Masahiko's words couldn't reach Fuguki since he was stopped by someone on the way.
The person who stopped him was a middle-aged ninja with the iconic indifferent face of Kirigakure's shinobi, and he asked him for money.
Masahiko didn't like that. I'm neither your wife nor your girlfriend why should I give you money?
"If you can't pay the one million Ryo per person, we won't protect you."
Masahiko was stunned. Only then did he notice that there were a few civilians in Fuguki's team.
Sweeping around again, although there were many ninjas, the other two members of the Seven didn't come.
"This fat man is quite greedy. Is he here early to collect money?" Masahiko sighed inwardly, then looked at the ninja who stretched his hand in front of him, "I didn't expect that I will be charged to be protected."
The ninja looked a bit impatient and said, "Either you pay or die later."
Masahiko wasn't angry; after all, he didn't know who he was.
He smiled and said, "Don't worry, one million Ryo isn't a small amount. I'll wait, aren't there two members of the Seven Swordsmen who haven't come yet?"
The guy looked at him like a fool, "The two you mentioned are the people who are going to fight today, idiot."
Masahiko looked at the guy and took a deep breath as the blood veins in his forehead started throbbing, "Don't get angry, stay cool, I'm not angry, you're angry, he's just a mere Shinobi, with a stupid face, stupid job, stupid life, oooh, I hope he dies in a stupid way!"
Pop!
Instantly, the ninja in front of him disappeared and was sucked into Masahiko's dimension.
"Huh~ I feel better now." Masahiko murmured, but on the outside, he pretended to be panicked, "Shinobi-Dono, Shinobi-Dono, where did you go?"
This unusual movement in the crowd attracted the Fuguki's eyes, and as soon as he gestured, Kisame behind him came over.
"What happened?"
Masahiko shook his head, "I don't know. The Shinobi-Dono asked me to give him one million Ryo. And as soon as I handed over the money to him, he suddenly disappeared."
The small shark's eyes shrank suddenly, then he turned back and reported to Fuguki.
"Damn it, two million!" A sharp shout came, "Kill him if you ever found him!"
"Elder, I don't think Basu would do such a thing. I think he just wanted to make you extra money. After all, this guy came with a cat." A Ninja spoke next to him.
"Humph! Don't speak for him. If he's not worried about getting caught, then why did he disappear? I'm afraid he already left the village with the money! Kisame will stay. You go after him!"
"Yes!"
In the past ten years, because of Village of the Bloody Mist's policy, many Kirigakure's Shinobi rebelled. It's not surprising that they found it normal to rebel just to run with two million.
A few ninjas behind Fuguki flashed away, leaving only Kisame there.
"Elder, what should I do with the cat's guy over there?" Kisame pointed at Masahiko, and Masahiko waved his hand with a smile, which startled him.
"Let him be."
As a result, Masahiko hid into the ranks of the wealthy businessmen behind Fuguki and Kisame.
For the next ten minutes, Kisame gave him and the other a lot of instructions on what they should do during the game, so they don't get hurt. Masahiko smiled, listening to him; the fat man was really taking the job seriously.
"Do you get it?"
Masahiko came back to his senses and said with a smile, "Yes." God knows what he got.
Fortunately, this wasn't a high school class, and Kisame wasn't a teacher. Otherwise, he would have asked him what he was saying, and things will get embarrassing, and his classmates will be laughing…
Kisame turned around and was about to go back. Masahiko looked at the wealthy businessmen and felt uninterested in talking to them.
"Sharked-face brother, why are you in such a hurry? Why don't we chat for a bit?"
Kisame's face stiffened. No one had ever called him that way.
"My name is Kisame Hashigaki."
(T/N: Kisame Hoshigaki: literally means Demon Shark dried persimmon.)
"Demon Shark? Isn't that a kind of shark? Your parent must have named you after they saw your face."
Kisame widened his eyes madly, then he tried his best to let it slide, then turned back to Fuguki's side, ignoring Masahiko.
"Wow, I'm really proud of him!" Masahiko secretly smiled. It seems that young Kisame is calmer than later when he's older. Otherwise, he would have immediately drew his sword.
As time passed, more and more people were in the field, and occasionally a few civilians would come; most of them chose to accept Fuguki's shelter. This even has at least yielded him 20 million.
"Sure enough, the best way to rich is to collect protection fees, huh?" Masahiko wondered as he watched Kisame bring another wealthy civilian to the group.
Suddenly the whole venue became quiet. Masahiko thought that the Daimyo has arrived. Looking at the entrance, it was only a ten-year-old boy.
"This boy is a bit familiar." Masahiko was a little curious, this boy didn't bring a cat with him like Masahiko did, yet he attracted everyone's attention.
"Sharked-face bro, who is that boy?" Masahiko asked Kisame with a smile.
"A terrifying little monster," Kisame said with a weird tone, but he didn't seem like he was joking, which made Masahiko a bit uncomfortable.
"It's okay, don't get jealous, everyone knows who you are in Kirigakure, and when you go out to the world in the future, others will pay much attention to you… however, I should warn you from thick brows, you don't want that, it will kill you."
Kisame's blue face can't be black. Otherwise, Masahiko would have witnessed a Black Demon Shark for the first time… imagine how many witness points he would get from that.
"If you're curious, you can go and say hello to that boy. He will definitely slash you. That kid killed all the prospective graduates in his assessment."
Masahiko was startled and looked at the boy ignoring Kisame's counterattack.
"Zabuza Momoshi? So the guy did have eyebrows?" It's no wonder that Masahiko didn't recognize him. Zabuza wasn't wearing his famous outfit. And more importantly, it seems like he had eyebrows before…
Although he has attracted everyone's attention, it was only for a while. After all, he has just become a Genin.
Waiting for Zabuza to walk through, Masahiko kept his eyes on the entrance to see if there would be any more acquaintances.
Suddenly an orange-haired boy of eleven or twelve years came in.
"Yagura? He's this big now?" Masahiko could roughly guess that he would die ten years from now in the original. However, at this time, he looked like he was about 13 or 14 years old.
"Detective Conan, huh?!" Masahiko sighed, and later, he felt that something was wrong…