Chapter 18: 18. The rundown shop
"I am so bored!" Nawaki yawns as Yuji and the group exit the academy.
"So, what interesting thing are we going to do today?" He asks in excitement.
"We will go shopping if that sounds exciting to you!" Yuji answers him.
"Shopping? What are you going to buy?" Nawaki enquires with curiosity.
"Some ninja gear, kunais, shurikens, and wooden swords," Minato answers him.
"Practical combat lessons will start soon, so it's better to buy these things and practice early on." He adds.
"Makes sense!" Nawaki nods.
"I will come with you, guys!" He turns to Kushina.
"What about you, Kushina? Will you come with us?"
"Me?! Well, I don't have any plans for today. So, I might as well follow you guys. Also, Tsunade Nee-san left for a mission and someone from the Uzumaki clan came to fetch granny Mito for some ritual. So, I don't want to be left behind." Kushina follows them.
"So, do you have a shop in mind?" Kushina turns to Minato. She ignores Yuji.
"We do!" Minato takes out a paper strip from his pocket.
"This is the address the academy instructor gave us. Most of the weapons used in the academy are commissioned from this shop. If we present this slip to them, then we will receive a discount."
He glances at the paper strip.
"It's a bit far away. We have to walk through half of the village to reach there."
"Then, what are you waiting for? Let's go!" Kushina picks a direction and steps forward.
"Urm… that's the wrong direction!"
"Then why don't you point the correct direction, you idiot!" Kushina harrumphs and follows them.
Two hours later,
"Erm… we are here!" The group stops in front of a dilapidated two-story building.
"It took us so long to reach here." Yuji clicks his tongue and turns to Kushina.
"You said you just want to follow us. Then what's the meaning of this?" He points towards the heaps of shopping bags in Nawaki and Minato's hands.
"Humph… so what? It's my first time visiting such a big market. Back in Uzushiogakure, there weren't these many shops. And also, there are so many fancy clothes here. So, I couldn't resist." Kushina crosses her arms in front of her chest.
"Leaving aside the absurd amount of clothes you bought, how do you have so much money?" Yuji questions her.
"I am the princess of the Uzumaki clan. I receive monthly pocket money of twenty thousand Ryo." Kushina proudly puffs her chest.
"Ah!" Minato's expression freezes upon hearing such words. He almost drops the shopping bags.
"So, you are a spoiled child!" Yuji nods and turns his attention to the store.
"You!" Kushina glares at him, but Yuji ignores her.
A tilted, rusty iron plaque hangs on the storefront. There are numerous repair marks on the walls of the store.
"Yuji, are you sure this is the right place?" Nawaki looks around at many fancy shops in the surroundings. Compared to them, the store in front of them looks like a crock of shit, placed on a gold plate.
"It should be. Look at the name." Yuji points towards the rusty name plaque.
"Nakamura Weapons! Hmm… this is the place, but…" Minato takes another glance at the shop.
"Are you sure we will find what we are looking for here?"
"The academy instructor wouldn't lie to us." Yuji steps into the shop.
Ding… Ding…
The doorbell chimes as he steps inside the shop.
"Who's there?" A grumpy voice rings in their ears. Goosebumps run through everyone's spine due to the intensity of the voice. A heavy and gloomy atmosphere overwhelms them.
'Danger!' Yuji's eyes narrow.
He turns towards the voice and notices a middle-aged man resting on a chair with his feet on the counter. A diagonal scar runs across the man's cheeks and there are red tears marking beneath his eyes.
"Little brats!" The middle-aged man frowns.
"We don't sell candies here!" He hushes them off.
"We are here to buy weapons!" Yuji takes a step forward and places the academy slip on the counter.
"Hmm…" The middle-aged man scrutinizes Yuji and the group before picking the slip.
"A recommendation from the academy! Very well!" He folds the slip and throws it into the nearby trash can.
"So, what do you want from me? I sell all sorts of weapons, like swords, blades, katanas, blades, sabers, knives, spears, maces, and other miscellaneous weapons. You can buy everything but paper bombs, chakra blades, and other shinobi stuff are off-limits."
The man withdraws his feet from the table.
"We want some kunais, shurikens, metal wires, and wooden swords," Yuji replies to him.
"Hmm… alright!"
The man stands from his seat and enters the storeroom of the shop.
Phew…
Nawaki and Kushina heave a sigh of relief.
"That was scary! I couldn't even breathe." Nawaki heaves a sigh of relief.
"No wonder his shop looks so old. He doesn't earn enough money with such a scary face." Kushina remarks.
"When you are angry, look at your face in the mirror." Minato and Nawaki murmur.
"Hmm… did you say something?" An angry tick appears on Kushina's forehead.
"No… nothing!" Minato and Nawaki shake their head.
Bang…
A loud noise draws their attention. The middle-aged shop owner places a small box on the counter.
"Here is your order! A set of ten kunais, a box of 30 shurikens, a pair of two wooden swords, and two rolls of metal wires."
"Now for the price! Hmm… a kunai usually costs 600 Ryo, a shuriken cost 175 Ryo, a wooden sword is worth 1000 Ryo each and a roll of metal wires is 200 Ryo. The total sums up to…"
The man writes down everything on paper to calculate the price.
"Umm… give me a second!"
"The total is thirteen thousand six hundred fifty Ryo," Yuji answers him.
"Hoh!" The middle-aged shopkeeper raises his head and stares at Yuji.
A few minutes later,
"Hmm… it's thirteen thousand six hundred fifty Ryo." The shopkeeper is slightly astonished.
"You were correct, kid!" He nods at Yuji.
"Of course, Yuji is the best when it comes to arithmetic in the entire academy." Nawaki praises Yuji.
"Oh!" The shopkeeper takes another glance at Yuji.
"That's a lot of money!" Minato bites his lips as he clutches the thousand Ryo note in his pocket.
"I don't have that much money!" He mutters to himself.
"It's alright!" Yuji pats his shoulder.
"Let's see. Since it's a recommendation from the academy, as usual, I will waive 50% off on this purchase. The final price would be…"
"Six thousand eight hundred twenty-five!" Yuji answers him.
Hmm…
The shopkeeper calculates again.
"It's correct again. Not bad kid! I am impressed. I will give you another ten percent off. Now tell me the final price. If your answer is correct, then that will be the final price, if not, then I will only give you a 5% discount." The shopkeeper awaits Yuji's response.
"That would be five thousand four hundred sixty Ryo," Yuji replies after pondering for a short while.
"Correct, again!" The eyes of the shopkeeper shine.
"Haha! You have talent, kid. Just pay me five thousand Ryo." The shopkeeper waves his hand.
"Will it be alright, if we pay so less?" Minato asks with slight hesitation.
"Haha… since it's my shop and my goods. It's my wish at what price do I want to sell it? Ain't I right?"
"Umm… you aren't wrong." Minato nods.
"Then, it's decided."
Minato passes a thousand Ryo bills to Yuji. Yuji adds another four thousand Ryo bills to it and hands them over to the shopkeeper. The shopkeeper unceremoniously grabs the bill and stuffs them into a drawer.
He places everything on top of a scroll and makes a hand sign.
"Ah! I almost forgot."
"You kid can use chakra, right?"
"Yes!" Minato nods at him.
"Good!" The shopkeeper makes some hand signs and stores everything in a storage scroll. He hands the scroll to Yuji.
Yuji and Minato stare at the storage scroll in amazement.
"That's amazing!" Minato's eyes glow.
"Oh, this!" The shopkeeper waves another storage scroll.
"It's a storage scroll. You can easily store and transfer your goods with it. Pretty convenient, right!"
"Yes!" Minato nods at him.
"Though it will usually cost you a thousand Ryo to buy such a scroll. Consider this as a gift from me." The middle-aged man smiles at them.
His face looks scary, with that giant scar on his cheeks.
"What's so special about that storage scroll? I have a lot of them?" A silent Kushina brags proudly.
"Oh! And who are you, little girl?" The shopkeeper asks her in curiosity.
"I am Kushina Uzumaki, Dattebano!"
"Hmm… red hairs… Uzumaki clan! No wonder!" The shopkeeper nods at her.
"So Ojou-chan is an Uzumaki clan member. They are pretty rare around here."
"I just moved here!" Kushina answers him.
"Alright! Take care kids!" The shopkeeper waves at them.
"Also, you black-haired kid, if you can help me with some calculations on the weekend, then I will pay you some extra money."
"Thank you for the offer, mister!" Yuji waves at him and exits the shop.
"That shopkeeper wasn't as scary as I thought him to be." Nawaki remarks.
"Appearance can be deceptive. Sometimes a wolf might be hiding in sheepskin." Yuji mutters.
"Oh! That sounds cool. Is it some sort of transformation, jutsu?" Nawaki asks him.
"No, it's a quote from the book!"
Tch…
"And here I thought it's something interesting."
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