He… actually showed up in person?
Tsunade stared at the suddenly-appearing Takuya, then glanced down at the badge in her hand as if something clicked.
"This badge has a locator function," Takuya explained, keeping his mysterious merchant smile in place. "But it only works when it's activated."
The drenched Himari in his arms suddenly squirmed and leapt to the ground, shaking herself furiously and angrily meowing at Takuya.
How dare he sneak attack her with a bath! Too mean, meow!
"Don't get dirty again, Himari," Takuya sighed, and gave a small wave.
Renewal Charm—from the Harry Potter world.
In an instant, Himari's fur returned to its plush, fluffy glory.
Satisfied, she scrambled up his pant leg, perched back on his shoulder, and affectionately licked his neck like she'd forgiven him.
"This little one's called Himari?" Tsunade's attention was momentarily drawn by the kitten.
To be fair—she was criminally cute.
"Yeah, Himari. Bit of a troublemaker,"
Takuya affectionately scratched her little head, earning a few purring meows in response.
Tsunade watched him, this so-called mysterious merchant from another world… who doted on tiny animals?
Her impression of him subtly shifted.
"Alright then, Miss Tsunade." Takuya used a quick Renewal on himself as well, smoothing his appearance. "How many sets of tier-two jars would you like today?"
"Only tier-two?" Tsunade crossed her arms, visibly annoyed.
"You're a tier-one member now," Takuya explained. "You can't buy tier-one jars anymore. You'll need to buy fifty sets of tier-two jars before you qualify for tier-three."
That was a rule he made up.
But once stated, it had to be followed.
After all—
No one could be allowed to realize he was the boss behind it all.
"So troublesome," Tsunade frowned but didn't argue with the 'worker' merchant.
"So, how many sets this time?" Takuya asked again.
Then… watched as Tsunade slowly raised a hand.
"One set?" he guessed, a little let down.
He'd been doing major trades the past few days—one set was practically nothing.
"Five," Tsunade corrected.
"..."
Takuya's face froze.
Excuse me?
Five jars?
He'd just used a teleport technique that cost tens of thousands of points… for a five-jar deal?
"What kind of look is that?" Tsunade huffed. "It's your fault the jars are so expensive."
"But they're worth every cent!"
Takuya didn't even know how to react. She returned to Konoha and she's still this broke—then why bother?
He decided to throw in a little pressure.
"Miss Tsunade, if you don't reach a certain spending threshold within a set time, your membership could be revoked. You'd have to start over from tier one. Worse… you might not even be able to reach me again."
That last line made Tsunade's eyes sharp.
"What I meant is… I might be in another world," Takuya shrugged helplessly.
"Hmph. Just give me the jars!" she growled through clenched teeth.
If this guy in front of her were the one making all these damned rules, she'd definitely have punched him by now.
Takuya, perfectly oblivious to the danger, gave a casual wave of his wand.
Five tier-two jars appeared before them.
And of course, he took her money.
A five-jar deal—while still profitable—was peanuts compared to his recent windfall.
He currently had 21 million transaction points.
Just that one city, with its four powerful families and a few wealthy merchants, had earned him over 20 million in profits. After buying his Roomless Door and Himari, he still had 21 million left.
And here was one of the legendary Three Sannin, princess of the Senju clan—
Only affording five jars.
It made Takuya rethink his assumptions.
Sure, most ninja weren't poor, but they also didn't really care much about wealth. Their focus was on strength, not luxury. Real wealth was still concentrated among nobility and merchants.
But that didn't mean ninja weren't valuable clients.
Beyond money—
Ninjutsu, knowledge, experience, even life force—all were highly valuable assets.
And…
Takuya's lips curled into a faint smile.
Once these exceptional ninja began realizing how important money was, what would they do to earn trading capital?
He was curious to find out.
At the moment—
Tsunade was staring at the five jars with a slightly tense expression.
Even if they were only tier-two...
She could still get something amazing.
Her hand moved—
Then suddenly stopped.
"Shizune, you open them."
"Huh?" Shizune blinked in surprise.
"Less talk. Your luck is definitely better than mine."
Tsunade stepped aside—actually admitting to her own awful luck.
"But last time you got..."
Shizune looked at her expression and wisely shut up.
Now she was nervous too.
Takuya just smiled.
That mix of tension and anticipation? Part of the charm.
Eventually, Shizune closed her eyes—and opened the first jar.
Inside was a vial filled with crimson liquid.
"Another healing potion?" Tsunade immediately recognized it.
"But… isn't this the same as the tier-one version?" Shizune glared at Takuya. "These jars cost 500,000! Are you saying tier-two jars give tier-one items?!"
Healing potions were great.
But not that great.
Even Shizune—usually the quiet type—felt scammed.
"Not the same," Takuya said with a soft smile. "This is the medical series—so potions are expected. But tier-two jars contain potions ten times stronger than tier-one's. In other words, this jar's a win. We're not some scam company!"
That last line was stated with full confidence.
It was also true—thanks to the system's rules.
To count as a trade, the jar's contents had to be worth at least one-fifth of what the client paid.
A 500,000-yen tier-two jar equaled 30,000 points.
So even the worst pull had to be at least 6,000 points worth.
"Shizune, your luck's not bad at all." Tsunade cheerfully held the potion up, a broke little grin on her face. "This stuff… we can probably squeeze a bunch of cash out of the old man for it."