61 Candy Apples

I'm currently at one of the few parks in Iwagakure that adds a bit of greenery to this place of rocks and soil, melting some caramel in a pot and covering my fantastic apples with it while they are skewered on wooden sticks I bought from a nearby stall.

Pakura is beside me, happily eating, and sitting next to her on the same bench is a girl about eight or nine years old enjoying the same treat completely for free.

How the heck did we end up eating caramel apples with Kurotsuchi?

Yes, I mean the young granddaughter of Onoki.

Well, you don't need to go back too far in time to explain what happened.

As I promised myself, this time we are sightseeing before requesting a meeting with the local Kage. We found the well-maintained park, and both Pakura and I felt like having caramel apples. So, after buying what we needed from nearby stores, I got to work in a corner designated for family picnics.

Pakura might have her cooking hobby awakened now, but making good caramel has its secret if you don't want it to turn out too bitter. Fortunately, I remembered a cooking show where they taught how to do it easily along with some tricks.

A little later, the sweet aroma spread around, and before I knew it, I was surrounded by children looking at the caramel apples as if they were the most beautiful jewels.

Sweet and crunchy jewels.

Pakura gave me her puppy-dog eyes look, and reluctantly, I handed several out to the children to make them leave us alone. The parents were watching and didn't stop me, immensely amused by the situation and happy to see their kids running over while bragging about the snack.

Am I mad at the kids? Of course not, they're just kids!

Just a little annoyed by the parents who didn't even come over to say thank you or offer to pay for the candy. Next time, I'll make sure to ask Pakura to create some upward air currents to keep the aroma from spreading, and we can avoid a repeat of the situation.

Luckily, the caramel was just enough for everyone. Now, it turns out there was a girl who didn't come with parents, and that was none other than Kurotsuchi, whose eyes shone like stars when she bit into the apple.

Oh, I don't think she's really alone. As Onoki's granddaughter, I'm sure she has some Jonin watching her twenty-four hours a day to make sure nothing happens to her.

The only reason I haven't been interrogated, a shirtless man handing out sweets to children, is because they themselves witnessed that I was minding my own business until they all approached on their own.

In fact, I swear I heard some laughter from where they hide.

Anyway, it turns out that while I was busy handing out caramel apples, the girl started talking to Pakura, and they got along. I'm not surprised; in fact, I remember that her older version was quite calm and friendly with her people.

Sure, she was a bit sarcastic with her grandfather and still had a small childish side, but she was very loyal to the village.

Damn, she even supported killing Killer B and Naruto instead of the plan to protect them, thinking that might be the best plan for the benefit of her village.

I don't judge her; I would have done the same in her situation and maybe more.

What I didn't expect was for Pakura to take the opportunity to "accidentally" mention the purpose of our visit, resulting in Kurotsuchi offering to arrange a meeting with her grandfather for us in a quite presumptuous way.

Well, she's small, and these little tricks will still work with her.

Even if the watchers wanted to make her change her mind, it was an impossible project.

Because if Kurotsuchi had something similar to her grandfather, it was her stubbornness.

So, the best they could do was to help her in advance and secretly, so the schedule of their Kage wouldn't be completely disrupted by the sudden and non-negotiable visit of two people who gave candy to his granddaughter.

Yes, I can already see the expression he'll have when he sees us.

I'm not worried; the moment his old butt sits in a cloud chair, the old man will be almost dancing in the palm of my hand. His hip won't improve in the slightest, but it won't be constantly tense due to his bad position in the office.

I just hope he's not so comfortable in it that he decides it would be a good idea to sleep there forever. It wouldn't be a good image for the business.