The Shopkeeper of Konoha

"Aoto, no matter what you do, Konoha will back you 100 percent. Asuma from today you will be responsible in helping him until he has a good hold of the things around and also safeguard him." Hiruzen said in a very serious tone. He thought very highly of Aoto. He was still bitter that Itachi sided with Danzo a bit rather than him, and he couldn't afford to let another talent escape.

He didn't hope for other things, but what he did hope that Aoto would use his brain to create jutsus that would serve a great purpose for the village. When he matures, his limited chakra reserves will increase, allowing him to construct jutsus like the frog one, which, if mastered, could have far-reaching consequences for Konoha. it would be something like Minato who was able to use Space-time jutsu.

He terrorized the other villages with one jutsu alone. It would be fantastic for Konoha if Aoto could make one in the future.

"But I have missions." Asuma raised a fuss. Even though he had a soft spot for Aoto, he had no intention of babysitting the child. Hiruzen pondered for a moment before speaking.

"You and Kakashi woudld take turns in safeguarding the kid." Hiruzen said.

To this Aoto himself protested because he had too many secrets and he couldn't let someone like Kakashi to get close to him. Naturally, Hiruzen was not in the mood to listen. Aoto had to resort to a subtle hint to convince Hiruzen that he would be faithful to him and stay put until it was absolutely necessary.

It calmed Hiruzen down a little bit. He paid for two Chocolate frogs as he wanted to see if he himself could decipher the technique and promised Aoto that he would contact the administration department to give him a green signal to his business endeavor. Geniuses like him couldn't be forced to do anything, they would bloom in their own way. He just needed to make sure that he didn't get obsessions like Orochimaru.

"Hokage-sama, are you really okay with me seeing the faces of Anbu?" Asked Aoto.

"Kid, you might be a genius but you didn't understand the most simple human interactions. How will you even know if someone is an anbu if he or she came up with a normal attire." Smiling, Hiruzen made the remark.

"Shit! It's so obvious now, but I totally missed it." Aoto murmured.

Hiruzen talked about Aoto's future plans and Aoto gave a general idea of what he wanted to do. Especially about the computer revolution that he had in mind. Aoto detailed the potential of advanced computing infrastructure. Faster and more effective bookkeeping, task tracking, and information sharing would result.

He was really looking forward to better days now with the help of Aoto. Hiruzen and the others finally departed, it was after midnight. When Aoto returned to his room, he discovered that John and a few others were already there.

"You didn't sleep yet?"

"We were concerned that they might kidnap you." John said.

"Even if they do, there's nothing you can do about it." Aoto said. This made them hang their head in shame. They were powerless.

"It's fine. In this shop nobody can touch me or you." Aoto assured them and went back to his room after telling them to sleep. It was well past midnight, and they desperately required sleep so as not to throw off their internal clock.

As Aoto lay in bed, he felt a tremendous weight lift off his shoulders. When Hiruzen arrived, he panicked, convinced that his business would be destroyed. Fortunately, he had shown some shrewdness and had made the appropriate comments at the appropriate times.

The chocolate frog provided him with a solid basis to pitch Hiruzen's investment. Even though he wouldn't be able to sell very many frogs in a week because of his deception, that's okay. He needed to make only one hundred sales. It would be sufficient in three quarters of a year. By that time he would be able to sell the rest of the items too.

Hiruzen's gratitude was evident to him, and it was exactly what he required. An umbrella to fight against Danzo because in no way, his things wouldn't reach his ears. Because Hiruzen would be watching out for him, nobody would disturb him. For the time being, at least.

He went to slumber ruminating on those things. Hiruzen, meanwhile, had been up all night investigating the amphibian. Even though he possessed Yin and Yang release, he had never mastered them to the point where he could create life.

He couldn't possibly study until Aoto gave him a proper jutsu written down or proper hand signs shown to him, so he had to try to move things along and see what he could discover. He could take his time with this investigation because he had it.

The next day

Aoto had only one work for the weekend and that was copy some notes from the medical books that he got and write it on a separate paper. He couldn't bring himself to give the volume to the hospital's administrators. He needed to show that he was genius just like he showed to Hiruzen.

Only by doing so would he garner enough support to make his business successful. There was a lot he could have written, but he settled on the few things he thought would most interest the physicians. It was a difficult task, and he had spent the entire day deciding what to compose and what to put off.

Monday.

A customer was already there when Aoto opened the shop on schedule. It was the same cop who processed his application for a license years ago.

"Here is your approval, Aoto."

"Eh! I already got the approval?" Aoto was a little surprised.

"Hahaha.. Aoto.. You have quite the contacts, the head supervisor personally came to me to give you the approval. I couldn't delay it any more." the officer said.