Mashiro sighed, "Nao, mind your manners…"
Kise just chuckled at his antics and started the meeting.
The first topic of the meeting was, of course, the resources of the clan. Since the beginning of last month, the tons of wheat given by Taro were depleting, and nearly half was gone. Missions needed to be completed and new equipment needed to be bought alongside the basic necessities.
Elder Nori, the elder of finance and trade, glared at Mashiro and said, "With everything going on, our clan patriarch bought unnecessary luxury goods by buying livestock, something we cannot maintain!"
Many murmured, and one of the elites asked, "I'm sure we have a solution… The clan patriarch won't just make a reckless decision." He looked at Mashiro, pleading for himself to be right.
Almost all the elites were in their thirties and forties, around the same generation as Mashiro, who was thirty-eight this year.
Nori added, "Even if he has a solution, is it really necessary to buy cows?! War is looming, the powerful clans are now fighting for territories after the Daimyo's assistance last month! All the other clans are also getting ready for territorial expansion! We need this money for equipment to better defend our clan!"
Some of the elders nodded, and Elder Fuji laughed, "Hahahahahaha! You fool!"
Nori turned to the one who spoke and asked, "Am I wrong, Elder Fuji? With all due respect—"
Before he could continue, Elder Fuji stood up and walked right next to the wagon Taro brought over. "These weapons… I've personally checked them myself just yesterday, and they all have unique abilities."
He paused and pointed at Taro. "He has created these magnificent weapons! A single weapon given to an ordinary clan member could beat an experienced squad leader (Jonin)!"
Waves of shock gasped throughout the meeting room, and one elite asked, "Is that really true?!"
Nori, not convinced, argued, "Even if that's true, that's at most forty ninja tools! What the problem here isn't ninja tools, but money! We just don't have the damn money!"
Everyone just sighed, as they all knew it was the truth.
Elder Nori wasn't evil, or against the current ruling clan head. However, when your clan is so broke, your stress level would be off the charts.
Before he could speak any further, Taro jumped in, "Elder Nori, please excuse my interruption. However, I believe I have already fixed the money and food problem of the clan."
Elder Nori turned around, ready to explode, "What would you—"
Before he could speak any further, Mashiro cut him off, "Let the boy speak."
Taro thanked Mashiro with a nod, then asked one of the ninjas that went with him to grab something. Not long after, the ninja walked inside the meeting room with two chickens and a pot.
Taro began his presentation that would soon change the entire clan, or maybe even the entire Land of Wind.
"Everyone, in the past few months, I have been researching many different topics. Before I even opened my chakra, I wanted to do something for the clan, and using my brain, I have created these."
Taro pointed at the swords behind him and continued, "These swords have unique abilities. But these aren't what I was truly focused on."
He took the pot from the ninja's hand and placed it on the ground. Then, he took out a bag full of wheat seeds and placed a dozen of them in the pot.
Once the wheat seeds were in the pot, he took something from Nao: bone meals. "These here are bone meals, one of the things I've created. With these bone meals, we can grow endless wheat in a barren land with only a few fertile soil. This small, yet priceless item can grow plants in seconds!"
Shocked murmurs echoed throughout the meeting room once again, with Elder Nori asking for proof, "Then show it. I want to see it."
Without hesitation, Taro showered the pot with bone meals, and in seconds, the wheat began to grow. In only three seconds, the wheat was fully grown, ready to harvest.
Everyone stood up in an instant and rushed toward the pot. "I-It's real…"
Elder Doken gave the elite ninjas a stern look and ordered, "Make sure no one leaves or enters this place. Have someone scout the area, and let no one get close, not even a damn rat."
All elite ninjas nodded and disappeared in seconds.
Elder Doken gave a concerned look. "Taro, do you know what you've just created? You just created something that could destroy an entire country… If word were to get out…"
Kise interrupted, "I can assure you, Elder Doken. No one in this room will say anything, and if they do, I'll personally kill them myself."
Doken sighed, "Do you have more of these, Taro? And can you recreate it?"
Taro nodded, "Yes, I can make a ton of these. However, I can only make them at the cave."
Doken replied, "Good. Then from now on, I'll have three elite ninjas guarding you and the cave 24/7."
Nori stood up and picked up the pot from Taro's hands, "So… You've been creating this for the past few months? How on earth did you even make it?"
Taro chuckled, "I wasn't done with my presentation, Elder Nori, I have a few more items I made."
Everyone's eyes turned wide open as they all asked in unison, "You have more?!"
Taro asked the ninja who was holding the chickens to place them on the ground. Then he took out some seeds, and finally, he secretly took something from the system: the 'Stat Shots' syringes he got from the system.
"I made this not too long ago, but I've been theorizing how to make it for a while now. I call it Super Serum. It was originally meant for humans, however once I tested it out on animals, I noticed something odd."
What Taro was saying was a fabricated lie. He just wanted a reason for the effects of the Minecraft food without saying it was from Minecraft.
The seeds he took out were from Minecraft, and once everyone had their eyes on them, Taro took the syringe in his hand and dropped a single drop of the liquid inside the syringe.
Finally, he placed the seeds onto the ground, feeding the two chickens. Then suddenly, the two started raw dogging in front of old geezers who hadn't gotten laid in years.
"W-What is the meaning of this?!" one of the elders yelled, flustered.
"Why would you show us such disgusting creatures?!"
"My eyes! Make them stop!"
"Oh~ Oh wow~ He has some technique… Ahem, I mean stop this at once!"
Once the two stopped mating, the female stood up and laid an egg, which began to crack.
"W-What? It has already produced an egg? And the chick is coming out this fast?!"
The baby chick made it out without any trouble. Then, to the surprise of everyone, it began to grow, visible to the eyes. Everyone stayed silent for twenty minutes as the chick turned into a fully fledged adult.
"Taro… What was that?" Even Kise was surprised.
"This serum is meant to improve the body of ninjas, to make them stronger. However, after changing some ingredients and putting it on the food of animals, they begin to mate and their offspring grow faster than normal," Taro explained.
One of the elders had an idea, "Can we use this on humans? What if we feed our clansmen these and create fully grown soldiers in minutes?!"
Taro shook his head, "Sadly, this version of the serum is poisonous to the human body…"
The elder was downcast, but soon cheered up once everyone realized that they could now eat meat every day.
"We can finally eat meat every day!"
"We could use this strategically."
Elder Nori banged his table, "Don't you all see what's going on? Yes, this is a blessing to the clan, but once everyone figures out that we somehow have more food than everyone around us, all clans will hunt us down, even the major clans!"
The elders stopped their daydreaming of food and got serious. Elder Nori nodded in approval, "We need to keep this a secret and form an anonymous merchant team. We can use the hide from cows or sell wheat cheaply. We can use this strategically and earn money to build up our military."
Elder Doken agreed, "He's right. I suggest we sell these goods south. There are fewer powerful clans there and the reach of major powers is basically non-existent in the south."
When everyone was agreeing to the plan, Kise disagreed. "I don't think we should build power by ourselves."
Mashiro frowned, "What do you mean?"
"I agree with Elder Nori that we should earn money. But I don't think we should be the ones defending—we should be attacking. We need to wage war and unify the surrounding clans."