Chapter 143: Poisonous Santoru

With a quiet creak, the door opened to a small building with a pair of windows. The red roof, gray walls, and a small sign said Hatoru's Restaurant. Actually, Hatoru was the owner of this place until a typical case for every world happened - sabotage, and after the threat and extortion, they overtook the owner of the establishment. Richer rivals decided to build on the site of his family restaurant another brothel, of which there are already almost a dozen in Shukuba. In these places, almost all the main businessmen of the Land of Fire were sharing. The simple old man could hardly resist them. At that moment, the people of Shikamaru appeared. More than three years ago, he was able to establish contact with several criminal gangs and acquire his own "guard" of caravans. In the Land of Fire, protecting your own goods and enterprises is not at all meaningless. In any case, although they were not shinobi, they did their job. Shikamaru had been out of business for a long time, as he considered it a waste of time. He had his own representative, who was not at all averse to making extra money and becoming the face of the business. Now only he was responsible for everything, naturally still being a subordinate. Trying to give a ninja is a very stupid thing to do, so Shikamaru didn't bother at all. He not only did not care about the small trades of this person, but the whole business as a whole. Of course, he was not at all opposed to expanding the network among ordinary mortals, but if only someone else would do it. Creating a couple of puppets like Gato is the most he could do for his past earning hobby.

In general, the representative took care of all the business and sometimes sent a report to Shikamaru, so he found out about the purchase of this place.

Several hand seals and a dozen clones are ready, then in a moment they reincarnated into beautiful women and scattered throughout the city. At the same time, Shikamaru decided to have a snack.

With a barely noticeable creak, the door to Hatoru's restaurant opened. The guy disappeared inside and immediately looked around. Quite an ordinary place: three tables by the window, a small bar and an aged woman at the checkout. On the other hand, there are three more tables by the window, right there, at the very end, a strange guy with a straw hat was sitting and sipping coffee. He looked suspicious, but he didn't look like a shinobi. In any case, Shikamaru had no intention of wasting his time on any secretive individuals. He went to the bar and ordered pancakes. The place was empty, but the silence did not bother Shikamaru at all, he just wanted to have dinner and have a quiet time. The reincarnated beauties should do just fine. If you speed up on the way, then he won't even lose time to the border town.

"It's a pity I don't have hypnosis, I think the Sharingan is capable of that. And Mangeky, probably, should be bought somehow ... Yes, there are enough cases. But, the element of wood impressed me "- sipping juice, the guy slowly ate pancakes. At this time, several more visitors came to the restaurant. The smiling woman took another order, the suspicious person at the window continued to read his book, and more pleasant smells from the kitchen awakened appetite. At the same time, the first clone dissipated and Shikamaru nodded contentedly.

"Tsunade means ... And why am I not surprised? She attracts attention with her antics "- there was not much in the information received. First of all: Tsunade Senju has been having a mess in Shukuba for a couple of days now. There are many gambling houses in which the famous Senju is very well known not only for her "luck", but also for her hot temper. A couple of days ago, for example, she beat a dozen men drunk. This did not surprise the locals at all. Naturally, no one in their right mind was going to cross her path.

"Yeah, the legendary Sannin and their 'special' hobbies ... I wouldn't mind getting to know each other, but I think it's not the time yet. On the way back, I might drop by, I'm almost in the wrong direction. You can go through the Hot Springs to the Land of Water, maybe you can get some information about the tailed beasts. It is preferable to find Isoba. I would like to test my sealing skills. My technique is not perfect yet, but if everything works out as I plan, I can even contain the Three-Tails and get some of his chakra. It's a pity I have no information about the beast ... "- with a frown, Shikamaru finished the pancakes, and after a while the rest of the clones dispersed. After paying, the guy left the restaurant.

- Well, the place is good, the food here is not bad ... - lighting a cigarette, Shikamaru trudged further into the city. At this time, it was already beginning to get dark, hundreds of lights of hotels and brothels gave this city an indescribable atmosphere. Couples wandering all over the place, sometimes not quite sober, amused Shikamaru a little, and then he left this place. There was enough information. In the neighboring countries and cities, everything is calm, nothing remarkable and requiring attention has not happened. Several renegades showed up, but not a word about Akatsuki or anything else. Although a drunkard saw Jiraiya in the city of Keishi, at least the description of the hermit was very suitable. White hair, a strange disposition, a scroll behind his back and a great attraction to beautiful women. The description is detailed and the image popped up in my head. But, Shikamaru did not attach any importance to this. He was not yet worried about meeting the Sannins, not one of them. With Orochimaru, for sure ...

Alone and with a good drink, Shikamaru continued his quiet journey. Bonfires under the moonlight, stargazing, daytime fishing, training and of course booze. Day after day he got closer and closer to the city of Tumaru. After a week, he finally reached his goal.

***

At the same time, in the forests outside the city, hidden in an underground shelter, a shinobi was conducting an experiment on another victim. In a dark room, barely lit by candles, his dark silhouette was visible. Thin and pale, in a black mask with a sewn-up mouth, in an eerie cloak with a green skull on the back. Death smelled from this man, and the nasty smell of rot and burning in the room could drive even experienced murderers into a stupor. There were several huge capsules against the walls of the room, filled to capacity with a strange green liquid. It seemed as if this substance even glowed. Nearby was a cage with several charred bodies. Smoke was still spreading from them and a faint hiss was barely heard. Already dead, but the poison continued to eat away at their flesh and even bones. No one knows exactly how many he has already managed to kill in the course of his experiments ...

The one who created all this continued to fold hand seals, bending over the body of a swarthy woman. She was still breathing, but apparently unconscious. Two IVs were attached to her body and the green fluid slowly entered her bloodstream.

After folding a dozen seals, the man growled:

- Merging! - slapping on the woman's chest, he immediately stretched out his hand and lifted her eyelid. A minute later, the shinobi sighed in disappointment.

- Failure again. Expected ... Well, maybe that will do. - With a disgruntled look, the man took off his mask, revealing a terribly disfigured face with burns. Whitened eyes, missing nose and ears, disfigured lips and neck with some strange holes from which pipes with green liquid extended somewhere under clothes.

Leaning over the woman's face, the man folded a couple of hand seals and opened his mouth. At the same moment, her body arched, cracked, and then began to decompose right before our eyes. But, no sooner had it turned into a mush, then the suction force from the man's mouth pulled everything into his huge mouth. There was nothing left, an empty couch and blackened blood slowly flowing to the floor ... The stones on the floor immediately hissed and slowly began to decompose.