"I'm sorry, I spoke too early."
Two days later, in the southwestern region of the Land of Fire, deep within an unnamed mountain range.
Inside an underground chamber, Shinichi stood motionless as his gaze slowly swept across the gold that filled the entire stone room. Golden light reflected across his constantly shifting expression as he sucked in a sharp breath.
Gold bricks, gold bars, and gold ingots were scattered haphazardly, and various gold jewelry was strewn across the stone platform and the ground.
In the center of the secret chamber lay a golden Buddha statue about five meters tall, but unfortunately, it had been broken into several pieces.
The Buddha's head is half-buried in a pile of gold bricks in the corner, and the Buddha's arm leans against the stone wall.
Scattered around the Buddha statue are gilded dharma wheels, golden dharma staffs, golden bowls, and more than a dozen golden offering plates and incense burners, each of which is exquisitely carved and decorated with intricate patterns.
This is a Buddhist temple that has been buried underground for who knows how many years.
Perhaps it was an earthquake, a landslide, or the aftershocks of some earth-shattering battle between powerful beings that plunged the entire temple, along with everything within it, into eternal darkness.
If it weren't for the familiar stirring within Shinichi as he passed through this area, which drew him along his senses and led him to finally find it in the darkness sealed by layers of rock and time, this place may never be known to anyone.
"Abbots are rich no matter what world they're in."
Looking around the chamber packed with gold once more, Shinichi could not help but make a sarcastic remark inwardly.
By his rough estimate, the total value of this treasure was roughly equivalent to several years of fiscal revenue for Konoha, the strongest of the Five Great Ninja Villages.
The moment that amount appeared in his mind, he was reminded of a certain temple from India in his previous life.
That year, the Supreme Court of India ordered an inventory of the temple's assets, and the result was the discovery of a world-shocking treasure hidden in underground vaults, with a preliminary valuation reaching tens of billions of dollars, causing a global sensation.
(Note: Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple)
Later, that temple was written into countless transmigration novels and became the standard template for the starting funds of countless transmigrator protagonists.
Now, he was personally acting out the script of a temple treasure.
If heaven gives and you do not take, disaster follows.
Shinichi stopped thinking further and immediately began collecting the gold. This wealth had arrived at exactly the right time for what he intended to do.
Even using only a small portion of it would be more than enough to cover all the expenses of the Shinichi Society during its startup phase.
He had no interest in investigating the history or origins of this ancient temple, nor did he wish to trace the origins of this wealth.
The ancient history of this world had long since suffered a severe break in continuity, and the earliest verifiable history could only be traced back about a thousand years.
In other words, to the era when Kaguya Otsutsuki descended upon the world.
And even this period of history was only partially understood by Shinichi as a transmigrator, while the native inhabitants of the Shinobi World knew almost nothing about it.
As for the ages before that, not only did the people of the Shinobi World know nothing, but even Shinichi himself had no way of knowing.
After all, he had never systematically watched the complete storyline of the next-generation series. He had only seen edited highlights of major climactic battles.
For example, Naruto and Sasuke fighting Otsutsuki Momoshiki; Isshiki Otsutsuki completely overwhelming Naruto and Sasuke; and Baryon Mode Naruto clashing head-on with Isshiki Otsutsuki.
He vaguely knew that new enemies appeared later and knew that Kaguya Otsutsuki had not descended alone a thousand years ago. But as for what the complete story was that unfolded in the next-generation era, or whether even older histories existed before Kaguya's arrival, he knew absolutely nothing.
For archaeologists in this world, the matter was equally difficult. During the world-destroying battle between Kaguya Otsutsuki and her two sons, even the continental plates were shaken, and countless ancient ruins and civilizations were completely buried by the terrifying aftershocks, sinking into the depths of history.
Based on his preliminary judgment, this temple was probably over a thousand years old as well, and its burial might very well have been caused by the aftermath of that battle.
As he continued collecting the treasure, Shinichi encountered a happy problem: he was running out of storage scrolls.
The miscellaneous items he had picked up over the past few days had already occupied a great deal of space. Now, faced with an entire underground chamber filled with gold, the storage scrolls he carried with him were no longer sufficient.
...
Two days later, Konoha, at the Hokage Building.
Inside a spacious conference room, the third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, stared blankly at the gold spread across the floor.
Gold bricks, gold bars, and gold ingots were stacked layer upon layer.
Various gold and silver vessels, along with ancient copper coins, had been sorted into several piles.
Jade and jewels were gathered separately to one side, refracting a dazzling display of light under the room's illumination.
At some point, the third Hokage's smoking pipe had slipped from his fingers and rolled onto the carpet at his feet, yet he remained completely unaware of it.
Several finance personnel who had been summoned stood nearby with their mouths hanging open, momentarily wondering whether they were dreaming.
Shinichi had returned today, far earlier than expected.
He had requested fifteen to thirty days, yet he returned to Konoha on only the twelfth day. When he reported to the Hokage's office, before the third Hokage could even ask about the results of the survey, he straightforwardly stated that he had picked up a little money while traveling around the Land of Fire and hoped the third Hokage could prepare a larger room and call several finance personnel to help count it.
Picked up some money?
At the time, the third Hokage had been full of confusion.
Could one really pick up money while doing field research? Even if someone was lucky enough to find money, how much could they possibly find? Did it really require clearing out a large room and calling in the finance department to count it?
But regardless of his doubts, the third Hokage still made the preparations exactly as Shinichi had requested.
Then he witnessed the jaw-dropping scene before him.
"Shinichi, this..." The third Hokage finally snapped back to his senses. He bent down to pick up his smoking pipe from the floor, turned toward the calm-faced boy beside him, opened his mouth, then hesitated.
Several finance personnel also turned toward Shinichi in unison, their eyes filled with shock and confusion.
Seeing this, Shinichi smiled slightly and briefly explained that during his journey, he had come upon abandoned ruins, mountain valleys, riverbeds, and deserted temples, picking up various treasures along the way before eventually discovering the largest cache of gold in an ancient temple buried deep underground.
He spoke lightly, as though he were merely describing the trivial act of finding a few coins along the way.
After listening, the crowd's confusion gradually dissipated, but the astonishment in their eyes lingered for a long time.