Preparations (Part 1)

A week passed in the blink of an eye. The Eternal Spirit Blade had been replenished by a quarter, and the Spirit Grain they had planted had sprouted into promising little shoots.

"Young master, time to get up!"

Shinozaki Ayumi had now completely replaced the alarm clock, and Xian Yu loved this arrangement.

Compared to the alarm's irritating ring, the girl's clear, bell-like voice didn't make him grumpy at all.

Without even opening his eyes, Xian Yu felt his way downstairs with one hand on the railing. Still half asleep, he stumbled into the kitchen. "Mmm... Ayumi, a kiss."

"Thump!" Shinozaki Ayumi gave him a not-too-hard headbutt and said, speechless, "Hmph. You haven't even washed your face yet, and you're already asking me to kiss you. There, there. Go wash up."

Rubbing his forehead where he imagined a huge bump had formed, little Xian Yu turned around with tears in his eyes and went to the bathroom to wash up.

He felt terribly wronged.

After breakfast, Xian Yu was about to head out when he saw Shinozaki Ayumi, busy clearing the dishes in the floral dress she was wearing that day. All of a sudden, he got the feeling of having a little girl at home and watching her grow up. Though he was still a little boy himself.

After a week of testing and fixing a few minor bugs, the Brick Phone's features were more or less complete. Since its very first app was the Fruit Slot Machine, Xian Yu had given the phone the catchy name "Fruit Machine."

With an easygoing spring in his step, he went to the Konoha Bookstore and handed in the manuscript for the latest installment of Journey to the West.

Journey to the West had now reached the part called "The Scheme to Capture Ninja Pig."

After Sun Wukong had been subdued by Sanzang and become his summoning beast, the group had gone on to capture another ninja beast: a beautiful mermaid named White Dragon Princess.

Though White Dragon Princess was male, he had a delicate, captivating beauty and a graceful figure. With a face like an angel's, it was impossible to tell whether he was a man or a woman.

Sanzang himself was an ordinary person, but an immortal had taught him divine arts. He didn't need chakra to sign contracts with and command several ninja beasts at once, each far more powerful than himself.

One day, Sanzang rode a white horse that was actually White Dragon Princess in disguise. With Sun Wukong, carrying his golden staff on his shoulder, walking beside him, he arrived at a manor called Gao Village.

There, a ninja pig named Bajie had used the Transformation Technique to disguise himself as a dashing young gentleman. He had not only ingratiated himself with the household but had even become the manor owner's son-in-law.

When the truth came to light, the manor owner hired many ninjas to try to eliminate him, but Bajie defeated them one after another.

As the story went, Bajie might be a ninja pig, but in his previous life he had been Immortal Tianpeng of the Celestial Court. He had been enlightened by his old friend from that life, Guanyin Immortal, and was now waiting here for someone destined to find him...

When Xian Yu came out of the Konoha Bookstore, he encountered a strange woman.

She looked to be in her twenties. When she spotted him from a distance, her face showed surprise, joy, pain, and guilt.

His chakra reserves and control had reached the level of a newly promoted Chunin, and his heightened senses seemed to pick up on something. Xian Yu turned his head and saw her expression, unable to help feeling puzzled.

When the woman realized he had noticed her, she fled in a panic. She didn't even stop to pick up the basket of vegetables she had dropped.

"What a strange person." Xian Yu shook his head and thought no more of it, continuing toward Konoha's shopping district.

Today, he needed to take over the shop and order a promotional banner while he was at it.

It was a ninja tool shop, about the same size as Aunt Chikako Shimura's shop.

"Young Master Yu, you're here. We've finished cleaning up and repainted and renovated the place as you requested. Please take a look and see if you're satisfied. If there's anything you don't like, I'll have people redo it." Someone had been waiting for Xian Yu when he arrived.

He was Shimura Ryuichi, a manager from the Shimura branch family. He had hired more than a dozen villagers with construction skills to handle building and maintaining the Shimura Clan's properties. It was a little like property management in Xian Yu's previous life, though not quite the same.

Ya Midie stood beside Ryuichi. After receiving the notice yesterday, he had gotten up early that morning.

"Good work." Xian Yu looked around and gave his approval.

Some parts still fell short of the internet café standards he remembered from his previous life, but it was good enough. A little praise was important to keep the people working under him motivated.

Shimura Ryuichi secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Then, bending at the waist, he said cheerfully, "The credit goes to your design, Young Master Yu. This shop will definitely stand out on this street. There's nothing else like it around here."

When Xian Yu stepped inside, Shimura Ryuichi tactfully called over a few of his men, and they gathered up their tools and left.

Ya Midie followed him inside.

"Uncle Ya, I'm leaving you in charge of this shop from now on. The third floor has a kitchen, bathroom, and bedroom, with all the facilities you need. Someone will have to be here around the clock, so you can ask Aunt Ya to help out, too. I'll pay each of you ten thousand ryo a month. In a little while, I'll hire a few receptionists and put them under your management." Xian Yu gave his instructions unhurriedly.

Ya Midie looked delighted and hurried to accept. "Don't worry, Young Master. I'll make sure to do everything the way you want."

He wasn't a particularly skilled warrior. Working as a guard for a merchant caravan earned him only seven or eight thousand ryo a month—and that was without even mentioning the danger. Spending so much time on the road also left him little chance to enjoy the warmth of home with his wife and children.

Even if the young master hadn't said anything, he had planned to bring his wife along to help manage the shop, even without pay. Naturally, he was overjoyed by the arrangement.

After all, in the Naruto World, a job paying ten thousand ryo a month was better than what many white-collar workers in Xian Yu's previous life earned.

The two of them would make twenty thousand ryo a month between them.

There weren't many businesses or employers here. Even though the cost of living was about the same, a safe, well-paid job like this was still something ordinary people could only dream of.

"Is that boy Samo still refusing to go to the Ninja Academy?" Xian Yu thought of Ya Midie's son and couldn't help feeling exasperated. Another problem child.

Four-and-a-half-year-old Samoya had a head of white hair and always liked to carry a wooden samurai sword with him.

When Xian Yu had first met him, he'd been so startled he'd rubbed his eyes. If he hadn't known that Hatake Sakumo was only six and that Sakumo's father had already been dead for years, he would have wondered whether Ya Midie had somehow gotten hold of some magical Hatake Clan hat... The kid was practically Sakumo's double!

"You really know what you're doing, Young Master. I followed your advice. I took Samo to the training ground and put a samurai sword and ninja tools on the ground. When he picked up the sword, I whacked him and refused to give him dinner. When he chose the ninja tools to train with, I praised him and had his mother make him something tasty. After a few days of that, the boy started practicing throwing shuriken every day." Ya Midie looked at his new young employer with admiration.

Xian Yu smiled with satisfaction. "That's the idea. You have to give him a choice. If you only give him ninja tools, of course he'll miss his samurai sword. Once he understands that the sword brings him pain, he'll naturally favor the other option. When he fully realizes that he can't fight back and can only silently endure it, he'll slowly get used to it, gradually start to like the process, and then become proactive."