He turned his gaze to the last item.
Unlike the money-printing machine he had imagined, this was a palm-sized volcano. Its overall color was like cooled lava.
[Money Printer: Inject chakra, and it will continuously spew out valuable things.]
"Uh..."
This description made so much sense that Jokichi had no words to refute it.
However, it didn't print banknotes, but spewed out valuable things. What could this valuable thing be?
Out of curiosity, Jokichi injected chakra into the volcano.
"Boom!"
Just like a volcanic eruption, a massive amount of Gold Dust spewed out from inside. Under the lights, it glittered brightly, blindingly so.
Looking at the Gold Dust covering the floor, Jokichi fell into silence.
It seemed his travel expenses were covered!
This thing...
Is truly awesome!
He happily put the item away, then scooped the Gold Dust from the floor into money pouches. It filled two whole pouches. He didn't know how much money it could be exchanged for.
However, he couldn't use this thing too much.
Rarity dictates value. If there was too much Gold Dust, it wouldn't be worth anything on the market.
This was probably why Rasa, despite being able to excavate Gold Dust from the ground, could never plug the village's financial deficit!
Moreover, Rasa at least excavated it from underground. This thing of his exchanged chakra for Gold Dust, which was equivalent to creating something out of thin air, severely impacting market order.
Use with caution, use with caution.
Next, Jokichi used Guren's blood for forging.
It only forged one "Crystal Release Crystal", which upon consumption would grant the "Crystal Release" Kekkei Genkai.
Jokichi had no intention of using it.
Right now, apart from the crystals of the Otsutsuki clan, he wouldn't use any of them.
Unless it was a crystal stronger than the Otsutsuki clan's.
After putting the items away, Jokichi took out the Surprise Gourd again.
The Surprise Gourd connected the myriad worlds. Every month, he could obtain a random item from the myriad worlds.
It had already been a month since he obtained the last item. Now, it was time to harvest again.
Jokichi first burned incense and took a bath, and only then did he open the gourd's stopper.
He saw a ray of golden light shoot out from the gourd's mouth, and an ancient thread-bound book landed on the floor.
"Hmm?"
Jokichi was initially confused. Then he picked up the book and took a look. The cover boldly displayed three large characters: "Yi Jin Jing" (Muscle-Tendon Change Classic), written in traditional Chinese characters.
"Could this be..."
Jokichi widened his eyes, then eagerly flipped open the book.
Sure enough, there were many illustrations of human figures performing martial arts movements inside, along with many annotations on the side.
It was written in classical Chinese, featuring many specialized Buddhist terms.
Although he couldn't read it, he inexplicably felt it was very lofty and badass.
However, when he finished flipping through the entire book and saw the publication number on the back, he was instantly rendered speechless.
Because it said "Published by Xinhua Bookstore, 20 yuan a copy."
Seeing this, Jokichi instantly understood.
This wasn't some supreme secret manual from a Wuxia world at all, but a street stall knockoff you could buy on Taobao in his past life for ten bucks.
However...
"Did this book come from the world of my past life?"
Jokichi fell into deep thought.
He had previously thought about using the Dragon Vein to forge an item that could traverse worlds, and then return to the world of his past life.
Now, a book that appeared to be from his past world had actually shown up.
This undoubtedly gave him hope.
However, it was only hope.
This book wasn't necessarily from his past world; it could also be from a similar parallel world.
According to the Surprise Gourd's system description, the multiverse contained countless worlds, as numerous as bubbles.
Even if he could traverse worlds, finding the specific world of his past life would be incredibly difficult.
Not to mention, it wasn't even certain if he could forge an item to traverse worlds.
But having hope was good enough.
He stored the gourd in the system space, and placed that copy of the Yi Jin Jing on his bookshelf.
He could take it out to pass the time when he had nothing else to do in the future.
Having finished tallying his spoils, Jokichi took a bath and prepared to sleep.
At this moment, a sound came from the window.
Jokichi looked up and saw Itachi's crow standing outside the window, tapping on the glass.
Only, the crow's eyes had turned into the Sharingan.
Jokichi's heart skipped a beat, and he opened the window.
The crow flapped its wings, flew in, and landed on the desk.
"Yo, why did you suddenly think of contacting me now?" Jokichi said to the crow.
Although this crow served as a means of communication, to reduce the risk of being discovered, the two rarely communicated.
Not to mention, the two had just met in the Land of Waves a few months ago.
The crow fell silent for a moment, then emitted Itachi's voice. "The commotion Orochimaru caused in Konoha has drawn the organization's attention."
"Asking me for intel?"
"Correct," the crow said indifferently. "Because I'm relatively familiar with Konoha, the leader asked me to gather intelligence."
"He knows about me?" Jokichi was somewhat surprised.
"I only said I had a subordinate in Konoha. He doesn't know who it is."
"I see," Jokichi understood. "But, aren't you going to visit Konoha? Your father suffered heavy injuries a month ago, and your little brother seems to miss you a lot."
"...No." The crow remained silent for a moment before saying, "If I meet them, things will only become troublesome again. However..."
The crow hesitated for a moment, looking up at Jokichi. "How are they doing?"
"They're doing okay." Jokichi smiled. "As for your dad, because of his heavy injuries a month ago, he didn't participate in the war against Otogakure and Sunagakure. And Sasuke... hehe, he misses you especially!"
"He just wants to defeat me, right!" The crow sounded somewhat self-deprecating.
"That's very normal too," Jokichi said. "He's been close to you since childhood, admired you, and always chased after your back. In his heart, you are the perfect older brother, an existence without any blemishes."
"Then you became a missing-nin, shattering that perfect image in his heart and betraying his expectations. With his competitive nature, he must be very unwilling to accept it!"
"This is a good thing. Let him continue to be unwilling!"
"True. This kind of Sasuke will definitely walk a path completely opposite to mine, and become an honorable Konoha ninja."
"Enough about that. What exactly is the situation regarding Orochimaru's operation this time?" The crow changed the subject, asking about the proper business.
"Nothing special. That guy was baited by me, and then wanted to do some things on the side."
"...I see!" Itachi, behind the crow, remembered Orochimaru attacking him during his time in the Akatsuki organization, and instantly understood everything.
He nodded and asked, "Then, what is Konoha's current situation?"
"It's fine, no major losses."
"What about Orochimaru?"
"Fled with his tail between his legs."
"I understand." The crow nodded. "There's one more thing concerning you."
"What is it?"
"That Wood Release jutsu you unleashed in Konoha was seen by a member of the organization. The organization considers you a threat who will hinder future plans, and has decided to take action to assassinate you."
"Wait a minute. You guys didn't know the situation in Konoha, so why would you know it was me casting the jutsu in Konoha?"
"A ninjutsu with a 5-kilometer radius would be clearly visible even from outside the village, wouldn't it!"
"Uh..."
Jokichi opened his mouth, swallowing the words he wanted to say, and asked instead, "Who is coming?"
"The leader!"
"..."