Chapter 46: Unintentional Success
"Do you remember me?"
The man stopped before him, expression sincere and expectant. "I'm Ishida. You visited my stall just a few days ago!"
"Ishida?"
Hyuga Kiyonari frowned, struggling to recall. Fragmentary images gradually surfaced in his mind.
"Ah, I remember now. You're the wild game vendor."
"Yes, yes, yes!" Ishida nodded excitedly. "That's me! You stopped at my stall then and chatted with me for quite a while. I gave you a pheasant."
Just then, Hyuga Hinata noticed the situation and quickly set down the hairpin she'd been holding, emerging from the accessories shop.
"Kiyonari, is something wrong?"
"Nothing, just ran into an acquaintance," Kiyonari shook his head. "You all keep browsing."
Ino followed close behind, then pulled both of them forward. "Let us listen too!"
Ishida was clearly immersed in memories, not noticing Ino and the others approaching. His tone filled with emotion. "I'm so grateful for your guidance. I have goals now, so much energy—I feel like I have endless strength!"
Kiyonari waved dismissively. "Just casual conversation."
"No, no, no!" Ishida shook his head emphatically. "To you it might have been casual conversation, but for me, it completely changed my life!"
"Changed your life?" Ino couldn't help interjecting, eyes sparkling with gossip's gleam. "Sounds amazing. What happened?"
Ishida turned toward them, bowing slightly. "These must be your friends, benefactor?"
Hyuga Kiyonari nodded, introducing himself. "My name is Hyuga Kiyonari. No need for all this 'benefactor' talk."
Benefactor? Calling him that without even knowing his name—what exactly did Kiyonari do?
Ino couldn't help casting a curious look.
"Understood, Benefactor Kiyonari!" Ishida's motto: I hear you, but I'm not changing.
He took a deep breath, organizing his thoughts before beginning his tale.
"Before meeting you, I'd just moved to Konoha Village as an ordinary wild game vendor. Business was terrible—several days straight like that. When I couldn't figure out why, you told me the reason. For ninja, hunting is extremely simple. Better to sell things Konoha doesn't have."
"For instance, some fresh novelties popular in the Land of Fire's capital are rarely seen in Konoha Village. If I could bring those things back to sell, they might be very popular."
Ino's eyes brightened sharply. "Wait! You're not talking about those fashion magazines, are you?"
"Exactly." Ishida nodded.
Ino nearly jumped with excitement. "It really is you! I knew it! Konoha Village never had those magazines before. Recently a shop suddenly appeared selling them with especially complete variety! So it was you!"
"This young lady must be one of our loyal customers?"
"Of course! I've read through all those Nations Fashion magazines in your shop. I heard there's new stock today?"
Ishida bowed sincerely. "Thank you so much for your support! Since you're the benefactor's friends, I'll give you each a complete set of new products."
"No, no, no," Ino waved her hands repeatedly in refusal. "Boss, just reserve four sets for me. I'll pay."
"Ah... alright then." Ishida couldn't quite gauge their relationship, so he agreed and continued his story.
"After chatting with you that day, I went home and tossed and turned all night without sleeping. Early the next morning, I immediately found several old friends. Like me, they all ran small businesses, living hand-to-mouth."
"I told them your words exactly. Everyone felt their hearts surge after hearing them. Finally we discussed it together and decided to take a gamble! We'd go to the Land of Fire's capital together and see what fresh novelties existed there that Konoha Village had never seen!"
"And then?" Sakura listened with rapt attention, body leaning slightly forward, unable to resist asking.
"Then..." Ishida's face showed emotion. "Several of us scraped together some capital, boarded a carriage, and after two days of bumpy travel, finally reached the capital. I'd never seen streets so wide and straight. Buildings tall and impressive, shops packed side by side, selling all manner of things. We country folk were dazzled, everything seeming fresh and rare."
"The first thing I noticed different from Konoha—the capital's bookstores had so many customers. So I walked in to look and saw people crowding around all kinds of magazines. I heard people say these were fashion, art, literature... I didn't understand, but so many people were buying."
"I made an immediate decision, proposing we take all our remaining money and stock up on a huge batch of magazines!"
Ishida recalled, "My friends' hearts pounded nervously, worried that if we couldn't sell them, all our capital would be stuck in our hands. But I still insisted on trying! I firmly believed your words were right. Even if sales were slow, just the novelty factor alone would sell some."
"Then you succeeded!" Sakura listened excitedly, unable to resist clapping in admiration. This experience was as wonderful as stories in picture books.
"Yes, we succeeded!" Ishida's face overflowed with smiles. "We returned to Konoha Village, carefully selected and rented a small stall on the main street, and displayed those magazines. Initially, not many people noticed, but soon several girls were attracted by the fashion magazines' exquisite covers. The moment they opened them, their eyes immediately lit up."
Ishida laughed heartily, his tone full of admiration. "We have today entirely thanks to you, benefactor. You must accept our gratitude."
"What happened next?" Ino's curiosity was thoroughly hooked.
Ishida raised his voice excitedly. "The moment we got the money, I had a friend rush back to the capital again to purchase the second batch! This time we were bolder—ordered more goods and picked richer variety!"
"Last night," his voice carried excitement and a trace of mystery, "my friend finally returned with the second batch! And... he brought back tremendous news!"
"What?" Sakura asked impatiently.
Ishida didn't answer directly but raised his hand, pointing at the building under renovation behind him. "That's going to be a movie theater!"
"Movie theater?" Ino tilted her head, completely confused. "What's that?"
Sakura also showed a bewildered expression. "I've never heard of it either..."
Hinata's gaze turned toward Kiyonari. Kiyonari also shook his head slightly.
Seeing their puzzled expressions, Ishida laughed. "I knew you wouldn't know. Actually, I'm completely confused too. I only know it's something that can film novel stories into moving pictures, then show them to audiences!"
"Film stories... into moving pictures?"
Ino suddenly understood. She'd visited her father's workplace before. That place had machines that could project distant images onto screens—called surveillance. She hadn't imagined such machines could also be used to create "movies."
"I don't really understand the specific principles either," Ishida scratched his head somewhat embarrassedly. "I only know they use a machine called a 'camera' to film actors performing, then use another machine called a 'projector' to cast these images onto a huge white screen. The audience sits below and can watch the entire story vividly come to life!"
"Sounds... so amazing!" Hinata exclaimed softly, her eyes full of curiosity.
Hearing this, Hyuga Kiyonari narrowed his eyes slightly, gazing at that unfinished building.
Movies... actors...
He remembered now.
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