26. Promotion Strategy

A week passes in the blink of an eye.

Akio is sitting on the counter with a book in his hands. While reading the book, he will nod his head from time to time.

"It's a good story, but good stories like this are bound to be buried in a remote corner of shelves filled with countless books. It will eat dust for who knows how long and will eventually turn moldy. Later, the bookseller will just throw it out in the trash or will use it to warm his house in winter."

Akio closes the book and throws it on a nearby shelf.

"The tale of utterly gutsy shinobi, huh! Jiraiya has a knack for titles. Too bad! It didn't sell that well. After the failure of his first book, he learned a lesson and turned to smut writing.

Well, with the lack of entertainment in this world, Icha Icha went off the charts in terms of popularity. After all, every man has needs, and one way or other he has to do some work with his hands."

Akio chuckles and wonders.

"Should I buy it when he writes the first book?"

While he is lost in his thoughts, a few shinobi enter the shop.

Akio glances at them and checks their stats.

"A team of chunnin!"

The person who seems to be the leader of the group steps forward and asks him.

"We are about to venture on a long mission. So, prepare enough supplies for us, the money isn't the issue."

"Alright!"

Akio nods and picks up a scroll and presents it to the chunnin.

"This is the long-journey pack of our shop. It contains 300 shurikens, 100 kunais, 60 smoke bombs, 20 paper bombs, and a couple of metal wires. It will cost you 300,000 Ryos.

But if you buy a second long-journey pack, then you will get an additional 30 paper bombs as a bonus."

Akio presents another scroll to the group.

"The total cost for these scrolls will be 600,000 Ryos. Also, even if you cannot use this batch during this mission; there is always a next mission. It will also save you some time."

Like a shoddy business owner, Akio presents the scroll to the group of chunnins with a large smile on his face.

Hmm…

"Should we buy it?"

The leader turns to the rest of his teammates as the huge 'bonus' tempts him. There are a group of 12 shinobis. Each of them will equally pay for the cost of supplies. 50,000 Ryo for each person with such large amount of supplies is a bearable expenditure. Also, these supplies will last them for another two months, if everything goes well.

'30 extra paper bombs sound quite tempting. It's almost the reward of a lower C-Rank mission.'

The leader communicates with his team.

"Alright! We will buy both scrolls."

The chunnin leader forks out the money and happily walks away with both scrolls and a pack of paper bombs

Hehe…

Akio's lips curve up as he flips the money scroll in his hand.

"Business is really booming these days, Haha!"

[Shameless!]

The system silently stares at him.

"Nah! It's just business, nothing else."

Akio denies the system's accusation.

"Earlier, I checked their stats and plot Armor stats were in negative for all of them. You know what does that means system?"

[It means they have run out of luck and death is knocking on their door.]

System replies him to with its usual monotonous voice.

"Since they don't have any chance of surviving their next mission, I might as well as milk them out a little since the money will be useless to them in the afterlife.

Besides, their money is in safe hands, i.e., my hands."

[You sound evil!]

Akio chuckles for a while and turns to the system.

"There is no concept of good or evil in this world. It's just a matter of perception and viewpoint. Anyway…"

Akio walks towards the multiple scrolls neatly lined up on a shelf.

"I plan to expand my business and for that, I need capital and a sizeable amount of it. Since more money means more power. So, I will start from this shop."

He stares at various labels engraved on the shelves.

"I am an inherently lazy person, so I have been studying the habits and needs of all sorts of shinobis and trying to find a pattern in them.

After a week of research, I distributed the weapons in various scrolls and lined them up in six different categories: long missions, medium missions, short missions, Heavy Combat missions, group missions, and solo missions. Each of these missions also has three sub-categories.

After sorting everything out, I arranged the number of supplies according to the previously deducted pattern and thus I offer the least sold item as a bonus."

Surprisingly, the paper bombs are the least sold items in the shop. When he asked his mother for the reason, she answered him.

"Even if paper bombs pack quite a power, most shinobis can easily evade them if they are quick on their feet. Not to mention, paper bombs are mainly used to set traps, create distractions, and are a consumable item with a high cost. Also, they are the only item with a shelf-life.

Even in a well-crafted paper bomb, the chakra used to write the Fuinjutsu formula will leak slowly, and after 8 months; the power of the explosion will reduce by half.

At this point, they have to discard the paper bomb since it doesn't meet the standard set by the village.

The village has a use for these paper bombs. They use most of these defective paper bombs in the blasting process of mining ores."

When Akio learned about it, he thought of using them as promotion material.

"Ain't, I smart system?"

[Hmph… Shameless!]

System retorts but from its tone, Akio figures out that System is also smiling deep down.

"You won't find a better host than me." Akio brags to the system and ignores the rest of the banter of the system.

-----------------

In a secret underground hideout,

"Danzo-sama!"

A root anbu flickers and appears in front of him.

"Report!"

The root operative takes out a scroll and report with an emotionless voice.

"The last group of rats which escaped Orochimaru's containment facility has been weeded out. The genin team of Minato Namikaze did it. We recovered the bodies of the test subject, but apparently one of them is still missing. We suspect he escaped under the nose of those genins."

Hmm…

Danzo raises an eyebrow.

'Those few were the only batch of people which survived the experiment. Orochimaru and I let them escape to study their level of combat strength.

After a few months of study, Orochimaru lost interest in them since they were failures. If the experiment would have succeeded, then I would have a batch of death soldiers with the power of chunnins.

Too bad, with the lack of sufficient chakra reserves; the body of a civilian isn't sturdy enough to withstand the enhancement serum. Overdosing the amount results in an explosion. What a pity!'

Danzo shakes his head and dismisses the root anbu as he recalls the details of the recent meeting.

"That fence-sitter Onoki has grown enough guts to send a team to infiltrate and map out the patrol routes of Land of Fire borders.

Looks like the flames of the Second Shinobi War, which had gone cold in all these years, are being reignited by the impatience of that old geezer. Either way, it's fine for me; if this little spark turns into inferno, then I can use this opportunity to deal with Iwa in one fell swoop.

Later, I can use this achievement to leverage my position for the seat of Hokage in the Elder Council. But knowing the nature of that old geezer Onoki, he will test the waters for a few more years until he is confident of his victory.

I have to accelerate the process and force him to make a move."

Danzo formulates a strategy.

'No! Not only Iwa, but I should also force Kumo, Kiri, and Suna into the war too, or else after the conflict between Konoha and Iwa ends, they will hover like a bunch of vultures to pick the remaining bones of Konoha. How I can let them get out scott-free when Konoha is burning in the flames of war?

By the end of the Third Shinobi War, Konoha should be only hidden village reigning over the rest of the world and I shall be its Hokage.'

Danzo declares it in his heart.

'I could have achieved this dream with perfection, if only I could control the Wood Release and the Nine-tails. Too bad, the interference of a small civilian shop ruined all of my plans.'

Danzo harrumphs in anger.

---------------

Achoo…

Akio sneezes and rubs his nose.

"Did I catch a cold?"