Chapter 114: Oh, How Time Flies~
Konoha.
The Household of Tonbo Tobitake.
Naruto walked over with quick, short steps. He found that Uncle Tonbo wasn't home, Sister Ayame wasn't there, and Grandpa Tosei was out too. A look of disappointment filled his eyes, especially as he felt the surrounding gazes of passersby—gazes colder than the deep sea.
Suddenly remembering something, he turned to head toward the other side of the street.
Thud!
A figure happened to block his path, and the two collided, falling to the ground.
"Ouch!"
"That hurts!"
"Who are you?"
"Who are you?"
Naruto and Sasuke pointed at each other simultaneously.
"Damn it! I'm Naruto Uzumaki! Why don't you look where you're going?"
"Hmph! I'm Sasuke Uchiha. It was you who wasn't looking." Sasuke mentioned the name "Uchiha" while lifting his chin high.
"It's you!"
"It's you!"
Intense sparks flew between their eyes. It looked like a fight was about to break out.
"Hey! Fight! Come on, fight!"
"Yeah, why aren't you fighting?"
Two voices rang out. Sasuke and Naruto turned to look. Standing before them were two two-year-old toddlers, a boy and a girl. The boy had black hair and stood with his hands in his pockets; the girl had white hair tied in a bun, holding a lollipop and cheering them on as she ate.
It was as if they thought fighting was exactly what the two boys should be doing.
"Tianyu, Maki, where's Uncle Tonbo?" Naruto asked, looking around only after seeing the two children. Sasuke looked at the pair suspiciously.
"Dad is working, he's busy, so we came back by ourselves." Tianyu took out a key and opened the front door. "If you have business, come inside and talk."
Maki skipped past them and made a funny face: "You didn't even fight. How boring."
Naruto and Sasuke exchanged a glance, pouted, turned their heads away from each other, and walked inside.
In the living room, there were various appliances, sofas, and several figurines woven from bamboo. There were dragonflies, hawks, whales, pangolins...
Seeing these, Sasuke realized he had come to the right place. Naruto, acting as if he owned the place, sat directly on the sofa. He was already a regular here; aside from Grandpa Third and Uncle Tonbo's family, everyone else looked at him with ice-cold eyes. Thus, he loved coming here.
"Hey, Tianyu, Maki, you're only two. How can Uncle Tonbo let you come home alone?" Naruto crossed his arms, gossiping about Tonbo. They were only two! What if they got kidnapped?
Tianyu sat on the sofa looking quite comfortable. Hearing Naruto, he said dismissively, "My sister and I are so smart, who could kidnap us? Right, Maki?"
Maki rolled her eyes at him: "Maybe I'd agree with you if you called me 'Older Sister.'"
Tianyu then shifted his gaze to Sasuke: "I haven't seen you before. Are you in the wrong place?"
"This is Tonbo Tobitake's house, right?" Sasuke asked.
"Yeah, this is it."
"I want to custom-order that from the Bad Uncle." Sasuke pointed at the figurines on the table. The one of his brother had been accidentally damaged during training, so he remembered the Bad Uncle. Following his clan's teachings, he had used his own abilities to find this place.
"Bad Uncle? Haha! Dad really has a weird nickname everywhere he goes." Maki laughed loudly, not acting like a little lady at all.
Ugly Uncle, Bad Uncle, Weird Uncle... he had every title imaginable.
Naruto looked at Sasuke with disdain: "You're so big and you still play with those? For shame." He had stopped playing with those years ago.
A "cross" vein popped on Sasuke's forehead. "None of your business."
"Those things are very expensive now. You're so young, you can't afford them," Tianyu said. He and Maki exchanged a glance, a sly smirk appearing in their eyes.
Sasuke blinked. "I have money." He was older now and understood that taking things from others for free wasn't right. Being able to buy it was for the best.
Tianyu held up five fingers: "This amount. Are you sure you have it?"
Naruto was stunned. Fifty thousand Ryo? That could buy so much food!
"Five hundred thousand? No problem. But I want high quality. The one the Bad Uncle gave me last time broke too easily." Sasuke said it casually, without blinking an eye.
"..."
Naruto was speechless. Were the things he stopped playing with really that valuable? He looked at the other figurines in the living room, his eyes shining. If he sold those, he could buy so many delicious things!
Tianyu and Maki's eyes also went wide as they leaned toward each other to whisper.
"Hey, is he stupid? I was only thinking five thousand, and he quoted that high?"
"Shh! Don't let him hear! That's a whole month's base salary for Dad! If we sell it, we'll have our own secret savings and won't have to ask Mom for money."
The two discussed in hushed tones. Tianyu steadied his excitement and said calmly, "You have good taste. My dad's craftsmanship is the best in Konoha. Tell me what figurine you want. I'll tell him, and you can pick it up tomorrow."
Maki added, "That's right, my dad is the best craftsman."
"A figurine of Itachi Uchiha. Just that. Bad Uncle should know how to make it. It must be high quality," Sasuke said. He remembered his brother telling him that the Bad Uncle was a high-ranking official in the Intelligence Department. He also knew they had been teammates, so there was no mistake.
"Money," Tianyu held out his hand.
Sasuke looked at the two kids, wondering if they were unreliable. But since Naruto knew them and the Bad Uncle, it should be fine. Besides, the Uchiha were the Police Force; no one would dare cheat him. He pulled out 500,000 Ryo and handed it over.
Tianyu pretended to be calm, suppressing his thrill as he tucked the money into his pocket. "I'll remember. You can go now. By the way, what's your name?"
"Sasuke Uchiha."
"Mhm, got it. I like the look of you. I'll make sure Dad makes you the best one."
They certainly liked the look of him now—they had secret savings. Sasuke nodded and turned to leave. Naruto's shocked expression fell into Sasuke's line of sight as he turned, and with a trace of disdain, Sasuke walked out the door.
Naruto saw the look, but he didn't care. He actually etched Sasuke's face into his memory. Because this was another guy who didn't look at him with those eyes—even if that disdainful expression was a bit annoying.
"I really didn't expect these things to be so expensive..." Naruto drooled while looking at the figurines.
Tianyu didn't want to chat with Naruto about that. "Naruto, what are you here for? Not to mooch a meal again, are you?"
Maki echoed, "Yeah, just here for a free meal?"
"I am not! And you should call me Big Brother Naruto!" Naruto's mouth twisted in anger. Ever since these two grew up, they called him "Big Brother Naruto" only when the Weird Uncle was around. When he wasn't, they just called him "Naruto." Infuriating!
"Speak up or we're kicking you out," Tianyu said, impatient to split the loot with his sister.
"Damn it... I'm entering the Ninja Academy in a few days! I'm finally going to become a ninja like the Uncle! I came to tell him!"
As Naruto spoke, excitement returned to his face. Grandpa Third already knew the news; Uncle Tonbo was the only other person he wanted to share it with.
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