Uchiha Obito didn’t know why he had suddenly become so eloquent.
Perhaps this herbal tea had the miraculous ability to improve the drinker’s ability to talk.
To avoid drinking the bowl of herbal tea, Obito had truly performed beyond his usual level.
After all, he had never used the name “Uchiha” to intimidate someone before.
“This… this…”
The chunin stammered.
Clearly, he didn’t want to admit that he was afraid of bitter medicine, but he also didn’t want to offend the Uchiha clan.
Back when he was still at the Academy, he could afford not to care about the name Uchiha.
But after graduating from the Ninja Academy, he finally understood what those three characters represented.
They weren’t merely a symbol of glory.
They didn’t simply represent the Sharingan.
Their greatest halo was their strength.
The weakest shinobi of the Uchiha were basically at least chunin.
As long as they awakened the Three-Tomoe Sharingan, they could firmly step into the ranks of jōnin.
The Uchiha weren’t arrogant merely because their clan members were powerful or because their ancestors had been formidable.
It was because they had tremendous confidence in their own futures.
That confidence was the true source of their arrogance.
For an ordinary shinobi, reaching the chunin level might already be the limit of their entire life.
But within the Uchiha clan, chunin was the lowest possible floor.
That difference made them disdain interacting with anyone weaker than themselves.
Unless you were truly exceptional.
Their thinking was simple.
There was no need to make friends with opponents weaker than themselves.
After all, they might return from their next mission only to discover that their supposed friend hadn’t survived.
Seeing that the chunin across from him seemed unable to refute him, Obito hurriedly pushed the bowl of herbal tea toward him.
“If you’re neither afraid of the bitterness nor worried about offending the Uchiha, then set an example for everyone! Drink this bowl of herbal tea, and I’ll believe you. Otherwise, I’ll report this matter to Uchiha Fugaku, the captain of the Military Police Force!”
Shibu’s expression changed as he looked at Obito.
As expected, when people were pushed into a corner, they could do anything except advanced mathematics.
He never would have expected someone as terrible at speaking as Obito to have a day when he could actually use his family’s influence to intimidate someone.
“Tsk, tsk.”
Shibu’s attention had completely shifted away from the chunin and onto Obito.
As expected of the man who could one day shout that this place was hell.
His eloquence was impressive.
He’d have to be a little more careful around Obito in the future, or he might get tricked by him.
The shinobi thought it over several times. Visit g.com for the full chapter.
In the end, he picked up the bowl.
He couldn’t afford to offend the Uchiha clan, so he decided to drink it.
Besides, this was Konoha territory.
Surely nobody would be bold enough to openly sell poison here.
The moment he smelled the herbal tea, his stomach began reacting violently.
He clearly wanted to vomit.
But he forcibly endured it.
Pinching his nose, he poured the entire bowl of herbal tea into his stomach.
Then the explosive bitterness spread through his mouth.
It lingered endlessly.
No matter how much he swallowed, he couldn’t get rid of the bitter taste.
Shibu placed a piece of dried tangerine peel in front of him.
“Eat this. It might make you feel better.”
The moment Shibu finished speaking, the chunin grabbed it without hesitation and stuffed it into his mouth.
Perhaps because the bitterness had been so intense, when the dried tangerine peel released its flavor, it felt as though a light had suddenly appeared in the darkness.
The citrus flavor mixed with sweetness and spread throughout his mouth.
Everywhere it passed, the bitterness completely disappeared.
The retching immediately stopped.
He felt as if he had gone from hell to heaven in an instant.
Could something this delicious really exist in the shinobi world?
Could it be some strange species from heaven?
It was genuinely delicious.
“Smack, smack.”
The chunin smacked his lips.
That sweet flavor really was wonderful.
He had never eaten anything this delicious before.
Could this also be some kind of strange medicinal herb?
None of his classmates who had become doctors had ever told him about anything like this.
Could it be a newly discovered medicinal ingredient?
“What is this? If you have something like this, just sell it directly! Even a dog wouldn’t drink your herbal tea!”
To emphasize just how terrible the herbal tea was, the chunin even insulted himself in the process.
Clearly, he was a ruthless man.
Obito was immediately displeased.
“What are you talking about? Haven’t you noticed that your symptoms have improved a lot?”
He then carefully examined himself.
It seemed to be true.
His throat no longer hurt, and his eyes weren’t nearly as dry and irritated as before.
The effect was practically immediate.
No wonder they dared to sell it for one hundred ryō a bowl.
They really did have something to back it up.
It seemed he had wrongly judged these two children earlier.
“Well… sorry. I was wrong before. How about this? I’ll help advertise for you and bring some customers over.”
The chunin scratched the back of his head awkwardly.
He was clearly embarrassed about having misunderstood the two children.
They were such good kids.
He had actually imagined them as the kind of people he had initially suspected them to be.
What an impolite assumption.
It seemed he still needed to improve his judgment and consider things more carefully.
Shibu nodded.
A free advertising machine was always useful.
Besides, what was wrong with questioning herbal tea?
In his previous life, the first time he had tried this kind of drink, he had refused to drink it.
Something that bitter practically seemed inhuman.
But after seeing its effects, he had regretted refusing it several times.
If it could cure excess internal heat, then a little bitterness was merely a tiny stone on the road of life.
Watching the shinobi walk away, Shibu waved the banknote in his hand proudly and said to Obito,
“How about that? We sold our first bowl so quickly. Regretting your decision now? Even if you are, I’m not letting you switch to the profit-sharing arrangement.”
Obito pursed his lips.
So what if they had sold one bowl?
It was only one hundred ryō.
His guaranteed two thousand ryō still sounded much better.
“It’s only one customer. What’s there to get excited about?”
“You don’t understand. This is the first one hundred ryō I’ve ever earned. I’m going to have it framed and hang it beside my bed to commemorate this meaningful day!”
Obito rolled his eyes.
“You’d better think about how—”
Before he could finish, more and more shinobi began rushing over from the distance.
Clearly, they had heard about the stall either from the advertisements or from the chunin who had just left.
It wasn’t a serious illness.
But for shinobi, whose profession could send them on a mission at any moment, remaining in peak fighting condition was extremely important.