"Scrape..."
"Scrape, scrape..."
"Scrape..."
In a shop barely ten square meters in size, Li Anshi held a palm-sized piece of wood tightly in his left hand. His right thumb and forefinger pinched a peculiar little knife, which he used to carve the wood.
The knife was peculiar because it was only two fingers wide and three and seven-tenths inches long. The handle was nothing more than a circle, just large enough for Li Anshi's thumb and forefinger to grip.
Within the tiny shop, two rows of four-tiered shelves stood. Each shelf was filled with wooden carvings of various sizes.
Suddenly, Li Anshi's ears twitched. He snapped out of his carving trance, slowly taking a gray cloth from the table in front of him to cover the unfinished wood carving. With a movement so swift it was almost unseen, the carving knife disappeared from his hand.
"Anshi, I'm back!"
Just as Li Anshi finished, a small girl, maybe four or five years old, burst into the shop like a whirlwind.
Seeing the visitor, Li Anshi gave a wry smile.
"Tsunade, if I remember correctly, it's only been a week since I last paid my rent..."
"Ah? Is it? Hahahaha, I forgot."
Tsunade scratched her head with a silly grin, then her eyes lit up. "Well, since you've paid this month's rent, you can pay next month's in advance."
"Thump!"
Li Anshi pulled a stack of papers from a drawer in the table and placed them in front of Tsunade.
"My dear Lady Tsunade, take a look for yourself. My prepaid rent is already scheduled out for the next five years."
"Huh?"
Tsunade was taken aback by the stack of bills Li Anshi presented.
Had she really collected rent from Li Anshi five years into the future?
But, as Tsunade carefully recalled, it seemed, perhaps, that it was indeed the case.
Li Anshi was one of the 38 students in the first class of the Ninja Academy, founded by the Second Hokage. Among his classmates were Shinku Yuhi, Sakumo Hatake, and Shinnosuke Sarutobi.
However, Li Anshi had failed the graduation exam in his sixth year and had rented this small shop to open a carving business.
Tsunade had once been a customer of Li Anshi's shop.
But, one day, little Tsunade discovered that Li Anshi's shop was owned by the Senju family. She promptly transformed from a customer into a landlady, directly collecting rent from Li Anshi.
The Senju clan members, acknowledging Tsunade's collection of rent from Li Anshi, did not duplicate the effort.
In this way, without realizing it, Tsunade had, in just two short years, collected seven years' worth of rent from Li Anshi.
"Do you want to check the accounts?"
Seeing Tsunade's apparent disbelief, Li Anshi offered to go through the stack of bills with her, one by one.
"Whack!"
Tsunade slapped her hand down on the stack of bills and waved her other hand dismissively. "Anshi, I wouldn't doubt you even if I doubted everyone else."
"But, as a reward for my trust in you, shouldn't you return the favor with equal trust?"
Tsunade blinked her big eyes, staring directly at Li Anshi. "Trust me!"
"Just give me another month... no, three months' rent. This time, I'll win, and we'll split the money! Anshi, trust me, I'll win!"
Looking at the starlight in Tsunade's eyes, Li Anshi sighed.
"Alright, Tsunade, I'll trust you this one last time."
"Hahaha, I knew Anshi was the best to me!"
Tsunade snatched the banknotes from Li Anshi's hand and, with the same whirlwind energy, dashed out of the shop, heading towards Konoha's gambling den.
"Sigh..."
Watching Tsunade's retreating figure, Li Anshi shook his head.
Uncovering the cloth, Li Anshi picked up the wood carving again. The flying knife, which had reappeared as if from nowhere, sculpted the wood, stroke by stroke.
This world was a dangerous place.
He had to improve his strength during this relatively peaceful time.
Otherwise, when the Second and Third Shinobi World Wars broke out in the future, he might become just another name on a memorial stone.
...
"Pfft, pfft—"
Li Anshi's fingers moved slightly, and the flying knife between them vanished instantly.
Then, Li Anshi opened his mouth and blew away the wood shavings from the carving in his hand.
At once, the carving's true form was revealed.
It was the First Hokage of Konoha, Hashirama Senju.
He casually placed the statue of Hashirama Senju on the top shelf. This row was entirely filled with wood carvings of the First and Second Hokage.
These two types of carvings were also the most expensive items in Li Anshi's shop.
Occasionally, someone would enter the shop and spend several hundred ryo to purchase one.
But more often, the visitors to Li Anshi's shop were children, around four or five years old. They would buy wooden kunai, shuriken, and other items to play ninja games with their friends.
For the children's safety, Li Anshi used a very soft, rubber-like wood for carving the kunai and shuriken. These "weapons" were perfect for the children.
As long as they didn't poke each other directly in the eyes, they wouldn't cause any harm.
The price was also affordable, a few dozen ryo for a set.
Although cheap, these were the most profitable items Li Anshi sold.
After all, the biggest weakness of this material was that it was very easily damaged.
Li Anshi could swear on his honor that when he chose the wood for carving ninja toys, his primary concern was the children's safety, and it had nothing to do with the material's weakness.
If anyone doubted him, they could ask the children's parents. Ask them if they preferred their children to play with the ninja toys from Li Anshi's shop, or if they preferred them to play with kunai and shuriken made of "steel wood."
After tidying up the shop, Li Anshi was about to close when he saw Tsunade run in, carrying a large pile of things. She placed them on Li Anshi's table.
"Hahaha, Anshi, look what this is!"
Li Anshi's pupils contracted when he saw the things Tsunade had piled on the table.
These were, without a doubt, the common currency of the ninja world.
This pile, judging by the denominations and quantity, amounted to over three million ryo.
In this world, ninjas were merely a violent organization; they didn't engage in commerce, agriculture, industry, or any related work.
Their funds came almost entirely from "missions."
The lowest level of missions were D-rank missions. Anyone with a ninja headband could accept them at the mission hall. The tasks mostly involved weeding, watering, babysitting, and finding lost cats and dogs. The risk was practically zero.