Outside a popular beverage shop in the new district, a long line had formed, with most of those waiting being women.
Rin and Anko stood somewhere in the middle of the queue.
"Why are there so many people?" Anko complained.
"The drinks must be really good for them to be this popular. It's fine to wait—we don't have anything else to do anyway," Rin said with a light smile.
As they stood in line, they suddenly noticed two small figures bypassing the long queue and heading straight for the counter.
Before Rin could react, Anko had already taken action, grabbing one of them—a chubby boy—by the collar.
"Kid, didn't your family teach you to wait in line when buying something?"
The boy was quite young and wore glasses.
He struggled as Anko held him firmly in place.
"Let go… Let me go!"
"Let go of me now!"
No matter how much he struggled, he couldn't break free from Anko, who had the height advantage.
The other boy immediately spoke up, "Let go of him! Do you even know who he is?!"
Anko raised an eyebrow. "I don't care who you are. Get to the back of the line!"
The commotion quickly drew the attention of the people around them, who began pointing and whispering among themselves.
Seeing this, Anko finally let go of the chubby boy.
However, the boy remained defiant and loudly declared, "I'm buying this for Prince Neji! Of course, I don't have to wait in line!"
Prince Neji?
Rin and Anko were both visibly surprised.
There was only one "Prince Neji" in Konoha, and they instantly realized who he was talking about.
What shocked the chubby boy even more was that this woman showed no fear at all upon hearing Neji's name.
Instead, she smacked him on the head.
"Get in line! Even if you're buying for the Emperor, you still have to wait your turn!"
The boy's face twisted in shock and disbelief.
He pointed at Anko, but words failed him.
His companion tugged at his sleeve and motioned for him to look around—everyone was staring at them.
Damn it!
He clenched his fists, glaring at Anko.
"Hmph! A real man doesn't argue with women!"
With that, the two boys turned and grudgingly moved to the back of the line.
However, they kept stealing glances at Anko and Rin.
The moment the two women got their drinks and left, the boys immediately dashed back to the counter.
"Hurry up! These are for Prince Neji! Five signature drinks!"
The people in line who heard the words "Prince Neji" didn't dare to say anything and simply let the boys cut ahead.
However, as soon as the two boys stepped out of the shop with their drinks, they turned around—only to see Anko standing there, casually sipping her own drink with one hand in her pocket, watching them.
"W-What do you want?"
"Take me to see this 'Prince Neji' of yours." Anko said directly.
"Who do you think you are? Why should we listen to you?"
"I'm your grandma."
With that, Anko grabbed the chubby boy by the back of his collar again and ordered his companion:
"Lead the way."
Rin followed alongside them, her face full of helplessness.
She had tried to talk Anko out of it at first, but Anko insisted on teaching these unruly kids a lesson.
"You evil woman! Let go of me! Do you even know who my father is?!" The bespectacled chubby boy kept shouting threats.
Anko chuckled. "Who's your father? Don't tell me he's the Emperor too?"
The boy huffed and declared, "My father is Tohnogawa! He's the Minister of the Scientific Engineering Division, one of the Emperor's most trusted subordinates! The Brutal Justice was built by my father! You better let go of me!"
Anko curled her lips and said, "I thought your father was the Emperor or something. Turns out he's just a minister."
Rin, on the other hand, was a bit surprised by the chubby boy's identity.
She knew who Tohnogawa was—many of the ninja in the village did.
Eventually, the group arrived at an overpass, where three young boys were sitting on a bench in the middle.
"Prince Neji!"
The boy leading the way rushed up to them and spoke rapidly, as if filing a complaint.
By the time Anko dragged the chubby boy over, Neji had already stood up.
"You evil woman! Let go of Kensuke! This is Prince Neji!" the other boy shouted, standing beside Neji and glaring at Anko.
But what happened next completely shocked both boys.
Instead of getting angry, Neji politely bowed toward Rin and Anko.
"Miss Rin, Miss Anko, may I ask what happened?"
Anko finally let go of the now-stunned chubby boy and looked at Neji.
"Are these two your lackeys?" she asked.
Neji paused for a moment before replying, "They are my friends."
Anko continued, "Did you tell them to cut in line using your name?"
Neji was briefly taken aback, but immediately understood what had happened.
He turned to the chubby boy, "Kensuke."
Kensuke instantly shrank back, falling silent on the spot.
Anko and Rin observed the change in expressions on the two boys' faces.
But before they could say anything, Neji spoke first.
"I apologize. This was my fault. Miss Anko, Miss Rin, I'm sorry for the trouble." He then turned to the two boys. "Kensuke, Daigo."
The two immediately bowed properly and apologized. "We're sorry."
Anko's eyes flickered as she watched the scene unfold.
She could tell that Neji truly hadn't known about what the chubby boy, Kensuke, and the other had done.
She had expected Neji to simply say, "I didn't know about this", and then order the two to apologize.
But instead, he had taken responsibility without hesitation.
Her gaze lingered on Neji, silently assessing him.
He looked like he had just entered academy age, his face still youthful, yet… there was something in his expression—a trace of that guy's shadow.
Did that guy really have such an outstanding kid…?
Anko curled her lips and said, "Fine. Just don't let me catch you doing it again."
With that, she turned and left.
Rin, on the other hand, waved goodbye to Neji before following.
Once they were gone, Kensuke grinned and pushed up his glasses, asking, "Prince Neji, you actually know them?"
Neji glanced at him and said calmly, "The one who grabbed you just now was one of the Seven Crown Guards—Mitarashi Anko."
Kensuke and Daigo's faces instantly froze in shock.
"She's that Anko…?!" they blurted out.
It wasn't surprising that they hadn't recognized her—compared to the other members, Anko was far too low-key.
Neji looked at the two boys calmly and said, "If you keep abusing my name to cause trouble, then don't come looking for me anymore."
The two of them frantically shook their heads. "We won't! We won't!"
These two weren't ordinary kids—one was the son of the Minister of the Science and Engineering Department, while the other was the son of the Vice Minister.
Neji had originally not intended to associate with them, but his father had told him that it wouldn't hurt to interact with them to some extent.
The two had always been eager to please him, constantly running errands and fighting to handle tasks for him.
Since they were so enthusiastic and diligent, Neji had reluctantly accepted their presence.
—
Elsewhere.
After leaving, Anko and Rin continued discussing what had just happened.
"I can't believe Neji's already grown so much… and he's so mature, too." Rin sighed.
"Yeah, he's a pretty good kid," Anko admitted. "As long as he doesn't turn out like his father."
Rin said nothing to that.
She knew Anko had always had a strong opinion about Makoto.
She still remembered when they had all first met him—back then, Anko had been the most enthusiastic toward Makoto out of all of them.
Something must have happened afterward, but Rin never found out what.
Anko changed the subject. "Alright, enough about that. Let's go buy some sake. We can have a drink tonight."
Rin smiled. "Sounds good. Let's invite Kurenai and Shizune, too."
They were all adults now, and had long reached the legal drinking age.
At some point, the drinks on their table had gradually changed from fruit juice to sake cups.
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