Chapter 027

The older man chuckled, "I'm not called 'the Professor' for nothing."

"Hey Yami, isn't that your nickname?" Naruto asked in his usual loud voice drawing everyone's attention to me. I wanted to hit him up the head, can't he learn to shut up?!

I sighed, "no Naruto, Mizuki-sensei calls me the 'Little Professor', obviously it's supposed to be derived from the old man's nickname."

"Yami! Don't called the Hokage old!" Iruka cried out.

I raised an eyebrow, "why?"

"It's disrespectful!"

"What's so disrespectful about it?" I asked, "he's old, that's a fact isn't it?"

"Yes, that is true," the Third smiled, "but you see, most people don't like it when you point out their shortcomings."

I snorted, "being old isn't a shortcoming, especially when you're old in an occupation where men die young. That just means you're the kind of person who shouldn't be taken lightly."

The Hokage's smile faltered, the grandfatherly image he had slipped away. He lowered his headgear and took a drag from his cigar, "tell me, what is your name?"

"Yami," I told the man, "orphan."

The Hokage nodded, "Yami, tell me, what does it mean to be a ninja?"

I closed my eyes and thought. I remembered the great ninjas of this story, Itachi, Minato, Kushina, Jiraiya, Tsunade, Kakashi, Zabuza, all of them fought for what they believe in. But what do I believe in?

I had my answer.

I looked at the old man, "ninjas are killers and thieves," my answer was blunt, the Hokage's face betrayed a look of disappointment, "but," I continued, "that's not the kind of ninja I want to be. For me, a ninja is someone with power to change the world, be it with a murder or with an idea. A ninja can be a hero to one person and the devil to another.

"But the kind of ninja I want to be is someone who can make this world less horrible, the kind who can protect the people he cares about and make the world a peaceful place."

"To be able to do that one would suffer a great deal of pain," the old man countered.

"And? I'm an orphan, I sleep alone with no idea what I'm going to live for in the future. I may not have a future, but if my actions can save the life of another, then why shouldn't I at least try? Why shouldn't I try and make this world a better place to live in?"

"You can't make the world a peaceful place Yami," the man spoke softly, "it's a dangerous place that will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. Trying to create peace in such a world...it's impossible."

I had but two words for the man, "watch me."

He raised a single eyebrow and met my gaze. We looked at each other for a moment before he smiled, "tell me Yami, if you had to kill your best friend in order to ensure peace reigned forever, would you do it?"

"Peace gained through killing is not a peace that will last," I told him.

"So that's a no?"

I nodded, "yes, if I had to betray Naruto or put him into prison to ensure peace, then I would do it, no questions asked, but if the only way the world will be happy is if I killed my best friend...then the world isn't ready for peace."

The man nodded, "smart answer. Tell me, who gave you that nick name? The Little Professor?"

"Mizuki-sensei."

"Well, it's certainly apt," the man smiled turning to address the children, "your classmate isn't wrong, in fact his beliefs closely mirrors that of the First Hokage himself, the founder of this village."

People gasped as they looked at me in awe and respect. "That's my best friend!" Naruto cheered joyfully.

The Hokage continued, "this village was built in order to give peace a chance, in order to stop the needless killing and violence ninjas can cause. This village is one of unity and brotherhood, our greatest strength is our friends and allies. That is the will of fire, to protect the next generation, the young leaves that will blossom on the branches of the village, the next generation of ninjas. You children are the future, you are the inheritors of the will of fire. One day some of you will come to me as my ninjas and on that day, you will truly understand the words I speak to you."

The man then gave a long speech about what it meant to be a ninja, I understood some of it, and frankly I felt kind of proud. I stood up for myself and earned his respect, judging from the fact that his REP score turned from 5 to 10.

Class let out early that day, Naruto unfortunately was busy, it seems his Jiji was taking him out for ramen today so he couldn't play, which was just fine with me.

I walked into the merchant district of the village and found a pawn shop pretty quickly. The man inside looked fat and loaded and I could see ninjas around his shop, probably for protection. Each ninja was at least chunin rank, meaning level 40 and above, so my henge would immediately be detected.

So I had no choice, I had to find someone else. I walked around the village for some time longer until I came upon the shady part of town, the part with hookers at the night time and murders at dawn.

I managed to find a pawn shop pretty quickly, though it looked worn down and very very cheap. But there weren't any ninja around so I can use this. I went around into an alley and for the first time used a henge, imagining an older version of Gara, the only one person I knew well enough who wasn't' from inside the village.

I put on my poker face and took out the gold coins from my inventory. I walked inside, the teller was behind bars with a small slot before him to deposit items which would then be transferred over to the other side. It resembled a jail, but I had no choice. I looked at the teller's name;

Toro Hamachi, Black market dealer

Lv- 21

REP- 0

"What do you want kid?" Toro asked not looking away from his newspaper.

Okay, blackmarket guy huh? Time to act like I'm from the black market then. "I heard you buy things."

The man lowered the newspaper, "depends on who's asking."

"Is my name really important?" I asked taking out one shining coin and displaying it between my thumb and index finger.

The man sat up straight and put the paper away. He lowered the slot, "I'll need to make sure it's really."

"Understandable," I told him putting the coin inside the slot.

The man pulled it over to him, picked up the ruby and looked at it in the light using a magnifying glass. He hummed, "where did you get this?"

"Again with the questions. What sort of black market dealer are you?" I sneered at him.

Toro looked at me, eyes narrowed before he went back to looking at the gold. He put the ruby in the slot and gave it to me, "I can give you ten thousand ryo for it."

And that ladies and gentlemen was what one would call a ripe off. A gold coin can easily go for at least a thousand dollars, or a hundred thousand yen, which is ryo in this world.

I took the coin and pocketed it, "no deal. Bye," I walked away.

"Wait!" he cried out the moment I touched the door handle. He sighed, "50 thousand, that's my final offer."

I turned around and glared at him, "ninety thousand."

"Pft! Please, what do you think I am? A fool?!"

"I know for a fact that this is worth at least a hundred grand easy, ninety five, or I go to one of the big fancy merchant shops and pay him off to not ask questions."

"Instead of paying him off you can just take sixty and give it to me."

"Eighty," I shot back.

"I'll give you seventy."

"Seventy five," I glared.

The man gave a small smirk, "deal," he turned around and leaned down, I think there was a safe there.

"Oh, and one more thing."

"What," the man asked looking up.

I held up all five coins I was planning to sell, "I have five of them."

The man's smile was almost toxic. It was a quick transaction, he got the five coins and I got 375,000 Ryo, which was a lot of money, I know this for a fact. And I got this;

Speaking skills, Lv- 1 (0%)

Your verbal ability to convince people to follow your lead or agree to your demands.

Chances of being successful- 5%

+2% for every positive REP score you have with target

-2 % for every negative REP score you have with target

Yes! This is so cool! But, it's only effective with people who I know...hm, maybe I can improve my REP with Toro somehow, right now it's at 5, since I gave him a sweet deal, maybe with more trading it can increase.

I went to the a bookstore that day and picked up a few candles, a blank notebook and a ink set, nothing too expensive, but good quality. I decided, I might as well complete that author quest tonight, get a book out and have someone read it to get some easy EXP. Plus...I forgot to get new books from the library and I was sure it would be closing time by now.

.

.

.

👌The novel is available in PDF format, you can visit my Patreon store for said content👌

🎯patreon.com/Ness326🎯