Chap.67 Cold drinks in the desert

Tony left the restaurant with a sour expression after a long talk with Ebizo. Where by the way, no food was served. What manners!

Did he manage to follow through with his plan to open a shop in the sand village? Yes.

But it wasn't cheap!

The talk started out pretty good, but when he revealed that he wouldn't hire anyone because he already had the employees and what the prices would be…

Ebizo got pretty upset.

In the end and for the good of the System's mission, he could only compromise and accept Ebizo's condition to pay half of the taxes to the village in the form of long life food.

But that made him pay an extra 21%!

He knew the village was holding on to any additional gain no matter how small, but come on!

If Tony really cared like a common shopkeeper, he would have given up on opening the store. The only positive part is that after yelling at each other for several minutes, he managed to get Ebizo to agree to sell the premises that he will use for his establishment, instead of limiting himself to a rented one.

Tony was not willing that for some reason, while he was out of the sand village, the rent would go up, the shop would be closed down or inspected for no reason among other things.

Although that made many places out of the question, he found one well located and large enough to meet his requirement, although it needed serious renovations.

After inspecting the site, Tony imported some construction materials and hired a crew to remodel the site to his specifications. A basement that would act as a warehouse, shelves for the products, some rooms for his staff, etc.

The works that originally would have taken two weeks were delayed to three months when Chiyo found out about the matter and complicated the administrative paperwork among other things.

Now Tony didn't like Chiyo either, not one bit.

But it wasn't all bad, after remembering that he had the Monster Hunter cold drink at his disposal, the heat was no longer a problem for him. He even thought of making the drink one of the flagship products of his new store.

During the three months apart from inspecting the works and nobody doing anything strange, he spent the rest of the time training in the desert around the village. Tsunade made it clear that his strength was not meant to stagnate during his time away and he had no intention of disappointing her.

Now, he didn't see Kankuro again during all this time. Gaara helped him train and familiarize himself with the desert environment and he learned a lot from him. As for Temari, he was in an excellent mood thanks to the chestnuts he gave her and which, according to his calculations, should last a few months without a problem.

And let's not talk about when he asked out of curiosity about the cold drink when he saw Tony take a sip every few hours and discovered how effective it was. He generated a wave of envy in all his companions, because he no longer sweated a drop in the hottest hours.

Should he try to sell the hot drink in the Snow Country?

In fact, he found out that some ANBU from the arena secretly asked Temari for some samples in hopes of deciphering the formula for the village.

Most likely Chiyo's idea, that old hag.

Heh, good luck with that.

The silver lining was that over the last month, Tony had gotten used to the new terrain and his strength had grown. Temari even joined the training along with Gaara.

Of course, Tony didn't reveal all his trump cards or all his strength, he focused on polishing basic concepts that he needed to improve like taijutsu and two knife fighting.

Did they really think he wouldn't notice that he was being watched?

It was better that they write down a level of strength lower than the real one. Less sense of threat to them, easier to catch them off guard if necessary in the future.

The store opening was a resounding success. When people saw fresh meat and fruit instead of dried or preserved, they were overjoyed, let alone when they saw the fresh fish and shellfish section.

Even Ebizo and Chiyo attended the opening. The sibling pair couldn't find a single fault to point to other than the prices, which Tony pretended not to hear.

What a joke, did they expect him to use the same prices as in Konoha?

Ebizo managed to calm his sister down after much persuasion.

"When you said it was going to be a food store, I thought it was something else entirely," Gaara commented as she examined the meat.

Like everyone else who knew about the store's opening, she too believed that the food Tony mentioned was canned, dried, and the like.

Not something so fresh and appetizing.

"I like to surprise people," Tony commented, not bothered by the misunderstanding. "Anyway, now that the store is running smoothly, it's time for me to go."

"Are you going to leave?" Temari turned to look at him as she unknowingly sported a cream mustache on her face, courtesy of the glass provided by the shop's Alcremie.

"I completed my mission here, tried the local food, and opened a business," Tony counted on his fingers. "Something like this shouldn't have taken me more than a month, but there are always things that get in the way.

Chiyo suddenly sneezed outside the store.

"Maybe you need some bodyguards back in Konoha?" —Temari found it a good excuse to leave the village and buy cheaper food in Konoha for herself.

"No need, I've got a few more things to do on the way," Tony dismissed.

He had kept his promise to Tsunade, reporting and returning to the village through the use of summons. Everything was fine and now she wanted to make her way to the capital of the Country of Fire before heading towards the other ninja villages.

[The birth of the gourmet mob.]

[Task: Successfully establish Kuku Shop branches in all five major ninja villages and form your own underground organization. They will grant you money, influence and fame.]

-Hidden Leaf Village (Completed)

-Hidden Sand Village (Completed)

-Hidden Cloud Village (Not completed)

-Hidden Rock Village (Not completed)

-Village Hidden in the Mist (Not completed)

[Optional task: Each land has its original dishes or characteristic ingredients, now it's time to make them your own. Discover as many local specialties as possible!]

[Reward: Devil Fruit Awakening + Gourmet Judges Three Pack + Aqua Lagoon Salt (One piece) + Substantial and Comprehensive Increase in Host Strength]

[Optional Reward: Chef Nyanta (Log Horizon) + ??? (Depends on amount discovered.)]

[Due to the host's self-imposed restrictions, the time limit for carrying out this mission is three years.]

[Note: Borders be damned, fine dining is for everyone!]