CH_3.6 (065)

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Takuma looked around before walking into a random street in the Leaf village, which was actually a pre-decided meeting spot decided upon by him and Shady Guy the day before.

"Oh good, you're here," said Shady Guy when he saw him. He pushed off the wall he was leaning against and looked Takuma over. "And thank god, you're not wearing your uniform. I was worried because I forgot to mention it; it would've been a problem if you had come all dressed up."

Takuma was wearing a black set of a full-sleeved t-shirt and full-length pants. But he still had his light chainmail vest under his shirt and his weapon pouch and kits strapped around his body. He didn't go absolutely anywhere without his weapons. No one could convince him to leave his weapons behind.

"I don't want to, but I'll ask you one last time," Shady Guy said, "do you want to do this? If I take you, and then you decide to back out there, it's going to make everyone very unhappy. None of us want that."

"Yeah, I'm sure; let's do this," said Takuma. He didn't want to change his mind, but he couldn't help it when his mind played volleyball with the decision, tossing it back and forth.

"I like that spirit. Keep it up and you'll do great in the ring."

Takuma never liked Shady Guy's smile; it made him look overly shady.

Shady Guy then led him through the village. They ran, jumped through the roofs, smuggled their way through alleyways, and even strolled through roads before they reached a dingy bar tucked in a backstreet.

Takuma stared at Shady Guy. He had lived in the village long enough and had seen enough of it to know that Shady Guy hadn't taken the shortest route to the place. And from what he had been taught, he knew that the entire journey was the standard maneuver to get rid of a tail. It screamed that Takuma wasn't trusted.

The bar was crowded and loud with people with four people behind the counter busily making drinks and three more people roaming around the establishment serving drinks. Takuma scanned the place and the people to find many people staring and following him with their eyes.

"Why are they staring at me?" he whispered to Shady Guy.

"Who wouldn't stare at a kid in a bar?" said Shady Guy, nonchalantly. He didn't stop for a moment and led Takuma from the entrance to the backside of the building with a broad flight of stairs stretching underground.

No one stopped them until they reached the base of the stairs, where they found a middle-aged man sitting on a barstool. Takuma's eyes immediately went to the empty left arm sleeve and the ugly prosthetic on the left leg. The man got up, and Takuma saw the burn marks near the neck. He could safely assume that everything was connected.

The man patted Shady Guy on the shoulder and then limped to Takuma, who held back a flinch when he felt the heavy hand land on his shoulder. He stared into the man's eyes as he felt a sliver of chakra enter his body.

"To see if you have a Henge no Jutsu (Transformation Jutsu) over you," said Shady Guy when Takuma looked at him.

The man grunted before returning to his barstool and banging on the heavy metal door. A slit opened in the door, and two eyes peeked at them for a moment before it opened with a creak.

They walked into a circular room with a large booth built into the wall with three people behind a glass wall. Takuma instantly recognized it like one of the betting counters he had seen on a horse track. On either side of the counters were tunnels, and when he strained his ears, he could cheers whispering through to him.

"Not there. You'll get to see plenty of those later," said the Shady Guy as he pulled him towards a smaller tunnel that was wide enough for two people while the other could fit four comfortably.

The smaller tunnel led them to a narrow corridor with rooms on either side. Shady Guy knocked on the farthest door and walked in when he heard a voice. The room was a messy office with a bunch of random stuff decorating the space. It was almost too gaudy and show-offy with a thick red rug beneath their feet, a heavy desk that was obviously made from good wood, and beautiful paintings. It could've been done tastefully, but it was not. As shown by the fact that a third of the room was taken by an indoor bar with shelves worth of bottles and sitting on them with a yellow backlight illuminating them.

"Enomoto! How nice of you to finally show up," said the large fat man sitting behind the desk. "I was starting to think I'd never see your ugly mug again!"

Takuma had seen Akimichi adults in the village. All of them were fat, but they were also tall and had a wide-frame, and a single glance was enough to tell them that the extra fat on them wasn't a hindrance. But the man in front of him was just fat with the worst protruding belly, double-chin, drooping face, and marshmallow arms he had seen since coming to the world.

'Enomoto,' Takuma glanced at Shady Guy.

"What can I say, boss. I'm a busy man," Shady— Enomoto walked directly to the bar. "The village is always in need of one of its finest chunin iryo-nin."

The fat boss man clicked his tongue. "You're lucky that your apprentices put in the honest work, or else I would've snapped that twig that you call your body," he said with a snarl.

The fat boss then turned his face to Takuma, and the snarl turned into a greasy smile. "Ah, so you're the one Enomoto has been talking about. Come child, don't be shy; take a seat," said the man in his hoarse gravel-like voice. "What is your name, child?"

"…Takuma."

"Takuma… Takuma… hmm, we might have to work on that," said the boss man, sounding displeased as he raised the spirit bottle that looked small in his hand.

Takuma's eyes twitched. It wasn't his fault that his name was that— and you know what, he liked his name; if someone didn't like his name, they could go fuck themselves.

"Oh, look at my manners. Would you like something to drink, Takuma? You can take anything from the bar. Enomoto will make you something if you want, but I won't trust the bastard. Who knows when he might slip me some poison," said the fat boss.

Enomoto didn't sound offended and even chuckled as he poured himself a drink. "Boss, you should introduce yourself to the kid before you offer him something to drink."

"Oh my, I might have had a little too much to drink today," said the fat boss before he took another big gulp straight from the bottle. "I go by the name Tsubura, and I run this lovely establishment— you should call me boss…. Now, I'm led to believe that you will join us as a fighter."

Takuma nodded.

"Good, very good, we here at the Ring always appreciate young blood joining us," said Tsubura. "And I'm sure Enomoto stuffed all sorts of promises of rewards for fighting with us."

"Mission points and ryo," Takuma replied. If it was anything, he would get up and leave.

"Yes, mission points and ryo" Tsubura's smile pushed the fat on his face. "Every time you win, you win mission points and ryo. Of course, if you lose, you get nothing at all. Having a long winning streak will add a bonus to your winnings, but the moment you lose, those bonuses vanish— woosh!"

"… So, I get nothing at all if I lose," asked Takuma.

"No consolation prizes."

"…Understood."

He would've preferred if he got something for fighting, but it seemed he would need to win if he wanted monetary benefits out of this commitment.

"Now, let's discuss some terms. These are the terms we give every beginner and are non-negotiable," Tsubura leaned forward, and his weight fell on his table, creaking the wood. "You fight thrice a week, so you will have to work out your mission schedule around our schedule— we will tell you in advance, so be prepared. If we schedule a fight, you can't skip it for any reason— of course, there are some exceptions, but they're few.

"Your minimum tenure is six months— which is seventy-two fights. You can't back out before those six months. If we need someone outside of their schedule, and you're available, you can fight, and we will adjust that into your fight count.

"Finally, we will hold your winnings earned in the first thirty-six fights."

Takuma was following the terms and conditions and thought while they would require a bit of effort from him, he could manage. He was even fine with the seventy-two fights and six-month commitment. But the last one pushed the brakes on his mind.

"Wait, what do you mean?" he asked.

"All of your winning in your first thirty-six fights will remain with us until you complete all of those thirty-six fights. We call it the big payday. Many rookies throw a big party on that day— it makes everyone happy."

"But why?!"

"Hmm? It's insurance that you don't leave us all of a sudden. Consider it a test of loyalty. Stick out half your contract period, and we will start paying after every fight," Tsubura smiled brightly.

Takuma clenched his fist in his lap. What that meant was that he was going to fight in the Ring for three months without seeing any money until the very end. It was indeed a test of loyalty. He didn't trust them at all.

"Do we have problems?" asked Tsubura.

Takuma glanced at Enomoto, but he just shrugged. Fucking Shady Guy!

"…No, let's go with that," sighed Takuma. "What is keeping me from ditching after three months?"

"When you have accumulation of winnings in your accounts, you won't think of leaving," Tsubura grinned before adding a few more points to the conditions he had set.

"Now, I don't know if Enomoto has told you about the categories we run here," asked Tsubura.

"Categories? No."

Weight categories didn't make sense in the world with charka.

"It's simple; we run categories like taijutsu-only, plus weapons, plus ninjutsu, tag team duo, 2v1, 3v1, 4v1…. you get the point," said Tsubura. "As you're just joining, you'll start with taijutsu-only, and you can stay in that category, but after thirty-six fights, we will assess a move if you desire.

"You can even fight in multiple categories if you sign a second contract with us."

Takuma thought about the categories, and he could see him fighting in a couple different ones given a choice. He wanted to fight in different categories. It would give him more exposure to different people. Starting out in the taijutsu-only category seemed perfect for him as he could experiment with the Hidden Leaf Kata.

"Any questions?"

Takuma nodded, "Yeah, how many people fight in the Ring?"

"More people than you might think," Tsubura leaned back and took a large swig. "Rookie genin come to the village every year," he smiled, "I'm sure you will meet familiar faces in the ring— but experienced genin also come to the village every year. People come and go, but the special ones stay in the village, and I must say our payouts are attractive for them to stay with us.

"I hope you too stay with us for a long, long time."

Takuma didn't know if he agreed with that sentiment.

"Now, let's see how you fight," Tsubura stood up from his chair.

Takuma blinked in surprise as he looked at the giant blob of a man.

"Now?"

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