Chapter 683 - 683: Put a Ring on that Finger!

"You're not from around here, are you, dear customer?" the salesman said eagerly, who had already consolidated his mental image of Sasuke as an easy mark on whom he could unload his merchandise. "Then it would make sense that you wouldn't know about this tradition…"

Sasuke glanced in the mirror. Still nobody…

"Around these parts, and maybe even as far west as the sea, lovers exchange wedding rings when they get married," the salesman explained. "Alliances, they're called… it's a way to signal to others, I'm already taken, so don't even bother, get it?"

Sasuke looked up from the pocket mirror. That did sound rather appealing to him.

Sakura was a rather flirty girl and she often dressed suggestively, so other men often misconstrued her friendliness for genuine romantic interest, like that idiot Naruto. If she had a ring on her finger, other men wouldn't get the wrong idea and put the moves on her, knowing she belonged to Uchiha Sasuke…

"Go on," he said obliviously.

Rather lacking in self-awareness, Sasuke was the number one person who needed to back off from Sakura now that she was going out with Naruto.

"A strapping young man such as yourself must be quite experienced with the ladyfolk, am I right, eh?" the salesman said, leaning over the pillar of baubles littered across his stall to give Sasuke a playful nudge with his elbow. "There's nothing women like more than accessorising, making themselves pretty with all sorts of shiny things… and there's nothing they love more than wedding alliances, since they're both shiny and meaningful!"

Since the merchant had taken Sasuke for a foreigner, he skipped over the part about how a man wearing a ring would give his better half peace of mind. Wedding bands were meant to assure wives that their husbands would not go about flirting with other women, who would see the ring on their finger and stay away… but the reality was that single women actually preferred married men, since their kind already had a proven track record.

"The weight of the ring on your finger acts as a reminder to you lovebirds that, even though you might sometimes find yourselves apart physically, you will always be connected spiritually!" the salesman explained, concluding his sales pitch. "Now, please look over here, dear customer, I have a fine array of rings popular with the capital city's women… gold band with an inlaid diamond is a favourite, that's for certain… only seven hundred thousand ryō for a matching pair, and I'll even throw in that pocket mirror for free… and that's a bargain, dear customer!"

"Seven hundred thousand, eh?" Sasuke muttered to himself. "That's two zeroes off the price on Sakura's head on the black market when she first became a wanted woman… could this be fate?"

Sasuke still treasured the bingo book entry for Sakura, complete with the artist's rendition from six years ago; he kept it in his wallet. At the time, her bounty had been worth seventy million ryō, but it was now in the hundreds of billions… a few zeroes higher than his and Naruto's.

"I'll come back later for the ring, keep it safe for me," Sasuke said abruptly, slamming a ten-thousand-ryō bill on the table and pocketing the mirror. "I'll just take this for now. Keep the change."

He had just spotted a very familiar face in the mirror.

The salesman merrily waved goodbye as Sasuke dipped into a nearby dark alley.

"Thanks for the business, dear customer!"

'What the hell is Kabuto doing here?' Sasuke grimly thought to himself. 'If the tail of the snake's in Redaku… then the head can't be too far behind!'

To make matters worse, Sakura's face was plastered all over the city, making it abundantly clear that the Hidden Leaf Village had some measure of presence in the Land of Redaku. He could only hope Orochimaru wouldn't recognise the pink-haired girl on the posters as Tsubaki… thankfully, they were not photographs, but photocopies of official artwork commissioned for the play. With some luck, the threat of Sakura's presence would chase Orochimaru away from the capital and deter him from looking too deeply…

Sasuke counted to ten.

"Transformation Jutsu!"

If Sasuke had to gauge his cells' remaining energy levels, he'd estimate his potential chakra output at 20% of his peak. He couldn't afford to waste chakra on Transforming, but neither could he afford to show his tail.

After counting to ten a second time, Sasuke emerged from the dark alley looking like a shopper he'd seen earlier. Taking great care not to look in the direction where he'd last seen Kabuto, he began nonchalantly making his way through the market towards his final destination in the entertainment district.

The grand theatre itself was a rather impressive-looking building made of white marble, with a pagoda-style tiled roof. Pricking up his ears as he walked past the entrance, Sasuke listened to the actors rehearsing inside. If he wanted in, he'd have to find some other way to enter, since the theatre was closed to the general public on days when they didn't put on performances.

Fortunately, Sasuke was a ninja.

Circling the grand theatre once revealed an open window, while a second lap revealed an opening. When no one was looking his way, he rapidly clambered up the tall wall on the building's side and vaulted through the window before dropping onto the rafters. The theatre's interior consisted primarily of the main auditorium, whose ceiling was rather high. Provided the actors did not look up, no one would see him perched on the wooden beam...

…but there was scaffolding up here, along with lengths of wire and harnesses, which meant that people definitely worked in this part of the theatre. Wasn't this supposed to be a play about ninjas, Sasuke wondered? If so, there were bound to be special effects and wire rigging to simulate a shinobi's abilities. There was always the possibility that a backstage technician might appear when he least expected it.

"Where's Tsubaki…?" Sasuke murmured to himself.

The actress playing the Sixth Hokage on stage with the other actors didn't look anything like Tsubaki… what was up with that? From above, Sasuke could see that she had cloth stuffed down her top to create the illusion of a fuller figure…

…and fortunately, he would not have to wait long before the actors took a break from rehearsal and began gossiping amongst themselves.

"I still can't get over the fact that you got pushed out of the main role by that fat-titted harlot who came out of nowhere," the actress playing Ino sighed. "The production is sure to be a failure if she keeps skipping rehearsals… how can the king not see that his precious play is going to end up falling apart?"

"Too busy enjoying the palace life, I imagine," the actress playing Sakura in Tsubaki's absence said in a huff. "Little hussy from the countryside, first time seeing the capital… let me tell you, it is NOT worth it to have the attention of a royal. Oh, she might feel like a princess for as long as the honeymoon period lasts, but you'll see, one day they'll get tired of her and discard her like an old pair of socks."

She sniggered.

"Besides, it's not as if I really cared about the play to begin with," she said dismissively. "It's basically just a glorified hero show for brats, nothing too deep."