Another hour or so passed, and the two teams cleaned out every last bit of the ditches assigned to them before marching back to the mission hall in force.
Turn in the mission, get the stamp, collect the pay.
The Chunin handling registration could now ignore that enormous sword without batting an eye.
The power of habit really was terrifying.
By the time they left the mission hall, the sun was sinking in the west, stretching everyone's shadows.
Ino grabbed Hayashi's arm.
"Hayashi, Hayashi! Let's go get barbecue to celebrate you coming back safe!"
"Sure." Hayashi nodded with a smile, then asked, "So-who's paying?"
"Asuma-sensei, of course!"
Ino waved her little hand without a second thought.
"Asuma-sensei's always bragging about how much he's worth!"
Hayashi turned to look at Asuma.
At some point, the old guy had already turned his head away and started whistling off-key.
He couldn't hide the pained look on his face, as though he could already hear his wallet crying.
Kakashi came over and slipped an arm lightly around Hayashi's shoulders.
"Let's spare Asuma the trouble today."
"I'll treat you all."
"Yeah!" Naruto cheered.
Just then, Haku suddenly seemed to remember something and looked up at Kakashi.
"Mr. Kakashi."
"Before we left, Lord Third Hokage gave me a sealing scroll. He said it contained Lord Hayashi's mission earnings and asked us to hold on to it for the time being. Should we take care of it now?"
Kakashi paused, clearly unaware of this himself.
"A scroll?"
Haku nodded, took a small sealing scroll from inside his clothes, and formed hand seals to release it.
With a soft pop, a whole neatly bundled stack of ten-thousand-denomination bills appeared in his hands.
Crisp, thick, and perfectly aligned, right down to the corners.
Everyone fell silent.
Naruto's mouth