After a long delay, Natsuhiko once again saw Might Duy at the entrance of the Shinobi Tavern.
But this time, he was dragging along a cart behind him.
On it, besides some worn-out belongings, there was also a large pile of neatly stacked tight green bodysuits.
Behind him was also Might Guy sitting on top of the pile of clothes waving happily at Natsuhiko
"Sensei, thank you for hiring my dad!" Guy looked at him with eyes filled with gratitude.
To be honest, when his dad rushed into the house earlier, saying, "Son, we're rich now!" it startled him.
Because he hadn't seen his dad so happy in a long time.
Natsuhiko smiled and waved his hand. "It's nothing. Actually, I'm the one benefiting from this."
"Sensei, you're too kind."
Might Duy grinned, then suddenly remembered something and began searching through the pile of bodysuits.
"To thank you for your approval, I have something to give you!"
As he spoke, he quickly found an unopened bodysuit.
This was a treasure he had cherished for years, never willing to wear it – it was lined with fleece.
For many years, he had spent the winters with just his righteousness and Power of Youth.
Might Duy reluctantly took one last look at the bodysuit before handing it to Natsuhiko.
It wasn't enough to express his gratitude towards Natsuhiko tho!
However, Might Duy failed to notice that besides Natsuhiko's stiff expression, even Guy, who would usually be excited to recommend bodysuits to others, was now looking away with closed eyes, unwilling to watch.
There was no choice.
After all, when Guy underwent special training with Natsuhiko yesterday, he had experienced the wonders of Natsuhiko's bodysuit.
The comfort of being one with the suit, the liberation akin to returning to nature, all of that intoxicated him deeply.
Compared to that yellow bodysuit, their own green bodysuit seemed like a poor imitation.
While thinking about that, Guy regretted it a bit. He hadn't told his dad about the bodysuit earlier because he was afraid his dad would find out about his betrayal of the revolution with his expressive eyes.
So now his dad was still blissfully unaware, enthusiastically promoting his tattered clothes to Natsuhiko-Sensei, which was simply embarrassing!
At this point, Natsuhiko had already declined several times, but seeing Might Duy persisting, he reluctantly accepted the green bodysuit.
Seeing this, Guy heaved a sigh of relief, thinking Natsuhiko-Sensei was a good person for not letting his dad lose face.
However, what caught Guy off guard was when Natsuhiko-Sensei accepted the bodysuit, he actually took out a card that Guy had seen before!
Could it be?
Before Guy could stop him, he heard a "ping."
Natsuhiko conjured a large adult-sized yellow bodysuit, intending to give it as a return gift to Might Guy.
Natsuhiko thought Might Duy would be happy, but he didn't expect Might Duy to take a step back, looking at him warily.
That look, as if he was watching a heretic...
Natsuhiko hadn't expected Might Duy to be such a purist when it came to green bodysuits, showing such hostility towards bodysuits of other colours.
This made Natsuhiko's gesture of returning a yellow bodysuit backfire.
Fortunately, Might Duy eventually became the top employee of the Shinobi Tavern.
Not only that, he also volunteered to join the construction team's work, greatly accelerating the progress of the renovation.
Because of his outstanding performance, even the old foreman of the construction team couldn't help but want to poach him: "You have talent, come learn construction from me."
Luckily, Might Duy remained firm in his position, and the old foreman didn't bring up the matter again later.
Of course, this had nothing to do with Natsuhiko often practising throwing shurikens near the old foreman.
Considering that the period after the tavern's opening would be busy, and he currently had some free time, Natsuhiko decided to increase his investigation into the curse on the sealing technique.
Yes, even though Natsuhiko often joked about this matter, he had never let his guard down.
In addition to asking a teacher to look for the case file and inquiring about the families of the deceased, Natsuhiko didn't spare even the teachers at the ninja school.
He treated these teachers to several meals, using the opportunity to learn more details.
The teachers understood his intentions, so even though they thought their deaths were just an accident, they meticulously recounted everything they knew to Natsuhiko.
The physical education teacher even sighed and mentioned that the previous sealing technique teacher had done the same thing.
This added a few more black lines to Natsuhiko's forehead.
From the information collected from various sources, their deaths indeed didn't have many suspicions; it seemed like just bad luck.
If it had happened to ordinary sealing technique ninjas, it wouldn't have attracted any attention.
It's just that these three happened to be sealing technique teachers, which slightly drew his attention.
Although no clues or suspects were found, Natsuhiko still didn't let his guard down.
Because as someone well-versed with the original work, he knew a rule:
If something bad happens in Konoha and you don't know who did it, then it's definitely done by that shadow Hokage, Danzo Shimura.
If this series of incidents involving sealing technique teachers wasn't an accident, then Danzo was basically the prime suspect.
As for the motive...
Why would a Hokage need to explain his actions to anyone?
Based on the things he did in the original work, Natsuhiko really didn't want to understand his thought process, fearing he might get infected.
But because no relevant clues were found, Natsuhiko naturally wouldn't go looking for trouble himself.
As long as there wasn't a fourth incident, he wouldn't delve into past matters.
But he didn't relax his self-protection measures; in fact, he became more vigilant, even paranoid.
He felt like there were troublemakers plotting against him.
Even so, Natsuhiko's life had returned to normal – teaching, copying books in the library, doing research, providing special training to Kushina and Obito...
Time passed quietly like this, and soon it was the day of the tavern's opening...
---
The sun set in the west, and night fell.
It was just an ordinary night.
Few people knew that on Ichiraku Street, in a house numbered 3, a small tavern named "Vigorous Shinobi" was opening tonight.
However, even though it was the opening day, the tavern was eerily quiet, with only three figures inside.
Kushina was sitting in front of a Vigorous Shinobi game console, playing the single-player mode built into it, enjoying himself.
Might Duy was pacing back and forth in the tavern, repeatedly wiping the already sparkling tables with a cloth, occasionally looking towards the entrance, hoping for customers to arrive.
And Natsuhiko was sitting at the bar, holding a cup of green liquid called "Green Juice" concocted by Might Duy, with a troubled expression, unsure if he should take a sip.
Just then, after finishing a game on the Vigorous Shinobi console, Kushina looked around the tavern and noticed
that there were still no customers. Unable to help herself, she asked Natsuhiko:
"Natsuhiko, are you sure we don't need to do some promotion or something?"
"Too bad Tsunade isn't here; otherwise, we could have her come and liven up the place. Whenever I went out with her, as soon as she sat down, a crowd would gather around her."
Hey, this tavern is for playing cards, not watching sports.
Natsuhiko silently complained, then put down his cup, saying calmly:
"Don't worry, let's give it a bit more time."
"And besides, there are quite a few novel things in our tavern. We don't know what kind of problems they might cause, so let's not draw too much attention at the beginning. Let's accumulate some experience first."
"I see." Kushin quickly agreed with Natsuhiko's explanation, then contentedly started another game. However, after just two rounds, she realised.
"But Natsuhiko, without anyone knowing about this tavern like it is now, how can we accumulate any experience?"
"Who said nobody knows? Have you forgotten which bigshot helped us find this place?"
As soon as Natsuhiko finished speaking, the tavern door was pushed open.
"Look, someone's here!"
(End of this chapter)
P.S I am back after a break. Honestly it was quite a refreshing one lmao.
Chapter 82 is up on my Patreon
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