Chapter 136

"Add another two hundred thousand, we still have some left from selling the seals to our own," I added.

"Still seems a bit tight. It's better to look for an already built shop and buy it from the owner. That way, we can start trading almost immediately and spend less money on construction."

"It would also be desirable not to have to travel to the other end of Konoha from here," I added, slightly grimacing from the returning memories of crashing into a tree — the expression "to run into a tree" in this case took on a completely literal meaning.

"Then, if we're looking, it should be in the center or on the outskirts near the wall on our side," Saya agreed, "actually, the location doesn't matter as much to us as it does to other merchants — we won't have to look for buyers, they'll come to us. The benefits of having no serious competitors."

"Then, will you take care of that? We need to get everything done before I enroll in the academy. I can make various seals with the clones right now, but we'll need to buy paper and ink, and as for setting up the shop's defense, that can only be done after its purchase and renovation, which will take at least a couple of weeks of work for me alone."

"Perhaps, for the search, we'll have to involve someone from the clan," Saya sighed, "maybe Nami knows someone who can help us with the purchase and paperwork."

Hmm, I haven't interacted closely with her enough to have an idea of Nami's capabilities, but considering the extensive connections of this lively member of the Nara family even beyond the clan walls, it's quite possible.

"Then you talk to her, and if there are several options, we'll choose," I agreed.

"Okay."

"Alright, all my clones have dispersed, so it's time for me to work myself," I nodded to Mom and, getting up, stretched a bit before heading off to train Shunshin.

I hope our trading venture will be successful and bring in a stable income. Of course, with the lack of proper fuinjutsu masters in Konoha, we're practically doomed to success, but considering the almost complete lack of experience in trading and even less in handling various necessary documentation, uncertainty still remains.

Exactly a month later, I was approvingly examining the two-story house with all amenities that we bought from the village, with an excellently equipped shop on the ground floor. In addition to the house itself, located on a small street between the Nara and Yamanaka clan quarters, there was also a decent piece of land behind it, equipped as a training ground. Previously, all of this belonged to some shinobi, but he had the misfortune to die early in the war, leaving no heirs. Considering his refugee origin, all documents for ownership of the land went to the village treasury.

The opening of the shop was quite funny altogether — as soon as Nami heard about Mom's desire, she immediately dragged the fund keeper to us, Tensei Nara, who was responsible for the clan's financial affairs in the absence of Shenesu. He offered to fully pay for the purchase of land and building construction in any convenient place for us, with the right to priority execution of the order in the clan storerooms and a fifty percent discount for all Naras. Considering that the usual discount is about a third — it was quite an acceptable offer.

And it gets even better. It hadn't been a couple of days since the start of the search for a suitable place, when the commander of the Anbu himself showed up and, after saying a bunch of compliments to Mom, found out if the rumors were true and very politely asked about the quality of the master's work. And as soon as I showed him a couple of samples, he immediately asked if we wanted to conclude a contract for supplying seals to the Anbu with a hefty bonus of exemption from all kinds of levies.

As it turned out, merchants who contribute directly to the strengthening of the village's forces received lots of different perks. Starting from the cancellation of most taxes, more complete access to the part of the public library closed to ordinary residents in the service of family members, and ending with preferential prices for hospital services, as well as ordered missions and an increased level of performing shinobi.

The difference in payment was covered from the village budget, as in the case of the daimyo's rule. As a result, a quite impressive list of privileges was obtained. That's what it means — supplying a limited resource in conditions of a formed deficit. But who would have thought that there would be such demand for quality fuin, and such a big one would come to us?

I was drawing various seals in batches at Saya's request and stuffing them myself, just in case, so it was a big surprise for both of us. It was at the commander's suggestion that we quickly found papers for a dozen suitable places in the archives, from which we chose the best option. The purchase cost us only three million ryo, practically for nothing, considering that the real price of such a house with land is about eight, and that's without markup.

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