Being a merchant sucks
Haggling down prices to get the most profit is not really in my nature. It's also not in my nature to sell products that are outrageously above what they are worth.
That's not to say that all Merchants take advantage of their customers as that's not necessarily true. Trading is all about the convenience of bringing items from a strange lands to your own.
Spices and fruits that might not necessarily grow well in the environment you are used to.
Of course, they are going to upsell those things because they are rare in the place where you reside. if you really interested in the product you could of course go to those strange lands yourself and purchase them for much cheaper.
That is the genuine notion behind merchants in most medieval settings. A more modern world certainly makes those transactions a lot more convenient and widespread but it's all about supply and demand.
Playing those intricate games in which you push your customers as far as they would reasonably go is annoying. I could only thank the gods that my own VIP access to the trading Network made deals with me far more lucrative.
A 10% Discount and a 15% Cashback in an absurd talent in being a merchant. Using those talents I would be able to sell 24% below market Standard and still make a reasonable profit. That would of course draw attention but if I sold at a 10% loss in most things then people would only assume I had an abundance of resources.
That or I was a sucker that could be taken advantage of. If this of course is assuming that I don't trade in large volumes as that would disturb the market itself. Which was a problem because I was planning on supporting a rebellion which means I need to deal in large volumes.
At least I hoped to. I got a large number of items to show to the Rebellion and I was going to show the elders it soon. Wildfire was already noted but I also got a wide variety of magical explosions to offer them.
War is not just about Manpower it's also about resources. If you can throw enough money at a problem usually it can go away. Even the lack of Manpower can be subsidized by money. It wouldn't get you loyal troops but you'll certainly get mercenaries and outlaws working for your side rather quickly.
Getting the attention of the council was rather easy as I just had to send Ringo. She was a notable figure and any action she took required attention. Not to mention my own voice had some sort of power here but not a lot.
I was less of an important member of the rebellion and more of a resource at this point but I hoped to change that.
I did find something rather interesting when Ringo told me it.
Apparently I did not meet the entirety of the Rebellion Council. No, I had only been talking to the three strongest clans as the rest of them were not deemed important enough to meet me.
The Yuki family was almost wiped out from the Bloodline purges so their voice did not carry much power. Even if their members were rather powerful.
We also had some members of the Hozuki Clan. They did not have a bloodline as their hydrification was a Jutsu so the vast majority of the clan stood on Yagura side. The thing is that when opportunity strikes the ambitious will move. So members looking to advance themselves above their Clan leader joined our side.
As you can imagine their lack of numbers and the Clan's status as an enemy of the Rebellion made their voices not as loud as the other clans.
Finally, we had the Funato Clan. They had a bloodline and they were even rather powerful but their dedication to the cause was not as apparent as the rest of the clans. Due to their Bloodline they were on the sea constantly and they had an easy time avoiding Yagura. So they were not that willing to throw bodies at the madman when they could just hide.
There was just one more faction in the Rebellion. It was the clanless ninjas. Most of that demographic worked for Yagura of course but some of them worked for us.
Maybe they felt some sort of sympathy for the ninja being killed for no good reason. Maybe they felt that following a Madman was not in their best interest. Maybe they saw the chaos for the ladder that it was and they were trying to advance beyond their station.
Whatever the case may be we did have a faction of non-clan members. They had elected a leader as their representative on the council but they drew some suspicion from the rest of the rebellion due to their non-clan member status. So they had to keep a good distance from me.
No one wanted me to die before I could plant my seed after all.
I may have made myself a valuable commodity but with this move I wish to become even more important. But in a way that would allow me some more autonomy.
I had to be drawing this vast amount of resources from somewhere after all. Maintaining relationships with dealers and suppliers while expanding a network. Even without my impressive ability to resurrect the backbone of the economy would be on my whims.
Now with my Coat, I'd be able to leave the compound whenever I wished but that was not the same freedom that I was looking for.
Ringo and I have been walking towards the new meeting as I contemplated this. I looked over at my company with a small smile.
While she did not look that different from her previous state a healthy sort of rosy glow was in her cheeks. She no longer had that unhealthy pale pallor that more resemble a corpse.
The CON stat was really doing good for her. I have even seen her new training regiment and she really is pushing herself far beyond what she was capable of before. Which is really impressive considering how hard she trained usually.
Since she was in my party she was able to grind out her skills a lot more effectively in comparison to before. It's a shame that she could not grind out her stats in a similar fashion but she doesn't have the gamer body which was the important aspect of that.
She looked over at me with a raised eyebrow.
"What's going on brat? You fascinated with Onee-chan face? Can't blame you but you should focus on what is coming." Ringo spoke out lightly with a smile on her face.
"Eh, just appreciating you Onee-chan. Do you think those old coots are going to give me a lot of trouble?" I asked as we were walking down the hallways.
I'm sure there were some ears listening in on our conversation but I was not revealing anything all that important. Hell, the only thing that would be worth mentioning was my disrespect for the elderly.
That sort of thing could be attributed to youthful arrogance and considering my own abilities people would assume that would be the case.
I did think I had a vast amount of potential but I had no doubt in my mind that when the big guns came out I was a non issue.
Mei is not the legendary kage that she would eventually turn out to be but she could certainly whip my ass at the moment. That did not speak well for my shot at handling anyone of real importance.
Fuck, Kakuzu could run circles around me and I would consider him near the bottom of his organization.
Ringo blushed at my comment as she appreciated the appreciation but shrugged it off quickly.
"Not really. They might not take you seriously but they won't be too blatant about their dislike as they want to win you over. I'm sure if they see what you are offering they will throw whatever you want at you." Ringo spoke out after she thought over what was happening.
I was tempted to ask why she wanted me to prepare if this was not going to be troublesome but dropped it as we reached the door to the meeting room.
Ringo opened the door and I looked inside to see who I was dealing with.
The three elders that I saw before were seated in the same block. The old Terumi lady gave me a friendly smile while the Kaguya guy stared at me creeply.
Ol shark face was as hard to read as ever.
The other seats were occupied with unfamiliar faces.
A pale man with long black hair and a harmonious smile on his face. I'm assuming he was the Yuki head as the guy was shooting off major Haku vibes even if it was clear he was a man.
The Hozuki member was clear to see as he had the iconic drippy white hair. He looked over with no emotions on his face but there was something deeper going on behind those blank eyes.
The final two chairs were empty. I guess the civilian side knew that getting close to me was a pipe dream and the Funato Clan did not feel like getting involved in this.
"Nice to see you three again and it's a pleasure to meet the Yuki and Hozuki heads." I let out as I bowed to the elders in the room.
The Yuki's head shot back a polite smile while a glint appeared in the Hozkui's eyes. The guy could not make it any clearer that he enjoyed being pointed as the head of his clan.
"The lady of thunder said you wish to meet us about something important? Is everything alright Ito-kun?" The old lady questioned trying to establish her closeness to me. I would roll my eyes but that might offend her.
"Did you change your mind about meeting my granddaughter?" The Kaguya head spoke out which caused the old lady to let out a huff and an annoyed glare.
"No, I'm still quite fine with where I am now. I came here today to help out the Rebellion." I spoke out with seriousness. As serious as an 11-year-old could look at least.
"Kid you are doing more than enough where you are. We can't risk you on missions that others could be assigned to." The shark man spoke out as soon as I finished.
The other two elders seemed to agree with that sentiment but that was to be expected. The Yuki clan also looked like he wanted to convince me but it was the Hozuki who spoke out.
"Come now, the child wants to fight for the cause who are we to deny him that? From Mei-sans report he could handle most Jonin by himself there is no need to coddle him." The Hozuki shot out with a calm expression on his face. The other three clan heads glared at him immediately.
"He may have the strength to fight on the front lines but he fills a much more important position here. If he was sent on a mission and one of our Elite died we might lose the chance to recover them. if he just stayed here we will know for a fact that we can save their lives." The old lady shot back with the sort of refinement you would expect from the elderly.
It looked like an argument was going to take place and my words would lose all meaning so I cut in here.
"There is a bit of a misunderstanding here. I do plan on helping out the Rebellion but I was not looking at getting involved with missions." I spoke out seriously as I looked over at everyone.
The Hozkui head had a calm smile on his face but there was this aura of negativity about him. The guy really wanted me on those front lines. I have to watch out for that.
The old lady calmed down when she knew I was not going to charge into battle right this instant. I wonder how she would react if she knew Ringo and I planned on raiding the Ninja world for all it was worth.
"That's good Ito-kun, we would hate to lose you." The Kaguya member piped in this time not interrupted with a glare.
"So what are you here for?" Finally, the shark guy asked.
"I know getting certain supplies is rather difficult for us right now so I was going to use some contacts I know to bring in some resources. Let me show you what I can offer." I spoke out as I started to take stuff out of my inventory.
The various objects I laid out raised some eyebrows but most of them had disinterested looks on their face.
"These items over here are similar to Exploding tags but they instead blow up when breaking the vessel." I point out to a series of crystals that were charged up with Gem Magic. Buying the gems was usually expensive but these were low quality scrap that could barely hold the Mana I fed it.
If I had some proper gems I could make explosions rivaling missile strikes.
"Hmm, How hard are they to break? How is the yield in comparison to tags?" The shark asked while the other remained silent. I was somewhat thankful to the guy as he was the only one really interested in what I was offering.
"A good throw would burst them, a Genin should have enough strength to throw them. As for the yield they slightly exceed exploding tags. I would demonstrate but this place is not exactly good for explosions." I explained and I got some raised eyebrows and muttered conversations.
"What about the cost? These things may be better than tags but they look like gems and that can't be cheap." The old lady piped in this time.
"Not as expensive as you think but I do admit they cost about twice what you would pay for a tag but these gems are not all I am offering," I explained and the others started making calculations about what to do.
"In terms of price and power, I would actually recommend this." I pointed out to the vase of Wildfire. Everyone looked at it with more interest this time.
"This is called Wildfire. When the vessel is broken a green fire will be released from the confines. The fire burns hot enough that it can not be put out with water and it explodes as soon as the vessel is broken. More importantly, it is far cheaper than tags but in exchange, it is rather volatile to work with." I explained and this drew much more chatter.
I knew that it would as the Wildfire was the best object I had for explosions at the moment.
"While weapons are good I can also get you medicines. These bottles contain a liquid that heals most damage to you as long as you are not missing any of your bits you will recover." I explained as I pointed at the various bottles of red liquid arranged here. That drew a silence as they looked over at the bottles with contemplation on their faces.
"I know that is a rather high claim so you can take these ones as samples and treat the wounded in the base." I waved off the potions as they needed to be tested.
"Finally I have contacts for various grains and food stuffs. Perhaps not the most impressive feat but I should be able to feed the rebellion with out any issues." I finished out as I looked over at the rest of the room.
Now all that was left was sealing the deal here.