After leaving Old Man Yoshida’s house, Hatake Shibu walked forward while pondering the situation.
Uchiha Obito, walking beside him, looked at Shibu.
“What are you thinking about?”
Hatake Shibu rubbed his chin.
“I’m thinking about the packaging.”
“The main thing I’m struggling with is whether we should use real people as the designs or historical figures.”
If they simply carved some ordinary patterns onto the toothpicks, nobody would be willing to pay for them.
But if the designs actually carried some meaning, they might become an instant hit.
Just like the Little Raccoon instant noodles from his previous life.
They had originally sold only moderately well, but once they started including Water Margin character cards, sales exploded.
“Why not print both?”
“That way, you’ll have a wider audience.”
Hatake Shibu looked at Uchiha Obito in surprise.
He hadn’t expected this idiot to actually say something so reasonable.
Unfortunately, there was one problem.
He couldn’t draw that many things himself.
He hadn’t been an artist in his previous life, and he hadn’t studied drawing in this life either.
Trying to prepare both types of designs within such a short period was obviously unrealistic.
“We don’t have much time.”
“We need to get this done as quickly as possible.”
Uchiha Obito walked along with his hands clasped behind his head.
“I really don’t understand why you’re in such a hurry.”
“We’re only three or four years old.”
“We have plenty of time.”
Hatake Shibu rolled his eyes.
What kind of nonsense is that?
The Third Shinobi World War was about to break out.
If they didn’t find a way to become stronger now, what were they supposed to do later?
Go to the battlefield and get themselves killed?
Did Obito really want to become the same Uchiha Obito from his previous life?
Shibu didn’t say any of that aloud.
He merely complained about it internally.
“Forget it.”
“Do you know anyone who’s particularly skilled at drawing?”
Hatake Shibu was rather helpless with this natural airhead.
But it didn’t matter.
With him around, there was no way he would let Obito end up becoming someone’s pawn like he had in his previous life.
Uchiha Obito thought for a moment.
“There is someone.”
“The main problem is that her personality is rather strange.”
“And she doesn’t really like drawing.”
“She doesn’t like drawing?”
“Then how do you know she’s good at it?”
After all, someone who didn’t love painting couldn’t possibly produce truly great paintings.
“I saw some paintings at her house before.”
“I asked whether she had drawn them herself, and she admitted that she had.”
“But when I asked if she could draw something for me, she refused.”
“She said she didn’t want to draw anymore.”
As Obito spoke, he seemed to be recalling the stunning feeling he had experienced when he first saw that painting.
Hatake Shibu gave him a thumbs-up.
Then he rubbed his chin.
“What did you want her to draw?”
Uchiha Obito immediately became embarrassed.
His face turned bright red.
Shibu understood instantly.
It must be related to Rin.
Damn it.
There’s no saving this simp.
Shibu immediately skipped the subject.
“What is her name?”
“Is she a shinobi?”
If they were talking about artistic ability, the first person Shibu thought of was the sharp-tongued king from the original story—
Sai.
His paintings had already reached the level of ninjutsu.
Shibu didn’t know whether this was a unique technique of Sai’s or whether Konoha already possessed this kind of ninjutsu but nobody bothered learning it because it was too troublesome.
Actually, Sai’s technique was incredibly convenient and versatile.
It could be used for offense, defense, support, sealing, and many other purposes.
All he needed beforehand was ink, a brush, and paper.
But the technique had one major flaw.
Its casting speed was simply too slow.
Shinobi were high-speed combatants.
Even a strength-oriented taijutsu specialist had incredible speed.
Someone like Sai could only bully opponents weaker than himself and provide support from the sidelines.
“She is a shinobi.”
“But are you sure you want to go see her?”
Uchiha Obito seemed to have remembered something unpleasant.
The hairs all over his body stood on end.
Clearly, he had recalled something terrifying.
Hatake Shibu looked at Uchiha Obito strangely.
He hadn’t expected this natural airhead to have something he was actually afraid of.
He had thought Obito wasn’t afraid of anything.
“Of course.”
“Since you said her drawing skills are so good, naturally I have to go find her.”
“The more exquisite the paintings are, the easier it will be to make those people pay.”
That did seem reasonable.
For the sake of securing his position as the second-richest man in the shinobi world, he gritted his teeth as though making an enormous decision.
“She is from the Kurama Clan.”
“I’m telling you, I think she can’t control her abilities.”
“Sometimes she becomes like a madwoman.”
“She almost killed me once.”
“After she regained consciousness, she told me never to go there again.”
Uchiha Obito’s body didn’t merely attract old ladies and old men.
Sometimes, he also attracted people who needed help.
Back then, he had seen a girl crouching on the ground, so he went over and asked whether she needed help.
After taking her home, everything seemed perfectly normal.
The girl had even invited him to eat some snacks.
But then he saw a painting on an easel and asked the question he had mentioned earlier.
That’s when he received his answer.
The next day, he went to visit her again.
The moment he stepped through the doorway, a hand grabbed him by the neck and lifted him high into the air.
The hand kept tightening around his throat.
He felt as though he was about to die.
No matter how hard he struggled, he couldn’t break free.
In the end, the girl herself regained consciousness.
Only then did Obito escape with his life.
Afterward, he followed the girl’s instructions and never went back there again.
Only later did he learn that she was a genius of the Kurama Clan.
Because of her condition, she had been staying at home and had stopped attending school.
“The Kurama Clan?”
“What a troublesome clan.”
Hatake Shibu pondered the information he remembered from his previous life.
The Kurama Clan had once provided Konoha with quite a few elite jōnin and chūnin.
However, after they stopped producing shinobi who awakened their Kekkei Genkai, the clan gradually declined and eventually became one of the less prominent clans in Konoha.
But that was in the future.
The Second Shinobi World War had only ended recently.
At this point, the Kurama Clan could still be considered one of the flourishing major clans.
Although they couldn’t compare with the top-tier Uchiha and Senju Clans, they were certainly comparable to the Hyūga Clan.
The main reason was their extremely powerful Kekkei Genkai.
They could use genjutsu to manipulate a person’s five senses, trapping the target within a genjutsu world.
And the person trapped inside the genjutsu would suffer actual physical harm.
That was precisely what made the clan’s ability so terrifying—
Genjutsu that manipulated the five senses.
If you were beheaded inside the genjutsu, you would be beheaded in reality as well.
How terrifying was that?
If this Kekkei Genkai appeared in an Uchiha Clan member and they somehow obtained both bloodline abilities…
That would be an instant checkmate.
Unfortunately, that was impossible.