Cutting Off Allowance Isn't Shameful

Aburame Tetsumaru felt nothing about his first day at the Ninja Academy. After school, he went home and cooked dinner as usual.

Kazekazu and Aiko were astonished. A child should have been excited on their first day of school. What was going on with their child? Had someone bullied him?

That couldn't be right. Could the top student get bullied?

"Bullied me? No."

When his father cautiously asked at the dinner table, Aburame Tetsumaru looked utterly baffled. How was that possible?

Half the boys in the class—no, in the entire grade—had been beaten flat by me over the past two years. Which idiot would come bully me?

"Then why don't you seem happy?"

"I'm not unhappy."

"But other people's children happily and excitedly tell their parents about school. You haven't said a thing."

"..."

I overlooked how excited kids were supposed to be about going to school.

"Tch. The Ninja Academy isn't interesting at all. What is there to talk about?"

Aburame Tetsumaru spoke the plain truth, silencing his parents' questions before continuing to eat dinner.

But he had no idea that this one honest remark would bring about a terrible disaster.

Late at night, Aburame Tetsumaru was, as usual, fiddling with his insects in the little stone house while secretly adjusting his Chakra pathways.

Aburame Kazekazu and Aburame Aiko stood together beneath the eaves by the main gate, looking worriedly at the little stone house with its tightly shut door.

"Is this child too withdrawn? He spends every day messing with his insects and has never invited friends over to play."

"Yes. Now that he's in school, he doesn't even like the Ninja Academy. Will he be able to make friends?"

"Sigh... What should we do?" x2

Aburame Aiko turned to look at her husband. She remembered how she had accidentally discovered his secret stash last time and confiscated all his private money. After that, her husband's relationship with his friends had rapidly improved. He shamelessly mooched drinks from them, so naturally he had to flatter them properly. They had become much closer.

"Let's cut off his allowance."

"Huh? Isn't that too harsh?" The man instantly sympathized and could not help wanting to speak up for him.

"Mm, maybe that is too strict...?" Aiko was a little worried too. "How about we first check how much Tetsumaru has spent?"

"Fine. Let's check."

Forty minutes later, a firm voice came from the workshop. "We have to cut him off. Not one ryō!"

A week later, Aburame Tetsumaru sat listlessly by the window in the last row of the classroom. Bright sunlight washed over him, making him so comfortable that he was drowsy all over.

He had already finished all the first-year textbooks. They were too easy, completely unoriginal. This was a waste of life. It was not just Aburame Tetsumaru either; every child from a Ninja Clan was in the same state.

There had previously been show-off kids shouting, "Too easy!" and "I know all of this!" But their homeroom teacher, Teacher Domoto, had dealt with them using his iron fists. Classroom discipline was now quite good, aside from a few students lying on their desks asleep.

Some students were still a little excessive, such as:

Akimichi Daito propped up a book to hide red bean cakes, seaweed rice balls, pine nuts, wagashi, and taiyaki, then kept eating with little munching sounds.

This was already an improvement. After Teacher Domoto's iron-fisted training, he no longer dared to eat loud fried foods.

Nor did he dare eat strongly scented natto. Aburame Tetsumaru, Inuzuka Tsuyoshi, and Uchiha Fūka all hated it, especially Inuzuka Tsuyoshi and his Ninja Dog, Kū, who could faint on the spot from it.

Nara Kaya had completely fallen asleep, breathing softly through his nose as if he were having a pleasant dream.

Inuzuka Tsuyoshi had his head nearly buried beneath the desk, playing happily with the Ninja Dog hidden in his drawer.

Uchiha Fūka was polishing Shuriken and Kunai with gravel. Throwing was the only subject in which he surpassed Aburame Tetsumaru, so he took it even more seriously.

Hyuga Tokuma wore a frosty expression, staring straight ahead with unfocused eyes. The student seated in front of him found it terrifying.

Yamanaka Yu sat quietly and properly. Only, her hands were not on the desktop; inside her drawer, she repeatedly practiced the hand seals for her secret technique.

Beneath Aburame Tetsumaru's sleepy appearance, he was fully focused on directing Kikaichū to clear a blockage in one Chakra pathway. Every bite from the Kikaichū hurt a little, so he had to concentrate. One mistake would mean serious trouble.

All the school teachers were Chunin. Could the little tricks of a bunch of children who were not even Genin escape their notice?

What a joke.

Still, they knew the material being taught was too basic. It was intended to build foundations for the few civilian ninja in the class. As long as these Ninja Clan children did not go too far, they could do as they pleased.

As for the handful who went overboard, the teachers themselves had spoiled them. Who could blame them when these seven were among the very best students? Top students had privileges.

The bell rang. Class was finally over.

The children all perked up and cheered, "Practical combat class! Practical combat class!"

They rushed out of the classroom in a swarm. The next class was practical combat on the field, the boys' favorite lesson.

Aburame Tetsumaru ran first and quickly claimed a spot in the shade. He wiped his face, leaned against the tree trunk, and stretched lazily. Nara Kaya and Akimichi Daito came over second and third. The three slackers took up nearly all the shade. Nara Kaya and Aburame Tetsumaru continued dozing, while Akimichi pulled out snacks and kept eating.

Yamanaka Yu, Inuzuka Tsuyoshi, Uchiha Fūka, and Hyuga Tokuma were all passionate about Taijutsu. The four stood in the middle of the field, seriously warming up and preparing to fight.

Yamanaka Yu in particular had lost to Uchiha Fūka when they enrolled, then lost to Hyuga Tokuma during the previous practical combat class. Filled with fighting spirit, she warmed up earnestly, clearly unwilling to admit defeat and eager for another match.

Teacher Domoto Daigo arrived. The first thing he did was drag the three students hiding in the shade out onto the field, confiscating half a bag of snacks in the process.

"All right, everyone form a circle. Class is starting."

Once everyone had formed a circle, Domoto spoke again. "The students whose names I call, come to the center."

"Gentarō."

"Yoshimoto Eiichi."

This was only the second practical combat class. The two students whose names had been called stepped out and faced each other, then performed their paired opposition seals with great seriousness.

"Begin!" At Domoto Daigo's command, the two students assumed their stances and began fighting.

After two decent-looking exchanges, the students forgot the Taijutsu they had just learned. Not knowing what else to do, they started wildly swinging their fists again.

"Boooo!" The students outside the ring jeered together, then began laughing at them.

"Gentarō is so lame."

"Yoshimoto, you're so bad. And your dad's even a Chunin."

The two mocked students turned red with embarrassment and fought even more chaotically. It quickly escalated into hair-pulling and face-scratching, and Domoto Daigo immediately stopped the fight and pulled them apart.

"There is no winner in this match. Neither of you passed. Points deducted."

The two disheveled children felt thoroughly humiliated and left the field, ashamed and angry.

They did not care about Domoto Daigo's mention of deducted points, but the words "points deducted" were tremendously stimulating to a transmigrator. He immediately stood up.

"Teacher Domoto, why are points being deducted? What are points?"

Domoto Daigo had been about to call the next pair of students. Hearing Aburame Tetsumaru's question, he froze. "Didn't I mention it?"

"No, absolutely not." Aburame Tetsumaru answered with utmost seriousness. Grades were a student's lifeline. How could he possibly have missed something about deductions?

"Oh. I'll explain it now. Starting from this practical combat class, points will be counted."

"The winner gains points, and the loser loses points. These points count toward your overall practical combat grade."

"Also, those who perform exceptionally in a match will not lose points even if they lose, and may even gain points. But those who perform poorly will not gain points even if they win."

"Teacher, teacher, how do we count as performing well?"

"Yeah, yeah. They both lost points just now."

The students erupted into disorder, asking questions all at once.

"Stop!" Domoto Daigo shouted, silencing the chaotic questions. "Remember this: if you practice the Taijutsu and throwing techniques taught in class well and show your improvement during a match, that counts as a good performance."

"Now quiet down. Whoever I call will step up."

The students took the following practical combat matches much more seriously. Most fought fairly well, though some were so nervous that their limbs would not obey them, causing them to perform even worse.

"Next pair, Aburame Tetsumaru and Uchiha Fūka."

The two formed their opposition seals.

Uchiha Fūka spoke first. "Aburame Tetsumaru, I've trained hard since enrollment, and my strength has improved tremendously. Today, I'll let you experience Uchiha-Style Taijutsu."

"The Uchiha are the strongest in the Shinobi World!" x2

Uchiha Fūka: ()

"How did you know what I was going to say?" x2

Uchiha Fūka: (д)

Aburame Tetsumaru sighed. "It's not that I guessed what you were going to say. It's that you say this every time. Always those two lines, always those two lines..."

Uchiha Fūka: I want to go home.

"Anyway, apologize first." Aburame Tetsumaru's gaze gradually sharpened. "Sorry, Uchiha Fūka. I'm going to do my best to defeat you."

"Since Teacher Domoto is scoring this class, blame the teacher if you want."

With that, he threw a Cross-Step Straight Punch at Uchiha Fūka's chest.

Uchiha Fūka blocked with his left arm while reaching back with his right toward his ninja tool pouch. With a hook of his finger, he pulled out a Kunai.

After the first practical combat class, Domoto Daigo had gained an understanding of the students' abilities and permitted several Ninja Clan children with solid fundamentals to wear ninja tools and use them during practical combat classes.

The instant Aburame Tetsumaru's fist made contact with Uchiha Fūka's arm, the toes of his right foot drove into the ground. Power traveled through his calf and thigh to his waist, then was skillfully transmitted into his right arm and finally his right fist.

Uchiha Fūka immediately felt an irresistible force crash into him. His left-arm block was shattered in an instant.

Then, without changing angle at all, Aburame Tetsumaru's right fist drove straight into Uchiha Fūka's left chest. His chest caved in at once before the impact hurled him out of the ring.

The knockback was so fast that Fūka's vision even went black. He was completely stunned.

"Aburame Tetsumaru wins! A beautiful transition from Cross-Step Straight Punch to Stepping Rush Punch. Points added!"

"Uchiha Fūka was careless. Points deducted!"

"Next pair."

Aburame Tetsumaru pulled Uchiha Fūka to his feet, then left the field and returned to his lazy state.

"What's wrong?" Yamanaka Yu, who had also won a match, sat beside Tetsumaru and asked. "You've been so listless these past few days. No manly spirit at all. Did something happen at home?"

"My allowance is gone. All of it."

"That's awful!!"

The punishment of having all his allowance taken away was too severe. Even the habitually lazy Nara Kaya could not help asking, "What huge thing did you do?"

"I just spent a little too much, and they took away all my money."

"...How much did you spend?"

"One million ryō." Actually, it was 1.93 million ryō. Aburame Kazekazu truly had no sense for money.

"Д""Д""Д"

Damn rich kid. I really wanted to cling to his thigh—wait, this guy was a poor ghost now.

"You deserved it!!"

"They should have taken every last bit!"

"How many snacks could that buy? Slurp."

Aburame Tetsumaru looked helpless. Having no money did not merely mean his experiments had to stop. He could not even buy Insect Feed. To keep the hundreds of thousands of insects in his room from starving, he had to spend enormous amounts of time harvesting pasture grass. It was exhausting him to death.

He wanted to work and earn money, but Konoha did not allow six-year-old children to be hired for work.

Pah. Kakashi had gone to war and killed people at six. What hypocritical kindness.

Nara Kaya smiled at the miserable-looking Aburame Tetsumaru. "Without money, how will you keep so many insects alive? Why not sell them or release them? Don't let them starve to death."

"Sell them?"

"Yeah. You can't afford to raise them anyway."

Aburame Tetsumaru understood. Right, why not sell insects for money? It was all the Aburame Clan's fault for having no business sense at all. Their brains had gone rusty.

He turned toward Yamanaka Yu.

"What?"

"You wanted a Slime, right? I'll sell you one."

"Huh? Isn't that your treasure? Besides, one costs tens of thousands of ryō. I can't afford one."

"I'll sell it to you cheap. Want it?"

"Yes!"

With a flip of his hand, Aburame Tetsumaru somehow produced a pale yellow Slime from his body.

"One hundred million ryō, please."

"That expensive?" Yamanaka Yu took out her wallet and counted her money. She had enough, but there would not be much left after buying it. She still wanted red bean soup and dango.

But it was so cute. She really wanted it.

Aburame Tetsumaru smiled. There was hope.

He secretly sent in a little Chakra. The Slime's body rippled gently, and its eyes immediately became watery as it looked at Yamanaka Yu.

"Puchu~"

Ah, Yamanaka Yu's girlish heart was pierced through.

"I'll throw in a landscaped glass fish tank too. If you don't want it, I'll sell it to someone else."

"I'll buy it!!"

After practical combat class ended and they returned to the classroom, all the girls in the class gathered around Yamanaka Yu to watch the Slime slide across the desk, chirping with admiration.

By the window, Aburame Tetsumaru happily counted his money. Yamanaka Yu's family had given her plenty of coins. It looked like she had saved these ten thousand ryō for quite some time.

"Tetsumaru, didn't your Slime cost more than ninety thousand ryō to cultivate? You sold it for ten thousand. Are you not planning to raise insects anymore?" Nara Kaya asked curiously.

"How could that be? Combat Slimes used as Ninja Insects are expensive to cultivate. Mine died during my match with Tokuma when we enrolled. Now I only have ordinary Slimes. I have loads of them, and they're worthless."

After counting the money, he carefully put the ten thousand ryō into his wallet. He patted the slightly thicker wallet and felt much more at ease.

Sure enough, money was a hero's courage.

Aburame Tetsumaru turned to look at the girls crowded together and muttered to himself, "Looks like it's very popular. Sure enough, women and children are the easiest to fool out of money. I can count on my female classmates to support my insect raising from now on."

Nara Kaya heard him and did not know whether to laugh or cry. "You're going a little too far. Aren't you ashamed?"

But who was Aburame Tetsumaru? An old man. Would an old man without money be afraid of shame?

What a joke.

And Nara Kaya's words immediately reminded him of a classic line.

"Making money isn't shameful."

There was no exact equivalent of "shameful" in the Shinobi World, but there were similar words that conveyed the meaning well enough.

"..." Nara Kaya curled his lip and muttered, "People say I'm like an old man in his fifties. Aburame Tetsumaru isn't merely like one—he's a greasy old man."

Aburame Tetsumaru: I heard that. Say another word and I'll silence you permanently, okay?

After Nara Kaya's reminder, Aburame Tetsumaru opened the door to a whole new world.

He picked out the prettiest Insects and sold them to wealthy female classmates.

He sold the strongest, most imposing beetles to male classmates and even introduced insect-fighting games among them.

This sparked a craze for insect fighting at the Ninja Academy, and he earned a hefty amount of pocket money. With money, he could keep playing with Insects, embarking on a path to wealth by raising Insects with Insects.

Aburame Tetsumaru's wings had hardened; he no longer listened.

Aburame Kazekazu's fatherly authority had completely vanished. Feeling dejected, he wanted to drown his sorrows in drink.

Aiko accurately saw through her husband's attempt to indulge his drinking habit and suppressed it without hesitation, confiscating a portion of his hidden savings.