"Hmph, are you telling me a joke?" Itachi snorted.
He glanced at the distant village and let out a long breath. "Let's go. We'll take a look together."
As he spoke, he put on his straw hat and walked steadily toward the village.
Kisame gave him a sidelong glance, chuckled, hoisted his greatsword onto his back, and followed.
"Itachi, keep yourself in check once we enter the village. We still don't know whether the Third Hokage is dead!" Itachi said cautiously in a low voice.
Kisame shrugged disdainfully.
"In your entire village, aside from the Third Hokage, there doesn't seem to be anyone qualified to be my opponent."
Itachi gave a soft snort and chose to remain silent.
Leaving others aside, two of the Legendary Sannin were still in the village.
Great Toad Jiraiya might have some issues with his character, but his strength absolutely could not be underestimated.
Slug Ninja Tsunade possessed monstrous strength unrivaled beneath the heavens. Looking across the entire ninja world, there were probably not even enough people who could withstand one of her punches to fill a hand.
Of course, there was no need to mention any of that.
He had only one purpose in returning this time: to see how Sasuke had been doing in the village!
After walking for a while and crossing a street, they arrived at Konoha's central district.
This was the most bustling area of Konoha.
At that moment, a long line stood outside Ichiraku Ramen.
Kisame said, "I heard back when I was with the Mist Ninja that Ichiraku Ramen was delicious. Seeing so many people lined up outside today, it really lives up to its reputation!"
Itachi's face darkened as he sighed. "Could you use your brain before you say something next time?"
"Do these people look like they're waiting for Ichiraku Ramen?"
With that reminder, Kisame suddenly realized that these people seemed to be taking numbers and heading into the shop across the street.
He raised his head slightly and looked at the strange signboard.
"Invincible Scratch-off? Why have I never heard of it before?"
"Itachi, this is your village. You should know, shouldn't you?"
Itachi shook his head. "I've been gone from the village for so long. How could I know? Let's go take a look first!"
As they spoke, the two of them joined the crowd and lined up.
Especially those who had personally experienced the changes at the competition grounds—they had rushed over to scratch tickets as soon as the matches ended!
Invincible Scratch-off had once again welcomed a new wave of popularity!
After waiting more than ten minutes, it was finally their turn to enter the shop.
The moment they came in, Wu Di recognized the two of them at a glance.
The slashed forehead protectors on their heads in particular made their identities obvious.
"What exactly are you selling here?" Itachi asked softly.
Wu Di calmly explained it to him.
Then Itachi directly pulled out a ten thousand ryo silver note. "Give me one."
"Sure!" Wu Di turned around, drew out a scratch-off ticket, and silently recited in his heart.
"Increase the winning probability by ten percent!"
The ticket trembled slightly.
Seeing this, Kisame could not help but pull out a ten-thousand-ryo silver note as well.
"Give me one too!"
Wu Di nodded.
"Reduce the winning probability by ten percent!"
Before handing it to Kisame, he deliberately lowered Kisame's winning rate by ten percent.
Just as Kisame began scratching his ticket, golden light flashed from Itachi's.
A colorful card slowly floated out.
Itachi was greatly puzzled and asked, "What is this?"
Wu Di glanced at the description and explained.
"This is called a Rebirth Experience Card!"
"It doesn't do much else. It just lets you revive on the spot at full health after you die!"
The people around them were shocked.
And that was supposed to be not much use? Was he joking?
The way they looked at Itachi became a little more greedy.
Itachi frowned and said quietly, "This doesn't seem very useful to me for the time being."
Wu Di let out a long breath, a meaningful smile on his face.
"You'll use it someday."
Itachi said nothing more and directly put away the Rebirth Experience Card.
At that moment, golden light flashed from Kisame's ticket as well.
Wu Di's expression immediately darkened as he grumbled inwardly.
"Is this guy a luck god? I lowered his winning rate by ten percent, and he still won!"
The golden light slowly faded, and a bag of Squid Slice flew out from the ticket.
When Wu Di read the description of the Squid Slice, he nearly laughed out loud.
He explained with a straight face.
"This Squid Slice lets you unleash a massive amount of Chakra in a short time."
"Especially when facing a powerful enemy, as long as you chew one slice, I guarantee you'll overcome any danger without a hitch!"
Kisame found it a little hard to believe. How could such a magical thing exist in the world?
But seeing the envious looks on the faces of the crowd behind him, it seemed that the owner was not lying.
Forget it, he would put it away for now. In this village, as long as the Third Hokage did not appear, no one should be his opponent.
The two turned and walked toward the door.
Watching Kisame's back, Wu Di smiled and sighed.
"I hope you manage to stay alive!"
The Squid Slice Kisame had just scratched was indeed capable of instantly increasing a ninja's Chakra.
But it had one fatal flaw: it possessed an irresistible attraction to aquatic creatures, one that ignored all defenses!
Kisame's greatsword Samehada was an aquatic creature to begin with, and it had spent so many years in the hands of several powerful people.
Once Kisame opened the package, there would truly be quite a show!
Konoha Ninja Academy.
A crowd escorted the Third Hokage into the academy, then dispersed like a tidal wave, each returning to their own business.
Only Naruto and the other two remained in the academy.
Through the small window in the door, they saw the Third Hokage listening to Iruka teach a group of children.
Iruka, as the instructor, looked extremely nervous as well.
Every few sentences, he would ask the Third Hokage whether he had explained it correctly.
After watching for a while, Naruto jumped down, leaned against the wall, and rubbed his hands together.
"This is great! The Third Hokage actually has a day like this!"
"Serves him right for hanging me from the Hokage Building before!"
"I really want to ask him how a goose honks: serves you right! You deserve it!"
Sasuke and Sakura shot him disdainful looks at the same time.
He shuddered and instantly fell silent.
Watching the children attend class inside, Sakura seemed to remember her own days in the classroom.
Then she turned her head and looked at Sasuke's sharp profile, a blush appearing on her face.
At that moment, two heavy sets of footsteps echoed from the distant corridor!
Sasuke found it strange and followed the sound.
When he rounded the stairwell corner, two people wearing straw hats and black robes patterned with red clouds suddenly appeared before him.
"Who are you?"
He shouted in a low voice, instantly drawing a kunai.
Seeing this, Naruto and Sakura hurried over.
Looking at the two somewhat tall figures before them, the three could not help but shudder.
The shorter of the two extended a hand from his robe.
On his finger was a ring engraved with the character "Vermilion."
"My foolish little brother, it's been a long time!"
[Author's Note]: Readers who have made it to Chapter Fifty probably think this book has quite a few funny moments, right? Without exaggeration, writing a comedy is truly harder than writing a typical power fantasy. Every day, coming up with scenes that can make people laugh makes Kemeng's hair fall out in clumps. If you still have any spare silver notes, please vote one for Kemeng at the end of the article. Kemeng is a full-time author, and without everyone's encouragement, it really is hard to survive!
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