Escape from Konoha.

However, it's impossible for everyone in a family to have the same personality; some are gentle, while others are irritable.

Just like some Konoha civilians aren't necessarily honest, Shiraishi sometimes gets ripped off when he eats out, and there are also some drunk and troublesome guys on the streets.

Most of them are ordinary, honest people who are kind and have many precious qualities.

Therefore, neither powerful ninja clans nor commoners should be condemned outright.

While thinking about these things, Shiraishi also found the glass house at the end of the route map.

Shiraishi looked at the enormous mansion that appeared before him. It was the most luxurious residence he had seen on his journey, and none of the mansions he had seen before could compare to this one.

Bai Shi estimated that the mansion occupied at least several thousand square meters.

Through the wall, you can see the crowns of the cherry blossom trees in full bloom in the courtyard, with a few pink cherry blossoms drifting out from inside the wall, bringing fragrance.

My first impression was how big this place is.

My second impression is that Liuli's family is very wealthy.

This property couldn't be bought for less than 100 million taels of silver.

Shiraishi felt that his living place was no different from a doghouse.

Evil capitalists.

"Hello, are you here to see Lady Ruri?"

The young woman in the kimono saw Shiraishi standing at the door, so she stopped cleaning and came up to him, smiling gently as she asked him a question.

"Yes, I am Chiba Shiraishi, and I should have made an appointment."

Upon hearing Shiraishi introduce himself, the maid in the kimono continued to look at him with a gentle smile and nodded.

"Come with me, Lady Ruri is waiting for you inside."

His actions and manners were impeccable, and he even used honorifics.

Shiraishi followed the maid into the bizarrely large mansion.

The buildings here are primarily constructed from 200-year-old Japanese cedar wood. The wooden planks of the corridors are clean and translucent, and you can vaguely see your shadow as you walk on them.

The doors and windows are mostly simple and allow light to pass through. There is a pond in the courtyard, as well as many old trees of different varieties, which are quite old.

While walking down the corridor, Shiraishi encountered many passing maids. They were all dressed in neat kimonos and smiled at him politely as they passed by.

Even with so many maids, cleaning such a large mansion must be quite an easy task.

And this is only a small part of the front yard.

Inside the largest house in the backyard, a maid slid open the wooden door and bowed respectfully to the person inside.

"Lady Ruri, the guests have been brought in."

"Go down."

"Yes."

The maid obeyed Liuli's instructions and went to her place.

Shiraishi walked in, looking around curiously.

The huge room was almost empty, with only some cushions, a low tea table, and a high-class-looking futon on the floor.

The simple and unpretentious life of capitalists.

Shiraishi suddenly didn't want to try anymore.

Chapter Twenty-Five: Natural Energy

"To be honest, your house is way too big."

After glancing around the room where Ruri was, Shiraishi sat down without any hesitation.

"It's a bit big, but it's a little deserted every day."

"That's true. By the way, aren't your parents home? Should I go and say hello?"

Ruri shook her head and said, "No need. The two of them are not in the village most of the year. Because they don't have the talent to be ninjas, they can only do small business outside and send a little money back every month."

Shiraishi's eyelids twitched.

Small business?

He really wanted to know if Liuli had misunderstood his original intention.

"By the way, what brings you here? Although I have a private training ground at home, it's too ostentatious and doesn't suit your mystical style."

Yesterday, Shiraishi told her that he was coming to her place because he had important business to attend to.

"I'd like to conduct an experiment here. Do you have any secluded and sturdy empty houses?"

Conducting an experiment? Ruri frowned, not quite understanding Shiraishi's intention.

Given Shiraishi's skill level, Ruri doesn't think he needs a lot of space to work on.

Normally, the research funds and living expenses given to him were just a casual stroke of the pen, leaving no trace, and no one expected Baishi to repay them.

She has never had any concept of money since she was a child.

"Because I felt it would be too noisy and somewhat dangerous, and my home lab is too small."

Hearing Shiraishi's explanation, Ruri didn't pursue the matter further. She led Shiraishi through a corridor and into an empty house.

Then, a wooden plank in the house was opened, revealing a secret passage leading underground.

Electricity was available along both sides of the road, and lights were on.

At the bottom of the passage, there is an underground space of about fifty square meters, protected by hard stone slabs on all sides and the ground, which can easily block the impact of ninjutsu.

"Is this okay? If not, there's another one next to it that's a bit bigger, about twice the size of this one."

"That's enough, it's better than I expected."

Shiraishi was very satisfied with the enclosed space here, even far exceeding his expectations.

"I'm going up now. Call me if you need anything."

Liuli went up alone.

Shiroshi took out the sealing scroll, spread it out on the ground, formed hand seals, and with a bang, white smoke burst from the scroll.

Along with the white smoke, a large number of research instruments also appeared.

However, these research instruments are all relatively small and can be stored on a scroll.

Speaking of which, this ninjutsu, which uses scrolls to seal things and makes them easy to carry, was taught to him by Ruri.

After arranging all the research equipment neatly, Shiraishi began his experiment.

This experiment was different from the usual one, as it was accompanied by great danger.

If the experiment succeeds, the rewards will be immense.

◎

As evening approached and the sun began to set, Shiroshi still hadn't emerged from the basement.

After finishing her afternoon chakra refining in her room, Ruri had her maid prepare dinner. Seeing that Shiraishi had no intention of coming out, she ate by herself first.

After finishing his meal, Shiraishi still didn't come out of the basement.

Liuli still ignored him.

Until midnight, when Liuli was having a sweet dream, the earth suddenly shook.

Liuli's body trembled slightly. With her keen senses, she immediately sat up from her futon and scanned her surroundings.

earthquake?

No. Liuli immediately denied it.

The epicenter was very close to us, and the vibrations were likely caused by an explosion.

Although it wasn't very obvious, I could feel it.

Thinking of something, Liuli didn't have time to put on her coat. Wearing only black tight-fitting underwear, she slid open the wooden door and quickly walked towards the house in another corridor.

Her destination was the basement of this house.

When Liuli arrived down there, she saw that the basement was in a mess, with a huge pit in the middle.

Even the hard floor that could withstand the impact of ninjutsu was blasted into such a hole, and a strange look appeared in Ruri's eyes.

Then he saw Shiraishi standing to the side, covered in dust and seemingly stunned by the explosion.

Inside the crater from the explosion, there was an extremely strong chakra... it felt a little different, but in short, it was a very strong aura that lingered there, giving Ruri a sense of oppression as if she had suddenly been attacked by a ferocious beast.

Besides these, there were only some research instruments that were completely destroyed and could not be reused.

Why are you here?

Shiraishi snapped out of her daze and asked a really silly question.

Liuli didn't care about any of this, and she wasn't angry that Baishi had made such a mess of her basement.

What she was concerned about was what kind of experiment Shiraishi was conducting that could blow up a floor that was supposed to be protected against ninjutsu impacts like this.

What kind of experiment are you conducting?

"Drawing in natural energy..."

Bai Shi did not hide anything and answered honestly.

"Celestial arts?"

Ruri glanced at Shiraishi in surprise.

"Yes, these are the hypothesis and procedures for the experiment, but now we can write down the conclusions as well."

Shiraishi took out his notebook from his ninja tool bag.

Liuli took it and opened it.

Although I recognized every single word, there were too many technical terms that sounded impressive but were actually quite confusing, so I couldn't understand what Shiraishi was writing at all.

"The experiment failed?"