After filling out the registration form, Richard handed it to the scarred chunin.
The ninja glanced at it quickly and said, "You can go. Enjoy your stay in Konoha."
Without waiting for an answer, the chunin left.
Richard turned and headed straight for the village center without hesitation.
Even though the chunin didn't question him further, Richard knew Konoha would still investigate him. They just didn't make things difficult at the entrance to keep up their friendly reputation.
Among the five hidden villages, Konoha seemed the most open on the surface, welcoming any families or ninja who wanted to move there.
But reality was different. Konoha wasn't as open as it looked.
When outsiders moved to Konoha, they'd be watched for a long time. The surveillance only stopped once they proved they weren't threats.
Even then, it was hard for outsiders to really get into Konoha's inner circle of power.
Basically, Konoha looked progressive, but inside it was just like other hidden villages – kind of afraid of outsiders and suspicious of non-Konoha ninja and families.
Richard knew Konoha would have ANBU spying on him, but he didn't care. As long as they didn't mess with his life, he couldn't care less about those ANBU ninjas.
After entering the village, Richard headed straight for the famous Ichiraku Ramen.
Though Ichiraku was just a regular noodle shop that couldn't even fit ten customers at once, Richard still made it his first stop in Konoha.
He didn't know yet if their food was actually good.
But since Naruto, the future Seventh Hokage, grew up eating there, Ichiraku's ramen had to be pretty decent.
Naruto might not have had much money, but he wasn't stupid.
If a ramen shop's food wasn't good, he definitely wouldn't have made it his second home.
On his way to Ichiraku, Richard spotted a currency exchange shop.
Since Konoha often had visitors from other countries, there were lots of currency exchange places throughout the village.
Without hesitating, Richard walked into the shop, pulled ten gold pieces from his backpack, and put them on the counter.
Seeing the gold, the clerk looked surprised and asked, "Sir, do you want to exchange all of these?"
"Yeah, all of them," Richard replied.
"Okay, sir, just a moment please."
The clerk picked up the gold and inspected it, then called their supervisor over.
After getting final approval, the clerk started exchanging it for currency.
After a while, the clerk came back with a suitcase.
The ten gold pieces were exchanged for 800 million ryō.
One ryō was historically equivalent to about 10,000 yen in modern value, not just 10 yen.
So 800 million ryō would be roughly equivalent to 8 trillion yen in today's money.
Doing a quick calculation based on Earth's gold prices, Richard could tell the exchange shop had been honest.
But that was normal. Someone who could pull out gold worth 800 million ryō wasn't an ordinary person.
Not just in Konoha, but exchange shops in any village wouldn't dare try to cheat such a customer.
After getting his money, Richard calmly put the suitcase into his system space and left the shop.
Though he didn't know exactly where Ichiraku Ramen was, he found it easily after asking a few people on the street.
It was lunchtime, and several customers were sitting at the Ichiraku counter.
The shop's curtain partially covered them, but Richard still spotted a familiar figure among them.
Naruto!
He really does treat this place like his personal cafeteria! Richard thought.
Despite this small surprise, Richard stuck to his plan and walked right into Ichiraku Ramen.
Lifting the curtain and sitting at an empty spot, Richard said to Ayame, the only server: "Hi, I'll have a tonkotsu pork ramen, please."
Tonkotsu pork was one of Naruto's favorite ramens. Though not the most expensive or loaded with fancy ingredients, Richard chose it anyway.
"Coming right up!" Ayame replied quickly, stealing a glance at Richard.
Though they'd never met before, she could tell Richard was handsome and exactly her type.
Elegant silver hair, perfect features, tall and lean build, unique charm.
Ayame was only 17, the age when girls get easily impressed.
Even a woman in her thirties would've been attracted to Richard.
As Ayame left, Naruto, who was eating his ramen, looked up and turned toward Richard.
When Richard spoke just now, his voice had seemed familiar to Naruto.
Seeing Richard, Naruto's eyes went wide and he yelled loudly, looking shocked: "What are YOU doing here?!"
Naruto's voice was so loud that everyone in the shop turned to look.
"Why can't I be here?" Richard asked calmly.
Naruto was speechless and didn't know what to say.
Though he didn't like Richard much, he couldn't think of any good comeback.
After about ten seconds, he blurted out, "I know, you're a spy from another village!"
"No, I'm not a spy. I'm a businessman. I came to Konoha to do business," Richard said calmly.
"You're lying! You're obviously a ninja!" Naruto jumped off his seat and faced Richard suspiciously.
"Who says ninjas can't do business?"
Richard stayed calm. He wasn't surprised by Naruto's reaction.
To Naruto, he was the bad guy who tried to kill Haku.
Just as Naruto was about to say something else, Richard cut in, "Haku's not dead, and neither is Zabuza. I let them go."
Hearing this, Naruto's face became less suspicious.
But he quickly said, "How do I know if you're telling the truth?"
"Kid, I don't need to prove anything to you. Believe it or not," Richard said firmly. "And just so you know, I hate being bothered while I eat."
With that, Richard released a small bit of his aura that he'd been holding back and aimed it at Naruto.
He wasn't releasing killing intent, just a fraction of his natural presence.
But even that was enough to freeze Naruto in place like he'd been hit with a paralysis jutsu.
Naruto might be the chosen one in his world, but right now he was just a genin who couldn't even master basic clone techniques.
The Rasengan, Sage Mode, Nine-Tails Chakra Mode – he hadn't learned any of that yet.
In the original story, when Naruto and Sasuke met Orochimaru disguised as a Grass ninja during the Chunin Exams, they were paralyzed by his killing intent.
If even Orochimaru, who wasn't as strong as Richard, could easily freeze them with just his aura, Richard definitely could too.
After keeping Naruto frozen for a few seconds, Richard pulled back his aura and went back to ignoring him.
Now free to move again, Naruto stared at Richard in shock.
Though he didn't know what Richard had just done, he'd felt a fear unlike anything he'd ever experienced before.
After a few seconds of stunned silence, Naruto paid his bill and rushed out of Ichiraku, clearly going to find Kakashi.
Soon after Naruto left, Ayame brought the tonkotsu pork ramen Richard had ordered.
Looking at the ramen, which looked just like he'd expected, Richard smiled with satisfaction, picked up his chopsticks and took a taste.
As he thought, though Ichiraku was just a regular ramen shop, their food was pretty good.
While not some incredible gourmet meal, it was great as far as ramen went.
With better ingredients, it could be even tastier.
Richard finished his bowl quickly. After checking the menu on the wall, he ordered one of each ramen flavor they had.
For normal people, ordering like this would be wasteful.
But for Richard, it was no problem.
Forget ten bowls – he could easily eat a hundred if he wanted.
Richard's massive order didn't surprise the other customers.
From Naruto's outburst earlier, they already knew Richard was a ninja.
Though not all ninjas were big eaters, it was normal for ninjas to eat more than regular people.
Richard remembered clearly that Hinata once ate 46 bowls of ramen in one sitting, becoming Ichiraku's "Ramen Champion" instantly.
After spending over half an hour at Ichiraku trying all their ramens, Richard left feeling satisfied.
He decided to come back to Ichiraku for meals whenever he could. Naruto's favorite ramen shop really was excellent.
Just as he was about to handle his next task – buying a house and a store – Naruto showed up in front of him again.
Actually, all of Team 7 was there.
Besides Kakashi, Sasuke and Sakura had also been dragged along by Naruto.
Seeing Richard, Kakashi stood a few meters away and said, "Hello, I didn't expect to see you in Konoha."
"I didn't introduce myself when we met before. I'm Kakashi Hatake."
Kakashi was being polite.
Though he didn't even know Richard's name, he was sure of one thing – Richard was as strong as he was.
Plus, the powerful wind techniques Richard had used before really interested him.
On the surface, Richard's wind blades looked like Wind Release jutsu.
But Kakashi knew they weren't. He hadn't seen any chakra in those wind blades.
"I'm Richard, and I'm a businessman here to do business in Konoha," Richard replied calmly.
Among Konoha's jonin, Kakashi was the one Richard respected most.
Not because Kakashi had the Sharingan from Obito, but because Kakashi was genuinely talented.
Also, Kakashi had silver hair like him.
Though few people had seen Kakashi's real face, Richard knew he was definitely a handsome guy.
Maybe not as good-looking as Richard himself, but definitely the best-looking guy in the Naruto world.
"What kind of business are you planning to do in Konoha, Mr. Richard?" Kakashi asked.
"If all goes well, I'll open a weapons store," Richard answered.
He'd already decided on this after choosing to enter Konoha as a businessman.
Though he wasn't a blacksmith and had no experience making weapons, he had vibranium – something that couldn't possibly exist in the Naruto world.
His plan was simple: open a store selling vibranium weapons in Konoha.
Since vibranium was so special and rare, he planned to open a high-end weapons shop that normal people could never afford.
Though he didn't care if he made money, selling vibranium too cheaply would be disrespectful to the material.
A weapons shop?
Kakashi frowned when Richard finished speaking.
Though he didn't sense any bad intentions from Richard, something felt off about him suddenly coming to Konoha to open a weapons store.
After a few seconds of silence, Kakashi said, "We have things to do, so I won't keep you, Mr. Richard."
With that, he turned to leave with Naruto and the others.
It was clear Naruto didn't want to just leave like that.
But just as he was about to say something, Sakura cut in.
"Stop making trouble, Naruto. Mr. Richard isn't a bad person, and we have a mission to do."
Hearing Sakura, Naruto shut up and followed Kakashi away.
After they left, Richard walked toward the real estate agency he'd heard about from his chat with Ayame.
Konoha had a well-established business district with many real estate agencies.
Not just that – the village also had casinos, adult venues, black markets, and more.
Soon, Richard reached Shida Real Estate, which wasn't far from Ichiraku Ramen.
When he entered, a male staff member in his early forties immediately came over.
Without wasting time, Richard told him exactly what he was looking for.