Supplies

The bandit leader saw Naruto snap the ninja blade in two, so he dropped the broken half, retreated rapidly, and wove hand seals: Snake-Ram-Monkey-Boar-Horse-Tiger. He was casting the Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu.

Seeing the opponent use ninjutsu—and a fire-style one at that—Naruto did not attempt to tank it head-on. Although he wanted to test if he could withstand ninjutsu now, he knew that even if he could, his clothes certainly wouldn't survive, so he chose to dodge.

After evading the fireball, Naruto didn't give him a chance to use any other techniques. He flashed forward and struck the man on the back of the neck; naturally, Naruto controlled his strength, merely knocking him unconscious to the ground.

As the bandit leader lay on the ground, clutching his neck with one hand and struggling to push himself up with the other, Naruto walked over, kicked him back down, and placed a hand on the bandit leader's head.

Soul Search—a technique recorded in the Supreme Demon Sutra for reading the memories of others.

As Naruto executed the Soul Search, the bandit leader passed out. A moment later, Naruto opened his eyes and let out a cold snort. "Hmph, damn Shimura Danzō. No wonder this group of bandits was so close to Konoha and never got wiped out despite being posted on the mission board. It looks like Hiruzen Sarutobi is well aware of this."

It turned out this bandit leader was a reserve ninja for Root, codenamed Blue Bird. He had been sent here to act as a bandit under Shimura Danzō's orders. He wasn't the original leader; he had arrived a year ago, killed the previous leader, and subdued the underlings to take charge.

They didn't act often, usually waiting for intelligence from Shimura Danzō, and most of the stolen goods were sent to him as funding for Root's development. Furthermore, in Blue Bird's memories, it seemed Shimura Danzō had other channels for acquiring funds, though he didn't know the specifics.

After reading the memories, Naruto projected the images concerning Shimura Danzō into the Sealing Space and had Kurama condense them into small balls of light. Then, Naruto punched Blue Bird in the chest, ending his life.

Sensing that there were no living bandits left in the stronghold, Naruto used the Transformation Technique to change his appearance and went to the cells to release the captives.

A portly man stepped forward, bowed to Naruto, and said, "Benefactor, thank you for saving us. I am from the Matsushita Clan of the Capital of Fire..."

Before he could finish, Naruto coldly interrupted, "No need. You can leave now."

Hearing the man mention his clan, Naruto knew exactly what he wanted—nothing more than to take back the stolen supplies.

The man, who had intended to say more, saw Naruto's indifferent expression, noticed the bloodstains on his clothes, and recalled the screams he had just heard. He understood what had happened, so he gritted his teeth and led the group down the mountain.

Watching them leave, Naruto gave a disdainful "tch." "Saving you is enough; you still want to take the goods?" He turned and walked toward the room where the bandits stored their loot.

The door was locked, and since Naruto hadn't thought to grab the key, he had to force it open. He kicked the chain, and the force was so great that the entire door shattered into splinters.

Awkwardly scratching his head, Naruto walked inside. The room wasn't very large, but it was piled high with supplies. At the front were some metals, likely the loot from today.

He picked up a piece of metal and examined it, but couldn't make heads or tails of it. He then tried channeling his spiritual energy into it and was pleasantly surprised to find that the metal could withstand his energy. He increased the output, yet the metal remained unchanged; in fact, it even slightly enhanced the intensity of his spiritual energy.

"This must be Chakra Conductive Metal. What a pleasant surprise." Naruto was quite excited.

He had originally planned to visit the Land of Iron, but now that he had this pile of Chakra Conductive Metal, that trip was no longer necessary.

Chakra Conductive Metal was refined from the Stone of Gelel, a specialty of the Land of Iron, using special methods. Weapons made from this metal could significantly increase the power of ninjutsu.

He had intended to go to the Land of Iron specifically for this metal, so finding such a large stash here was truly an unexpected windfall.

Besides the Chakra Conductive Metal, there were several large crates in the room. He opened them one by one; aside from a crate of explosive tags, they were filled with gold coins, jewelry, and antiques. At the back stood a row of shelves, with only a small box sitting on one.

He opened the small box to find a pitch-black stone the size of a fist. He picked it up and examined it, finding nothing special. When he tried to channel spiritual energy into it again, he felt his energy being rapidly sucked away, so he quickly cut the connection.

The stone remained unchanged after absorbing his energy. Feeling frustrated, Naruto activated his sensory perception, attaching his primordial spirit to the stone in hopes of seeing its internal structure. This action led to a surprising discovery: as soon as his perception touched the stone, he sensed it emitting spatial fluctuations.

Unlike the spatial nodes Naruto saw when practicing the Flying Thunder God, the fluctuations from this stone felt more like consumption—or perhaps containment.

At this moment, Naruto remembered the Encyclopedia of Strange Objects he had read, a book he had obtained from the memories of the remnant soul he had devoured. It recorded all sorts of bizarre items from that world.

After observing it repeatedly, Naruto finally confirmed his suspicion and said excitedly, "I never expected a Space Stone to exist in the ninja world. Now, not only can I forge a halberd, but I can also acquire spatial equipment."

Although the ninja world lacked the methods to craft spatial equipment, Naruto had them. His mind held a massive collection of crafting manuals. He hadn't studied them yet, partly because his spiritual energy lacked fire-attribute properties, and partly because he didn't want to learn too much; his current training regimen already kept his schedule packed.

As for that crafting manual, Naruto had already found a future owner for it.

Through his recent training and practice, Naruto could now perform the Flying Thunder God with a single-handed Rat seal. He could also transport people or objects wrapped in his spiritual energy.

After checking all the supplies in the room, Naruto manipulated his spiritual energy to wrap around everything and activated the Flying Thunder God. In an instant, the room was cleared.

The scene shifted as Naruto arrived at the cave entrance. He created Shadow Clones and had them move all the supplies into the cave, while he walked over to the clone who had been using a crystal ball to spy on the Anbu entrance. "How is it? Any discoveries?"

"Shisui Uchiha has only been to Root once. Nothing else special," the Shadow Clone replied without turning his head, keeping his eyes on the crystal ball.

"Good, keep watching. Contact Kurama immediately if anything happens," Naruto instructed.

"Understood, no problem," the Shadow Clone replied.

Soon, the supplies were moved into the cave. Naruto grabbed a backpack, filled it with a few gold coins and some explosive tags, and left the rest. Carrying too much was a hassle and useless; if he needed anything later, he could just come back for it.

With the bag of gold on his back, Naruto returned to the bandit stronghold. He hadn't dispelled the Shadow Clones he had created earlier; when he returned to the valley, he had them move all the bandit corpses into the main hall, including the two sentries he had killed at the start.

After sensing that nothing had been missed, he walked to the main gate, pulled out some explosive tags, threw them inside, and detonated them. Flames soared into the sky, turning the mountain structure into ruins. As for Naruto, he had already leaped down the mountain the moment he triggered the tags.

Carrying his bag of gold, Naruto walked toward his next destination with a light, cheerful step.

Before heading to the Land of Hot Water, Naruto stopped at the nearby Muyuan Town. This town sat at a major transportation hub leading to various parts of Konoha, making it quite prosperous.

Here, one could see special goods from every nation.

Beef and sake from the Land of Lightning, tuna and flowers from the Land of Wind, rock-cuisine restaurants from the Land of Earth, and seafood restaurants from the Land of Water—all could be found in this bustling town.

However, Naruto didn't pay much attention to these; he headed straight for the bank. His top priority was to exchange the gold coins for banknotes. While carrying a bag of gold felt great, it was too troublesome to use.

He took a number at the bank and waited his turn. When he reached the counter, the staff member showed a look of mockery upon seeing a child.

Naruto didn't say a word about the clerk's attitude; he simply dropped the backpack onto the counter.

When the clerk unzipped the bag and saw the pile of gold coins, her attitude changed instantly. Naruto didn't say much, just asked her to open a savings account, deposit the gold, and give him 200,000 ryo in banknotes.

Driven by the gold, the clerk processed everything quickly. After receiving his passbook—which showed a balance of over five million ryo—and his 200,000 ryo in banknotes, Naruto turned and left.

In truth, 200,000 ryo wasn't much. Inflation in the ninja world was severe; a bowl of regular ramen at Teuchi's shop cost 60 ryo, and with extra toppings, it usually came to around 100 ryo.

With the banknotes in hand, Naruto went out into the street and ate every snack he could find before checking into an inn. As soon as he entered his room, Naruto entered the Sealing Space. The two people and one fox inside were still continuing their grand game of "Fight the Landlord." They all practiced their cultivation at night, and once the day came and they had nothing to do, they would start again.

After this period of cultivation, Kurama's size had expanded once more; his fur looked even sleeker, and its color had deepened into a dark crimson, resembling a burning flame when viewed from afar.

After greeting Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki, Naruto Uzumaki said to Kurama, "Kurama, manifest the map for me."

Immediately, spiritual energy converged in front of Kurama, forming a map marked with various points and a planned route.

"Kurama, remove the Land of Iron from the map," Naruto Uzumaki continued.

"Got it, there's really no need to go to the Land of Iron anymore." Within the Sealing Space, they all knew that Naruto Uzumaki had already obtained a batch of Chakra Conductive Metal. Consequently, the point marking the Land of Iron vanished from the map, and the planned route was disrupted.

At this moment, Naruto Uzumaki turned to Minato Namikaze and said, "Dad, please re-plan the route; there's no need to mark the locations of the other bandits for now."

Hearing this, Minato Namikaze stepped forward and traced the map with his finger. As his finger moved, a new route appeared on the map.

Provided by the great Ti Ta, author of Starting as the Hokage by Drawing Asura Chakra.