Watching Uchiha Ao walk away, the crowd that had come to see him off gradually dispersed.
Only Hiruzen remained, looking shifty as he draped an arm around Kagami's shoulders and whispered:
"Kagami, I never knew you had that kind of interest. No wonder you married a kunoichi from your clan who was three years older than you. So that's why."
"What interest?"
Kagami pulled his arm away and asked in confusion, "I've been recovering from an injury these past two days. What happened? Besides, Miho and I are in love. What does our age have to do with anything?"
"Come on, quit pretending. Ao told me all about it that day..."
Hiruzen pursed his lips, then recounted everything that had happened that day, from beginning to end.
"Well? Nothing to say now, huh?"
Pfft...
As soon as Kagami heard the whole story, his face turned red as a boiled shrimp, steam practically billowing from the top of his head and his ears.
"I, I..."
Only now did he finally understand why Ao had looked so strange that day, and why Rinon, who had always been fairly friendly toward him, had looked at him as if he were some kind of hentai.
No, she'd been looking at him like he was a pervert.
It was over. His good name was ruined!
He didn't even know why he'd said that. Maybe it was because he'd grown up without a mother's love. Maybe that fragrance had reminded him of his wife's ample bosom.
Once he returned to the village, how was he supposed to explain this to his wife, Miho?
"Knowing her, will she throw a dozen kunai at me as soon as I walk through the door?
Or will she plant a hundred Explosive Tags outside and blow me and the whole clan compound sky-high?"
Kagami felt as if his future looked bleak, but his mind was still racing, searching for a way to fix things.
No, it wasn't over yet. As long as Hiruzen didn't tell anyone else...
With that in mind, he immediately turned around and pressed a hand to Hiruzen's shoulder, his expression grave.
"Hiruzen, you haven't told anyone else about this, have you?"
"N-no, I haven't."
"Good. One hundred—no, two hundred thousand Silver Taels!"
Kagami breathed a sigh of relief and held up two fingers. "Sorry for the trouble, but could you keep this a secret for me?"
"Please."
Hiruzen looked disdainful. "Do you think I'm short on Silver Taels, being the young master of the Sarutobi Clan? But..."
He changed the subject, glanced around, then grabbed Kagami by the shoulder and pulled him aside to whisper:
"If you agree to do one thing for me, I'll keep this secret to myself."
"What is it?"
"I invented the Telescope Technique, but I haven't really perfected it. So, you do this, then that..."
"You..."
Kagami hesitated.
"Having second thoughts?"
Hiruzen immediately stood up and deliberately raised his voice. "If you can't do it, never mind. I was just about to tell Hizuki and the others about your..."
"Hey, hey! I'll do it, I'll do it!"
"Heh, now you're talking. Once we perfect the technique, we'll share it. I won't let you get the short end of the stick, brother."
With that, Kagami left with a troubled look on his face. Hiruzen watched him go and chuckled.
"If I can develop this technique, then I'll be able to... Heh...
Kagami, I'll hold this secret over you for the rest of your life!
Too bad Ao isn't into this sort of thing. Otherwise, I could've shared the mysteries of the Telescope Technique with him, too."
Land of Fire, Suimon City, at the entrance to Red Light Alley.
"Hey, young man, want a woman with a big chest who knows what she's doing? We've got a grand opening special today—only five thousand taels!"
A lean man with a shrewd look blocked Uchiha Ao, who was wandering around the district. He pulled out a flyer featuring a scantily clad woman and introduced the deal in a low voice, his eyes darting about.
"No!"
Uchiha Ao stopped and shook his head.
"Not enough."
He held up three fingers. "I want three, and they have to be locals!"
Suimon City was a tangled mix of people from all walks of life. He'd searched for the Kinkisho for ages but hadn't found its exact location.
That was why he'd come here to try his luck.
After all, locals ought to know. If he investigated thoroughly enough, he could probably squeeze more information out of them.
"Huh?"
The lean man was taken aback, then overjoyed.
A-a big spender!
"Of course, we've got them! I guarantee you'll be satisfied, sir. This way, please!"
Ao nodded, and they ushered him inside like an honored guest.
An hour later.
That night, Ao took on the Three Demonesses all by himself, and fought until the very foundations of the world were ground to dust.
Snap...
Uchiha Ao flicked away the burnt-out match, took a deep drag of his post-coital cigarette, and gazed wistfully out the window as he blew smoke rings.
"Ah, I got carried away. Why did I even come in here?
There was obviously a much simpler way to gather information."
A soft moan...
Just then, the three women with different-colored hair woke from the storm of the previous night. Their faces flushed, they lay sprawled across the bed and looked toward the window.
Seeing that Ao was still full of energy, they exchanged bitter smiles.
Could this gentleman be a Taijutsu Ninja? His stamina was far too incredible.
They tried to get up and hurry away from this "terrifying" customer, but their legs felt like they didn't belong to them. They couldn't even stand.
"Awake?"
Uchiha Ao heard them stirring, stubbed out his cigarette, and smiled at the three of them.
"Want to earn some more money?"
"No, no more..."
The three women hurriedly shook their heads. One of them, the smallest of the three, was so frightened that she even started crying as she begged him:
"Please, sir, let us go. We're ordinary women. We can't take any more of this. If you still want more, I'll ask the boss to send in a few more girls."
Another woman, who was fuller-figured, immediately chimed in. "As for the fee afterward, if you let us go, the three of us will cover it!"
"You've misunderstood."
Uchiha Ao shook his head with a laugh. "I don't mean that kind of work. I just want to ask you something. Whoever answers gets two thousand taels."
The three women's eyes lit up. They'd worked hard all night, and the establishment would only give them two or three thousand taels out of the five thousand. Who wouldn't want a whole night's pay handed to them for nothing?
The three exchanged glances, and finally the woman with the most mature allure asked:
"What is it you'd like to ask, sir?"
"It's simple."
Uchiha Ao pulled a few bills out of his pants and slapped them on the table. "You're all locals. I just want to know where the nearest Kinkisho is."
"The Kinkisho?"
The other two women looked at each other, confused.
"What kind of place is that?"
The woman with the most mature allure, however, showed a glimmer of understanding in her eyes.
This customer really was a Ninja, and an exceptionally rare Taijutsu Ninja at that. No wonder he was so formidable.
"Looks like..."
Uchiha Ao pushed the bills toward her, the corner of his mouth lifting.
"You know where it is."
The mature woman didn't deny it. She nodded.
"I do know where it is. But for that information, I'd like you to add another thousand taels to the original amount."
She lifted her head and met Ao's eyes without fear, her eyeshadow accentuating her gaze.
"Given your experience, I imagine you've already figured out who I am."
At that, Uchiha Ao narrowed his eyes, a cold light seeming to flash within them.
"Even knowing who I am, you still dare make that demand...
Woman, you're playing with fire!"
In the world of Naruto, Ninjas might have been glorified, but at their core, they were still assassins who took jobs killing people.
Ordinary people usually kept their distance as soon as they learned someone was a Ninja, but this woman...
The other two hurriedly tugged on the mature woman's hair and whispered:
"Sister Mio, what are you doing? It's just information. Two thousand taels is plenty. If you offend this customer, the three of us..."
"Leave it to me."
The mature woman reached out to soothe them and said gently, "Your bodies are in bad shape after this. Even the money the boss gives us for this job won't cover your living expenses, let alone your treatment.
"If I don't ask for that extra thousand, we won't have enough to pay for treatment. If we get another job like this later, the two of you might not survive it."
"Sister Mio..."
Both women were moved to tears.
Uchiha Ao had excellent hearing. Although the three women were speaking softly, he could still hear them.
"I accept your request, and I'll add another three thousand taels on top of that. But..."
He deliberately paused, savoring the nervous looks on their faces, then continued with a smile:
"You have to tell me your name first."
This woman had guts, and she was loyal to her friends. He might be able to make use of her the next time he came here.
"My name?"
The mature woman looked at him in surprise, but didn't dwell on it. She answered softly:
"My name is Namikaze Asami."
Before you continue