The jar's appeal had many forms, but at its core, it boiled down to one thing—desire.
Power, waifu figures, rare items...
The stronger your desire to have, the easier it was to fall.
And Sasuke's desire, deep down, might even surpass Tsunade's. After all, one was a seasoned adult, the other a broken, vengeful kid.
So.
Takuya was very curious what kind of profit Sasuke might bring him.
Even now—forget the future—Sasuke was the last heir of the Uchiha. That had to come with some assets.
"Takuya-san!" Teuchi suddenly called out, slightly out of breath as he handed over another stack of cash. His voice was firm. "I want to buy another set!"
After storing away the precious ingredients, Teuchi still had this indescribable itch in his heart.
There had to be even rarer ingredients in those jars.
And that recipe—what was the rest of it?
"Thank you for your business." Takuya smiled, taking the money. Another set of jars appeared on the counter.
He wasn't surprised at all.
That's what a real ramen freak was like. (￣y▽￣)~*
By now, night had fully fallen.
In this era with barely any nightlife, the streets were quieting down.
But inside the small Ichiraku shop, the mood was still buzzing.
"Whoa, that corn's huge!"
"Eww, what is that?!"
"Takuya-san, why is this fragment from a completely different recipe?"
"Another bowl, Teuchi!"
As Teuchi made more ramen for Tsunade, he kept cracking open jars. At first, he was only going to buy one more set… but then he pulled a fragment of the same recipe as before. Now he only needed one more piece.
Obviously, he had to keep going.
By the eighth set, he still hadn't found the last piece.
Instead, he'd found fragments of three new recipes.
And then… he ran out of money.
"Takuya-san…" Teuchi's eyes were a bit red. His hands trembled as he clutched the three incomplete recipes. "Can you wait for me? I'll run home and grab more cash. Twelve more sets and I should hit the membership badge, right?"
"Of course." Takuya gently stroked Hime's round little belly, nodding with a smile. "Once you have the badge, you'll be an official member of the Omniscient Omnipotent Trading Guild—you'll be able to reach me anytime."
"Perfect."
Teuchi didn't even change clothes or lock up. He packed up his precious new ingredients and dashed out of the shop.
"Click, click." Tsunade tsked.
She could clearly see what kind of state Teuchi was in—exactly like her when she went all-in on gambling.
Except back then, she'd really lost everything.
Teuchi, on the other hand, had gained rare ingredients and recipes.
So this wasn't a losing high—it was a winning high.
"Shizune." Tsunade staggered to her feet and burped. No shame at all. "Let's go. We're heading back."
"Yes, Lady Tsunade." Shizune hurried to help her up and draped her in her green cloak.
"Hey, Takuya," Tsunade called out after a few steps. Her tipsy face broke into a teasing smile. "If you've got nowhere to stay tonight, why not come back to my place?"
"—!?" Shizune's eyes went wide.
Even Sakura blushed hard.
One of the Legendary Sannin… just casually inviting a man to sleep over?!
This… this was the adult world??
But.
Takuya didn't bat an eye. He just smiled calmly. "Unless you're planning to squeeze rent out of me, I'd actually be happy to."
"Tch."
Tsunade's smile vanished in an instant.
Like her scheme had been totally busted, she turned away with a grumble and stormed off without even saying goodbye.
But as she passed an alley, her steps slowed slightly.
In the end, though, she didn't stop.
"R-Rent scam?" Sakura blinked, still processing what just happened.
That had sounded like a dreamy invitation.
How'd it turn into a shakedown?
"Back when we first met, Lady Tsunade used 'medical treatment' as an excuse to scam two jars out of me," Takuya explained with a look of mock helplessness.
"Eh?! Big Sis was like that?!" Naruto gasped.
"She's not Big Sis—she's Lady Tsunade!" Sakura snapped, smacking Naruto upside the head. "Did you even listen in history class?! She's the First Hokage's granddaughter—she's over fifty!"
She hadn't dared say it when Tsunade was still here, but now?
No holding back.
Naruto looked stunned.
Over fifty?
But she looked like a super hot older sister! Honestly had more aura than Sakura.
Takuya glanced at Naruto thoughtfully.
He'd once seen a post online analyzing Naruto—beneath that hot-blooded shonen hero exterior was a deeply horny boy.
This was the dude who invented the Sexy Jutsu at twelve.
Started chasing Sakura as a pre-teen.
Fell for Haku in full drag.
Now, seeing him in person?
Yeah. The energy was definitely there.
"Okay, we should head back too." Sakura suddenly glanced at the clock, visibly flustered. "It's already this late?! I've gotta go—Naruto, Sasuke, see you tomorrow!"
"I'm going too!" Naruto of course followed her, but then looked back at Sasuke.
"You two go ahead." Sasuke waved. "I want to stick around a bit."
To look at the jars?
Naruto hesitated a little, but once he saw how far Sakura had walked, he quickly ran after her.
"Then I'll walk home with you, Sakura!"
"You're not walking me home—go home yourself!"
"But our houses are on the same route, Sakura-chan!"
"..."
Their voices faded into the distance, leaving just Takuya and Sasuke in the shop.
Sasuke kept staring at Takuya.
But Takuya was just playing with Hime, gently poking her soft little paw pads with his finger.
Silence.
"Mr. Takuya!" Sasuke finally couldn't hold it in.
"Shh—"
Takuya put a finger to his lips, silencing Sasuke, then turned toward a shadowy spot outside the shop. He chuckled.
"As a merchant, I do respect order. So, to the guests who've been tailing me all this time—what type of jars are you here to buy?"
What!?
Sasuke jerked his head around.
From the shadows, one figure stepped out.
Then another.
And another...
A total of seven or eight ninja emerged from the empty street, silent and watching.