Naruto: IY Ch. 44

Pong~

Was Danzō here to meddle with the Uchiha again? Who was he bothering this time?

Everyone turned to look, but it wasn't Danzō who came in.

The group of young men all felt a sudden rush of heat in their noses.

"Let me be the one to attend the Yoake press conference."

Tsunade walked in reeking of alcohol, hair messy, clearly still hungover from last night. As she walked, the swaying of her assets almost made everyone's eyes shut involuntarily.

Inside the room, the young men shifted uncomfortably, staring at their feet, pretending not to notice anything.

Hiruzen glanced at everyone and, seeing that no one spoke up, took it to mean: With so many young people willing to exhaust themselves for the village, why should we give the job to you?

"You all have no objections, right?" Tsunade said, cracking her knuckles with a smile that didn't reach her eyes.

"No objections, no objections. Honestly, it doesn't matter when we watch the movie, early or late, it's all the same," Shikaku said with a sheepish grin.

Everyone else wore the exact same "he's right" expression.

"Hm?" Tsunade crossed her arms and looked at Hiruzen, clearly sensing that the old man didn't really want her to go.

"Tsu—"

Before Hiruzen could finish, Tsunade barked out a sharp syllable, making black lines appear on his forehead.

He could already feel her chakra surging into her legs. If he didn't stop her, the office wouldn't survive the next few seconds.

"Two people, you and Minato," he compromised at last.

---

A week before the movie premiere, Kakuzu personally oversaw the construction of the concert venue until it was complete. Over the past few days, he'd been handling business in the nearby city. Out of curiosity, Yahiko followed him to the village's outer ring.

The moment they got close to the stage, he frowned.

You've got to be kidding me.

The "stage" was literally just a wooden platform, high enough for about three people to stand side by side.

No seating at all. Apparently, the plan was to make the fans stand for his first-ever concert.

"They can bring their own chairs," Kakuzu said.

Yahiko's silence was deafening.

"Don't look at me like that! The village really has no money! You people burn through it too fast, money for your charity fund, money for that research lab in the city, building Dawn Bookstore, tell me, which of those doesn't cost money?!"

"And Konan! Seriously! Does she look rich to you?!"

Kakuzu yanked off his hat, revealing hair going gray from stress.

His temples hurt! His jaw hurt! Everything hurt!

"Fine, fine. We'll just leave it like this," Yahiko said, seeing that Kakuzu was about to awaken his inner Uchiha bloodline from pure stress.

When the movie tickets went on sale, Kakuzu quickly changed his tune.

Money...

Tickets ranged from 3,200 ryō to 600 ryō depending on the seat. Three thousand tickets total, sold out in less than two days.

Total sales: 6.2 million ryō.

And that was not even counting the extra spending from nobles who planned to stay longer just to catch the concert.

If Yoake weren't short-staffed lately, Kakuzu would've advertised in the newspaper so the whole shinobi world could see the concert tickets sell out.

The concert was scheduled for the day after the premiere.

On the day of the premiere, four of the Five Great Shinobi Villages gave their respects.

Suna sent Pakura. Kumo sent A. Iwa sent Akatsuchi. Konoha sent Minato and Tsunade, plus Kakashi.

From Ame, Hanzō sent his deputy.

At the village gates, the envoys from each village arrived almost at the same time. All of them were people of high status.

Upon hearing this, Yahiko personally went to greet them, bringing Sakumo, B, and several genin.

At times like this, it was better to bring steady, reliable people.

B had heard A was coming and volunteered to tag along.

Yahiko spread his arms, not sure who to hug first.

The first envoy to arrive, A.

He brought two Kumo jonin, lightly equipped.

Lightning chakra crackled faintly around him.

Oh hell no!

Yahiko flinched.

"B!"

A vanished in a blur, rushing past Yahiko and heading straight for B behind him.

Bang!

That sound, Yahiko was sure any normal person's skull would've shattered.

"Stupid! What are you doing here?!"

A's eyes were bloodshot as he looked B up and down.

He had gotten bigger. Good.

All that eating and sleeping in Yahiko's place, barely burning calories except for talking, that explained it.

A turned to Yahiko and waved dismissively.

One of the jonin with him took out a check for two million ryō, redeemable on the black market, the equivalent of an A-rank mission.

So this is what being rich looks like... Yahiko thought as he accepted it.

"Good. After the press conference, you're coming home with me," A said.

"No!"

Bang!

"No no no!"

Bang bang bang!

"Oh, boy... I gotta go..."

B, eyes red and head full of lumps, reluctantly walked toward Yahiko.

"What are those tears for?!" Yahiko said hoarsely, patting B on the shoulder.

"Ah, you... can I—"

Bang!

B didn't say a word. Whatever A said was right.

Yahiko didn't say anything either, any more words and B would get punched to death.

"Those muscles aren't bad," he commented.

Before leaving, Yahiko gave A a hug, lifting him off the ground before setting him down again.

Achievement unlocked: Suplexing the future Fourth Raikage.

"Heh," A chuckled, returning the favor and lifting Yahiko into the air.

Achievement unlocked: Liger Bomb.

If politics weren't involved, A actually found Yahiko pretty likable. But, unfortunately, politics were involved.

"How's the beef from the Land of Lightning?" A suddenly asked.

"Hm? Never tried it, don't know," Yahiko replied flatly, feigning ignorance.

"Mm. Take the Kumo delegation around the village."

With that, Yahiko personally led A and his people into the village.

A stalked off looking annoyed. The next to arrive was Akatsuchi, round head, round body, clearly eating well in Iwa.

Hug. Then he was sent with some genin to tour the village.

Then came Hanzō's envoy from Ame, hug, and off to be hosted.

Yahiko waited eagerly for the next one.

From Suna came Pakura, and...

Konan arrived.

"What are you doing?" she asked coldly, hovering in midair and looking down at Pakura, a beautiful woman in a backless outfit.

"What am I doing? Greeting guests, obviously. Isn't it obvious?"

Beside him, Sakumo's mouth twitched.

He suspected Yahiko's earlier hugs with A, Akatsuchi, and Hanzō's envoy were just build-up for this moment.

Pakura, sensing Konan's suspicion, curved her lips in a teasing smile and said to Yahiko, "I'm afraid I can't grant your request, this outfit isn't suitable to wear backwards."

Wear it backwards?

Konan glanced at Pakura's outfit...

"Yahiko!"

Yahiko was utterly speechless at the pointless misunderstanding.

"Ugly..." he muttered, shooting her a look of pure disdain.

"He would never like you, stop trying to get attention," Konan said with a smile.

Pakura flushed with anger, hot enough to activate her Scorch Release. With just a tiny ball, enough to vaporize a person, she hurled more than a dozen toward Yahiko.

Before the ball could hit him, a curtain of water formed a shield before him, clashing with the fireballs in a roaring burst of steam that instantly shrouded the area outside the village.

Visibility dropped to almost nothing.

A moment later, he appeared at Pakura's side, kunai pressed to her neck.

"Flying Thunder God," he announced.

He couldn't actually use it, but that didn't stop him from pretending.

"So fast," Pakura gasped.

"According to the Five Great Nations' non-aggression treaty, no one is allowed to start a war," Yahiko said calmly.

Pakura relaxed, she'd known he wouldn't hurt her. That was the confidence that came from being backed by a Great Nation.

"Heh." Yahiko smiled faintly.

"Shuzen! Shuzen!"

"Take her to get cupping therapy!"

With chakra amplifying his voice, Yahiko's shout made Pakura feel like her eardrums were about to burst.

"Cupping? What's that?" Pakura froze in confusion.

Before long, Shuzen arrived. The old man didn't know what cupping was either and looked at Yahiko in puzzlement.

"Find a glass jar, heat the inside with fire..." Yahiko mouthed silently.

Pakura couldn't hear him, but Shuzen caught the signal.

"Leave it to me," the old man said, patting his chest.

Konan shook her head, gloating.

Ame was humid, and Yahiko had once made her give him cupping.

Afterward, looking at the skin of his back covered in round marks, she swore never to let a cupping jar touch him again.

She followed them now to supervise, afraid someone else might botch it.

---

Outside the center of the village, A and his group were being shown around.

The streets were neat and well-organized.

Though small, the village was more aesthetically pleasing than Kumo or Konoha's streets.

But they were puzzled, why were people walking around with bricks tied to their waists?

"That's the local telephone," B explained. He had one tied to his waist too, but A hadn't noticed earlier.

"What's it for?"

B pointed toward a commotion.

A shopkeeper, panicking, dialed "110." Once connected, he shouted, "Hello? There's a pervert! Someone's taking photos of me while I'm using the toilet!"

Cough... A's face flushed red.

Yeah... that was pretty creepy.

Before long, two guards arrived, deleted the photos from Tobi's camera, and fined him 200 ryō.

"Hm? This thing's not bad," A said, crossing his arms. He turned to the escorting staff. "What's the range on this telephone?"

"Only within the village."

Hearing that, A lost interest. He'd thought it might work across the whole shinobi world.

Could it at least be used to prank call Konoha?

"In a few days, there is a concert, and I'm a special guest performer," B said.

"Mm."

"Come on, let's check out that beef shop over there."

A gritted his teeth, eyes locked on a butcher's shop. He hadn't even been listening to what B was saying, his attention was all on that beef.