After School

The moment he stepped out of the hospital room, he saw Shikamaru, Choji, and Kiba Inuzuka—the three little brats—waiting outside, too scared to come in. They looked like they would follow him inside the instant he left. Were they afraid of him or something?

Usually, only Kiba Inuzuka would shout a few words at him alongside Naruto. Shikamaru and Choji had barely interacted with him.

"..."

They exchanged glances, nodded, and left.

They were in a hospital, after all. It was not like they could start fighting there. Besides, if someone had to take the blame, it would be those girls who threw the first punches.

They were students, after all. When they turned around and saw their teacher, they still instinctively greeted him. They had only been in school for two years; these little troublemakers were not thick-skinned enough yet.

"Iruka-sensei." x3

Seeing that Iruka did not say much, they began teasing Naruto.

"You got beaten into the hospital, and you still look pretty happy."

"Did a girl you like kiss you or something?"

Naruto was happy that he had managed to talk to Sasuke, even if it had sounded more like an argument. After Sasuke turned and left, Naruto unconsciously smiled. Once they noticed, they guessed the wrong reason, and he merely scratched his head and laughed it off without explaining.

He had long wanted to take a look around Konoha. Since school was over and he was passing through anyway, he could look around some more. The past few days, he had only wandered around the clan compound. Although he could find many things there, disinfecting secondhand goods was too troublesome. If they were not expensive, he would rather buy new ones.

He needed a lot of salt, as well as sealable Glass Tanks to store extra food.

He also wanted to see whether he could buy Ninjutsu Scrolls, or perhaps learn Ninjutsu by spending money. Of course, not the especially precious kind—just "everyday Ninjutsu."

Konoha Ninjutsu exchanged for merits could not be passed on to others. Getting caught meant breaking the law. But those restrictions mainly targeted civilian ninja with no background whatsoever. Giving them a future made it easier to control their growth and ensure their loyalty to Konoha.

Children with clan backgrounds or ninja parents generally had all sorts of channels through which to obtain Ninjutsu.

But in Sasuke's current situation, he could only rely on himself.

"That's an Uchiha."

"He's the only one who survived, right?"

"What goes around comes around."

"Serves them right for opposing our Senju."

...??

As he walked down the street, scattered bits of gossip drifted into his ears from time to time.

Occasionally, he even heard careless secrets blurted out without restraint.

Maybe it would be better to use a Transformation Jutsu when going out, or wear clothes without the clan crest.

Running away whenever he encountered a problem—what a cowardly thought...

Naruto had the added burden of being the Nine-Tails, and he was always pulling pranks and causing trouble. The hateful noise around him was probably several times worse than what Sasuke faced.

Deep down, he was still more or less an adult. Could his ability to withstand pressure really be worse than some little brat's?

Special circumstances excluded, of course.

Like right now. After using a Transformation Jutsu to turn himself into an ordinary passerby—the kind with an utterly forgettable face—he disguised himself as a freshly graduated genin with a ninja Forehead Protector and stumbled into a Blade Tools shop.

"Store Manager, how much are the blank scrolls in your shop?"

He remembered that Tenten, the Chinese-style ninja among the Konoha 12, seemed to come from a family that ran a ninja tool shop. But Konoha had dozens, if not hundreds, of such stores. It was obviously not so easy to trigger a chance encounter with a story character.

"The cheap ones are 500 Ryo or 1,000 Ryo. The more expensive ones range from tens of thousands to over a hundred thousand Ryo. We also take custom orders."

The Store Manager saw Sasuke looking like a complete newcomer. He was not even wearing a chunin vest, so he did not seem like someone who could afford expensive scrolls. Thus, he only took out two or three cheaper ones from the display case for Sasuke to inspect.

Sasuke scratched his head and pressed his palms together pleadingly.

"I've only just started learning how to seal Blade Tools, but my team leader is really fierce, so I didn't remember it too well. If I buy a few more scrolls, could you teach me a little more while you're at it?"

Although the technique for sealing Blade Tools into a scroll was also a kind of "Space-Time Ninjutsu," it was only entry-level and had a usage rate of over ninety percent among ninja.

A qualified merchant needed to be skilled at cultivating repeat customers. He was already a ninja with a stable income; if this merchant did not harvest him, another shop would.

The Store Manager smiled kindly, took out an old scroll, and spoke with great patience.

"So you're learning the Tool Sealing Technique. It isn't a very difficult Ninjutsu, but it still requires some talent in Space-Time Ninjutsu. Has your team leader taught you about Chakra natures? For example, if your Chakra only has a Water nature, using Fire Style Ninjutsu will be comparatively difficult. So it is possible that you simply cannot learn it. Beginner ninja should still choose a training path that suits them better."

While laying the groundwork for an excuse, he did not stop moving his hands. Around a circular area, he wrote Jutsu at eight points.

"Did you see that clearly? I wasn't writing quickly. The chakra points in your hands need to steadily channel Chakra into the ink on the paper."

Whenever the Store Manager lowered his head, Sasuke activated his Sharingan and stole a quick glance. Whether he had seen it clearly or not, he memorized everything.

Then he casually placed a ballpoint pen in the center of the Jutsu.

He formed Hand Seals.

"Seal."

He reached out and pressed down on the pen. The Jutsu warped and contracted, and the character for "pen" appeared in the blank center of the circle.

"For whatever character you want to mark in the middle, just use Chakra to draw it during the final step. It won't affect the sealing effect."

"Did you get it?"

To be fair, there was quite a bit of preparatory work, and it also required controlling the changes in Chakra.

"Thank you, Store Manager!"

"Besides blank Sealing Scrolls, would you like to try our specially made Chakra ink? Not only does it lack the stench of cheap ink, but it can also improve the success rate of Fuinjutsu~"

Sasuke truly could not bring himself to refuse. The Store Manager's attitude was simply too good.

"Then I'll give it a try."

Five of the cheapest Ninjutsu Scrolls, two slightly better Ninjutsu Scrolls, and a small 50 ml bottle of ink for 1,000 Ryo.

"Thank you for your patronage. That'll be 5,500 Ryo. Since you're just starting out, use worthless things like leaves when sealing items. Otherwise, they might get damaged..."

So expensive—nearly four months of his allowance.

Had this Store Manager really not ripped him off?

Since he still had a little money, he visited two more shops. Fortunately, he only intended to buy the cheapest ones for comparison, so he would not bleed himself dry.

Conclusion: the Store Manager really had not cheated him.

What a money-burning profession. If what the Store Manager taught him proved useful, then he could just consider it money spent buying Ninjutsu.

Even with the Sharingan, the Store Manager had not explained things in depth. In just a few sentences, being able to understand the what without understanding the why was already not easy.

Writing the Jutsu was the hardest part. Once he made a mistake, he could not erase it. More importantly, he did not know how to use a brush.

His scribbles looked like ghost drawings. He had no idea what exactly he had written and could only imitate the shape as best he could.

After ruining two scrolls, he finally managed to draw one successfully.

You get what you pay for. The cheapest scrolls were narrow and small, with room for only three Jutsu.

But he had finally mastered another new Ninjutsu.

What was this?

A simplified Pocket Dimension!

It was a skill every transmigrator loved. He had never expected that he would have a Pocket Dimension too. Even though basically everyone had one, he was still happy.

In his opinion, this was the second most important skill of the beginner phase, aside from the Shadow Clone.

It had been nearly a week since the Night of the Uchiha Clan Downfall. With land and a river available, someone with the blood of a farmer had somehow not planted even a single weed. It was simply unimaginable. All his time had been wasted organizing the inheritance, such an important matter.

It was already July. No matter what he planted, there would only be time for one more harvest at most. Konoha's winters had snow.