Getting Rich

Hyuga Matsuba sat up straight and began to refine the purity of his chakra. To improve its quality, he decided to take the brute-force approach of compressing it.

The method worked. Under his efforts, the originally pale blue chakra deepened in color, signaling an increase in purity.

"But this efficiency is way too low," Matsuba muttered after a while, rotating his stiff shoulders.

All this time, he had never thought to increase their purity, and now he was facing a major problem.

He had an excess of chakra, and improving its quality now would take no small amount of time. It was a real headache. He had thought his innate recovery physique would let him extract more chakra and save him effort, but now it had become a huge hassle.

It was also his own fault for not knowing. Others had considered this issue during their own refinement, compressing their chakra as they extracted it to improve quality.

Matsuba had only focused on stockpiling more chakra without thinking about purity, and now he was stuck in this situation.

"At least my physical fitness has reached a certain level, so I don't have to worry about that. Now I'll concentrate fully on raising chakra purity and let my clones handle everything else."

Matsuba silently comforted himself.

After working for a while, he decided to head to the Ninja Academy. He was now old enough to enroll, and he couldn't miss the registration.

"Seriously, school is such a hassle. Learning all that junk costs money too. Good thing I'm an orphan and don't have to pay. If I did, I'd be broke!"

Matsuba let out a deep sigh. Although he had once had a decent amount of money, he was in a growth spurt now, and his expenses were high. His pockets were emptier than his face.

He couldn't afford proper meals anymore. After every training session, he had to rely on wild chickens and rabbits from the back mountain to supplement his diet. If not for the mountain's offerings, he would have gone hungry long ago.

Beyond food and drink, how could a ninja go without equipment? Matsuba was generous in that regard—heavy lead weights, various wooden posts, swords and blades—all made at considerable cost.

A little spent here, a little there, and Matsuba could barely save any money.

Now he was incredibly stingy. For example, he had looked at Explosive Tags several times but never steeled himself to buy any.

Thankfully, heaven had blessed him with a Sage Body, giving him an extraordinary recovery speed. He never needed bandages when injured, which saved him a lot on medicine.

"What kind of life is this? When I get a chance, I'll see if I can lure Konan over. I want to be rich too—eat well, drink well, and live forever!"

Konan's stock of Explosive Tags was countless. Matsuba didn't believe she had exchanged all of them from the shop with Exchange Points. She must have mastered the method of making them. He silently schemed in his mind.

Having endured enough hardship, Matsuba now had a great interest in Konan. But jokes aside, deep down, he still felt a fondness for that poor girl.

He didn't even know if Konan had been born yet. He was just daydreaming here, and when he snapped out of it, he'd have nothing.

"Hyuga Matsuba? Is that you?"

"Huh?" Matsuba thought he heard someone calling his name and slowly turned around.

As he turned, his gaze landed on Tsunade, who was about to enter a gambling den. Time had flown, and her transformation was unbelievable! Her chest had been as flat as an airport before, but in such a short time, she was already showing hints of the Milk Cow Chariot.

"Holy crap! In just one year, her chest got inflated like a balloon! Did she get implants?" Matsuba couldn't believe his eyes. Tsunade's change was truly drastic.

"Kid, where are you looking!" Tsunade realized what was happening, her cheeks flushing red as she smacked Matsuba.

Matsuba's head spun from the hit. He barely withstood it. Tsunade was way too rough—didn't she know her own strength?

"I haven't seen you in so long, and you've gotten this tall! I didn't even recognize you at first!" Tsunade ruffled Matsuba's hair.

"Uh... your development is way more obvious. I didn't recognize you from looking at your chest either," Matsuba thought, a line of black lines appearing on his forehead.

But he only muttered this in his mind. If he said it out loud, Tsunade would definitely beat him up.

Despite his inner thoughts, Matsuba put on an adorable expression, blinking his big eyes to look endearing.

He didn't see anything wrong with this. His cuteness was his strength, and not using one's strengths was just stupid.

His tactic worked instantly. Tsunade scooped him up, and Matsuba found himself pressed against her chest, two giant jellies surrounding his face.

Matsuba felt like he couldn't breathe. He struggled free to gasp for fresh air. Had he just smelled Tsunade's body scent? Now he felt completely weak.

After a long moment, Tsunade finally let go. Matsuba was like a fish returned to water, feeling alive again.

Tsunade suddenly seemed shy for a moment, then quickly reverted to her tomboyish nature. Somehow, she felt an inexplicable pull toward Matsuba.

She had never felt this way about him before. She couldn't quite describe it, but she instinctively wanted to get closer to him.

If Matsuba knew what Tsunade was thinking, he would understand. It was all because of the prize he had won in the Lottery a couple of days ago.

What Matsuba had obtained was an ability—completely unrelated to Ninjutsu—that increased the opposite sex's favorability toward him. When he saw the result, he felt nothing and even wanted to try again.

With his face and this ability, how could his romantic luck ever run dry? Matsuba felt like he was now the universally admired heartthrob.

"Matsuba, perfect timing! Big sis will take you to the gambling den and make a killing!" Tsunade patted her chest, looking confident.

"Wow." Matsuba was completely mesmerized by Tsunade's large chest, letting out an exclamation.

"You little pervert!" Tsunade followed his gaze to her own ample bosom, blushing again. She scolded him and grabbed his sleeve, dragging him into the gambling den.

Matsuba instinctively didn't want to go there, but then something struck him.

Why not take this chance to make some money? Tsunade had a nickname—the Big Fat Sheep—and everyone knew it.

His mind raced with schemes. He would just bet the opposite of Tsunade. That way, he couldn't lose. Though it might not be fair to her.

But if she lost, the money might as well go to him instead of someone else. He could even give her a cut after the game!

With his perfect plan in place, Matsuba strode confidently after Tsunade to the gambling table.

When he walked in, he realized he wasn't the only one with this idea. Everyone was waiting to fleece the sheep.

"Sigh, where the money is, that's where the competition is!" Matsuba realized this money wouldn't be easy to earn.

"If only my Tenseigan had x-ray vision instead of only seeing things related to ninjutsu, I'd have been cheating ages ago—winning money wouldn't even be a big deal." Hyuga Matsuba felt a pang of regret.

At first, Hyuga Matsuba thought the Tenseigan's abilities were incredibly powerful, practically omnipotent. But whether something is good or not, only the user truly knows. Once he activated the Tenseigan, he realized it couldn't do everything, which left him deeply disappointed.

"Matsuba, did you bring your wallet? If you don't have any money, big sister can lend you some! But you'll have to pay me back."

Tsunade was already poised at the gambling table, brimming with excitement.

"Don't worry, big sister! If I'm broke, I'll definitely borrow from you."

Hyuga Matsuba rummaged through his backpack, finally digging out his savings. He silently watched the already excited Tsunade and thought to himself, "Big sister Tsunade, whether I'm drinking the northwest wind or living without worries from now on, it all depends on you!"

Although Hyuga Matsuba had some future-predicting ninjutsu, he had never dealt with casino matters before, so cheating was quite difficult. Now everything rested on Tsunade.

"Tsunade really is a Sugar Mama! I've never seen this much money before!" Hyuga Matsuba stared at the gold coins Tsunade poured out of a burlap sack, drool nearly dripping from his mouth.