By the lake, in a wooden house.
The door of the wooden house stood open. Li Tong came out with his sleeves rolled up, carrying a basin of dirty water. He poured it into the drainage ditch behind the house, then went to the lake, filled the basin with clean water, and returned inside.
The wooden house wasn't large, but it had all the necessary facilities. It had three rooms in total: an entry hall, a kitchen of about four square meters, and a bedroom.
When Li Tong had first arrived, the place had already been cleaned, and it was stocked with everyday necessities, tables, chairs, pots, and bowls. But Li Tong was far from satisfied.
It was too dirty!
So he'd spent the entire morning cleaning instead of doing anything else. He'd wiped down every inch of the wooden house three times, inside and out. Even the beams shone like new.
Inside the house.
He set the basin of clean water on a stand for later, then let out a long breath. Looking around at the room that seemed to be "sparkling" everywhere, he smiled with satisfaction—only for his expression to turn miserable a moment later.
"There's nowhere to bathe. I'll need to build one, buy some pipes, dig a drainage ditch, and get a large wooden tub..." Li Tong took the money Chen He had given him from his clothes. He counted it as he muttered, "I haven't eaten yet... I'm starving... The bedding is old... I need to buy new stuff... Everything costs money, money, money..."
Ten taels and forty ryō in total.
Since this was a different era, Konoha now and the Konoha of the original story's Year 60 had different currency values and exchange rates. In fact, the difference wasn't all that great; it mainly came down to purchasing power.
Konoha's official currency currently came in two denominations: ryō and taels.
One hundred ryō equaled one tael.
In other words, Chen He had given Li Tong 1,040 ryō.
"I'll go take a look around the street. At the very least, I should be able to afford enough to fill my stomach..." Li Tong tucked the money he'd counted into his clothes.
At midday, the busy streets of Konoha were packed with people. It was the busiest time of day for restaurants and taverns, and everywhere he looked, ninja were gathering with friends.
Dressed in a Konoha Ninja uniform, Li Tong walked along the street, checking the prices at the various restaurants.
Many restaurants here hung wooden signs in their windows, listing dishes such as beef noodles, hot soup noodles, and shrimp noodles at an angle, with their prices below.
A bowl of hot soup noodles: ten ryō!
A bowl of beef noodles: fifteen ryō!
A large bowl of shrimp noodles: twenty ryō!
The prices weren't especially high. The real problem was that Chen He had given Li Tong very little relief money. If he ate noodles for all three meals every day and chose the cheapest bowl of hot soup noodles, it would still cost him nine hundred ryō a month.
Of course, buying groceries and cooking for himself would be much cheaper. The money Chen He had given him would be enough to cover a month's meals, but only just. He'd have to stick to ordinary food, and he wouldn't have enough left over to buy even a few new clothes.
After figuring out the purchasing power of the money, Li Tong started looking for a restaurant.
Amu Shop: too dirty!
Yamato Ramen: too dirty!
Hot Fire Restaurant: too dirty!
Li Tong's obsessive cleanliness had completely taken over. He couldn't stand the greasy tables or the filthy towels draped over the servers' shoulders. Eating there would be a waste of food. He'd throw up...
"Dual-Colored Eyes, that's him!"
"That Rain Ninja defector!"
"Damn it, that guy killed our Konoha Ninja. How did he end up joining us?"
As Li Tong searched for a place to eat, he heard people talking about him. He acted as though he hadn't heard a thing and kept walking.
He'd been out for over half an hour and had heard plenty of similar whispers. There was no doubt that news about him had spread through Konoha, and much faster than he'd expected. Li Tong didn't care. He'd been prepared for this, and Konoha Anbu Ninja were secretly protecting him. For now, he didn't need to worry too much about his safety.
Baiye Inn!
A twelve-story wooden restaurant, right in the busiest part of town. It was luxuriously decorated, impressive from the outside, and, most importantly... clean!
Li Tong looked at Baiye Inn's entrance and nodded in satisfaction before walking inside.
"Welcome! Right this way... Hey, what would you like to eat? Our lobster is excellent. It was brought in from the East Sea just this morning..." The server at Baiye Inn was exceptionally enthusiastic. As soon as Li Tong walked through the door, he came over and led him inside, chattering nonstop.
Li Tong took in his surroundings. The first floor was enormous, with more than thirty tables, and nearly every customer eating there was a ninja.
Near the back of the dining hall, by a window.
"Here's the menu." As soon as Li Tong sat down, the server handed it to him.
He flipped to the first page, and his expression immediately darkened.
Teriyaki beef and mushroom noodles — one tael and fifty ryō!
Li Tong flipped through a few more pages. The prices of the hot dishes were even harder to look at. He slowly turned toward the smiling server, the corner of his mouth twitching. He wanted to say something, but the words wouldn't come.
He really wanted to ask, Is this place a rip-off?!
A bowl of beef noodles cost ten times as much as it did at an ordinary restaurant!
This place was upscale!
This place was clean!
The customers here were all ninja!
That was why it was expensive!
But this was far too expensive!
"One bowl of beef noodles!" Li Tong snapped the menu shut with a "smack" and said calmly.
He was already here, and he'd already sat down. With the server watching him so eagerly, Li Tong couldn't bring himself to walk out. He'd find a way to get money. Li Tong believed that, with his abilities, earning a little money in Konoha would be no problem.
After eating his fill, Li Tong left Baiye Inn.
He had only eight taels and ninety ryō left—that was, eight hundred and ninety ryō.
Actually, he'd initially planned to dine and dash. If he refused to pay and it turned into a confrontation, the ninja secretly protecting him would surely show up and cover the bill for him. But... Li Tong couldn't bear the humiliation!
Outside Baiye Inn was the busiest part of Konoha's commercial district, and the streets were full of people. Li Tong did his best to avoid bumping into anyone, but he still brushed shoulders with people from time to time.
As he walked, Li Tong kept an eye on his surroundings. Konoha was still unfamiliar to him.
At last, he made it past the most crowded stretch of road, and he felt much more at ease.
Thud—
Suddenly, someone coming toward Li Tong bumped into his shoulder. Li Tong stumbled and nearly fell. The man was in a hurry. He muttered, "Sorry," then quickly walked away.
Li Tong glanced back. The man was tall and thin, wearing a conical hat and carrying a katana at his waist. He looked like a traveling samurai, but Li Tong could see his information: he was a Rain Ninja!
"He..." Li Tong had only just started to mutter when his expression suddenly changed.
He felt something new on his person! As a magician, Li Tong was used to hiding things on himself, so he was extremely sensitive to this sort of thing. He slipped his hand into his right pocket and felt a piece of paper... Was it a secret message? But why had that guy seemed hostile?
Li Tong had already decided to defect to Konoha, and Konoha Ninja were keeping him under covert surveillance. If he did anything suspicious, he'd be asking for trouble!
So the moment Li Tong felt the paper in his pocket, he pulled it out.
It was a rectangular tag, a little larger than an adult's palm, brown with dark-red edges. A complex black Cursed Seal pattern covered it, with a single character in the center: explode!
Li Tong's eyes widened instantly, his pupils shrinking sharply!
He'd read the original Naruto story. He knew what this was!
Damn it! It was an Explosive Tag!
That guy hadn't been trying to contact him in secret!
It was an assassination!
At the same time, Chen He had been following Li Tong for over half an hour, out of boredom that afternoon. His expression changed dramatically as he saw the Rain Ninja defector, who had only just joined Konoha, pull out an Explosive Tag in the middle of a busy street!
"Stop! What are you doing?!" Chen He shouted, leaping down from a nearby rooftop.
Three other Anbu Ninja rushed toward Li Tong alongside him.
"Damn it, they really are trying to kill me..." At that moment, Li Tong finally understood the danger he was in. He hadn't expected the crisis to come so soon, so suddenly, and with such ruthless intent!
The Explosive Tag was in his hand. It could go off at any moment!
"Damn it... Damn it..."
The flesh on Li Tong's face twitched. His fingers suddenly blurred into shadows as he folded the Explosive Tag in half with one hand. The rectangular tag became a square, poker-sized card.
He took a step back, bent his wrist, leaned his body back, and swung his arm in a full circle, hurling the folded Explosive Tag with ferocious force.
Whoosh—
The Explosive Tag spun like a Shuriken, chasing after the conical-hatted man as he hurried away. Li Tong had mastered a superhuman card-throwing technique, and this body was immensely strong. It was a killing machine trained by Amegakure, with a terrifying level of raw physical strength.
The piercing sound of it cutting through the air rang out!
The tall, thin man had been silently counting down to the Explosive Tag's detonation. The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end. He sensed danger coming and heard the sound of a projectile. He whipped around and slashed horizontally with his sword! The next instant, his face froze in shock.
Rumble—
The Explosive Tag spun toward him and detonated, engulfing the tall, thin man in flames!
"Ding! Host has completed a counter-kill scenario for the first time. Reward: 1,000 Prestige points."
"Ding! Host has defeated a stronger enemy for the first time. Reward: one random B-rank Ninjutsu card."
"Ding! Host has Prestige points. The Prestige Exchange System has been activated."
"Ding! Host's attribute panel has been activated."
The moment the tall ninja was blown to pieces, Card Emperor Sprite's notifications rang out one after another in Li Tong's mind. He also saw three cards fly out from the ninja's body, each wrapped in a ball of light and hovering above the corpse.
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