Chapter nine

Sasori realized what the waitress had meant when she said that he couldn't miss it. It seemed that Tanaka had painted his family name in bright orange on the side of his house. Under it, in blue, the word 'blacksmith' was written. Sasori raised a brow. He hadn't seen colors that obnoxious since he had met the nine-tail brat, Naruto Uzumaki. What kind of man was he going to associating himself with?

Sasori sighed and walked up to the door. Having a job was better than not having one. It would only be a day or two, but Sasori knew from personal experience that a day or two doing a job with people you hated could be a hellish experience. Sasori reflectively thought back on his time as Orochimaru's literal partner in crime. Yeah, that had not been fun. Especially when the snake man had figured out that Hiruko was not his actual body and that he actually had the body of a young boy. Not fun at all.

He knocked on the door, almost hesitating, but hesitation now was pointless. It wasn't like he really had a choice in all this. He was going to need more money eventually, so it would be wise to seize every opportunity while he still could.

Sasori flinched slightly when he heard a couple of loud bangs coming from inside the small house, but he didn't jump when the door suddenly banged open, revealing a slightly grimy, but relatively average looking man peering at him from the threshold.

"Who are you?" the person that Sasori assumed was Mr. Tanaka asked bluntly.

"I'm Sasori. Roriko sent me. She said that you might be looking for someone to help you out," Sasori told him as politely as he could muster, even giving a shallow bow for effect. It would do him no good to piss off a potential employer, even if this one did seem a little unorthodox.

"Is that so?" the man asked curiously, dropping his guard as he stepped out of the house a little bit. "Roriko, you say?"

Sasori nodded and the man looked at him critically while rubbing his nose with a black smudged hand.

"Well, she wouldn't have sent you over if she hadn't thought you were good for the job, I guess," Tanaka began, looking a little reluctant as he rubbed the back of his head. "Do you know the kind of work that I need help with?"

"Something about an upcoming festival?" Sasori responded.

Tanaka nodded and said, "Yeah, if you couldn't tell, I'm the resident blacksmith."

At this, he pointed at the glaringly obvious neon bright sign next to him.

"I'll be setting up a booth with some of my stuff in two days during the festival," Tanaka told him. "But I don't have enough time to put the finishing touches on everything andto build my booth. Plus I'll need someone to help me carry everything out there. Normally I'd get my son to help me, but he's got his own plans this year."

Tanaka crossed his arms at this and gave a displeased 'harrumph'.

"So, you good with your hands?" Tanaka went on, looking at Sasori's slim figure skeptically. Sasori fought the urge to smirk.

"I've got experience," Sasori told him.

"Well, we'll see," Tanaka conceded. "I'll pay you after the job is done. In the meantime, since you don't look like you're from around here, I'll put you up with a room. How does that sound?"

Sasori hadn't really planned on where he was going to be staying. In all honesty, he would probably just be staying in the woods or something, like he had for the past week. But if the man was offering, why refuse?

"That sounds fine," Sasori told him.

Tanaka grinned and rubbed at his nose again, making the smudge marks on his nose even more pronounced.

"Good. Well, if you've got all your stuff, let's get you settled in and started."

True to Sasori's estimations, when he had first heard of what was required of him, it only took him a day to finish making the booth. Tanaka had been impressed and had even let him keep the left over nails and wood that Sasori had managed not to waste.

"Are you going to be sticking around for the whole festival? It goes on for a couple of days, you know," Tanaka had asked him at the end of the day before the actual festivities began.

Sasori shrugged as he helped the blacksmith carry large crates of his merchandise to the front room of the house.

"Maybe."

"Perhaps you could even some performance like my fool son his doing," Tanaka suggested. "You seem like a resourceful guy, I'm sure that you could think of something to do to make a little extra cash. But if that doesn't work out, you could always help me at my both. I'd pay you a little extra."

Sasori considered both options. If he was completely honest, he hadn't really given much thought about staying for the full festival. Tanaka was going to be paying him decent amount for the job that he had done, so it wasn't like this whole thing had been a waste of time.

"I'll think about it," Sasori gave his vague reply.

Tanaka gave a displeased grunt in response, realizing when he was being brushed off, although he didn't say anything else on the subject.

Sasori seriously thought about it later that night, however. The question was, did he really want to degrade himself to the status of a performing monkey? On the other hand, money was money, and even though he was starting to sound more and more like Kakuzu, he did have a potentially marketable performance skill. After all, puppetry had started out as a form of entertainment, it probably wouldn't be too degrading if he used his puppets to entertain a couple of townsfolk during a festival. He had the first puppet that he had made at Nobuko's with him still, but with the extra supplies Tanaka had given him, he had already started on another that looked similar, but was more flexible and had other handy functions integrated in its small form. Perhaps he could think of something to do with the both of them before tomorrow...

Sasori huffed a little along with Tanaka as they moved his boxes to the booth that had been set earlier that morning.

Tanaka breathed heavily as he let the box drop down onto the booth and told Sasori that he could leave if he wanted to.

"It looks like you've got somewhere that you want to be," Tanaka said. "You don't have to stay."

"Alright then," Sasori said. "I'll come back at around noon in case you want to take a break."

Tanaka raised his eyebrows in surprise at this. Sasori hadn't let him know yet that he was staying for the rest of the festival, but Tanaka had kind of gotten the feeling that Sasori would stay anyway. If only for the extra money that he would be getting by helping out.

"Okay, see you around noon," Tanaka nodded at Sasori as he started organizing his wares.

Sasori headed back to the house where he had left his puppets by the front door. He had finished the second puppet late last night and he had until the streets became crowded to think up a routine to entertain the mindless crowds. He didn't think that he would have too much trouble, but it hardly mattered. He was sure that no one could do what he could in this world. Very few people in his own world could control puppets with the techniques that he used. Unfortunately, this also brought up the problem of whether or not this would make the people here suspicious.

Sasori figured that he would have to make his routine light-hearted and funny enough so that it distracted people. He had two puppets now so he could probably act out some sort of scene that was comical enough for children, the ideal audience in this case. Perhaps he would have them act out a dance or some kind of theatrical fight. Sasori found a nondescript corner just outside the main hustle and bustle of activity and began to practice.


"Have you seen this one performer!" a random villager exclaimed loudly enough that it caught Tanaka's attention from his booth.

He had been making plenty of profit with the little trinkets and larger items he had been selling to show off his skill, but at the moment there was a lull in the crowd as the lunchtime hour grew near. Tanaka raised an eyebrow and leaned forward, resting his elbows on his table, trying to listen more closely.

"He's amazing! I've never seen anything like it!" the same villager was telling his bemused friend.

"What's his routine?" the friend asked as they passed by Tanaka's booth.

"These weird puppets!" the first one said, trying to urge his friend to go faster. "It looks like he controls them without any strings and they can do some pretty neat stuff too!"

"Fine, fine."

Tanaka looked in the direction they were headed and he found that he had to double take when he saw the large crowd that had amassed just around the corner. The crowd was cheering and growing in size the longer Tanaka stood there watching.

'I wonder where Sasori is,' Tanaka wondered, hoping that he would come soon so that he could see what was going on as well. 'I've never seen the villagers so hyped up about a street show before.'

"Hey, Dad."

Tanaka was startled by the sudden voice to his left, but turned to raise both of his eyebrows at his downtrodden looking son.

"Chojiro? I haven't seen you in a couple of days, what are you doing here?" Tanaka asked curiously.

Chojiro simply sighed heavily as he went behind the booth and sat down on one of the crates.

"It didn't work out," Chojiro said, obviously sulking. The baby fat that was still on his face made him look even more ridiculous. In all honesty, Tanaka knew that his son wouldn't have done brilliantly with the little side show he had worked on with his friends. But he had figured that it was good thing that his lazy son was taking some kind of initiative and was trying to do something for himself. Tanaka figured that even if it didn't work out too well, Chojiro would be having a good time with his friends and he would maybe discover a little something about himself. Plus, if he had forced him to help him out during the festival, the end results probably wouldn't have been pretty.

"What didn't?" Tanaka asked curiously. "You guys were practicing for a while, did you get cold feet?"

Chojiro his increasingly pout face by slumping his head onto the table and burying his frowning mouth into crossed arms.

"No," came the muffled reply, Chojiro moved his head so that his chin was laying on top of his forearms.

"We started out fine, but then everyone caught word of this other guy that was awesome," Chojiro said, rolling his eyes.

Tanaka stifled a chuckle and looked briefly in the direction of the large crowd that was still quite large and blocking the main portion of the road.

"Awesome, you say?"

"Yeah," Chojiro said. "Some puppet guy that just came to town. No one knows where he's from, but apparently he's oh sotalented."

At this Chojiro started to mumble some things under his breath. Probably some unflattering things about the 'puppet guy' and his talent.

"Why'd he have to come into town now?" Chojiro complained.

"I'm not sure," Tanaka shrugged. "Sometimes the world works in mysterious ways."

"Uh-huh," Chojiro scoffed, his tone indicating that he didn't really believe his father. "Sure. Why not?"

"Well, if you've got nothing to do now, would you mind keeping an eye on the booth?" Tanaka asked cheerfully, slapping his son on the back.

"What?" Chojiro exclaimed, his body now standing up pin straight. "Wait! Dad! Wha- why?"

"Well, to check out what's going on, of course!" Tanaka pointed towards the mass of people that were clearly visible from around the corner.

"You can't!" Chojiro looked panicked now and confused, his eyes were wild.

"Sure, I can," Tanaka said, patting Chojiro on the back, his voice and movements were calm. "Now that I've got you here to look after things."

"B-But...Dad!" Chojiro protested.

"Now, now, Cho," Tanaka chuckled with good humor. "I've got a right to a little break. Besides I think I might know who this one is, if my hunch is correct."

After all, Sasori had put a couple of interesting wooden figures next to his door before they had left home that morning. Tanaka had questioned him about it, but the young man had simply shrugged. It never ceased to amaze him that although Sasori seemed to be around the same age as his son, he was infinitely more worldly, experienced, and capable. Not to mention his personality was completely different from his bumbling son's. Tanaka was hoping that this part of Chojiro's character would change in time, but it now, after so long, it seemed unlikely.

"Daaadddd!"

Tanaka chuckled as he jogged down the street towards the crowd that he been watching for quite some time. He used his elbows to work his way through the crowd, standing on his tiptoes to try and look over the heads of the people swarming the puppeteer. Tanaka cursed his slightly below average height and used his elbows a little more. Tanaka soon realized that the crowd was so big because they were giving the puppeteer a wide berth so that he had enough room for a stage. He was able to peek his head between the shoulders of two other men and they hardly noticed him due to their own boisterous clapping and cheering. Tanaka grinned when he saw the bright red hair and the familiar dark red kimono clad figure it was attached to.

'I knew it!' Tanaka thought as he grinned widely as he took in the dramatic little show that the small puppets were performing in front of them. Tanaka cheered along with all the others and grinned even wider when he saw all of the money that was being thrown at Sasori.

'He's really doing well for himself, isn't he?' Tanaka thought. The little figures were now enacting an epic battle of sorts, the two of them running around the 'stage', the movements so realistic that you could practically imagine the kind of people that would be having this kind of fight. Well, sort of. It wasn't as if anyone in this town would actually know something like that, but it definitely gave them a great chance to use their imaginations.

"I'm sorry, but I have to go now," Sasori told the crowd, his low voice somehow managing to cut through the noise of the entire crowd.

Predictably many of the people started protesting, loudly.

"I'll be here at the same time tomorrow," Sasori insisted as he collected his puppets and all the money that had thrown at the ground. Tanaka watched, amused, as several people went up to the irritable looking young man. They looked as if they were either trying to convince him to continue performing or thanking him. Either way, it looked like Sasori was going to fly into a murderous rage sooner rather than later.

Tanaka ran up to the small group that had formed around Sasori and made good use of his elbows once again.

"Sasori!" he called, catching the attention of the red head as well as the people around him. "There you are!"

Tanaka walked up to his side and placed a hand onto his shoulder.

"I need your help back at the booth. Since you're finished up here, mind helping me out?" Tanaka gave Sasori a cheeky grin.

Sasori rolled his eyes, but gave a grunt in agreement.

"Very well then," he said to Tanaka. "Goodbye."

Tanaka winced at the icy tone, but luckily his newest fans hadn't picked up on it and gradually cleared a path for the two of them to walk through. Tanaka put his arm around Sasori's shoulders, guiding him through, ignoring the slight glare that this action had gotten him.

Once they were far enough a way and half way to the booth where Chojiro was still sulking, Tanaka looked back to make sure that they were all dispersing and let out a sigh.

"Wow, Sasori," Tanaka said, taking his arm off of Sasori's shoulders, much to his relief. "You got real popular, real fast, didn't you?"

Sasori shrugged, but said, "I guess."

The little bag that he had put all of his earnings in jingled slightly. Tanaka eyed the obese looking bag curiously.

"How much do you think you got?" Tanaka asked conversationally.

Sasori shrugged again, not really caring for the mindless conversation.

"A lot, I suppose."

When they reached the booth, Chojiro scowled at Sasori, although Tanaka wasn't sure if it was because he knew that the red head was the one that had taken away whatever audience he had been getting or if he was just being his usual surly self.

"Oh, Chojiro, I guess you haven't met Sasori yet. He's been helping me out for the past couple of days," Tanaka said happily as he gave Sasori one last pat on the shoulder.

Chojiro scowled some more and grunted his greeting before reburying his face into his rolled his eyes and looked to Tanaka.

"Did you need me here?" Sasori asked, a questioning eyebrow raised.

"Not really, now that Chojiro's here," Tanaka told him as he sorted through some of his things. "You can still stick around, of course. I did promise you that if you helped me out, you could stay longer."

"Fine," Sasori said as he sat down at the booth and crossed his arms. Chojiro was giving him a glare from underneath the hair that was obscuring his eyes.

"I'm going to get some lunch. Do you boys want anything?" Tanaka asked. He grinned when both of them flinched when he called them 'boys'.

"Sure," Sasori answered for the both of them. Chojiro glared at the other some more, but reluctantly nodded his head as well.

"Alright then," Tanaka said. "I heard that there's a great placed to get some grilled eel just around the corner. I'll be back in no time!"

The scene that Tanaka left behind him was certainly the funniest thing he had seen in sometime. His moody son with a dark cloud hanging over his head was glaring at the stoic red head counting the money that he had earned not too long ago. Maybe Chojiro did know that Sasori was the one that had gotten that huge crowd.

Tanaka laughed to himself some more. Things certainly were more interesting around this time of year.