Naruto was clearly long used to Sasuke calling himself illiterate. He just kept counting on his fingers with a serious face, finally coming to a conclusion.
"Ha! Either way, we're gonna eat to our heart's content!"
After finishing their first deal with Gaara, the Shinju trio went right back to carrying their little stools over, sitting down at the square table to wait for the next customer.
Meanwhile, Gaara's team from Sunagakure headed into the central tower carrying two scrolls to hand in their mission.
"That guy really gets on my nerves," Kankurō muttered along the way.
"Didn't you feel he has a kind of charm you don't?" Temari watched Shinju's retreating back with a dreamy expression.
"That unshakable confidence even in the face of disaster… and that overwhelming strength. He's the perfect man."
Kankurō was speechless. "Sis, don't let some Konoha guy steal your soul! (||๐_๐)"
"Just give that boy a few more years—he's bound to grow into a real looker! And more importantly, by then he'll shock the entire shinobi world!" Temari said firmly.
"That's laying it on too thick. You've never even praised Gaara that much," Kankurō complained, clearly unhappy about his sister inflating someone else's reputation.
Gaara suddenly spoke up. "That guy… has a terrifying amount of chakra."
"Oh?"
Kankurō and Temari's interest was piqued. After all, Gaara himself housed a tailed beast—his chakra reserves were monstrous.
But now, he was actually praising someone else's chakra levels.
"In short… he's a very strong opponent!!" Gaara finally said after holding it in for a while.
...
From a place no one noticed, Orochimaru lay hidden within a tree trunk, looking at Shinju with a delighted expression.
"So he's even learned the Third Hokage's Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu… and can create so many so easily. Looks like this brat has quite a lot of chakra."
"On top of that, his talent and learning ability might even surpass that Uchiha boy."
"Pity he doesn't have a bloodline limit as powerful as the Sharingan… otherwise he'd be an exceptional vessel."
...
Not long after Gaara's team left, Shinju finally met his second group of customers—none other than Karin's squad, whom he had run into earlier.
"Looks like I guessed right—you really did set up shop here," Karin said in surprise.
At the same time, she was stunned by Shinju's strength.
When her two teammates had first said Shinju's team took them down in under half a minute, she didn't believe it.
But now, seeing the dozen or so scrolls laid out on the table in front of Shinju, she believed.
What terrifying strength!
There were only a little over eighty participants in the second stage of the Chūnin Exams, and twenty-eight scrolls in total.
His team alone had collected more than half!!
Utterly terrifying.
"How much for your scroll?" Karin asked.
"One hundred thousand per scroll," Shinju said flatly.
Karin's team: "Hiss~~"
(꒪⌓꒪) (´°Δ°`)(º Д º*)
They'd guessed the price might be steep, but this was outrageous!
Kusagakure was just a small shinobi village—nothing like Konoha with its vast resources.
For the three of them to come to the exams, travel costs, food, lodging, and all other expenses together barely added up to just over a hundred thousand.
Now buying both a Heaven and an Earth scroll would cost them two hundred thousand outright.
They couldn't afford it.
After hesitating, Karin stammered, "Um… could you… maybe make it a little cheaper…?"
Her face flushed red as she spoke. She had just been saved by him, and now she was asking for a discount—it felt a little shameless.
Shinju replied cheerfully, "Sure, lowest I can go is eighty thousand."
With a price this low, they should have no reason not to buy, right?
But when Shinju's gaze fell on the three of them, he found they still looked troubled. (｡í _ ì｡)
At that moment, Sasuke quietly leaned toward him.
"Kusagakure's a small village. They probably can't come up with that much money."
Shinju understood at once.
So that's how it was.
While Karin seemed nice enough, he wasn't running a charity. He couldn't just give them scrolls for free.
"You can work as my hired muscle. At the end, I'll give you one scroll," Shinju offered after thinking it over.
Kusagakure's trio was instantly moved to tears, thanking him repeatedly and promising to protect him with all they had.
If they could get a scroll by helping him, they could scrape together the eighty thousand ryo for the other one.
And so, the little stall now had six people guarding it.
About half an hour later, the third group reached the central tower.
Then came the fourth group, the fifth…
When the sixth group arrived, Shinju found them suspicious.
Each wore a Sound headband, their eyes gloomy as they stared at him—it was clear they were trouble.
Shinju quietly warned Naruto and Sasuke beside him.
"Get ready for a fight."
He then put all the remaining scrolls into his backpack.
Seeing this, the Sound ninja trio looked annoyed.
"Why'd you pack up the scrolls when you saw us? What kind of business is that?!"
"My business isn't yours to tell me how to run."
Shinju glanced up at them with a look of disdain. ¯_(ツ)_/¯
The hunched, bandage-faced one in the middle asked,
"Are you looking to die?"
"Are you looking to die?" Shinju shot back seriously.
Sound Ninja Trio: (ꐦ ಠ皿ಠ)
They had orders to kill Sasuke and Shinju, so they had planned to find an excuse to start a fight.
They didn't expect the redhead opposite them to be even better at picking a fight than they were.
"Get them!!" the bandaged one—Dosu—shouted.
"You've really hit the jackpot running into us!" said Zaku, another of the trio.
"Do we kill the redhead too?" asked Kin, the only female.
"He's also a target," Dosu said expressionlessly.
As the Sound ninja trio suddenly lunged, the Kusagakure trio—now Shinju's hired muscle—charged out without hesitation!
Their thinking was simple: if they fought hard enough, maybe Shinju would give them another scroll. That'd save them tens of thousands!
Dosu sneered at the sight.
"It won't help."
He raised his right hand.
Bzzz—
A soundwave burst from the strange weapon mounted on his arm.
Everyone present winced and clutched their ears in pain.
Realizing the Sound ninja were attacking with sonic waves, Shinju quickly pulled a kunai from his pouch and hurled it at the strange device in Dosu's hand.
But before it could land, Zaku raised his hands.
In the center of each palm was a strange black hole.
The next moment—!
High-pressure air blasted from those holes!
Whoosh!!
The compressed air wave blew Shinju's kunai aside and came sweeping straight toward him!