The Shopkeeper of Konoha

"Aoto, you should always look at the room temperature. Your father was very particular about it."

"I am trying to keep the temperature as moderate as possible uncle." Aoto said as Teuchi gave him some of his own insights about the bread making and what he had seen from Aoto's father. The previous Aoto didn't pay much heed to bread making and just followed what his mom had asked him to do and he happily played the part of son who helped his parents.

Bread making took a lot of time. Aoto was having a little anxiety with his first batch of bread making. He was waiting for it to be ready to be placed in a newly built bigger oven which he had asked to be exclusively built for all purposes. He wasn't sure what he would have to make later so he asked for better bread.

By afternoon the bread was ready. And finally it was time to ope the shop. Ayame had helped him in decorating the shop properly for having a better opening. The glass panes of the shop were filled with various decorations made of wild white colored flowers that she had brought from the forests nearby.

Not all the forests around Konoha were as deadly as the one from the Chunin exams, some didn't have that many dangerous animals and the common men and women were allowed to go without any supervision.

Aoto was expecting the worst as he had opened the shop. But he was surprised to see that people had come to buy. The people around had already known that the shop had suffered a devastating blow a few days ago and they knew that now the shop had only one child left who was going to take care of it.

They had come to buy bread and hoped to support the boy who had just gone through a trauma and was trying to earn an honest money. Teuchi and Ayame made sure that the people around would know of what had happened to him. They might be very trustworthy people but that doesn't mean that they knew nothing of business tactics.

The word had got around and people came in in quite a number.

"Aoto-chan, it's nice to see you. How are you holding up?"

"Aoi-san... Welcome to the shop. I am doing better. Same as old? Two loaves of bread?"

"Yes. Two loaves. Don't put too much pressure on yourself Aoto-chan. You can take it slow."

Aoto packed the bread on a wrapper and said while taking out a joint from the crate.

"I will be fine Aoi-san. Since it is the first day of my business, I am also giving away a free new kind of cigarette. This one has been personally made by me."

"Cigarette?"

Aoi was taken aback by this sudden free gift.

"Yes. I might not have much knowledge about making bread so I am hoping that people will like my other products too."

"You can make cigarettes? Do you know the composition of tobacco?"

Aoi took a look at the encased joint wrapped quite well. He could see that packing was done well and the small joint inside was unique. The tobacco inside looked green and the paper that wrapped it was a little translucent.

"Don't worry Aoi-san, I have done proper research. I have been learning about them for quite a long time and it's made perfectly fine. You might feel a little light after taking it though so please take care of it."

"I trust you Aoto-chan. You already know I am a heavy smoker and hope that this is as good as you claim it to be. Hahaha..." Aoi didn't mind the gift. He knew what Aoto was doing. Aoto was new in this business and he wasn't sure if the bread business could hold on to it and so he was trying new things.

Aoto was known to be a good child and since he had claimed that this was done after proper research, it must be so. He left after taking the free gift and the two loaves of bread. Ayame, who had been helping him at the counter, was a little surprised.

"Aoto, when did you make such things? I have never seen you smoke. You are too young to smoke."

"I know Ayame. I still don't smoke but when I made this before I have tried to inhale and I am sure that this was pretty fine." Aoto replied in a whisper. His age was still too young to legally smoke so he had to come up with a lie. The police was still under the Uchiha Clan and he didn't think that these arrogant ninjas would care for a commoner like him who smoked a little too early.

"Are you sure that this is fine?"

"Don't worry Ayame. I have everything in control."

Aoto and Ayame talked in whispers and continued selling loaves of bread. Aoto was writing the names of the customers to whom he was giving the free gifts. If everything went well and the people tried it, they would definitely be back for more and then he could earn money from the weed.

He wanted to write the names because he wanted to make sure that a particular customer didn't consume too much weed. In a week 5 or 6 should do fine at the maximum and nothing more than that. This thing in the future would definitely raise some eyebrows from the ninjas and they would come to investigate.

He wanted to spread it to people as moderately as possible. This would help him a lot in the future as he wouldn't be labelled as someone who would do anything to gain profit and whoever responsible for maintaining the public security and safety didn't just accuse him of selling illicit products to harm the citizens of the village. He for sure wanted to earn a lot of profit after selling these items but the system has provided such a thing that it would be definitely suspicious if he sold to the common men in too much quantity.