Mashiro walked toward his second son, Nao, and picked him up. "Enough of this. I'll take Nao and set up camp. You two, look for the treasure the bandits looted. The one who assigned the mission is a noble from the Land of Rivers, so don't take any loot."
He tossed a book to Kise. "That's the ledger. Everything should be in there. If they spent some of the money, just write it in there."
When Kise picked up the ledger, Mashiro disappeared in a blink of an eye.
Kise looked at Taro. "Can you still get up? It'll be faster if we both work together."
Taro's exhaustion was gone after the system prompt appeared. He happily nodded, got up, and rushed toward the hidden stash.
The hidden stash wasn't really hidden—it was at the very end of the cave, which wasn't that far from the battlefield.
After checking everything, the amount of assets was 5 million ryo. There was an extra 1.8 million ryo that Kise took for the clan. The extra ryo came from other raids, not just the noble from the Land of Rivers.
Taro, on the other hand, took out his 1.6 million ryo from the system and told Kise that he wanted to keep it for himself. He used the excuse of obtaining it from the bandits.
Kise, although skeptical, let Taro have his ryo. After all, he risked his life in this mission.
After everything was finished and looted, the two went outside to meet with Mashiro and Nao. When they arrived at the newly built tents and campfire, they saw Nao eating happily.
Kise smelled the food and asked, "Is that meat?"
Mashiro smiled and nodded. "Yeah. There's a small town nearby, and I'm sure it's the next target of those bandits—that's why they set up their base here."
Taro and Kise sat down and began eating, but to Taro's dismay, the food was bland. There weren't any spices in the meal—it was just chicken soup with salt and bread.
However, for the three, meat was a luxury food. With the reminder of the 1.6 million ryo, Taro had an idea. "Dad, in the town, do they sell livestock?"
Since the area was close to the Land of Rivers, trade and the flow of goods were constant in towns near the border. However, it was also a den for most bandits and rogue shinobi.
Mashiro nodded. "Yeah, there should be some. I saw mostly chicken and cows, but there should be more."
Taro smiled. "I see… Can we go there tomorrow morning? I want to buy livestock and grow them in our clan estate."
Nao choked on his food. "W-What? Taro, you do understand that we're already struggling with food, right? We can't grow or earn enough to take care of livestock."
Mashiro paused and stared at his son. He knew about the bone meal and knew that there could be a possibility that they could properly take care of livestock. However, what Taro said next made his blood boil with excitement.
"I have my ways…" Taro looked at his dad. "And I think I can breed and grow them faster—if you can trust me and my research, of course."
Mashiro placed down his food and spoke, "Kise, how much money do we have?"
Kise opened his own ledger. "If we were to count the extra loot we took from the cave, including Taro's loot and what we brought for the mission, it's around 3.3 million ryo."
Mashiro nodded. "Alright. The sun is setting, so we're departing for the village tomorrow. Finish up and go to sleep."
Taro chuckled and thought to himself, "He sure is excited."
Once everyone was finished eating, Taro went inside his own tent and began opening cards.
First, he opened the five bronze cards, which gave him nothing that boosted his power. The first two were broken kunai that were super lightweight. The third card was a showerhead, while the fourth was a weighted blanket. The fifth card was a 13-in-1 shampoo.
Taro clicked his tongue. "Tsk. Why has my luck decreased all of a sudden? Last time I was getting good loot from bronze not that long ago!"
However, Taro's annoyance soon disappeared as he opened the silver cards. The very first card he opened was more valuable than all the bronze cards combined.
[Silver Card: Stat Shots
Description: A syringe that contains a fluid that can enhance physical ability and stats. The stats are distributed based on the user's current stats. However, once used on a person, another shot won't improve anything further.]
"Yes!"
The next five silver cards were the same—all Stat Shots—which made Taro wonder if the system rewards were really random or not.
"What a bummer. I can't use more than one on myself… but I can give it to Nao and the others and say it's one of my research projects."
Taro shivered as he felt like Orochimaru with these syringes.
The rest of the silver cards were surprisingly useful—in everyday life, not in combat. The first card was an AC that could both cool and heat up a whole house by itself. The second and third cards were beverages that cooled whoever drank them. The fourth card was the most important of them all—a solar panel.
"Oh shit! I can use these to power the AC!"
The rest of the silver cards weren't as useful, except for the last one—just a soap and a light bulb.
"Onto the gold cards!"
The first three gold cards were duplicates of a familiar card—"Buff Me Up!"—which allows the user to increase base stats and potential. Now that he had gotten another three of these cards, he held four in total.
"Not bad, not bad at all."
The fourth card was something unexpected but welcome. It was a card called "I See You," which allows the user to master sensory. Taro could now sense anyone below Elite Jonin—a feat that even Nao couldn't do.
The fifth card left Taro confused, as it gave nothing immediately but sounded interesting.
[Gold Card: Forbidden Scrolls (10x)
Description: A scroll that cannot be burned or destroyed. Once a ninjutsu is written in these scrolls, the scroll cannot be opened without the chakra of the one who wrote it down.]
"So I have to be the one that writes the jutsu?"
Finally, the last card was opened, and to Taro's shock, it was the most broken out of all the cards.
[Gold Card: The Blueprint
Description: Any item placed on the blueprint is scanned in a matter of seconds. Once complete, the blueprint generates a clear, step-by-step guide detailing how to recreate the item, effectively producing its exact blueprint.]
"L-Let's go!!!!"