The computer was stolen again

With his computer stolen, Naruto had no choice but to ask Wolffy to hammer out another one for him.

What made things a little awkward for Naruto, though, was that he was running low on materials at home.

After all, making a computer might have been easy for Wolffy, but he couldn't conjure one out of thin air. He still needed materials.

Looking around the room, where even the Electric Kettle had disappeared, Naruto sighed helplessly and thought, Once I'm strong enough, I'm absolutely going to pin that old bastard Danzo to the ground and beat the hell out of him. I'll avenge my Electric Kettle!

Elsewhere.

Deep beneath Konoha, at Root's headquarters.

Like a king of the underground, Danzo sat with his eyes closed on a chair in the underground hall.

A masked Root ninja knelt on one knee before Danzo, holding a laptop and its accessories. "Lord Danzo, this is what the Third Hokage and the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki use every day. It's called a laptop!"

"A laptop?" Danzo opened his single eye and looked at the computer his subordinate was holding. "Bring it here. Let me have a look!"

Danzo had been busy over the past month. Very busy.

First, there was the Blood Release Ninja who had attacked Hiruzen Sarutobi several times.

Danzo coveted a kekkei genkai capable of such undetectable assassinations.

Although he didn't know exactly how blood release worked, the fact that its user had escaped Hiruzen Sarutobi so many times meant... this Blood Release Ninja was extremely valuable.

The jobs Root usually handled were the dirty ones.

The Shinobi World might have seemed peaceful now, but small clashes still broke out along the borders from time to time.

And besides those small clashes, infiltration and assassination were commonplace.

That made a Blood Release Ninja with such powerful assassination abilities extremely important to someone like Danzo, who loved stirring up trouble from the shadows.

Aside from the Blood Release Ninja, the other thing that concerned Danzo was the thing Hiruzen Sarutobi used every day: a laptop.

His investigation revealed that, besides Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, Naruto Uzumaki, also used one every day.

According to the investigation, laptops were actually used to play games.

But Danzo didn't believe that. He didn't think Hiruzen Sarutobi spent every day glued to this laptop just to play.

After all, they had known each other for decades. Although Danzo disagreed with Hiruzen Sarutobi's ideals as Hokage, he had to admit that Hiruzen Sarutobi was a competent Hokage.

Danzo approached a table and had the Root ninja begin teaching him how to use the laptop.

Hiruzen Sarutobi had told Root to stop watching Naruto, but would Danzo listen? If he did, he wouldn't be the Darkness of Konoha!

Because Bluebird was around, Root could only watch for brief periods each day, but... they had still figured out how to use the laptop.

Plug it in, connect the peripherals, turn it on, wait...

Once the screen lit up, the Root ninja told Danzo, "Lord Danzo, clicking each of these little icons brings up a different screen!"

Then the Root ninja began teaching Danzo how to use the keyboard and mouse.

Both the Root ninja and Danzo were quite sharp. It only took a quick look for them to understand how to operate the computer.

Danzo took the mouse and clicked an icon at random.

The one he clicked was [Dark Souls III].

After launching Dark Souls III, Danzo followed the beginner's tutorial and started playing.

Before long, the screen turned black and white.

[YOU DIED]

Looking at the red words on the black-and-white screen, Danzo sank into thought.

"This game really isn't that simple..."

"No wonder Hiruzen Sarutobi spends every day playing on his computer. This game... is difficult, and clearing it requires tremendous perseverance, perception, and the ability to spot an opening..."

"Heh... it seems that, although Hiruzen Sarutobi is getting old, he still has the drive to become stronger..."

"If I'm going to become Hokage... I can't lose to you."

With that, Danzo started the game again.

Meanwhile.

Elsewhere.

The Third Hokage, whose nostrils were slightly flared, suddenly sneezed.

"Huh? Could Flower Ninja on the Screen be thinking about me? Don't worry, I'll win your heart any moment now!"

With that, Hiruzen Sarutobi continued completing his romance quests and dating the female ninja he had already won over...

Naruto had no idea that Konoha's two bigwigs were already falling victim to games.

But even if he had known, he could only have shrugged. After all... they had brought it on themselves. Who told them to steal his computers?

Now he didn't even have a kettle to boil water with!

To put Wolffy's creativity to good use, Naruto decided to go out and collect scrap today.

As long as Wolffy had materials, he could hammer out anything Naruto wanted. Going out to collect scrap or discarded appliances was the best option.

Naruto casually took some money from an instant noodle box and headed out.

Even as he left home, Naruto still had no intention of putting his computer away. He didn't care. Whoever wanted to steal it could go ahead. He could get as many of these things as he wanted.

Naruto first went to Ichiraku Ramen, where he asked Uncle Teuchi to change some money into smaller denominations. Then he bought some scrap from Teuchi before heading out onto the street and calling out that he was buying scrap.

"Buying scrap... damaged kunai and shuriken, discarded appliances, or any kind of scrap metal! Bring it to me, and I'll give you a fair price!"

Naruto made a circuit along the street, calling out, then found an open spot and set the wooden sign he had prepared in front of him.

His calls proved effective. Before long, two Konoha chunin wearing flak jackets approached his stall and took out kunai with dulled edges.

"Kid, are you buying these kunai?"

"Yep... I'll take as many as you've got! As for the price, I can give you half the cost of a brand-new kunai!"

Both chunin were tempted when they heard that price.

After all, getting that much for an unusable kunai was an extremely fair deal.

If they took them to a ninja tool shop, the price would usually be pushed down to around a quarter.

"We'll sell them!"

With that, the two chunin began taking out all the damaged kunai and shuriken they had on them.

Naturally, Naruto accepted them with a cheerful smile.

Once the first sale was complete, the bystanders who had been watching also went home to fetch their unwanted scrap and exchange it for money.

Just then, a few familiar little troublemakers wandered over curiously.

Seeing them, Naruto's eyes shifted, and he smiled at the little troublemakers. "You guys... want to trade scrap for money?"