A House with Its Own Entrance and Courtyard

Early the next morning.

The news of Ye Fan leaving the Inuzuka Clan was announced.

And with certain people deliberately spreading it, the news quickly traveled far and wide.

As the person involved, Ye Fan did not care how the outside world discussed the matter. He was currently looking for properties for sale.

That was right.

Ye Fan planned to move out.

With a home of his own, many things would become much more convenient.

The size of the house did not matter, but it had to have its own entrance and courtyard.

And it had to be far from the districts frequented by ninja.

With those requirements in mind, Ye Fan gradually narrowed his choices to properties along the outskirts of Konoha.

"These locations are all pretty good. Looks like I'll need to inspect them in person before making a decision."

Ye Fan looked at the property listings before him, anticipation beginning to appear on his face.

After spending the entire morning looking over the properties he liked, Ye Fan finally made his decision.

At that moment, he stood before the gate of an old residence, waiting for the owner to arrive.

Although the house he had chosen looked old and rundown on the outside, it occupied a large area, was located in a remote place, had no other houses nearby, and was right next to a forest.

Additionally, a river flowed several hundred meters away on one side, perfectly matching Ye Fan's requirements.

According to the listing, this house had once been used specifically for forging weapons and had been abandoned for many years.

After waiting about half an incense stick's time, the owner finally appeared.

She was unexpectedly a young girl.

Ye Fan recognized her at a glance. She was Tenten, who was on the same team as Rock Lee and Neji Hyuga.

He truly had not expected this residence to belong to her family.

At the same time, Tenten was equally surprised when she saw Ye Fan waiting there.

She had never imagined that the person buying the house would be Ye Fan.

After all, her family's residence was poorly located, and with years of neglect, hardly anyone had taken an interest in it.

"It's you!" Tenten spoke first. "You're buying a house?"

"Yeah!" Ye Fan answered with a smile.

Tenten then noticed the enormous Ninja Hound behind Ye Fan and could not help freezing for a moment as she asked instinctively,

"Is that your Ninja Hound?"

"That's right!"

"You have two Ninja Hounds?"

"There may be even more in the future," Ye Fan replied rather humorously.

Tenten carefully examined Laiyun, and her expression became strange.

She knew that the day after tomorrow would be Ye Fan's make-up exam.

Neji Hyuga would be Ye Fan's opponent then.

Originally, the result of the exam had been a foregone conclusion. Neji Hyuga would never let Ye Fan pass.

But now—

Looking at Ye Fan's enormous Ninja Hound, Tenten suddenly began to worry about Neji Hyuga.

"I'll take you inside to have a look."

As Tenten used a key to unlock the residence's gate, she casually asked,

"Your Ninja Hound looks really formidable. Why have I never seen you bring it around before?"

"Laiyun only started following me in the past few days. It used to belong to a Jonin," Ye Fan said.

Tenten's hand visibly paused as she unlocked the gate.

She instinctively glanced at Laiyun again, then continued asking,

"Will it fight on the day of your make-up exam?"

"Of course!" Ye Fan smiled lightly and asked in return, "Are you worried about your teammate?"

"Neji is very strong!"

Tenten suddenly turned around and stared directly into Ye Fan's eyes.

"Let's talk about the house instead," Ye Fan reminded her.

Ye Fan did not take the upcoming make-up exam to heart at all.

He only wanted to buy this residence as quickly as possible.

The gate opened, revealing a courtyard overgrown with weeds. The buildings directly ahead bore obvious marks of age.

"Are you sure you want to buy this place?"

Tenten paused, then added,

"Actually, my family has two other houses in much better locations for sale. Their locations are far better than this one."

"I'm very satisfied with this place. Let's talk about the price," Ye Fan said hurriedly.

"Since you've already decided, all right." Tenten said nothing more.

The price of the residence was fairly reasonable, and the procedures were simple. Ye Fan paid the money, and the residence officially became his.

Besides obtaining the residence, Ye Fan was also given the tools and other miscellaneous items piled inside the buildings.

After all, those things were not worth moving.

Once the transaction was complete, Tenten did not linger and left directly.

But as she departed, she deliberately glanced at Laiyun several more times.

Ye Fan looked around the courtyard, walked up the steps, and pushed open the battered door.

With a bang, the door fell over in response.

A cloud of dust rose into the air.

The rats and cockroaches inside scattered in all directions, while many places were covered in spiderwebs.

Yet faced with such a dilapidated scene, a faint smile rested on Ye Fan's lips.

His hands rapidly formed seals, and then he suddenly flicked his sleeve.

In an instant,

A fierce gust of wind rose from nowhere, sweeping up the dust and useless clutter in the room and sending them all flying toward the window.

There was another bang.

The window shattered, and the dust and clutter were cleared outside.

Ye Fan smiled in satisfaction.

He walked over to a corner, picked up a rusty iron hammer, then lowered his head to inspect the anvil, tongs, bellows, furnace, and other items placed there.

"With these tools, I won't need to buy more," Ye Fan muttered to himself.

Though the tools looked old and worn, they were all usable. Ye Fan could put them to use to forge weapons, protective gear, and the like.

In the future, once his strength had risen enough for him to use Spirit Flame, these tools would lose their value. It would not be too late to dispose of them then.

"Now that I have the tools, I only need to get some ore and materials to forge a few basic hidden weapons."

A smile lingered on Ye Fan's lips, as though he had reached some kind of decision.

Since so many people called Neji Hyuga a genius, Ye Fan decided—

To prepare a special gift for this genius!

Somewhere in the forest.

Neji Hyuga and Rock Lee were each training on their own.

When Tenten came running over, Rock Lee, who had been striking a wooden post, suddenly stopped and asked,

"Tenten, why are you back so quickly?"

But Tenten ignored Rock Lee and ran straight over to Neji Hyuga.

"Neji, the situation has changed. That Ye Fan has another Ninja Hound."

Tenten urgently told Neji Hyuga about this new discovery.

She did not want Neji Hyuga to be completely unprepared.

"So what?"

Neji Hyuga spoke arrogantly.

"Neji, that Ninja Hound looks very formidable. I heard it once belonged to a Jonin."

Tenten continued.

"The result will not change in any way!"

Neji Hyuga's expression did not change at all.

"Neji, I think you should still be careful. I just saw him, and he didn't seem worried about the make-up exam the day after tomorrow at all.

I think he must have made some kind of preparation. Otherwise, he wouldn't be so calm. You don't know this, but the person who bought my family's residence today was him!"

Tenten anxiously said a whole string of words.

"Trash abandoned by the Inuzuka Clan—I'll make him understand just how vast the gap between us is!"

Neji Hyuga wore a proud expression.