Chapter 75: · - 75: I’ll Give You No More Than 20%
Yasuzaburō Hirai was nothing like the kind and amiable old man he appeared to be. If you judged him by his looks, you'd be devoured without even a bone left behind. In the business world, his early reputation earned him the nickname "The Short-Snouted Crocodile of the Land of Wind."
Hirai's beginnings were humble. Once just a store clerk, he inherited a small general store from his late mentor and father-in-law. Through ten years of tireless effort, he grew it into a modest fortune worth millions in Dragonfly Castle. But his true rise to wealth came from two pivotal events.
The first was his insight into the tightly packed houses of Dragonfly Castle, which were highly susceptible to fires. Hirai spent his entire fortune establishing a private firefighting team. Whenever a fire broke out, he would take advantage of the homeowners' panic and buy the burning property—and often adjacent properties—for dirt-cheap prices. Only then would he put out the fire. In this way, Hirai amassed thousands of houses and residential buildings, which he later rented out at high prices, quickly becoming a billionaire.
The second event was his remarriage. After his first wife passed away, Hirai, at the age of 35, didn't choose a young and beautiful bride but instead married a widow 20 years his senior. This widow's late husband had left her a vast inheritance of gold mines. While everyone thought Hirai was merely after her wealth, he surprised everyone by drafting a will that left all his assets to her son after his death. However, ten years later, the widow passed away from illness, and her son mysteriously died soon after.
From that point on, Hirai's financial resources became virtually limitless. Over the years, his influence extended into every industry in the Land of Wind. It was even rumored that the Daimyō himself had once borrowed money from him. Hirai had become a figure whose anger could shake the entire nation—a commoner whose wrath could terrify even the nobility.
His interest in investing in the Yuesi Peninsula casino city was, at its core, a calculated move to seize control of the project. Gambling was the final piece of his commercial empire, and also its most lucrative segment.
When Hirai heard that Sunagakure was planning to build a casino city, he was thrilled. He immediately recognized it as an opportunity that could potentially double his wealth. If executed well, he might even rival the centuries-old merchant families and noble houses of the Fire and Lightning Countries.
His initial plan was to overwhelm the young Kazekage with an offer of 30 billion ryō, a figure so high it would leave him dizzy. On one hand, he intended to infiltrate every industry tied to the casino city. On the other, he would secretly buy out shares held by Sunagakure villagers at high prices. Within a few years, the Yuesi Peninsula would be entirely under his control.
What Hirai didn't expect was that the young Kazekage before him was entirely unfazed by the astronomical sum. Instead, Jinghang laid out the casino city's share structure, operational strategies, and future prospects with the confidence and expertise of a seasoned entrepreneur.
"From what I've heard, this guy's an orphan who grew up licking blood off the blade, living the life of a ninja where heads were traded for meals. How does he sound like such a business veteran?" Hirai wondered.
"Thirty percent is a number neither I nor the other village representatives can accept," Jinghang said firmly.