The Third Grand Plan: "Money Making Plan"

Time flew, and another year passed in the blink of an eye. Neji smoothly advanced to the second grade. Thanks to the Akimichi Clan's secret techniques, his chakra reserves had neared 260 cards. As his mastery of the secret techniques grew, his stomach functions strengthened, his appetite increased, and his chakra growth rate outpaced expectations. Now, Neji possessed chakra reserves on par with an average Chunin and chakra control that could develop to the level of an Elite Jonin. He estimated he could put up a fight against an Elite Chunin, but since he had zero real combat experience, the odds of losing were still high. Fortunately, born in a peaceful era, he didn't have to face blood and fire so early.

Beyond chakra growth, Neji had completed all the courses at the Ninja Academy this year. At the same time, he launched another massive plan: the "Shennong Encyclopedia" project. Neji leveraged his superhuman perception and the Byakugan—a veritable research divine tool—to compile the most comprehensive material encyclopedia in history. It would include the properties and descriptions of all discovered things: plants, animals, minerals, microorganisms, and more.

The "Shennong Encyclopedia" would be the cornerstone of Neji's scientific research. The project was divided into three main phases:

Phase One: Induction and Summary. In this phase, Neji would collect all things already recorded and categorized in the market, then reclassify, induce, and summarize them according to his own system.

Phase Two: Review and Discovery. After completing the induction and summary, Neji would re-examine the already cataloged items, verifying whether their properties were correct and comprehensive, correcting any inaccuracies or omissions.

Phase Three: Addition of New Original Species. After finishing the first two phases, he would conduct in-depth research on undiscovered substances, determine their properties and uses, and then incorporate them into the "Shennong Encyclopedia."

To ensure the smooth progress of the "Shennong Encyclopedia" project, Neji had assigned one Shadow Clone each day, six months ago when his chakra had reached a modest level, to focus solely on advancing its compilation. So far, he had achieved some success, completing the categorization and summary of nearly two thousand existing substances.

To avoid unnecessary trouble, Neji had also shown a bit of his skill at school this year, smoothly becoming the top student in his grade. The teachers gave him more leeway and less discipline, and after a few lessons, his peers rarely came looking for trouble. After that, a Shadow Clone took over attending school entirely, allowing Neji to devote more time to self-training.

Driven by his exceptional chakra control, Neji's Gentle Fist advanced rapidly. Of the 720 chakra points in his body, he had opened all except the deadly ones and those extremely difficult to unlock. Chakra flowed freely through his entire being, bringing a sense of clarity.

The benefit of opening these points was that he smoothly learned the Hyuga Clan's absolute defense, "Kaiten." He could also fire chakra bullets from his chakra points. Their power wasn't exceptionally strong, but they excelled in unpredictability and versatility, somewhat resembling Kimimaro's finger bone shots—one firing condensed chakra, the other finger bones.

While the Gentle Fist progressed swiftly, Neji also began training in the Steel Fist. Unlike some arrogant members of the Hyuga Clan who believed the Gentle Fist was supreme and all other taijutsu was worthless, Neji held no such prejudice.

Might Guy's kick nearly ended the series—that was no ordinary level of skill. And the Eight Gates held great appeal for Neji as well.

Thus, Neji started practicing the Steel Fist, laying the groundwork for learning the Eight Gates. At this stage, his physical condition was already excellent. To push his body to its limits, he could either extend his training time or increase its intensity. Time was precious, so Neji decisively chose the latter, making a high-quality gravity training suit indispensable.

He found a Ninja Tool Shop. A high-quality adjustable gravity training suit cost 2 million ryo. It used a Space Sealing Jutsu to adjust gravity without increasing the suit's volume, offered adjustable gravity, and provided some defensive capability. It was absurdly expensive, but after careful consideration, Neji bought it anyway. The gravity adjustment range was 20 to 5000 KG.

A maximum of five tons—incredible! He hoped he could one day reach the suit's limit. Hopefully.

Currently, Neji wore the training suit all day, with gravity set at 100 KG, far from the limit. Still, the training effects were obvious; every breakthrough felt like a rebirth.

One less-than-ideal matter was that Neji had already spent most of the funds inherited from his father. While the results were gratifying, the fact remained that in a year, he would face a shortage of money.

This forced Neji to launch his third major plan ahead of schedule, following "Gene Completion" and "Shennong Encyclopedia"—the "Money Making Plan."

There were plenty of ventures from his past life that could be applied here and generate income, but few could be executed by a seven-year-old. After surveying many industries and picking and choosing, Neji finally settled on one that brought quick money with relatively high risk—"gambling"!

That's right, gambling. Konoha was filled with gambling dens of all sizes, most with strong backing. Winning money through gambling was actually quite difficult. First: the dens had chakra detection devices; anyone inside was forbidden from using chakra. Second: the dice cups had perception-blocking functions; ordinary sensory ninjas couldn't perceive what was inside. Third: almost every den had ninjas on standby; if anything suspicious arose, they would investigate to prevent cheating. Fourth: even if someone was genuinely lucky and won money, the den's backers would watch them secretly—not necessarily robbing them, but becoming wary and employing other unknown methods.

That was why gambling dens had operated normally for so many years and remained prosperous!

But Neji had a way to break this situation. Over the past year, his Byakugan had strengthened again. His visual range had surpassed that of the clan's Elite Jonin, reaching a terrifying three kilometers. Ordinary clan members couldn't see through perception-blocking dice cups, but Neji had tested it: at a distance of about one kilometer, with focused observation, he could clearly see what was inside.

The only problem left to solve was how to relay what Neji saw to the person inside the gambling den.