Creak~
The door closed once more.
The sorrow on Shane's face vanished instantly. Although he had merged with the memories of his predecessor, he didn't have much emotional attachment to those "parents" he had never actually met.
Still, given the condolence money they'd left behind, Shane decided he would place flowers on their graves every year—
Of course, that was only if he survived.
Otherwise, all promises were meaningless.
He opened the envelope and counted—inside was exactly 1.01 million ryo in total.
"Not bad. Surprisingly, no one skimmed any off the top."
Both of his predecessor's parents were chunin. After dying in battle, they were each compensated with 500,000 ryo.
Add the 10,000 ryo living allowance from the clan, and that totaled exactly 1.01 million—no more, no less.
Then again, if even that kind of money got embezzled, the clan's unity would crumble.
Besides, though 1 million ryo looked like a lot, it really wasn't.
In Konoha:
D-rank missions paid 5,000 to 50,000 ryo
C-rank missions: 30,000 to 100,000 ryo
B-rank: 80,000 to 200,000 ryo
A-rank: 150,000 to 1 million ryo
S-rank: above 1 million ryo
Chunin could take on C- and B-rank missions. Jonin could take on B- and A-rank. Though the village took a cut and teammates split the pay, it wasn't hard to earn a million ryo.
As for the 10,000 ryo living allowance…
A single bowl of ramen cost 60 ryo. Three meals a day meant 5,400 ryo per month.
And that was just for food.
For a ninja, training expenses were the real cost.
So the 10,000 ryo was only enough to keep Shane from starving. As for investing in his training—dream on.
The past week or so, he had been training under those very constraints.
But now it was different. With this million ryo, he could afford to buy some special medicines to support his training.
With that thought, Shane left the house and headed straight to the Nara clan's pharmacy.
In Konoha, the Nara clan was top-tier in medicine. Their products were known for their quality.
After browsing for a while, Shane realized that the most useful thing for him was… soldier pills.
Yes, those little things that could substitute a full meal.
They replenished the body's nutrients and were usually used as field rations by ninja on missions.
Some special types could even temporarily boost chakra.
But Shane didn't need those.
He just needed the basic kind that could substitute food.
That way, he could extend his training time for "Chakra Refining Technique," then use the extra chakra to practice the three basic jutsu, creating a synergy that increased his proficiency across multiple skills at once.
No sooner thought than done. Shane pulled out his money and, under the clerk's strange gaze, bought a large supply of soldier pills all at once.
Fortunately, it was just soldier pills—if it had been other materials, he might've drawn the village's suspicion.
Still, to be safe, Shane decided not to eat out for the foreseeable future.
That way, others would simply think he was training diligently, using soldier pills in place of meals.
Back home.
Shane opened his panel.
A familiar pale blue light screen appeared before his eyes:
yaml
CopyEdit
[Name: Uchiha Shane
Age: 10
Constitution: 5
Spirit: 7
Chakra: 17 (131 → 159)
Bloodline: Sharingan · Unawakened (51/100)
Skills:
Chakra Refining 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)
Ninja Tool Throwing: Lv1 (29/200) → Lv2 (10/500)
Over the past week, he had practiced Chakra Refining Technique for four hours every night. Most of the time, he only gained six proficiency points per session, occasionally more.
So, after seven days, he accumulated 45 points of proficiency.
This raised his Chakra Refining Technique from Lv0 (8/100) to Lv0 (53/100)—already more than halfway.
During that period, his chakra cap increased by 28, from 131 to 159. Still not a lot, but at least there was hope.
Shane believed that if he kept at it, he'd eventually graduate from "Chakilo" to "Chakilo-ton" (playfully referencing kilogram-ton-level chakra).
Also, the 200 chakra points restored each night by practicing Chakra Refining were entirely spent on ninjutsu practice.
The first two days, he focused on grinding Clone Technique to Lv1—he successfully got the hang of it and could now create a phantom double.
After that, just as planned, he coasted through the weekly test.
But once Clone Technique hit Lv1, it faced the same bottleneck as Ninja Tool Throwing—each practice session only added one proficiency point.
Shane understood that this was the limit of his predecessor's skills. From here on out, it was all on him.
So he moved on to Transformation Technique and Substitution Technique.
Thanks to the inherited experience and muscle memory, these two jutsu advanced as quickly as Clone Technique had before reaching Lv1.
Each session gained him 2–3 proficiency points.
As a result, in just five days, Transformation reached Lv0 (77/100), and Substitution reached Lv0 (71/100).
At this rate, he'd master both within two or three days.
By then, his predecessor's legacy would be nearly exhausted.
As for Basic Taijutsu…
In the past week, Sugimoku Itō had organized three more practice battles.
Thanks to those, Shane successfully leveled up Basic Taijutsu and even pushed it to Lv1 (16/200). But that was as far as inherited experience would take him.
From now on, it would require solid, consistent practice.
Lastly, Ninja Tool Throwing—still progressing the fastest, now at Lv2 (10/500).
At this point, he could hit the bullseye from ten meters with 100% accuracy.
That was already on par with some genin who had graduated two or three years ago.
Still, Ninja Tool Throwing had its limits.
Shane estimated that unless he awakened the Sharingan, he'd only be able to raise it to Lv3.
Now, he needed to hit a 15-meter target and land bullseye shots to gain any proficiency at all.
And leveling up from Lv2 to Lv3 required 500 proficiency points.
It was easy to imagine—once he maxed it out, he'd be on par with most mid-to-upper level chunin in that skill.
Unless he had the Sharingan to enhance it further, he wouldn't be able to kill anyone with tools alone—unless through ambush, ganging up, or targeting the weak.
"But the Sharingan…"
Shane glanced at the progress (51/100) and fell silent.
Over the past week, he had tried several methods to awaken it, but none worked.
The progress bar was stuck—completely unmoving.
Even so, Shane hadn't given up. Since the panel could display progress, it meant it was possible to push it forward—he just hadn't found the right method yet.
(End of Chapter)