"Are you sure about this?"

"Yes, I am."

"Then, I won't stop you."

"Thank you."

"Haha, don't worry about it."

══════

After leaving the Uzukage's office, Tanaka went shopping.

His goal was to leave the village. That day. Not for a mission, but because he felt like exploring more of this world.

The fact that he was now being treated as a hero wherever he went and being the center of attention made him feel like an idol or something similar. It wasn't something he enjoyed, to the point where he had reduced the frequency of his outings.

The reason for this was simple. What happened five days ago had come to light, and because it was basically thanks to him that everyone was safe, he was treated as a hero by many.

"There he is..."

Speaking of which, someone at this moment, a young girl of about 15 or 16 years old, was blushing while her friend pointed at him.

'Urgh...'

Groaning in his mind, Tanaka blushed a little as he scratched his face.

This was the second reason he wanted to leave. The number of girls who had approached him in the past few days for random reasons had already surpassed ten.

Not that he didn't like the attention from pretty girls, and it should be said that most of the women in the Uzumaki clan, in particular, with their red hair, were simply very beautiful.

But even so, he had no experience with dating and didn't want to start now.

Although, for the moment, the danger that had loomed over the village seemed to have disappeared, and even the sense of crisis he felt before had dissipated, he still couldn't get attached to any girl. Although he was physically attracted to some, none of them attracted him enough to want a relationship...

Well, there was one, but she was on a different level than these girls...

With his ten shadow clones, Tanaka returned home full of shopping bags.

"Welcome home, Tanaka-kun." Akane greeted him with a gentle smile.

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"I'm home." He replied. And, he really felt at home. But...

"I see you haven't changed your mind." She sighed. Her reluctance was obvious, but she didn't want to hold him back and wanted to let him act freely.

"Yes." Tanaka gave a simple answer. Although exploring dungeons and living in the village was comforting, Tanaka felt the desire to see more of the world, in addition to the fact that he was starting to feel uncomfortable being treated as the village hero. It was like living in a city and never visiting its landmarks, an experience he was now determined to avoid.

Tanaka's situation was almost the same. So far, as Tanaka, he had lived as someone with little interest in this world. Although he had feelings for his village, Kushina, and Akane, beyond that, he never tried to appreciate the world out there.

"Well, I respect your decision, but know that you can always return; after all, this is your home." She said affectionately, opening her arms to welcome him with a hug.

Handing the shopping bags to the clones, he went and embraced her: "Yes, I know."

Peeking through the door, Kushina was pouting. She didn't like the idea of him having to leave the village once again.

"Oniichan, do you really have to go?"

"Yes, and one day, I hope you feel like doing the same." Tanaka said with a smile. "Understand, Kushina-chan, I know the world is dangerous, especially because of the war, but I still want to explore this world out there."

"But…"

"Don't worry, I'll leave some clones here, so it's not like you'll be without seeing me."

"But, but, isn't it dangerous – Dattebane?"

"No, I don't plan to do anything so dangerous that it puts my life at risk." He didn't lie. At least not completely.

"I understand…"

Going over to her, he hugged her. She had a few tears streaming down her face. She felt that this time, he might take longer to return than before, and that made her little heart ache a bit.

══════

At the port, Tanaka stood before a rather elaborate sailboat. That alone cost him 10 million, but it was worth it.

Boarding the sailboat with three shadow clones, they busied themselves adjusting the sails to set sail.

For Tanaka, who had read books about navigation, with his intelligence and wisdom, he managed to learn how to sail theoretically. Now, he was going to put it into practice, and it didn't seem complicated.

After pulling up the anchor, the sails unfurled as the wind blew.

"Oniichan, don't forget about me!" Waving to him were Kushina and her mother.

"I won't." Tanaka replied as he waved back.

Soon, the boat began to sail away.

Only when he was at a considerable distance did he see Akane and Kushina leaving the port.

"Land of Fire, here I come. I will be the King of the Pirates!" He exclaimed, soon scratching his somewhat reddened face.

The worst part was the judgmental looks from his own shadow clones, who seemed to shudder with secondhand embarrassment.

Just as his initial judgment, when he started sailing, it was indeed very simple. He left the task of controlling the boat to his shadow clones while he himself began to retrieve various items from his inventory.

"Alright, it's time to level up my 'Manufacturing' skill even more," he murmured.

For now, he would try to do it alone. Although he could progress faster using shadow clones and could now create a total of 77 clones, there was a reason he didn't want to use them at the moment. Not because he left 20 shadow clones in the village, but because he wanted to get accustomed to his new passive skill, Parallel Thoughts.

By the way, one of the shadow clones was equipped with the Elemental Power Ring. By using this ring, it was possible to use MP as an element; in this case, he chose to use wind to generate even more wind to accelerate the speed at which he was heading towards the Land of Fire.

In front of Tanaka were various rare metals, ink, and chakra paper.

He had spent more than half of his fortune buying these and other things.

Besides these metals, he also took out a ring identical to the one his shadow clone was wearing. His purpose was obviously to create something derived from this ring. After all, if he couldn't equip two of the same ring to multiply the effect, he could very well create something different using the composition of this ring, right?

Of course, he couldn't simply use this item as an ingredient; it was necessary to dismantle the ring. But how to do that?

All of this became possible because he decided to fish, clean the scales himself, and make sushi. Not only did he gain a passive/active skill for cooking, but he also unlocked a skill called 'Dismantle.'

At first, it was only possible to dismantle something like a fish or even a bird. However, as he leveled up the skill, a new option emerged: dismantling items. And, as he leveled up the skill even further, he reached the point where he could dismantle armor and lose only 10% of the effects of the items used to create it.

That being said, Tanaka finished dismantling the Elemental Power Ring. The components used, whether the gem in the ring or the metals used in its creation and inscriptions, were all well-preserved. And, as expected, only 9% of the properties were lost in the process.

Although it was just a 1% reduction in loss, the result was an improvement not due to leveling up the skill but rather because of the skill Parallel Thoughts. This alone demonstrated the importance of being able to have multiple thoughts at once, especially in a process as delicate as dismantling an item.

"I hope that when this skill reaches its maximum level, I'll be able to preserve 100% of the item's properties," he murmured.

||- Note -||

Chapter 62 is already released on Pa treon!

patre on.com/Tozoku