Hatake Shibu’s actions had been seen clearly by Uchiha Obito, who was coming from a distance to pick him up.
Obito waited where he was until Shibu finished writing, then carefully walked over to him.
“Shibu! Are you okay?”
Looking at Uchiha Obito, who had come to pick him up, Shibu nodded.
My kindness toward him wasn’t wasted after all.
He’s a qualified underling.
I’ll take you with me when I make a fortune in the future!
Actually, Obito had originally come over to ask when he would receive his other 1,000 ryō.
But after seeing Shibu in his current state, he knew there was no point asking.
It was better not to bring it up.
Otherwise, Shibu might even record another grudge against him.
“I’m fine. It’s just that all the money I earned earlier was confiscated. Looks like I’ll have to find another way to make money.”
“Sorry, Obito. Your 1,000 ryō will have to wait until later.”
Shibu felt somewhat guilty toward the Uchiha boy in front of him.
He had originally intended to help Obito make some money.
He hadn’t expected to lose to his own father in the end, and he had almost dragged Obito into the mess as well.
“It’s fine. We’re friends, aren’t we?”
“Oh, right!”
Obito gave him an unconcerned smile.
He had been frightened when the Anbu appeared, but nothing had happened to him in the end.
Then, as if he had suddenly thought of something, he reached into his clothes and pulled out a small wallet.
The wallet wasn’t bulging.
In fact, it was somewhat flat.
He carefully opened it and took out 500 ryō, handing them to Shibu.
“Since all your income was confiscated, I’ll be generous and split half of mine with you!”
Shibu stared at the 500 ryō in front of him and fell silent for a moment before accepting them.
He hadn’t expected that Uchiha Obito would ultimately be the one cleaning up his mess.
He would remember this friendship.
Seeing Shibu accept the 500 ryō, Obito smiled.
“Come on. We have school tomorrow, so let’s go eat at Ichiraku Ramen to celebrate.”
“It’ll make us feel better if we just pretend that this is all we earned over the past two days.”
As he spoke, he grabbed Shibu’s hand and ran toward Ichiraku Ramen.
Meanwhile, inside the Hokage’s office in the Hokage Building, Hiruzen Sarutobi watched Uchiha Obito leave and smiled.
“He really is a good kid.”
Hatake Sakumo also nodded.
He had read Obito’s intelligence report.
Someone like this was bound to become a powerful shinobi in the future.
The following afternoon, Hatake Shibu had already arrived at the elderly care home. You are reading on g.com, the official source.
Although he really wanted to immediately begin his next money-making plan, there was nothing he could do.
He had to complete his punishment mission first.
Shibu was currently wiping an old man’s hands because they had become covered in food while he was eating.
“Grandpa, how did you get this scar on your hand?”
Shibu looked at the old man’s arm.
A hideous scar wrapped all the way around it.
It was obvious that his arm had once been severed.
The moment the old man heard Shibu’s question, his spirits immediately lifted.
“Let me tell you…”
“Forget it. Don’t bother.”
“I don’t know how many times I’ve heard that story already!”
Before the old man could even begin, another elderly man beside him immediately interrupted.
Ever since the old man had entered the care home, no one knew how many times he had boasted about this story.
The other man even suspected that the old fellow deliberately got his hand dirty so Shibu would notice it and give him an opportunity to tell the story again.
“Shut up! I’m not telling it to you!”
“Shibu, let me tell you. Back when Konoha had just been established, the situation in the Land of Water was still unstable. Shinobi from the Mist would occasionally sneak over and cause trouble on our side.”
“Back then, I was entrusted with an important mission. Under the orders of the First Hokage, I led my subordinates toward the border.”
“Who would have thought that we’d be ambushed by enemy shinobi the moment we arrived?”
“One of them immediately cut off one of my arms!”
“But was I the kind of person who would surrender?”
“Even with my strength severely compromised, I forced them to retreat!”
“When I returned to the village, even the First Hokage praised me for my extraordinary bravery!”
Hatake Shibu looked at the elderly man laughing proudly in front of him.
Then he looked at the scar on his arm.
The uneven edges of the scar clearly didn’t look like they had been caused by a blade.
“But Grandpa, the edges of your wound are clearly jagged. It doesn’t look like your arm was cut off by a weapon.”
Looking at the wound, Shibu really wanted to ask whether the old man had been bitten by Kisame’s mother.
Otherwise, under normal circumstances, how could an injury like this have occurred?
“Gah!”
The old man’s laughter abruptly stopped.
He froze in place.
“Hahahaha! Exposed, aren’t you?”
“I don’t even want to talk about you anymore!”
“Shibu, let me tell you. He got this wound because he was flirting with a woman from the Hōzuki Clan in the Land of Water back then, and she bit his arm off!”
“He just loves deceiving little kids like you!”
“Obito was completely fooled by him before!”
Another old man had walked over and was laughing so hard that he could barely stand upright.
The first old man’s face turned bright red.
“What do you mean, flirting?!”
“Otherwise, how could an ordinary person bite through my arm?”
“I saw it coming! It was foresight!”
“There was absolutely no flirting involved!”
Hatake Shibu awkwardly pulled the old man’s clothes down to cover the scar.
“It’s getting late, so I’ll head back first.”
“Grandpas, I’ll come visit you again tomorrow.”
He didn’t wait for them to stop him.
He hurriedly ran out of the elderly care home.
He hadn’t expected to witness an old man’s complete social death.
It was better to leave quickly.
Otherwise, the old man might lose his temper and hit him.
And there would be nowhere for him to complain afterward.
After all, these people had all contributed their strength to Konoha.
They were heroes from the era when the First Hokage founded the village.
They were all precious treasures.
If Shibu fought back, he might accidentally anger one of them to death.
That would be a serious problem.
“Shibu? What are you doing here?”
A familiar voice suddenly came from beside him.
It was clearly someone he knew.
Shibu turned around and, sure enough, saw the somewhat foolish-looking Uchiha Obito standing at the entrance of the elderly care home.
“It’s part of the punishment for what happened earlier.”
“What are you doing here?”
Obito scratched his head.
“My grandmother asked me to bring some dango that our family made.”
“Do you want some?”
Shibu looked at the lunchbox in Obito’s hands and shook his head.
“Thanks, but no. I don’t like sweets.”
It wasn’t that Shibu was being picky.
It was because the desserts in the shinobi world simply weren’t fit for human consumption.
Other people’s desserts were made by adding sugar to flour.
Shinobi-world desserts were made by adding a little flour to an enormous pile of sugar.
The first time Shibu had eaten one, he had nearly been killed by the sweetness.
It was simply too rich.
Shibu looked Obito up and down before smiling.
“Since you’re coming here regularly anyway, come here with me for the next week.”
“Perfect. I’ve got another money-making plan.”