The Deal

Early in the morning, Utsusemi was arranging tea sets, glassware, and enamel jewelry along the veranda.

The jewelry box held gilded cloisonné enamel ornaments, and the box at the bottom contained fruit-flavored hard candies in an assortment of colors.

The morning light had barely reached the eaves when the Senju brothers crouched on the veranda to examine the glass tea set.

Hashirama Senju held up a teacup and turned it around. "This is even clearer than the glazed cups stored in our clan's cellar!"

Utsusemi smiled without a word and opened the jewelry box. The dazzling ornaments sparkled in the sunlight.

Afraid the people here wouldn't recognize their value, she had brought out colorful, glittering vintage jewelry made with a high level of craftsmanship.

Hashirama Senju's gaze was drawn to a pair of sapphire earrings, but Tobirama grabbed his older brother's wrist. "Wait. These objects don't have clan crests on them."

He rubbed the bottom of a cup, where a craftsman's mark should have been stamped.

Utsusemi changed the subject at just the right moment. "Why don't you try these candies first?"

She noticed that although Tobirama was examining the tea set, he kept watching her out of the corner of his eye.

Hashirama Senju had already unwrapped a fruit candy and popped it into his mouth. "It's even sweeter than konpeito."

He smacked his lips extravagantly. "And it tastes like fruit. I can't believe there's a fruit I haven't eaten before!"

He stole a glance at Utsusemi and saw that behind her smile was a bewilderment that knew nothing of him or Wood Release.

He immediately lowered his voice. "This box of candy is quite a rarity. You could trade it for three plots of prime farmland on the black market, right?"

As he spoke, Hashirama deliberately nudged his younger brother with his shoulder, then immediately grew serious when Tobirama pulled out a scroll.

Tobirama Senju took a scroll from his sleeve and said expressionlessly, "By the rules, we take a twenty percent commission."

Utsusemi smiled and nodded. "No problem. They're just a few little trinkets."

Amid the sound of morning dew dripping from the eaves, she heard Tobirama say quietly, "This craftsmanship... really is exquisite."

The vigilance of the Senju Clan's second-in-command was admirable, but to Utsusemi, those so-called clan crests were nothing more than a primitive way to prevent counterfeiting.

The hard candies in the box gave off a sweet fragrance. Could these cheap industrial products really become a hard currency for trade across space and time?

Tobirama Senju unrolled the scroll. "The goods can't be converted into cash that quickly... Fifty acres of wasteland can be delivered tomorrow."

He added, "The glassware, porcelain, and jewelry will take time to sell. We'll take a twenty percent commission."

"All right." Utsusemi hadn't wasted her time when she couldn't sleep last night; she had spent the whole night planning the house.

She tilted her head and said, "You'll need to help me build the house today."

Hashirama Senju nearly pressed his face against the blueprints, while Tobirama had already quietly taken half a step back.

"Tobirama, look! I can make this spiral structure with my Wood Release!" Hashirama rubbed his hands excitedly.

"I've designed the furniture too." Utsusemi pushed another stack of drawings forward. "It can be made with Wood Release, and it goes with the house plans."

The deal was finally settled before noon. Hashirama caught Utsusemi by the wrist. "Utsusemi, come eat at the Senju Clan's home today."

He made the last three words sound especially sweet. "Itama hasn't come home to eat in a long time either."

Tobirama Senju was putting the scroll into a brocade pouch with a subtle woven pattern. Without looking up, he added, "Let the Senju Clan properly entertain our client as well."

"An invitation from the Senju Clan... That's rather sudden. I'll bring a gift too."

The Senju brothers' lunch invitation gave Utsusemi something to look forward to. It would be her first proper meal out since she had transmigrated.

Apparently, she had forgotten the saying that the greater the expectations, the greater the disappointment.

A traditional Japanese meal of one soup and three dishes sat on the wooden table beneath the veranda. Steam rising from the coarse pottery bowls cast a hazy veil over the Senju brothers' handsome faces.

Utsusemi prodded the grains of brown rice with the tip of her chopsticks. They looked good, but they didn't taste good.

Compared to this, the whole grains in modern health food might as well have been refined rice and flour.

"Itama," she said, moving the grilled fish into the bowl of the boy across from her. The crisp crackle of the fish skin was particularly jarring in the silence.

"Eating more fish will help you grow taller, so have some more." She offered a proper smile as she shared the grilled fish she hated most with Itama.

She took only a slice of pickled radish for herself. The grilled fish and pickled radish of traditional Japanese cuisine had become a Waterloo for her taste buds.

She swirled her soup bowl, watching the cubes of tofu rise and sink in the murky broth. This tofu... seems firmer than the kind sold in supermarkets?

Hashirama Senju was noisily gnawing on his grilled fish when Utsusemi's gaze was drawn to Tobirama. The second-in-command was picking the bones out of his grilled fish with his chopsticks.

He had rare silver hair and red eyes, a look widely loved by people in her home country. She hadn't paid attention to his good looks before because she had been tense and on guard.

In the sunlight, his red eyes were like rubies dripping blood. The shadows his pure white eyelashes cast when he lowered his gaze, and the bob of his Adam's apple when he swallowed, all became side dishes to accompany her meal.

Utsusemi's fingertips moved in a blur beneath the table. The moment a wax-paper bag slipped from her sleeve, golden fried chicken gleamed enticingly in the candlelight.

She pushed the fried chicken in front of everyone, and its steaming aroma instantly filled the air.

Tobirama Senju stared hesitantly at the golden food he had never seen before. The rich aroma of oil spread through the air, followed by the scent of spices, garlic, pepper, and smoke.

Hashirama Senju had already grabbed a piece of fried chicken and stuffed it into his mouth. "Delicious!" he exclaimed indistinctly.

Itama took a bite too, and the sound of the crisp coating shattering between his teeth finally made Tobirama let down his guard.

He hesitantly took a bite. It was quite good—no, it was extremely delicious.

"Although the food is nothing special," Utsusemi said, holding a fried chicken leg in her chopsticks, "at least the eye candy makes up for it."

She glanced meaningfully at Hashirama Senju's flushed face and Tobirama Senju's taut jawline.

Hashirama Senju sprayed a mouthful of rice, Tobirama Senju frowned, and Itama pretended not to hear.

Rather than watch his two older brothers make a spectacle, he might as well eat. At least that was safe.

Utsusemi, meanwhile, ate her tofu unhurriedly, as though partaking in some mysterious ritual.