[Special Reward: strength +10!]
A surge of strength poured into his body. Gekko Chizan slowly closed his eyes, feeling the arrival of that strength, then waited a little longer.
The system had said that this operation had successfully screwed over a huge number of people—there was no way the reward was just this little.
But he waited for a long time, and still didn't hear anything else from the system.
"Hey, stingy system, that's it? Just ten points of strength??"
[That's it. What, not enough for you? Host, you should know that as a miserly system, being able to give you ten attribute points in one go is already a blessing!]
[What? Or should I break it up into single points and give them to you ten times? That's not impossible either, you know.]
Inside Gekko Chizan's mind, countless grass-mud horses galloped past—the scene was nothing short of epic!
"No, listen, I didn't just screw over civilians and ordinary ninja. Even Ōnoki and the upper echelon of Iwagakure didn't escape. This reward is off!"
"You stingy—"
[Hmm?]
"...Forget it. You're the boss. Whatever you say goes!"
What else could Gekko Chizan say? The sky was big, the earth was big, but the system was the biggest. Getting a reward at all was already good—what more could he want, a bicycle?
All of the above was just Gekko Chizan's imagination!
Turning off the system interface, Gekko Chizan immediately went berserk!
"Damn it! Dead system! Stingy system! Docking my rewards!!"
A whole string of curses flew out, colorful as could be.
"Chizan, what's wrong with you?"
"You're just watching a show and you've managed to make yourself go berserk?"
"Goodness, terrifying, truly terrifying."
Chōmei watched Gekko Chizan's face cycle from green to white, then red turning black, then black turning purple. He was utterly absorbed—just missing a couple liang of bugs and some liquor.
"Hmph, it's nothing. Let's go, Chōmei."
"I figure Iwagakure won't be eating seafood for the next few years."
"First to the Land of Hot Water, then we're heading to Sunagakure."
...
The Land of Hot Water was the area Pakura was responsible for. A flower shop, huh? Sounded pretty good.
As for Sunagakure, Gekko Chizan simply wanted to check on how Gaara was doing, and see if he could stir up some trouble.
After all, earning a bit of attributes wasn't easy these days.
...
Several days later, in the Land of Hot Water, there was a prosperous central town called Hundred Flowers Township.
Gekko Chizan smiled as he looked at the town. Without a second thought, he walked straight in, his legs moving as if they had built-in navigation, heading directly to the largest bathhouse.
"Good stuff. The hot springs of the Land of Hot Water—absolutely delightful."
Even though he was married, even though he had kids, everyone loved beauty!
Bathrobe on, hot spring soak!
Transparent Release activated! Everything in full view!
...
Meanwhile, three streets away, inside a flower shop.
"Hm? Gekko Chizan has come to the Land of Hot Water?"
"Are you sure you didn't see wrong?"
The flower shop owner, Terumī Mei, wore a long cyan robe and looked exceptionally beautiful. Though not very old, the capable, sharp aura about her was growing stronger by the day.
"Boss, absolutely no mistake. The men watching the entrance direction personally saw Gekko Chizan enter Hundred Flowers Township."
"Should we notify anyone?"
After all, Gekko Chizan's reputation in the ninja world was huge. Konoha's ghost—such a terrifying existence suddenly arriving in the Land of Hot Water was bound to make people wary.
But Terumī Mei wasn't afraid. What was there to fear? After all, he was her own bastard teacher.
"No need to be on alert. It's fine. Ninja go on missions—it's normal."
"Where did he go?"
Terumī Mei had even started to think that her teacher coming to the Land of Hot Water might be to check on her situation.
After all, she'd been out for nearly two months already. Checking the results wasn't impossible.
"He went to the bathhouse. He's soaking right now."
Uh… bathhouse…
Terumī Mei was no longer the naive little girl who knew nothing. During her time in Takigakure, Yugito had thoroughly enlightened her about Gekko Chizan.
Voyeurism, stealing, gambling—every kind of black label had been slapped onto Gekko Chizan.
If this man went to a bathhouse, soaking was secondary. Hmph.
"Alright, I know. No need to pay attention to his movements."
"But recently, gather more intelligence on the commercial side of the Land of Hot Water."
Terumī Mei knew very well that intelligence was only the first step. Once intelligence gathering was complete, big moves would follow.
So the important thing next was money—because no matter what you did, it cost money.
Sigh, it's exhausting being human. Kakashi, will you miss me?
Little did she know that the Kakashi she was thinking about had already returned to the Land of Fire.
...
"So, the previous daimyō was very likely assassinated by his own people."
"Yes, Hokage-sama. But the other side covered their tracks extremely well. Even after a month, we haven't found any obvious flaws."
Inside the Hokage's office, Namikaze Minato's brows were knit tightly enough to crush flies.
The assassination of the former daimyō had thrown the Land of Fire into turmoil for a long time. Yukimura's commission was to investigate the true cause of the daimyō's death.
Now it seemed the daimyō's death really was suspicious—assassinated by his own people…
"Alright, let's leave it at that for now. The other side was too cautious; it'll be hard to catch them."
"But Kakashi, based on your analysis, who's the most likely?"
Kakashi pondered for a moment, then slowly spoke two names:
"The commander of the ninja forces and Ma—"
"The Land of Fire daimyō's minister, Masaki…"
"Only they have the motive to assassinate the daimyō. I don't think the others do."
Namikaze Minato leaned back in his chair and nodded, then dismissed Kakashi.
After Kakashi left, another figure entered the office.
Seeing who it was, Namikaze Minato was a little surprised.
"That's rare. You actually came here on your own. Is something up?"
"Perfect timing, though. Help me analyze something."
"Do you think Kakashi's guess is correct, Shinnosuke-san?"
Shinnosuke shook his head. He was a frontline combat type. For these brain-burning matters, if he could avoid thinking, he would—otherwise he wouldn't have joined ANBU.
Better to exert strength than waste brainpower.
"You should be asking Nara Shikaku about this. Why ask me?"
"But I want to ask—when is that bastard coming back? The next round of ANBU training is about to start."
"Recently, several major countries around us have had covert movements. It's better to be cautious."
Yes, the reason Shinnosuke had made this rare visit was to ask for manpower.
After the war, ANBU had begun recruiting outstanding ninja again. Quite a few good seedlings had joined. He and Gekko Chizan, as the two ANBU instructors, had been arranging reasonable training plans for them.
And then that guy ran off on a mission, leaving him alone.
So lonely!