Creak—

  The door closed again.

  The sorrow on Seimei's face vanished in an instant. Even though he had absorbed the memories of this body’s previous owner, he didn’t feel much of a connection to the ‘parents’ he’d never even met.

  Still, for the sake of this compensation money, he decided he’d make the trip to their graves once a year with a bouquet of flowers.

  Of course, that was if he managed to stay alive.

  Otherwise, none of it mattered.

  He opened the envelope and gave it a quick count—1,010,000 ryō in total.

  “Not bad. Looks like no one skimmed any off the top.”

  Both of his parents had been chunin. After dying in the line of duty, their death benefits amounted to 500,000 ryō each.

  Adding to that was the 10,000 ryō in living expenses issued by the cn—bringing the total to exactly 1.01 million. Not a coin more, not a coin less.

  Then again, it made sense. If even this kind of money got embezzled, the cn’s unity would be in serious trouble.

  And truth be told, a million ryō sounded like a lot—but it wasn’t.

  In Konoha, D-rank missions paid anywhere from 5,000 to 50,000 ryō. C-ranks ranged from 30,000 to 100,000, B-ranks could net you 80,000 to 200,000, and A-ranks went as high as a million. S-rank missions started above that.

  Chunin could take on C- and B-rank missions, jōnin handled B- and A-ranks. Even with a cut taken by the vilge and the earnings split among teammates, making a million wasn’t all that difficult.

  As for the 10,000 ryō living expenses…

  A single bowl of ramen cost 60 ryō. Three meals a day meant 5,400 ryō a month—just for food.

  And that was only food.

  For a shinobi, the real money sink was training.

  So, yeah. That ten thousand only kept Seimei from starving to death. As for funding his growth? Dream on.

  That was the environment he’d been training under for the past week.

  But now, things were different. With this million in hand, he could finally afford to buy some special medicines to boost his training.

  With that thought, Seimei stepped out and made his way straight to the Nara family’s apothecary.

  In Konoha, the Nara Cn’s medical knowledge was second to none. Anything they produced was a guarantee of quality.

  However, after browsing the shelves, Seimei found that the thing most useful to him… was rations pills.

  Yep—those little pills that could repce an entire meal.

  They replenished all the nutrients the body needed and were standard fare for ninja on missions.

  Some special types could even temporarily boost chakra levels.

  But Seimei didn’t need those. He just needed the kind that could fill his belly.

  That way, he could extend the amount of time spent training his Chakra Refinement Technique, then funnel that extra chakra into practicing the Basic Three—creating a synergy that would raise multiple skill proficiencies at once.

  No sooner thought than done—he pulled out the cash and, under the store clerk’s puzzled stare, bought a massive stockpile of ration pills in one go.

  It was only because they were ration pills. If he’d bought any other supply in bulk, he might’ve drawn attention from the vilge.

  Even so, just to py it safe, he wasn’t pnning on eating out anytime soon.

  This way, people would just assume he was a training maniac who substituted meals with rations.

  …

  Back home.

  Seimei opened his status panel.

  A soft blue interface floated into view:

  【Name: Uchiha Seimei】

  【Age: 10】

  【Physique: 5】【Mind: 7】【Chakra: 17 (131→159)】

  【Bloodline: Sharingan · Unawakened (51/100)】

  【Skills:】Chakra Refinement Technique: Lv0 (8/100) → Lv0 (53/100)Clone Technique: Lv0 (46/100) → Lv1 (2/200)Transformation Technique: Lv0 (77/100)Substitution Technique: Lv0 (71/100)Basic Taijutsu: Lv0 (35/100) → Lv1 (16/200)Shurikenjutsu: Lv1 (29/200) → Lv2 (10/500)

  Over the past week, he’d trained the Chakra Refinement Technique for four hours every night. Most days, it only netted him 6 proficiency points, though sometimes he squeezed out a little extra.

  All in all, he’d gained 45 points—taking the skill from Lv0 (8/100) to Lv0 (53/100), more than halfway to the next level.

  During that time, his chakra limit had grown by 28, from 131 to 159. Still modest, but progress was progress.

  Seimei believed that if he kept at it, one day he’d go from “chakilo” to “chakaton” levels of chakra!

  Also, the 200 chakra he recovered daily through Chakra Refinement was completely spent on ninjutsu practice.

  In the first two days, he focused entirely on the Clone Technique, grinding it up to Lv1—finally reaching the beginner level, allowing him to produce a single illusionary clone.

  With that, he’d managed to bluff his way through the weekly test, just as pnned.

  But as soon as it hit Lv1, it ran into the same issue as Shurikenjutsu—each practice only gave one measly point of proficiency.

  He knew this meant the body’s previous owner had hit their ceiling. From here on out, it was all on him.

  So, he switched to training the Transformation and Substitution Techniques.

  Thanks to the inherited memories and experience, progress on these two was just as fast as the Clone Technique had been before reaching Lv1.

  Each practice session netted 2 to 3 proficiency points.

  In just five days, he’d pushed Transformation to Lv0 (77/100) and Substitution to Lv0 (71/100).

  At this rate, both would hit Lv1 within two or three days.

  And after that, the st vestiges of the original Seimei’s skills would be completely exhausted.

  Looking next at Basic Taijutsu—

  Over the past week, Yamaki Kazuto had arranged three more sparring sessions.

  Thanks to those, Seimei managed to hit Lv1 in Basic Taijutsu and even push it to 16/200. But that’s where things pteaued.

  From here, steady effort was the only way forward.

  Finally, there was Shurikenjutsu—his fastest-progressing skill. Now at Lv2 (10/500)!

  At this stage, he could nd a bullseye on a fixed target within ten meters, every single time.

  That level of accuracy rivaled some genin two or three years post-graduation.

  But there was a limit to Shurikenjutsu.

  Without awakening the Sharingan, Seimei figured Lv3 was probably the cap.

  Right now, he had to hit a bullseye on a fifteen-meter target just to earn any proficiency.

  And getting from Lv2 to Lv3 would require 500 points.

  Still, if he could max it out, his skill level would probably rival an average upper-chunin.

  Unless he had the Sharingan to elevate his throwing to an artform, then…

  Well, outside of sneak attacks, group ambushes, or bullying someone far weaker—using throwing weapons to kill wasn’t really viable.

  “But the Sharingan…”

  Seimei gnced at the progress bar: (51/100).

  He fell silent.

  This past week, he had tried several methods to accelerate the Sharingan’s awakening, but none had worked.

  It was like the bar was stuck—completely immovable.

  Even so, Seimei wasn’t giving up. If the system could dispy progress, then that meant it could be moved.

  He just hadn’t found the right method yet.