With about ten hours left in Konoha it was time to pack up the cart and be a proper tourist. I walked the cart back to my rented apartment. The bedding and my orthopedic pillow were shoved into system storage. The inventory screen had two icons added into a large and chaotically filled grid. One icon for the wad of bedding, and one for the pillow.

  Having unlimited storage space is pretty great. Although I sometimes forget what I have in there. It can take a few minutes scrolling through the system window and tapping the tiny icons to find what I am looking for. Especially when I just randomly shove things into it. Perhaps I can purchase some sort of inventory upgrade to help with that. I should really sit down and organize it.

  Or I can go shopping.

  I walked back to the market district and wandered around for a few hours. Most of the merchants had re-opened their stalls and were aggressively trying to make up for lost time. Some of the merchants looked at me proudly. I had stood up to the tyrant. Some of them glared at me for serving the tyrant a bowl of ramen. I really don't understand what the big deal was or why they called that child the tyrant. Perhaps the naruto world’s haggling skills are incredibly underdeveloped.

  I found a small shop selling housewares. They had some decorative furniture on display, and even some bamboo serving trays and kitchen wares. Everything was pretty basic though. I was hoping to find something made of carved wood and have decorative inlay. I wasn’t expecting gold and silver dragons, but … well I guess I was. That would be pretty cool.

  My inner mall ninja really wanted some flashy ornate stuff. For those of you too young to understand what a mall ninja is, let me ruin that for you. Shopping malls used to have stores that sold ridiculously ornate swords and knives. Most of these “weapons” were not built strong enough to survive a single impact with a pool noodle. The blades had spikes, the crossguard had spikes, the spikes even had little curvy spikes on them. Every weapon in the store looked like someone saw a klingon blade on star trek, then looked at their pile of sheet metal and said “hold my beer.” Mall ninjas were the idiot teenagers, myself very much included, that purchased these “weapons” and hung them up on their bedroom walls. Why? Because they were cool.

  After we got married, Ann convinced me to keep a few of them that were sentimental, but sell the rest. I think the reproduction gunblade is still somewhere in my inventory.

  I did pack up most of the necessities from the house before I left.

  I did turn the bathroom light off. I think. Oh well. That house is Erin’s problem now.

  The woman behind the counter of the store did give me a lead on some more ornate goods. There apparently is a smaller area for merchants who sell specialized, aka expensive goods to elite clientele, aka rich idiots. I thanked her with a leftover toffee apple popover from my inventory.

  The architecture of Konoha is an odd thing. The city planning looks like someone took 500 years of architecture and technology and shook it together like letter blocks in Boggle. Pipes of all sorts snake up ancient walls. Modern glass windows hang a few floors above carved wooden slats. It's all mixed together in a bright colorful chaotic mess of a city. It’s really one of my favorite hops so far.

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  The wealthy district was different though. The modern touches were integrated seamlessly or hidden completely behind craftsmanship and structured planning.

  Every brick on the road was set perfectly. Every wall is uncracked and recently painted.

  All of the shops here are their own buildings, no stalls or street carts. There was a weaponsmith. To my inner mall ninja’s disappointment all of the weapons they sold were well made, but simple. I asked at the desk if they had anything well made, but with blades that had flames or gems carved into them and I was kicked out of the store.

  There was a clothing shop that had some fantastic clothes. The fabric felt comfortable, and the vests and pants had just the right number of pockets, too many. I bought a set or two of the fancy tactical wear, and a nice green robe with little Konoha leafs symbols on the edges. I paid for the clothes, then put them into storage.

  The shopkeeper showed some mild interest in the bag's disappearance, but the person who was the most surprised was behind me.

  “I didn't know you had a storage seal. There's not a lot of money in giving pastries to orphans, but you flash your wealth. You serve exotic foods and traffic in rare herbs. Who are you, Mr. Egg man?”

  I turned around and looked at the speaker. It was a tall woman with dark spiky hair and ninja garb. She had bandages on her arms and legs just like that fellow from last night. In the exact places of the fellow from last night. She was about the same height too. Was she that ninja from last night? It was dark, and people using the batman gravelly voice tend to sound kind of unisex. But why would they be here now… in the afternoon.. When I promised I would make popovers with… them.. Idiot. I forgot.

  “Ahh, glad you found me. I take it you are ready to make some pastries. Nut free of course. I was hoping to find a decorative serving tray first. Care to help me look?”

  “You didn’t answer the question. Your merchant licensing paperwork appeared in the files, but none of the clerks remember processing them. None of the other merchants have ever seen you before. You have no visible chakra pathways or seal tattoos but pull items and strange machines out from the air. Who? Are? You?”

  At this point the shopkeeper had run out the back door. The other customers did the same. Many people might guess that the angry mother bear tone of voice was what was scaring people off. I would say it was the gorgeous mall ninja sword pointed at me.

  It was a large katana, a bit longer and wider than average but nothing like the meat cleavers of the seven mystical swordsmen. Shame. It did have small hand knit stuffed animals hanging off of the hilt. Cool.

  “Are you just going to stare at the sword or are you going to answer me?”

  “If staring at the sword is an option, I would love that. I would like it even more if I could hold it and it wasn't pointed at anyone. I've been looking for a cool sword like that all day today. No luck till now.”

  “Answer me.”

  “Fine, but put the sword down. I’m of no threat to anyone, and I'm sure there are some more of your friends in the shadows nearby.”

  “Why would you think that? I could be here all on my own.”

  “Ninjas work in teams of three starting from genin. If you are suspicious enough of me to wield weapons in town, you're suspicious enough to ask at least two friends, If not Anbu, to come with you.”

  Her eyes widened a bit before refocusing. In my peripheral vision two ninjas wearing animal masks appeared. Each of the Anbu holding but not drawing their weapons.

  “Well , damn.”