This puppeteer is a bit... well...

Chapter 8 Night Talk

Night fell, the sky was overcast, and sandstorms raged.

The villagers closed their doors and windows and hid inside to avoid the sandstorm. The whole village was quiet, with only the sound of the wind and sand howling in the wind.

Hong came up from the basement with a scroll in her hand.

Outside the window, a dark shadow flashed by.

Hong stopped in her tracks, her gentle eyes turning cold, and a slender steel needle appeared in her hand without her noticing.

Click!

The lock turned silently, and the door opened a crack, revealing an eye peering inside.

call out!

A flash of silver light disappeared in an instant, followed by a "thud" and the sound of a heavy object falling to the ground outside.

The door was blown open by the wind, and the sound of wind and sand rushing in all at once.

Hong arrived at the door unhurriedly and saw the corpse lying outside. It was dressed in black and masked, without a headband... Steel needles were inserted into its eyes and protruded from the back of its head. It was dead beyond any doubt.

Hong looked around and, seeing that no one else was around, put the body into the scroll, cleaned up the bloodstains, and then returned to the house as if nothing had happened.

……

"I see!"

After listening to Hong recount what had happened, Long Er pondered for a moment, "It must be those high-ranking officials, but I don't know if they are those old fogies who are after the technology of immortality, or ambitious people who don't want the Third Kazekage to be awakened."

"Should we release the scarabs to gather information?" suggested the older maid, Red—who had long, wine-red hair draped over her shoulders.

"They're just a bunch of worms. We'd be better off wasting time researching new types of puppets." Long Er curled his lip in disdain. "Go heat up the food, I'm hungry."

"OK."

Seeing Hong's departing figure, Long Er sat on the bed in a daze for a while, then threw off the covers and got up.

Upon arriving at the lobby on the first floor, the food had already been served on the table.

Two dishes and a soup, all simple home-style dishes.

"Is Master satisfied with tonight's meal? If not, I'll make it again," Hong said, holding a tray of food.

"fine."

Long Er sat down at the dining table and began to eat slowly and deliberately.

Red is a puppet with its own soul and consciousness, capable of independent thought and progress.

Long Er regularly checked in and obtained many otherworldly recipes and chef training books, which he showed to Hong.

Her current culinary skills are at the level of a five-star chef from her previous life. As long as the food she makes isn't the type he dislikes, there won't be any problems.

Boom boom boom!

Just then, there was a knock on the door.

"I'll go open the door."

Seeing Long Er nod, Hong turned and walked towards the gate.

"You brat, explain yourself clearly. What was the meaning behind those glances in the meeting room?"

As soon as the door opened, Granny Chiyo burst in, yelling.

Ryuji glanced at her and smiled, "Grandma Chiyo, have you eaten yet? Want to eat together?"

"Do you think I'm in the mood to eat right now?" Chiyo rolled her eyes at him and said irritably, "My brother and I have always taken good care of you, and my grandson is also on good terms with you. Why can't you just let him off the hook?"

"I was going to let him off the hook, but..."

"Yakura, is it? That wretched brat has grown too big for his britches and doesn't even respect this old man anymore." Chiyo was filled with rage, her expression contorted, her aura radiating outwards, making the room a mess.

At this age, to still have such a large amount of chakra... truly a veteran who hasn't lost his edge!

Ryuji muttered to himself, but on the surface he appeared helpless. "Grandma Chiyo, Yekura is just doing her job..."

"You're going to speak up for her, right?"

"She was my teammate who went through life and death with me for seven years."

Chiyo's gaze turned cold, and Ryuji also revealed a sneer, "I respect you as a senior, and I also consider how much you have taken care of me in the past, so I will not comment on your tantrums and nonsense, but don't mistake my silence for approval."

"Fine, fine, fine!" Chiyo laughed in exasperation, "I never thought I'd be so blind as to have raised such a blind man..."

"Don't get me wrong." Long Er stared coldly at the old man in front of him. "It was the village that raised me, not you. I am grateful for the care you once gave me, and I will repay your kindness, but this is not a bargaining chip for you to use against me."

"you……"

"Alright, stop talking. All you want is to save your grandson, right?"

Chiyo paused, then withdrew her sharp edge.

"He won't die, and nothing will happen to him, but he will be expelled as a rogue ninja from Sunagakure."

"Does this... necessarily mean I have to be expelled?"

Seeing the old man's troubled expression, Ryuji couldn't help but laugh. "Sasori of the Red Sand assassinated the Kazekage, committing such a grave crime. Do you think you can just pretend nothing happened?"

"Of course I don't think so, but isn't there any other way to make up for it?"

What do you think?

"...Well, that's better than death." Chiyo sighed, then asked, "So what are you going to do? Is there anything I can help you with?"

"Scorpion needs to cooperate in some ways. Go visit him, tell him what happened at today's high-level meeting, and tell him that I will save him. He knows what to do."

"That's it?"

"That's it."

"Then I'll go now."

"It's not too late to go tomorrow." Long Er stopped the old man, tapping his rice bowl with his chopsticks. "Judging from your appearance, you haven't eaten all day, have you? Want to eat something together?"

"It's already midnight, I'm not in the mood!"

After leaving those words, Chiyo hurriedly departed.

"Is it already 12:00?"

Long Er touched his nose and opened the system panel.

[Name]: Ayaki Ryuji

Points: 10790

[Experience Points]: 306

[Continuous Check-in]: 3602 days

The system store has very few items, only various books and materials.

Ryuji usually gets mostly materials and books from daily check-ins, so he spends very little on points and has a lot left over.

As for experience points... Long Er has many skills, and leveling up consumes a lot of resources, so there are almost none left.

"There are still 48 days until the tenth anniversary of signing in. I wonder what kind of grand prize I will get if I sign in for ten consecutive years." A hint of anticipation appeared in Long Er's eyes.

Even with the Salted Fish system, you can get a lot of good things if you keep checking in.

Ignoring the first sign-in, you'll receive a newbie reward: knowledge of Aozaki Touko.

Later on, I also acquired many good things.

For example, signing in for one month earned you "A Certain Scientific Railgun Explained" from a futuristic world; signing in for six months earned you "The Mohist Canon" from a fantasy martial arts world; signing in for one year earned you "Golem and Dragon" from a traditional Western fantasy world; and signing in for two years earned you the Philosopher's Stone (not from Fullmetal Alchemist)...

These are all pretty good, but they're just good.

Especially those books of knowledge, even though each one is incredibly valuable knowledge in their world.

But in different worlds, most of that knowledge is not used.

At most, they can only conduct experiments and research new technologies based on their concepts and ideas, combined with the laws of the ninja world.

(End of this chapter)