The weakness of the Blood-Reflux State was much more violent than Naruto Uzumaki had imagined.
Naruto leaned against the wall, exhaling a long, foul breath, and felt the fatigue and burning pain welling up from the depths of his cells.
Far from feeling even a sliver of depression, a playful smile instead curled the corners of his mouth.
Now that's what it's supposed to feel like.
If I really had infinite stamina and an indestructible body, wouldn't conquering this world be as boring as playing a single-player game with cheats enabled?
There are restrictions to have challenges.
There is a price to pay to feel the thrill of conquest.
He twisted his somewhat sore neck, adapting to this body temporarily switched back from "Gundam" mode to "GM" mode.
Although his physical fitness and chakra recovery speed had dropped to the level of an ordinary Genin, and his meridians still felt like hundreds of little crayfish were having a party inside, burning hot with pain, it was still more than enough to deal with a few small-time characters.
All right, getting down to business is what matters.
Naruto straightened his body once more and cast his gaze toward that warm and exquisite flower shop on the street corner.
Offering polite inquiries cannot compare to bestowing a massive fortune.
Yet for a treasure of a girl like Hinata, who was delicate in thought and introverted in emotion, flowers—gifts full of a sense of ritual—were forever the trump card to conquer her psychological defenses.
What was more, Hinata's favorability toward him had already reached a whopping 85 points, leaving only one final push before completely winning her over!
The system truly never deceives me; this bond critical hit is simply the meta answer, and I must pamper Hinata to death!
Naruto calculated cheerfully in his mind, walking with a brisk step toward the Yamanaka Flower Shop.
However, just as he turned a corner and walked before a relatively secluded alley, a string of arrogant cursing drilled into his ears.
"Damn old man! Are you deaf? Are you going to pay this month's protection money or not!"
"If you don't hand over the money, believe it or not, I'll smash this crummy dango stand of yours!"
Hearing the sound, Naruto looked over and saw that at the entrance of the alley, in front of a crude stand selling tri-color dangos, several ruffians with a rascally air—who at a glance were clearly no good sort—were shoving and jostling an elderly grandfather with white hair and a stooped figure.
Terrified, the old grandfather squeezed all his wrinkles together as he tremblingly shielded his little stand, his mouth continuously uttering pleas.
"Honorable sirs, have mercy. I... I really haven't made any sales today, I truly have no money..."
"No money? If you have no money, you dare set up a stall here?"
The leader among them, a ruffian with dyed yellow hair and an ear stud, shoved the old grandfather aside and raised a foot to kick the dango cart.
Oh ho?
Konoha's public security had already deteriorated to this extent?
In broad daylight, extorting a lonely old man on the street?
This script looked familiar no matter how he viewed it.
If he were his old stubborn self from the original story, he probably would have had his blood boiling by now, jumped out to shout "Stop right there!", and then argued with this bunch about the Will of Fire and protecting comrades.
Pity that he was now Naruto Uzumaki.
A pragmatist who believed that truth only lay within the range of a fist.
Even though the system stated his physical fitness had dropped to the level of an ordinary Genin, that was measured by ninja standards.
The baseline skeletal density and muscle fiber quality bestowed by the Sage Body were a permanent, flawless-grade modification; even with insufficient chakra supply, his sheer physical quality remained far above ordinary people.
To deal with small fry like this who didn't even know ninjutsu, chakra reinforcement was unnecessary.
Far from detouring, Naruto instead sneered, shoved his hands into his pockets, and strolled casually into the alley as if he were wandering through his own backyard.
His appearance happened to block the yellow-haired ruffian's path.
"Hey! Are you blind, dammit? You're blocking your dad's way, get lost!"
The yellow-haired ruffian was holding back a belly full of fire with nowhere to vent, and seeing a blond kid unsparingly thrusting himself forward, he immediately trained his muzzle on Naruto, spraying spittle high into the air.
Yet Naruto couldn't even be bothered to lift his eyelids.
He didn't even deign to spare a single word of nonsense.
He simply slowly raised his right hand.
Amid everyone's astonished gazes, a crisp, resounding slap—loud enough to go down in history—suddenly exploded in the quiet alley!
Smack--!!!
So crisp was the sound, and so fierce the force, that anyone who heard it would grieve and anyone who listened would weep!
The yellow-haired ruffian, who had been arrogant to the extreme a second before, spun like a high-speed top, completing a 720-degree rotation in midair that even professional gymnasts would find difficult to achieve!
In midair, a parabola composed of saliva, blood, and over a dozen teeth carved out a poignant arc.
Thud!
In the end, the yellow-headed youth heavily smashed against the wall five meters away, sliding down like a lump of mud with his head tilted to the side as he passed out cold on the spot.
The entire alley fell into a dead silence.
The remaining two or three ruffians nearly popped their eyeballs out, the kunai they had just half-fished out clattering onto the ground.
They looked at the human-shaped painting on the wall, then back at the blond teenager before them who wore an indifferent expression, as though he had merely swatted to death a mosquito, and a chill rushed from the soles of their feet straight to their crowns!
What the hell... were they seeing man or ghost?!
He slapped a 150-pound adult flying five meters away, complete with two and a half midair rotations?
What was this, shooting a movie?
"Who... who the hell are you?!"
A ruffian mustered his courage and asked with a trembling voice.
Naruto finally deigned to lift his eyelids, sparing them a glance as though looking at trash.
Tch, weakness periods are truly annoying; just beating some small fry gets my hands dirty.
He muttered softly to himself, and his figure instantly flashed!
Everyone only felt a blur before their eyes!
Crack!
Aargh--!
Crack! Crack!
My hand! My leg--!!!
A succession of teeth-grating bone-fracturing sounds and pig-slaughtering screams rang out densely!
It took no more than three seconds altogether!
The ruffians who had been standing there a moment ago showing off their might now all had their limbs bent at bizarre, twisted angles, lying on the ground rolling and howling in pain like a pile of broken puppets.
Naruto stood on the spot, frowning imperceptibly.
Although he was only dealing with small fry, pure physical output without chakra reinforcement really did intensify the burning sensation of the "crayfish party" in his meridians by a few notches.
It seemed that during the recovery period, this kind of technical-free physical labor should still be minimized.
He took a deep breath to suppress the discomfort, without even sweating, and strolled leisurely up to those "human-shaped wallets," squatting down slowly.
"Big brothers, coming out in the world isn't easy, is it?"
As he spoke, his hands skillfully fumbled around the ruffians, completely cleaning out the bulging wallets stuffed inside their chests.
"Coming out to 'work' so hard in broad daylight, your harvest must be considerable, right?"
Naruto poured all the banknotes out of the wallets, counted them roughly, and nodded with satisfaction.
A thick stack—at the very least, it came to over a hundred thousand ryo.
"Not bad, not bad. It seems your operational capacity is quite strong."
He tucked the money into his own bosom, then patted the cheek of the ruffian closest to him, smiling like an innocent and harmless angel.
"First time meeting, and I don't have anything good to give you. I'll just borrow this money to spend as mental damage compensation from you 'juniors'."
"You... you guys are robbing! Robbing in broad daylight! The Military Police Force won't let you off!"
A ruffian endured severe pain, roaring with a stern face and a weak voice.
"Oh? Robbing?"
Naruto stood up, looking down at him from above, the innocent smile at the corners of his mouth instantly turning grim and terrifying.
"You call this robbing?"
"I call this--zero, dollar, purchase!"
Using the tip of his shoe, he lightly kicked the ruffian's broken leg, and amid the other man's painful groan, he slowly spoke:
"Besides, you're going to report me to the Military Police Force? Great, go ahead. Just chat with the Uchiha folks about how much protection money you've collected all these years, how many commoners you've bullied, and by the way, confess who's backing you behind the scenes."
"When the time comes, we'll see whose crimes are greater—yours, or my 'robbing' of you."
Hearing those words, the ruffians' complexions turned instantly pale, and they no longer dared to utter a peep.
The dango stand grandfather, who had witnessed all of this from start to finish, was already scared out of his wits, shrinking into the corner and shivering.
He had never seen such a ruthless scene in his entire life.
The cruelty of this young-looking blond teenager's strikes and the tyranny of his actions were simply more underworld than these ruffians and scoundrels!
Having finished dealing with this trash, Naruto casually pulled a 10,000-ryo note of the largest denomination from the thick stack of bills in his pocket, walked up to the old grandfather, and tossed it forward.
The banknote fluttered down into the old grandfather's embrace.
"Old man, take it to fix your stand, and by the way, change to a better spot. Don't set up shop in an alley mixed with fish and dragons like this."
Clutching the brand-new banknote, the old grandfather froze for a moment, looked up at Naruto, and moved his lips, yet not a single word came out.
As for Naruto, he didn't even bother to look at him again.
"I'm off."
He waved his hand dashingly, pocketed the "massive fortune" he had robbed, and walked out of the alley without looking back, leaving behind a ground full of wailing ruffians and an old grandfather left in disarray in the wind.
The ancients said that killing people and setting fires brings golden belts; that was the fastest way to make money.
With this startup capital, buying flowers for little darling Hinata meant buying the very top-tier ones!
A mischievous smile hooked the corner of Naruto's mouth as he quickened his pace in high spirits, walking straight toward the brightly lit, floral-scented shop at the end of the alley.
The sign of the [Yamanaka Flower Shop] was close at hand.
Before you continue