Blue-Faced Dou Erdun Steals the Imperial Horse

Naruto had made these flashy Flying Thunder God marks not just for fun. Well... not entirely for fun.

For instance, if he passed through some interesting place while on a mission in the future, he could change the mark to "Naruto was here" and leave it on a landmark. Then, whenever he had time, he could bring Hinata over to visit.

Of course, that counted as uncivilized tourist behavior, so children should absolutely not imitate it.

For another example, if he found an opportunity during a fight to leave "Your Mother Is Dead" on an enemy, it would both serve as a mark and taunt them at the same time. Killing two birds with one stone—truly a genius idea.

Naruto also had a grand plan. He intended to have his Shadow Clones run all over the world, leaving Flying Thunder God marks at regular intervals and marking them with latitude and longitude. That way, Naruto could obtain a huge teleportation map of the ninja world.

Then, paired with the precise positioning of Naruto's Mind's Eye of the Kagura mini-map, wouldn't that mean... he could open a logistics company?

Uzumaki Express, guaranteed delivery!

Sealing Techniques for perfect packaging, Flying Thunder God Technique for ultra-long-distance delivery, Mind's Eye of the Kagura for solving the last mile!

Uzumaki Logistics Company, the best choice in logistics!

After returning to the Training Ground, the excited Naruto increased his weights to one hundred kilograms and started running laps around the field. He ran ten kilometers first to celebrate, bouncing around like a happy husky.

Inside the Sealing Space, the Nine Tails yawned boredly. He had once thought this brat Naruto was rather interesting. Later, after the brat learned the Shadow Clone Technique, the Nine Tails had been thoroughly enlightened—so humans could die this happily; humans could commit suicide over such trivial matters; humans could strike poses like that.

Having witnessed Shadow Clone JOJO Poses, the Nine Tails now looked at Naruto's original body with utter disdain. This brat was so boring. What was so fun about running laps? Why not perform a handstand while drinking water, then choke yourself to death for this old man to see?

After a while, Naruto finished his laps drenched in stinky sweat. After catching his breath a few times, he hurriedly left the Training Ground again. He needed to order some Special Kunai.

At Konoha's largest ninja tool shop, Naruto looked around but did not see the little girl with the Dango hairstyle. He wondered whether this shop belonged to Tenten's family.

Naruto took out Minato's kunai as a sample and said he wanted to order one hundred first, urgently.

The owner grinned so broadly his mouth nearly twisted sideways. He recognized it at a glance. Wasn't this the Hokage-sama's personal kunai? He had made plenty of them before and knew the design well.

As Naruto left the ninja tool shop, he touched his now-flattened Little Frog Wallet and could not help singing, "Blue-faced Dou Erdun steals the imperial horse~ Red wages aren't enough to spend~"

As expected of the arms business—it was fucking expensive!

"Brat, I sense Shukaku's aura."

"Huh?" Naruto stopped walking and activated his mini-map. About two streets away, four clusters of Chakra—one large, one medium, and two small—were moving together. It looked like Gaara and his two siblings, plus their jonin team leader.

The Nine Tails sat up. "Go beat him up."

Naruto refused. "Quit messing around. They came here under the pretext of taking the Chunin Exams. It wouldn't be appropriate for me to beat him up for no reason. It might even turn into a diplomatic dispute."

"You actually consider things like that?" The Nine Tails was surprised. Wasn't this brat the type to do whatever popped into his head? Since when had he started looking before he leaped?

"Being mischievous is one thing, but screwing over your dad is another. We can't live like Boruto." Boruto truly deserved to be Uchiha Sasuke's disciple. Whatever he did, he always acted on a whim. As long as I act on a whim, my dad won't be able to guess what trouble I've caused this time.

"Who is Boruto?" The Nine Tails discovered the Blind Spot.

"Apparently, it's a nonflammable substance. If you throw it into Amaterasu, even Amaterasu will go out." Naruto made up an explanation with a straight face.

The Nine Tails glared at him. He was saying things a fox could not understand again.

Naruto forcibly returned to the subject. "That isn't important. Anyway, once we meet during the exams, I'll have a proper reason to beat up Shukaku."

"..." Unable to fight Shukaku anytime soon, the bored Nine Tails lay back down. "I want barbecue."

"..." Naruto took out his flat wallet, tearfully made a Shadow Clone, and handed it his last few bills. Controlling the clone, the Nine Tails happily headed straight for the Barbecue Restaurant.

Watching his cheerful retreating figure, Naruto came to a life philosophy—men without money did not deserve to keep Fox Spirits.

Back at the Training Ground, Naruto told Kushina that the One-Tail Jinchuriki had come to participate in the Chunin Exams.

Kushina's expression turned grave. If it was only the One-Tail Jinchuriki, she was confident she could handle it herself. The problem was that if Sunagakure Village truly had some ulterior motive, they could not possibly have sent only the One-Tail Jinchuriki. When the time came, Konoha would surely suffer considerable casualties. She needed to discuss it with Minato.

Naruto's expression was equally grave, because he simply could not understand how this Kazekage dared to do it. He did not know whether Orochimaru was involved yet, but even if he was, did the Kazekage really dare to come and Cause Trouble in Konoha?

The Uchiha clan had not been wiped out. Both the Third Hokage and Fourth Hokage were still around, and Jiraiya had returned to the village. Was he looking to get beaten up? Given a regiment, would he even dare to attack Peace County?

Naturally, Naruto could not figure it out, because he was playing with all his cards on the table. But Rasa was not. He only knew that Konoha was strong, and that Sunagakure would probably lose if they truly fought. Yet he did not know exactly how strong Konoha was.

In fact, Rasa himself was also trembling inside. He did not want to Cause Trouble either. If they could develop smoothly and steadily, who would want to risk their lives? But Rasa had it hard. Sunagakure was poor to begin with; apart from sand, the desert lacked everything. And the Land of Wind's daimyo constantly withheld Sunagakure Village's funding.

It had forced him, the Fourth Kazekage, to personally use ninjutsu to pan for gold and subsidize the village. The Kazekage line possessed a Secret Technique of Magnet Release.

The Fifth Kazekage Gaara controlled ordinary sand, the Third Kazekage controlled Iron Sand, while the Fourth Kazekage Rasa was even more impressive—he controlled Gold Dust. Whenever that guy fought, riches and splendor covered the ground. Anyone beaten to death by him could definitely be said to have received a glorious funeral.

Unfortunately, panning for gold was only a temporary measure. Over time, gold would become less and less valuable. In order to find a way to gain some benefits, Rasa could only take a gamble. If it succeeded, everyone would be happy. If it failed, he could use the opportunity to go cry poverty before the daimyo:

"Konoha is already so strong, yet you still cut our funding. What if the Land of Fire starts a war someday? Wouldn't we just get beaten like dogs?"

At worst, they would lose some manpower. No matter how he calculated it, it would not be too great a loss.

And just as Rasa was having these thoughts, Cold Lord Orochimaru, one of the Three Legendary Sannin and a famous rogue ninja influencer in the ninja world, came to him and said he wanted revenge against Konoha.

It was like receiving a pillow just as he was getting sleepy. Everyone knew that Orochimaru had once been hunted by Konoha, so wanting revenge was perfectly reasonable. The two immediately hit it off.

Thus, Sunagakure met the serpent at the village gate, and one glimpse of Orochimaru ruined a lifetime.

To know what happened next, listen to the next chapter.

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