After Wen Lan finished getting used to Kamui, Nara Shikaku arrived as well. The moment he saw Kakashi and Wen Lan inside the office, he froze.
Wen Lan, as if seeing a savior, immediately stood up, cleared his throat, and said seriously,
"Senior Shikaku, the Hokage asked you to come handle these administrative matters after you arrived. Please make sure everything is dealt with properly."
The moment he finished speaking, he bolted—so fast that Shikaku didn't even have time to react.
After his brain stalled for a few seconds, Shikaku looked at Wen Lan's fleeing back, then at the mountain of scrolls piled on the desk. He couldn't help but press his forehead and sigh.
"…It's over. This is definitely something the Hokage planned for the two of us. And he ran."
Wen Lan sprinted all the way out of the Hokage Tower. Only when the cold wind hit his face did his heartbeat finally calm down a little.
Doing paperwork for even a short while made his head buzz nonstop.
This kind of "blessing" was better left to Shikaku.
Humming a tune, Wen Lan returned home, then slung a large bundle over his back and headed toward the ninja cat clan's settlement.
When he arrived, Granny Cat was already there, smoking and sipping tea. A brand-new sword sheath lay on the table.
Without ceremony, Wen Lan grabbed her teapot and took a big swig straight from the spout.
Granny Cat's mouth twitched, but she didn't say anything. Instead, she pushed the sheath toward him.
"The sheath's ready. Where's the money?"
Wen Lan took out the cash from his ninja pouch and placed it on the table. Then he set down the large bundle beside him.
"This is a thank-you gift for the ninja cat clan."
As he spoke, he untied the bundle and flung it into the air.
Granny Cat hadn't even processed what was happening when huge amounts of catnip rained down from above.
Her pupils shrank violently. Her aged face began to twitch as she trembled and pointed at the green leaves floating everywhere.
"Y–You… you actually got catnip?!"
"Heh, serves you right for ripping me off!" Wen Lan laughed. "See ya!"
He grabbed the sheath and ran.
The ninja cats stared at the catnip in confusion at first—but the moment they sniffed it, their eyes lit up. They pounced like lightning, clutching the catnip and inhaling furiously.
Some of them even started rolling their eyes from overdoing it.
Granny Cat panicked. She jumped up, her old body suddenly moving with astonishing speed as she desperately tried to gather the catnip.
She knew exactly how addictive catnip was to cats. If these ninja cats got hooked, the consequences would be disastrous!
But no matter how fast she was, it was useless—the quantity was simply too much.
The cats hugged the catnip and refused to let go, inhaling it in utter bliss.
Seeing that the situation was completely out of control, Granny Cat stomped her foot in fury and shouted after him,
"Wen Lan! You little bastard! I'll never let you off!"
But by then, his figure had long vanished into the distance.
Far away, Wen Lan heard her roar and burst into laughter.
Making that stingy old profiteer suffer a loss felt even better than drinking an ice-cold soda in the middle of summer.
"♪ Ordinary folks like me—today I'm really, really happy~ ♪"
Laughing to himself, Wen Lan strolled away.
After returning home, Wen Lan locked himself in his room. He touched his right eye—under the influence of Demonic Power, the transferred dōjutsu had already been nurtured to the point where they functioned as his own.
With a thought, spiraling space-time patterns appeared, instantly pulling his body in.
When he reappeared, he found himself in a dim space filled with countless square platforms stretching endlessly in all directions.
Standing on the central platform, he looked around. Obito wasn't there, but not far away lay piles of giant shuriken, explosive tags, and other assorted items.
Wen Lan remembered how Obito treated the Kamui dimension like Doraemon's four-dimensional pocket.
After thinking for a moment, Wen Lan's face split into a mischievous grin.
He exited the Kamui space and hurried out of his house, heading straight for the ninja tool shop run by Tenten's father.
The moment Tenten's father saw him, his eyes lit up and he hurried over with a beaming smile.
"Aide-sama! I knew it—magpies were chirping today. Turns out it was you!"
"Uncle, you really know how to talk," Wen Lan said with a smile as he walked in.
"Do you have any giant shuriken or explosive tags that look fine on the outside, but are made from extremely low-quality materials?"
Tenten's father froze, his expression changing instantly.
"Aide-sama, my shop only sells genuine, high-quality goods. We absolutely don't have anything like—"
Wen Lan quickly interrupted him.
"Relax, I'm not here to cause trouble. I have a use for them. If you don't have any, could you help me make some?"
Tenten's father hesitated for a moment, then sighed.
"Since it's something you need… I'll secretly rush out a batch for you. But this must not get out—otherwise my shop's reputation will be ruined."
Wen Lan nodded with a smile. "How long will it take?"
"If they're just low-quality ones, I can finish them by tonight…
But explosive tag paper is made from special materials—it's expensive."
"No need for good materials," Wen Lan said.
"The faster they burn, or the more unstable the explosions, the better."
"…Huh?"
Tenten's father's mouth twitched. After thinking for a moment, he said,
"In that case, there's no need to make them. There's a small black-market workshop not far from Konoha. They use inferior materials to pass off as good ones—some of their explosive tags have even gone off the moment they were lit."
Wen Lan's eyes lit up.
"That's exactly what I want!"
"Then I won't make them myself. I'll have someone go buy them tonight and deliver them to you around midnight."
"Much appreciated." Wen Lan pulled out a thick stack of cash.
"If it's not enough, let me know."
"Got it."
After leaving the shop, Wen Lan specifically informed the Uchiha patrol guards not to stop Tenten's father that night.
Around one in the morning, Tenten's father quietly arrived at Wen Lan's residence and handed over a batch of crude shuriken and several stacks of unstable explosive tags.
As everyone knew, people were especially creative when doing bad things—and were even willing to spend a little money on it.
Wen Lan took the items, a sly glint flashing in his eyes.
But when he noticed the cash Tenten's father handed back to him, he froze.
There was more money than Wen Lan had given earlier.
"…What's this?" Wen Lan asked in confusion.
Tenten's father scratched his head awkwardly.
"My daughter was just born. We had someone check her—she has excellent aptitude and can cultivate chakra. I was hoping that when she becomes a ninja in the future, Aide-sama could look after her a bit."
Wen Lan paused, then laughed softly. He stuffed the money back into the man's hands.
"You don't make money easily either. I'll take care of her in the future."
In his heart, Wen Lan thought:
[Me, take care of her? Please—during the Fourth Great Ninja War, she wielded the Six Paths tools better than Kinkaku and Ginkaku.]
"That's wonderful!" Tenten's father said happily.
"In the future, you can just pay the base cost for any tools from my shop!"
With that, he forcibly shoved the money back into Wen Lan's hands and ran off.
Wen Lan looked down at the cash in his hand, helplessly shaking his head before putting it away with a wry smile.
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