Chapter 173: Taobao
"Slurp..." Masahiko took a large mouthful of ramen and nodded with satisfaction.
As the first taster, Masahiko was very satisfied with the flavor of the ramen. He looked at Teuchi busying himself behind the curtain. Teuchi probably hadn't expected so many people on the first day of opening. Outside the ramen shop, villagers had already consciously formed a long queue. There were only five chairs in the shop, which was obviously not enough.
Over the years, given Masahiko's status, he had enjoyed almost all the delicacies of the Naruto world. Ichiraku Ramen wasn't the most outstanding among them, but considering the price, it was definitely unique.
The large bowl of Miso Chashu Ramen in front of Masahiko cost only one hundred and fifty Ryo. Asuma's bounty head could be exchanged for 20,000 bowls.
"Eh, why do I always use Asuma's head as a currency standard? That's not very nice..." Masahiko muttered. "Speaking of Asuma, he should be born by now."
While Masahiko looked left and right, the queue behind him started to get noisy. People were already anxious, and he was wasting time there.
Hearing the urging voices, Masahiko paused, then smiled. He started eating the noodles one strand at a time, looking full of enjoyment. Anyway, he was using the Transformation Jutsu now, so he could completely discard his "face" (dignity).
Teuchi had already made the noodles for the other four people in the shop and served them. He then went out to appease the crowd and ask the first few villagers in line what they wanted to eat, preparing to make them in advance.
Masahiko added fuel to the fire by turning his head and coughing twice.
"Sorry, I'm old, so I have to chew slowly and swallow carefully. Cough, cough!" He acted like he was choking.
Teuchi smiled and turned back. "It's okay, take your time."
Masahiko continued to eat his noodles in slow motion, muttering in his heart, "What a good temper."
From opening in the morning, Masahiko ate straight through to noon. The other customers in the shop changed batch after batch, and the long queue outside slowly disappeared. Apart from having too few seats, Ichiraku Ramen received unanimous praise.
Masahiko's noodles went cold and then hot again. Finally, as he was about to finish, Teuchi's busy movements slowed down significantly; making ramen all morning was exhausting.
"Hmm?" Masahiko's heart stirred as three familiar chakra signatures walked towards him.
"Boss, three bowls of ramen!" Jiraiya's carefree voice rang out.
Masahiko glanced at the three. They looked like they had just returned from a mission. Except for the heartless Jiraiya, the other two looked somewhat exhausted.
"Where did these three go?" Masahiko really hadn't paid attention to them for the past half month.
Finally, only the four of them remained in the shop. After serving the noodles, Teuchi breathed a sigh of relief, wiped the sweat from his forehead, served himself a bowl, and sat in the remaining empty seat.
The Sannin clearly didn't recognize Masahiko under the Transformation Jutsu and ate their noodles on their own. Masahiko ignored them and turned to look at Teuchi.
"Business is booming on the first day. Looks like you need to hire a waiter."
Teuchi took a bite of noodles and shook his head at Masahiko. "There are only five seats in total; I can manage them by myself."
Masahiko was startled. "You plan to keep only five seats forever? It's obviously not enough."
Teuchi smiled bitterly. "We'll see later. I don't have the money to expand the shop right now."
Masahiko's expression shifted. "If you don't expand, you can offer takeout, right?"
Teuchi clearly didn't understand what he meant; takeout didn't exist in this world yet. Masahiko began to explain it to him in detail.
"You can even hire ninjas to deliver the takeout for you." After explaining, Masahiko added.
"That's a good idea." Before Teuchi could speak, Orochimaru spoke in his raspy voice from the side.
Masahiko turned back with a smile. "You think so too, right?"
His relaxed tone and attitude gave Orochimaru an inexplicable sense of familiarity.
"You are..."
"Ninja-sama, Uncle Hagoromo is the owner of the shop next door," Teuchi explained for him.
"Hagoromo?" Tsunade, who was eating noodles, looked up in confusion. The ancient records of the Senju clan mentioned the Sage of Six Paths (Hagoromo Otsutsuki). Fortunately, Tsunade didn't like reading much and only felt the name was somewhat familiar.
Slurp... Only Jiraiya could make such a sound eating noodles. Tsunade and Orochimaru were only halfway through, but he had already finished the soup.
"Boss, tastes good. Another bowl!"
Teuchi went back to work, and Jiraiya turned to look at Masahiko.
"Uncle Hagoromo, what does your shop sell? Is it food too?" Jiraiya was very interested in eating.
Masahiko paused. He really hadn't decided what to sell, but he felt selling food wasn't very interesting.
"My shop..." Masahiko hesitated, then smiled. "My shop is called the Taobao Shop, and it sells wooden figures."
The mention of wooden figures successfully piqued the curiosity of the three.
Looking at these three just now, Masahiko suddenly had an idea. In his previous life, there was something called anime figures. Unfortunately, he had never been willing to spend money on them. Thinking about it now, with his Level 10 Sculpting skill and being in the Naruto world, selling their figures would definitely be interesting.
His words successfully aroused their interest. A few days later, the three of them became the first batch of customers in Masahiko's shop.
Unlike Ichiraku Ramen, the sign outside Masahiko's door read "Taobao Shop," and no one knew what it sold.
"It's actually Grandfather?" Tsunade's surprised voice rang out. As the person Masahiko was most familiar with, naturally, he carved a "batch" of Hashirama.
"It looks so real..." Tsunade murmured.
Orochimaru also looked around. "Jiraiya, here's one of you."
Hearing this, Jiraiya walked over quickly and looked for a moment. "The carving of me isn't handsome at all."
After muttering that, he started looking around.
"Is this Madara Uchiha? And Second Grandfather Tobirama." Tsunade continued to browse. "There's also Sarutobi-sensei, Orochimaru, Jiraiya..."
"Boss, why are there figures of me and Orochimaru, but none of Tsunade?" Jiraiya's questioning voice came.
Tsunade was startled, realizing she hadn't seen any of herself just now.
Masahiko smiled and glanced at Jiraiya; he knew Jiraiya would notice this.
"My shop only carves males. For females, custom orders are possible, but the person herself must come to buy it. Otherwise, if someone like you buys eight or ten of them, I'll be very troubled..."
Jiraiya's face flushed red, and Tsunade realized what was implied.
"Ji... rai... ya! Die!"
Masahiko sighed, looking at the big hole in the wall. Just opened, and now he had to close for repairs.
"Boss, how much for my Grandfather? Uh, that sounds wrong..." Tsunade felt awkward saying it herself.
"One million ryo each."
"That expensive?"
Masahiko nodded with a smile. Opening the shop was just to pass the time when bored; he didn't want to be tied down here all day, so he set the price high.
"Since you are the first batch of customers, I can give you a discount..." An aura of a profiteer rushed toward them.
☆☆☆
-> 30 Advanced chapters Now Available on Patreon!!
-> https://www.pat-reon.co-m/c/Hollowborn
(Just remove the hyphen (-) to access patreon normally)
If you like this novel please consider leaving a review that's help the story a lot Thank you