Chapter Seventy-Nine: Let Me Give You a Massage!

Seeing Karn arrive at this moment, Hiruzen Sarutobi felt as though his blood vessels might burst—how dare he ask such a question now!? Yet Hiruzen knew there was nothing he could do to the man; not even the time-space isolation barrier that should have blocked all summoning techniques had any effect. The means left in Hiruzen’s hands to deal with someone like Karn were growing fewer by the day.

Now that Karn had returned, it was most likely to mock them, rather than to completely tear off all pretenses. Otherwise, he could simply have left, taken his business to another village—the medical supplies and medicines he provided were already appearing in the Village Hidden in the Mist.

“Karn… Our initial assessment is that enemies were plotting against you. Luckily, they failed to track your whereabouts, or you might have been in real danger,” the Third Hokage told Karn, his hands behind his back clenched so tightly his nails dug into his skin. Three full squads of Anbu and a division leader—at a time when war in the ninja world seemed imminent, such losses in the Anbu were catastrophic!

Hiruzen regretted his actions; he should never have listened to Danzo. Without solid intelligence or absolute certainty, taking action against Karn had been a grave mistake.

“More enemies? And they destroyed my home to this extent?”

Karn’s face grew stormy at these words, and he immediately berated the “enemies”: “It must have been the Cloud ninja again. Those despicable scoundrels! Last time they tried to harm me, and now they’re back for more!?”

Among those who had yet to leave were a few members of the Uchiha Police Force, veterans of the previous incident. Hearing Karn’s accusation, they recalled that the affair with the Cloud ninja spies seemed to have been manipulated by the Anbu, and in the end, the Police Force had been sidelined from the investigation.

Could it be the same this time…?

Hiruzen’s face turned slightly ashen, but he forced a smile. “We’re still investigating, but your suspicion is likely correct. The Cloud ninja have always been brutish and wild; it’s highly probable they’re behind this… But please rest assured, as soon as we uncover the truth, I will inform you without delay.”

“I trust the Third Hokage’s word, but what about my house, my goods…” Karn gazed sorrowfully at the ruined debris beside him. In his haste, he’d forgotten that a new shipment had only just arrived—now all of it was unsalvageable.

Thanks to the range of the time-space barrier, the blast radius had been about thirty meters, destroying three of Karn’s shops and shattering the nearby roads so badly that no vehicle could pass. All buildings within a hundred meters would require inspection, or risk collapse.

Hiruzen exhaled deeply at Karn’s words, then replied in a grave tone, “This was Konoha’s negligence, allowing enemies to infiltrate. Therefore… the village will compensate you for the destruction of your buildings.”

For once, Hiruzen was shrewd enough not to take on everything—only the damages to the shops and buildings; he would not touch anything else. Karn’s dessert shop and pharmacy had the most customers in the village—who knew the value of his inventory?

“The buildings, then. That’s acceptable. Thank you, Third Hokage. I believe that under your leadership, Konoha will get to the bottom of this and severely punish those Cloud thugs!” Karn knew that pressing further would yield nothing useful. Besides, the losses Hiruzen had suffered tonight must be grave, or his face wouldn’t look so grim. This lesson would not be forgotten soon—a blast that powerful, plus the suspected use of time-space ninjutsu; if they provoked him again, Karn might just bring his “art” to the Hokage Tower itself.

Farther away, after explanations from the Anbu and Police Force, the clan ninjas gradually dispersed. Uchiha Fukesuke left a squad on guard, then took the remaining three squads to calm the populace—the explosion had jolted nearly every civilian in the village from their sleep, and the Police Force needed to offer reassurance.

“Well, I…” Karn had barely begun to speak when Tsunade appeared at his side in an instant, her bare arm looping around his neck as she said, “Come rest at my place. Don’t worry, there’s no way any enemies will show up in the Senju compound!”

“I’d better not, Tsunade…”

“It’s fine! It’s not like you haven’t stayed there before,” Tsunade replied firmly, causing Jiraiya to look on in confusion. What exactly had happened while he was away from Konoha? How had this guy ended up living at Tsunade’s house? And that familiar, intimate posture—the glimpse of white—damn it!

Jiraiya was green with envy. From his vantage point, he couldn’t see clearly; if he were in Karn’s position, he’d have had quite the view.

“Let’s do that, then. I’ll leave Karn in your care, Tsunade. I’ll have the Anbu guard the Senju compound as well,” Hiruzen concluded. All he wanted now was for everyone to leave quickly, so he could recover the bodies of his Anbu.

“Jiraiya, Dan, Sakumo, you should all go home and get some rest. There’s a Jonin council tomorrow,” Hiruzen continued. Dan Kato and Sakumo Hatake replied in unison, “Yes, Lord Hokage!”

As for Jiraiya, he was determined to find out what had transpired in his absence. If Orochimaru wouldn’t tell him, he simply wouldn’t leave. With this decision in mind, he gave Minato a brief instruction, then flashed away in pursuit of Orochimaru.

“Let’s go. We have plenty of time tonight,” Tsunade said quietly to Karn. She didn’t believe a word about Cloud ninja spies. They weren’t so foolish as to bring ten thousand explosive tags and set them all off at once just to kill Karn.

The village had just bought a batch of medicines from Karn at a high price, only for something like this to happen immediately after. The old man’s expression had been off as well—perhaps, as before, it was an inside job, though this time Kushina hadn’t been involved.

When they returned to the Senju compound, only one house was lit, the rest empty and uninhabited. Tsunade opened the door, and Kushina, who had been waiting in the living room, immediately ran to the entrance in her slippers. She’d barely begun to ask what was going on when she saw Karn and smiled brightly, “Tsunade… Boss? Are you staying here tonight?”

Karn changed his shoes as he replied, “Yes, tonight—or maybe for a while, I’ll be imposing on you, Kushina.”

Kushina grinned and shook her head, “No problem! Tsunade won’t mind.”

“You two…” Tsunade grumbled as the pair made the decision so easily, then huffed and dragged Karn toward her room, telling Nawaki and Kushina, “You two, go get some rest. This doesn’t concern you.”

Once Tsunade had pulled Karn away, Kushina finally dared to mutter angrily, “Hmph, Tsunade’s too much… Nawaki, what happened tonight? Why is the boss here?”

“I’m not sure, but whatever happened tonight was serious, Kushina,” Nawaki replied, his training under Orochimaru having made him cautious. When he reached the area near Karn’s shop, he’d immediately noticed traces on the ground that looked as if they’d been cut off by a barrier, and given all the unusual circumstances, it clearly had nothing to do with Cloud ninja spies.

“If you want to know, you’ll have to ask Karn or sis yourself.” That’s what Nawaki advised Kushina, though he planned to ask Orochimaru himself tomorrow. No matter what, such an explosion in the heart of Konoha was unsettling.

If there wasn’t a good explanation by tomorrow, the villagers might just surround the Hokage Tower.

…

“All right, tell me honestly—what exactly happened?” Tsunade, having led Karn into her room, asked with a grave expression.

But as Karn glanced around the room, he frowned—the toppled sake bottles, scattered gambling tokens, and clothes draped everywhere. And on the bed—was that…?

Noticing Karn’s gaze, Tsunade blushed furiously and hurriedly gathered up all the clothes, tossing them into the wardrobe. No matter how strong a kunoichi she was, having someone see those garments was embarrassing—especially when she herself had brought him inside.

“Tsunade, I can only tell you what happened to me. I was awake late and sensed someone sneaking into my house. I escaped using my own methods, and as for that huge explosion, the intruders must have triggered one of my traps—Kushina can vouch that I set them. Though, come to think of it, my traps do explode, but the force this time was odd, as if it had been confined to a single area…”

That was a barrier technique—someone had set it up beforehand, which was why the blast hadn’t spread!

Tsunade bit her finger thoughtfully. Why else would someone set a barrier there, if not to trap and capture someone? There was no other answer.

“Did you recognize anyone? And…” Tsunade asked a few more questions, all of which Karn answered truthfully—except for the matter of the TNT, which he kept to himself.

“I understand. I’ll look into it for you tomorrow. For now, stay here until your place is repaired,” Tsunade said with a deep breath, her expression solemn.

Karn nodded, then said, “I will. You should get some rest too—you’ve been working so hard lately, you hardly have time to sleep…”

Tsunade smiled at that, then waved him off and sent him to his room.

…

Returning to the room where he’d stayed before, Karn tidied up and lay down on the bed. Who knew how many men Hiruzen had lost tonight? He’d find out from Orochimaru or Tsunade tomorrow. But judging by Hiruzen’s grim face, the casualties must be heavy.

He chuckled silently to himself. If only Hiruzen would keep his nose out of his business—why provoke an honest merchant for no reason?

“Boss, are you asleep?”

A soft voice came from outside the door. Karn sat up and opened it.

Kushina entered quietly, head slightly lowered, and quickly closed the door behind her. Kneeling by the bed, she asked, “Boss, what happened tonight?”

“Sigh, something troublesome. Maybe Cloud spies were involved. That blast just now left my head ringing…”

Karn didn’t want to burden Kushina with the sordid details of ninja politics, so he blamed it all on the Cloud ninja—they were, after all, truly barbaric.

“Those Cloud ninja are such hateful enemies!” Kushina cursed them fervently, then, noticing Karn rubbing his temples, nervously patted her lap and said, “Bo… boss, let me… give you a head massage.”

“What?”

“I—I’ll give you a massage, but you… have to give me more snacks in the future,” Kushina said breathlessly, patting her knees again to indicate that Karn should rest his head there. She’d read about this in one of Nawaki’s books, after all.

[For your convenience, the fastest updates of “Marvel: Trading Begins in the Ninja World” by the renowned author Da Shen Don’t Rush Me to Write can be found here. Please remember to bookmark the site for next time!]

Chapter Seventy-Nine: Let Me Give You a Massage!