Chapter 266: Kazekage Ninja- - 55: This Isn’t Iron Ore—It’s Straight-Up Crap!
"Konoha’s out to crush us, plain and simple! In just a month, iron ore’s dropped to 218 ryō per ton! It’s about to break the 200 mark. Good
"Konoha’s out to crush us, plain and simple! In just a month, iron ore’s dropped to 218 ryō per ton! It’s about to break the 200 mark. Good thing we shut down both our mines—otherwise, the more we dug, the more we’d lose! They’re making it impossible for us to stay in business!"
Kijima slammed the table, his face flushed with anger.
In a twisted way, that Sumu riot had actually helped Amegakure’s economy dodge a bullet. Otherwise, we’d be stuck with mountains of unsold stock piling up, while iron ore prices kept nosediving—that’s a nightmare nobody wants.
"What about finished ninja tools?" Yahiko asked, frowning.
"They’re dropping too. No surprise there," Kijima replied with a sigh.
"It’s been a month. Should we restart production?" Yahiko turned to Aotu Tailuo, now the newly promoted ANBU commander and a core figure in Akatsuki. Yahiko took his opinions seriously.
"Restart? Of course. If we stay idle too long, something’s bound to go wrong. But we should use this chance to do two things." Aotu Tailuo raised two fingers.
"What things?" Yahiko asked.
"First, let’s use this opportunity to transfer workers from Sada and Sumu mines and set up our own steel mill and forge. Get the smithing and grinding workshops running again, and complete our whole industrial chain."
The Akatsuki higher-ups nodded in agreement. If iron ore can’t fetch a price, might as well reorganize internally and build up the value chain. Plus, the miners at both sites had gotten too powerful—borderline unmanageable. Spreading them out across new facilities would help stabilize Amegakure’s society.
"Second, we need to improve the miners’ working conditions. No more driving them with whips like before. We’ll set up reasonable work hours and performance evaluation systems. Deputy GM Nogae, you’re going back to your old trade—the union needs to handle this. Remember: no rough stuff, keep it gentle!"