After an unforgettable luxurious lunch in Sunagakure village, our Team One gathered again inside Nawaki's room.
"That's what I call real food! Who in their right mind eats that weird crap we were served earlier?" Nawaki exclaimed while gobbling his meat, his face showing clear relief after surviving the meal.
"Not bad. I heard those insects are quite nutritious," Orochimaru commented neutrally.
Shen rolled his eyes at their conversation. It was these two sitting here who distracted Gerissen earlier, allowing him to quietly pack all sorts of "delicacies" into sealing scrolls.
Because of that, after the meal, the hosts actually believed the entire Team One had fallen in love with such "delicious" food and kept saying they should serve meals at this standard every time.
Nayou didn't comment and simply focused on eating the meat in her bowl quickly.
Too bad she wasn't looking at the meat in the pot; otherwise, a certain airhead would've surely teased her about it with delight.
(Nawaki: Like I'd ever say that! Do you think I'm stupid?)
Satisfied and full, Team One began worrying about their meals during their stay in Sunagakure village.
"We can't keep doing this every day, right? Even if I have a large stockpile, there's no way we could afford eating like this daily."
A.I.-like Shen further added, reviewing his calculated result: "Even if they drove over, it would only take two or three days, but we don't have any quicker means of communication. A Ninja Hawk still needs a week to reach the Land of Fire, and with all these sandstorms around, one month is already the absolute fastest possible arrival time."
A.I.-like Shen, who was checking the inventory stored within his Ice Storage Scroll, concluded they probably only had enough supplies to last a month at most, while a certain idea suddenly came to his mind.
"A month? Are you joking with me?" Obviously, Nawaki didn't believe him.
"Cough cough," Shen subtly glanced sideways at Little Iceberg sitting next to him.
Nawaki didn't object and immediately expressed that he understood and agreed.
Even the least socially aware person wouldn't dare to state things so bluntly. Otherwise, Team One could already foresee an upcoming storm of blood and violence.
Orochimaru, wearing a worried expression, turned toward Shen and asked, "Can't we get people from the village here any faster? There's even a prototype car in the lab."
"No way. Even if they drove over, it would only take two or three days, but we don't have any quicker means of communication. Even a Ninja Hawk takes a week just to reach the Land of Fire, and with all these sandstorms around, a month is already the quickest they could possibly arrive."
A.I.-like Shen further added, reviewing his calculated result, "Besides, if anything unfortunate happens to the Ninja Hawks, we'll have no choice but to eat those 'delicacies' ourselves."
"!!!" x3
The three of them shook their heads vehemently in refusal, declaring firmly they'd rather die than put those "delicacies" into their mouths.
Shen couldn't help but feel delighted by their horrified reactions.
Then, confidently and generously, he declared, "However, who else but us Uchihas is never short on money? After we finish eating, we just pay for more. That works, right?"
"You're kidding us, right? We were actually worried like this for nothing!" Clearly unhappy, Nawaki immediately accused him.
"You can't depend on me forever, you know. What'll Team One do if I'm not around?" Standing up, Shen looked out the window, exuding the air of a lofty sage expressing feelings.
Nayou immediately offered, saying she could eat less: "Shen, I think girls shouldn't really eat that much—"
"No way. If you don't eat more, how can you grow healthily?"
Shen immediately grew anxious. If things really went this way, how could he carry out those secret schemes lingering in his mind?
"What should we do then? We can't possibly go steal it, right?" Honest Nawaki directly voiced his thoughts.
"Exactly! Since we don't have to spend any cash, why don't we just go for it and steal the stuff?" Shen, the mastermind behind Plan Perfect, firmly proposed his idea as events unfolded exactly as he anticipated.
Orochimaru quickly ran through the situation in his mind and realized something: "What exactly are you trying to accomplish, Shen? We're not in Konoha anymore—it's a different world out here."
Nayou rapidly caught on: "So you were playing us with that little speech of yours?"
"Have you lost your mind? Stealing inside Sunagakure village? If we get discovered, Team One's reputation will be ruined!" Even Nawaki, who usually took longer to catch on, now realized that Shen was planning something risky.
Seeing his scheme exposed, Shen showed absolutely no fear: "Everyone calm down! How could we act so recklessly and get noticed by Suna ninjas? You all know my Earth Chakra Mode lets me freely move through anything made of earth, so we definitely need a contingency plan in case our orbital operation fails."
Orochimaru grasped his meaning: "Are you saying the Kazekage from Sunagakure might make a move against us?"
"There's indeed that possibility, which is why I intend to use what we've brought here."
"I'm not sure about those test items' effects either. How many did you bring?"
"All of them from the Laboratory."
"If their power truly reaches the designed level, they could indeed serve as a deterrent against the Kazekage."
While these two geniuses—the prodigy and the passionate scientist—were conversing, Nayou and Nawaki listened completely bewildered. They were dying to know exactly what these mysterious test items actually were.
Noticing their confusion, Shen swiftly pulled out a pitch-black metal orb from a scroll.
He patiently explained: "This is a remotely controlled bomb. Its explosive power equals roughly ten Explosive Tags detonated simultaneously."
Nawaki was astonished on the spot: "This tiny black ball can have such power?"
"You can personally experience it if you don't believe me." The mischievous Shen was visibly excited at the prospect of seeing someone blown to bits.
"You think I'm dumb enough to try that myself?" The cautious Nawaki absolutely refused to risk his life over an experiment.
He loved making jokes when nothing serious was going on… But once injuries or explosions became real possibilities, it suddenly became too serious.
He'd learned his lesson from the infamous Konoha Scapegoat incident—since then, he'd steered clear of anything that even looked like a gamble.
Hearing his response, Shen naturally felt disappointed: "Fine then, let's temporarily hold off testing its power. After all, these things create quite a commotion—we mustn't expose ourselves to Suna ninjas before proper positioning."
Orochimaru nodded in agreement regarding the necessity of having a backup plan. In case the talks between Konoha and Sunagakure broke down entirely, at least Team One would gain additional leverage.
Even the Third Kazekage, who possessed Magnet Release as his Kekkei Genkai, probably couldn't locate every single bomb placed by this flying-around genius kid once they were deployed.
"So when shall we take action?" Nayou also approved the plan, recognizing the necessity of preparing contingencies.
"It's not you guys who'll be moving in, it's me. All you need to do is attract outside attention," Shen assigned their roles.
Nawaki was naturally quite unhappy upon hearing this: "Why should you're the one handling such an important task? Don't I even have the ability to help at all?"
Shen hit him with the triple stare of disbelief: "Do you have Earth Nature Chakra? Can you fully activate Earth Chakra Mode? Do you know Earth Penetration?"
"I don't."
"Then just attracting Sunagakure's attention is already a huge help."
"..."
Nawaki had no retort and instantly lost all his steam.
Even though he was somewhat of a hot-headed guy himself, he understood well enough that for something like this, he really couldn't offer much help.
"So Snake Uncle will handle negotiations with Kazekage to draw attention away from me, as for Nayou and Nawaki..." Shen hesitated when assigning these two, clearly struggling.
"What's wrong, Shen? As long as we can sufficiently distract Sunagakure's attention, right?" Nayou understood what his arrangement implied and spoke up to ask.
Shen suddenly got it: "You two can just go stir up trouble! Didn't Uncle Geri promise Nayou a sparring session with some Suna ninja anyway?"
"You mean we can do that?"
Nawaki was genuinely surprised by this plan. After all, as a well-behaved boy, he'd never attempted anything mischievous before.
"Just remember the three golden rules of causing trouble: don't start it, fake it well, and run like hell!" Drawing on his own experience causing trouble, Shen shared his wisdom with the two about to stir things up in Suna.
The more Orochimaru listened to this exchange, the more unsettled he felt inside.
If he didn't escape from Team One soon, he feared he might eventually get 'infected' by the troublemaker gene from [troublemaker].
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