Six days later.
Inside the laboratory, Shindai gazed at six brand new puppets and felt a strong sense of accomplishment.
Shindai proudly turned to Hikaku Uchiha beside him. "Asu Natsuka, I hereby grant you permission to praise me! Come on, don't hold back—flattery is welcome!"
Hikaku gave him a look of exasperation.
This week, she had originally just come to watch Shindai create puppets out of boredom, intending to kill some time.
However, as she kept watching, Shindai started assigning tasks for her to do.
The puppet making was initially expected to take a week, but with Hikaku's help, they finished in five and a half days.
Seeing that Hikaku remained silent, Shindai asked in confusion, "Hmm? Why won't you praise me?"
"Not scolding me is already a bonus," Hikaku replied. "What's there to praise? Since we've finished, you won't be coming here anymore, right?"
Shindai shook his head. "Not necessarily. I still need to come here, but I saw the shop The Third prepared to rent to me before. It's quite spacious, with a room nearly the same size as this one. I can use it as a workshop for making puppets. Once Orochimaru-sama's Scientific Research Division is established, I'll move my research activities there."
Hikaku scoffed disdainfully. "You're still going to do research? Researching what? How to make your suggestive puppets even more indecent?"
Shindai sighed helplessly. "Could you please stop looking at my puppets with biased eyes? My puppets aren't indecent at all—they're eye-catching! Obviously, beautiful things sell better as products, right?"
Hikaku's gaze drifted to the chests of the three female puppets and she let out a snort of disapproval.
Shindai noticed where Hikaku was looking and immediately understood, smirking mischievously while nudging Hikaku slightly. "Oh, so you're jealous? Don't worry—you're still young. You might develop more over time. If not, flat-chested girls have their own charm too. No need to stress about it."
A vein bulged on Hikaku's forehead instantly, and she immediately jabbed Shindai in the chest with her elbow.
"Cough!"
Shindai's eyeballs nearly popped out of his sockets. "Seriously?! You hit your boss?!"
Hikaku frowned. "Who said I work for you?"
Shindai explained, "I'm planning to hire you as the shop manager! If I'm not your boss, then who am I? After opening the shop, I'll stay there for a few days before continuing my research. I won't have time to manage daily operations, so I want you to serve as the manager and look after the shop. Anyway, you've got nothing better to do. I'll even pay you a salary.
"There will be one employee, my underling Kabuto—the kid wearing glasses from the handicraft shop. I told him ages ago that when I opened my shop, he'd help me run it."
Hikaku asked curiously, "But didn't you say you'd already spent all your money? How can you afford to research puppets?"
Shindai sighed. "It's not about the puppets themselves—it's about preparation. A major crisis is coming, so I need to prepare in advance! Sister Kushina may have already begun preparing as well, but we don't have much time left."
Hikaku Uchiha asked in confusion, "A big crisis? What kind of crisis?"
Shindai didn't give a direct answer and simply said, "It's just my guess. Don't worry, your pay will be more than generous! You won't get shortchanged, but I'll need to borrow against your salary for now until those puppets sell."
Hikaku Uchiha imagined himself sitting in the shop, helping Shindai sell these overly seductive puppets...
He flatly refused, shouting, "Absolutely not!"
"C'mon, Asu Natsuka! You're not doing anything anyway—please, just help me out!"
"No!"
Shindai clung onto Hikaku desperately, begging him to become his store manager.
...
The next day.
Shindai placed his puppets inside the shop, displaying them in glass cases, and hung up the sign he had prepared earlier. The shop had officially opened its doors.
[Shindai's Dream Workshop]
On the opening day, naturally, Shindai invited everyone he could possibly invite.
However, some didn't show up—Orochimaru, Minato Namikaze, Hiruzen Sarutobi, Kakashi, and others.
Orochimaru simply thought it was embarrassing and a waste of his time; Minato was too busy and couldn't come until after work; while Hiruzen was currently in a meeting at the Hokage Building.
Kakashi was still on a mission outside the village.
At the store entrance.
Pakura, Hikaku Uchiha, Kushina Uzumaki, Obito, Rin Nohara, and Kabuto Yakushi stood frozen, staring at the poster pasted at the storefront.
On the poster was Jiraiya hugging a puppet closely, making kissing gestures.
Indeed, this poster was specially taken by Shindai the day he handed the finished puppet over to Jiraiya.
Back then, Shindai had already decided to make Jiraiya his brand ambassador.
Written boldly on the poster were several large words:
[Jiraiya, One of Konoha's Legendary Sannin, Personally Endorses These Puppets! Even Jiraiya Can't Stop Praising Them!]
Pakura and the others felt their scalp tingling as they saw this.
They could only imagine what expression Jiraiya would make when he eventually returned to Konoha.
They completely failed to understand what was going through Shindai's mind—why open such a store so flamboyantly instead of keeping it low-key?
Smiling brightly, Shindai walked out from the shop entrance, cheerfully calling out, "Hey hey, why are you all standing outside? Come on in! It's our grand opening today, so everyone, please support us!"
But no one moved a step.
This was because many curious onlookers had gathered around, primarily drawn by the eye-catching poster Shindai had pasted at his door.
Pakura and Kushina Uzumaki shot him icy looks as they demanded, "You said you were opening a shop… This is what you meant?"
"Well, I'm giving you fair warning—today's my opening day, and with so many people around, you can't just go beating me up!"
Shindai knew full well that Pakura and Kushina Uzumaki probably wanted to punch him right now.
But the shop was already open—done deal. Heh, not like there's anything they could do about it now!
Though still standing outside, Obito caught sight of those three beautiful female puppets displayed behind the glass counter inside the shop—he couldn't look away.
Rin Nohara stared at Shindai in disbelief. She'd long heard about Shindai's 'dream,' but never thought he'd actually bring it to life.
Kabuto Yakushi was already planning how to turn Shindai down later. Working here would completely ruin his reputation.
Hikaku Uchiha calmly watched Shindai—she already knew about it.
Under Shindai's enthusiastic urging, Pakura and the others ducked their heads, hoping no one would recognize them, as they reluctantly stepped into Shindai's shop.
Though embarrassed, Obito and Kabuto couldn't help stealing repeated glances at those three Maria No.1 models made by Shindai—they were jaw-droppingly gorgeous.
As Pakura and the others walked in, many curious onlookers followed, eager to see what exactly this puppet shop run by Shindai was all about.
Seeing so many people come in, Shindai wouldn't stop smiling—because these spectators could easily become his future customers.
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