Now, This Is What You Call an Old Hand!

After school,

Fugaku followed their agreement and led a curious-faced Minato toward the training ground in the western part of the village,

At first, nothing went wrong, and the two chatted and laughed along the way,

However, as the shop signs around them grew increasingly suggestive and the staff soliciting customers at the entrances wore less and less, Minato gradually developed a sense of impending danger,

Recalling the word "addictive" that Fugaku had once mentioned, he fell into an intense inner struggle,

In the end, his curiosity toward the unknown lost to reason,

"Boss of the Bottom, where exactly are you taking me?"

Reaching out to tug at Fugaku's sleeve ahead of him, Minato lowered his head, not daring to look around at the sights of West Street,

"Minato, my cellmate, do you think your boss would harm you?"

"Of course not, but this kind of place..."

Looking at Fugaku's calm and composed expression, Minato pursed his lips and pointed, red-faced, at the elderly woman soliciting customers at the mouth of a nearby alley,

"Young man, come on in. Auntie just wants to have a little chat with you~"

"Hey, you're overthinking it. I'm just taking a shortcut."

There were many routes to the training ground in the western district, but the only one that could truly be called a shortcut was this main road that cut straight through West Street,

There was only one Training Dummy, and it was first come, first served. Nawaki had vanished the moment school ended, so he had probably gone to claim a spot already. Fugaku had no choice but to take this shortcut,

A shortcut?

Minato blinked doubtfully. Judging by how familiar Fugaku was with the route, this clearly wasn't his first time in a place like this,

"I already have someone in