Chapter 230: Bathhouse Opens
The rest were sent to the village created by the Uchiha clan for bandits after their memories were removed and they were placed under semi-permanent genjutsu. Since it was his own idea, Kaida decided to contribute some more men for that village (A.N: in Chapter 160-162).
There wasn't much progress in his learning aside from finally mastering three seals and working on the fourth one, but today something important happened.
"Finally, this bathhouse is about to open. This took so much time and money," Shisui said, taking his morning tea.
"I'm sure it will all be worth it, brother," Kaida said, following Shisui and taking his cup.
"Which bathhouse?" Naruto asked, coming out of his room.
"We're going to open a bathhouse, a very big one, for everyone in the village," Kaida told Naruto, who came and picked up his cup full of warm milk.
"I'll ask Sensei to come with his family," Yomi said.
"Yup, me too. Sora-sensei will definitely come, but I'm not sure about Mitsuru-sensei. She's a very busy person," Kaida said, shrugging his shoulders.
"I'll also call my team, though you guys won't be able to meet them—Anbu confidentiality and all," Shisui said.
"But when you give them a free pass, we'll know they're your teammates," Kaida said.
"Why would I give them a free pass? The village pays for all Anbu expenses while they're part of the Anbu forces. They don't have to pay for anything, so it's actually free for them anyway," Shisui said.
"Brother, you'll also be charged for using the bathhouse," Kaida said as soon as he heard that.
"I knew you'd say that, hahaha," Shisui laughed, soon joined by everyone.
"Jokes aside, we have so much work to do. We need to arrange the feast and drinks, decide the order for guests to use the bathhouse if they want, do a final check on the staff, oh! And we also need to do some promotion to get maximum visibility, and…"
"Calm down, Mom. We still have a full day, and all of that isn't difficult to do, so don't stress too much," Shisui said, stopping Hae in the middle of her long list of tasks.
"How can I not be stressed? We're inviting every important person in the village; our reputation is on the line," Hae said.
"And we'll do well. It's not like we don't know how effective the bathhouse is. Both Uncle Fugaku and Aunt Mikoto gave such positive reviews. I'm sure everything will work out fine," Shisui said.
"Yes, Aunt, don't worry. Just get ready to start counting all the money we're going to make," Kaida said.
"Fine," Hae finally sat down and picked up a cup of tea for herself.
The promotion plan was simple. Kaida and Shisui would use the Shadow Clone Jutsu and transformation to transform into various people and spread the news about how effective the bathhouse was. They were the first to try it, and they claimed it helped relieve body pain and made their skin tighter and brighter. They also mentioned the lucky draw event where people could try it for free tomorrow.
This would be done after a cart roamed around the village with flyers and loud announcements about the bathhouse. This would surely attract a huge crowd for the main event.
While Shisui and Kaida handled that, Yomi and Hae managed other things, like ensuring the food would be ready for tomorrow. Since the Akimichi clan was responsible for that, the quality was guaranteed, but they still made sure everything was ready. Then they did a final check on the employees. Shisui scanned all their memories just to be sure, and they were compensated for that too. Hae made sure everyone was fine and that no one would suddenly take a leave tomorrow.
Everything was done, and now everyone was just waiting for the main event.
…
Hae was formally dressed as the main mistress of the event, while everyone else was also in their best attire, though not as formal as Hae, who had to handle being the face of the event. And she handled it well… until the main problem arose.
They had made preparations for a crowd of 500 people and some important guests, but they miscalculated something—the effectiveness of their promotion technique. Free food, a chance to get a pass to use something great for free, and the thrill of a lottery all combined to attract a much bigger crowd than they had expected.
Just from a cursory glance, more than 2,000 people were present, and more were coming.
"Mom, we have to increase the seating," Shisui said.
"And the food too," Kaida added.
"We're way too underprepared for this," Hae said, her smile crumbling a little.
"Don't worry, Mom. I'll arrange for more seating," Shisui said.
"I'll go to the Akimichi clan. They should be able to handle this many people easily. Also, brother, let me help you with the tent setup," Kaida said and made a shadow clone to help with building a bigger tent for everyone to sit.
Luckily, they had enough space, as a large part of the Uchiha compound was still empty due to all the relocation stuff done by the village after the Nine-Tails attack.
Kaida then used the Wind Instantaneous Movement Jutsu to go to the Akimichi clan headquarters to increase the food order, while Shisui and Kaida's clone went to the Kagetsu clan's headquarters. The Kagetsu clan was one of the wealthiest and most politically powerful clans in Konoha.
The reason they went directly to the headquarters was because of the urgency. Luckily, they got all the items needed for setting up the tent and seats quite easily.
Even though the situation was a little difficult, everyone was still quite elated. The promotion was phenomenally effective, and it was almost certain that the bathhouse was going to become quite famous.
This was when the effectiveness of being a ninja was shown to everyone in Konoha. Within 20 minutes, the tent size was quadrupled, and all the seats were arranged, all thanks to nearly a hundred clones of Kaida and Shisui.
Everyone took their seats. After some time, the Hokage and some of the elders arrived, along with the clan heads and some nobles. Hae had to pull quite a few strings and favors to make them come. Luckily, she knew how to play her cards right and intrigued their curiosity with the help of gossip and rumors.
Hae went to the stage after welcoming everyone, followed by a short speech about why they built the bathhouse and how thankful they were that everyone took time out of their busy schedules to come. Then she introduced the guests to everyone.
After all that, the Hokage cut the ribbon of the bathhouse, and as usual, he didn't forget to give a small speech about the Will of Fire, followed by food and refreshments.
"Now comes the final and most awaited part of the event. We will draw 50 balls from this bowl. Each ball has a number written on it, similar to the number on your seats. Those 50 people will get the first chance to enjoy the bathhouse for free," Yomi shouted with a chakra-amplified voice. Just behind her was a large bowl with 2,300 small balls in it.
She then started drawing one ball at a time to build up the suspense and anticipation among the crowd, while all the guests of honor were escorted inside the bathhouse—at least those who had shown interest in using it.
People like Hiruzen and the elders were too busy to enjoy the luxury, but the clan heads were the opposite. They and the nobles decided to try out the bathhouse, even though Fugaku recommended it. Though Fugaku never actually did that, what could he do about the 'accidental' rumor spreading around Konoha?
(One hour later)
After the clan heads and others enjoyed the medicinal baths, they wholeheartedly decided to become regulars at the bathhouse, while those who got the free pass boasted about how great it was, further increasing the bathhouse's reputation. All in all, the opening of the bathhouse was a spectacular success.