Samira Kagero was the last in the entire plethora of identities Samui had made for herself in the recent months. She was changing them more frequently than Ren changed kunai knives, which was honestly ridiculous.
Ino said the woman is trying to 'find herself'. Now, that made Ren wince when he heard it, because of the whole mindscrew thing Ino had perpetrated on her. Fortunately, it seemed she liked this one enough to consider keeping it.
Hopefully, it will last because with Ren's current machinations, it kinda had to, now that he pulled this identity of hers into his plans.
Unfortunately, what Ino had done to the woman could not be undone. Not easily and not without mind-fucking her even more thoroughly than she already was. Her mental brainwashing to make her... Ren didn't even know what Ino aimed for, to be honest. Obedient? Servile? Or something more sinister that Ren would rather not think about because it tarnished the image of Ino he had in his head?
The deed was done, and now they all had to learn to live with it. It's why Ren set Samui up as a merchant in the Land of Tea. It was his own way of trying to give her an enjoyable life while also being pragmatic enough to make her useful.
Sadly, the world they lived in was what it was, and Ren had to be a realist. No amount of guilt was going to make him waste an asset like this. That only made him feel guiltier and made him affirm his resolve not to be a dick to her.
Which made her flirting just that much more troublesome.
The woman seemed to like flirting with him in her own aloof way for some reason, but getting kissed by her out of nowhere was a first. It was a genuinely unexpected escalation. And Ren somewhat doubted that the original Samui, the lady who wanted to run a lightning-clad sword through his chest with a mean glare that would impress even the Kyubi, would act like that toward him.
Maybe wiping out her indoctrination and loyalty to her village gave her a clean slate, and her interest in him was truly hers. But maybe it was something put inside her head by Ino when she completely mentally reprogrammed her. Ren could not be sure, and he sure as hell wasn't going to ask.
He was kind of afraid of the answer. If her interest wasn't something Ino engineered, then it would open a can of worms he wasn't sure he was comfortable considering. Ino tried to drag the busty woman into their bed often enough as it was. And the problem was that Ren could see himself wavering enough to go for it if not for his inner misgivings and guilt about the whole situation.
After all, he wasn't blind. Samui was... well, hot.
Hinata was ambivalent about the entire issue. She did not care enough to be either for or against it. Her tolerant attitude was amazing, and Ren loved her for it most of the time, but when it came to this issue? It was not helping.
Ren glanced at Temari and inwardly winced as he found her seething while still being held back by Gaara, who had his arms firmly around her stomach.
Well, it seemed he now had all three choices from Ino's 'for', Hinata's 'don't care', and now Temari's 'hell no' when it came to opinions about Samu-, er, Samira.
As if that did not make the situation even more complicated. Was it any wonder he was usually trying to avoid her?
Sighing, Ren mentally squared his shoulders and decided to get on with it. It was time to man up. After all, her presence here was not an accident. He had called her here for a reason.
Pushing his awkwardness down, Ren smiled at Samira. "I hope your boys are ready, Samira. I promised you a profitable deal, and I intend to deliver. But it will take a whole load of shoveling."
And like a man, he decided to ignore the whole issue of her flirting with him.
"No worries. Shoveling is one of the only things they are good for." She easily joked, and Ren almost sucked in a breath as Ebizo's eyebrow twitched.
The Suna people obviously had no idea about Ren's deeper connection to Samira. They thought she was just a merchant who had been conveniently present in the village and that Ren had approached her for a deal she had tentatively agreed on.
Naturally, her presence in Suna was not as coincidental as they were led to believe, but because Ren wanted to help Suna, he told Samira to bring only a few of her men. Enough to fill an average-sized trading caravan. The rest she could hire from the poor people in Suna.
In the grand scheme of things, this wouldn't be even a drop in the bucket as far as helping Suna went. But for those people? It might just save their lives and allow them to get back on their feet.
And of course, Samira's statement was understood with the intent it was given with. She was not dissing her workers. She was dissing the hired help from Suna, and judging by how the delight in Ebizo's face evaporated, he had come to the same conclusion.
"Right." Ren awkwardly said with a weak, dry laugh and decided to quickly change the topic. "Anyway, why don't we start? I have everything prepared in one of the training grounds. Fetch your workers, Samira, and we can be on our way."
"That might be for the best." Ebizo diplomatically agreed with a frown plastered on his face, giving Temari a 'bear it!' look, shutting any protest she might have had.
Such was the power of money. The deal Ren was trying to make here was going to bring jobs and money to Suna, and Ebizo knew that. The reason why he decided to 'officiate' this meeting was that he wanted everything to go just right.
Samira, Ebizo, Ren, Temari, and Gaara walked out of the Kazekage Tower and headed to the private training ground of the Sabaku family, because, of course, they had one of these, where they waited as Samira's full-time subordinates went to gather her hired help from Suna.
Soon enough, an entire small army of homeless-looking workers started trickling toward the training ground, and upon seeing them, Ren kind of understood Samui's earlier attitude more. These people looked as if they were about to keel over any moment. They did not really look useful.
This was kind of his fault. He told her to hire those who looked like they needed money the most.
Closing his eyes, the corner of Ren's lips twitched. Letting out a long sigh, he leaned closer to Temari and whispered, "Could you arrange food for them?"
Temari looked at Ren and pursed her lips, then she glanced at the sorry sight gathering in front of them, and slowly nodded before taking the scroll with the money he offered her. With that, she disappeared in a body flicker.
'Two problems solved.' Ren inwardly hummed in satisfaction, not at all sorry that he interrupted the one-sided, glaring contest Temari was having with the stoic Samira, who was more than happy provoking the younger girl by clinging to Ren's arm.
And by now, Ren was absolutely sure she was doing it only to screw with Temari because the second Temari disappeared, Samira let go of his arm with a small smirk.
Refraining from commenting, Ren looked at Gaara and gave him a nod, "We might as well start." He said and beckoned Gaara to do what they had talked about yesterday evening.
They stood in front of a massive rectangular container made with hardened earth via an Earth Release technique, lined with seals on the inside. It was a hundred meters long and a hundred meters wide, while reaching one meter in height. It took Ren an entire hour to create it yesterday with his subpar ability in molding earth chakra, and the whole thing was going to collapse on itself within the next several days, but for his current purposes, it was good enough.
Ren gave Gaara a signal, and the boy outstretched his arms toward the container. For a moment, nothing happened, and then, wave after wave of sand rose from the ground around them, causing small, barely noticeable tremors while the sand pooled into the container. It took Gaara a minute to properly fill it to the brim, and by then, Ebizo was giving both him and Ren quizzical looks.
The man knew Ren was going to be selling something, but he didn't know what. Surely, it couldn't be sand, right? Suna would have been the richest village if it had been that simple.
Ren threw him a playful smile and activated the seals inside the container. Chakra flashed, and the sand inside turned into salt. Ebizo's jaw dropped in astonishment, alongside most of the civilians who were watching the spectacle.
It was one thing to hear that Ren could turn things into salt, stone, or glass, and it was completely another thing to actually witness it on a large scale.
But Ebizo's initial astonishment quickly gave way to a calculating look, and Ren chuckled. The man realized the implications of what had happened here.
This wasn't a modern world. Despite the technology that could be found in many places, this was pretty much a feudal society with medieval, feudal practices. Salt mines were not common, and salt was much more valuable than in Ren's previous world. It wasn't to the point where normal people could not afford it. But it was definitely more expensive and scarcer.
Salt was the biggest export commodity of the Land of Wind, alongside glasswork and raw metal ores. And Ren had just created a bit less than ten thousand tonnes of it from sand, all within a minute.
Ebizo and Ren's eyes met, sharing a deep, but silent understanding before they nodded at each other. Ren would provide goods, but Ebizo's role was going to handle the politics.
Because this was exactly the kind of shit any sensible Daimyo would either shut down instantly in fear of having his country's economy become fwucky-wucky, or try to heavily regulate it because the nobles who owned and depended on their salt trade would be shitting bricks in horror upon realizing what this could mean for their businesses.
It didn't help that the Daimyo of the Land of Wind hated Suna with passion.
But at the same time, this was something that could give Suna an edge toward self-sustainability, much like Konoha had thanks to Hashirama's trees.
It was common knowledge that Hashirama had made several forests around Konoha. What was little less known, however, was that these trees were massive, robust, and the toughest wood in the world. Not only that, they also regrew within a year after being cut down.
Everybody and their mother wanted that wood. The Land of Fire, Water, Wind, Lightning, and every other country that had access to the sea, while being big enough to actually make a navy, wanted it for their ships. Puppeteers dreamed of having it for their puppetry. Reinforced buildings used this kind of wood. Many weapons required their wooden components to be made from it, to enable them to withstand superpowered ninja combat. Hell, it was used for many other things that Ren couldn't think of right now, too.
And the only supplier was Konoha. There was more demand for it than actual supply. It was a big part of the reason why Konoha was economically the best of all the hidden villages. Worse for its enemies, this was not a resource that could be just taken away or sabotaged, either.
It had been tried again and again. Iwa managed to burn the lumbering camp down during the Second War, losing ten Jonin in that suicidal sabotage mission. Frankly, salutations to these champs who managed to infiltrate a ninja village during a war when their guard was at its highest.
But Konoha just relocated their lumber camp to another section of their woods, and that was that. The only thing it accomplished was to make Konoha waste one singular day.
The interest in Hashirama wood is so huge that Konoha had to agree to some rules regarding its trade that the Fire Daimyo insisted on. They could only sell it to independent merchants from the Land of Fire, eliminating any pesky issues like Konoha deciding not to sell to other hidden villages or countries associated with them.
These merchants would buy it, and it was none of Konoha's business to whom they sold it. Everybody had reasonable access to the resource as long as they could afford it, and thus, no economic or normal war needed to be started over it.
That kept the Land of Fire out of many conflicts as Konoha grew rich. All the jealousy the other hidden villages had for Konoha? It was fully justified.
Ren's salt was nowhere near the importance of Hashirama's wood, but the sheer ease with which he could create it was going to make several eyebrows rise in alarm. He needed Ebizo to run political interference, even if he didn't expect to focus too much on the salt trade once he got his other schemes going.
Samira's part was that of an 'independent' merchant. It was to ensure that the Daimyo could not bitch about this too much. There were laws regarding the trade and interaction between a ninja village and merchants. And Ren put in a lot of effort to ensure everything was in order.
She was going to transport the salt to the Land of Fire, where it was going to be sold in the Capital for a slightly cheaper price than usual. With the help of Ren's acquaintance, Ren the merchant, interest was going to be raised. And in a month or so, many more merchants, smelling profit and seeking salt shipments, would be swarming Suna.
By then, it would be hard for the Daimyo to ban it without pissing off several mercantile companies from the Land of Fire, who were the major food sellers for the Land of Wind.
Samira looked at the container full of salt and smiled before she turned toward her hired workers, shouting at them to start their work. Soon enough, carts with empty sacks were wheeled next to the container, and the men started shoveling the salt into the sacks before putting the full ones back onto the carts.
With everything proceeding without a hitch, Ebizo went on to inspect the workers while Gaara walked off with his part done after Ren signed off on the completion of his mission.
Samira and Ren were left alone, and with nobody watching them for the first time since they met today. She leaned closer to Ren and whispered in a serious tone, "I also have a bit of intel for you."
"Yeah? Things are not looking good?" Ren guessed based on her tone. One upside of having her act like a merchant was the small spy network it allowed her to create. It was nothing spectacular, but she could get general info relatively quickly from all over the world.
"There are several issues." Samira nodded, "Which one do you wish to hear first? Kumo, Konoha, Iwa, or Amegakure?"
"Amegakure. Definitely Amegakure." Ren answered, his face scrunching up as he felt a bit of dread inside. If there was something happening in Ame, then that took priority with Akatsuki being stationed there.
Samira nonchalantly shrugged and started speaking, "Nobody knows what happened, but apparently, there was a small earthquake in Amegakure that reverberated throughout the entire village and spooked the populace..."