"That should be enough…"
Taro placed the last scroll on the wagon and smiled. The scroll contained many products, mainly cleansing products such as soap.
In the Naruto world, soaps exist, but are not abundant, especially in poor countries like the Land of Wind. The only people who own soap in the Land of Wind are wealthy people like nobility and merchants.
During the last few weeks, Taro had been using the blueprint item given to him by the system. This allowed him to create plenty of items with the help of the iron golem and villagers that happily helped with food as payment.
Taro stared at the 10 wagons in front of him that carried enough goods to feed an entire country for years.
The wagons were simple with nothing special added to them. It was something the clansmen built to not waste any more money. However, due to the secrecy of the mission, the Hosai clan had decided to not buy any horses to pull the wagons.
Instead, Taro taught the ninjas the shadow clone jutsu, so 5 people can use the shadow clone to pull all 10 wagons all at the same time. Although it was cruel, it's normal for ninjas to pull wagons themselves, as it's cheaper and they can maintain a constant speed longer than a horse.
Moreover, the ninjas have been training with Toji for three months. With Toji practicing and training for the Eight Inner Gates, the physical training of the ninjas had been 10x more difficult than normal.
Taro couldn't help but chuckle as he thought of the ninjas suffering under Toji.
He looked up at the sky and said, "It's getting dark, they'll be departing tonight when everyone is already sleeping." Taro paused and looked around, "Dad should've gotten rid of spies near our clan."
Suddenly, Taro perked up, "I nearly forgot! I gotta give Toji those items I got after grinding for them…" He sighed while opening a portal to the Minecraft world, "If only I knew a farm for that item, I'd be a god in this world."
As Taro was gathering the items, Toji and his team of ninjas are having a last meeting inside the clan.
Toji placed a map on the table and pointed at the southern port of the Land of Wind, where many merchants gather for sea transportation, "Our first stop will be at the Southern Sea Port, where we will get on board to head to the Land of Tea."
Pointing at the northern port of the Land of Tea where many nobility and merchants stay, Toji continued, "In the northern port of the Land of Tea, we'll stop for a few days to trade some luxury items, not our main goods." He looked at everyone and said seriously, "Remember to keep everything a secret and only sell luxury goods."
Knowing that almost all merchant in the northern port of the Land of Tea are people from the Land of Wind and the Land of Rivers, it would be weird to trade massive amounts of grains, as the Land of Wind doesn't have much in reserves and the daimyo would surely buy almost all of it.
After explaining what they'll be doing in the Land of Tea, Toji moved his finger at the Land of Water, "This is where we will trade our main goods. We'll be staying at the Land of Water for quite some time, as Taro had asked us to gather some high quality equipment there."
The main reason Taro wanted weapons in the Land of Water was because of their famous blacksmithing. In the entire ninja world, the Land of Water has the best blacksmiths in the world, with the only people contending with them being the Land of Iron.
These weapons weren't gonna be used to strengthen the merchant guild, as nearly all of them had an enchanted sword with them, with the only exception being Toji who doesn't require any ninja tools.
The high quality ninja tools would be used in the next batch of enchantments for the clan. During the past few months, Taro had been experimenting with different types of swords. And most swords that came from the Land of Water were far more superior than anything Taro obtained, even the swords created by Elder Fuji himself.
However, this wasn't the only reason why Taro wanted the merchant guild to make their way into the Land of Water. One of the main reasons being that the Land of Water ninjas are known to be sword fanatics, same as the Land of Iron's samurais.
Taro knew for a fact that many ninja clans would covet the enchanted swords, even if the enchantments were only low sharpness levels. The only people who could afford the high enhancement ninja tools were nobilities or big clans.
Although Taro knew that the swords would sell for a ton of money, he knew that the real money makers were the small and affordable items, such as the paper bomb.
A female ninja from the merchant group raised her hand and asked, "Sir Toji, why can't we just go to the Land of Fire? Not many people from the Land of Wind trade there anyway, as most of the Land of Fire metals come from their own mines and from the Land of Iron."
She looked at the map and continued, "If anything, we trade with the Land of fire more than the Land of Water, to keep our identities a secret."
Toji sighed, "It's simple… They're too rich!"
The lady tilted her head and asked, "Huh? Wouldn't that be better for us? Are you saying that they won't find our goods appealing? But that shouldn't be it, since most of the clans there are at war. Our goods that can increase their power would surely sell for a lot."
Toji nodded, "That's right, it would be beneficial… But because the Land of Fire is rich, many merchants already have ties with clans and nobility there. The Land of Fire also produces their own grains. They would only buy a few if they don't make enough, which rarely happens with their abundant rich soils."
Toji sighed, "If we can only sell weapons, then we might as well sell to the Land of Water who would pay the same, if not more to obtain the weapon we sell. What's more, the Land of Water is far from our border, while the Land of Fire only has the Land of Rivers as a buffer state."
A young man in the middle of the group asked, "But that doesn't make sense. Shouldn't they still want to buy the cheaper goods?"
Toji let out a chuckle, "Ken, look at us, do we look trustworthy especially with a mask on?" He paused and took the mask off, revealing a helpless smile, "They're so rich that they have the time to ask where so much goods came from. Unlike other nations that are too poor to care where the food came from, as long as it feeds them, it's good enough."
The young man, who was known as Ken, spoke once again, "Why would you need trust to sell food? Food is food, and besides, they can check whether it's already bad or not."
Toji sighed as he had to explain more and more about the actions of the merchant guild.
In truth, there would be a lot of clans willing to buy the goods produced by the merchant guild, but what Toji said was also true. Because of the current tension between clans in the Land of Fire, many clans would not willingly buy cheaper food from an unknown merchant.
The reasoning behind such actions is simple: enemy clans.
Clans who are fighting one another would do anything to achieve victory. Unknown merchants can be people who have been hired by the enemy clan or the clansmen themselves. They can be there to spy or worse, attack the clan through poison or through backstab.
It's infinitely safer to buy from someone you know and trust for a little extra money—something your clan has in abundance in the Land of Fire—rather than risk dealing with some random group just to save a few ryō.
After all, would you rather buy from a friend knowing you will be safe, or someone you haven't met before, when you know that someone is out there trying to kill you.
Once Toji explained everything and their next route after the Land of Water, he pointed at the middle of the map, "Our main base will be here, the Land of Rain."
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What's good yall, I just wanna mention that this is sort of the last chapter of volume 1. The rest of volume 1 would just consist of Toji and the merchant guild, the MC won't be here for a while. His next full appearance would be in volume 2, where the story will focus on him again.
This merchant arc would probably take around 20+ chapters. It might be boring to a few so I just wanted to inform you guys. Start stocking up on chapters or maybe stick with me as I write :))