บท 37: Chapter 37: Shearing the Nine-Tailed Wool

Kushina gazed around the room, astonished by its layout. She could assert that there was no room in all of Konoha, nor even in the entire shinobi village, as lavish as this. Particularly striking was the elaborate machinery at the room's center, immediately recognizable as something of great value, far beyond the capabilities of any village or organization in the shinobi world.

"Oh, it's Minato. You've brought your wife along."

"Yeah, she was getting bored at home alone, so I brought her over for some fun."

"Very well, Minato. But could we discuss something?"

In that moment, Minato Uzumaki felt a pang of unease.

Meanwhile, Liu Yuan turned to Kushina with a somewhat cheerful tone and inquired, "Your wife has sealed a particularly powerful creature inside her, hasn't she? Would you be interested in selling it to me? As long as you're willing, starting today, both of you will have free internet access!"

Minato Namikaze became cautious. He shook his head, about to lead Kushina away.

Liu Yuan halted him, saying, "No need to be so guarded. Your wife indeed possesses formidable power, but to me, it's merely a commodity for trade. We operate a legitimate business. We assure fair trade and don't engage in coercive transactions. We could sell parts of it or even harness the creature's power if needed."

The Nine-Tails, a life form entirely composed of chakra. According to the system, even extracting a bit of its fur could be useful.

Before Minato could respond, Kisara, who had just entered the room, looked surprised.

"What? Boss, do you buy fur too?"

"As long as the system deems it valuable, we'll buy it. What do you say, Minato? I can assure you that even if we shear some fur, it won't affect your wife, your child, or the creature inside her. But let me remind you, she'll need to pay two extra coins for internet access, not because of the child in her belly, but because of the creature inside her."

Just as Minato was about to speak, Kushina stopped him.

"Boss, did you say you could use some of the Nine-Tails' fur inside me as payment?"

"That's correct."

"Then, can you ensure that it won't harm its power while making the payment?"

"Of course, you can trust us. How much would you like to recharge?"

"Then, can it be an amount that won't hinder the Nine-Tails' natural recovery?"

Kushina was uncertain. After all these years as the Jinchuuriki of the Nine-Tails, she had never experienced trading with its power, let alone whether it was possible.

Liu Yuan operated the cash register, and when the card reader lit up in front of him, he made a gesture of invitation. Kushina hesitated for a moment before placing her hand on it. As she did, she felt nothing, but the Nine-Tails inside her lost some of its power.

The system intervened, satisfying all the customer's needs. By drawing some of the Nine-Tails' power, it could be restored without disturbing its normal rest, which was perfect.

Liu Yuan smiled at the woman in front of him. "As our esteemed customer, you have 100 hours of internet access, and your life force will be restored in three days. You can continue to trade then. Thank you for your trust in us. Rest assured, as long as you are a customer of our store, I will protect the safety of you and your child and ensure that your property is not harmed in any way."

Listening to this, the employee, Kisara, couldn't help but sarcastically comment, "Protect her property? Isn't it protecting your property, Boss?"

She had just stood up, ready to drink water, when Liu Yuan stood in front of her and looked down at her.

"Miss Demon, what were you just saying?"

"I was saying that Boss is generous and considerate."

"Tsk~" Liu Yuan didn't delve further, instead, he took out a rolled-up newspaper from somewhere and lightly tapped her head.

"You're petty~"

"Deduct your salary!"

"Hehe, I don't have a salary."

Kisara felt justified for not asking for a salary initially. If she didn't have a salary, she wouldn't be threatened with deductions.

After the Uzumaki couple, Subaru, Nyaruko, and Tina also came to the internet cafe. Over half an hour passed, but Fujimaru hadn't arrived yet.

"What's wrong?"

It was already afternoon, and Fujimaru still hadn't shown up.

Worry creased Kisara's brow as she asked, "Has something happened to her?"

Having been together for so long, they weren't exactly familiar, but they could roughly gauge each other's personalities.

If she ran out of money, Fujimaru might not come. But she had just sold a bunch of materials yesterday and didn't show up today?

That didn't fit Kaede's character.

"There's no immediate danger to her life, maybe she's temporarily trapped and can't make it here? Let me ask!"

Liu Yuan opened TT and sent a message to Fujimaru.

"Is something wrong? Why didn't you come online today?"

The message was sent, and Fujimaru replied almost instantly, "Boss! Help me!"

"She replied so quickly? Looks like she's safe."

"No! I'm in danger! Help! I'm gonna die, Boss, if you don't come soon, your wallet will be gone!"

As she sent this message, Fujimaru thoughtfully attached a photo of the scene.

She seemed to be in a castle dungeon, guarded by skeleton soldiers, surrounded by various magical restrictions.

The scene could only be described as gruesome, with Fujimaru's body bound by strange chains and seemingly enchanted. As soon as she left her spot, the enchantments would activate.

That wasn't the point, though. The point was that there were piles of "spoils of war" next to Fujimaru, along with various torture devices. But it seemed that they hadn't been used on Fujimaru yet.

"You got caught after raiding someone else's stronghold?"

"Pretty much. Oh! Boss, help!"

"Dear customer, this is your own doing, a personal risk, and the store is not responsible for personal harm caused by your actions."

"I'll give you all these things."

"Here she comes. Kaede, who are you going to kill today?"

With that, Liu Yuan turned to Kisara and reminded her, "Fujimaru's in trouble over there, I'll help her out. Look after the shop and encourage them to spend more. Minato is clearly under his wife's thumb and we can't squeeze any money out of him. Just keep his wife happy. She's a big moneybag."

"Understood! But Boss, is there a share for me?"

"A share? Don't even think about it. You eat and use my stuff every day. If you want a share, I won't let you surf the internet for free at night."