Three days passed in a flash.
Before long, Rinjin and his team returned to the village.
It was midday, the sun blazed fiercely, and the air was stiflingly hot.
Removing his mask, Rinjin strolled down the main street.
At that moment, a girl in a work uniform emerged silently from a nearby alley and sidled up to Rinjin.
It was none other than Yaeko, the number one fan of Rii.
"President, something urgent?" she asked.
Hearing this, Rinjin raised an eyebrow slightly and then called out to Jiraiya, Orochimaru, and Tsunade.
"Jiraiya, Orochimaru, Tsunade, you guys go ahead and report the mission. I've got something to handle!"
With that, he casually tossed the rogue ninja he had been carrying onto Jiraiya's shoulder and walked off with Yaeko in tow.
As they walked down the road toward home, Rinjin, noticing Yaeko lagging a step behind with a worried expression, asked calmly:
"What's the matter?"
Hearing his question, Yaeko anxiously blurted out:
"President, the sales point in the Land of Hot Water was attacked. Your clones suffered a loss of at least fifty, and over fifty tons of iron were looted from the store."
"Anything else?" Rinjin asked calmly after hearing her report.
If that was all, he already knew about it.
Seeing Rinjin's indifferent reaction, Yaeko's mouth opened and closed, leaving her momentarily speechless.
What do you mean, "anything else"? Isn't this already a big deal? Fifty tons of iron—do you know how much that's worth? At least ten million ryo!
After a brief daze, Yaeko meekly added:
"The price of iron has already risen to two hundred thousand ryo per ton."
She swallowed nervously after finishing her sentence.
As one of Rinjin's earliest employees, Yaeko had the privilege of becoming a secretary—a mysterious and enviable position.
Of course, she was Rii's secretary, not Rinjin's.
Still, this was enough to make the other orphans jealous.
But only Yaeko knew the hardships that came with it.
First of all, Rii, the big sister, was completely hands-off. Anything more complicated than basic arithmetic was beyond her, meaning she had no concept of what a ton of iron was worth.
Naturally, the bookkeeping fell entirely on Yaeko's shoulders.
Looking at the skyrocketing price of iron, even she was overwhelmed. If the advisors of Konoha saw it, their legs would probably give out.
The most ironic part? It was Rinjin himself who had driven the price this high.
Seeing Yaeko's troubled expression, Rinjin smiled calmly, patted her on the head, and said nonchalantly:
"Don't worry about it. Consider this batch of iron a little treat for them. There's far more—hundreds of times this amount—waiting to hit the market later.
This is just the beginning. Relax a little!"
While Rinjin was reassuring his little secretary, elsewhere, Hiruzen Sarutobi's face had turned completely dark.
In the Hokage's office, Tsunade, Jiraiya, and Orochimaru stood before the desk.
Meanwhile, the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, held a scroll in his hand, his expression grim as he read the mission report.
The mission had been completed well—exceedingly well!
Not only had they uncovered the reason behind the disappearance of the two previous teams, but they had also brought back the culprit!
Most commendably, they had rescued every child kidnapped from Uzu no Kuni.
However… what was this about beating up the village chief of Uzu no Kuni? And the village chief of Kirigakure?
Did the village chiefs offend you somehow?
Do you have any idea how hard their jobs are?
At that moment, Jiraiya tiptoed up to Hiruzen Sarutobi and, with a swift motion, snatched the round crystal ball off the Hokage's desk.
Seeing this, Hiruzen sighed deeply.
Rinjin, the incredibly capable and trouble-prone shinobi, had caused yet another mess outside the village!
His disciple, Jiraiya, was constantly eyeing his personal belongings!
Meanwhile, Tsunade spent her days clamoring for vacations and breaks, only to sneak off to the nearest casino!
Glancing at Orochimaru, who stood silently to the side, Hiruzen felt a rare moment of relief.
At least this child was dependable and didn't give him headaches.
The mission handover was completed, and ten quiet days passed in the blink of an eye.
Compared to the peaceful and stable Konoha, the Land of Hot Water and its village, Yugakure, were rife with undercurrents.
Over these ten days, the price of iron had risen daily, now surpassing five hundred thousand ryo per ton.
At this price, even the most reckless individuals were tempted to take desperate measures.
Numerous mercenaries and bounty hunters had already set their sights on the seemingly unremarkable iron shop in Yugakure.
This shop represented the source of more than half of the iron supply in the entire shinobi world.
The Land of Iron had long since run out of iron.
Over the past three years, iron mines had mysteriously disappeared one after another.
By now, the Land of Iron's mines had been completely depleted.
In today's shinobi world, aside from a few small-scale mines and the iron sold by Sunagakure in the Land of Wind, this seemingly ordinary shop was the only place with a significant supply of iron.
Many had tried to target this shop in the past.
Their outcomes were always the same: they disappeared.
Not only did the attackers vanish without a trace, but even those who orchestrated the assaults from the shadows met the same fate.
This was the unspoken reason why many wealthy individuals and feudal lords tolerated the shop's existence.
It was also why the price of iron continued to rise unabated.
Now, however, the shop was once again under scrutiny.
The price of iron had reached a level where no one could afford to wage war. If it rose any further, armies would be forced to fight with wooden spears.
Despite the undercurrents in Yugakure, the shop remained boldly open for business.
Countless merchants, confident in the value of iron, flocked to the shop. Money flowed in like water, and carts of iron were transported out.
For ten consecutive days, mercenaries hired by exchange houses launched relentless attacks on the shop, day and night.
Their fate was the same as in the past three years: they disappeared.
The shop's dark entrance seemed like the gaping maw of a beast, swallowing anyone with ill intent.
These attacks did nothing to dampen the enthusiasm of the wealthy, who continued to pour their fortunes into buying iron, the most reliable investment.
In just a single day, they could sell the iron at a higher price and see their wealth grow by ten percent.
Everyone had gone mad—the rich had gone completely insane.
A massive, dazzling bubble was being inflated larger and larger by their frenzy.
At the same time, narrow and shabby storefronts began popping up in every major shinobi village.
The signs varied, but they all conveyed the same message:
"Help Wanted!"
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