Chapter 30: A Wanderer Stirring Up the Jungle
"One hundred million ryō is a huge sum, even for Kaminarimon Corporation."
"The company doesn't have that much liquid capital available right now. I only have one million ryō on hand—you can take it first. I'll do my best to gather the rest."
Kaminarimon's father said as he opened the safe beside him.
The safe was stuffed full with one million ryō.
"That'll do. I'll do my best to keep your son alive."
"Oh, and by the way—your son's meals during this period will be tallied up too. Three meals a day, one thousand ryō per day—that's reasonable, right?"
Seeing the pile of cash, Shunhi was overjoyed and quickly pulled out a storage scroll.
Although Shunhi's crappy system required top-ups to function, it didn't have the ability to store money.
Ever since he'd learned to convert his internal nuclear energy into chakra using the Nuclear Chakra Mode, Shunhi felt like his mind had been opened. His intelligence was finally taking the lead again.
Though he still couldn't manage more advanced jutsu like the Clone Jutsu, he could now handle basic chakra release—enough to operate a storage scroll.
After all, a storage scroll worked by releasing chakra to activate the sealing jutsu inside.
"Perfect. I'll make sure your son stays safe."
"Don't worry. We're S.H.I.E.L.D. after all—a major organization. We're not the type to take money and then kill the hostage."
Despite Shunhi's assurances, Kaminarimon's father actually felt even more anxious after hearing him say that.
Kaminarimon was his only son. Even if he wanted another now, he no longer had the ability or the heart to go through that again.
Before Kaminarimon's father could say anything else, Shunhi immediately used the Flying Thunder God Technique to return home.
And now—for the moment he was most excited about: the card pulls.
One million ryō. It was far short of one hundred million, but it was still the largest sum Shunhi had ever seen in his life. It would be enough for 154 ten-pulls.
...
After 154 ten-pulls, Shunhi felt like his luck was in the gutter. Only 11 of the items he got were actually useful. More than a hundred weren't exactly a loss, but the rest were outright garbage—like toilet paper labeled as "super comfortable for wiping."
[Kage-level chakra clone item ×1]
[Jonin-level chakra clone item ×2]
[(Reanimation) Minato Namikaze's Memory ×1]
[(Nine-Tails Night) Kushina Uzumaki's Memory ×1]
[Imagine Breaker ×1]
[SpongeBob Transformation Card ×1]
[Patrick Star Transformation Card ×1]
[System BGM Plugin ×1]
[(BGM) Pokémon Sword and Shield Dynamax ×1]
[Dynamax Snorlax Card ×1]
He only got one new clone item this time, but he still had some from before, so it wasn't a total loss.
Also, he managed to restock the "Age-13 Shrinking Potion," which was almost used up.
After some thought, Shunhi decided it was time to introduce some other members of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Body: [Kage-level chakra clone item]
Appearance: [SpongeBob Transformation Card]
Soul: [(Reanimation) Minato Namikaze's Memory]
"Where is this place?" Minato—now transformed into SpongeBob—held his head, staring at his sponge-like hands in a daze. Slowly, he turned to the mirror beside him. "Why… why have I turned into a sponge?!"
"Don't panic, don't panic. Think about it from a different angle. Sure, you've turned into a sponge and lost your blond hair, but at least you're still yellow all over. You're still the Yellow Flash, right?"
Shunhi quickly consoled him. He didn't want Minato to suffer any psychological trauma that might make his future redemption arc even harder.
"Where is this place?"
The panic over his sponge body didn't last long—Minato quickly returned to normal.
"This is the Hidden Leaf Village, post-Fourth Great Ninja War. I'm Shunhi, the owner of the second Ichiraku Ramen shop here in the Leaf."
Shunhi introduced himself just like he had when first meeting Uchiha Itachi—no disguises.
With the system's control in place, Shunhi had nothing to fear.
That's right—he was feeling that confident.
"I remember now. You're Shunhi, Ichiraku's disciple." After thinking for a long time, SpongeBob suddenly gave a grin he thought was sunny, but that honestly looked dumb. "By the way, how's Naruto doing now?"
Knowing they were in the post-war Leaf Village, the first thing on Minato's mind was concern for his son.
"Let's wait until we meet Kushina to talk about that."
Though Minato was anxious about Naruto, looking at him now—SpongeBob form and all—Shunhi seriously doubted Naruto would even recognize him as his dad.
Body: [Jonin-level chakra clone item]
Appearance: [Patrick Star Transformation Card]
Soul: [(Nine-Tails Night) Kushina Uzumaki's Memory]
"Huh? How am I alive again?"
Patrick Star came to life in front of SpongeBob.
"Kushina?!"
Minato looked stunned. He was already beginning to question reality.
Minato questioned his existence.
Minato came to a conclusion.
Minato decided this couldn't be his wife.
Minato finished questioning reality.
"Huh? How do you know my name? And who are you, you sponge-like weirdo?"
But the reaction of the red sea star in front of him shattered Minato's denial.
That's right—this red sea star really was Minato's wife, Naruto's mother, Kushina Uzumaki.
"I… I'm Minato Namikaze."
Minato scratched his head and gave an awkward, dumb-looking smile.
"Yeah, right. My husband might've had blond hair and was called the Yellow Flash, but he wasn't yellow all over!"
Minato was heartbroken.
"Kushina, maybe you should take a look at yourself first. There's a mirror right next to you."
After hearing SpongeBob's voice, Kushina slowly turned her head to the mirror—and froze.
Minato walked up beside her, trying to comfort her, but couldn't think of what to say. Then he remembered what Shunhi had told him earlier: "It's okay, Kushina. You may have lost your beautiful red hair, but now you're red all over! You're still the Red-Hot Habanero!"
Some things are better left unsaid. Even the heavens can't save you from that kind of death wish.
"What did you just say?!"
Though she no longer had red hair to flare up when she got angry, Kushina still raised her little fists and started pounding on Minato's chest.
"Don't worry—since Minato's a sponge now, no matter how hard you hit him, you won't kill him."
Shunhi chimed in helpfully, hoping Kushina would vent all her fury on Minato.
"Shunhi, how could you…"
SpongeBob gave a bitter smile. Though to be fair, it still looked dumb as ever.
"Shunhi? That name sounds familiar… Oh right! You're that Uchiha idiot that Obito kept ranting about!"
"You're the one who turned us into this, aren't you?"
Kushina stopped pounding on Minato and started cracking her knuckles as she turned toward Shunhi.
"This is the Leaf Village after the Fourth Great Ninja War. Don't you want to see Naruto? His wife? His son? His daughter?"
Patrick Star froze in her tracks, staring at Shunhi.
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