Trouble!

Cherry Blossom Village.

As its name suggests, this place is covered with cherry blossom trees and is a mountain village that resembles a paradise. Unfortunately, there is no tourism here, so the people here are relatively poor and have very little income.

In such an impoverished village, it's inevitable that a music lesson shop will have no students, and it looks like it'll soon have to close down.

"Alas! Is my musical talent destined to be lost forever? Even my last student has left."

The shop owner was an elderly man with white hair, holding a flute-like instrument by himself, lost in thought.

This instrument is called the Shakuhachi, and it is a very popular instrument in the world. Many people play this music.

Unfortunately, no one in the village wanted to learn a musical instrument from him.

"Well!"

The old man sighed deeply again, picked up the Shakuhachi, and began to play.

You know what?

As a veteran performer, his playing was still very rhythmic and beautiful, even attracting some passersby to stop and listen.

Some of the children looked on with interest, seemingly eager to learn.

After the old man finished playing, he looked at the children and hurriedly said...

"Little Tree, Nakamura, would you like to learn musical instruments with me? It's free, and I'll provide you with three meals a day. How about it?" the old man said hopefully, looking at the two little boys not far away.

The old man's family was not poor; in fact, they were considered relatively wealthy in the village because his son was a small businessman. This allowed the old man's family to live comfortably; otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to afford to open a shop.

Certainly.

He's taking on apprentices, so he definitely can't pay them. Providing them with three meals a day is already more than enough; it's the biggest concession he can make. Otherwise, he'd lose his last shred of dignity.

Now that he had made that promise, the old man looked expectantly at the two children, hoping to see them nod.

"I'm sorry, Grandpa, I still need to work and earn money. My parents don't want me to learn musical instruments, and I don't want to be a burden to them," said the little boy Nakamura.

"Yes, I have younger siblings to take care of, and I want to earn more money to support them, so I'm sorry."

The other child also shook his head in refusal; it was clear he was very interested in the music, but unfortunately, he ultimately declined for the sake of his family.

"Well!"

Upon hearing this, the old man sighed deeply, completely giving up his last glimmer of hope of taking on a disciple.

"Father, let's go home. We're already lucky to live in such a dangerous world. Let's put the instruments aside for now."

A slightly overweight man walked over from a distance. He came to the old man's side, tugged at his clothes, and said persuasively.

"Hmph, it's all because of you! You've been studying the same piece for ten years and still haven't mastered it. Otherwise, I wouldn't have needed to find other disciples. It's all your fault."

The old man, upon seeing his son, flew into a rage, picked up his musical instrument, and began to beat his son until the boy grimaced in pain.

Ultimately, all his skills will be buried in the Kitsuchi, never to be passed down, which is the old man's greatest tragedy.

Ta-ta-ta!

Rhythmic footsteps sounded, and soon two figures approached from a distance.

"Excuse me, do you teach musical instruments here?"

A faint voice drifted over, not loud but strangely reaching everyone's ears, naturally attracting the old man's attention.

"You want to learn a musical instrument?"

Upon hearing the question, the old man hurried over and looked at the other person with surprise and delight.

"Yes, but I don't want to become an apprentice. I just want to learn some basics, or at least some basic materials," Naruto said calmly, pulling Hinata along.

"Not going to become an apprentice?"

The old man was slightly taken aback upon hearing this, and then a deep disappointment appeared on his face, because he would have preferred to have his own disciple.

Undeterred, he continued, "Listen to me, you can only learn more professionally with a teacher's guidance. Without a teacher, you definitely won't learn well, and even after five or six years of study, you won't make any progress."

After the old man finished speaking, he continued muttering, listing a long list of the advantages of having a master and a long list of the disadvantages of not having a master.

In short, the message is that you'll never learn a musical instrument well without a teacher.

Naruto was getting a headache from all this nagging, especially since the other person smelled like garlic, which left Naruto speechless. He took a step back and said again.

"How about this, you sell me the shop and all the materials inside, and I won't trouble you with learning the instrument."

"This..."

Upon hearing this, the old man resumed his nagging mode, rambling on and on, until Naruto almost wanted to turn around and leave.

Finally, the old man realized that Naruto was determined not to become an apprentice, and he sighed.

"Forget it, this run-down shop doesn't have much, just a few books and some musical instruments. You don't need to buy anything, I'll rent them to you."

"Alright."

Naruto nodded, readily paid the money, and then pulled the adorable Hinata toward the music instrument shop.

The old man was somewhat interested in taking on a disciple, but in the end he shook his head and went home with his son.

Inside a musical instrument shop.

Naruto closed the shop door and went behind the counter to look through the leftover documents.

There are a lot of materials here, mostly introductory, but there are also some more professional ones, so it's quite detailed.

Naruto took out a reclining chair from his spatial storage, embraced Hinata, and began to review the information. His Divine Soul was powerful, and his memory was extraordinary, so memorizing this information was very easy for him. And don't forget about the Shadow Clone Technique.

Bang bang bang bang!

A white mist filled the air, and soon Shadow Clone Technique appeared inside the shop.

"Take one book each and read it carefully," Naruto said calmly.

"Good."

The Shadow Clone Technique quickly picked up the materials and began studying them, each one completely absorbed in the knowledge presented.

Meanwhile, Naruto ordered his Divine Servant to create various musical instruments.

There aren't many musical instruments in this world, and only a few are famous, such as the Shamisen, Shakuhachi, Taiko, 17-string koto, and Satsuma biwa, among others.

These instruments are too few. Naruto plans to find more instruments to see which one is more suitable for the Soul Cultivation Method. After all, it's about improving his strength, so he can't be careless.

Moreover, he had a feeling that when his Divine Soul was elevated to seven colors, he might gain unimaginable benefits.

Although he didn't know what the benefits would be, Naruto had a feeling that it was definitely one of the benefits he had always dreamed of.

Filled with anticipation, Naruto continued to immerse himself in his studies.

This study lasted a very long time, from daytime until the early hours of the next morning. By then, Naruto and his Shadow Clone Technique had finished reading the materials in their hands.

However, simply memorizing the information is not enough; to apply and master it, long-term practice is still required.

"Let's enter the Tsukuyomi Space to study. No matter how much time passes there, it's only a moment in the outside world. Anyway, we've already memorized the information, so all that's left is to apply and practice it."

Naruto murmured as he activated Tsukuyomi, taking Hinata with him into the Tsukuyomi Space.

Time passed slowly, and two more days went by in no time.

It had only been three days since Naruto rented the music store.

During these three days.

The shop owner, the old man, was constantly preoccupied with his musical skills, wanting to pass them on, but unfortunately, he was unable to do so.

Feeling irritable, he picked up his instrument at home, ready to play, when suddenly he heard the sound of running outside.

Bang!

The door to the room was pushed open, and his son rushed in.

"Father, hurry! Something's happened at your shop!"

"Something happened? What happened? My shop doesn't have West City there. As long as they don't smash it up, what could possibly happen? Wait, they're not really going to smash my shop, are they?"

The old man also stood up anxiously.

"It's not about smashing up the shop. Come with me and you'll see. You'll understand when we get there."

The old man's son didn't say much, but pulled his father out quickly, appearing very anxious.

This anxiety made the old man serious; he didn't know what had happened, and he became uneasy.