Stock Market

The sun was high in the sky and wilderness beyond. Arthur stood at the apex of Sun Stream Plaza, overlooking the expanse below.

He was frustrated. And how could he not be? Time travel? Was this the latest twist the other players had thrust upon him? It felt absurd. So much so that it placed his ambitions squarely against the odds of authenticity.

Arthur closed his eyes to think. How? Why? What other celestial joke was the game concocting against him?

'How amusing,' he thought to himself.

If time travel was a player's trick, then the countermeasure had to be pure power; he needed to elevate his skills beyond the wildest imagination of any rival, beyond the in-built limitations of the world he inhabited.

He glanced down at the plaza. Was he strong? By all means. But was he strong enough for an all-out brawl against an entire village? Or how about strong enough to take on an immense army like the Madara Uchiha?

No. He snorted at the mere idea. Definitely not. If he were, he wouldn't be in the position he is in now.

Relaxing, he pondered his next steps.

His strength had its place, but it was insufficient. If he were to wrestle against the intricacies of time manipulation, he would have to push his training to the extreme, redefining his limits in a manner that would set him apart.

He needed an environment where he could automate his growth or a place that could help him break through to the next level of power.

A structure began to form in his mind—an elite training facility that focused on maximum output and maximum challenge. He most certainly had the space to create it.

'First things first,' he said to himself, knowing which empty room to use. 'I'll need to reinforce the framework with steel and use a high-density foam for safety, then... get some equipment."

The following day, Arthur awoke with his chakra fully restored.

To gather the resources necessary, he needed to teleport to the Land of Money, where the trade of goods and the ever-present scent was ripe for the taking.

There was truly only one mogul there that could assist him in acquiring the illegal materials from the black market—the fifth richest woman in this world, Diana.

'Flying raijin…'

Once he arrived at the capital, he looked around, setting his sights on Diana's office. Being one of the tallest glass buildings here, it wasn't hard to find. Let alone infiltrate.

Before he approached her domain, he had a detour to make; something subtle yet necessary.

The matter hadn't taken long. Once he secured what he needed, he approached Diana's building and whisked to the topmost floor where her office was.

Diana was there, reviewing what appeared to be legality reports. As if sensing his presence, she looked up.

"Ah!" she gasped, nearly spilling her coffee. "You…!" Her heart had skipped a beat before she calmed herself upon seeing who it was—the same man who had intrigued her thus far. "You shouldn't appear out of nowhere like that, you know."

"Oh…" he calmly said. "I was standing here for quite some time."

As she regained her composure and adjusted her papers, she frowned and said, "Please, could you at least try to schedule an appointment next time? I've been dealing with a lot this week."

Arthur's answer was as brash as ever: "No…"

The blatant answer showed his disregard for the formality that the corporate world demanded. She let out a sigh, knowing that he wouldn't have adhered to any of her wishes.

"I was afraid you'd say that," she resigned. "What do you want this time?"

Ignoring the obvious frustration on her face, he placed two folders on her desk that contained information he had gathered before coming here. Inside were things regarding her rival companies.

Diana's eyebrows arched in surprise as she leafed through the folders, impressed. "Where did you get these? No… why did you obtain them?"

"Buy some of their stocks," he replied matter-of-factly.

She paused to ponder the reason he would wish for her to buy certificates from her rival companies.

Stocks in this world don't completely work like they do on earth. This is the Edo period, and the principle of the stock exchange is still somewhat new here. The only real financial markets were found in specific countries, the Land of Money being one of them.

"Why should I buy their shares?" she finally asked.

Arthur shook his head and said, "No, I need you to short them."

Her interest piqued significantly at that moment. Shorting stocks was a risky and often controversial move, one that hinted that the investor believed the company's share prices would go down.

"You're suggesting stock manipulation," she stated, leaning forward.

Arthur could appreciate a businesswoman like her. She knew exactly what he was planning without needing to explain much.

Stock manipulation involved artificially inflating or deflating the price of a stock through deceptive practices. It can be done with rumors, misinformation, or even the trading of shares orchestrated by colluding entities—all designed to take control of market sentiment.

Notwithstanding, it was illegal. Both here and on earth.

Why Arthur chose Diana for this job was because of her background. The business mogul owned a black card, giving her access to the black market, an illegal enterprise. Such a woman like this was far from righteous, and she would by all means agree to slandering her rivals to get gain.

Diana grinned at the prospect, as well as Arthur's preceding reputation. She knew as a ninja, he had means beyond mere investing to influence the market.

"Alright," she said, crossing her fingers. "As long as things don't trace back to me, I don't mind… How much do you want me to short?"

"Three hundred in the over-the-counter market," he instructed.

Then he told her to buy several option-like contracts and to hold on to those shares afterwards.

As she was writing the number of certificates she needed to purchase, she looked up to ask him about the number again, only to see he had vanished.

"Darn," she whispered. All she heard was the number. That could be an enormity, like three hundred shares. But knowing Arthur, she knew what he meant—three hundred million ryō worth of shares. "He's truly interesting."

Now things were set into motion.

After Arthur had departed, he teleported to one of the rival companies he spotted on his financial radars—a firm named Daikaku Industries, known for its lumber and construction contracts across the Land of Money.

The minute he arrived at their large headquarters undetected, he transformed his body into smoke and ascended through the structure's floors until he reached the records department.

There, piles of documents were seen across the desks and filing cabinets, revealing both the mundane and the critical secrets embedded within the company's database.

Was he going to make some of these illegal papers known to the public, which in turn would lead the company to be indicted? No, that would take too long.

Pulling a lighter from his pocket, Arthur ignited a few key files. A blaze sprung forth that began to consume everything around it. The fire voraciously spread, fueled by the paper-dry air of the room.

Satisfied, he retreated into the shadows as smoke curled around him and slipped through the halls until he was beyond the burning blaze.

Moments later, tremors of alarms filled the company.

Back in the safety of a nearby alley, Arthur watched, knowing that the flames would raze the entire record portfolio, together with any backup copies the company had stored. Without any information on their many clients, it would cause an upheaval.

The following morning, news literally spread like wildfire. Headlines blared with shocking updates about the inferno that had engulfed Daikaku Industries' records. Public outrage erupted over the negligence of keeping critical documents in a singular space.

Consequently, though Arthur had orchestrated the event, his act remained anonymous.

As the day wore on, their stock prices began to drop, inching lower and lower in reaction to the crisis.

This was a moment to revel in the finance charges, but he knew his works were far from complete. There were other companies to disrupt and other challenges to face.

While the stock prices of Daikaku spiraled downward, Arthur began tracking the movements of the CEO of another rival—Shirokawa Corp.

He built up reconnaissance until the moment came that he spotted a man exiting a club in the early hours of the night. It was their CEO, an ostentatious figure, laughing amidst an entourage of friends, bodyguards, and more than a few women eager to bask in the glow of his wealth.

It was the façade of success that had fooled so many. Arthur observed how the public was entranced by his charm and suave demeanor. Yet, adulating behind that surface was a rampant party lifestyle full of excess.

Characters like these were easy to bring down.

It wasn't long until Arthur followed the CEO into his lavish home. There, he ducked away into a corner of the private party.

There was so much excess of luxury that it was fit for a king. Champagne flowed into glasses, laughter punctuated the room, and the smell of smoke was evident from their many cigars.

Arthur scanned the room, focusing on the CEO, who had decidedly let down his guard. Under the pretense of celebration and a misguided belief in invincibility, the man had neglected the truth—he was now at the mercy of Arthur's design.

'Tamashii…'

With his Kekkei Genkai, Arthur put the entire home under a genjutsu to cloak himself from sight. Now he could move about without being heard or seen.

He began documenting the party, taking pictures of the CEO indulging in alcohol, flaunting his extravagance while oblivious to the danger lurking around him—more specifically, the danger of Arthur's schemes.

By recording this event, the CEO's apparent virtues would crumble, revealing a wanton lifestyle. Arthur knew that this mark would serve as explosive material, ready to be disseminated to the public.

Having gathered more than enough incriminating evidence, he slipped away from the party, careful to remain undetected. The following morning, armed with his photographs, he visited a publishing house, taking on the persona of an unassuming bystander.

"I have a story," he confidently declared to the head publisher, flashing a knowing smile.

The publisher eyed him warily, intrigued yet skeptical. "What do you have?"

Arthur produced the photographs and laid them out in front of the publisher—images of the CEO in unflattering lights, exposing the disparity between his public image and private indulgences.

The man's jaw dropped as he scanned through the photographs. His eyes were alighted with the potential scandal.

"This is the story of the decade!" the publisher exclaimed with excitement. "I'll give you 10,000 ryō for a photo."

"I think I can do better," Arthur calmly said. "Try thirty…"

The publisher's expression soured, but he was desperate. "These are valuable, but 30,000 is pushing it. You still can't compete with the value of your photographs."

"I can if you consider the impact they'll have," Arthur countered, remaining steadfast. "You're not getting this chance again if I just walk out."

In truth, Arthur could easily make these photos known to the public for free. But why do that when he knew he could snag a few tens of easy thousands of ryō from greedy commissioners like this one?

And so they positioned their negotiations—the publisher, insistent on limiting his losses, and Arthur, well aware of what he had set in motion. To his satisfaction, the publisher conceded, and the deal had been struck.

Arthur took his money and departed.

As predicted, the news broke the next day. Pages upon pages screamed about the scandal: "Shirokawa Corp CEO Caught in a Scandal!"

Peddled through the land, the revelation of the CEO's lifestyle splashed stunning images across morning papers. Amidst the headlines, the financial crises soon followed—a reality check for investors who had naively believed in the company's steady ascent.

Over the next three days, the stock price fell. Day by day, output reports remarked on the trajectory of fall—five percent one day, then ten the next, followed by a breathtaking fifteen percent drop.

Both rival companies now found themselves in crisis mode, screwed by their own hubris and negligence.

Meanwhile, Diana's stock from the shorts steadily soared thanks to the plummeting shares of her competitors. And with the fall of her rivals also came the rise of her own industry.

Initially investment caution turned to ecstatic momentum—her shares quadrupled in value in a single week, an unheard-of event in the often-unforgiving wilderness of market valuations.

Finally, Arthur returned to Diana's office, well aware of the impact he had instigated. As he entered the building, he spotted a worker approaching Diana, clutching a newspaper with a look of wide-eyed disbelief. She took it, and not a moment too soon, her expression turned to that of bewilderment.

"How did that man…?" she said in surprise.

"What man, my lady?" her worker wondered.

Arthur didn't need to be a mind reader to understand what was transpiring in Diana's thoughts. All he knew now was that in just the span of a week, he turned the fifth richest woman in the world into the now richest woman.

Meanwhile, he himself had amassed several million ryō in the process.