The deal with Taro wasn't easy.
He wanted three times the normal price for the herbs. He blamed bandits and bad weather.
Ryouhei didn't back down. He showed Taro the numbers in his ledger and explained that Taro was already making a big profit.
Then he made an offer—he'd buy more herbs, but only if Taro gave a better price per unit.
Taro laughed at first, but Ryouhei stayed calm and used everything he knew from his old job selling phones. He kept pushing the deal.
Goro and the others didn't say a word, but their silent presence was enough to make Taro think twice.
After almost an hour, Taro gave in. They made a deal that saved the village money and still brought back all the needed medicine.
As the crates were being loaded onto carts, Taro pulled Ryouhei aside.
"You're smarter than you look," he said with a thin smile. "But be careful. Not everyone likes an outsider who thinks he's clever."
Ryouhei gave a small nod. He felt a chill down his spine.
"Thanks for the warning."
The trip back was stressful.
Everyone stayed alert in case of an attack. The rain didn't stop, turning the roads into thick mud. Ryouhei's legs burned, and carrying crates slowed the group down.
At one point, Jiro grumbled about the "damn rain" and how it felt like the whole village was drowning.
Ryouhei couldn't disagree. Everything in Amegakure—its buildings, its people, even the sky—felt heavy with sadness. Even the ninja looked tired behind their serious faces.
When they finally reached the village, Hina was already waiting at the shop.
She opened the crates and counted the herbs, her frown slowly changing to surprise.
"This is... more than I expected," she said. "And cheaper too."
Ryouhei, completely worn out, just shrugged.
"Told you I could help."
Hina didn't smile, but she didn't look annoyed either.
"Don't get full of yourself. One good deal doesn't fix everything."
She walked off. Ryouhei sank onto one of the crates, the rain still tapping on the roof above him.
The shop was still a mess. The village was still broken. But at least he had done something that mattered.
Tetsu's sister would have medicine. That was something.
That night, lying on his thin mattress, Ryouhei stared at the ceiling.
The rain seemed louder than ever.
He thought of what Konan had said—he had one chance. One shot to prove himself. He'd survived this first test.
From the outside, Amegakure looked like a strong metal fortress. But inside, it was breaking apart—held together by fear, power, and a weak economy that could fall apart any day.
Ryouhei closed his eyes. He wasn't a hero. He wasn't Naruto.
But maybe, just maybe, he could make a place for himself here.
One smart deal at a time.
Outside, the rain kept falling, washing over a village that hadn't seen sunshine in a long time.
The next morning, Ryouhei sat in his shop.
The herbs were stacked neatly in the corner. The lantern gave off a weak light, and his ledger lay open on the table.
He leaned back in his chair and stared at the ceiling, the rain still tapping overhead.
"Okay… think," he whispered to himself. "What do I actually know?"
First, the timeline.
Pain and Konan were in charge. That meant it was before Naruto's time—before the Akatsuki became a huge threat.
He hadn't seen Pain yet, but Konan had already given him the shop. She was a leader here.
Based on everything he'd seen, this was probably ten years before Naruto was born or he could be wrong.
He sighed.
"Great. Stuck in the ninja dark ages."
Next, he thought about what made him useful.
No powers. No chakra. No secret skills.
Back home, he was just a guy who sold phones and talked his way through life. That was his strength—talking, thinking fast, reading people.
And he remembered the Naruto story. He could use that, carefully. Not to act like a prophet, but to plan smarter.
"What can I actually do with that?" he asked, tapping the ledger.
The village needed supplies—medicine, food, tools. He had shown he could negotiate. But that wasn't enough.
To really survive here, he had to become important. Needed.
Hina controlled the flow of goods, but she didn't make big decisions.
Goro and Kaede were fighters.
Konan, though—she was the key. If she trusted him, he'd have protection. Maybe even some influence.
He laughed to himself.
"Yeah. Like getting Konan to trust me is gonna be easy."
Still, he had to try. She gave him this shop. Maybe it was a test.
If he turned it into a working business that helped people, maybe she'd notice.
The door creaked open.
Ryouhei jumped. It was Tetsu, wet from the rain as usual.
"Yo, Ryouhei! You look like you saw a ghost."
"Just thinking," Ryouhei said with a smile. "What's up?"
Tetsu climbed onto a crate and swung his legs.
"You really got all that stuff in?" he asked. "I walked by earlier—boxes everywhere."
"Yeah," Ryouhei nodded. "Got lucky with a trade. But it's not just medicine we need. Food's still tight, right?"