- Good afternoon," the door creaked open and a thin girl of about thirteen hesitantly entered the shop, wearing the short jacket and tight pants favored by the female population of Konoha's armed forces and a hitai-te bandage on her forehead.
- We don't sell to the Genin," I replied, giving her a glance.
Not a week went by without one of the freshly minted shinobi larvae trying to buy something, despite the big sign outside that said they only sold to chunin and above.
- Um, I need to pick up a package of seals for Hyuga Hizashi," contrary to expectations, the visitor didn't budge.
I shook my head as I looked up to see if the kunoichi had a biakugan. Having been around older Hyuga who preferred to walk around the village in their clan white robes, I was too used to them to even consider that the younger members of the clan would be wearing different clothes.
- Hazashi-san's order packet is ready," I nodded to her, accepting the reason and rummaged under the counter and pulled out a roll-up, placing it on the counter.
Hyuga rummaged through one of the pockets of her jacket and pulled out a thin stack of bills, handing them to me.
Counting the money, I made sure that Hizashi had given me the full amount of the set, the full price on the windshield, without the sideline discount, and then I counted out a quarter and returned it to the visitor, along with the order I'd collected last night with the necessary additions.
- 'Discount,' he answered the girl's questioning look and waved his palm at her with a sweeping wave, 'shu-shu.
- Thank you, Ryo-sama," she bowed, tucking the valuable cargo behind her back and putting the money in another pocket and slipping out of the shop quickly.
I sighed and wished her luck in getting rid of the yoke around the neck of shinobi and kunoichi of the Hyuga branch. Having talked to a lot of people from there, I can say with certainty that even though they don't show it in public, always keeping a straight face, life with a slave seal on their foreheads is far from sugar, especially when any overconfident prick can make you squirm on the ground for a slanted glance or a word you don't like.
And if Hizashi still manages to do it quietly and quietly, nothing will help Hiruzen to stay on the throne, and nothing will help his chanting partners - elders - to stay in power.
When there would be no need to worry about two old men who had decided to concentrate all power in the hands of the Hokage at any cost, it would be possible to deal more closely with external threats without constantly looking behind their backs for a blow, figuratively speaking, of course. All that was left now was to wait.
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