The question remains: is this person watching me, Tsunade, or Nawaki? The target is currently unclear.
Araki cannot make a hasty decision before the situation is clear.
After some time.
Araki returned to his front door.
The subtle feeling of being watched disappeared.
Araki, as always, picked up his key, preparing to open his door. He didn't intend to linger outside, nor would he let his movements appear flustered.
Everything is proceeding normally.
After all, he wasn't sure if that person was really not watching him.
Click!
The sound of the door opening followed.
Araki went straight into the house, and only now did he finally breathe a sigh of relief and put his mind at ease.
The feeling of being watched completely disappeared.
Who exactly is it?
Araki's mind began to conjure up images of people, all of whom were people from Konoha that he had seen while watching the Naruto anime. He wondered who might be following him.
and...
besides.
There was a second, undefined place in Araki's heart.
That is to say, what kind of strength does this person who is following her possess, that even with his powerful aura perception ability, he cannot pinpoint their location, and even has a feeling that he doesn't know if this is real?
Jonin?
However, when he practiced the Mystical Palm Technique in the afternoon, he could clearly sense Tsunade's every move.
Could it be that Tsunade wasn't hiding anything from him?
It needs to be hidden?
still...
Only ninjas from the Anbu or Root have this kind of aura?
Araki pondered silently. He currently lacked sufficient information. Although he had seemingly existed in the ninja world for three and a half years and had assimilated into it, that wasn't actually the case...
Araki simply merged into the body of a child from Konoha.
This child has not yet officially graduated from the Ninja Academy and become Genin.
All the information and news he had was from books. In the past few years, he even focused more on language learning. It was a very cautious start, with absolutely no room for taking any risks.
Things have only gotten a little better now, but the only Chunin he's encountered are a few teachers from the Ninja Academy, and the only Tsunade Jonin. As for Anbu or Root ninjas, he hasn't seen a single one.
Everything right now is based on guesswork.
There's no way to even test it.
" Araki, you're back!"
Just then, Kushina's excited voice rang out. Along with Kushina came another girl, none other than Uchiha Mikoto, whom they had met earlier in the grove.
Araki clearly saw Uchiha Mikoto and two other people disappear into the grove, but Uchiha Mikoto was unaware of this.
Right now.
Uchiha Mikoto stood timidly behind Kushina.
She appears quiet and introverted.
Those gleaming black eyes would occasionally glance at Araki, then avert their gaze as if they dared not look directly at him, his whole being appearing extremely shy.
"Yes, I'm back. Are there guests at home?" Araki glanced at Mikoto almost imperceptibly and said in a tone as if he didn't recognize her.
"Um..."
Kushina paused for a moment, seeing Araki's posture, and forgot whether she had introduced Mikoto to Araki. She hesitated for a moment.
" Araki, let me introduce you. Her name is Uchiha Mikoto, and she's my best friend!"
Kushina's mind went blank for a moment. She really couldn't remember if she had introduced Araki to him before, but that didn't matter. She could just introduce him again. She could pretend that the past had never happened. It wouldn't make a big difference to say it again.
"Hello!"
Uchiha Mikoto immediately extended her hand to Araki, as if to shake hands.
At this very moment.
Araki's gaze fell on Uchiha Mikoto.
Uchiha Mikoto has fair, rosy skin, which, combined with her outfit today, makes her look adorable and gives off a soft, cute vibe. Her bright, darting eyes add a mischievous and spirited touch, and her cascading black hair falls casually down her back without being messy at all.
The overall look is casual, but upon closer inspection, it appears to have been carefully styled.
" Araki."
Araki uttered two words indifferently, without shaking hands with Mikoto. He hadn't recovered from what had just happened, and now this happened again, making him feel very uncomfortable.
He knew why Uchiha Mikoto had come here.
They simply wanted to gather information about him and investigate the Sora Hyuga case, which yielded absolutely no results.
boring!
So boring!
Araki felt that the Uchiha Clan was somewhat idle.
This is just creating trouble out of nothing.
Of course I don't want to bother with them.
immediately.
Araki sat down directly in the chair.
In his home, he felt completely at ease. He didn't know how long Mikoto would stay, but since she was there to observe him, he might as well look all she wanted, since she couldn't possibly see anything anyway.
" Mikoto, please sit down too."
Kushina an awkward smile and quickly smoothed things over, whispering in Mikoto's ear, "That's just Araki's personality."
"It's nothing." Uchiha Mikoto showed no anger whatsoever, and instead sat down opposite Araki.
Kushina looked at the scene before her. Even though it was a conflict between the person she liked and Mikoto, she was surprisingly in a good mood.
This was something she hadn't expected!
perhaps...
Kushina was also somewhat worried, fearing that Mikoto might touch her treasure.
Seeing that Araki didn't seem to care much for Uchiha Mikoto, she felt a little relieved and couldn't help but wonder if Araki was being a bit too cold.
"Oh, right, Araki, I've replaced the Explosive Tag for you."
Kushina had a sudden inspiration. She took out the bag and handed it directly to Araki. Inside were the blank talismans she had exchanged, as well as the extra money.
Araki didn't speak, but glanced at Mikoto, showing his wariness.
"Let me explain..." Kushina thought Araki had figured out what was going on, and her expression suddenly changed, her voice becoming tense.
"Let me explain."
Uchiha Mikoto then took over the conversation, her dark eyes blinking as she stared at Araki, and said in a gentle voice, "The ninja tool shop is only open to ninjas. Non-ninjas cannot enter to shop or exchange items. So from the very beginning, I've been the one exchanging your Explosive Tag, every single time. That's why I know you can make Explosive Tag."
"I see."
Araki was taken aback; he hadn't expected such a thing to exist here—the ninja tool shop wasn't open to non-ninjas.
This was knowledge he had never explored before.
It touched on a blind spot in his knowledge.
In that case...
Uchiha Mikoto actually knew that he could make Explosive Tag, but she didn't say that during their meeting with the Junior Detective League that day.
Whatever the reason.
At least a tiny bit of the secret was kept from him.
Thinking about this...
Araki's dissatisfaction eased slightly, but his overall opinion of Uchiha Mikoto remained unchanged.
"Thanks."
Araki said calmly, "Now that we know that Mikoto traded all of these, we can calculate the average number of times she does each day, her daily output, and her success rate. It's no secret."
Then there's nothing left to hide.
It's better to just let Mikoto see clearly, so as to avoid further speculation and complications, and prevent the problem from becoming more complicated.
Thinking about this...
Araki immediately opened the bag and saw that it was full of blank talismans, a total of 70. Based on his success rate, he could exchange them for at least 60 Explosive Tag.
I'm making more and more money!
Instantly.
Under the watchful eyes of the two girls, Araki pulled out 10 blank talismans and placed them on his person before closing his bag.
He then placed two of the ten blank talismans on the table and put the rest back into his pocket.
After doing all this, Araki took out his pen and ink and began making Explosive Tag in front of the two girls.
" Araki, are you going to do it now?"
Kushina's eyes widened; she never expected that Araki would even make Explosive Tag without keeping it a secret.
Over the past week.
Even she had never seen Araki make Explosive Tag more than a few times.