The Tragedy of Kasumi Town

The children were making a racket, but they were too young to discipline. Trying to drive them away was completely useless against such stubborn kids.

What could they do? Namiashi Raidō had originally been the main target, but now it seemed they had been resented as well.

With no other choice, the three of them had to walk a little farther to another restaurant.

They left quickly and eventually managed to shake off the children.

The three hurried into the restaurant and rapidly ordered several dishes.

The table was long and pressed against the wall, so no one could sit on its side. Namiashi Raidō sat across from them, while Kurenai and Genma sat side by side, perfectly blocking Namiashi Raidō's face.

Three large bowls of food were quickly brought over. They had all ordered egg fried rice, though each serving contained different kinds of meat.

Although the food looked simple, the portions were enormous, and there was even a thoughtful clear scallion soup to drink.

The three sniffed the fragrant egg fried rice and immediately began stuffing themselves.

"Sorry to disturb you, but may I eat with you?"

A gentle voice suddenly rang out, but to the three who had just been surrounded earlier, it was more unpleasant than the roar of a savage beast.

"Pfft!"

Namiashi Raidō choked and sprayed out rice. He immediately tried to stop himself and hurriedly shut his mouth, only for the rice to shoot out of his nose instead, leaving tears and snot streaming down his face.

After all, Raiton was more energetic and loved excitement, so the portion he had ordered came with quite a few chili peppers...

"Cough, cough... cough..."

Kurenai and Genma coughed without end, but they fared better than the straightforward Namiashi Raidō and did not spray rice everywhere.

However, Genma, who sat in front of Raiton, had suffered terribly. That plate of egg fried rice was probably inedible now...

The middle-aged man responsible for all this was utterly dumbfounded.

Was his voice... really that frightening?

In the instant Tony stood there in shock, Genma and Kurenai both looked at him. They had originally been furious, but once they saw who it was, their anger turned into surprise.

"Uncle Tony... why are you here...?"

Kurenai chewed the food in her mouth in surprise, her puffed-up cheeks gradually shrinking.

"Brother Tony, even if you didn't mean it, my meal is completely ruined. You have to take responsibility..."

Naturally, Genma, who was never one to be polite, was the first to think of recovering his losses.

Seeing that Genma did not blame him and was instead targeting the middle-aged man who had caused all this, Namiashi Raidō immediately felt embarrassed.

"Uh, well... Genma, sorry about that~"

Genma had already experienced Namiashi Raidō's thick nerves firsthand, so he merely rolled his eyes at him, folded his arms, and looked at Mani, who was standing nearby with food in hand.

Suddenly being stared at with such anger, even Tony, who had been frozen in place, began to sweat.

"Uh... it really was... my fault. Shall I buy you a few more servings? Hmm, do you want to change seats as well?"

Tony seemed not to notice that they were taking advantage of him at all. Instead, he was remarkably courteous—so courteous that Namiashi Raidō promptly shoveled several more mouthfuls of egg fried rice into his mouth.

Genma was happy to gain something from the situation, but he could not decide for everyone, so he looked toward Kurenai and Raiton.

Raiton did not even seem to need to think about it. Like a chick pecking at grain, he smiled, nodded eagerly, and continued devouring his egg fried rice.

Kurenai, however, seemed somewhat conflicted and unable to make up her mind.

"I won't eat this plate anymore, but Raiton can probably still eat another serving. Just bring us two plates of egg fried rice and a bowl of Chiyu Soup."

Chiyu Fish were freshwater fish unique to the Naruto World. Because they were small and liked moving in schools, they were called Chiyu Fish.

However, these fish were highly intelligent, and the soup made from them did not have the fishy smell of other freshwater fish. Instead, it was exceptionally fresh and fragrant.

Yet making soup required quite a number of them, and their delicious flavor had made them increasingly scarce, so they were now outrageously expensive.

Still, a fairly large town like this had them, and Kasumi Town was surrounded by many rivers, providing an especially plentiful supply of Chiyu Fish.

Of course, they were still quite expensive. But if they were not expensive, how could Genma bring himself to say it? Tony looked rich, after all~

Tony seemed not to care about money at all. He immediately nodded with a smile. "Of course, of course. Please move to the table next to you first. I'll go speak to the Waiter."

With that, Tony walked away, leaving his food on the neighboring table.

Namiashi Raidō, who had witnessed this novel scene, was delighted. A friend of his two teammates had suddenly appeared, and he looked even more foolish than Namiashi Raidō himself.

Cough, cough, no, that was wrong. He was not foolish. That guy was the fool~

Unable to contain his delight, he poked Genma, who had already stood up to change seats. "Hey, hey, Genma, who was that sucker just now? He looks pretty rich~"

Even Namiashi Raidō could tell that he had taken advantage of Tony. Genma could barely keep a straight face and deliberately coughed. "We only just met him, actually. It's just... I suppose he's..."

How should he describe Tony?

Genma found himself at a loss.

Before meeting him, he had seemed extraordinary. After meeting him, he turned out to be an honest, good-natured man—the sort who was always willing to lose out in order to gain goodwill.

Tony might not have considered it a loss, and might even have thought he had profited, but from Genma's perspective, he was simply someone who liked getting the short end of the stick.

"He owns a Clothing Store, and Genma spent a lot of money buying clothes from his shop."

Seeing Genma struggle to find the words, Namiashi Raidō grew anxious, and Kurenai finally could not stand it any longer.

"Oh, no wonder he invited us without hesitation. Turns out you're the biggest sucker of all~"

With Namiashi Raidō laughingly exposing the truth in a single sentence, Genma's face darkened.

Just then, Tony returned with a smile. Seeing the three of them standing, he was surprised for a moment before gently saying, "Please sit down, all three of you. The food will be here very soon. I know the owner of this restaurant quite well too~"

Tony kept smiling, and his words were sincere. The three sat down with almost no resistance.

Genma and Kurenai still sat beside each other, while Namiashi Raidō sat together with Tony.

Tony began eating on his own, but with an outsider present, Genma and the other two became somewhat awkward.

It felt as though any conversation would be interrupted, so they consciously kept silent.

But it was strange for Tony to come all this way just for a meal. Since he was now the only one without food and was feeling bored, Genma cleared his throat. "Um... Brother Tony, did you come here for something this time?"

"Ah, it's nothing really. I just wanted to get closer to the two distinguished guests!"

"Pfft! Mm..."

Namiashi Raidō nearly sprayed food again, but Kurenai was sitting in front of him this time. It would have been far too embarrassing, so he quickly covered his mouth.

Having witnessed his previous rice-spraying offense, Kurenai immediately picked up her plate and stood.

Genma, meanwhile, felt his anger flare up. He had wanted to keep Kurenai from facing the middle-aged man, yet now she was facing the threat of having her appetite ruined.

That Raiton was truly detestable!

Genma stared at him coldly. "Raiton, switch seats with me!"

The unquestionable tone and trace of chill made Namiashi Raidō panic inside, and he obediently stood up.

As for how Tony felt, Genma could not care less. Tony always smiled at life, so even if someone sprayed food on him, he would probably keep smiling.

Once they had rearranged their seats, the other three aside from Genma resumed wiping out the food.

Still bored, and with so many things about the town unclear, Genma decided that honest people were easy to take advantage of and asked Tony again, "Brother Tony, have the children in this town always been hostile toward outsiders? Or do they simply hate ninja?"

"Hate ninja?" Tony looked at the three of them and found that they were all looking at him in tacit agreement. Feeling a little embarrassed under their gazes, he lowered his eyes back to his food. "Not before. If they do now, it has only happened recently."

"Hmm? What happened recently that made so many children start hating ninja?"

Since Kurenai and Raiton were unfamiliar with Tony, Genma naturally handled the questioning again.

Tony seemed especially courteous toward Genma. Without holding anything back, he told them what had happened recently.

It turned out that ninja really had appeared on Rainbow Mist Mountain, and they had been particularly brazen. A few days ago, they came to the town and threatened the Town Chief, killing quite a few samurai.

Tony not only told them the truth, but also added his own speculation.

He believed that the ninja on Rainbow Mist Mountain might have included sensory ninja capable of reading memories. They had captured many samurai who were gathering intelligence and had thus learned that the town intended to take action against Rainbow Mist Mountain.

A town that had been attacked by ninja would naturally fear and hate them. Children were pure-hearted, so it was understandable that their hatred had erupted first.

After listening to Tony's account and speculation, Genma and Kurenai both looked toward Namiashi Raidō.

Although ninja certainly carried an imposing presence, being identified as a ninja in this town would probably bring trouble. With Raiton's flamboyant personality, he naturally would not take off his forehead protector to hide his identity.

In the end, it was still Namiashi Raidō who had caused the trouble.

"Hey, hey, I didn't do anything excessive! They were mean to me, so I only showed off my food a little..."

Genma shot Namiashi Raidō a fierce look and said coldly, "Keep a lower profile next time. Don't wear your forehead protector when you go out to have fun!"

"That's right, Raiton. You should really learn to think things through!"

At that moment, both Genma and Kurenai stared at Namiashi Raidō with blame in their eyes. Since they were seated facing each other, Raiton suffered the combined assault of both their gazes.

Both looks were filled with dissatisfaction, but as they looked at him together, there seemed to be an added understanding between lovers.

Wounded in an instant and then struck by a display of affection, Namiashi Raidō felt as though his heart was about to shatter.

That hurt too much~

Seeing Namiashi Raidō hang his head, Genma looked at the middle-aged man again. "Brother Tony, did you personally see those ninja at the time? Can you tell us about them?"

Tony hesitated for a moment, but understanding soon flashed through his eyes. Leaning forward slightly, he said in a lower voice, "As for the information, Xiao Tao told me all of it. But even so, what she knows is very detailed."

"Apparently, two of the ninja use swordsmanship. Their blades are extremely fast, and they seem to use something like the Drawing Sword Technique. Based on Xiao Tao's description, they should have Chunin-level strength. Of the other two ninja, one uses Water Release and has been seen using a jutsu resembling Water Turbulent Wave, while the other uses Earth Release and has used a jutsu resembling Earth Spear. For now, they appear to have Chunin-level strength. Their forehead protectors reportedly all have a slash carved across them, so they may all be Rogue Ninja."