Chapter 30: A Beautiful View, One Step Closer
The two of them trained for the entire morning. Only when Akiyama Makoto felt he had reached the point of complete exhaustion did Tenten finally declare the session over.
Seeing him swaying as he walked, Tenten, who only had a light sheen of sweat on her forehead, said with a grin, "How about it? Do you need me to support you?"
Tenten had expected him to say no, but to her surprise, Makoto said, "Okay," and immediately slumped toward her.
With a shriek, Tenten quickly grabbed his arm and waist. After he had steadied himself, she said, "Honestly, you should have said something sooner if you were this tired."
"Training requires a balance of work and rest. We'll reduce the intensity a little tomorrow."
Makoto nodded. He had also wanted to use this opportunity to find out where the limits of his current body were. According to the fitness theories from his past life, the fastest way to improve one's physical condition was to break through one's limits, allow the body to recover and grow, and then repeat the cycle. If he were on his own, he wouldn't have dared to push himself this hard.
"Let's go, then."
Tenten supported Makoto as they walked towards the Konoha gate. With her current strength, adding his weight as a burden was nothing. The day she had taken him to the hospital, she had even used a princess carry, which was much more strenuous than this.
However, feeling the scorching heat from his chest and abdomen against her shoulder and hearing his slightly heavy breathing, Tenten felt her own body heating up.
Looking down from Makoto's angle, one could even see that Tenten's earlobes had turned a shade of pink. This made Makoto smile to himself.
At this moment, Tenten was focused on looking at the path ahead, completely forgetting how defenseless her heavily perspiring state was to him. If he weren't so familiar with her personality, he might have thought she was doing it on purpose.
As they neared the Konoha gate, Makoto suddenly stopped, causing a puzzled Tenten to look up.
He cleared his throat, his gaze immediately shifting away.
But Tenten realized something. She looked down, and immediately pushed him away, her cheeks turning as red as a tomato.
The two fell into silence. Makoto felt the time was about right and said, "Um, let me treat you to a meal. As an apology."
Tenten's expression calmed slightly. She shot him a harsh glare, tempted to just leave. But in the end, looking at his apologetic smile, she couldn't bring herself to stay angry with him. "I want a big meal!" she declared.
"Alright, let's go get some yakiniku."
"Really? Do you have enough money?"
His straightforwardness made Tenten hesitate.
Makoto then explained, "It's the barbecue shop where I worked that day. I haven't been back since I was discharged. I want to go and see how things are."
"After all, the owner did give me a job. Even though I never even received my first month's wages, I still want to make sure she's safe."
Tenten looked at him deeply, impressed by his sentimentality. But then she thought of herself. Wasn't he repaying her for the same reason—out of a sense of gratitude?
At this thought, her heart suddenly skipped a beat. Could it be that their relationship was nothing more than him repaying a debt...?
If this had been ten minutes ago, the thought might have troubled her for days. But now, remembering his awkward, flustered gaze from just moments before, Tenten suddenly smiled shyly.
At the very least, she was now certain that he had also noticed her charm. Besides, she still had plenty of room to grow. Maybe in the future, she could be as strong and charming as Kurenai-sensei!
"Let's go, then! Yakiniku, yakiniku!"
Tenten happily led the way, which surprised Makoto a little. He was familiar with her personality and was certain she wouldn't stay angry over it, which was why he had taken that small step to bring them closer. But he had also been prepared to apologize to her repeatedly. Why had she suddenly cheered up?
Perhaps yakiniku held an irresistible charm for a taijutsu specialist like her.
Afterward, the two entered Konoha and headed towards the barbecue shop. Along the way, Tenten explained some important points about training, mainly focused on preventing him from getting injured.
But when they arrived at the shop, they both froze.
The sign that had been hanging in front of the shop, "Yakiniku Kazune," was now taken down and tossed carelessly in the courtyard. And the shop itself didn't look like it had any customers. Makoto and Tenten exchanged a look, both seeing the gravity in the other's eyes.
Tenten immediately stepped forward, shielding Makoto, then walked into the courtyard. "Is anyone here?" she called out.
"Hey, coming!"
A middle-aged woman's voice replied, and then the owner, Kawakami Kazune, appeared.
Seeing Tenten, a look of pleasant surprise appeared on her face. But when she saw Makoto, her expression shifted to one of terror.
Seeing this, Tenten quickly asked, "Ma'am, what happened? Are you not running the restaurant anymore?"
The owner didn't seem to dare to look Makoto in the eye. She just kept bowing and apologizing to Tenten. "I'm sorry, Lady Ninja. The shop hasn't been doing well and is preparing to close down. Could I please ask you to dine elsewhere?"
Tenten turned to look at Makoto. This was something he would have to handle.
Makoto took a step forward. Looking at the owner's timid demeanor, he didn't bother with pleasantries and said directly, "You've poured your entire heart and soul into this shop. If you close it down now, you won't even be able to pay off your debts, will you?"
"What do you plan to do next? Sell your house and land?"
The owner's face turned pale, but she remained silent.
"I worked as a waiter in your shop for a while. I know your skills. While it might not have been a huge success, you shouldn't have any problem keeping it open."
"What made you decide to close..."
At this moment, Tenten pointed to her forehead protector. "Don't worry, I can help you. If I can't, my teacher can."
The owner thought of Might Guy, and a glimmer of hope finally appeared in her eyes. She then said timidly, "It was a Chūnin... I only know his surname is Shimura."
Tenten tilted her head, trying to think who such a ninja might be.
Makoto, however, frowned... Could this be related to that guy? Shimura Danzō was not a man alone; he had his own clan behind him. It was just that Danzō's ambition was not to expand his clan's power, so compared to a major clan like the Sarutobi, the Shimura clan's influence in Konoha was much smaller. But anyone with good information knew that in Konoha, you could accidentally offend the Hokage, but you must never offend the Darkness of Shinobi.
Just as Makoto was contemplating whether to press further, a deep, powerful voice rang out.
"Ma'am, I'm here to patronize your business again."
"Same as before, put it on my tab. The Shimura clan will settle it all at the end of the month."
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