After a prolonged, awkward silence, Neji and Sasuke looked at each other, a shared, silent acknowledgment of their mutual financial predicament.
"If neither of you is going to open it, how about I handle it?" Naruto suddenly offered.
"You have enough money for that?" Sasuke's eyes widened, genuinely surprised.
"Of course! After all, I sell my product every single day," Naruto boasted, puffing out his chest. "I always make sure to save up; you never know when it might be useful."
His daily sellable Chakra brought in roughly 120,000 points. Therefore, the person currently holding the largest liquid fund was actually Naruto.
"Damn it," Sasuke muttered, remembering Naruto's ridiculous Chakra reserves. He could only look on with undisguised envy.
Even Neji hadn't expected it. He was already surprised that Naruto was a Jar opener, but now finding out Naruto actually had disposable income elevated the situation.
Could it be... that Naruto is the one who has opened the most Jars?
Neji's gaze toward Naruto became exceptionally serious. For Jar openers, no matter how much of a fool they seemed, if they had opened a significant number of Jars, they could never be underestimated. They held the potential for destiny-altering power.
"Forget it," Sasuke said, shaking his head and letting go of the intensity. "Since we are both participating in the Chūnin Exams, fighting now is pointless. Everything can wait until then."
"Indeed." Neji nodded solemnly.
He had suddenly realized that he was currently outnumbered. If the fight continued, he would likely lose and be forced to pay the activation fee for the Stage of Destiny.
A fee he absolutely could not afford.
Having reached a swift consensus, Neji bid them a curt farewell and left.
Sasuke and the others did the same.
From start to finish, neither of them spared another glance for Gaara.
He was completely and utterly ignored.
"Gaara..." Temari looked at him with tense worry. His hands were clenched into fists, trembling slightly, and his eyes, framed by dark circles, were terrifying. All signs pointed to a state of extreme, internal rage.
"This is... truly marvelous!" Gaara's lips stretched into a wide, unnatural smile. "A few more people for me to kill. If I eliminate those individuals, I can definitively prove the meaning of my existence, definitively..."
Fear surged in both Temari and Kankurō's hearts.
But they bowed their heads, daring not to show the slightest hint of their terror.
Shen Mo frowned slightly from above.
If a person was already a firmly established dark alignment, then his path was set, and Shen Mo could arrange the corresponding power for him. But the key was to avoid the unfortunate path of being whitewashed.
Gaara's current darkness was merely the manifestation of deep confusion and pain. If he continued down this confused path, not only would it be pathetic, but he wouldn't achieve true greatness.
Shen Mo sighed. Watching Gaara leave, he decided against making an appearance.
"Master?" Ikaros looked at Shen Mo curiously.
Hadn't he said he was going to introduce her to some existing customers so she could begin her new work?
"I just realized a minor detail," Shen Mo turned to her. "Your clothing needs a slight adjustment."
"Clothing..."
Ikaros looked down at her tight, revealing battle armor, slightly bewildered.
"We'll head back first," Shen Mo said with a warm smile.
He had originally intended to introduce Ikaros to Team 7, but the encounter with Gaara had brought another issue to the forefront.
Ninjas had immense talent, but they didn't necessarily have capital.
Shen Mo had first glimpsed this problem with Hyūga Neji. Had he not intervened, the Jars would likely have been bought by Hyūga Hiashi, or at least a financially capable Jōnin from the clan.
In that scenario, high-quality players like Neji, possessing immense talent and potential, might be excluded from their destiny simply because they lacked initial wealth.
Conversely, if he injected too much cash into the world's economy, the entire economic system would inevitably collapse.
Shen Mo realized he needed a carefully considered, long-term strategy for expansion.
He returned to his room with Ikaros.
Sitting at his desk, he pulled out a notebook.
"Goal," he wrote first.
He began to muse.
"A person's goals shift with growth, status, environment, and new opportunities," Shen Mo murmured to himself.
Before his transmigration, his highest achievable goal was to start his own game company and design games that people would adore. That was his perceived value in life.
Upon first transmigrating, his goal became simple survival, and the means to achieve it was making money through the System's Jar vending.
But now that this initial goal was achieved, a second-stage objective was emerging, solidifying as the Omniscient and Omnipotent Merchant Association gained believers and reputation.
—He wanted to construct a real Merchant Association!
"A true Merchant Association connecting the myriad worlds," Shen Mo licked his lips, excitement bubbling up. "Since the Naruto world exists, other worlds must exist as well. Selling Jars to those worlds is far more exhilarating than starting a game company."
He carefully penned the first entry:
"Goal: Establish a Multi-World Merchant Association."
After consideration, he wrote the next entry:
"Means of Achievement: Profit Generation."
The core issue reverted to making money. Shen Mo mused and wrote:
"Core Profit Method: Selling Jars."
Selling Jars was a superb plan. With the System regulating the transaction range, Jars maximized the influx of wealth from others. This method had to remain central.
The current challenge was twofold: How to expand the pool of potential customers and how to ensure high-potential players obtained sufficient resources.
While developing cross-world power combinations was the ultimate advantage for high-potential players in later stages, they still needed to open Jars first.
Take Gaara, for instance. Talented, yes, but utterly broke. Neji had a guilty uncle; Gaara had a father who wanted him dead.
"Ikaros, come give me a shoulder massage," Shen Mo instructed his angel assistant. He continued his thoughts aloud: "The customers' desire to open Jars is not the issue. I need a way to expand the customer base without collapsing the world's economy, while simultaneously being able to select and support high-potential players."
In short, the most sustainable model required customers to enter a virtuous cycle: Generating Wealth -> Opening Jars -> Increasing Strength.
The biggest bottleneck was clearly the first stage: Generating Wealth!
Shen Mo's eyes lit up. He opened the System interface and searched:
—World Gate.