The Shopkeeper of Konoha

"But how can you think of me selling these? I haven't even sold a piece of bread in my lifetime." Arya said. This was accurate—even though she had traveled widely and experienced a lot, it didn't follow that she was familiar with all crafts.

"You don't have to do much. I will buy a shop nearby for you where you will only be the main cashier and just help the customers around. It will be fine." Aoto said. He seemed to be persuading himself rather than others with his remarks. The society of Konoha was primarily like the old societies where people were a little conservative about their dresses.

Though the shinobis might not have the same restrictions nor those thoughts, but the normal and the general people who led a normal very ordinary life might look at the world from a different perspective.

"Why does it feel like you are trying to put me under a chopping block with this?" Arya said as she found his words a little out of depth.

"Hahaha... No.. No.. Everything will be fine. You just need to start. You might not be able to sell much in the beginning but it doesn't matter. We can take our time." Aoto said.

"I am getting paid for this.. Right?" Arya asked.

"Of course.. Of course." Aoto said. She really was one scary demon. Arya stopped talking after grabbing the underwear and moved to the room next door to give it a shot. Despite loosely pointing out how lingerie were worn, Aoto was confident that this would take some time because no one was available to assist her.

Aoto, Hot Pie, and John just sat there awkwardly after Arya departed.

"John do you want to work to work like Arya?" Aoto asked.

"I am not going to work with Arya." John didn't even look at Aoto and protested against it. He had already expressed some reluctance toward the present item that his sister planned to sell. He would oppose Aoto if he was requested to assist Arya in this so that he was left out of the mess.

"Calm down John. I am not asking you to help your sister. I am asking you to sell another thing." Aoto said and after those words he brought out a small packet. A tiny piece of transparent plastic was attached to the packet, allowing one to see the jelly bean-like items inside.

Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans. The gummy bean version of Russian roulette.

"What is this?" Hot Pie got curious seeing the shiny jellies from outside and asked.

Aoto handed them the package and said, "Try it yourself." Inquisitive, John and Hot Pie each took out a jelly bean. Aoto recognized that it was something to be eaten when he directed the object at their mouths. Both of them had never tasted anything like this in their lifetime. It was kind of stretchy and tended to stuck at their teeth.

After putting one in a mouth, Hot Pie's face immediately lit up and started chewing it with gutso. It was John's face that turned sour and went running to the sink nearby and vomited.

"What in 'fucks' name is this?" John said after coughing and vomiting for a minute or so. Hot Pie was perplexed. He was delighted by the sweetness of the jelly bean he received, which had a chocolate taste. He was baffled as to how anyone could detest this.

"I guess your luck is bad." Aoto said. As he had already experienced his luck in the lottery, he did not dare to attempt these himself. He wished to keep his good fortune for the upcoming lottery.

"Explain. Now." John demanded.

"Well, these are what we call as jelly beans. It's from a magical world.." A

"Magical?"

".. we will get to the magic part later. Just understand that these are jelly beans that has various flavors ranging from good flavors like Hot Pie here got one to one of the worst flavors known to men. You however are on the bad luck side."

John didn't care if he had good or bad luck, he just wished that he could get rid of the awful flavor that had struck his tongue.

Hot Pie questioned, "And you want to sell these?" To that, Aoto gave his head an inclination.

"How can you sell these. People will never like it." John said.

"People will like it because its a matter of gamble for the kids, and just like the older guys the kids would have fun with it." Aoto said.

"So that is why you are so confident? Gambling by children?" John looked at Aoto with bad eyes. He had never viewed gambling from an advantageous angle.

"What are you angry about. The kids here participate in war and kill people. That silver haired guy you saw, he was in the battlefield before he was 10 years old. In comparison to that I am at least giving them a chance to find joy. Plus, this thing isn't addictive." Aoto said.

John said grumpily, "But you want me to sell it."

"I have another thing." Aoto said as he took out the Chocolate frogs packet and opened it for them. The frog's realistic form initially mesmerized them, but what really frightened them was how it came to life and jumped away. They were so scared that they huddled back together. Aoto laughed at them and took the frog into his hand and bit at it.

The frog's size was halved in one mouthful, and it died.

Hot Pie was terrified to the point of saying, "You.. You.. You.." while John was just staring at him with arched eyebrows. Aoto burst out chuckling after observing their response.

"This is another magical chocolate from the same place the jelly beans were. Oh sorry I forgot to introduce the first item. Those are called jelly beans. And this is Chocolate frogs. The frogs have some magic in them and thus they tend to run away. But they are not alive." Aoto said as he wanted to clear the air or he was sure that Hot Pie would pee his pants.

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