Ordering

"Why are you delivering it yourself? Don't tell me... this is a mission for the Cat Ninja Tool Shop?" The moment Akaseki saw Inuzuka Tsume, he had a hunch.

Inuzuka Tsume: ...

The look on Akaseki's face immediately gave Tsume a bad feeling.

Sure enough, before she could speak, Akaseki beat her to it. "You're still doing D-rank missions? I envy you. You still get those easy jobs. My team usually takes C-rank missions."

In truth, most ninja teams that had just graduated had only done one or two C-rank missions so far. Some had not done any.

Woof, woof—

The Blue-Backed Ninja Dog Tsume was riding barked at Akaseki.

"What's he barking about?" Akaseki asked curiously.

"Kuromaru says... he missed you and wants to spar!" Tsume said through a clenched smile.

"Really? I'd be up for that. Once you finish your mission tonight, want to meet at Training Ground Six?" Akaseki's eyes lit up. Worried she might refuse, he added, "Taijutsu only!"

Tsume's eyes brightened. She would gladly beat him up. Back at school, Akaseki had never been her match. But ever since he awakened his Sharingan at graduation, he had gotten full of himself...

If there were no restrictions, Tsume would have been wary of his Sharingan's ninjutsu and Genjutsu. But if it was Taijutsu only, she had nothing to worry about!

"Deal—wait. Are you just looking for someone to practice with for free?" Tsume suddenly realized.

She was right. Akaseki was eager for a Taijutsu sparring partner.

He had finished copying the first stage of Uchiha Style Taijutsu, and Fugaku had reminded him that what he needed now was real combat practice.

But finding a partner within the clan was difficult. They all used the same Taijutsu, centered on parries and evasive counters. Neither side would make the first move; they could spend an entire afternoon facing off and barely exchange a few blows...

"O-of course not!" Akaseki denied at once.

"Oh?" Tsume stared at him, her nostrils twitching as if to say, I smell a lie. Then she bared her teeth in a cold smile. "Whatever. Loser buys Ichiraku Ramen. I could use a fight myself!"

Tsume intended to find an opening to beat him up.

"Deal!" Akaseki said immediately.

If he wanted someone to spar with him, he either had to ask for a favor or pay for help.

Akaseki had asked Minato before, and Minato was willing. But Minato's Taijutsu was now far ahead of his. A stubborn competitive streak kept Akaseki from challenging him again when he had no chance of winning.

Ranwu's Taijutsu, on the other hand, was too weak. She had been forbidden from using Strength of a Hundred until she truly mastered it, and without that, her Taijutsu was no match for Akaseki's.

After losing to Akaseki a few times, Ranwu had stopped sparring with him solely in Taijutsu.

And Akaseki was a little short on money lately, so hiring someone was out.

As for why he was short on money...

"Right, your order... Did you find a pile of money somewhere?" Tsume said, taking out what Akaseki had ordered from the Cat Ninja Tool Shop.

She produced a Sealing scroll. She had not sealed it herself; the shop had done that.

Akaseki took it, bit his finger, and pressed a bloody thumbprint onto it to confirm receipt. The contents were released automatically.

Out came a full set of Kunai and Shuriken, a wheel-sized Fuma Shuriken favored by the Uchiha Clan, and an exquisitely crafted short sword...

"Standard-issue gear wasn't good enough? You had to get everything custom-made? This must have cost three hundred thousand. The Uchiha Clan really is rich," Tsume said sourly.

The moment she saw the Sealing scroll, Tsume knew Akaseki had bought plenty. Judging by the Shuriken, they had to be custom-made.

"Of course standard gear won't do! I'm training in the Uchiha Clan's Shurikenjutsu Manipulation. The secret is making sure the hole in the center is the right size. Once I can handle even this wheel-sized Fuma Shuriken freely, I'll have mastered it!"

Akaseki spoke with pride.

Tsume had no interest in his Shurikenjutsu Manipulation. She just urged him to finish accepting the delivery.

"And I saved up the money myself! From C-rank missions, you know?" Akaseki said, holding his head high.

Inuzuka Tsume: ...

Why did I even bring it up?

The money for the ninja tool set did include the thirty thousand ryō Akaseki had saved from a month and a half of hard missions... plus a two-hundred-and-seventy-thousand-ryō subsidy from the clan.

The Uchiha Clan was not so rich that ordinary members could live without working, much less spend as they pleased. But after Akaseki showed his talent, the clan treated him far better. As soon as he began training in Shurikenjutsu Manipulation, it allocated three hundred thousand ryō for his ninja tools.

After signing for the delivery and arranging to meet Tsume at the training ground that evening, Akaseki returned to his home in the clan compound. He planned to finish the last three hours of Family Happiness...

Besides experiencing the story through Immersion, Akaseki carefully used its emotional fluctuations to stimulate his Fire Style Chakra Nature Transformation.

When Akaseki had told Ranwu that Chakra Nature Transformation "wasn't very hard," he had said it on purpose.

In reality, it was far from easy, even for the Uchiha Clan!

Now that the Physical Examination Device appeared from time to time, Akaseki could measure his progress in Chakra Nature Transformation precisely. That only made its difficulty clearer.

The greatest problem was not how slowly he progressed. In fact, because he was still at the beginner stage, his progress was not particularly slow.

The real difficulty was...

Akaseki had discovered that, for any transformation, only crossing the thresholds of 1%, 3%, and 10% produced a noticeable change in how his chakra worked!

Between those thresholds, even going from 3.01% to 9.99% made almost no visible difference...

At the moment, Akaseki's Scorching Heat was above 10%, Incineration had reached 9.56%, and Overspread Burning had reached 3.71%, while Swift Flame was not even at 1%. That was how he knew those three thresholds existed. He had yet to test any higher ones.

It was easy to imagine how an ordinary ninja, unable to measure progress as precisely as Akaseki could, might train for ages without seeing any improvement.

Akaseki could also feel that progress grew harder after every threshold. It truly was a path of training that could drive an ordinary ninja to despair.

Apart from Chakra Nature Transformation, what Akaseki improved most through Immersion was undoubtedly his Dojutsu Power.

Other members of the Uchiha Clan probably had few chances to experience emotional stimulation so intensely and so often...