Tomita is as slippery as an eel, not giving him any chance for a one-on-one fight.

"Lord Tsuchikage, oh...this is terrible!"

"What's going on? Why are you shouting like that?"

"Could it be that Uchiha Tomita led a small team in a surprise attack?"

The Tsuchikage frowned. What could be worse than this? Even if the Hokage of Konoha went to the front lines, the Tsuchikage wouldn't be afraid. It was just a matter of waging a strategic decisive battle.

This war of attrition has been going on for over a month; a real, decisive battle would be much better.

"No, Lord Tsuchikage!"

"It's the Second Mizukage of Kirigakure, Hozuki Gengetsu, who has led the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist to the flank of our base, intending to launch a surprise attack on our rear."

"The wounded, the food and supplies are all there!"

Tsuchikage's vision went black for a moment, still reeling from the news.

Hozuki Gengetsu circled around most of Konoha and headed straight for our rear.

Are you out of your mind? Just look at a map and you'll know how ridiculous this is!

(End of this chapter)