A Chance Encounter at the Noodle Shop

(Chapter Eleven: A Chance Encounter at the Noodle Shop)

Mirai couldn't help being shocked. The Sharingan was quite rare even among the Uchiha clan, and awakening it was difficult. Yet he had awakened it just like that, so naturally he was astonished.

And if the Sharingan's Kekkei Genkai could be purchased for just two System Points, what about the others? Mirai tapped the First's [Wood Release].

[ Ding! You don't have enough points. Wood Release requires 5,000 points to redeem! ]

Mirai felt his legs suddenly go weak. Five thousand points! An S-rank mission only gave you 100. Did the system expect him to complete fifty S-rank missions? S-rank missions were practically death sentences, and SS-rank missions were nearly impossible. As expected, the System Shop was always the most ruthless. He'd just been grateful that it had so readily awakened his Sharingan Kekkei Genkai.

It seemed the main reason the cost was so low was that he was already a member of the Uchiha Clan. For the first time, Mirai felt there was an advantage to being an Uchiha. Otherwise, if the Sharingan had also cost thousands of points, he'd never have been able to save up enough.

Mirai casually tapped on some of the other Kekkei Genkai. As expected, even the cheapest ones cost at least dozens of points. It looked like his dream of learning multiple specialties was dead.

At first, he'd imagined casually unleashing all sorts of powerful jutsu from various Kekkei Genkai. Now it seemed that simply wasn't possible.

Suddenly, Mirai noticed another Sharingan icon had appeared where the previous one had been. He tapped it to take a look.

[Two-Tomoe Sharingan: An evolved form of the One-Tomoe Sharingan. Requires 10 System Points.]

So it was a bundled purchase. Still, there was nothing he could do about it. He didn't have much confidence that he could evolve it on his own. His parents in this world were both dead, and he had no siblings to kill. If he wanted to get traumatized and play with his life, he'd have to find someone else. At least the point cost wasn't too high.

The Two-Tomoe Sharingan was a considerable improvement over the One-Tomoe Sharingan. It seemed that for now, he could only focus on a single Kekkei Genkai. Still, he wasn't ready to give up on Wood Release. He'd just have to see if he could find another way in the future.

But Mirai was already very satisfied. He'd awakened the Sharingan at four years old. Apart from those who were born with it, he'd never even heard of anyone else doing that. Even Uchiha Itachi had apparently awakened his Sharingan at seven. But Itachi was a genius; after awakening it, he'd advanced through the stages incredibly quickly, and in the end, he'd even evolved it into the Mangekyō Sharingan.

Even so, Mirai now felt reassured. Ever since arriving in this world, he'd been uneasy. Even with the mysterious System Shop, he hadn't received any tangible help. How could someone as insecure as he was possibly stand it? Fortunately, he knew that according to the story, he was still safe for now. And at least he'd finally confirmed that the System Shop wasn't an illusion.

"Rumble!"

His stomach suddenly growled, and Mirai remembered that he hadn't eaten dinner yet. He'd hurried back in his eagerness to learn about the System Shop, and now that he'd relaxed, hunger came rushing in. He'd done a lot of training that afternoon, so he'd naturally burned plenty of calories.

He opened the refrigerator and found it completely empty except for milk and eggs. Never mind, he'd eat out. He was in a good mood today. Having a system that cared so much about him was practically a death sentence, but it had also helped him awaken the Sharingan. His incredible life was just beginning. He'd go out and treat himself to a feast.

Mirai opened the door and headed outside. The streets were bustling with people. They were always lively at this time of day. Though the ninja village was almost constantly under the shadow of war, its residents had learned to face it with resilience. Maybe that was why people in the Naruto world were so determined.

Mirai soon found his destination: Ichiraku Ramen, the famous noodle shop from the Naruto anime. As luck would have it, it was located not far from where he lived. He'd noticed it soon after arriving.

He liked noodles, so of course he wanted to try the food that nearly every famous character in Naruto came here to eat.

After trying it once, he'd fallen in love with the flavor. It wasn't expensive, but Mirai didn't get much spending money, so he only came by now and then.

"Uncle, one bowl of ramen!" Mirai called out from his seat.

"Coming right up!" Teuchi, the owner of Ichiraku Ramen, called back.

"Oh, it's Mirai! I heard you started school. How's life there? Have you made any new friends?" Teuchi's daughter, Ayame, smiled and struck up a conversation with him.

"Don't use that grown-up tone people use when asking a kid if he's made friends at school. You're only Ayame, after all," Mirai said with a pout.

"Call me Big Sister Ayame. I'm three years older than you. Otherwise, I won't give you an extra egg today. Besides, aren't you a kid?" Ayame said with a smile.

Mirai wanted to say, I'm not a kid! But what good would it do? In the Naruto world, he was a child.

Ayame was Teuchi's daughter and three years older than Mirai. Whenever he'd visited the shop for the first time, she'd given him something extra: an egg, some beef, or a larger portion for the same price. She'd done the same every time he came back. She was always kind to him, and the two of them were among the first people in this world to show him warmth.

"All right, Ayame, come help me."

"Okay! I'm coming!" Ayame replied. Then she pinched Mirai's cheeks with both hands and said, "I'll let you off this time. Next time, I'm definitely making you call me Big Sister!" With that, she went inside to help.

Mirai rubbed his cheeks and thought, Some girl thinks she can make me call her Big Sister? Would my dignity really be bought off by an egg?

Suddenly, a familiar voice rang out beside him. "Oh! Isn't that Mirai? What a coincidence, running into you here."

Mirai turned around and saw the Fourth Hokage, whom he'd met that morning, standing nearby. Beside him was a beautiful woman with red hair.