Cheat

(Chapter 1: The Cheat)

The sun was bright, the spring flowers were in full bloom, and the people on the streets were filled with laughter and joy. It was a scene of perfect harmony; neighbors greeted one another, and groups of children chased each other through the lanes.

Merchants on the street were busy with their trade, bustling with activity. Everything in this place seemed so harmonious; if one were looking for a place to live, it would be quite nice. However, Uchiha Mirai did not think so.

He knew clearly where he was, but it was precisely because he knew that it felt so absurd. This was Konoha, the setting of the long-running manga Naruto, which had been serialized from 1999 to 2014—a series that spanned nearly fifteen years.

Back then, Uchiha Mirai was still a student who loved manga, anime, and games, so he had naturally read Naruto, a work known almost everywhere in the world.

When he was in school, he had yearned for the ninjutsu there, dreaming of punching Uchiha Madara and kicking the Ten-Tails. But after growing up, he realized that place was far too dangerous. I'd better just stay safely on Earth, he had thought.

He didn't even know how he had ended up here, and after arriving, his body had turned into that of a child. Transmigration, reincarnation—these concepts had crossed Uchiha Mirai's mind many times, but those were trends from 2008. In his age group, the trend was chasing girls; fighting and killing were things for the city management to handle.

Moreover, he had a high-profile identity here: his surname was Uchiha. Uchiha Mirai belonged to the fringe of the Uchiha clan. The probability of a fringe member of this generation—who knew which one it was—awakening the Sharingan was incredibly low. It was perfectly normal for them to go their whole lives without ever awakening it, and Uchiha Mirai hadn't even met many of his relatives.

Even so, Uchiha Mirai's status in Konoha was still considered part of the noble class. Because his parents had sacrificed themselves in the war, Konoha had arranged for him to have a house to live in, and he was provided with money for food and clothing. It was a decent life.

However, he didn't want to stay here; it was too dangerous. Don't talk to him about how knowing the plot is the greatest cheat. Damn it, what good is knowing the plot when he was just a four or five-year-old child?

He had no ninjutsu, no chakra, and as for the Sharingan, how was he supposed to awaken it? By killing his brothers or parents? He couldn't even kill them if he wanted to; his parents in this world had already passed away by the time he transmigrated.

Of course, there was one more important reason: the current time was more than a decade before the main plot began. What good was knowing the plot? Was he supposed to wait a few years until he was wiped out by Uchiha Itachi because of his high-profile surname, or perhaps be targeted by Danzo or Orochimaru? His fate was truly miserable.

The heavens seemed to know that Uchiha Mirai was the type to wait for death without hope, so they gave him a glimmer of it.

[Mall System]

This was the cheat for Uchiha Mirai, the transmigrator. In a world where having no Kekkei Genkai, no unparalleled effort, and no talent meant you were basically trash, this was undoubtedly his hope for survival.

Don't ask where this cheat came from. Transmigrators are awesome, no explanation needed. He wanted to know where it came from too, but no one told him; it was just there when he arrived.

The [Mall System] was exactly as the name suggested. Having spent over a decade struggling through countless domestic online games, Uchiha Mirai knew what this represented: power.

No matter how skilled a talented player was, they were destined to fall before a powerful "RMB warrior." In Chinese online games, a wealthy tycoon could stand tall amidst an army of thousands, drinking the most expensive health potions and reaping kills with skills. There was no "most rich," only "richer."

Countless tycoons had fallen at the feet of even stronger tycoons, only to recharge their accounts, become even richer, and hack their way back. The root cause of it all was the system mall, which constantly invented new ways to lure tycoons into spending.

Uchiha Mirai was currently lying on the water tank on the roof. He silently thought "Mall" in his heart, and a virtual interface appeared before him. The design even had a touch of ancient style, which basically confirmed that this system mall was domestic.

Knowing it was a domestic system mall actually put him at ease, because the malls in domestic online games were the most scammy. Representative examples included Sohu Changyou's Dragon Oath and Tencent's online games.

He still remembered how he had painstakingly accumulated combat power, comparing himself to others, only for the system mall to release even higher-level gems. At 50,000 yuan a pop, a single gem could crush all his hard-earned power. That bitter feeling had made him sell his account, delete the game, and swear never to play domestic online games again.

However, Uchiha Mirai vaguely remembered a pop-up window appearing when he was uninstalling the game: "Do you want to understand the meaning of life? Do you want to possess powerful strength? Do you want...?" He had seen all the tricks online game companies played; there were even more ridiculous uninstallation prompts, some even containing curses. He had clicked "Yes" without hesitation. Those were his last memories.

Thinking about it now, he probably should have clicked "No," but there was no chance to change it now. He could only live well in this world. Currently, almost everything in the mall was grayed out, representing that it couldn't be used. Uchiha Mirai didn't know when the mall would open; perhaps it required meeting certain conditions.

Unfortunately, he could only look at it for now. "When on earth will the exchange open!" Uchiha Mirai couldn't help but let out a long sigh toward the sky. The most painful thing in the world wasn't dying with money left unspent, but having something right in front of you that you couldn't access.

Suddenly, a voice came from below, "Mirai! What are you doing? Come down and play with us!" The voice was very childish; it was a girl's voice.

The girl's name was Hyuga Hiben, a child from the Hyuga branch family. She was pretty, cute, and had good talent; she had already awakened her Byakugan. In terms of future prospects, she was far superior to Uchiha Mirai, who had almost no chance of awakening his eyes. Even at her young age, one could tell she would grow up to be a beauty. If he were into raising a loli, she would be an excellent candidate, but he wasn't that depraved.

Still, he felt a bit embarrassed to play with these little kids. After all, he used to be a grown man, and now he was reduced to playing with children.