Chapter 101 The Hokage's Scapegoat, Kurenai Yuhi Borrows Money

"Thud."

Gato, whose shoulder had been patted a few times by Naruto, suddenly fell to the ground, eyes rolled back, and completely breathless.

He was—scared to death!

Naruto was speechless, his hand still suspended in mid-air, maintaining the patting posture.

"Is he that timid?"

"Or is the power of the 'Shinigami' title too great?"

"I'm a bit excited about opening the Underground City of the Undead World."

"This title of mine is practically tailor-made for a Necromancer profession."

After his thoughts became active, Naruto focused on the present, put away the 'Shinigami' title, immediately turned into a little money-grubber, burrowed into the vault, and seeing the dazzling array of gold, silver, and jewels, his eyes lit up with money symbols.

"I wonder how many hundreds of millions of Ryo these riches are worth when converted into money."

"No, Gato is a world-renowned rich man. With the prices and currency denominations of the Fire Shadow World, how could it only be a few hundred million Ryo? Hundreds of billions of Ryo, thousands of billions of Ryo would be more like it!"

Naruto's heart pounded. He had become a multi-billionaire overnight.

The surrounding mountains of gold and silver were not an illusion.

Being reborn, witnessing and even being in the vault, the joy of sudden wealth was indescribable.

"Gato, you truly are a great benefactor. Thank you."

Naruto sincerely thanked him and began to load the money into his system space.

Aside from stacks upon stacks of neatly piled banknotes, there were also numerous luxurious and dazzling pieces of jewelry, land deeds as thick as dictionaries, and a large quantity of valuable luxury goods.

Of course, the most valuable asset was Gato's shipping company.

However, this money was already enough for Naruto.

He was too lazy to manage the shipping company.

After emptying the entire vault, Naruto instantly teleported out of the villa and stood in the shadows of the wall.

"Before leaving, let's give the people of the Land of Waves a little gift."

"At least let them know that the big mountain pressing down on them is no longer there."

Naruto's eyes flickered a few times, and his ten fingers flew, his hands quickly forming hand signs.

Although Kurenai Yuhi told Tazuna that Hiruzen Sarutobi might assign elite Jonin to escort him back to the Land of Waves, Naruto actually knew that the possibility was minuscule.

Tazuna simply couldn't afford the reward for an A-rank mission, and the Third Hokage wasn't a philanthropist who would send elite Jonin to help you without money.

If it were a case of 'black eating black' and eliminating Gato, that would be one thing—what's a mere A-rank mission reward? Konoha Village would directly gain an incredibly generous fund.

But clearly, in the Fire Shadow World, where Ninja are branded with ideological imprints, they wouldn't do that.

Otherwise, how could powerful Kage-level experts and Super Kage-level powerhouses, each with the power to destroy the world, honestly work for money? They would have long since said, "I don't eat beef."

"Ding."

After forming the final Hare sign, the tons of Chakra within Naruto's body, guided by the hand signs, flowed through all his meridians, and through Water Release nature transformation, converged towards his arms.

Naruto squatted, clapping his hands on the grass, a large amount of Water Release Chakra pouring out madly.

Water Release: Great Waterfall Technique!

The next moment.

This 'waterless land' surprisingly conjured a tsunami-like giant wave, dozens of meters wide and over a hundred meters high, churning and surging, carrying an overwhelming force, and slammed fiercely towards Gato's luxurious villa.

"—"

A deafening roar echoed in the central area of the Land of Waves island.

The towering giant wave, displaying the might of nature, directly washed away and destroyed the sturdily built luxurious villa without any difficulty.

It was like a castle built on a beach; a large wave came, sweeping everything away, leaving nothing behind.

Such a big commotion naturally attracted the attention of the Land of Waves residents.

They initially thought it was a tsunami, and each of them was terrified.

But then they noticed the commotion came from Gato's villa...

Oh, then it's fine!

Natural disasters are merciless; they hoped the person involved would be in the worst possible situation.

After doing all this, Naruto turned and left, leaving no name, returning to Konoha Village via the Shadow Instant Kill Array.

As for whether surrounding Ninja would come to investigate afterward, Naruto didn't care.

Anyway, he used the Water Release Ninjutsu, framing Zabuza Momochi.

Zabuza Momochi himself was a wanted rogue Ninja and wouldn't voluntarily come forward to clear his name, so he could only be a scapegoat.

Perhaps it could even increase his bounty, breaking through 20 million Ryo, which would give him a lot of face among rogue Ninja.

The only risk was being targeted by the Akatsuki Organization's money-making duo.

It's worth mentioning that Naruto also took Zabuza Momochi's Kubikiribōchō.

In the future, whenever he did something bad, he would leave his name using the Kubikiribōchō, throwing the blame onto Zabuza Momochi, making him his exclusive scapegoat.

"Achoo!"

An abandoned house somewhere in the Land of Waves.

Zabuza Momochi, wrapped in white bandages like a mummy, suddenly sat up, sneezing.

"Mr. Zabuza, you're finally awake."

Haku, not wearing his mask and revealing his girlishly beautiful face, looked slightly pleased and quickly wrung out the towel from the water basin, handing it to Zabuza Momochi.

"Where's that strange fellow?"

Zabuza Momochi looked around, subconsciously searching for the armored figure who had instantly defeated him.

"I don't know."

"That person is terrifying, more terrifying than anyone I've ever seen."

Haku prepared to carefully remove Zabuza Momochi's bandages, but was glared at by Zabuza Momochi's fierce dead-fish eyes.

"I can do it myself."

Zabuza Momochi endured the pain, roughly tearing off the bandages.

He looked down at the area between his chest and abdomen; a faint red palm print was still clearly visible.

This was left by Naruto's Gentle Fist.

Three days had passed, and it still hadn't faded!

"This guy—"

Zabuza Momochi glared, his eyes wide, and reached a hand out to Haku.

"Haku, my notebook."

"Yes."

"Mr. Zabuza, you were unconscious for three days and three nights, your internal organs were severely injured, and several ribs were broken. I thought you were going to die, but I didn't expect you to come back from the gates of hell. No matter what, we're alive, aren't we?"

Haku said, handing the notebook to Zabuza.

This crumpled, blood-stained booklet was left by Zabuza Momochi when he was in the Hidden Mist Anbu, containing information on famous Ninja from various hidden villages.

It could be said that anyone appearing in the booklet was a strong person recognized by the Hidden Mist Anbu and Zabuza Momochi.

Among them was the name 'Copy Ninja' Kakashi.

Zabuza Momochi thought for a moment, frowning, and began to write on a relatively back page of the booklet:

[Armored Man]

[Affiliation: Unknown]

[Strength: Elite Jonin (crossed out), Mizukage level (question mark)]

[Information: Instantaneous Body Technique without wind-up? Strange Taijutsu similar to Konoha Village's Gentle Fist?]

After writing, Zabuza Momochi seemed to have moved his injury, wincing in pain, and impatiently threw away the booklet.

Haku bent down to pick it up, but heard footsteps and whispered conversations from outside the house.

"There's intelligence that Zabuza Momochi and his tool are hiding inside."

"Killing the employer, Mr. Gato, and stealing all of Mr. Gato's wealth, the name 'Demon' is more terrifying than imagined!"

"What if it's not him? Or what if he refuses to talk?"

"What does it matter? Anyway, Zabuza Momochi's bounty has already reached 20 million Ryo. Even if he doesn't talk, killing him isn't a loss. We'll collect the bounty at the Underground Exchange."

Zabuza Momochi's face turned cold, his eyes glinting with malice.

"When did this great me kill Gato!?"

"These guys, do they want to die?"

Zabuza Momochi instinctively reached out, wanting to grab his Kubikiribōchō and throw it out.

But he grabbed air, only then remembering that on that day in the treehouse, he had thrown the Kubikiribōchō at Naruto.

After Naruto dodged with an 'instantaneous movement,' Zabuza Momochi was instantly defeated and directly knocked out of the treehouse.

Haku dodged the Kubikiribōchō and didn't care about anything else, hurriedly going to save Zabuza Momochi.

"Mr. Zabuza, we should avoid them first."

Haku said urgently.

"He * * * * *"

After cursing, Zabuza Momochi could only reluctantly begin his escape with Haku.

After the Land of Waves plot point passed, life suddenly became stable and peaceful.

Aside from taking D-rank and C-rank missions daily, Naruto spent his time training with Hyuga Hinata.

With his father-in-law's tacit approval, Naruto and Hinata being together faced no major obstacles.

Because missions below B-rank didn't involve Ninja, for Seventh Team, they were naturally simple and easy tasks.

Even if they encountered bandits or mountain thieves, they were still no match for Ninja who could refine Chakra.

A forest with ancient, lush trees.

Naruto lay on a sturdy branch, his head resting on his arms, legs crossed, and a wild blade of grass in his mouth.

Below the tree, Hinata was practicing the first stage of Rasengan, holding a water balloon in her hands, trying to make it burst.

For the Hyuga Clan, who excelled in Gentle Fist, controlling Chakra and shape transformation was actually not difficult.

So, after a while, the water balloon in Hinata's small hand became uneven, and with a "pop," it burst, water splashing and covering her palm.

Hinata didn't care at all, happy like a child, waving her hand and shouting to Naruto: "Naruto-kun, I succeeded!"

"Very good, this is only the first stage. Keep practicing."

"Now, burst the water balloon with one hand."

Naruto heard this, casually took out a pre-prepared water balloon from his item bar, and threw it down.

"Okay~"

Hinata was full of motivation, caught the water balloon, and continued to practice diligently.

At the same time, Ino Yamanaka was also training.

Naruto had her walk with a bowl full of water on her head.

The purpose was to improve her concentration.

The Mind Body Switch Technique, while quite powerful, had obvious drawbacks; first and foremost, it required complete concentration to release mental energy.

This process often meant being unable to move, making one a living target.

Naruto's goal was simple.

It was to train her to multitask, to be able to move while simultaneously performing the Mind Body Switch Technique.

And then there were meditation classes to strengthen her mental energy.

The stronger the mental energy, the stronger the control effect.

This was to avoid situations like controlling the Nine-Tailed-transformed Sora, or Uchiha Obito, where she would either be scared or unable to hold on for more than a second or two before being broken.

Kurenai Yuhi, as the instructor, seeing this scene, suddenly felt she had no presence.

"I guess I'll go buy some sake."

"Wait, I've been doing low-level missions lately, and I'm not making ends meet."

Kurenai Yuhi's cheeks flushed, and she had no choice but to ask Naruto to borrow money.