With one last negative look at the front door, the older man turned to Naruto. He got a bad feeling when he thought of the upcoming. The man stepped up to him, his face still stern. Then he bowed briefly.
"Forgive those troublemakers, I should put up a guard to deny entry to such uncivilized fools. I'm Shing, the owner of this teahouse. You've been one of the three new students who joined us, right?"
Naruto didn't expect word of their arrival to get around so quickly.
"Yes, that's right. I'm Naruto Uzumaki."
The man smiled briefly.
"It is an honor for me. Your stay in this village certainly has nothing to do with your education."
The fox cub was slightly taken aback at this statement.
"What do you mean by that?" He asked curiously and almost forgot to say the polite form of address.
"Well-" the tea house owner began, hesitating a little."You've probably heard of Takuro, haven't you?" He continued. When Naruto shook his head, he put on a knowing look.
"I almost thought so."
"Who is Takuro?" Asked the blond boy and the man put a finger to his lips.
"Shh!" He made. "It would be an advantage if we don't talk about it in public. If you like, we can talk in my office."
Naruto hastily agreed. His curiosity grew more and more. The man turned on his heel and walked towards the door, Naruto closely following.
The so-called office was very modestly furnished. Aside from a medium-sized desk at the far end of the room, there were only two shelves to the right. Shing sat at the desk while Naruto preferred to stand still. The fox cub waited impatiently for the old man to speak.
"In the last few years there has been a lot going on in this village and most of the residents consciously avoid talking about it.It is difficult to explain the matter clearly. Let's start with Takuro first. He is one of the most feared people in the Aarina Valley. But not much is known about him, except that he is extremely powerful. "
"What makes this Takuro so powerful?" Asked Naruto interestedly.
The man looked thoughtful.
"It's hard to say, the unpredictable thing about him is what makes him so feared."
The blond boy frowned, not having the slightest idea what Shing was trying to express.
"Didn't anyone try to defeat him?"
Shing laughed absurdly.
"You still don't seem to have understood what I'm talking about. Of course, many brave fighters have faced him, but to this day, not a single man has ever come back."
Naruto put on a frightened face.
"But that's not the worst part of it. Takuro seems to be gaining more and more supporters over time.The situation is becoming more and more hopeless. "Shing continued in a depressed voice.
"What is Takuro up to?"
"Nobody knows for sure.", The man replied and didn't take his eyes off Naruto.
"Where is he now?" The fox boy pestered and the tea house owner had a terrible suspicion.
"I don't know, and it's only for your best if you don't find out."
Naruto looked confused at the man.
"You should never act recklessly, but your teacher will surely make that clear to you. A young fellow like you shouldn't waste his thoughts on such unpredictable things. You will have to learn a lot in the next few weeks, maybe months. "Shing instructed him seriously.
"But someone has to do something about it!", Naruto said indignantly. "The whole village can't leave all of this to fate. What if Takuro Mangura wants to attack all of a sudden?"
The man looked at him with a mixture of understanding and pity."It's actually been something like that. But that was a few years ago, when it was Takuro's father who was striving for power."
This story captivated Naruto so much that he tried to find out more and more about it.
"Takuro's father? But what exactly did he do?"
Shing hesitated considerably. He avoided looking at the fox cub. Apparently he wanted to refuse to answer this question. Naruto looked at him perplexed.
"Did I say something wrong?"
The man looked at him again but said nothing. He sighed briefly. Naruto waited patiently to see if the tea house owner would decide to talk about it after all.
"I have to confess to you that I know more about Takuro's past than I first revealed. I have only spoken to very few people about it."
"Why?" Asked Naruto.
"Because I have something to do with it in a way," Shing said so quietly that he almost whispered. The blond boy widened his eyes."In what way?"
"It's a bit of a long story."
"Tell them to me!" Demanded Naruto, who had now reached the upper limit of his tension.
Shing took a deep breath.
"You are a very curious fellow!" He stated with a smile. "Well, I'll tell you about it. I moved here with my family back when I was middle-aged. We were a happy family. My wife Elena and my then daughter Sheila meant everything to me. Sheila was only then twelve. Since teaching is only allowed from fifteen at this school, we spent an infinite amount of time together. She laughed so often and had fun- "
Shing's voice took on a distinct trace of sadness.
"What happened then?" Naruto urged gently.
"We got into slight financial problems. For this reason I asked about work in the village. I was unsuccessful for a few days until I came to this tea house. Fortunately, the owner at the time was looking for someone who could take care of the reception.I proved worthy and that's how I got the job. In one fell swoop I made enough money to provide for everything and all financial problems were a thing of the past. But then a few months later something cruel happened. "
"What happened?" Asked the fox cub, who seemed to be captivated by this past story.
"The villagers often spoke of a powerful tyrant who was supposedly targeting the village. However, that was not entirely true. Takuro's father had no authoritative reason for it. When I arrived at home one day from my work at the tea house my wife Elena suddenly disappeared. I was terribly worried because Elena never left without letting me know. I ran out of the apartment and asked some villagers, but no one gave me any information. Nobody had heard or seen anything. But that is one wicked lie, I tell you! "
Now the man's voice suddenly sounded angry."So you think people lied to you? Why should they do that?" Naruto asked incredulously.
"You're asking the wrong person! I guess they were afraid that Takuro's father would take revenge on them and their families as soon as they told me something. Because up to that point I didn't know anything about Takuro's father. I knew yes only the gossip of the residents. Anyway, I finally met my daughter, who was sitting down by Lake Shiro. She behaved strangely, however. She hardly spoke to me and she kept staring up at the sky. When I then asked her if she knows where Elena is, she gave me a look, oh god, I'll never forget that look. "
Shing's eyes were beginning to get tears.
"It was a strange look where you could recognize hatred, contempt and sadness at the same time. She only told me that it was all too late now. Then she described to me that two men had broken into our apartment and forcibly took Elena with them.I gave Sheila into the care of Elena's closest friend at the time and went on the arduous journey, in search of Elena. After a long time I met Takuro's father. However, it was not a coincidence, no, he had known that I would come, he had been prepared. He told me that he had already killed Elena, but I didn't believe him. I tried desperately to find out where he was hiding it, but it was in vain. Takuro's father had told me the truth and he proved it in a cruel way. He showed me her lifeless body. This sight haunts me to this day, I will never be able to forget it. "
Naruto looked at him touched, while Shing tears ran down his cheeks.
"But that wasn't enough for him," the man continued with a trembling voice. "Of course, in my anger, I rushed at him, but I didn't have the slightest chance. Takuro and his father are masters of magic.Your teacher will have to tell you more about this. Nonetheless, I did not give up easily. I tried to hurt this despicable tyrant in a variety of ways, but through his power of magic, I couldn't even touch him. And as if that wasn't enough, he laughed at me. He laughed and then told me that I would lose my daughter too. I was shocked, of course, but he enjoyed seeing me in this position. Then he disappeared without a word and left me alone in the clearing. I rushed back to the village as quickly as I could to protect my daughter, but I was late. Takuro's father's followers had already fetched Sheila and killed Elena's girlfriend. Because of this, I despise some of the villagers and blame myself for the worst. I'm such a fool, I should never have left the people I care about most alone.I am to blame for their deaths and I will never forgive myself for that. You should know that Takuro is no different from his father. Stay away from him as long as you can. He acts cold hearted and merciless. Don't make the same mistake as me. Always keep an eye on the people who are close to your heart! "
Shing rose from his desk and turned his back on Naruto. He didn't want to show the boy his tears. The man looked out the window with a glazed look while the fox cub stood petrified in front of the desk. He would never have thought that the tea house owner had had such a terrible past.
"It's not your fault, you tried everything to save Elena and Sheila.", Naruto tried to cheer the man up, but he just shook his head.
"I shouldn't have let it come to that." Shing claimed without looking at the boy.
"You couldn't have guessed that!""It's okay! You don't need to encourage me. I'll have to put up with it. I don't want to appear impolite under any circumstances, but I ask you to tell me a little quiet now.", Said the man and turned around to Naruto around.
"Thank you for telling me about your past!" The blond boy replied politely and turned to leave.
"I think it's good that I could talk about