Making Many Good Connections Is the Right Thing to Do (Please Keep Reading)

In Konoha's residential district, inside a certain house.

Night shrouded the entire room. It was utterly quiet, with only the wall clock ticking away.

After an unknown amount of time, a threadlike sigh suddenly broke the silence. "Sigh..."

Nohara Rin sat before her dressing table, droplets of water sliding from the ends of her hair along the curve of her swanlike neck, dampening the pajamas she had just put on.

But she paid it no mind, merely resting her cheek on her hand as she gazed out the window. The moonlight was beautiful tonight, yet she had no heart to appreciate it.

Everything that had happened that day at the Naka River remained vivid in her mind.

Looking at the hazy night outside, Nohara Rin let out a soft sigh.

If she did nothing, she would probably forget sooner or later, right?

Just as adults said, time would fade everything.

But...

She simply could not do it.

Whenever she had a moment of idle time these past few days, Uchiha Chi's face automatically surfaced before her eyes.

Those reddened eyes and that deliberately indifferent expression made him look like an injured hedgehog.

Whenever she recalled it, Nohara Rin felt a stabbing pain in her heart as she realized just how deeply she had hurt him.

That was simply the kind of person she was. She could not allow herself to hurt someone's feelings and then go on living with peace of mind.

She had to do something.

She had to make it up to him.

Otherwise, she would never be able to forgive herself.

"Go apologize..."

Nohara Rin muttered to herself, and a trace of determination gradually appeared in her brown eyes.

She had decided. Tomorrow, she would go apologize to Uchiha Chi.

The Uchiha compound.

After watching Obito leave, thoroughly coaxed into a grin, Uchiha Chi turned and headed in the direction indicated by the moonlight.

No one stopped him along the way, so he quickly returned home.

Twenty minutes later.

After a simple wash-up, Uchiha Chi entered his bedroom and sat down at his desk.

As he wiped his damp hair with a towel, Uchiha Chi skillfully summoned the system and checked his Personal Panel.

[Name: Uchiha Chi]

[Age: 14]

[Chakra: 700 (+1000) (Chunin standard: 1000)]

[Skills: Three Basic Jutsu, Body Immobilization Jutsu, Body Flicker Technique, Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique, Fire Style: Phoenix Sage Fire Technique, Konoha Senpukyaku, Konoha Great Whirlwind, Mystical Palm Technique, Monster Strength, Mayfly Technique]

[Traits: Uchiha Bloodline (Two-Tomoe); Medical Ninjutsu Talent (Nohara Rin version); Fire Style Ninjutsu Talent (Uchiha Fugaku version); Space-Time Ninjutsu Talent (Uchiha Obito version)]

[Extra Damage: 85%]

[Extra Defense: 38%]

[Points: 180]

The more Uchiha Chi looked, the more satisfied he became. He nodded at the panel in gratification.

At the izakaya, he had activated his Two-Tomoe Sharingan, which had cost him a full 100 points.

But because of the series of events tonight, not only had his point wallet not shriveled up, it had filled back out. He was even better off than before.

First Tsunade, then Obito and Afie...

Uchiha Chi sighed in delight. Sure enough, making many good connections was the right thing to do. These people were all his lucky stars.

"Now then, what should I spend the points on...?"

Looking at the 180 points in his account, Uchiha Chi felt somewhat conflicted. He really had never fought such a wealthy battle before.

After pondering for a moment, he fixed his gaze on the line showing his chakra amount, which was only at Chunin level.

Because he had not trained much lately, his chakra reserves had barely increased.

Although activating the Two-Tomoe Sharingan had given his ocular power a considerable boost, more than tripling it outright, there was still...

Compared to his other steadily growing abilities, this merely Chunin-level chakra amount stood out a little too much.

It was the kind that caved inward.

That clearly would not do. After all, in a Ninja battle, chakra reserves often accounted for a major factor.

Just imagine it: if Hatake Kakashi, burdened with Kamui in his right eye, did not have to worry about chakra reserves, then in the era before the Fourth Ninja War's power inflation, he could basically have walked all over everyone.

"It's time to improve it. If I don't have enough chakra, then no matter how many ninjutsu I know, they'll be useless..."

With that, Uchiha Chi entered the Point Store and, with practiced ease, found "Chakra Enhancement," which cost 20 points per use, among the special items.

So, how many times should he enhance it?

Looking at the points in his account, Uchiha Chi found himself in a difficult position.

"I should just make it a round number..."

Uchiha Chi's obsessive-compulsive tendencies were acting up.

If he enhanced it once, twice, or three times, the remaining points would not look very nice. But if he enhanced it four times, he would have 100 points left, which looked more pleasing than the other numbers.

However, just as Uchiha Chi was about to use Chakra Enhancement four times in one go...

The corner of his eye caught several things that had not been on the special item shelf before.

Uchiha Chi blinked and turned his head to glance over. The hand that was about to press the confirm button froze in midair.

[Wood Release Ninjutsu Talent: A Kekkei Genkai formed from earth- and water-natured chakra.]

[Cost: 100 points]

[Senju Bloodline: The bloodline of the Senju Clan.]

[Cost: 100 points]

A golden legend!

Uchiha Chi took a deep breath, his eyes flickering.

Although the system's descriptions of the two items were brief, having read the original work, he naturally understood the value of Wood Release Talent and the Senju Bloodline.

Wood Release was the unique Kekkei Genkai of Senju Hashirama, known as the God of Shinobi.

In the early days of founding the Ninja Village, Senju Hashirama had relied on his Sage Art: Wood Release: True Several Thousand Hands and his ideals of peace to win over the entire Ninja World.

As for the Senju Bloodline, the Senju Clan had stood against the Uchiha, one of the Ninja World's great clans, for a thousand years. Naturally, their bloodline was no inferior to the Uchiha Bloodline.

Which one should he choose?

Uchiha Chi's gaze shifted back and forth between the two, clearly conflicted.

After what was likely quite a long internal struggle, he finally reached for the Senju Bloodline.

Wood Release was certainly powerful, but he could not forget that there were differences even among Wood Release users.

The same Wood Release could serve as nuclear deterrence in the hands of the First Hokage, yet become a construction miracle for building a three-bedroom apartment in Yamato's hands.

At the end of the day, different Ninja had different levels of chakra. Even when using the same ninjutsu, the resulting effects would naturally differ.

Uchiha Chi's foremost problem at present was always the imbalance between his growing number of ninjutsu and his underdeveloped chakra reserves.

And the Senju Clan's bloodline happened to solve that problem.

Uchiha Chi had never seen anyone with the Senju Bloodline run out of chakra during a fight.

[Confirm spending 100 points to obtain the Senju Bloodline?]

[Confirm]

[Ding! Beginning installation of the Senju Bloodline...]

As the system flickered, the increasing chakra flowed into Uchiha Chi's abdomen like wave after wave of warm currents. Then, starting from his abdomen, it spread through his skin like countless tiny hands gently massaging his stiff body.

Savoring the comfort, Uchiha Chi slowly closed his eyes.