บท 84: CH_3.25 (084)
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Takuma couldn't move his eyes away from the zip-lock bag filled with a dried-up herb that looked strikingly identical to what he had seen before. And from what he knew, it was very much illegal in the Hidden Leaf. He was coming to realize what job Enomoto was planning to offer him.
"How kid is the kid again?" Ryuu asked Enomoto.
"Young," replied Enomoto.
"Wouldn't he then not know what the product is? That would be a problem."
"That... is a possibility," Enomoto said, turning to Takuma. "Do you know what this is, Tobi?"
"...Yes, I know," Takuma said - and simultaneously, he didn't know what they called it here.
Ryuu didn't hide his skepticism and distrust as he leaned forward. He took a fat joint from his person and placed it on the table before Takuma. "Then you wouldn't mind sharing one with me, would you?" he said with an open flame burning from a zippo lighter.
Takuma didn't like that look on Ryuu's face and picked up the joint. He lit it up, lifted the mask halfway, and took a hit before passing it back to Ryuu. The old man took a hit as he kept an eye on Takuma. The joint went to Enomoto, who then passed it to Takuma, who took another hit. When the joint came back around, Takuma refused it.
"That's enough for now," said Takuma. He didn't know how this body would react to the weed. Back when he was in college, it had taken him three "sessions" before he had gotten his first high, and right now, in the company of two people he didn't trust much, Takuma didn't want a bad trip. Two hits were enough.
"Well, look at that," Ryuu grinned, "the kid does know some stuff."
Enomoto stared at Takuma in bafflement. "Kids these days are crazy," he said. "As a medical professional, I recommend using chakra to protect your lungs while smoking. It's a practice that every shinobi should follow."
Takuma had to agree with him. A twelve-year-old smoking without coughing his lungs out could be a jarring sight.
Ryuu scoffed as he took another deep hit. "So, you're a Ring fighter, eh?" he said, exhaling a large puff of smoke.
Takuma narrowed his eyes behind his mask and turned to glare at Enomoto. There was a reason why he had only agreed to come here with a mask and had given a fake name. He didn't want to give out who he was, and if Ryuu already knew that he was a Ring fighter, then he didn't know if he could work with Enomoto.
"I don't know what he's talking about," said Enomoto, raising his hands.
Ryuu lifted his chin and scratched underneath. "A ski mask beneath the hard mask - that's a Ring thing if I have seen one, kid," he said with a laugh. "And if you want to hide the fact still, don't glare at him," he pointed at Enomoto - "it only confirms that I was right."
Takuma bit the inside of his cheek and felt the cloth mask on his skin, which he had gotten so used to wearing for the last several months that he didn't even notice he was wearing one. He hadn't considered that a habit would give him away, but that was what usually gave people away—fucking habits! Takuma took a silent breath to calm himself down. He knew he couldn't do anything to dissuade Ryuu, so he stayed silent. He just didn't want to give away anything else about himself.
"Listen, I'd prefer to know who you are, but since he vouched for you, I'll do business with someone who doesn't show me his face," Ryuu pointed to Enomoto. "As long as you pay up and don't jeopardize me and my business, we don't have any problems."
Takuma wanted to earn money, so he had no reason to rat out Ryuu. Plus, Enomoto knew too much about him, so if he tried to screw something up, the chances of getting some serious pushback were really high. But he had to ask,
"Why does him vouching for me work for you?" Takuma pointed to Enomoto. He needed to know how the relationships worked in this equation to understand the dynamics of it all.
Ryuu looked at Enomoto with a half-amused smile, who nodded. Then, Ryuu said, "Well, he sells me the product, so his word does mean something to me. Also, my business going well means his business is going well."
Takuma looked at Enomoto, and he just couldn't figure Shady Guy out. He was a chunin—an important iryo-nin at that. On top of that, he was a supplier of iryo-nin for the Ring (his apprentices) and a recruiter for the Ring. Now, he was supposedly a drug lord. At this point, if Enomoto told him that he was the Third Hokage's illegitimate son, Takuma would consider it.
"Then why can't you sell directly to me?" Takuma asked Enomoto. There was already an established relationship between him and Enomoto—he didn't get why they had to introduce Ryuu and bring in an unnecessary middle-man.
"Well… first, you'll need a lot of money if you want to buy from me because I only sell wholesale, so to speak," Enomoto smiled. "Second, my clients need to have an established infrastructure to move the amount of product that I sell to them. Third, I simply don't like to deal with ground-level sellers—let's just say distance is good for me.... And, unfortunately for both of us, Tobi, you don't meet any of those three points."
Takuma glanced at both of the adults in front of him and remained silent for a moment before asking, "And from the job, I'm assuming you want me to be a street dealer."
"Good, you're quick to pick things up," Ryuu said as he was getting bored and impatient with the conversation. "If you have the capital, I will sell you the product. Just a warning, I don't sell on credit. If you want to buy, it'll be only when payment is settled upfront."
Takuma was coming to understand the structure. Following Enomoto's analogy— Enomoto was the wholesaler who supplied the weed, Ryuu was a retailer one step down the ladder, and he himself was going to be the street vendor actually selling the product. Takuma didn't know if there was someone above Enomoto— only that he himself would be at the bottom of the ladder.
Takuma stared at the ziplock bag of weed, and as far as what he was going to be doing to earn money, he didn't mind selling weed. As a college student, he had smoked weed many times; while not as extensive as some because of money issues, he was a fairly regular user. It hadn't been legal where he lived, but he knew cannabis was a great recreational drug. He didn't have any qualms about selling weed to people. It checked out with the Good YouTuber Philosophy— only endorse/sell things you yourself use.
However, there were some problems that he needed to consider. He didn't know the street rates. If he was going to do this business, then he needed to know the cost price and the selling price— and if those rates were far enough apart for him to make enough profit to cover his current expenses and were worth enough for the time and labor he needed to put in to make the entire thing work.
So, he straight up asked them about the rates.
Ryuu quoted a rate— and was immediately rebuked by Enomoto.
"Don't try to screw the kid over," he said.
Ryuu clicked his tongue and gave him the rates again, and this time, the cost price was lower. Takuma made a note of that behavior before he began calculating what and how much sales he needed to make it worth his while… and after some while, he concluded that this could work. It would be rough on his savings to get that first supply, but he wasn't a stranger to tough times, and if this could improve his monetary situation, he could tighten the string on his purse.
He knew accepting this offer would bring changes to his life, and it needed commitment if he wanted to make this work.
"Alright, let's do this," said Takuma with determination in his eyes.
Ryuu grinned, "Happy doing business with you."
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Takuma's life had never been busier. A combination of Ring fights, missions, training, and selling weed had cut down his sleeping hours to five hours in total. If only he had a way to get some of that bullshit' passive income.'
He had to confess: on the first day, he wasn't sure what to do with the stash of weed he had in his house because he had no customers. The first thing he had done was to decide where to keep his stash; while the quantity was low, he kept it hidden in his home but decided to find a better place away from his place in case the business grew.
On the other hand, as it turned out, selling was easy when there was substantial demand, a lack of intense competition, and a market where customers didn't do intense research and price comparison.
"Shen, my man, how are you doing today?" Takuma dapped up a young adult who was one of his customers. He thought that if he were friendly with his customers and made them feel comfortable, they would be more open to approaching him more often.
"Hey, Jin," said Shen, looking around a street with a public park on one side and a street full of restaurants on the other side.
'Jin' was one of the identities that Takuma had created to interact with his customers. Takuma wasn't a weed dealer, but his other identities were. His civilian customers weren't able to tell that he was using Henge no Jutsu (Transformation Jutsu), and his shinobi customers who could tell weren't able to tell what was behind the disguise—only that he was disguised, which worked for both parties.
"Don't be like that; look at me," Takuma gripped Shen's hand, stopping the young man from letting his nervous eyes wander around. As long as they acted like two friends who met on the street, no one was going to look at them. "So, how much do you want today?"
"…The same as last time," said Shen.
"Excellent, we can make that happen."
"Can I also get some rolling paper and filters as well?"
"Of course, we can do that as well," Takuma smiled. He had brought a lot of rolling paper and joint filters in bulk so he could sell the 'accessories' as well. If the customers could get everything required directly from him and simplify the purchasing process, they would keep coming back to him. "You know the deal, payment first." But, simultaneously, he had to set boundaries and be strict when it came to dealing. A balance was necessary for good business.
Shen took out a few bills of cash and handed them to Takuma.
"Nice doing business with you, Shen," Takuma (Jin) smiled after he counted the money with a glance. "You know where to find me the next time."
Takuma turned back and walked away. Behind him, Shen patted his satchel bag, looked inside, and found that the weed, rolling paper, and filters were already in his bag. Being a shinobi with great sleight-of-hand skills was a great skill for dealing illegal stuff.
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