"The Hokage's son!" The shopkeeper's eyes narrowed sharply. Wondering to himself if those words were true, he put on a face of feigned honor and said, "So you're Lord Hokage's young master. I was terribly disrespectful earlier."
"Although this guy acted a bit strange just now, it's normal he'd be stunned after hearing my prestigious title. Time to stick with the original plan," Asuma thought smugly, letting out a dismissive "Hmmph" through his nose.
"This is the Hokage's son?" Hayai questioned inwardly, though dared not probe further. He quickly clarified, "I'm Haaya, a merchant from the Land of Lightning. Since this is my first time in Konoha, I wasn't clear about your identities as guests. Please accept my apologies."
"I don't care where you're from!" Asuma waved impatiently. "I'm here mainly for the elementary school's second-grade class rep election. I want to buy some top-grade fresh beef from you to win over my classmates."
"Even kids five or six years old know how to bribe others? Has Konoha really gone that downhill?" Hayai scoffed internally while cheerfully asking, "Then how many pounds of beef are you planning to buy?"
"Not in a hurry, let me look around first," Asuma said, looking like he owned the place.
Hayai chuckled silently, watching the scene unfold like a spectator.
However, minutes dragged on. Before long, an hour had passed...
Hayai was starting to lose his patience. That stuck-up brat was still there, picky as ever.
Damn it! I still have an operation tonight aaaah!" Hayai screamed inside. Taking a deep breath, he forced out a cheerful smile. "Lord Hokage might have already started preparing dinner. Why don't you come back tomorrow to choose instead?"
Asuma gave him a sideways glance. "Fool, by tomorrow the election will already be over. What use would this beef be then?"
Hayai raged inwardly. How should I know when your elementary schoolers hold elections?!
Finally, after dragging things out another half hour, Asuma smacked one piece of beef disapprovingly. "This one will do."
Hayai nearly burst into grateful tears. Finally getting rid of that annoying little demon!
Eager to bring this ordeal to an end, Hayai hurriedly said, "I'll wrap them up right away."
"Wait a minute, I haven't finished yet. You merchants sure are impatient, aren't you?"
Hayai froze mid-motion. "Ha... Haha, I guess I did act hastily."
Asuma approvingly nodded, speaking like an old man. "You'll slice ten pounds of lean meat for me—absolutely no fat at all, understand?"
Hayai slightly relaxed in his heart. At least that was manageable.
After some sharp knife work, Hayai happily wrapped everything up, saying, "Then now I can..."
"Not yet. I also need ten pounds of fatty beef from you—absolutely no lean pieces allowed, got it?"
Anger surged in Hayai's chest, nearly making him draw his sword and slash the kid.
The world is so beautiful, yet I'm becoming this irritable. This isn't good...
Taking a deep breath, Hayai forced another smile. "Alright, I'll cut that right away."
Hearing these words filled with bitterness, even Seiki, who was watching from the side, almost felt 'moved.'
After another round of hassle,
Seeing how the moonlight had already climbed onto the cutting board, Hayai couldn't help but weep inwardly. "Finally finished slicing!"
Watching Hayai hand over the fatty meat in a daze, his blank stare nearly made Asuma feel guilty for pushing on. Then—
"Oh, right! Add ten more pounds of bones. Just remembered, Inuzuka's student's dog goes crazy for bones."
"Okay," Hayai replied lifelessly, like a salted fish that had lost its dreams.
Yet, the moment he lowered his head to carve the bones, murderous intent flashed in his eyes and his knuckles turned white around the cleaver's handle.
"Have I already been exposed? No, if that were true, they wouldn't have sent just two brats. I must remain patient a little longer. At least, let it not be me who reveals myself first."
Patience!
What followed was yet another long silence.
Eventually, the bones were carved.
"Now then, dear young guests, do you have any other requests?" Hayai bent forward, appearing excessively fawning, though in reality he resembled a tiger or panther eyeing its prey, fully prepared to strike at any moment.
But just then, Asuma muttered softly in front of him.
"Hmph! He still hasn't snapped. How disappointing. Aren't Cloud ninjas supposed to be quick to anger?"
Hayai froze, sensing something unusual in those words.
Before he could figure it out, Asuma continued, "Hmph! The Second Hokage was killed by your Cloud ninja! I will definitely take revenge for this!"
"Ah, so that's why!" Hayai felt his palms sweating and getting hot.
Upon hearing this, he quickly explained, "We from the Cloud Village were also victims of that coup! Even our Second Raikage was killed by Kinkaku and Ginkaku!"
"Hmph! But those two were always part of your Cloud Village!" Saying that, Asuma stormed out looking displeased, "Lucky for you this time, but I'll definitely come back again!"
No cash? Time to vanish!
Although Asuma hadn't paid or taken the beef he'd sliced, Hayai was too relieved at this point to dare cause any further trouble.
"Phew, finally over." Hayai rubbed his wrist, staring at the pile of beef on the table while twitching his lips, "I hate brats the most, especially those from Konoha!"
After walking a bit farther from the shop, Asuma whispered excitedly, "That guy is definitely suspicious."
Seiki nodded, "And quite heavily so!"
"So what now..."
"Well, better leave this to the grown-ups."
A trace of excitement on Asuma's face faded instantly, as he chuckled, "Hmm, well, perhaps we shouldn't bother others with uncertain matters like this?"
Promptly, Seiki showed a slight expression of surprise, "You want to tail them alone?"
"No way! Don't forget, I've got you with me!"
"No way. It's far too dangerous!"
"Nah, there won't really be danger."
Asuma was unusually serious. "Konoha has a chakra barrier in place. If any powerful outside ninja tried to enter, the elders would be notified immediately. So at most we'd only be dealing with guards hired by the merchant caravan."
"It's still risky. I mean, we're not even real ninjas yet."
"There's all kinds of ninjas," Asuma scoffed. "For geniuses like us, dealing with regular Genin should be extremely easy. Plus, Cloud Village wouldn't risk sending their top recruits on something this dangerous anyway."
"What if they have Chunin then?"
"If they do send Chunin, even if we can't beat them, I think we can still protect ourselves. Besides, this is Konoha! Once the enemy realizes they can't grab us right away, they'll definitely give up."
Seeing Seiki was still hesitating, Asuma continued, "If they strike tonight, we won't even have time to report this now."
Hearing this, Seiki nodded with a 'serious' expression. "Alright, but if they don't act tonight, we must inform the village tomorrow."
Seeing he had convinced Seiki, Asuma excitedly punched the air. "Great! Our covert ops team is ready for action!"
Seiki let out a soft sigh, as if regretting his own recklessness—though a strange gleam flickered in his eyes. "After all, this time we're making contact with a high-risk individual, so I'm afraid I'll have to leave the fallout to you, Asuma."
P.S.: Some readers might find these names odd, but Cloud Village's Samui is derived from the Japanese word for 'cold,' and Omoi from the word for 'heavy.' I'll just go with a quick Japanese-inspired name here.
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