"Since we know each other, that makes things easier!"
Elder Jirouchou laughed loudly, then suddenly turned serious and bowed deeply to Naruto and the others. "I'll be counting on you from now on!"
Sakura never thought that the head of the Yakuza group would bow to them in such a formal way, so she froze for a moment before replying, "Don't worry, Elder Jirouchou. Our team always has a one hundred percent success rate on missions!"
"One hundred percent?"
Elder Jirouchou's heart filled with joy.
At first, he was worried that this young ninja team wouldn't be a match for the Wasabi family's hired shinobi. Now he could finally relax!
As expected of Tsunade, my good friend!
After leaving the Wagarashi family, Naruto and the other two stuck close to Morino Idate at all times to stop enemy ninja from sneaking an attack before the race.
But Naruto wasn't really happy with this way of guarding.
If he could, he would rather just run straight to the Kaede family and take care of their chosen fighters.
Wouldn't that solve things more quickly?
He felt the Wagarashi family was too soft. The enemy was already using dirty tricks, and yet they still tried to play fair and only defend.
But since he wasn't paid to do an assassination, he held back.
That evening,
while Morino Idate strolled around the streets shopping, Naruto's team followed to protect him while also looking around the shops themselves.
Sakura walked into a general store and noticed some wallets inside.
"Naruto!"
She picked up one of the wallets and asked, "This dog looks just like Kakashi-sensei's summon. How did it end up being made into a wallet and sold here?"
Naruto came over, curious, and found that this shop really was unusual.
Not only Pakkun, Kakashi's summon, but also Gamabunta, Gamakichi, Manda, Katsuyu, and even the little pig Tonton were made into wallets!
Looks like the shop owner has seen quite a few things!
Naruto glanced at the price tag. Three coins each.
A little pricey!
"Boss, I'll take this dog wallet!" Sakura suddenly told the shop lady.
Naruto looked at her, puzzled. "Why are you buying that wallet?"
"I'm planning to give it to Kakashi-sensei. He'll probably like it!" Sakura said with a smile.
Such a thoughtful teammate!
Naruto thought to himself.
He looked over the rest of the wallets, hesitated a moment, and then bought them all.
"Madam, can I ask who made these wallets?"
"I did. Pretty good work, right?"
Facing Naruto, her big customer, the shop lady grinned from ear to ear.
Naruto, however, stared at her with some surprise. The woman, though aged, looked oddly similar to Jiraiya.
Could it be that this shop lady once lived in Konoha too?
But why was there even a Gamakichi wallet?
That guy only grew up recently, right?
The more Naruto thought about it, the stranger the shop lady seemed.
Before he could ask more questions, trouble broke out outside.
Bang!
With the sound of wood breaking, a middle-aged man was thrown out of the shop.
"P-please, spare me!" the man begged, sitting on the ground in fear.
"Hmph, do you know why you're even allowed to run your business here? You actually dare to mess with our Wasabi family!"
The three who claimed to be from the Wasabi family glared at the man with fierce eyes, their words full of threats.
"This... I didn't mean it that way, but I still need you to pay," the man said nervously, clearly lacking confidence.
"Looks like you still don't get what's going on here!"
"Let me teach you a lesson, idiot!"
Hearing the man still demand money, one of the three cracked his knuckles and signaled the other two to head into the man's shop.
He himself grabbed the man by the sleeve, pulled him up, and swung a punch at him!
Just as the fist was about to land, Sasuke caught it.
"If you don't want to get beaten, then get lost," Sasuke said coldly.
"You brat, who the hell are you!"
Seeing someone actually stand up to them, the three didn't care whether Sasuke was a ninja or not—they just swung at him.
But they were nothing more than ordinary thugs. How could they be a match for Sasuke?
In just a few quick moves, the three were beaten so badly even their mothers wouldn't recognize them.
"Kid, now you know who's stronger, right?"
"Watch yourself next time, we'll let you off for now!"
Even with bruised and swollen faces, the three still tried to act tough with their mouths.
But when Sasuke clenched his fist again, they immediately bolted, tail between their legs.
Before leaving, they even tossed their own wallet to the man they had just bullied.
"Th-thank you!"
The man bowed in gratitude, but Sasuke didn't respond. He just walked straight back to Morino Idate's side.
"Sasuke-kun, you're so cool!" little Sakura said, eyes full of admiration.
"That was so satisfying to watch! The Wasabi family really goes too far!" the shop owner's wife complained angrily.
"If only the Wagarashi family could win this competition."
It was clear that compared to the Jiezi family's rule by violence, the villagers much preferred the Wagarashi family's rule with fairness and kindness.
But Naruto couldn't care less about all that. Once the mission was done, he just wanted to head back.
As long as nobody died, everything was fine.
"Here, take this!"
Naruto tossed a wallet to Sasuke.
Sasuke caught it instinctively and saw it was a purple snake-shaped wallet.
"What's this?" Sasuke looked at Naruto in confusion.
"Trust me, you're going to need it one day!" Naruto said seriously.
Need it one day?
Sasuke didn't understand, but since Naruto put it that way, he kept it.
Though when he switched wallets, Naruto secretly took three thousand ryō from him!
Originally priced at three hundred ryō, Naruto had just flipped it for three thousand—ten times the price!
And Naruto's excuse was simple—"I foresaw your future. What's wrong with charging a little fee for that?"
The next day,
Before dawn, over a thousand people had already gathered outside Jie Port, waiting for the grand Great Shrine Festival competition to begin!
This wasn't just some ordinary festival—it was a battle tied to the fate of the whole town!
Every villager supported their own clan, hoping they would win!
Of course, even though Elder Jirōchō was famous for his sense of honor, not every villager liked him.
There were quite a few small-town residents who benefited from the Wasabi family's offerings, so they didn't want the Wagarashi family to win!
"The race is about to start. You should first check the race rules." Naruto handed a piece of paper to Sakura and Sasuke as he spoke.
Since their mission was to protect Morino Idate, they needed to understand his next moves.
"Let me see… The starting point is Wasabi Port. After setting off, you head toward the Shrine, but because of the sea in between, it looks like we'll need to take a boat!"
"After reaching the Shrine, grab one of the Dragon-Tiger Gems, then head to the Grand Whirlpool Island and offer it at the Shrine, and that's it!"
"Other than that, there are no rules. Setting traps or stopping teammates isn't a problem. That's why they can hire ninjas for this ritual event!"
After learning the rules, only one thought popped into Naruto's head — QQ Flying Pig racing game (real-life edition)!
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