Call Me the Money Printer

Ever since Journey to the West (Volume 1) hit the market, the book began to gain a small following among ordinary villagers and low-to-mid-ranking ninja in Konoha.

It did not, however, become the runaway bestseller Xian Yu had fantasized about.

Nevertheless, following the market opening created by the first volume, the five hundred copies of the second volume sold out over a hundred units shortly after being placed on the shelves.

These were likely all purchased by those who had bought the first volume and were following the sequel.

One day after the Ninja Academy let out, Xian Yu arrived at the ninja tool shop run by the Shimura Clan.

"Oh, it's little Yu. It's rare to see you here; do you need some ninja tools?" a middle-aged woman in the shop asked with a kind smile upon seeing him.

This woman was Shimura Chikako, the beloved wife of Xian Yu's teacher, Shimura Xiong Yi.

In this world, women took their husband's surname after marriage, so young Xian Yu wasn't entirely sure if Shimura Chikako had been a Shimura by birth or had married into the clan from the outside.

After all, ever since the First Hokage, Senju Hashirama, took the lead in promoting inter-clan marriage and calling for everyone to "integrate into Konoha," the other major clans—aside from bloodline-limit families like the Uchiha and Hyuga—had largely abandoned strict restrictions, even if they weren't as thorough as the Senju Clan.

"Aunt Chikako, I have a batch of Special Military Ration Pills I'd like to sell at our shop," Xian Yu said, scratching his head.

As far as Xian Yu knew, the ninja tool shop his aunt ran also sold some lower-quality military ration pills.

They just weren't as specialized or high-quality as the medicine sold by shops under the Nara Clan.

Shimura Chikako looked surprised: "Special Military Ration Pills?"

"Yes, these." As he spoke, Xian Yu took out a small bag of pills that looked similar to ordinary ration pills on the outside.

Ever since the day Xian Yu obtained the Spirit Rice and tried cooking a little to eat, he was astonished to discover that the Spirit Rice not only had the effect of banishing hunger but could also effectively replenish chakra! Its efficacy was far superior to ordinary military ration pills.

After learning this, he had been pondering for some time how to turn the Spirit Rice into special military ration pills.

Finally, yesterday, he finished this small bag of thirty special military ration pills.

In truth, the process didn't require much technical skill. Ordinary military ration pills were made by combining various precious medicinal herbs through a specialized process. Their medicinal effect was to replenish physical stamina, with a slight, slow effect on chakra recovery. Eating too many would cause immeasurable damage to the body. But on the battlefield, ninja had no choice; even knowing it was like drinking poison to quench thirst, they had to eat them!

Xian Yu's special military ration pills, however, required no such technical expertise. There was no need to consider the medicinal properties or the compatibility of herbs.

It was purely a matter of mashing cooked Spirit Rice with regular rice and mixing them together. Then, he used some health-supplement-grade herbs to create a coating to wrap the rice paste inside.

Making these thirty pills only used up fifteen grains of Spirit Rice and some very inexpensive blood-tonifying herbs! On average, each pill contained only half a grain of Spirit Rice.

These Spirit Rice grains were about the same size as regular Northeast rice. After precise weighing, one jin of Spirit Rice contained about 6,000 grains.

If he were to consume them alone, eating one a day, he would have enough for three hundred and thirty years!

This was a massive fortune!

Xian Yu, who had initially complained about not drawing a Zanpakutō, was now quite satisfied with this twenty-jin bag of Spirit Rice!

"Aunt, these are the special military ration pills I developed. Not only is there no harm to the body from eating them, but long-term consumption can also strengthen one's physique. The effect of replenishing stamina and chakra is also thirty percent stronger than ordinary pills. The only drawback is that if your stamina and chakra are already full, you might feel overstuffed if you eat too many."

Xian Yu's small face was serious as he continued: "Aunt Chikako, take this small bag first. You can have someone analyze it, and once the effects I described are verified, we can sell them in the shop. As for the price, I remember ordinary pills are 55 ryo each. Since my raw material costs are higher, let's sell them for 200 ryo each."

The tech tree in the Naruto world was strange; they had radio walkie-talkies, high-tech hospital equipment, and even material analysis instruments, yet they still relied on ninja hawks for intelligence and shouting for command... Xian Yu found it baffling.

Xian Yu wasn't afraid of the Spirit Rice being analyzed. It was, at most, a magical substance containing high energy. As for piracy or imitation, if the Spirit Rice from the cultivation world could be analyzed and replicated in the Naruto world, he would eat his hat!

As for someone getting jealous? Someone trying to harm him? Or the village demanding he hand over the formula for these 'Special Military Ration Pills'?

He figured Shimura Danzō would just sneer: I'm doing you a favor by not robbing you; who dares to touch my family's kid?

Shimura Chikako took the matter seriously upon hearing this: "Alright, I will find someone to analyze these special pills of yours right now. If the effects are as you say, 200 ryo each is not expensive at all. It's actually quite cheap."

Everything went even more smoothly than Xian Yu had imagined. After analysis and verification by the Shimura Clan's internal professionals, although it was hard to believe, they all acknowledged that their clan's leader, who was not yet six years old, had truly developed a more advanced 'military ration pill.'

Taking these pills in large quantities not only caused no bodily harm, but if taken continuously for several months, one could even clearly feel an increase in strength and a hardening of the physique! The effect was equivalent to a month of grueling training!

Soon, this shocking news was sent via specially raised ninja hawks by the clan's high-level officials to the clan leader, Lord Danzō, who was away on a mission outside the village. All clan members in the know were placed under a gag order by Lord Danzō. Furthermore, instructions were issued to Shimura Chikako and Xian Yu: henceforth, these special military ration pills would be prioritized for the Anbu under Lord Danzō and the ninja of the Shimura Clan. Externally, it would be claimed that these pills were a secret medicine passed down through the Shimura Clan for generations. Only a very small quantity would be sold in the shop to boost its reputation and customer traffic.

To avoid exposing the existence of the Spirit Rice, the production of the pills could not be outsourced. From then on, Xian Yu had to spend an hour every day hiding in a makeshift workshop, cooking and filling the pills. The daily output was about 450-500 units.

Production was low, and demand exceeded supply! Every month, Xian Yu could earn about 3 million ryo from the special military ration pills alone.

He still had to set aside one night a week to type and update the sequels to Journey to the West.

Although ninja were very self-disciplined and rarely read such leisure literature, the novel Journey to the West was still sought after by many ordinary villagers, some genin, and ninja academy students. With the weekly updates, the monthly sales volume now hovered around 300 copies.

The unit price of 100 ryo per book, after deducting printing and consignment fees, provided Xian Yu with less than 30,000 ryo in monthly income—not even a fraction of what he made selling medicine.

However, Xian Yu maintained his enthusiasm for the weekly updates.

Half the reason was that, compared to selling military ration pills, Journey to the West was sustainable! After finishing Journey to the West, he could write Eastern Journey. After that, he could write The Lotus Lantern... once everyone grasped the concept of the Three Realms, he could continue to introduce various myths... eventually, he could even step out of Konoha, face bookstores across the entire Land of Fire, and one day even go international...

The other half was simply out of interest. As Xian Yu wrote, he found he really enjoyed the feeling of typing. Although what he wrote currently wasn't great and was even quite poor, he loved the sensation. He was also consciously working to improve his writing level. He believed that one day, he would become a titan of literature in the Naruto world. A mysterious sense of confidence. JPG

The remaining spare time, aside from eating and sleeping, was spent with Jiraiya and Orochimaru at the training grounds for daily ninja practice.

Life was... simply fulfilling beyond measure...

One grain of Spirit Rice could be made into two special military ration pills, and one jin of Spirit Rice contained about 6,000 grains. That meant it could produce 12,000 special military ration pills.

Xian Yu had set aside half of the Spirit Rice as raw material for the ongoing production of the pills. These 10 jin of Spirit Rice would eventually produce about 120,000 special military ration pills.

At a price of 200 ryo each, that was a massive fortune equivalent to 24 million ryo!

Although the Spirit Rice, as the main raw material, was limited, the current low production rate was enough to sustain him for over half a year.