Ideally, he wanted to buy ninja tools; at least the lower end stuff. Storage scrolls, explosive tags, enhanced rope, camp equipment, and anything else he could get his hands on. Not only they were potentially useful in the long term, but also he could try to see his programming skill could be used to decipher the working principles of explosive tags and storage scrolls.
Having options was never a bad idea.
Then, there was the third objective. He wanted to see shinobi training.Not the dramatic kind, flashy jutsu, or clan techniques.
He wanted the basics.
Novice Ninjutsu skill only covered a very limited range, and it had next to nothing about chakra, including how to increase efficiency or grow his reserves. He had some homemade training, but it hadn't been particularly effective. Watching younger genin train would give him a better direction. Combined with his recovery traits, he could make a good progress of his reserves.
Hopefully.
He was also tempted to look for the ways to open a forge in Konoha to benefit from his latest rewards, but he decided against it for the moment. It was something that was something that was much better to do after a talk with Tenten.
Considering the number of ranged weapons she used casually, she had to have an excellent idea about that particular market.
Instead, he drifted through the market district once again, doing his best to look like bored tourist before he drifted toward the edges. He didn't went toward the direction of official training grounds as those areas were classified and under observation.
Luckily, there were many ninja that trained in the open areas they could find rather than training grounds, particularly for simple training.
Tanaka stopped at the edge of one such clearing, his gaze curious as he watched a small group of genin training.
Not famous ones. Not prodigies. Just young men, likely only sixteen, with awkward limbs and serious expressions, wearing village headbands and cheap practice clothes. They moved in small clusters, fumbling without any guidance. He guessed they were the ones that had been rejected by their prospective jonin senseis, left for their own devices.
Tanaka's gaze fixed on the exercises. Some of it was basic conditioning, either running or with weights, their movements too fast not to be burning chakra. Others practiced trick shots with kunai and shiruken, while a smaller group had been running up and down a tree.
The trick of what they were doing weren't hard to guess, as he had long seen ninja he hired for the mission use that trick to climb to any surface and repeat, but their chatter implied that it was also a fundamental training exercise, improving reserves and control at the same time.
He sighed, wishing that going there to talk with them wouldn't raise all kinds of alarms. He didn't stay for long, not wanting to stick out. A month ago, he had been cursing the unfairness of their access, but the rewards he had accumulated recently had changed his mind.
Then, he returned to the market district, and started visiting the bookstores until he settled on one. A small, struggling store, owned by a retired chunin with a bit of gambling problem.
From there, he mostly bought novels, with some technical books on civilian subjects mixed in, none useful. The only point was to show he was a serious customer.
He hummed just as the owner was counting the total, radiating disappointment.
"Looking for something specific?" the owner asked, enthusiastic to keep the big spender happy.
Tanaka let his expression settle into polite mildness. "I'm looking for a book to impress a prospective business partner, but I wasn't able to come up with anything useful," he said, but the real delivery was his nonverbal clues.
The owner's brow lifted. "Gifts. Maybe try something more expensive."
"He's an eccentric," he said, deliberately keeping his story believable without revealing anything concrete. He muttered some details.
"Maybe something for his family?" the owner offered. Tanaka gave him a long description of the fictitious family, including a smart son in the last year of the academy, struggling with his chakra reserves, but with excellent calligraphy. The explanation was long, but it made sure that owner came with "Wait a minute," the guy said. "I might have something, but it won't be cheap. And, ideally, keep your mouth shut."
"Really," Tanaka asked, radiating earnest interest that every single merchant loved, signaling potential to overcharge. Then, he paused. "It's not illegal, is it, because —"
"Not illegal, but it's rare and valuable," he responded. He went back, and came with several books, each pretty old and damaged. Tanaka took it. Two of them were on chakra theory, but written from an academic perspective rather than practical, a treatise on fuinjutsu that seemed very useless, and a few other supplementary books.
"Wow, they look incredible," Tanaka whispered, playing the civilian mark; meanwhile he was very happy about the contents of the book. At this point, breadth of information was the thing he lacked the most. Hopefully, after reading them, his mental talents and skills would allow him to put together something. "You don't have any guide for training elemental affinity, do you?" he added. "Earth. I heard his kid mentioning that's his elemental affinity. They might value it," he added.
Since the owner had already swindled him with the books, Tanaka was sure he wouldn't go around blabbing about selling his old books to a random civilian, making it safe to ask it.
The owner paused. "I … I can write one based on my own experiences. I'm a retired jonin," he lied.
"Wow, impressive," Tanaka replied, and waited while he scribbled a scroll with the training methods for earth chakra. After some haggling, Tanaka overpaid for the books by a shocking degree, and left the store.
Comparatively, visit to ninja stores went even more smoothly. Low-capacity storage scrolls, kunai and other miscellaneous items were easy to purchase, their value limited. The only exception was the explosive tags, which they didn't sell anyone without the headband, but since he was able to purchase smoke tags, he was still satisfied.
However, they weren't the only shops he visited. He visited clothing stores, stalls with novelty items, even shops with non-perishable food, hoping the larger purchase would hide his real aim.
And, if anyone asked, he could always defend himself by claiming he was doing market research; a believable story especially with Tenten to back him up. With that, he returned to his room.
He had a lot of books to read.
&&&
He stayed in Konoha for five days before a message from Tenten arrived, informing that she had been on a long mission, and she would drop in to his hotel just after sunset, and they could discuss the results. "Finally," he muttered, as after his rather spectacular first night, his stay had been rather lackluster.
He made sure to visit different clubs and restaurants every night, maintaining the personality he had created while simultaneously testing his System. He even had a few chances to test his new Kama Sutra skill. Unfortunately, those activities didn't come with anything notable. Just two bronze tickets that gave him usual useless garbage items, despite one of the girls being another chunin.
It seemed that his prediction was correct. Relative importance of Konoha Eleven meant higher rewards. Confirming it alone was a valuable discovery, but after his amazing first day, he couldn't help but feel disappointed.
In comparison, his daytime activities had been far more profitable.
His days were split between walking around Konoha and pulling his tourist act to score anything useful, be it books or tools, and training either in his room, or hotel's underground shelter, which had been a nice find.
He hoped that he could make progress in fuinjutsu, which he wasn't even able to make progress despite spending some time. Apparently, Programming skill didn't fully cover fuinjutsu, but only a small portion of it. He had near-instant understanding of some portions, but without other fundamentals, it didn't matter.
He abandoned it to focus on chakra for better gains.
The books he acquired had mixed results, since they were long, rambling, and disconnected. He suspected that, without the library mind to assist, he couldn't even begin to understand it. The books written targeting other ninjas, and every single ninja would have several years of academy training.
Even with that perk and the support from his own past experience, his understanding was limited, and far from comprehensive.
Still, it was leagues better than his previous understanding, where he just channeled chakra blindly to empower his strikes or use three basic jutsu in a very clumsy manner.
The first, and the biggest realization was that Chakra wasn't a singular energy like he had assumed, but a mixture of physical and spritual, yin and yang. A distinction that he assumed to be useless until multiple source mentioned mixing two energies in deliberate ratios to make it more efficient. For his own case, apparently he had been relying on his body's natural inclination, which limited his growth and his flexibility.
He needed to mix them deliberately. Yang-heavy for taijutsu, yin-heavy for genjutsu, and balanced for ninjutsu.
At least, that was the general outline, with real practice filled with exceptions and special situations. Worse, it wasn't the only quality chakra had, with many other aspects like density, flow, accuracy, precision, and possibly other traits that were only relevant to some specialized usage.
Then, there was the elemental-natured chakra, which was a whole different kettle of fish. Unlike yin and yang qualities, elemental transformation came after chakra solidified, requiring a certain mindset and a lot of practice to achieve it efficiently.
A lot of practice, as in measured in years for most ninja. Apparently, elemental transformation was difficult enough that only the chunin with ambition of promotion bothered with it.
Luckily, he had certain advantages when it came to training his elemental affinity. Grounded trait allowed his chakra to transform with much greater ease, his high chakra regeneration rate meant that he could go much longer than most ninja, his days weren't interrupted by missions and chores, and novice conceptualization proved to be particularly helpful, as elemental transformation required an approach that was contrary to common sense.
Of course, the complication of chakra theory was not limited to those. There were areas chakra pooled and mixed in the body, gates with vague functions, channels to move it around, tenketsu to channel…
Unfortunately, that information was not exactly accessible for a wandering civilian, especially since he couldn't pull the same gullible civilian trick in every shop. The risk wasn't worth it.
From there, the only practical detail he was able to draw was that expanding his channel improved his output, which was not advised due to any injury there taking a lot of time to heal.
Luckily, he had Greater Healing Light, allowing him to handle that particular risk with ease.
The information he collected was incomplete, complicated, and contradictory. Still, for the first time, chakra didn't feel like a confusing energy, but something he could improve.
"Well, since I still have a few hours until dinner," he muttered as he sneaked down his room, Adepth Stealth making it easy for him to reach to the basement, and picked the lock leading to the shelter. A thirty yard climb down the stairs, and he was in an earthen basement, stuffy and suffocating.
Yet, he liked it.
"Let's start with the simple part," he said, and put his foot on the wall, and started walking on a random pattern, using chakra to stick the wall, carefully modulating the flow. His small reserves proved useful there, as he figured out wall climbing quickly.
It also meant he had to take a break after fifteen minutes … an improvement, as when he started, he was exhausted in three minutes. He stopped when he felt his chakra drain to near nothingness.
A ninja pushing himself to this point would have ended up in bed for a better part of the week. He had multiple traits helping him with regeneration, especially when he was underground.
He just sat down, crossed his legs, and picked a handful of dirt, carefully infusing his chakra to turn it into stone … and back to earth again, the most basic elemental transformation.
When he felt his chakra had recovered, he once again started climbing the wall. Exhausted, he crossed his legs, and focused on transformation. Again and again. It was boring, repetitive work, but he had spent years working as a caravan guard. Training was far more interesting than traveling the same roads again and again.
Not to mention, even in a week, he had made concrete improvement, and seeing the concrete improvement had a way of fueling his excitement as well. He knew that, even with his advantages, he wasn't strong enough to face ninja elite.
But, there was no guarantee that it had to stay that way.
Though, as the dinner time approached, he found himself facing a new problem. Namely, how to deal with Tenten. The safe option was to let her take the lead and follow her direction. But, he was afraid that, if he did so, she would do her best to keep it professional, her sudden retreat after the last mission enough to confirm that.
He wasn't willing to do that for three reasons. The first, and the obvious one was the benefits from Chaos Gacha. His limited interaction with the other ninja underlined value of Konoha Eleven once more, and among them, Tenten was the only one he could contact without it being suspicious. Most didn't know him, and while Ino and Sakura was familiar with him…
Yeah, he couldn't exactly visit them in them with flowers in hand and hope things would go well.
The second reason was Tenten's contacts. The latest set of rewards made it important for him to expand his business into Konoha, and having Tenten as a guarantor or a shareholder would make things go far more smoothly.
Then, there was the third, and the most personal reason. Spending time with Tenten was genuinely fun. She was smart, personable, beautiful, with a pragmatic perspective on life that she gained due to her job. Not to mention, she was just deadly enough to make bedroom entertaining.
No, he decided. He would not let her set the pace. So, he left the hotel early, visited a few shops to arrange a dress for her and an impressive outfit for himself, and arranged a room in a small and exclusive restaurant far from the usual areas ninjas hung around. Ordinarily, getting a room there was not easy, but after spending a lot of money every single night, he had made enough connections to pull some strings.
Everything was ready. Now, he just needed to wait for her arrival…
Tenten arrived at the hotel just as the sun was setting, the exact time she had referred. Tanaka was happy to see her not dressed as ninja, and even happier to see she was wearing sensible pants and loose shirt, more fitting for a grandma.
That looked paradoxical at first, but it was the intent. She was trying too hard to look uninterested, which meant the opposite. That wouldn't have been true if their roles were reversed and she was the socially weak party, but she was a prestigious chunin and he was a civilian. A sharp order from her would be enough to kill any closeness.
Yet, despite all, she had went all that trouble to look unattractive, showing she lacked the will to be decisive. Then, she walked even closer, and Tanaka noticed something else. Something even more interesting. She was wearing makeup, which was not something she had done before unless it was for the mission.
Even more interestingly, the makeup subtle, very difficult to notice like she wanted to look natural.
Tanaka smirked. Combined with her uncharacteristically hesitant expression, fear and excitement battling, it was apparent that it would take only a few words for him to make sure they discussed the 'mission' in the privacy of his room.
"Tenten," he greeted, letting an enthusiastic smile bloom, one that he didn't have to fake.
"Tanaka. We have things to discuss. Let's find somewhere we won't be overheard."
He didn't let his smile widen when he caught her gaze rising toward the hotel, then flipping back. A subtle movement, one too fast for a civilian to catch, showing her conflict. She wanted privacy, but she was also afraid of it.
Her blush wasn't as hidden.
"Don't worry. I already arranged a private room in a restaurant that's used for civilian business dealings, famous for their privacy. We can also have a nice dinner, something we weren't able to … repeat." He forced a blush, as if he was remembering their only official dinner, even though it had been a mission for her, disguised as a servant.
"A restaurant. Good call," she said, relieved, but he also caught her disappointment. "A business dinner is for the best." She turned to walk, but paused when he didn't follow. "What's wrong?"
He smiled. "The place is a bit more upscale. You can't walk in like this," he said, making her flinch.
"I'll go change."
"Don't worry," he replied. "I already accounted for it. There's a dress in my room." She got excited and panicked in equal amounts at the same time. "Why don't you go and change quickly while I wait," he added, and threw the room key to her.
"Fine," she said, her mood once again shifting back to earlier mixture of relief and disappointment, but Tanaka felt the latter was heavier this time.
Good, he thought even as he watched Tenten left. He had been hopeful about the reasons for her sudden escape after the mission, but there was still a chance that the distance had been enough to change her mind.
It was good to see that the situation was different.
"Wow, you look incredible," he said the moment Tenten walked down, not even a bit of deception mixed in. Tenten usually preferred to wear functional pants and shirt combos, and while it had a certain charm, the dress added a certain softness, one that had been further elevated by her shy discomfort, the silk of the dress rubbing her softly with each step.
He did a nice job choosing the dress, preferring feminine elegance instead overt sexiness.
"I … just a disguise," Tenten replied. "No different from the servant clothes or secretary outfit I wore."
He didn't reply to that. He didn't have to. He just smirked, letting her mind conjure just how exactly those outfits had ended up. He waited several seconds, letting a deep blush creep up her face before he smiled. "Let's go," he said, presenting her his arm.
A dangerous escalation of their closeness from her perspective, as her outfit wasn't a disguise. She was just dressed as a civilian so that she wouldn't be immediately identified as ninja, it did nothing to prevent others from recognizing her.
Yet, she hooked her arm obediently, and they started walking. As they walked, Tanaka steered the conversation lightly to the mission parameters and the general progress of the smuggling path from Kiri, something that hadn't stopped even after he started staying in Konoha, handled by the managers.
Though, he didn't neglect to mention about rumors of a few bronze weapons being used by Kiri, mentioned by one of the sailors. There was no such weapon yet, but there was no harm in creating a trail beforehand.
Tenten responded with the same professional attitude, and soon, they were discussing caravan routes and composition, with him focusing on the profits and markets, and with her focusing on the security. She calmed after a while.
The whole way, they stayed close, arms linked.
Her attitude shifted when they arrived at the restaurant he picked. Leaves of Peace, an upscale establishment nestled in Konoha's merchant district, lanterns glowing softly over lacquered doors, the faint aroma of grilled eel and sake wafting out. It was the kind of place only the richest merchants visited.
Tenten stopped short, eyes widening. "Here? This is... expensive, a meal costing as much as a C-rank, and it's impossible to get reservation."
He smirked. "Correction. It doesn't cost a C-rank mission, not from my perspective," he said, reminding her that what she got paid and what the client paid was not even in the same ball park. It depended on the mission type and some other factors, but any ninja was lucky to see twenty percent of the payment for a C-rank mission. "And, don't worry. My treat. We deserve a good meal after all the time we spent as … coworkers. Consider it an investment in our partnership."
He read her reaction perfectly, shock at the extravagance, excited at flattery, along with another shy blush at the reminder of their previous 'business partnership' which had not exactly respected professional boundaries.
He brushed her waist gently, his newest skill helping him to awaken her body's primal response to add to her blush. Attraction that had been simmering underneath—for a given value of it—bubbled back to the surface, her cheeks faintly pink under the lantern light.
"S-shut up," she muttered, which made her even cuter. They walked in. Inside, the ambiance enveloped them, low tables with silk cushions, screens dividing private alcoves. The hostess bowed deeply, leading them to a secluded booth overlooking a small garden pond. Tenten slid into her seat, smoothing her vest self-consciously. "You seem to be held in his esteem here," she muttered, though her tone lacked real bite.
Tanaka sat across from her, pouring tea from the waiting pot. "I did spend some money on the restaurants while trying to find some potential business contacts, it's normal," he said. "After all, you kept me waiting for so long. I needed to find something entertaining."
His eyes met hers, a flirtatious glint there. "Besides, you deserve better than roadside ramen after that amazing mission performance."
She snorted, but a smile tugged at her lips despite herself. "Flattery won't lower the mission fee." Yet, he didn't need Communication to know that her attraction was burning brightly, her gaze lingering on his hands as he passed her the cup.
He smirked. "So, you're available for a mission. Perfect. I need a bodyguard to protect me from big bad assassins."
She tried to laugh, but even that was weak. "N-no need. I already checked with the black market. Your bounty was only for one attempt, and low enough to interest only the academy rejects. After my training, you're strong enough to hold yourself against weaker genins, so you don't need a bodyguard."
"But what if I want one…" he responded even as he leaned forward, brushing her wrist with his finger, the gentle touch enough send her body overdrive, the benefit of studying her body all night long … multiple times.
"Then go to the mission desk and order one," she responded. Too bad her tone and attitude didn't match the harshness of her words. "Enough joking around. We need to talk mission."
"Alright. Is there anything else you can tell me about it."
"Not much, we don't know much, and most of it is classified."
"Still, knowing some will help. At least, I should know which rumors to focus on, and which business partners to prioritize."
Tenten nodded. "Fine, as the chunin in command, I have the right, but be careful," she said. Then, she paused, and tapped her fingers on the wood, a small burst of chakra radiating. "No one is listening to us, we can talk."
"Nice trick, too bad I can't learn," he said, even though he committed it to memory. Trick itself was simple enough that he should be able to get a hang of it.
"The trade lane is connected to a group of ninjas in the Land of Water, rebelling against the Mizukage," she said. He nodded, not reacting too much. While ninja struggles usually stayed secret, Kiri rebellion was one of the exceptions. It was difficult to hide a hidden village full of ninjas killing each other all around the countryside.
Especially since none of them cared enough to stay hidden, with many merchants carrying the tales of huge waves, crazy swordsmen, huge monsters devastating the landscape, villages drenched in blood and many other things. The truth of the matter was unclear, but the war was impossible to hide.
"Konoha supports the rebels?" he asked.
"Not officially," Tenten replied. "But, we're encouraged to support rebels when the situation occurs as long as it doesn't cost too much. Mizukage is hunting bloodline users. It's not something Konoha wants to see."
Tanaka nodded, as importance of clans for Konoha was apparent even for civilians. Then, he thought more. Her explanation further confirmed what he had guessed earlier. The Land of Water, lost in chaos, was the perfect excuse to expand his business, with no paper trail to question where he had found tons of steel which he would get from the warhammers he had acquired, or test the potential of his chakra-enhanced bronze.
That didn't even touch on the possibility of real smuggling. If he could get in contact with the rebels, he might acquire one thing he desperately needed.
Access to unrestricted ninja knowledge. He doubted a bunch of rebels would care about what a mysterious figure would pull in different lands. Especially since he wouldn't be targeting true secrets, but knowledge relevant to genin and chunin.
And, Tenten was offering him the perfect excuse to pull them, not to mention potential legal support. What a perfect gift? Luckily, he didn't need to think a lot for how to keep her happy. One couldn't go wrong with gifting her weapons or techniques.
"So, you're encouraged to intervene. What's the full situation?" he asked.
"Why?" she asked.
"I managed to make a few contacts with the smugglers. There's a potential to expand business, including smuggling large amount of iron ingots, ore, and other products. They are flexible about payment."
Her eyes widened. "Refined iron, really?" she asked. "That would be excellent!"
He smiled. "I'm guessing you have contacts with multiple forges in Konoha." With the way she fought, that was not a difficult guess.
"Exactly. We could make a lot of money, and it'll help me with my future promotion. Acquiring strategic material in large quantities is always appreciated."
"Excellent news," he said, which triggered a long discussion, from procedures to open a shop officially for him to the details she could share about Kiri without touching classified material above the situation required.
He had no doubt he could push her to spill true secrets, but there was no point to it, the potential harm was not worth the risk. It was far better to keep his contact with Konoha as aboveboard as possible.
Especially since, her explanation had shown that opening a business in Konoha was surprisingly easy … on the assumption that one had a jonin sponsor. An insurmountable barrier for him, but for Tenten…
"I'll just ask sensei."
"Will he be okay with it?" Tanaka asked. He had heard about Gai, and apparently, he was generally a relaxed and carefree man about anything except training, he didn't want Tenten to risk alienating her biggest support.
"He'll love it," she said with a chuckle. "He knows how many routine missions I need to run to replenish my weapon stock. He'll be delighted to hear if I can cut them down and focus more on training."
It was excellent news. They dove into the details, page after page filling with salient details. Tanaka focused on the business lanes, cover businesses, and how to hide the true nature of their trade. Tenten focused on planning the security of the caravans, including arranging the guards and negotiating for longer term protecting missions to save money, something she was able to do as a chunin.
A benefit that clans fought for, apparently. It was good to know that there were no issues of ninja having businesses. He was especially happy when Tenten confirmed that Konoha included smuggling as one of the legitimate businesses ninja could own, not caring too much about Fire Daimyo's income as long as Konoha's dues were paid in full.
Once they finished discussing the important details and moved onto the smaller details, Tanaka decided to change the pattern. Tenten had relaxed enough.
"I trust you to pick the best spot for the warehouse," he muttered, his tone dipping lower as he touched her wrist again, but this time, his fingers started to climb up. "You're very capable. There's only one mystery about it."
Tenten gulped, caught flatfooted by his sudden change. "What's the mystery?"
"How can you kick ass yet look so beautiful at the same time?" he muttered, snuggling closer.
She tried to slide away, but his arm around her waist didn't allow it. He had allowed her enough time to play the shy beauty. He caressed her waist. Her eyes widened, her pupils dilating.
"How about the other issue?" he asked.
"W-what other issue?" she stammered.
"The store location," Tanaka replied. "That's the more important detail. Even if we start by focusing on the wholesale, having a storefront will help with the negotiations." Her eyes widened, the pleasure making it difficult for her to focus on his words. "Don't tell me you're having trouble focusing," he added.
"Bastard," she muttered, catching the challenge, her pride making it impossible for her to refuse. "Opening a storefront is more complicated…" she started, her tone surprisingly even while his fingers started to dance over her body.
Well, it stayed even at first. Every minute, his fingers wandered more, costing her more of her composure. "You … you have learned new tricks," she muttered.
"I practiced well," he responded, acting like the way he hadn't noticed the way she had stiffened at his concealed admission of having sex with others in her absence.
It was not a mistake. It was the best time to spill it. For one, her body was near the edge, the buzz of her body blunting the emotional impact. The second part was to reveal it in a timely manner; the first day of their reunion, one that was only necessary because she had decided to escape without a word.
Then, there was the other aspect. They had just finished a business deal that promised Tenten a lot of money as well as mission success, offering to shorten her promotion path potentially by years.
He continued caressing her inner thigh, acting like what he had told was not important, trusting that refugee in audacity would help it finish the last beat, turning the existence of him sharing his bed with others a done deal.
Something that was critical after his chance encounter with Sakura and Ino. He didn't know how close Tenten was to them, but considering the way they were referred, he wasn't willing to risk delaying it.
He could sense that Tenten was supremely unhappy about that particular detail, but also, her incredible bravery when it came to combat didn't carry itself to personal relationships. Just like how she chose to ran away once her emotions got complicated before, she stayed silent.
He caressed her thighs, shameless enough to take advantage of the situation. The dessert arrived, and he spent the whole last part keeping her at the edge, so that when they left the restaurant, his infidelity was far behind her aching core in the list of priorities…
"I-is this where we part ways," she asked.
"It won't be gentlemanly," he replied shamelessly. "I have to walk you back to your home."
"I … it's not necessary," she muttered, but even as she spoke, she already started walking, their arms hooked once more, her complaints shattering immediately.
He continued to tease her as they walked, though keeping his touch subtle while he manipulated her reactions, making sure that, to any observer, it looked like it was Tenten who had been seducing him.
A reasonable precaution, he believed. From outside, it was a far better look if a chunin seduced a merchant to take advantage of his connections. Luckily, it wasn't particularly difficult, with people already predisposed to believe the version of dangerous kunoichi and gullible merchant.
Who could have guessed that a weak civilian could manipulate a proud chunin of Konoha…