Creating Happiness with Care

It had been five years since Lin Xian Yu came to this world, and he had gradually accepted the fact that he had been transported to the Naruto universe and become the son of Konoha's First Pot King, Shimura Danzō...

In his previous life, he'd had no parents and had tasted every kind of hardship in the orphanage. He'd barely scraped by on welfare, but at least he'd done well enough to graduate from college.

What came afterward was truly inspiring.

After more than a decade of weathering hardships and struggling to get by in society, he'd finally landed a management position at a well-known company.

"Welcome! I'm Lin Xian Yu, the manager here at Xingxin Internet Cafe..."

There had actually been plenty of people who praised him.

Lin Xian Yu recalled.

He remembered what his girlfriend had told him before she left: "You chose comfort at the age when you should be working hard. That's why I'm leaving you."

Then, without a moment's hesitation, she'd turned and climbed into a supercar whose name Lin Xian Yu couldn't even begin to guess.

Ever since then, whenever any of the friends they'd known together ran into Comrade Xian Yu, they'd lecture him.

"You're young! Go out there and fight for it!"

"Start a business... Why work for someone else? How much money can you make working for a living?"

"Don't aim too high. You're always reaching for the stars without the ability to match... Start at the bottom!"

"Set yourself a small goal first! We're not talking about a hundred million. Just go make a million!"

Slowly, the years had flown by.

Lin Xian Yu no longer resented anyone, nor did he hold a grudge.

He'd run into wall after wall, and bloodied his head. He'd bled.

At last, he understood that for an ugly duckling to become a swan,

it first had to come from a swan's egg. (/ω＼)

Everyone had their own version of the truth.

Winners became kings, losers became outcasts.

That was all there was to it.

Later, when his friends occasionally offered advice,

Lin Xian Yu stopped arguing back.

He simply went his own way in silence.

When friends occasionally offered him sincere greetings,

he'd perk up and smile at them. Even when he was exhausted, he'd make sure to laugh with all his might.

Because everyone, ourselves included,

would rather see a fake smile. As long as you smiled convincingly enough, you could spread positive energy.

Who would want to get too close to a loser who spent every day hanging his head and looking miserable?

And so he'd wasted his time and let his youth slip away, until one day, after inexplicably grinding away at a certain game, he'd been transported to another world.

His memories from infancy were hazy. In a few fragmentary scenes, he vaguely remembered Danzō holding him alongside a woman, the two of them very close. Later, the old crook Danzō had brought him back from outside the village, and he'd never seen the woman who gave birth to him again.

He'd heard that she'd died in childbirth.

Just like that, he'd wound up in a single-parent family.

Well, well. A single parent was still better than being an orphan.

Who knew, if he got into an argument with a classmate at the Ninja Academy someday, maybe he could roar, "My dad's Danzō!"

That name had far more clout than Li Gang or whoever...

As he recalled, the Pot King hadn't had a son in the anime from his previous life, had he? He seemed to have been a lifelong bachelor...

Never mind... He hadn't watched the anime all that closely back then.

The Shimura Clan might not have been as famous across the world as the Senju, Uchiha, or Hyuga, but it was still a prominent clan that had survived since the Warring States period.

Their hereditary Wind Release Ninjutsu was not to be underestimated. And with the current clan head, Shimura Danzō, holding the position of Konoha's second-in-command, the clan compound was quite well situated and spacious.

It had been built right beside the Senju Clan compound.

At that moment, five-year-old Shimura Xian Yu was crouched on the steps of his family's courtyard, pondering the meaning of life.

The Ninja Academy would open in a few days. As the clan head's only child, Xian Yu had been forced into all kinds of harsh training from the age of three.

Fortunately, his body was more or less normal. With his mature mind, he'd endured two grueling years of the clan's preschool training. A while ago, he'd successfully learned to extract chakra and had gained a basic grasp of the Three Basic Techniques.

Unfortunately, that was all this body had going for it.

Forget about Kakashi graduating early at six... becoming a Jonin at twelve.

Based on the memories from both his lives,

Xian Yu figured he had the makings of a Chunin at best. Mizuki was his ceiling.

Soon, Kage Level shinobi would be everywhere, and Six Paths powers would be a dime a dozen...

In this dog-eat-dog world, he probably wouldn't even qualify as cannon fodder!

As for clinging to his cheap old man?

Setting aside the old crook's poor treatment of him over the years, by then Danzō might not even be able to protect himself, and Xian Yu would get dragged down with him.

After all, Konoha's Pot King hadn't earned that nickname for nothing...

In the end, he'd taken all the blame and been killed by Uchiha Sasuke...

"If things keep going like this, I'm doomed!" Xian Yu's young face was full of indignation.

Truth be told, he quite liked his life now.

Sure, the old crook Danzō was a little too harsh when he made him train, and often beat him until he was covered in cuts and bruises.

But afterward, he always gave him the best medicine!

Sure, he had to study traps, psychology, tactics, geography, physics, chemistry, and a whole host of other complicated subjects. His brain practically had to split in two to keep up.

Sure, he had to train his body, harden his will, and practice Shuriken, Kunai, hand-to-hand combat, throwing, Wind Release Ninjutsu, and all sorts of other things... Every day, he was so exhausted he'd fall asleep the moment he hit the bed.

But he never lacked for precious supplements, both to take and to apply.

The shinobi here were nothing like the carefree, cool, flashy, and charismatic characters in the anime from his previous life.

Put simply, this was a miserable profession that constantly drained your body and mind.

But it wasn't easy to be born into a good family in this life.

At least he no longer had to do the hardest work and drink the most toxic soup in a rigid class system, where his whole life was both laid out before him and impossible to see through.

"Ding! A powerful desire has been detected in the host's heart. The Treasure Chest System has been activated. Please explore it on your own."

"Huh?" Shimura Xian Yu, whose mind had been wandering, was startled by the voice that suddenly rang out in his head.

"The cheat I've been waiting five years for has finally arrived?" Tears ran down little Shimura Xian Yu's cheeks as he cried like a child. ?_?

Oh... Wait, he was a child already.

"My dear system! I knew it! You sent me to this crazy world of Naruto, where everything depends on your eyes. How could I survive without a cheat? Heaven be praised... You finally showed up! (;′??Д??`)"

"Hurry up and tell me about your amazing features!"

"Hm? System? Are you still there?"

"..."

But no matter how much Xian Yu called out, he got no response.

"Young Master Yu, Young Master Yu, why are you crying? What happened?" Just then, a girl of around eleven or twelve came out of the house. Seeing Xian Yu making a racket, she immediately dropped the laundry bucket in her hands and hurried over, her face full of concern.

The girl wore a coarse cloth outfit, and her glossy black hair fell to her shoulders. Her delicate face was lovely.

Xian Yu said nothing. Instead, his bright black eyes fixed on the laundry bucket nearby.

Beside the bucket the girl had dropped on the ground sat an exquisite treasure chest that glimmered with silver light!

"Ahem... It's you, Ayumi. By the way, Ayumi, who gave you your name?"

Little Xian Yu cleared his throat and straightened up.

"Huh?" Shinozaki Ayumi looked completely bewildered. She had no idea what he meant! ?(?_?;?

"Never mind... Whoever named you, stay away from that person from now on."

Shinozaki Ayumi remained utterly confused. ?(?_?;?

"Whoever named you was so dishonest! What a hypocrite! You're this beautiful, and yet your name is Ayumi? What chance does that leave for other girls? How about I just call you Mimi from now on?" Little Xian Yu began with an indignant look, then gazed at the girl in front of him with admiration.

"Young Master Yu, you shouldn't make fun of other people's names!" Shinozaki Ayumi's face flushed red (???ω???) as she pretended to be angry. Then she immediately turned, picked up the laundry bucket, and ran off as fast as she could.

"Phew..." He breathed a sigh of relief and paid no more attention to the little maid who'd fled.

The system had been silent for so long that Shimura Xian Yu had almost started thinking he'd imagined the voice because he wanted a cheat so badly.

But seeing the treasure chest right there in front of him reassured him.

When Ayumi left, she'd indeed ignored the half-meter-long chest glowing faintly beside her, as if she couldn't see it at all.

That made Xian Yu even more certain that his cheat had truly arrived!

Once Ayumi had gone far away, he looked around to make sure nobody else was there, then immediately lunged toward the treasure chest.

"Congratulations, host. You have obtained a Silver Treasure Chest x1."

"First treasure chest pickup detected. Hidden conditions met. Storage space unlocked. Treasure Chest Radar unlocked."

The familiar voice rang out in his mind again.

A grid-based Space Backpack, much like one in an online game, appeared before Xian Yu. It had seven slots, and a Silver Treasure Chest lay quietly in the first. Beside it was a circular radar map.

"So I have to figure everything out for myself...?" The system fell silent again, and Xian Yu understood. His system apparently didn't do chat.

After a few minutes of trying things out, Xian Yu had figured out the basics. He silently thought, "Backpack."

The grid-based backpack interface would open or close.

Thinking "Radar" made the radar map appear or disappear.

With his mind, he could control the items in his backpack: storing, retrieving, or using them.

Never mind all that for now. First, open the chest!

He rubbed his little hands together excitedly and silently thought, "Backpack."

With a whoosh, the seven-slot backpack interface appeared before him again.

He had to admit, it was pretty novel.

He steadied himself and respectfully paid his respects to every god in the heavens. Whether it was Buddha, the Jade Emperor, or the merciful and compassionate Guanyin Bodhisattva, he even respectfully greeted Otsutsuki Kaguya-hime.

"Let's see if I'm lucky or not! This is my one shot!" Xian Yu said, closing his eyes. His palms were sweating as he focused his mind on opening the Silver Treasure Chest.

"Click, click..."

"Click, click...?"

"Hm?"

Was the chest locked?

Why wouldn't it open?

Just as Xian Yu was wondering what was going on, a familiar black-and-white, round, strange creature from his previous life appeared before his eyes. Then the system's voice rang out in his mind:

"Opening a Silver Treasure Chest costs 15 million silver coins. The host does not have enough money! Please recharge and try again. Create happiness with care. If you're broke, you can't play for shit..."