manynovel Chapter 2: Intelligence is More Expensive than Gold
Chapter 2: Intelligence is More Expensive than Gold
The journey from the dilapidated temple to Chiyan Town is only thirty kilometers, but it took the team two whole days.
The road is difficult to travel.
The land of rivers is fragmented, with rivers and canyons everywhere.
Eight or nine out of ten bridges were destroyed in the war, and most of the remaining ones became dangerous bridges.
Sosuke carried the heavy bundle on his back, silently playing the role of a laborer.
He was a man of few words and no complaints; he would even go out to gather firewood during his breaks.
This performance pleased the man called "One-Eyed." In chaotic times, an obedient worker who doesn't require extra pay is a scarce resource.
Sosuke is observing.
He is observing the economic ecology of this world.
They encountered several groups of people on the way.
There were families fleeing from disaster, itinerant merchants pushing wheelbarrows, and a group of wandering warriors in tattered armor.
The transaction took place on the roadside.
The traveling merchant traded a small bag of salt for a silver bracelet from a refugee.
Sosuke could see clearly that the silver bracelet weighed at least twenty grams. Although the workmanship was rough, it was still a genuine silver item.
The bag of salt weighed only 200 grams and was yellowish in color, clearly indicating it was coarse salt.
In this place, hard currency is not gold or silver, but salt, grain, medicine, and iron.
The purchasing power of gold and silver was severely compressed because no one could guarantee they would live to spend it.
"It seems that directly using gold and silver to shop is the stupidest thing to do." Sosuke made a mental note of this.
Without establishing some kind of power or finding a stable channel to sell stolen goods, his "unlimited gold and silver" would just be a pile of pretty stones.
The next evening, we arrived at Chiyan Town.
This is a town built against a mountain, surrounded by massive red rock walls. Several flags are planted on the walls, not the flags of any major power, but a strange lizard pattern—the family crest of the local rulers.
There were guards checking people at the town gate.
"Entrance fee: one hundred taels per person." The guard, dressed in leather armor in the style of the Kingdom of Chuan, held a long spear and coldly scanned the queue of people.
One hundred taels.
According to the currency system of the Naruto world, a bowl of Ichiraku Ramen cost about sixty or seventy taels during the Great War.
One hundred taels is equivalent to the cost of two meals for an average person.
This is an astronomical price for refugees.
The one-eyed man cursed and pulled a cloth bag from his pocket, counted out a few crumpled banknotes, and threw them into the basket in the guard's hand.
The guard counted the money and waved for them to pass.
Sosuke followed the group into Akayan Town.
As soon as you enter the city gate, a cacophony of noise hits you.
It's more bustling here than I imagined. The streets are packed with stalls selling all sorts of things.
There were vendors selling wild game, used clothes, herbs, and even children.
The air was thick with the mixed smells of sweat, barbecue, and sewers.
"Alright, let's call it a day." The one-eyed man ripped the pack off Sosuke's back. "You can get lost now."
He didn't even leave Sosuke a single copper coin.
Sosuke didn't want it either.
He rubbed his sore shoulders and watched the one-eyed man lead two other people toward a pawnshop in the town center.
The little girl glanced back at Sosuke, then was dragged away.
Sosuke stood on the street and took a deep breath.
He is now penniless and hungry. But he has hands that can make money.
He walked around the town for a while, but didn't rush to make a move.
He was looking at prices.
Brown rice, 40 liang per jin.
Fine rice, 120 liang per jin.
Coarse salt, 80 taels per tael.
Kunai (second-hand), 300 taels each.
I didn't see any detonating tags for sale; they're probably controlled substances.
Prices here are extremely high.
Finally, Sosuke stopped in front of a seemingly unremarkable general store.
The shop has a sign that reads "Tanaka Trading Company" and several wooden buckets filled with rice are placed at the entrance.
The shop owner was an old man in his fifties, wearing glasses, and fiddling with an abacus.
Sosuke went inside.
"What do you want to buy?" The old man didn't even look up. "No credit."
"I sell things," Sosuke said.
The old man stopped what he was doing and looked up at Sosuke.
Although Sosuke was dressed in rags, his eyes were calm, and he didn't look like a madman or a beggar.
"I buy mountain goods and medicinal herbs. If they're smuggled or dirty, I'll lower the price by 30%," the old man said calmly.
Sosuke walked to the counter, turned his back, and blocked the view from the doorway.
He stretched out his hand, placed it on the counter, and slowly unfolded it.
In the palm of his hand was a small piece of silver.
It wasn't the disguised silver from before, but a newly generated one.
It weighs approximately 5 grams. Its shape is irregular, as if it were a piece melted from some kind of silverware.
But this time, he didn't deliberately make it look old.
The silver gleamed coldly under the oil lamp.
The old man's pupils contracted slightly. He knew his stuff.
The silver is of such high quality. It's so fine that it doesn't look like it was dug out of the ground, nor does it look like it was melted down from ordinary jewelry.
This pure white color can usually only be achieved by refined official silver.
"Where did this come from?" the old man asked in a low voice, his hand unconsciously reaching under the counter.
There might be weapons hidden there.
"It was passed down in the family," Sosuke replied flawlessly. "How much rice can it be exchanged for?"
The old man picked up the silver coin, weighed it in his hand, and then took out a black touchstone and gently scratched it.
The silver marks are clear and bright white.
"The quality is good." The old man put down the silver, adjusted his glasses, and said, "But the shape is wrong. It's not a common currency."
"I didn't say it was money, it was silver," Sosuke corrected.
"According to market price, one tael of silver is worth 1,200 taels." The old man began to bargain. "This piece of yours is worth at most one and a half mace (about 5-6 grams). But I still have to go through the trouble of melting it down, and I have to take risks... I'll give you 500 taels."
Five hundred taels.
It's black. So black.
This piece of high-purity silver would be worth at least two thousand taels in peacetime or in the Great Ninja Village.
But Sosuke wasn't angry.
"Eight hundred taels," Sosuke countered, "or give me ten catties of coarse rice, plus two catties of salted meat."
The old man stared at Sosuke for a while, seemingly assessing the young man's background.
"Are you a refugee?" the old man asked.
"North of the River Country."
"Up north... I heard the Rain Village and Sand Village fought another battle there." The old man sighed, seemingly talking to himself, or perhaps testing the waters. "The world is not at peace."
He turned around, scooped rice from the vat behind him, and cut a piece of meat covered in a thick layer of salt.
"I've gathered the eight hundred taels for you." The old man pushed the bag towards Sosuke. "If you need any more goods of this quality in the future, just come to me. Don't go to the pawnshop; those vampires will devour you whole."
Sosuke nodded, picked up his things, and turned to leave.
But he hadn't gone far when he sensed something was wrong.
Someone is watching him.
It wasn't that old man, but one of the shop's employees.
The young man who had been sweeping in the corner paused for a second when Sosuke took out the silver.
Sosuke walked out of the shop and turned into a small alley.
Instead of running, he quickened his pace and used the complex terrain to circle around.
His current physical condition is only that of an average person; if he is followed, it will be difficult for him to shake off the surveillance.
Is that guy a ninja?
It doesn't seem like it. If it were a ninja, they could have subdued me right there in the shop.
It's probably an eyeliner.
Sosuke found an abandoned awning, crawled inside, and used the darkness to conceal his figure.
He held his breath, clutching the bag of rice tightly in his hand.
A few minutes later, the guy indeed appeared at the alley entrance, looked around, cursed, and turned to leave.
Sosuke breathed a sigh of relief.
But he knew that the town was no longer safe.
Although the high-purity silver brought him food, it also revealed that he possessed valuable items.
He must find a foothold as soon as possible, a place where he can transform his "wealth" into "power".
Just then, a coughing sound came from deep within the alley.
"Ahem...Young man, you're quite vigilant."
Sosuke turned around abruptly, his muscles tense.
At the very back of the awning, a person was sitting.
Because it was so dark, Sousuke hadn't even noticed it earlier.
It was a man wearing a gray cloak, with a half-mask covering his face, revealing only his chin and mouth.
He had a wound on his chest that was bleeding, staining his grey cloak black.
This is a ninja.
Sosuke's heart sank.
"Don't be nervous." The man smiled weakly, his voice crackling—a sign of lung damage. "I'm dying. Could I... buy something from you?"
Sosuke didn't move, watching him warily: "I only have rice."
"No, I want that thing you just took out of the shop," the man gasped. "That silver...it's very pure. It's...refined from a by-product of a good chakra-conducting metal, isn't it?"
Sosuke was taken aback.
Chakra conduction metal?
What he produced was just ordinary chemical silver.
However, in the ninja world, refining technology was backward, and extremely high purity metals often meant special processes or even special mineral sources.
"What do you need the money for?" Sosuke asked.
"My wound... is poisoned." The man leaned against the wall, pulling a broken kunai from his robes. "It's a poison from Sunagakure. I need silver... pure silver powder, to neutralize the poison... even if it only buys me a few hours..."
Sosuke's brain was working at lightning speed.
This might be an opportunity.
The ninja was seriously injured and on the verge of death.
"If you die, everything you own will be mine," Sosuke said coldly.
"Heh... I set up... a sealing jutsu." The man pointed to his ninja tool pouch. "If I hadn't unlocked it, the explosive tags inside would have blown everything to smithereens. Including this bag of rice, including you."
He is threatening, but he is also playing a game.
Sosuke remained silent for two seconds.
"A deal," Sosuke said.
"Okay... deal." The man's eyes were unfocused. "Give me the silver. I'll give you... a scroll. A basic... chakra refining method."
Sosuke's heart skipped a beat.
What is he lacking most in this world?
It's not about money. It's about power.
It's the ticket to becoming a ninja.
In this world where bloodline is paramount, it is virtually impossible for ordinary people to obtain the chakra refining method.
"I don't believe you," Sosuke said.
"You have no choice." The man coughed up blood. "I'll count to three... If it doesn't explode, the deal is done. One..."
Sousuke held out his hand.
A thought arose.
A piece of pure silver weighing a full twenty grams appeared out of thin air in his palm.
This time, he didn't try to hide it.
In the darkness, the silver coin emitted a faint white light.
The man's eyes widened. He hadn't expected that the homeless man would actually have such a large piece of something on him.
"Take it." Sosuke tossed the silver over.
The man caught the silver and, without any hesitation, stuffed it into his mouth, crushed it into powder with his teeth, spat it out mixed with blood, and applied it to the wound on his chest.
laugh--
A puff of white smoke rose up.
The man's breathing became slightly more even.
He gave Sosuke a deep look.
"You...are quite interesting." The man struggled to pull a blood-stained scroll from his pocket and threw it on the ground. "This is your payment."
Sosuke didn't pick it up immediately.
"One more piece of advice," the man said, closing his eyes. "Leave Red Rock Town. The demolition squad from Iwagakure Village... will raze this place to the ground tomorrow."
Zongsuke's pupils shrank.
He grabbed the roll of rice from the ground, picked up the bag of rice, and rushed into the rainy night without looking back.
This is the ninja world.
One second you're calculating rice prices, the next second the aftershocks of great power rivalry could crush you into dust.
That night, Sosuke learned his second lesson: the value of information far exceeds that of gold.