Naruto: Passerby and Returnee

Chapter 170 Pearl

Naruto had ulterior motives when suggesting a day trip. He wanted to show Sasuke the town that Hijiri had been slowly transforming, and then, after they returned to the Land of Iron, they could revisit it. The stark contrast in reality always provokes reflection. Yes, he never intended to abandon Sasuke; his best friend deserved a place by his side. Whether as a ninja or as Hijiri, he longed to walk side-by-side with Sasuke and accomplish great things together.

Sasuke remained calm and patient, just as he had expected. They entered the morning market, drawn by the aroma of food. At fourteen or fifteen, they were at the age of rapid growth, and after only a few steps, they felt hungry and immediately plunged into the food street. Fortunately, although the Land of Mist was heavily influenced by the Land of Lightning, as a middleman between fire and lightning, they could use both currencies, though converting them was rather cumbersome.

While munching on jujube cake, Naruto pondered when a currency unification policy could be implemented. Once it's issued, it means revealing everything to the world. No secrets stay hidden forever; to make money, merchants will always find out if a new currency can be used in specific locations around the world. It seems we'll have to wait until the Ninja War is over and we've completely conquered the Land of Rivers… Tsk, what happened to the promised vacation? Why am I thinking about these things again!

Naruto tried to erase the official documents from his mind and revert to his single-minded, simple-minded self. However, whenever he needed to stop and wait, he would unconsciously start chatting with the stall owners, trying to glean information about the town and how everyone was doing. After the third time he couldn't control his tongue, Naruto finally snapped and stopped talking. He hated his insatiable mouth; after visiting so many places, information gathering had almost become second nature. He couldn't let this continue. He wasn't here for research; he was here to celebrate Sasuke's birthday. He needed to focus on Sasuke! He couldn't just ignore him because he seemed so stagnant right now!

However, Sasuke has now learned to act unpredictably. After Sasuke calmed down, Sasuke clumsily tried to imitate him, but after a casual greeting, he quite bluntly asked about the local specialty—pearls.

“I’ve heard this place is the ‘land of pearls.’” Sasuke racked his brains for words of praise, but couldn’t find the words, so he simply said, “...I want to buy some to take home.”

"Are you giving this to a girl?" The woman frying tofu had her eyes light up when she saw Sasuke, but now she looked a little regretful. However, she still answered, "You should know that pearls symbolize perfection. You are too young."

Sasuke didn't understand the connection between the pearl and his age, but he grasped two words: "perfection." If he could, he hoped Naruto could live a perfect life, so this was exactly what he wanted.

"I just want to know where I can find pearls." Sasuke used his beauty to his advantage and succeeded.

As they turned into a larger alley, the shops weren't fully open yet. Commercial streets usually don't open so early. They passed many shops with their doors tightly shut, and finally found a diligent shopkeeper. The owner hadn't expected customers so early either. In his haste, he swallowed his mouthwash and nearly knocked over a wooden mold holding a large string of pearls. It was only the two ninjas' reflexes that prevented the fragile beads from making intimate contact with the ground.

Why do you want to buy this?

Seeing these colorful beads, Naruto's first thought was value, followed by beauty. Forgive this leader who's constantly worrying about finances. As Hokage, he was constantly racking his brains trying to cut spending in the Land of Fire; as Kinrin, he was worrying about bases all over the world. A single gold mine can't support so many people, and mining takes time. In the early stages of development, Hui expanded too rapidly, almost leading to a financial deficit—a fatal blow for a fledgling organization that had to rely entirely on itself. Fortunately, a major breakthrough was made in the development of the Flying Thunder God Formation, and Hui's transportation department worked tirelessly to fill the gap. Thanks to Tobirama, without his ingenuity, Hui might not have made it this far.

Therefore, Naruto was intrigued by Sasuke's desire to buy pearls. Sasuke rarely paid attention to anything other than improving his strength, let alone such a trivial item that was hyped up by nobles and wealthy merchants, fetching exorbitant prices. The transfer of power after taking over this region was far from peaceful; almost all the regional officials were replaced. They discovered a massive pearl reserve from the wealthy patrons' henchmen, which was the real reason Hui had the confidence to recuperate. Scarcity drives up value; the wealthy patrons were greedy, and his subordinates were no less so. This massive stockpiling was solely to inflate the price of pearls, because there was no larger pearl-producing region in the world.

Naruto's mind was racing, but Sasuke only glanced at him before continuing his search. Then... he selected two exceptionally beautiful blue pearls from a variety of colors. Usually, the richer the color of a pearl, the higher its value, but these two were a perfect shade of light. Seeing them would evoke not the ocean, but the sky. Unfortunately, while their color was excellent, their size was rather small, which is why they were left among a pile of mixed colors for selection.

"Do you wear earrings?" Sasuke asked abruptly, leaving Naruto completely bewildered. Having never worn jewelry before, Naruto already found it troublesome enough to wear the little things Sasuke had given him every day; why was he doing this?

"No!" Naruto crossed his arms and made a big X. "You know my constitution. I'd be grateful if my ear piercings could even stay on me for a minute."

Sasuke looked slightly disappointed, but he quickly came up with a new idea. About an hour later, Naruto was deep in thought, looking at the pearl necklace that had wrapped around his left arm three times. Of course, Sasuke also received a new birthday present, also with a necklace wrapped around his right arm three times. The main color of the necklace was platinum gray, the beads were small, and the beginning and end were decorated with one blue and one black, respectively, making it clear that they were made together.

“That female ninja from Kumogakure has something similar,” Sasuke tried to salvage the situation. “I think it looks pretty good.”

They look nice, but they're a bit too much trouble for Naruto. He has to carefully remove them even when he transforms into Golden Wheel! And the thing on Yugito's hand is covered in seals, clearly for controlling power, not just for decoration! This is Sasuke's birthday, and I was supposed to give him something, so why do I have one too?

Amidst a string of internal monologues, Naruto nodded under Sasuke's stubborn gaze and replied dryly, "Yeah, it looks good."