The Night Five Years Ago

Neji Hyuga watched Ye Fan's departing back, so angry that he clenched his fists.

He swore that on the day of the assessment, he would show no mercy.

At that moment, Ye Fan strolled through the bustling streets with Dark Shadow, the little Ninja Hound.

Konoha Village really was enormous!

Rather than a village, it was more like a thriving town.

All kinds of shops lined both sides of the road—clothing stores, restaurants, and everything in between. Any ordinary item one might need could be bought at a specialized shop.

Besides that, weapons and equipment could also be purchased from certain "ninja tool shops."

There were no weapon restrictions here. Even children five or six years old could buy weapons such as kunai and shuriken as long as they had money.

Feeling curious, Ye Fan entered a ninja tool shop called Regulars' Store.

Just as Ye Fan walked in, two ninjas wearing forehead protectors came out. One of them said, "See that? That's the Inuzuka Clan's number one good-for-nothing. It seems that after that incident five years ago, he caught some strange illness and hasn't been able to graduate from the Ninja Academy for years."

"Hey, stop talking. That matter is top secret. Lord Hokage has forbidden anyone from discussing it!" the other ninja hurriedly warned.

The two said nothing more and left the shop.

Watching them depart, Ye Fan could not help recalling that night five years ago.

At the time, his soul had transmigrated into this world and possessed the body of Inuzuka Ye Fan, who had only recently died. Before he could figure out what was happening, he had to face a brutal fight.

It was a one-eyed man wearing a swirling orange mask and holding a fan-shaped weapon. Murderous intent radiated from him, and his clothes were stained with blood.

Before that man stood a girl who was nearly unconscious, bound in chains. In a hoarse, despairing voice, she cried out, "Itachi, save me!"

Even now, Ye Fan remembered the masked man's icy gaze and the first words he had said to him:

"Oh, brat, I never expected that move just now to fail to kill you!"

In order to survive, Ye Fan had used an evil technique that damaged his soul and successfully drove the man away. However, his own soul had been injured, and it took a full three years for him to gradually recover.

Later, Ye Fan heard that a traitor had appeared within the Uchiha Clan, apparently named Itachi Uchiha. That night, he and the masked man had attempted to slaughter every member of the Uchiha Clan.

However, because of Ye Fan, the girl who had nearly been killed by the masked man survived.

Looking back on it now, Ye Fan had truly been miserable back then!

If he encountered that masked man again now, Ye Fan believed that protecting himself would be no problem at all.

"Young man, what would you like to buy?" The shop owner's voice suddenly pulled Ye Fan from his thoughts.

The owner was a potbellied middle-aged man. He was fairly welcoming and did not ignore Ye Fan just because of his bad reputation.

Ye Fan looked up at him and smiled faintly. "I'll just take a look around first."

"Alright. If you need anything or don't understand something, feel free to call me anytime!" the owner said with a smile.

The shop was not large. Weapons and armor were sorted into categories on the shelves, and every item had a price tag beneath it, making the cost easy to see at a glance.

There were two denominations of currency in this world: taels and yuan. One tael equaled ten yuan, and there were both paper notes and coins.

The goods in ninja tool shops were priced in taels. Some precious ninja tools were extremely expensive.

Ye Fan's entire fortune amounted to just over a thousand taels. In this shop, he could only afford common ninja tools like kunai and shuriken. He could not even afford a decent ninja blade.

Sure enough, he was desperately short of money right now!

"May I hold this and try it out?" Ye Fan turned to ask the owner, who was checking the accounts.

"Other than the items in that glass display case, you can take down any ninja tool you like. Just be careful not to cut yourself," the owner said.

Ye Fan nodded, then took a shuriken from the shelf and tested how it felt in his hand.

A shuriken was shaped like a four-pointed star, with a hollow circle in the middle. It was about the size of a palm and was used by ninjas as a concealed weapon.

"Suitable for beginners. It doesn't require any special throwing techniques; you can use it simply by tossing it. But it makes too much noise through the air and lacks piercing power, so it is difficult for it to inflict much damage."

After reaching that conclusion, Ye Fan put the shuriken back and drew a long blade from the rack.

"The sharpness is passable, but it contains too many impurities. It would break easily during use. The forging skill was probably only at the level of an ordinary blacksmith."

Ye Fan had reached his conclusion after only a few glances. Such crude items truly could not interest him.

Even now, even if he could not yet use Spirit Flame and did not have any quality ore on hand, he could still forge weapons dozens of times better than these ninja tools using nothing but ordinary steel.

His "realm" had not vanished because of his transmigration. Even though he had not recovered even one ten-thousandth of his former strength, he was still far beyond ordinary mortals.

"Hm? What's this inside?"

Ye Fan walked over to the glass display case the owner had said not to touch. When he saw a talisman-like item priced at over ninety thousand taels, his eyes immediately lit up.

He even wondered whether this world also had "talisman masters" who drew talismans with all kinds of abilities.

"Young man, didn't the Ninja Academy teach you? This is an Explosive Tag. It's dangerous, so you mustn't touch it carelessly," the owner said with a serious expression.

An Explosive Tag was a type of talisman. After being triggered, it would explode after a certain period of time. Its power was immense, comparable to a high-level Fire Release ninjutsu cast by a Jonin. However, Explosive Tags were relatively expensive and generally were not used on a large scale.

Explosive Tags could be used in many flexible ways. They could be combined with kunai and other weapons, or used to set traps.

Ye Fan smiled awkwardly. The number of days he had spent at school could be counted on his fingers. Even if the school had taught it, he would not have known.

Bending down, Ye Fan studied the patterns on the Explosive Tag through the glass. The way it was drawn was completely different from the talismans he knew. It looked more like some kind of seal from this world. He truly wanted to study it carefully.

However, Explosive Tags were too expensive. With Ye Fan's current means, he could not afford one at all, and the owner would not let him touch it. He could only leave it for future study.

Sure enough, without money, there were many things he could not do!

After leaving the shop, Ye Fan had not bought a single item.

He did not care for the ninja tools he could afford, while the ninja tools he liked were beyond his means.

Ye Fan stopped wandering around. He brought the little Ninja Hound to the place where Genin often trained and found Kiba Inuzuka in the middle of training.