Bloodshed and money were romantically entwined since time immemorial. If you want to know how or why that is, you don't really need to consider the topic on any particularly deep level; even loyal armies need to be fed, clothed, and armed; bodyguards and mobsters too (minus, perhaps, the clothing), and there has never been a case of a successful campaign of violence operated by part-time soldiers or fighters of any kind. In the case of mobsters and thugs specifically, this idea is particularly important, since the money they generate to finance their violence is generally encapsulated within the domain of the state, and antagonistic, in the end, to it's ideal operations. What is a government, anyway, but a dominion over violence in a particular region? Any successful criminal organization would eventually become a threat to any government which was not totally corrupt, and usually, too, to the ones that were. So, let's not all look on with disdain at the important task of undermining the flow of capital into these institutions. They say the pen is mightier than the sword; well the printer, then, is infinitely more mighty than the pen, as it's capable of producing thousands of tax forms designed to specifically discourage deception, and to be accountable to legal proceedings. This, however, was not a case of tax evasion, although paperwork would be equally important here.
Kokorukei Shinryu... Situated in one of the luxury condominiums of the Susukino District, the man ran a humble up-and-coming retail outlet and was rapidly becoming one of Kumogakure's rising stars in the financial sector. The problem was not that he was successful of course, although Tetsu did resent him for that, the problem was the he was just a little too unbelievably successful for the time he spent in the industry, and had an uncle who was tied up in organized crime besides. Tetsu took the elevator up to the fifteenth floor, which overlooked most of the village. Nice ornate carpets lined the floor, and the boy wondered if a place as nice as this ever had to contend with things like fleas. It wasn't quite as if insects and rodents knew which buildings were high end and which ones weren't, although there were probably fewer seems with which to come in by, limiting the ecosystem somewhat, and infested rugs would surely be burned, too, without a moment's hesitation. What the wealthy fundamentally have that the poor don't are easily disposable possessions. And furniture, as a rule. He knocked three times on the heavy oak door. A voice from inside called out "I'm coming, one second..." He sounded friendly enough, and soon enough would look friendly too, but Tetsu was not going to be won over so easily.
When the man invited him in, he thought deeply about the furniture that adorned the apartment. It wasn't as if he had been to a great many people's houses, but the numbers were certainly on the rise since he joined the Intelligence Service several months ago. There was a strange sort of overlap between the rich and the ultra poor, with no meeting ground in the middle. The rich loved objects that came directly from the Earth, from nature, they wanted things that didn't look like they were created at some breakneck pace, and materials that were particularly difficult to harvest or mine and use as construction material were especially valued for this reason. In the end, difficulty meant more than anything, because it was the one feature that more or less guaranteed a limitation on the particular type of commodity that you hoped to own. "How can I help you?" The man sat down comfortably across from Tetsu, offering him a warm smile that seemed somewhat overused and nonspecific. Tetsu was about to begin, but it seemed like Shinryu was too eager to interject with his own thoughts to let the boy begin straight away. "I wish I could say I was surprised to see KSIS showing up at my door, but honestly it's coming basically as less of a surprise the better I do here."
The fact that the topic was breached by the man who was poised to be under investigation threw Tetsu off his balance a little bit. Here is the issue; you want the person you are looking at critically to cooperate with you, because if they don't, they can interfere with the information you aim to find, and if this person finds a valid reason to be critical of your investigation, it more or less welcomes obstruction of some form or other. So, it isn't enough, in some circumstances, to simply demand, through fiat, that they help you incriminate yourself; you have to engage with the relatively complex idea of how you would go about convincing an innocent person that they ought to investigate you in a way that the guilty version of themselves, the possibility of who they might be, would not. "I understand how you could feel as if you were being punished for your success, I really do, but you seem smart enough to understand why you're being viewed with suspicion, right?"
"I understand, yes. So give me a way out. What do I have to do to once and for all rid myself of this suspicion that's plaguing me?"
"Well-" The boy started, but was interrupted again.
"Because, forgive me, but you surely must know that my uncle has also been charged with racketeering. It seems to me that the kage has some active interest in pressuring me not to run a business in a legitimate way. There are easier options out there for me..."
This wasn't exactly going to be easy. The boy reclined in his seat as he looked at the man patiently, trying to separate his bias from his thinking process and work out an approach to convince a person to trust the one that wanted to do him harm. Some of this had to come from a place of honesty, and not just honesty, but a tiny bit of recognition that you fundamentally were not on the same side as them, which is a lie that both parties know entering into the discussion anyway. "Look, there's nothing you can do to permanently eliminate suspicion, just as there's nothing any person can do that will indefinitely prevent Shinobi from asking them questions, but you have a specific issue that's drawing more attention than it needs to right now."
"And what's this? Please enlighten me."
"Well, you're running a simple clothing shop and buying all sorts of shit you shouldn't be able to afford with the proceeds, like this beautiful apartment, for instance."
The man sat back for a moment, this time seemingly taking his turn to analyze Tetsu closely, before finally asking, "Is it so hard to believe that I'm just doing a better job than them?"
"It's slightly easier to believe that you're laundering money."
"Well, I don't need to tell you that that's an accusation without any grounds. Unless we now prosecute people for who they're related to, which I'm tempted to begin concluding is the case."
"Okay. Just explain it to me. Are you really selling that many more shirts than the people around you? We've looked at your inventory, the sales volume wouldn't really account for the discrepancy, and neither would your prices."
"Well, you're at least looking at these numbers, which are not private by the way, and you should know then that I am in fact selling more units at a higher price."
"Yes, but the volume doesn't really add up to the spending you're capable of."
"So what have you missed then?"
"I'm sure I don't know."
"Yes you do, you're not stupid. It's the cost of goods and overhead. I run a booth in the mall and have only one employee; most of our sales are done through advertising and word of mouth, and we specifically sell low weight, low volume, high end clothing products, meaning shipping and productions costs are far below average."
"That wouldn't be the case for competition that's selling the same stuff you are."
"No one's selling what we are, take a closer look at our inventory."
"What do you mean?"
"All of our clothing items are designed with the express purpose of removing fabric and material, and we maximize either the volume or the weight of clothing items with reference to the shipping weight and volume classes that freight forwarders specifically designate, which means we're optimizing our ROI on the inventory we seek out and increasing the margin on every unit sold."
"So what is your margin on your best product then?"
"We can get seventy five percent on some of our shinobi sandals."
"... That's pretty incredible, to be honest."
In the end, Tetsu worked out some arrangement to invest in Shinryu's clothing outlet, deeming him to be a particularly shrewd business man.
Kokorukei Shinryu... Situated in one of the luxury condominiums of the Susukino District, the man ran a humble up-and-coming retail outlet and was rapidly becoming one of Kumogakure's rising stars in the financial sector. The problem was not that he was successful of course, although Tetsu did resent him for that, the problem was the he was just a little too unbelievably successful for the time he spent in the industry, and had an uncle who was tied up in organized crime besides. Tetsu took the elevator up to the fifteenth floor, which overlooked most of the village. Nice ornate carpets lined the floor, and the boy wondered if a place as nice as this ever had to contend with things like fleas. It wasn't quite as if insects and rodents knew which buildings were high end and which ones weren't, although there were probably fewer seems with which to come in by, limiting the ecosystem somewhat, and infested rugs would surely be burned, too, without a moment's hesitation. What the wealthy fundamentally have that the poor don't are easily disposable possessions. And furniture, as a rule. He knocked three times on the heavy oak door. A voice from inside called out "I'm coming, one second..." He sounded friendly enough, and soon enough would look friendly too, but Tetsu was not going to be won over so easily.
When the man invited him in, he thought deeply about the furniture that adorned the apartment. It wasn't as if he had been to a great many people's houses, but the numbers were certainly on the rise since he joined the Intelligence Service several months ago. There was a strange sort of overlap between the rich and the ultra poor, with no meeting ground in the middle. The rich loved objects that came directly from the Earth, from nature, they wanted things that didn't look like they were created at some breakneck pace, and materials that were particularly difficult to harvest or mine and use as construction material were especially valued for this reason. In the end, difficulty meant more than anything, because it was the one feature that more or less guaranteed a limitation on the particular type of commodity that you hoped to own. "How can I help you?" The man sat down comfortably across from Tetsu, offering him a warm smile that seemed somewhat overused and nonspecific. Tetsu was about to begin, but it seemed like Shinryu was too eager to interject with his own thoughts to let the boy begin straight away. "I wish I could say I was surprised to see KSIS showing up at my door, but honestly it's coming basically as less of a surprise the better I do here."
The fact that the topic was breached by the man who was poised to be under investigation threw Tetsu off his balance a little bit. Here is the issue; you want the person you are looking at critically to cooperate with you, because if they don't, they can interfere with the information you aim to find, and if this person finds a valid reason to be critical of your investigation, it more or less welcomes obstruction of some form or other. So, it isn't enough, in some circumstances, to simply demand, through fiat, that they help you incriminate yourself; you have to engage with the relatively complex idea of how you would go about convincing an innocent person that they ought to investigate you in a way that the guilty version of themselves, the possibility of who they might be, would not. "I understand how you could feel as if you were being punished for your success, I really do, but you seem smart enough to understand why you're being viewed with suspicion, right?"
"I understand, yes. So give me a way out. What do I have to do to once and for all rid myself of this suspicion that's plaguing me?"
"Well-" The boy started, but was interrupted again.
"Because, forgive me, but you surely must know that my uncle has also been charged with racketeering. It seems to me that the kage has some active interest in pressuring me not to run a business in a legitimate way. There are easier options out there for me..."
This wasn't exactly going to be easy. The boy reclined in his seat as he looked at the man patiently, trying to separate his bias from his thinking process and work out an approach to convince a person to trust the one that wanted to do him harm. Some of this had to come from a place of honesty, and not just honesty, but a tiny bit of recognition that you fundamentally were not on the same side as them, which is a lie that both parties know entering into the discussion anyway. "Look, there's nothing you can do to permanently eliminate suspicion, just as there's nothing any person can do that will indefinitely prevent Shinobi from asking them questions, but you have a specific issue that's drawing more attention than it needs to right now."
"And what's this? Please enlighten me."
"Well, you're running a simple clothing shop and buying all sorts of shit you shouldn't be able to afford with the proceeds, like this beautiful apartment, for instance."
The man sat back for a moment, this time seemingly taking his turn to analyze Tetsu closely, before finally asking, "Is it so hard to believe that I'm just doing a better job than them?"
"It's slightly easier to believe that you're laundering money."
"Well, I don't need to tell you that that's an accusation without any grounds. Unless we now prosecute people for who they're related to, which I'm tempted to begin concluding is the case."
"Okay. Just explain it to me. Are you really selling that many more shirts than the people around you? We've looked at your inventory, the sales volume wouldn't really account for the discrepancy, and neither would your prices."
"Well, you're at least looking at these numbers, which are not private by the way, and you should know then that I am in fact selling more units at a higher price."
"Yes, but the volume doesn't really add up to the spending you're capable of."
"So what have you missed then?"
"I'm sure I don't know."
"Yes you do, you're not stupid. It's the cost of goods and overhead. I run a booth in the mall and have only one employee; most of our sales are done through advertising and word of mouth, and we specifically sell low weight, low volume, high end clothing products, meaning shipping and productions costs are far below average."
"That wouldn't be the case for competition that's selling the same stuff you are."
"No one's selling what we are, take a closer look at our inventory."
"What do you mean?"
"All of our clothing items are designed with the express purpose of removing fabric and material, and we maximize either the volume or the weight of clothing items with reference to the shipping weight and volume classes that freight forwarders specifically designate, which means we're optimizing our ROI on the inventory we seek out and increasing the margin on every unit sold."
"So what is your margin on your best product then?"
"We can get seventy five percent on some of our shinobi sandals."
"... That's pretty incredible, to be honest."
In the end, Tetsu worked out some arrangement to invest in Shinryu's clothing outlet, deeming him to be a particularly shrewd business man.