The river water was icy cold. As Yakumo stood there, staring at the fish basket hanging by the riverbank, she froze for a moment.
"Where should we sell them?"
"In the capital of the Land of Hot Water, there is a makeshift market by the city walls." Naruto said. "We'll have to sell them before sunset tomorrow afternoon, otherwise, it'll be hard to get rid of them."
"Master knows so much." Yakumo added at the right time, looking very deliberate, but Naruto liked it very much.
After all, who wouldn't love a girl whose eyes were full of admiration just for you? There is no such thing as green tea. This is clearly his sweet, understanding little sister. (T/N: Green tea refers to woman who pretend to be sweet and innocent but are dishonest.)
Moreover, Yakumo only acted this way toward him, which made it even better.
Ajisai's entire body stiffened, and she turned to look at Yakumo in disbelief, wondering how she could even say such things with a straight face.
"Cough. Let's find a place to rest and deal with it tomorrow." Naruto said, and smoothly changed the subject. It was indeed already late at night.
"Yeah." The two girls nodded.
At night, Ajisai and Yakumo slept in the same tent. After washing up, the tent fell quiet.
"Hey… are you asleep?"
"No." Yakumo replied, turning her head.
"Are we really going to sell fish tomorrow?" Ajisai turned over and looked at Yakumo, "I seriously don't get it. What's that guy even doing?"
"He's probably just going to sell fish," Yakumo said after a moment's hesitation, staring blankly at the top of the tent, "Maybe feels guilty and wants to let us have some fun."
"That guy is really weird." Ajisai curled her lips, "He's the one who threw us into that training, and now he doesn't want us working for him too quickly."
"Who knows." Yakumo murmured.
As the night deepened, the two girls gradually drifted off to sleep.
In the other tent, Naruto wasn't overthinking things. He just took a break from his busy schedule to do some team building for his 'employees', so that they would have a little buffer and not get too angry.
After all, they had just emerged from nonstop slaughter, and might get carried away by the sight of blood.
Maybe he was overthinking it, and this little break wasn't necessary. But Naruto has always been a careful person and doesn't like to gamble.
He'd rather waste a little time than take unnecessary risks. After all, if he messed up the first time, it'd be even harder to succeed later.
He didn't come to Iwagakure to destroy it like Pain did to Konoha, but to drag down the little princess of the Tsuchikage, the only flesh and blood of Onoki. He wanted to create chaos, not destruction.
His plan was to let Yakumo and Ajisai attack the Iwagakure, and he would take advantage of the chaos to take Kurotsuchi away and turn her into his lackey.
…
The next day, beneath the city walls of the Land of Hot Water.
Naruto remembered clearly that at road on the outskirts of the Land of Hot Water's capital, by four in the afternoon, vendors would gradually set up stalls selling fruits and vegetables.
Or deep-fried snacks, fresh meat, and fish.
Two years ago, he had wandered around this area with the the lecherous Jiraiya for more than half a month. It had been nothing but bathing, eating, and drinking every day… though Jiraiya had one extra expense.
They had also come to this stretch beneath the city walls. The foot traffic here was considerable, made up of common folk living on the edges of the capital.
Occasionally, some wealthy individuals would come here too, looking for fresh meat and vegetables.
Once night fell, the fruit and vegetable stalls would pack up and more snack stalls would be set up. At that time, the streets would swarm with people, with villagers jostling shoulder to shoulder.
The lights all over the capital of the Land of Hot Water were connected together like a ribbon of colorful lanterns. The bright lights stretched outward, as if burning into the night sky at the horizon.
The blackfish was a mountain delicacy, and whether if it's used for soup or sliced raw, it tasted far better than other fish.
As long as the price wasn't too high, there is no problem in selling one fish for 500 ryo. However, it is still worthwhile to get a wild blackfish for the price of a bowl of ramen.
The next afternoon, at three o'clock, the sun slanted, casting long shadows against the city walls.
They weren't the first ones to arrive under the city wall, but the crowd wasn't too large yet. Some vendors were moving about, chatting in the shade, while carts and horses slowly made their way through the area beneath the towering walls.
"There aren't many people here!" Ajisai raised her hand to block the nonexistent sun, squinting as she scanned the surroundings.
She was actually a little restless in her heart. She hadn't seen anyone for a long time, so suddenly being surrounded by people left her uneasy. Even though her face remained calm, she was actually a little restless in her heart.
'It's too noisy. It's really too noisy.'
She could barely suppress the urge to summon her Summoned Beast and slaughter everyone around her. It was like being at the Jashin's altar… kill everyone, and the noise would stop.
Only then could she breathe again.
"These people are really..." Her voice was already trembling slightly as she spoke. She instinctively turned to check on Yakumo and found her quiet as well.
Her head was lowered, and her muscles were slightly tensed. She sensed Ajisai's gaze and looked up. Their eyes met, and Yakumo's eyes were already tinged with blood.
Both women looked unwell at the sight of the crowd, but Naruto was extremely calm. He even found a corner by the wall, crouched down, and casually began pulling out a water basin.
Then, he dumped in several baskets of fresh fish into the basin, splashing water nearly half a meter high. Naruto ignored the two trembling girls beside him and even pulled out an oxygenator.
Professional… far too professional.
There were some fish and meat vendors around, but most of them only had a few large basins. They had never seen someone like Naruto, who would take out a half-human-tall oxygenator and those ridiculously fresh blackfish.
It was like putting a Ferrari engine into a tractor. He's really going overboard.
After doing all this, he glanced at the two girls, and seeing they weren't in a good state, he did not say much. He just took out the price list again, which is 500 ryo in the local currency of the Land of Hot Water.
The surrounding vendors who had been spectating could no longer sit still and looked at each other. One of the leading men stepped forward and stood in front of Naruto's stall with a somewhat aggressive tone.
"You're selling that fish for 500 ryo? Are you trying to lose money on purpose?"
"What about it?" Naruto sat comfortably in a folding chair, squinting at the middle-aged man with a face full of flesh, "You from the Land of Fire or something? Why do you care so much?"
His tone was unhurried and calm. Faced with regular people, there wasn't even the slightest ripple in his heart. He even wore a friendly smile as he looked at the man.
But in the middle-aged man's eyes, that expression had a touch of youthful naivety. For a seasoned vendor like him, manipulating youngsters was as easy as breathing.
"You can't sell it for 500 ryo here. If you do, it ruins business for the rest of us." The middle-aged man threatened, "If you ruin our business, you won't be selling anything at all."
"It's my fish, I can sell it however I want. I can sell it for 500 ryo, and I can also sell it for 50 ryo." Naruto looked up and said with a smile, "What can you do to me?"
"You…!" The middle-aged man clearly didn't expect the youngster to be so defiant and immediately flared up, "Are you blind? Who in this area doesn't know me, Shutai!"
"Never heard of you. If you've got the guts, go ahead and smash my stall." Naruto didn't seem to care about him at all and goaded him step by step, "Don't have the balls? Then go home and suck your mama's tit!"
"Courting death!" The middle-aged man was furious and raised his foot to kick the basin, but he was suddenly met with two bloodshot gazes. Instantly, a chill ran from the top of his head to the soles of his feet.