"Uncle Teuchi, how much is it again?"
"A total of 2455 ryō."
That's because Manoshi couldn't see dozens of bowls stacked aside. Otherwise, he wouldn't have had such doubts.
"Sensei, the boss didn't make a mistake. It's 2455 ryō."
Kabuto carefully counted the number of bowls and responded in agreement with his teacher.
Bowls of different sizes and patterns were used for the different price points of the noodles, which were specially prepared for shinobis.
The average person couldn't eat that many bowls of noodles; only shinobis could eat that much.
Of course, there weren't many people who could eat more than a dozen bowls in one sitting like Might father and son.
"Did Guy and I eat too much?"
He took the last sip of the noodle broth and let out a sigh of satisfaction. Might Duy looked at the bowls piled up in front of him and wasn't embarrassed.
"We'll just pay for our own."
"Haha, I don't lack money. I was just afraid you didn't eat enough."
Although Manoshi had the money, it still hurt to think of the money needed to open a shop.
"It's enough to eat until we are full 70%. Eating more would affect our mission in the afternoon."
Manoshi wondered. They ate so much but were only 70% full? This was probably why there weren't many shinobis specializing in taijutsu.
After paying the money, Manoshi parted with Might Duy and his son and then sent Urushi and Kabuto back to the orphanage.
"Manoshi-kun."
Nonō stopped Manoshi, who was going to make up for today's workout.
"I'm going outside the village for some time. Please take care of the children."
She immediately ruled out the option of killing Manoshi.
Since she didn't want to kill village companions, she could only go to the Land of Earth to collect intelligence on their Jinchūriki. And infiltrating Iwa village would take some time.
It could be said that as an outsider, it was simply unrealistic to have access to core information like that of the Jinchūriki without a few years of work.
Nonō entrusted the children to Manoshi with the mentality of never coming back.
Feeling the reluctance in the tone of the Dean, Manoshi frowned.
"Why?"
"There's a problem with the village's funding. I have to go out and make money. Otherwise, what will the children eat in the future."
Granny Hanako and the children may not think much of it, but Manoshi, who knew the inside story, could still read the subtext.
Danzō Shimura used funds for the orphanage and threatened Nonō to go on a mission.
"Is there any danger? What would be the effect on the village if it wasn't carried out?"
Although Danzō forced the mission to Nonō nine times out of ten, it was to satisfy his ambitions for something fishy, but there was an eventuality in everything. What if Danzō had a mission that was a matter of life or death for Konoha?
"..."
Nonō shook her head without saying anything. The specifics of a mission would be within the forbidden bounds of the Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal.
"Well, if it's not an important mission, then decline it. As for the funding problem, I will find a way to solve it."
Manoshi said, barely squeezing out a smile to comfort, "Didn't I say, don't bear everything alone."
After saying goodbye to Nonō, Manoshi was worried.
Initially, he thought that opening a shop would be an ordinary move to make money and improve the relationship between the Uchiha clan and the villagers. Still, it turned out to be an urgent matter.
'What kind of shop should I open?'
Wearing heavyweights, he jogged through the streets and alleys of the village, adapting to the weight changes brought about by the weights while observing the various stores in the village.
'Restaurant? No, the traditional food market is saturated'. Manoshi wasn't good at cooking.
'Clothing store? No, this world has very good designs.'
'Casino? It makes a lot of money, but the impact wasn't good.'
...
Konoha village was a bit larger than the Forest of Death, and he needed to weave in and out of alleys. A full lap around the village was harder than a lap around the Forest of Death.
Manoshi, who stopped to rest, always felt that something was missing in the village.
He remembered a saying he had heard in his previous life, saying that the ranking of spending power was woman> child> elderly people> pets> man.
In Konoha, it seemed that there were no 'buy cheap sell high' shops that made money from children.
'Open a figurine shop?'
Manoshi had a whimsical idea in mind. If he could make full use of his reputation and make a batch of handmade figurines, it probably wouldn't be difficult to attract the first customers.
'Or get permission from Hokage and other clans to directly make a series of blind-boxes?'
'On the grounds of publicizing and commemorating the achievements of shinobis, there should be a lot of support, right?' At that time, all the clans would be bound with interests so that the Uchiha clan could be integrated into the Konoha inner circle.
As for the figurine materials, the Earth Release shinobis like Urushi and Kabuto could use Earth Release to plasticize and harden the clay to make money and exercise the chakra control ability- win-win.
And it was also an attempt by Manoshi to rehabilitate the disproportionate classes of shinobis.
...
Two weeks later, he sat in his office, spying through the telescope on 'Manoshi's Figurine Shop'.
"It's amazing that something like clay dolls could sell so well?"
Hiruzen Sarutobi, who was smoking a pipe, had no idea why this teenager was confident in making money.
He still remembered Manoshi's persuasive words.
'In the box of each doll comes with the deeds of the corresponding shinobi, both to create economic value to generate a contribution to the village to save maintenance costs, and to promote the contribution of the village's shinobi to protect everyone. '
He understood Manoshi's idea and thought it would play a propaganda role, but it wasn't realistic to make money from, and it was purely because of the naivety of the teenage mind.
It was only in consideration of Manoshi's promise to carry the identity of a Jinchūriki for Kushina that he agreed to the teenager.
Now, it turned out that the Third Hokage had no business sense.
As for Manoshi, this blind box item, which took advantage of the gambler's psychology, had passed the test of the market in his past life. So, he was naturally full of confidence.
Thus, a three-way joint venture was officially born. The official storefront provided to the shop was funded and managed by the Uchiha clan and produced by the orphanage.
"Manoshi's Figurine Shop officially opened. Buy any item now and get a free Manoshi doll on a first-come, first-served basis!"
Huge chalkboards with advertisements written on them were placed across the side of the store, and Manoshi, who was a humanoid mascot himself, stood at the entrance to solicit customers.
The popularity of being a battlefield hero hadn't dissipated yet, attracting a large number of passersby to stop and gather around the store entrance.
The first batch of figures was cheap. A single 1:18 figure in a brown paper bag was sold for only 50 ryō, which most common families could afford.
The low price was also due to the low cost. After the general shape of the clay was roughly shaped, it was handed over to the Earth Release shinobis to be shaped and reinforced according to the pattern and then colored. The material cost was only that of the paint.
"Ah, why is it another Uchiha shinobi I don't know? I wanted the Third Hokage-sama!"
A fat boy who looked rich opened the third paper bag he bought, took out the doll inside, and looked at it. The red and white round fan pattern came into view, and he was suddenly disappointed. Even if he spent all of his pocket money, he could only afford three items.
"Wow! Jiraiya, one of the Sannin!"
Next to him, a teenager dressed as a shinobi opened a sealed brown paper bag and pulled out a figurine with a completely different style of posing from the Uchiha one, with finer details and brighter colors that made the little fat guy envious.
This was, of course, a deliberate arrangement by Manoshi. The first batch of figures were only Hokage shinobis and Uchiha clan shinobis. Moreover, shinobis at the Hokage level, Sannin, and Fugaku Uchiha were classified as rare 'SR'. The 'R' category was naturally filled by the Uchiha clan's Jōnin for the time being.
In this way, the village was subliminally made aware of the contribution of the Uchiha clan to Konoha -- what Jōnin hadn't had a touching deed during the war?
Figurines? It's just a tool for 'cultural' export.
The celebrity effect was far more effective than Manoshi thought, so much so that while the first batch of figures sold out, there were still many people gathered outside wanting to buy them.
Since the first batch of figure sales was popular, there was a bargaining chip to seek cooperation with more clans and shinobis.
....
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