"Duy, how'd you get more scars on your face? Are cats really that dangerous? Even a proud ninja like you gets scratched up?"
The moment Might Duy stepped into the tri-color dango shop, a wave of mocking laughter erupted from the patrons. Duy didn't respond. He simply raised a hand to wipe the soot and cat-claw marks from his face before addressing the girl behind the counter.
"Two sticks of tri-color dango and one order of plum daifuku, please. To go."
The shop girl nodded and began packing the food. However, the surrounding diners seemed intent on stirring up trouble. One of them jeered, "As a ninja, you're only ordering that much? Out of pocket change? Even us commoners aren't as broke as you!"
Another chimed in from the side. "Hah! Duy isn't poor because he's a ninja; he's poor because he can't let go of his 'elite' status. He refuses to do an honest day's labor to solve his problems."
"If you ask me," a third man added, "he should just take off that forehead protector and go get a real job. Doing those pointless drills every day is a waste of time. He'd be better off pulling a cart or delivering goods."
Listening to the chatter, Duy kept his head buried deep, a forced, unnatural smile plastered on his face. He didn't even dare to look at them with a sour expression.
"Duy-gege, ignore them. I added some extra plum sauce for Sister Koharu," the shop girl said. Her face was flushed with anger, but as a lowly employee, she didn't dare snap at the customers. She could only pick out the largest dango for him and drown them in extra sauce.
Outside the shop, Uchiha Tenfu—who had just finished training and had dragged his two "rivals" along to buy his favorite treats—witnessed the entire scene. He was fuming, nearly lunging through the door to teach those people a lesson.
However, Tatsuma and Minato each clamped a hand onto one of Tenfu's shoulders. Tatsuma leaned in and whispered, "If you start a scene, they won't dare retaliate against an Uchiha, but they'll take their resentment out on Duy-gege later."
"Then what do we do?!" Tenfu hissed, his face contorted with indignation. "Are we just supposed to watch them insult him?"
Tatsuma watched as Duy took his package and prepared to turn around. He yanked Tenfu back and the three of them vanished in a Body Flicker.
Duy felt a flicker of familiar presence outside the door, but when he looked, there were only strangers passing by. For some reason, he let out a sigh of relief.
Thank goodness... no one I know saw me like that. Otherwise, they'd start questioning if my commitment to youth is lacking.
With that thought, Duy started the walk home, thinking about spending the evening with his wife. Tomorrow was the final day of the Academy break; he planned to visit the training ground to see those hot-blooded boys one last time.
After Duy had cleared the street, the trio emerged from an alleyway. Tatsuma pondered for a moment before saying, "We can't change the mindset of the villagers on our own."
"Then what?" Tenfu's rage hadn't subsided. Even Minato's brow was furrowed; gentle as he was, he was clearly incensed by Duy's treatment.
"We can't change how they think of him yet, but we can change Duy-gege's circumstances."
Minato looked at him curiously. "How?"
Tenfu also stared at Tatsuma with wide eyes. Despite only knowing the man for a little over a month, Tenfu had developed a genuine respect for the Genin who had been tirelessly coaching them in Taijutsu. Though Duy looked and acted strange, his dedication to teaching them was absolute. In their little training camp, Might Duy's name carried as much weight as their Academy instructors.
"Let's head back first," Tatsuma said, shaking his head. He didn't explain his idea immediately.
They returned to the Third Training Ground. Although the scheduled training time had ended, their hyper-competitive classmates were still there, refusing to go home and stop "grinding."
Seeing them return, Tsume Inuzuka barked, "Didn't I tell you to bring me back an order of dango? Why are you empty-handed?!"
"Woof! Woof!"
Her ninja dog, Kuromaru, let out a matching bark of disapproval. Several other students who had asked for the same favor glared at the trio with resentment.
Tatsuma offered a sheepish grin. "Sorry, there was a bit of a situation. We didn't end up buying any dango ourselves."
Hearing this, the resentment evaporated. People don't worry about scarcity as much as they worry about inequality. If the trio had eaten and forgotten the others, there would be hell to pay; since no one got dango, balance was restored, and the anger vanished.
"Tatsuma, tell us your idea," Tenfu urged. Like most Uchiha, he was terrible at small talk and preferred to get straight to the point.
Tatsuma nodded and waved over about a dozen of their classmates. Once they were gathered, he began. "Over the past few weeks, Minato, Tenfu, Chinto, Kushina, and I have been teaching everyone how to make Explosive Tags and Sealing Scrolls."
The students nodded, though they looked confused. They didn't see where he was going with this. Tenfu, however, slapped his forehead with a look of sudden "enlightenment."
"Oh! You want us to collect tuition from everyone and give it to Duy-gege?"
WHACK!
Tatsuma delivered a sharp "chestnut" to Tenfu's head. Tenfu looked ready to go another three hundred rounds with him, but Tatsuma ignored him, pushing his face aside to continue.
"School starts the day after tomorrow. We won't have much time to exchange extracurricular skills like we do now. But I don't want anyone to get rusty. I think everyone should keep practicing by making more tags and scrolls in their spare time."
"But... the materials are expensive," a student from the Sarutobi clan noted. The summer's practice had already drained most of his allowance. High-quality chakra paper wasn't cheap.
"I know," Tatsuma explained. "That's why we should sell the successful scrolls and tags we make during practice. We can use that money to buy more supplies and keep training."
As Tatsuma laid out the plan, Minato stepped in as the perfect "straight man," playing his role with a look of feigned concern. "But Tatsuma, we're about to be back in school. Even if we have tags and scrolls, we won't have time to sell them. Besides, the ninja tool shops have their own suppliers; they might not want to buy from students."
'Spoken like a pro, Minato!'
Tatsuma shot Minato an appreciative look, genuinely impressed by his friend's intuition. He clapped his hands to draw the group back in.
"Exactly. We don't have the time, and the shops aren't an option. That's why we need someone trustworthy to help us sell these to individual buyers."
Kushina, watching the two of them play off each other, finally caught the drift. "Why don't we let Duy-gege sell them for us? I heard the number of D-rank missions in the village has dropped lately; he should have plenty of free time. I've already saved up over two hundred sealing scrolls. If I could turn those into cash... hehehe~"
Tatsuma nodded. "And it doesn't have to be just tags and scrolls. We can commission Duy-gege to sell other things too, and just give him a percentage of the sales."
"I've been learning how to make ninja dog food!" Tsume Inuzuka said, her eyes lighting up. "Aside from my clan, there are plenty of people in the village with ninja dogs. They'll definitely need it!" She smacked her fist into her palm. She hadn't mastered tags or scrolls yet and thought she'd be left out of the money-making, but now she saw a path.
Tenfu nudged his way back in. "And our Uchiha cat food! No ninja cat can resist our raw-meat blend."
"Our Aburame clan breeds some harmless utility insects. For ninjas who keep messenger hawks or pigeons..." Shibi Aburame started to speak, but realizing no one was looking at him, he drifted back into silence. No one noticed he had stopped talking.
Shikaku Nara, for once, looked somewhat motivated. He glanced at Inoichi and Choza. "Our three clans can collaborate on producing some specialized insect repellents."
Who doesn't love extra allowance?
"That's perfect!" the group cheered. "Every ninja dog and cat needs regular deworming and repellent."
Shikaku's suggestion was a hit, leaving Shibi feeling even more isolated. He felt like the very bug being repelled.
Since this was the legendary "Elite Class," most of Tatsuma's classmates were from prestigious clans with their own "specialties." Even the few from civilian backgrounds were the children of elite ninjas and knew the basics of making essential gear like smoke bombs, flash-bangs, or soldier pills. Everyone could get a piece of the pie.
The only ones left out were Shibi (due to being ignored) and Nawaki, who didn't know how to make tags, scrolls, or anything else of value.
Well, Shibi was used to it. As for Nawaki... he had heard his sister was heading out on a mission soon. With Tsunade gone, he wouldn't exactly be hurting for pocket money. If things got desperate, he could always raid the attic for the blank scrolls his grandparents and parents had left behind. He had plenty of options.
Under the guidance of Tatsuma and Minato, the group of kids reached a consensus in record time. They even worked out the "market share," agreeing that Kushina couldn't dump her massive backlog all at once to give others a chance.
Tatsuma even led them through a cost-benefit analysis. Since they were still apprentices, they had to account for a certain failure rate in their production. Shikaku was a huge help here; he knew the market prices for almost every ninja tool in Konoha.
In the end, they set a competitive price that was lower than the retail shops but still covered their costs, while leaving a healthy commission for Might Duy. Since they were students, they were happy as long as they broke even on their training costs.
The next day—the final day of summer—Tatsuma represented the class by presenting Might Duy with a formal sales commission contract and their first batch of inventory.
Might Duy spent the entire afternoon shouting about "The Power of Youth" while weeping tears of pure joy.
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