After cleaning up the battlefield and successfully retreating to the temporary base in the Land of Hot Water, there were no further complications.
Seeing the excitement on his subordinates' faces, Neji felt somewhat proud as well. It had been a fairly successful assassination. They had wiped out fourteen enemy ninja, eliminated the mission target and all his servants, while only four of their own ninja had suffered minor injuries.
While cleaning up the battlefield, they had also found nearly six million taels' worth of banknotes on the mission target, an additional gain.
Neji sent Zuo Mu and Duanlong, along with two Chunin and the wealthy merchant's head, to the Black Market to collect the mission reward. He then sat down to meditate and recover from the strain caused by opening the Four Gates.
Through these two battles, Neji had roughly determined that he currently possessed combat strength close to that of an Elite Jonin. His chakra was still insufficient; he had explosive power, but lacked endurance in prolonged battles. For the foreseeable future, he would focus primarily on increasing his chakra, with further physical training as a secondary priority.
After resting for the night, everyone had fully recovered.
Neji gathered the four men in the meeting hall. Before them lay the twenty million taels in mission rewards Zuo Mu and Duanlong had brought back, along with the six million obtained from cleaning the battlefield and the remaining three million they had acquired from looting.
Nearly thirty million taels was no small sum, but it was still not enough to establish a sizable base in the capital of the Land of Hot Water.
Thinking of this, Neji revealed his second money-making plan: gambling, just as he had done before.
The four men were stunned when they heard Neji's words. This didn't fit his style at all. It was ruining his image. Yet none of them dared say much, so they could only listen silently while complaining inwardly.
Once they heard Neji's complete plan, the four men all declared it feasible. This time, with more people available, they split up to scout locations. Each person was responsible for watching two targets, carefully observing their words and behavior so as not to give themselves away. Thus, even with Neji helping them cheat at gambling, the four men took great care in selecting suitable targets. Neji did not need to worry about them.
In just three days, all four had found suitable targets and gained a general understanding of their circumstances. On the fourth day, Neji began his gambling enterprise once more.
Each person prepared five hundred thousand taels as gambling capital. After Neji explained the details they needed to watch out for, he acted as the coordinator while the four men used Transformation Jutsu in turn and went to gambling houses. They agreed that each transformed identity could win no more than around two million taels before beginning the operation.
After roughly two more days, all four successfully reached their targets and withdrew. Though they had tried their best to restrain their greed and had not won excessively large amounts, two of them still attracted covetous attention. People secretly followed them, intending to kill them and steal their money, but under Neji's Byakugan, they had nowhere to hide and were instead easily killed by Neji.
After dealing with the eight people in disguise, Neji and the four men counted their spoils: over fifteen million taels. Neji was very satisfied, and Zuo Mu, Duanlong, and the three Chunin were satisfied as well. As expected, following a good boss meant there was meat to eat.
The following matters went smoothly. Neji spent twenty million taels to buy a large residence on the outskirts of the capital of the Land of Hot Water. The nearly ten-mu estate was backed by mountains and faced the water. If its location had not been somewhat remote, he definitely would not have secured it at that price. This estate would become Neji and his subordinates' first official base, with Zuo Mu and Duanlong stationed there in charge.
Following Neji's requirements, they also built Neji's second laboratory beneath the estate. This laboratory would primarily be used to research the use of Senjutsu.
Senjutsu played a pivotal role in Naruto. Techniques activated by absorbing Natural Energy from the natural world were known as Senjutsu.
The difficulty of cultivating Senjutsu could be described as demonic. Broadly speaking, it consisted of three steps:
First: sense the Natural Energy in the natural world.
Second: guide the Natural Energy from the natural world into the body.
Third: control the Natural Energy guided into the body and activate it according to different methods of use. The techniques thus activated were Senjutsu.
The first step alone, sensing Natural Energy, stumped ninety-nine percent of people. Not only was Natural Energy sparse throughout the Shinobi World, but even in the Three Great Sage Lands, where it was relatively abundant, almost no one could sense Natural Energy on their own. They all needed external assistance to perceive it.
The second and third steps were equally difficult and extremely dangerous. A single mistake could lead to a miserable end.
Why did Neji dare research Senjutsu in the Shinobi World, where Natural Energy was sparse and he had no assistance? It was because he had a bold idea: the "Natural Energy Purification Plan."
Although Natural Energy was sparse in the Shinobi World, that also proved that Natural Energy did exist there. There was simply so little of it that most people could not sense it, and thus could not cultivate Senjutsu.
But if the Natural Energy in the Shinobi World were purified and concentrated, then if tenfold concentration was not enough, he would make it a hundredfold. If a hundredfold was not enough, then a thousandfold, until Natural Energy could be sensed.
The equipment required to achieve this would be considerable. Some of the instruments did not exist in the Shinobi World at all and could only be redeveloped by Neji himself. Still, as long as the road was not cut off, it did not matter if it was narrow. As long as it could be walked, that was enough.
After once again emphasizing the laboratory renovation requirements and the equipment that needed to be purchased to Zuo Mu and Duanlong, Neji prepared to leave. He had already been away from Konoha for seven or eight days, and he was genuinely worried that something might have happened to his Shadow Clone.
Zuo Mu and Duanlong looked at the list of laboratory equipment Neji had left behind: a Large Air Compressor, Large Centrifuge, Large Compressor, and various other auxiliary machines.
The more than twenty million taels still in their hands no longer seemed appealing to Zuo Mu and Duanlong! It looked like they would have to find a way to work and earn money again, or where would they get the funds to buy so much equipment?
Neji ignored Zuo Mu and Duanlong. After packing his things, he set off for Konoha.
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