Borrowing - Harvesting - Repaying

In an unknown, dilapidated corridor.

On both sides of the gloomy passageway, ninja cats were licking their fur. Hearing footsteps, they looked up, offered a casual greeting, and went back to grooming.

Uchiha Sora and Shisui passed through the corridor and arrived at a spacious inner chamber.

This was the "Cat Village" where the ninja cats resided.

Cat Village did not refer to a rural area in the wild, but rather a vacant, ruined zone that belonged to no country or hidden village.

Because Granny Cat was skilled at crafting equipment for ninja cats, many of them had signed contracts with her, attaching themselves to her and forming the Cat Village.

At the same time, it was also a source of intelligence and weapons for the Uchiha Clan, with deep-seated ties between them.

Many Uchiha clansmen chose to contract with ninja cats as their summoning beasts, and Uchiha Sora was one of them.

Shisui had not contracted with a ninja cat; his summoning beasts were his family's traditional flock of ninja crows. This was his first time at Cat Village, and his eyes were filled with curiosity.

Just as he reached out toward a ninja cat crouching by the door...

"Hinai has a bad temper; you'd best not tease him."

Hinai, the ninja cat guarding the door, let out a yawn and stretched his body.

"It's Kong, did you bring anything, meow?"

Hinai was a snob; even though he was very familiar with Uchiha Sora, if Sora came to see him empty-handed, Hinai would still get angry.

Sora took two bottles of silvervine drink from his sleeve and gave one each to the guards, Hinai and Tianhuo.

"Go and call Granny Cat."

"OK, meow!"

Not long after the two sat down, an old woman carrying a cat walked in. She wore orange clothing, a dark gray cat-ear accessory on her head, and was smoking a pipe.

Sitting down across from them, Granny Cat looked at Shisui first.

"Shisui, is it? This is our first meeting."

"I've heard you are the most talented of the new Uchiha generation."

Shisui bowed respectfully: "You flatter me. Compared to Sora, I can hardly be considered a genius."

Although Uchiha Sora's combat prowess was primarily displayed through Rayquaza, in the eyes of those in the ninja world, a summoning beast was part of one's strength.

Uchiha Sora couldn't be bothered with polite banter and went straight to the point: "Granny Cat, I want to know the location of the Fuma Clan."

"The Fuma Clan..."

Granny Cat thought for a moment and said: "I recall that this clan had collaborations with your Uchiha during the Warring States period."

"The Fuma Clan is skilled at crafting weapons..."

Granny Cat narrowed her eyes: "Kong, you wouldn't be heartlessly looking to abandon this old woman in favor of a new weapons merchant, would you?"

"Cat Village is an important ally of the Uchiha; we don't have a habit of abandoning our allies."

Uchiha Sora shook his head: "The situation is different now. The weapons you supplied before were enough for the Uchiha to use, and we could also bill Konoha for them."

"But now we are managing our own affairs... where we can save, we must save."

"Work in every area has just begun, and the expenses to rebuild a village are too high..."

After complaining about financial difficulties for a while, Uchiha Sora got straight to the point.

"I intend to annex the Fuma Clan."

"If this old woman isn't mistaken, your next step is to establish a ninja village?"

Uchiha Sora smiled slightly: "Yes, a ninja village that belongs to the Uchiha."

"Kong, don't blame me for not giving you face. Even if you are strapped for cash right now, the intelligence fee that is due cannot be reduced by a single cent."

Uchiha Sora nodded: "That goes without saying."

"However..."

"This old woman understands. You want to run a tab."

"It's not the first or second time; just pay it next time."

It wasn't just Granny Cat; almost every ninja cat had lent money to Uchiha Sora.

Although they didn't know what he used it for, as long as he paid it back with interest on time the following month, it was fine.

The ninja cats treated lending money to Uchiha Sora as a stable, profitable investment.

In particular, the blue cat Jialuo had lent all his money to Uchiha Sora as a long-term investment, receiving monthly repayments.

It was only because Uchiha Sora had such a good reputation; otherwise, even if Fugaku came in person, he wouldn't be able to run a tab with Granny Cat.

Granny Cat took a deep drag of her cigarette, seemingly lost in thought.

As an intelligence broker for the Uchiha, Granny Cat possessed formidable capabilities.

She lacked a formal intelligence room; instead, countless pieces of information were stored within her mind through secret arts.

In the underground black market, the bounty on her brain had already reached a staggering eighty million ryo!

Fortunately, she was a powerful expert in her own right, had contracted numerous ninja cats, and most importantly, was an ally of the Uchiha, so few dared to make a move against her.

There was, however, one green-eyed fellow who was always looking to cause her trouble.

Granny Cat knew that guy was not to be trifled with, so she always received word in advance and avoided him.

After a while, she pulled over a map and pointed to a spot on it.

"Right here."

The Land of Fields, is it...

After Orochimaru defected and joined the Akatsuki, he must have established Otogakure only after breaking away from them.

Uchiha Sora pulled a stack of silver from his robes: "This is the agreed-upon payment for the ninja cats' help with the relocation."

"The reconstruction work will still require the ninja cats' assistance, so the rest of the wages will be settled next time."

Ding--

"Agreement with Granny Cat completed, Credit Points +16."

Uchiha Sora had spent several years relying on his clansmen and the Cat Village to grind out over six hundred credit points, which he then used to take out a massive loan.

Rayquaza was a loan valued at 1000 points, but thanks to the new user bonus, it only occupied 500 credit points.

Currently, 500 of Uchiha Sora's credit points were frozen; until he returned Rayquaza, he only had a little over a hundred points left to use.

Borrowing money today and paying it back tomorrow was useless; the transactions had to be legitimate, last longer than a month, and be profitable for the lender...

The regulations were complex, leaving absolutely no room for loopholes.

There was another crucial rule that influenced the amount of credit points earned.

That was, the stronger the lender and the more difficult the agreement, the more credit points one could obtain.

In Uchiha Sora's view, these credit points were like collateral for the platform, and the frozen five hundred points were the mortgage for borrowing Rayquaza's power.

And the lending relationship was not as simple as just having Rayquaza run over to vent its fury.

--

Under the "Heavens Lending Platform," a branch database appeared after Uchiha Sora completed his first loan.

"Current Loan Item - Sky Divine Beast Rayquaza"

"Item Grade - Gold"

"Relevant Information"

Rayquaza Experience Card Holder: User currently holds 20% of Rayquaza's instinct for energy manipulation, randomly mutated into 50% chakra control.

Bond Amplification: User shares similar traits with the lender, granting a 60% boost to a random ability.

--

"Repayment Terms--

The user may not repay the loan early. Time flows differently across various dimensions; your ten years may not be the lender's ten years.

This is a lending risk to be borne by the user.

If the deadline is missed, a hunt will be triggered, deducting 10% of the user's total attributes every minute until repayment.

The user may choose to pawn abstract concepts such as 'memory fragments,' 'emotional colors,' or 'ability knowledge' to obtain a grace period.

Friendly Reminder - Major defaults by the user will trigger a 'Chain of Misfortune'...

--

--

He felt as if a fragment of Rayquaza had been embedded within him.

All of his abilities had been amplified, most notably his control over chakra.

It was precisely because of this surging chakra control that Uchiha Sora had achieved the Three-Tomoe Sharingan following the battle.

Feeling the power contained within his eyes, Uchiha Sora temporarily set aside the thought of acquiring more credit points.

The most important thing right now was to digest these abilities and integrate them into himself.