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The next day, guests invited to the Umbrella Corporation president's party also sported a single flower on their chests—a symbol of nobility and endless love.
What those above do, those below will follow!
When the highest-ranking nobles began to wear the noble purple flower as the latest fashion, the next tier of nobles started chasing after this aristocratic flower called the Tulip.
Another day passed.
The Tulip spread from Northern Port to the Daimyo's mansion, and the Daimyo's Wife wore as many as five Tulips on the left side of her dress! As she put it, she was "unrivaled among the Five Great Nations!"
Soon after, Umbrella Corporation began selling Tulip bulbs in Northern Port.
Not only them, but companies with close ties to Umbrella also began to sell them.
Some people saw an opportunity and began to buy up these Tulip bulbs, hiring the top horticulturalists at high prices to nourish them.
The number of nobles seeking Tulips began to increase day by day.
When people gradually discovered that while Tulip bulbs were being sold in Northern Port, the quantity was extremely limited, and only the wealthiest and most powerful could afford to wear them…
The merchants who had purchased Tulips from Umbrella began to intentionally control the supply, hoarding the bulbs to create a phenomenon of extreme scarcity.
The already rare Tulip bulbs became even rarer.
The scarcer they became, the more nobles craved Tulips, as if owning one gave them the status to sit on equal footing with the Daimyo's Wife in the Daimyo's mansion!
The most obsessed with Tulips was the Daimyo's Wife. To confirm her status, she demanded that five freshly bloomed Tulips be worn on her gifts every day.
Tulip bulbs were in short supply.
And what was Umbrella Corporation's response?
"[Every day at 10:08 AM, business partners with purchasing qualifications can purchase bulbs at Umbrella Corporation, quantity limited, first come, first served.]"
Even though the bulbs were already worth a fortune on the market, prices soaring, the Umbrella Corporation president acted as if he didn't see it, being treated like a "fool," still only selling that small amount at that low price, cheaply benefiting the secondary merchants who rushed to buy them.
When the same doubts arose on the Hibernian airborne aircraft carrier, Gojo Kaigetsu explained it to Kakashi: "The price of Tulips isn't something we can decide. Its value lies in the face given to those who wear it, the profits made by countless speculators. With both face and profit, the price of Tulips will remain high."
"After Tulips enter the shinobi world, merchants will naturally protect their interests!"
"To earn more cash, merchants at all levels will spontaneously safeguard our interests, raise prices for us, create scarcity, and hire water armies to promote our Tulips!"
The price of Tulips was steadily rising.
For anyone living in the shinobi world, making money is very difficult.
Workers need to toil in factories; shinobi need to risk their lives, facing near-certain death, to complete high-paying missions to change their lives; technicians in dimly lit shops need to risk encountering perverts…
But when someone discovered that they didn't need to risk their lives, didn't need to work hard, just needed to bet all the cash they had painstakingly saved over the years into the flower market, hoping for a Tulip to become increasingly scarce and valuable… human greed exploded!
Farmers sold their hoes and oxen; workers stole machinery from the factory and sold it; shinobi sold their shinobi tools, just to—
Purchase a Tulip that could increase in value indefinitely!
—
—
"The first joint Chūnin Exam in shinobi history will be held very soon!"
"Any Shinobi can apply to participate!"
Newsboys waved their newspapers, running through the streets, announcing this momentous news. The fixed-point radios in shops throughout Konoha also broadcast the solemn and dignified announcer's voice.
"Under the leadership of Konohagakure and the Hokage Tower, all forms of armed conflict will be prohibited in the shinobi world!"
"On behalf of the will of the Hokage Tower, we guarantee to carry out the duties of the chairman of this Fire Games Organizing Committee with true ninja morality, fairness, and transparency, respecting and abiding by all the rules of the Fire Games…"
The promotion of the Fire Games began.
At the same time, the propaganda departments of the Five Great Nations simultaneously began to work, spreading the news of Konoha's upcoming first joint Chūnin Exam throughout the shinobi world.
This was an unprecedented major news event!
In the history of the shinobi world, there had never been a joint exam hosted by the Five Great Villages.
This meant that the Shinobi participating in this Fire Games had a high chance of encountering their "destined opponent," "partners who love and kill each other," or "heterosexuals with different stances but love at first sight" in this unprecedented exam arena!
Of course, setting these three points aside, many Shinobi and graduating ninja academy students were also very interested in participating in this grand event.
They had to consider that this might be the only opportunity in their lives to showcase themselves in front of the entire shinobi world!
This mentality was perhaps like a competition between student groups—knowing that their upper limit was locked at a certain level, and they would never be able to enter a larger stage in their lives…
But! Even if it was just a small competition with a dozen or dozens of spectators, as long as they had their own audience, it would be considered standing on the stage. That sense of honor and responsibility was indescribable.
The vast majority of Shinobi might only remain Chūnin or ordinary Jōnin for the rest of their lives. But that didn't prevent them from potentially achieving outstanding results in the Chūnin Exam-level exam and winning their own glory.
Setting aside honor and responsibility…
Participating in the joint Chūnin Exam was also a good deal—being able to showcase their abilities in front of the patrons of the entire shinobi world, and if they were noticed, they could receive exclusive commissions and never have to worry about not getting jobs again!
It was said that the Exam venue had as many as 100,000 seats! Outside the venue, there were hundreds of thousands of ordinary people… these were all opportunities for shinobi! Opportunities to be noticed!
Learning ninjutsu and selling it to patrons—that's what it was all about.
To welcome this Fire Games, Konoha Ninja Academy also opened a fast-track graduation channel—regardless of what year students were in, they could graduate as long as they passed the graduation exam.
The Konoha Ninja Academy's graduation exam was relatively easy compared to other villages, but due to the special circumstances of the times, the difficulty of graduation was also increased.
The requirement was to be able to proficiently use three ninjutsu, shuriken throwing techniques, and then receive a C-rank mission completion record, and finally receive approval from the supervising ninjutsu instructor to participate in the Chūnin Exam.
For a time, the number of mission requests issued by the Hokage Tower surged, and every day there were ninja academy students trying to skip grades, complete the exam, and take on missions in order to apply for the Fire Games.
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