CH 15

Chapter 15: Kushina

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After hearing Cain’s question, Natsukawa approached the door and waved to the red-haired girl outside.

“Boss, this is Kushina Uzumaki. She has been coming to the shop to buy chocolates and candies these past few days,” Natsukawa said while introducing Kushina to Cain with a light laugh.

A candidate for the Jinchuriki, huh? Cain nodded, not intending to befriend Kushina or to deliberately alienate her. He told Natsukawa, “Since she’s a customer, you take care of her, Natsukawa.”

“Are you the boss?” Kushina suddenly asked, “I want to buy a lot of chocolate at once. Is that okay?”

Cain looked at Kushina and pretended to appraise her before answering, “As long as you have the money, you can buy whatever you want, even all the chocolates in the warehouse.”

“That’s good. Thank you, Boss,” Kushina said, taking a stack of bills from her pocket and placing it on the table.

Cain counted the money, 200 Ryo per bill, and Kushina had brought 5000 Ryo to buy chocolate, which was quite a lot for a child.

After counting the money, Cain put the 5000 Ryo in the drawer and said, “25 chocolates in total. Natsukawa, pack them for this customer.”

But before Cain finished speaking, Kushina slammed her palm on the table and angrily asked, “Boss, why only 25 chocolates? Last time, I bought ten chocolates with 1000 Ryo, so this time, it should be 50 chocolates.”

Cain was surprised. “Oh, you have good arithmetic skills,” he said.

Kushina scratched her head, feeling embarrassed. “Not really. Boss, you shouldn’t cheat my money. You should give me 50 chocolates.”

“Unfortunately, I’m not cheating you. Some of our goods just went up in price before you came,” Cain said helplessly. “Now, chocolate costs 200 Ryo per piece. If you’re unwilling to buy, I’ll refund your money.”

200 Ryo per piece was quite expensive, and chocolate had nothing special except for being delicious and high in calories. But chocolate was even more important than rice for people who loved sweets.

Especially since only Cain had it. There were few other sweets in Konoha, and chocolate was truly the top. It was normal for it to be a bit expensive.

Moreover, this thing was not sold to ordinary people. The children of the ninja clans were the main consumers in Konoha.

“200 Ryo per piece is too expensive,” Kushina said, her small face showing a conflicted expression. She had brought the 5000 Ryo by asking Tsunade and Jiraiya for money. She had not been in Konoha for long, and her only relative was Mito Uzumaki. She was still staying with the Senju Clan and had little money.

If she had to ask Mito for money, Kushina would feel embarrassed to admit that she wanted it to buy snacks.

“Kushina, why do you need money?”

“I want to buy snacks!”

It was too embarrassing. Kushina couldn’t stand the thought of it, but she really liked this kind of sweet and silky delicacy, even though it was expensive. After thinking for a while, Kushina finally pushed the money back and said, “Then give me 25 chocolates.”

Chocolate was very popular and would soon be sold out if she didn’t buy it.

Cain returned the money and pretended to be helpless as he told Kushina, “Since you like it so much, Natsukawa, give this customer 30 chocolates. From now on, every time she buys five, she gets one for free, with no limit.”

“Really?”

Upon hearing this, Kushina’s face immediately lit up with joy, and she bowed to Cain to express her gratitude.

“Thank you, Boss. You’re a good person.”

Cain couldn’t help but smile inwardly as he watched Kushina thank him. That’s how gullible people were. Give them a little favor after you’ve taken advantage of them, and they’ll thank you from the bottom of their hearts.

Kushina left happily with the chocolates. Although she couldn’t buy the fifty she had imagined, she still got an extra five.

After Kushina left, Cain took Natsukawa to the next-door shop. He prepared to tidy it up and sell some daily necessities and medical supplies, such as bandages and cotton swabs.

After Natsukawa learned of Cain’s plan, she asked with surprise, “Boss, are you planning to sell medicine here?”

Cain nodded and said, “Yes, we might hire three people. We’ll tidy up this place in two days and open the shop in three days.”

“In that case, Boss, I have someone to recommend. His name is Kaikou Mirai. He knows a little medical ninjutsu but can’t be a ninja anymore because he lost a hand on the battlefield.”

Natsukawa was a bit cautious when she said this. The person she was talking about was her friend’s husband. Although he received compensation when he retired as a ninja, the money was long gone. Now, he couldn’t even do manual labor with one hand missing. He couldn’t perform medical ninjutsu because he couldn’t make hand seals. Although he could barely survive with the support of Natsukawa’s friend, relying on his wife made him feel extremely ashamed, and he had slowly fallen into despair.

“He knows medical ninjutsu? Great! We’ll offer him the same salary as you and ask if he’s willing to come,” Cain said directly. Being a doctor only required a mouth, and he still had one hand to use. As for manual labor, the other two people could do it. If this person had lost an arm, it was his good fortune to be offered this job.

“Please find the other two people for me, Natsukawa, but not the sly and deceitful ones,” Cain added.

Natsukawa was overjoyed and said, “Don’t worry, Boss, I won’t let you down.”

The overall environment was not good. In Konoha, only ninjas were considered superior, and even the village’s finances were tight during the war, let alone ordinary people.

Why did most people yearn for peace? It was because war caused them to lose their loved ones and made them unable to eat.

After getting permission, Natsukawa took a leave of absence to find Kaikou Mirai and the other two employees. This matter was also allowed by Cain, and he would take care of collecting the money while Natsukawa was away.

Next, Cain couldn’t stay in Konoha indefinitely. After the war slowly ended, he had to go outside to expand his influence, first stabilizing his position in the Fire Country and then gradually invading small countries.

While medicine and food were indeed profitable, the medicine business was temporarily monopolized by Konoha, and the food business could be done. Still, the accumulation of funds would be slow.

“For the entertainment industry, we can consider novels. They should have a good market in the ninja world. Jiraiya made so much money from just a few novels, and I have a whole team of writers behind me. We could almost start a literary renaissance in the ninja world.”

When Cain thought of novels, he felt it was a good plan. At the most, he had brought ten Japanese novels and didn’t have to worry too much about it. Occasionally, he could just throw a few novels to the bookstore and wait for the money to roll in.

Ultimately, Cain could spread his influence throughout the entire entertainment industry and control the direction of public opinion in the ninja world.