The total cost came to over two hundred thousand ryo. This time, Xing Ran had not only bought a lot, but bought expensive goods as well. He needed to replenish his dwindling supply of healing medicine and make some higher-end products. Since it was his first time compounding medicine, he had to prepare extra stock. Even someone as formidable as Xiao Yan had ruined countless medicinal herbs, hadn't he?
After a simple disguise, Xing Ran easily found a casino. Casinos all had blacklists. To prevent highly skilled gamblers from disguising themselves with the Transformation Technique, they usually had their own preventive measures. High-end casinos had sensory barriers, while low-end ones kept it simple: an iron rod that violently conducted Chakra fluctuations. Like airport security, a sweep in front of a person could interfere with the Transformation Technique.
Therefore, whenever Xing Ran went from casino to casino, he relied on makeup and clothing to disguise himself. It was a little troublesome, but the results were pretty good.
The reason disguises worked was only because he was dealing with casinos. Few ninja excelled at disguises, and ordinary people relied even more heavily on the Transformation Technique. It was convenient and effective, unlike crude disguises that still revealed one's general build and outline.
"He really did go gambling again. No, youth would always have moments when it wandered down the wrong path. Youth was also prone to making mistakes. I have to stop him." Hidden among the distant crowd, Might Guy and Nara Izumi had followed Xing Ran here. They had arrived at the Hokage's Office far earlier than Xing Ran, so naturally they had not been chatting with the Hokage. Lord Hokage had assigned them a secret mission beforehand: correct Xing Ran's gambling addiction as much as possible and guide him onto the right path.
"Wait a little longer. You know the saying, nine out of ten gamblers lose, right? We'll go after he loses badly. It'll be more convincing." Nara Izumi's mind worked quickly. She grabbed Might Guy, wearing an expression as though everything was under control.
Of course, Xing Ran knew that his two teammates were watching him. In fact, ever since they had parted that morning, the two had been trailing behind him like little tails.
If he had not awakened Superman's vision and hearing, which had also boosted his sensory abilities, he truly would have had trouble discovering who they were. After all, these two were no random nobodies; their stealth and tracking skills were not bad.
He simply did not know why they were watching him. Could he have exposed some clue after awakening his superpowers? There was nothing about this outing that he needed to hide. As long as he acted flawlessly, he should be able to feed them false information regarding his awakened abilities... right?
Putting the matter of being watched aside, business came first: gambling! More precisely, winning money. For the current Xing Ran, it was already second nature. Their agreed gathering time was before four in the afternoon, so time was not especially plentiful. Xing Ran quickly entered gambling-god mode. Winning nine out of ten times was too exaggerated, but seven out of ten was about right. Whenever he deliberately lost, Xing Ran loudly made a fuss; whenever he won, he wished he could turn into a tiny nobody.
Even so, when Xing Ran had won nearly eighty thousand ryo, his sharp senses detected several gazes from hidden corners of the casino locking firmly onto him.
He quit while he was ahead. Xing Ran treated casinos as cash machines, but he could not shear all the wool off a sheep at once. He promptly made a strategic retreat.
Outside the casino, Might Guy and Izumi were dumbfounded. Xing Ran had not been thrown out after running out of money. What was with the attendant seeing him out while bowing and scraping, looking as though he was welcoming a great master who should never come back again?
Over the next few hours, Might Guy and Izumi witnessed Xing Ran's small shoulder bag transform from a refugee into someone in the late stages of obesity. Judging by how ridiculously swollen it had become, Xing Ran had... struck it rich.
In truth, Xing Ran would not call it striking it rich. Maintaining such an inconspicuous presence while winning for several straight hours had not been easy. He stopped after winning three hundred thousand ryo. Of course, there was another important reason: there were not many casinos in town, and he had spent quite a while in each one. If he kept gambling, it would become very difficult to remain unnoticed. There was still over an hour until their gathering time, so there was no question about it—he had to experience how the hot springs here differed from those in his previous life.
However, an hour later, Xing Ran was somewhat disappointed. The hot springs were indeed good, but they were not all that different from the high-end hot springs of his previous life. If he had to name a difference, he could only say that the service philosophy and facilities of hot spring inns in his previous life utterly crushed those of this world.
At the pharmacy, he settled the payment in full. Before the gathering time, Xing Ran also bought many tools for making medicine. Some pharmacies carried them, while others could only be bought from general stores, such as pressure cookers and a large number of empty bottles.
On the way back, Xing Ran wanted to laugh when he saw the hesitant expressions on Might Guy and Izumi's faces. He did not know whether they had noticed anything suspicious after watching him for so long, but they had definitely seen his triumphant performance at the casinos.
Ha ha, making money was so easy that they must be jealous to death. Serves them right for spying on me. Now they can't bring themselves to ask about my gambling—money-making—secrets, can they? Choke on it.
"Izumi, about money being one of the ninja's three prohibitions... as long as it isn't spent recklessly, that doesn't count as breaking the taboo, right? Losing money gambling is reckless spending, but what about winning?" Back at camp, Might Guy, who had remained silent while rebuilding his worldview, finally seemed to have figured something out. In a dull voice, he asked Nara Izumi, who was likewise rebuilding her worldview.
"Investment?... I don't know either. The information Lord Hokage gave us mentioned that this kid seemed unusually lucky. He won more than he lost. Can luck really stay that good forever? Could it be gambling techniques..." Nara Izumi's tone was equally uncertain. Clearly, she was trying her best to connect something as illusory as luck with secret techniques and ninja arts. Well, gambling techniques were techniques too.
"So, what about the mission Lord Hokage assigned us? What if he keeps winning like this..." Might Guy began to agonize over his mission.
"You're worried we won't get the chance to wait for Xing Ran to lose, and won't get the chance to guide him onto the right path?" Izumi had thought of that too, and her expression darkened slightly. Without the backdrop of him losing terribly, using words to save a lost lamb would be extremely difficult.
"No. I heard that blocking someone's path to wealth is like murdering their parents..."
"..."
After returning to his temporary tent, Xing Ran immediately began simmering the medicinal herbs.
Xing Ran had not bought that many medicinal herbs for his own use this time. The reason they had been so expensive was that, aside from the commonly used medicines for treating bruises, injuries, and cuts that would mostly be shared by everyone, Xing Ran had also bought many powerful tonics for himself. Wild Ginseng made up the bulk of them. Because it had to be at least ten years old, it was extremely expensive.
There were also several special herbs found only in the ninja world, which were important supplementary ingredients in the prescription.
Looking at the prescription he had copied down by hand, Xing Ran sighed with emotion. The ancients had not lied when they said that scholars were poor while martial artists were rich. To train the body healthily, regular medicinal baths were an indispensable part of the process, and the quality of the medicine directly affected the medicinal bath's results. Using ten-year Wild Ginseng as the standard for the primary ingredient, one dose of medicinal bath medicine cost roughly forty thousand ryo. Across the entire ninja world, the only clans that could probably afford to train taijutsu so extravagantly were the Hyuga of the Gentle Fist and the Tsukuyomi Clan of the Steel Body Style.
Well, the Kaguya Clan's taijutsu was also exceptionally powerful. But supposedly, they were a crazy clan whose members were not quite right in the head. Their finances probably ran into trouble, so they had no money to play their MP, and were ultimately wiped out...
To be continued.
One hundred thousand words already. Time to sign a contract!
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