I just returned to Konoha and found that all my clan members were gone.

Shikamaru looked at the bruises on the other's hand and asked without thinking too much.

"Did they just do this?"

Ryosuke's wife tried to pull back her hand, but her strength was obviously not as great as Shikamaru's, so she spoke in a panic.

"I got hurt accidentally. It has nothing to do with the person just now."

When I rolled up the other person's sleeves, I found that the bruises on his arms were indeed of different degrees and were not caused at the same time.

But Shikamaru really couldn't figure out how it could have turned out like this.

"Thank you for your help, Master Shikamaru, but I think I should go back to my stall..."

Ryosuke's wife struggled as she spoke, not daring to look into Shikamaru's eyes.

The other party was unwilling to speak, and Shikamaru couldn't force him, so he had to let him go.

Ryosuke's wife helped A-Kuang's wife up, who had not yet recovered from her shock, and said, "We will wash your clothes and return them to you. Thank you very much this time."

Shikamaru stood there for a long time, thinking but still had no idea.

He had just left the alley when he saw Asuma leaning against the wall, smoking a cigarette.

"Shikamaru you shouldn't have done that. You could have just tied them up."

Asuma exhaled a puff of smoke and said that he had just seen a few embarrassed workers running out. After he came here, he clearly felt the breath of chakra, which meant that Shikamaru had attacked civilians.

"Then you don't know what they did."

Shikamaru said while holding his forehead. He was very upset and didn't want to listen to Asuma's lecture.

"No matter what, it is an iron rule for ninjas not to attack civilians."

Asuma said seriously.

Shikamaru sighed and recounted to Asuma the entire story that had just happened.

After hearing this, Asma stopped smoking and took a long time to utter a sentence.

"You just let them go like that? They should be thrown into jail!"

This is not abnormal. Asma himself is a man with a family, so he must hate this kind of behavior more than others. If it were him, it would be mercy for the other party to be able to walk out standing.

But seeing Asuma's transformation, Shikamaru didn't feel happy, but his face was gloomy.

"Hey, why are you unhappy? Wasn't what I said right?"

Asuma was a little surprised, as he, as a teacher, clearly agreed with the other party.

If Asuma insisted on the so-called iron law of ninja, Shikamaru would respect him even though he would be unhappy. It's just that the other party changed his position so easily and trampled on the so-called iron law.

Are these things just said for others to hear, or can ninjas of their level ignore them?

Even a good guy like Asuma has such an idea, one can imagine what kind of thinking the entire Konoha ninja has. It's like the Konoha high-level officials can easily arrange a task and send Ryosuke's son to die.

If you take direct action, you will be the wreck of your compatriots, but if you fail to complete the task, it means you are not capable enough and you cannot blame others.

The more Shikamaru thought about it, the sadder he felt. For the first time, he realized how difficult it was to manage a department. These things had never been taught in the ninja school, so he could only figure them out bit by bit.

He returned to the barbecue stall and found a corner and sat down alone without disturbing the busy Ino and Choji.

As soon as I sat down, I saw a familiar black cat eating some barbecue secretly.

Shikamaru asked as he remembered who this guy was.

"If I remember correctly, you are Senior Ye Lan's spiritual beast, right?"

Naraku pricked up his ears, glanced at the person who came, and when he saw that it was not Shikamaru who was chasing him, he let down his guard and spoke lazily.

"Yes, what do you want from me?"

"I would like to ask you to help me get some information."

Shikamaru still wanted to find out how Ryosuke's wife was injured. If he asked by himself, he might not get anything. He didn't want to tell other people. Naraku in front of him was the best cat choice. After all, who would care about a cat?

"No."

Without waiting for Shikamaru to say anything, Naraku shook his head. What a joke! Why should Shikamaru, a Konoha ninja, help him?

"Next time I'll bring you two bags of Konoha's special dried fish!"

Shikamaru said, holding up two fingers.

Naraku pressed the pause button while eating, and then his two cat eyes sparkled like gems.

"Deal! What's up?"

"I want you to find out what happened to Ryosuke's family recently, especially how his wife got injured."

"Who is Ryosuke?"

"Yeah, it's the burrito shop across from the barbecue stand."

Shikamaru then realized that Naraku might not even know who Ryosuke was.

But unexpectedly, Naraku shook his tail and said.

"Oh, you mean that family? I know about this. He beat his wife himself. I heard it when I passed by his house last time in the middle of the night."

"I've told you what's going on. You can't lose out on my dried fish!"

Naraku said cautiously.

"Got it. I'll buy it for you later. But why did her husband call her?"

Shikamaru had also been to Ryosuke's house. They were obviously a very loving couple, so how could it become like this? It looked like the injuries were serious.

"I saw that man came home drunk, and his wife seemed to have mentioned something like gambling, so that might be the reason."

Naraku said nonchalantly that as a cat he really didn't understand such complicated emotions of humans.

"Gambling? Why didn't you tell me about this earlier?"

Shikamaru didn't expect that Ryosuke would become addicted to gambling, which would explain why their family couldn't pay off their debts. In the worst case, they might even lose all their son's pension.

"You're so weird, eh? I'm Ye Lan's summoning beast, not yours. And don't forget that Ye Lan and Konoha are enemies. Besides, you didn't ask me."

Naraku looked at Shikamaru with disgust.

Shikamaru realized that he had said something wrong and apologized quickly, and compensated with an extra bag of dried fish. This information was too important to him.

Fortunately, Naraku didn't care too much about it. He was very satisfied with Shikamaru's attitude and continued.

"But I advise you not to interfere in this kind of thing. Even though I'm a cat, I know better than to meddle in other people's affairs."

Shikamaru smiled bitterly. What Naraku said was true. He really didn't know where to intervene. Should he give money? But gamblers are bottomless pits. Even Tsunade-sama still buys lottery tickets regularly after becoming Hokage. It's really hard to quit this thing.

...

The three people who were taught a lesson by Shikamaru did not go to the factory to continue working nor did they report the incident to the patrol team. Instead, they found a ninja who had gained some weight.

This person was wearing a vest that only Konoha's jonin had, and a forehead protector. He looked at the few people with disgust.

If Shikamaru were here, he would definitely be able to recognize who this person is. He is the leader of Ryosuke's son, Tekuno.

"Didn't you say not to come to me for everything?"

"Yes, yes, I'm sorry to bother you, sir. It's just that something happened here. Why don't we just forget about the money? Ryosuke's family is really pitiful..."

The leader of the three spoke in a reserved manner, Shikamaru's punch was really powerful.

Tekuno looked at the few people in confusion. As a guy who had climbed up from a commoner step by step to a jonin, he definitely had a lot of experience. These people didn't seem like sympathetic people. Why would they say such things today?

Tekuno asked directly.

"What happened?"

"Well, when we went to collect the debt, we were discovered by Lord Shikamaru, and then... Lord Ninja should be able to guess it..."

The leader was really embarrassed that it was his men who lost their minds for a moment and made Shikamaru angry.

"Shikamaru-sama... heh."

Tekuno sneered disdainfully. How could such a little brat deserve such a title? He thought for a moment and said.

"It's okay. We still have to do this. If it doesn't work, we can find the other person's home next time. You should know where he lives."

"Ninja-sama, this is not good."

The three of them hardly dared to look up. How could the other party, who looked so kind, have such a vicious mind? Wasn't this pushing them into a dead end?

"Just do what you are told. Why waste so much time talking?"

Tekuno's face darkened and the aura of a jonin emanated from him. The three of them nodded quickly and didn't dare to ask any more questions.

Once the three men left, Tekuno regained his friendly expression and spoke in a low voice.

"You can't blame me, Honda. I also received orders from above. It's all for Konoha."