A Run-In with Injustice? Just Rob the Thugs!

The weakness brought on by the Blood-Reflux State hit harder than he had imagined.

Naruto Uzumaki leaned against the wall and slowly exhaled, feeling the exhaustion and burning pain rising from the depths of his cells.

Not only was he not discouraged in the slightest, a playful smile instead curled across his lips.

"Now this is more like it."

"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 on?"

Limits created challenges.

Costs made conquest satisfying.

He rolled his slightly sore neck, adjusting to a body that had temporarily switched from "Gundam" mode back to "GM" mode.

Though his physical recovery and chakra regeneration had fallen to the level of an ordinary genin, and his meridians felt as though hundreds of crawfish were throwing a party inside them, burning with pain, dealing with a few insignificant nobodies would still be effortless.

"Enough. Business comes first."

Naruto straightened up again and turned his gaze toward the warm, elegant flower shop at the street corner.

Empty concern was worth less than a huge cash payment.

But for a precious girl like Hinata, someone delicate and reserved with her feelings, a ritualistic gift like flowers would always be the trump card for breaking through her defenses.

Besides, Hinata's favorability toward him had already reached 85 points. He was just one final push away from winning her over completely!

"The system really didn't lie to me. This bond critical hit is practically the answer to everything. I have to spoil Hinata rotten!"

Naruto happily plotted to himself as he headed briskly toward Yamanaka Flower Shop.

However, just as he turned a corner and reached a relatively secluded alley, a burst of arrogant shouting reached his ears.

"You old bastard! Are you deaf? Are you paying this month's protection fee or not?!"

"If you don't cough up the money, believe it or not, I'll smash your crappy dango stall!"

Naruto looked over and saw several hooligans who clearly looked like no good standing around a shabby tricolor dango stall at the mouth of the alley, shoving an elderly man with graying hair and a hunched back.

The old man was so frightened that all the wrinkles on his face had scrunched together. Trembling, he shielded his little stall and begged without stop.

"Gentlemen, please have mercy. I... I haven't even made a sale today. I really don't have any money..."

"No money? Then you still dare set up a stall here?"

The leading thug, with dyed blond hair and an earring, shoved the old man aside and raised his foot to kick the dango cart.

Oh?

Konoha's public security had gotten this bad already?

Extorting a helpless old man in broad daylight?

This script looked awfully familiar.

If he were still the single-minded idiot from the original story, he would probably have gotten fired up, jumped out, shouted "Stop!" and then lectured these people about the Will of Fire and protecting one's companions.

Unfortunately, he was Naruto Uzumaki now.

A pragmatist who believed that truth only existed within the range of one's fists.

The system said his physical abilities had fallen to the level of an ordinary genin, but that was by shinobi standards.

The foundational bone density and muscle fiber quality granted by the Sage Body were permanently perfected. Even without enough chakra, his raw physical abilities were still far beyond those of ordinary people.

Against fodder who could not even use ninjutsu, chakra enhancement was unnecessary.

Rather than taking a detour, Naruto sneered, shoved both hands into his pockets, and sauntered into the alley as if he were strolling through his own backyard.

His appearance happened to block the blond thug's path.

"Hey! Are you fucking blind? You're blocking your daddy's way. Get lost!"

The blond thug had been looking for someone to vent his anger on. Seeing a blond brat foolishly approach him, he immediately turned his hostility toward Naruto, spraying saliva everywhere.

Naruto could not even be bothered to lift an eyelid.

He did not even offer a single word of nonsense.

He merely slowly raised his right hand.

Under everyone's shocked gazes, a crisp, resounding slap worthy of being recorded in history suddenly exploded through the silent alley!

"Slap—!!!"

The sound was so sharp and the force so fierce that it was enough to make those who heard it mourn and those who listened weep!

The blond thug, who had been arrogant beyond measure just a second earlier, spun through the air like a top whirling at high speed, pulling off a 720-degree rotation that even professional gymnasts would struggle to achieve!

A parabola of spit, blood, and more than a dozen teeth traced a tragically beautiful arc through the air.

"Thud!"

In the end, the blond thug smashed heavily into a wall five meters away, slid down it like a pile of mud, tilted his head, and passed out on the spot.

The entire alley fell deathly silent.

The remaining two or three thugs nearly had their eyes pop out. The kunai they had only half-pulled from their pockets clattered to the ground.

They looked at the human-shaped wall decoration, then at the blond youth before them, whose expression was indifferent as if he had merely swatted a mosquito. A chill shot from the soles of their feet straight to their skulls!

What the fuck... was this thing human or a ghost?!

One slap sent a one-hundred-and-fifty-pound adult flying five meters while spinning through the air two and a half times?

Were they filming a movie here?

"Y-you... who the hell are you?!"

One thug gathered his courage and asked in a trembling voice.

Naruto finally deigned to raise his eyelids and gave them a glance as though they were trash.

"Tch. The weak period really sucks. Even beating fodder gets my hands dirty."

He muttered softly, then his figure blurred!

Everyone only felt their vision flash!

"Crack!"

"Aagh—!"

"Crack! Crack!"

"My hand! My leg—!!!"

A rapid series of bone-cracking sounds and pig-slaughter screams rang out in quick succession!

Less than three seconds passed!

The thugs who had just been standing there swaggering were now all sprawled on the ground, their limbs twisted at grotesque angles like broken puppets, rolling around and howling in agony.

Naruto stood where he was, his brow creasing almost imperceptibly.

Even though he had only dealt with fodder, using raw physical force without chakra enhancement had indeed worsened the burning sensation in his meridians, where those "crawfish were partying."

It seemed that during his recovery period, he should avoid this kind of mindless manual labor whenever possible.

He took a deep breath to suppress the discomfort. Without even breaking a sweat, he calmly walked over to those "human wallets" and slowly crouched down.

"Gentlemen, making a living out here isn't easy, right?"

As he spoke, his hands expertly searched the thugs' bodies and cleaned out every stuffed wallet from their clothes.

"You worked so hard coming out to 'work' in broad daylight. I'm sure the haul was pretty good, right?"

Naruto emptied all the cash from the wallets, roughly counted it, and nodded in satisfaction.

It was a thick stack, at least a hundred thousand ryo.

"Not bad, not bad. Looks like you're pretty good at your jobs."

He tucked the money into his clothes, then patted the face of the nearest thug, smiling like a harmless, pure-hearted angel.

"Since this is our first meeting, I don't have much to give you. I'll just borrow this money as compensation for the emotional distress you've caused your 'junior.'"

"Y-you... this is robbery! Robbery in broad daylight! The Military Police Force won't let you get away with this!"

One thug roared weakly through the pain.

"Oh? Robbery?"

Naruto rose to his feet and looked down at him. The innocent smile on his lips instantly turned chilling and terrifying.

"You call this robbery?"

"I call this—zero-cost shopping!"

He lightly nudged the thug's broken leg with the tip of his foot, then slowly said over the man's pained grunt:

"Besides, you want to report me to the Military Police Force? Sure, go ahead. It'll be a perfect chance to talk to the Uchiha about how much protection money you've collected over the years, how many civilians you've bullied, and while we're at it, who's backing you."

"Then we'll see whether your crimes are worse, or my 'robbery' is worse."

The thugs' faces immediately turned deathly pale. None of them dared make another sound.

The old dango vendor, who had witnessed everything from beginning to end, was already scared out of his wits, huddled in the corner and trembling.

He had never seen such a brutal scene in his entire life.

This blond youth, who did not even look that old, was more ruthless in his actions and more domineering in his conduct than these hooligans and gangsters!

After dealing with this trash, Naruto casually pulled out the largest-denomination ten-thousand-ryo bill from the thick stack in his clothes, walked over to the old man, and tossed it to him.

The bill fluttered lightly into the old man's arms.

"Old man, use it to fix your stall. Find a better place too. Don't set up in an alley this chaotic again."

Holding the brand-new bill, the old man froze for a moment. He looked up at Naruto, his lips trembling, yet not a single word came out.

Naruto did not even glance at him again.

"I'm off."

He waved casually, stuffed the "huge sum" he had robbed into his clothes, and walked out of the alley without looking back, leaving behind a ground full of groaning thugs and an old man utterly bewildered by the wind.

As the ancients said, murder and arson made men rich. That was the fastest way to make money.

With this startup capital, when buying flowers for little Hinata, shouldn't he get only the very best?

A wicked smile tugged at Naruto's lips. In high spirits, he quickened his pace and headed straight toward the brightly lit, flower-scented shop at the end of the alley.

The sign for Yamanaka Flower Shop was right before his eyes.