Chapter Ninety-Three: The Newspaper and the Publicity of the Nobles (Second Update, Please Subscribe)

Boss, the new medicine is selling rapidly. It's only been ten days, and already a third of the stock is gone. We need to restock as soon as possible...”
The manager of the pharmacy in the capital of the Land of Fire spoke to Karn with some excitement. In fact, he had secretly bought two pills himself and tested them at a brothel—the effects were excellent, and at least the expressions on the girls’ faces weren't feigned.
If it weren't for his work duties, he'd have bought a whole box and stayed at the brothel for a week.
Karn replied to the pharmacy manager, “Restocking will have to wait at least half a month. The production speed is what it is for now, but next time, deliveries will be steady and ongoing.”
“Besides those buying medicine, some people have been inquiring about you, boss. They seem to be retainers of the nobility... How should I respond to them?”
“Ignore them.”
The popularity of Viagra was entirely within Karn's expectations. At one hundred and fifty ryo per pill, about the price of two bowls of ramen, even commoners could grit their teeth and buy two pills to try.
As for those making inquiries, most are driven by greed. But Karn's factories are in the Land of Tea and the Land of Waves. The nobility of the Land of Fire could at most tamper with his pharmacy.
If they dared to do so, Karn would ensure their names appeared on Kakuzu’s list. In the past two years, plenty of fools have already been turned into Karn’s income by Kakuzu.
During his stay in the capital, Karn mostly kept to himself, absorbing natural energy and practicing sealing techniques. His shadow clones were busy outside, establishing the newspaper office.
Mr. Sanki, the owner of the Spring Blossom Bookstore, had lent him all his staff, including an experienced chief editor. After a few more days of recruiting, the newspaper office would be officially established.
The collection and transmission of information posed some trouble, but Karn could manage. He decided to use telegraphs for now, until his next visit to the shinobi world, when he would build television stations and the internet.
He was surprised to find that telegraphs existed in the shinobi world, a fact pointed out to him by the chief editor from the bookstore. Although inconvenient to use, they were much faster than sending messages by horseback.
After all, they weren’t ninja and couldn’t use jutsu or trained beasts to deliver messages, so they relied on other tools.
It was unrealistic to spread newspapers across the Land of Fire all at once due to the limited transmission range of telegraphs, so four locations were settled for:
The capital, Konoha Village, Kawaki Town, and Tanzaku Street. Tanzaku Street was originally just a cultural relic, a tourist spot; but after Karn opened two casinos there, it became popular, attracting gamblers from nearby, and was now bustling.
Kawaki Town was similar: prosperity in one place always draws nearby people, and these four locations were relatively close, forming a circled region.
Currently, the main sources of news would be Konoha and the capital. After consulting with the chief editor, Karn divided the newspaper into four sections: real news, exaggerated rumors, fictional stories, and advertisement promotions.
These four sections would entice most readers, especially the exaggerated rumors and fictional stories. With “artistic processing” and a touch of reality, they would be quite attractive to the entertainment-starved commoners of the shinobi world.
Karn seized an opportunity to plant a curse mark on the chief editor and the management. The mark was very discreet, and since they were ordinary people, no ninja would notice. It merely increased their loyalty and sense of identity with Karn over time.
After a year or two, they would steadfastly follow Karn’s orders; after ten years under its influence, they would obey him without hesitation, even unto death.

Once the newspaper office was set up, Karn used the noble family behind the Spring Blossom Bookstore to arrange a meeting with the Daimyo.
Unfortunately, he hadn’t yet learned the Soul-Stealing Curse; otherwise, he could have controlled a few nobles. But controlling the Daimyo carried risks. Not long after Konoha was founded, the Daimyo was protected by the Twelve Guardian Ninja—ostensibly twelve, but only the Daimyo knew how many guarded him in secret.
What was certain was that the Guardians were all of jonin-level strength, watching over the Daimyo day and night. Silently controlling him would not be easy.
Karn’s request was swiftly answered; merely revealing his primary pen name was enough for most nobles to host him with proper ceremony, as the shinobi world also revered literary men.
After being led to the Daimyo’s residence by the Spring Blossom family, Karn met the Daimyo in the castle tower. He wasn’t old—still quite young—but was extremely thin, always shielding his face with a fan.
“Karn, please sit.”
Seeing Karn, the Daimyo became even more pleased. In his view, only someone of Karn’s temperament could write such outstanding literary works.
But the Daimyo was mistaken. Karn was a classic businessman; those of his kind could always smell “the scent of money” on each other.
“I couldn’t put your work down recently—it’s simply brilliant.” The Daimyo gently tapped the book on the table, clearly a genuine fan, as Karn had carefully selected the works.
“Is there something you wish to discuss today, Karn?”
Karn cut straight to the point. “Your Excellency, I’ve founded a newspaper office in the capital, mainly to...”
After Karn explained its functions and needs, the Daimyo considered it. It was much like the public notices posted by the Daimyo’s office, only with wider dissemination and richer content.
“A newspaper, how interesting. So, Karn, you want my office to support your newspaper so you can gather more ninja news?”
The Daimyo closed his fan and smiled. “Here’s my offer, Karn: I will appoint you, under my office’s name, as the Minister of Publicity for the Land of Fire. This allows you to collect news in the name of the Land of Fire, but any ninja-related news must be handed to my office; the rest you may handle as you wish...”
Soon after, Karn was respectfully escorted out by the Daimyo’s samurai. Leaving the residence, he smiled; the Daimyo was not ignorant of the threat posed by ninja.
From the negotiation, Karn sensed the Daimyo’s wariness toward ninja. Upon realizing the newspaper’s potential, he quickly gave his support, while also drawing Karn into their social stratum.
Perhaps, in the Daimyo’s eyes, Karn’s identity as a literary man made it easy to bring him into the noble class, so he granted him an official position, placing him within their ranks.
But lacking true strength, he could only scheme to weaken the shinobi villages, unable to truly subdue them. Perhaps there was a way, but the Daimyo hadn’t thought of it.
“Official support is all I need. Sarutobi Hiruzen won’t have any reason to refuse me anymore.”
With this in mind, Karn set off for the newspaper office, intending to hand the official support document from the Daimyo to the chief editor, so he could make several copies. From now on, it would serve as a press credential when conducting interviews.
.....................

Karn lingered in the capital for some time before receiving a reply from Natsukawa.
“It’s been nearly two months. Natsukawa hasn’t been slow, just methodical...”
Karn opened the scroll and glanced over it. Natsukawa, a former ninja, hadn’t changed this habit; Karn preferred letters to scrolls.
The two-month campaign had cost nearly one hundred million ryo, most of which went to acquiring all the houses, shops, and fields belonging to a certain noble.
This noble landlord had recently decided to relocate his entire clan to the interior of the Land of Fire. But his family wasn’t wealthy, and there was no one to take over his local assets, so he couldn’t proceed.
Upon learning of Natsukawa’s activities, he came forward to negotiate, and after a series of discussions, managed to sell off all his assets and move his family inland to start anew.
The reason for his decision was partly due to Karn.
He had been in the tea trade, but recently heard that a noble he worked with had been killed by a group of newcomers. With ongoing strife, three noble families had died in the Land of Tea.
His own estate wasn’t far from the Land of Tea, about a day’s journey. The once peaceful environment had become chaotic, with the threat of clan extermination looming, so he was understandably frightened. Upon hearing the news, he quickly found Natsukawa and sold everything.
But that was far from enough. There were about seven noble families living on the southern peninsula of the Land of Fire. Only by acquiring all their assets could Karn create his domain.
Otherwise, the presence of outsiders would make Karn uncomfortable.
Natsukawa would continue expanding until she hit a wall, after which Karn would hand the task to someone else.
Kakuzu was a good candidate. Last time, when he destroyed the ninja outpost near Konoha’s border, he only managed to collect two bounties, and complained twice to Karn, claiming that given time, he could clean up all of Konoha’s border outposts.
Kakuzu was fast becoming Karn’s black-gloved hand, entrusted with much of the dirty work. At the very least, the casinos had managed to operate peacefully in the Land of Fire for several years, thanks in no small part to Kakuzu.
He had recently killed too many people in the Land of Fire and was pursued by Konoha’s ninja, forcing him to take bounty missions in the Land of Hot Water for a while.
He had gone too far—if he didn’t lay low, Konoha would keep sending stronger ninja after him. At that time, the Legendary Three were still in Konoha; if Kakuzu got too reckless, he might actually be killed by them.

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Chapter 93: Newspaper Office and the Minister of Publicity — Free Reading.