Little Cat

Uchiha Gen converted the box of money he had just obtained directly into the system. Over these past few days, he had visited every casino in the area, trying to keep a low profile.

It seemed he had been a bit too high-profile after all; the major casinos had started to guard against unfamiliar faces like his. This made Uchiha Gen think they were being stingy—he had only won a little bit from each place, nothing significant.

Of course, Uchiha Gen was speaking from a position of privilege; it wasn't his money being lost, but who would ever complain about earning too much?

He was still 1 million ryo short after scraping everything together. He kept 100,000 ryo for expenses—even if he didn't need to eat or indulge in luxuries, he needed to change his clothes and buy more Kunai, Shuriken, and Explosive Tags.

However, just as he stepped out of the ninja tool shop, Uchiha Gen was baffled to find himself pestered by a small black-and-white kitten. The kitten was a bit dirty, and a small piece of its ear was missing. It wove between his legs, looking up at him with a fawning expression.

The problem was that he hadn't bought any food this time, and even with his skin simulation, his body temperature was much lower than a normal person's. How could he possibly be attractive to animals?

Uchiha Gen picked the kitten up by the scruff of its neck, staring eye-to-eye with it for a moment before sighing and putting it back down. He would see if it followed him.

"Boss, one fish!" Uchiha Gen subconsciously chose a fish slightly larger than the kitten... never mind, he took out the Kunai he had just bought. With a few quick motions, he cleaned the scales and innards and cut the fish into small pieces.

He pinched a small piece of fish meat and dangled it in front of the kitten. "Is this what you want?" Uchiha Gen asked.

The kitten's eyes widened, and it let out a series of meows. Uchiha Gen tossed the meat to it. The kitten bit down on the piece and ran off.

Uchiha Gen: "..." No, that was meant for it, but did it not want the rest of the fish he was holding?

Could there be more kittens? Was this just the mother cat?

Half an hour later...

Uchiha Gen muttered to himself, "...Are we not there yet?" To travel so far just to forage for food—was it not worried about its litter being eaten by other animals?

Or perhaps... He watched as the kitten crawled into a dilapidated shack. If it could even be called a shack, it couldn't even provide the most basic shelter from the rain.

The kitten dropped the fish meat and ran over to a corpse, meowing incessantly. Uchiha Gen watched in silence. It was the body of a young boy, about seven or eight years old, already showing signs of post-mortem lividity. There were bruises on his body, especially on his legs. It looked like he had starved to death.

This was likely a tragic story, but Uchiha Gen had no interest in getting to the bottom of it. In this world, there were far too many people like this... he couldn't save them all.

He looked at the kitten, then at the surrounding dead sparrows and rats, most of which had been half-eaten, along with a piece of sausage that was no longer edible.

The kitten was still meowing there, as if asking its servant, "What do you want to eat? I've found food, won't you get up and eat?"

As it meowed, the kitten took the fish meat in its mouth, trying to feed it into the boy's mouth.

Uchiha Gen sighed inwardly and picked the kitten up by the scruff of its neck. The kitten seemed surprised; why had a person suddenly appeared behind it?

It instinctively tried to scratch Uchiha Gen, but found it couldn't reach him at all. It struggled for a bit before finally giving up.

"Little thing, he's already dead. You know that, don't you?" As Uchiha Gen spoke, he must have touched some nerve in the cat, because it suddenly became frantic. It didn't know where it found the strength, but it kicked off, leaving a few bloody scratches on Uchiha Gen's hand.

"..." Uchiha Gen, could it actually understand him? He used his Sharingan to look into the kitten's eyes, and it immediately quieted down, as if it had fallen asleep.

In this place, honestly, it was a stroke of luck that the corpse hadn't been dragged away by wild dogs or other animals. Uchiha Gen used a Great Fireball to cremate the body, then placed the remains in a jar and buried it.

When the kitten woke up, it found itself held in someone's arms. A piece of fish meat was held to its mouth. Had its servant woken up? The kitten couldn't hold back anymore and began to wolf down the food, tears welling up in the corners of its eyes.

Uchiha Gen took out a tissue and wiped them away; it wouldn't look good if it left tear stains. He was currently debating whether to keep the cat, watching as it finished eating and fell asleep again.

"..." Well, the fish he bought wasn't finished yet, so he might as well keep it for now and find it a suitable home later.

He was still 1 million ryo short. He would hit a few more casinos and then call it a day.

It had to be said that under the Sharingan, everyone's cards were essentially face-up; he could even see the small tricks some people used to cheat. Of course, since he was also a cheater, Uchiha Gen couldn't be bothered to expose them.

Seeing the dice roll, Uchiha Gen bet on "small." Seeing that his luck seemed quite good, others followed suit and bet on "small" as well.

However, this time they lost. The dealer breathed a sigh of relief; if so many people had won, they would have had to pay out a fortune, and if all else failed, they would have had to rig the game.

Suddenly, he heard a grumbling female voice. "I thought I'd make a profit this time, but who knew this brat would lose. Shizune, let's go, let's try another place." Tsunade left in a huff.

Shizune, holding Tonton, hurried to catch up. "Lady Tsunade, we really can't gamble anymore. We can barely afford the hotel fees as it is."

Uchiha Gen: "..." He had seen Tsunade when he entered the casino, but she hadn't come to this table earlier. Seeing her follow his bet just as he decided to throw the game—her luck was truly something else.

But truthfully, if he had won, that would have been the real misfortune.

Uchiha Gen rubbed the cat's head, though he couldn't feel the soft texture of its fur. The kitten looked a bit dazed, but it didn't resist. He wondered what was going on in that tiny head of its.

He deliberately walked into a secluded area. "If you want to live, brat, hand over your money." Oh ho, a good harvest; there were actually four robbers this time.

Walking out of the shadows, Uchiha Gen confirmed the system submission. Not bad, he was now only 410,000 ryo short. These people were quite wealthy; the four of them together had a total of 20,000 ryo.

Uchiha Gen complained, "System, can you give me a discount?"

However, the system didn't even chirp at him this time.

Uchiha Gen hadn't expected that even after transmigrating and dying once, he would still have to worry about money.

He suddenly saw a pet shop and looked at the kitten in his arms; it was a good time to take it in for a bath. Come to think of it, did his own skin need a bath?

Nearby, Orochimaru, accompanied by Kabuto, was dragging his crippled hands while searching for Tsunade. As he passed by, his vertical pupils narrowed slightly; there seemed to be a familiar scent.

But the state of his hands forced him to temporarily abandon such thoughts.

Uchiha Gen naturally sensed Orochimaru's approach. His attitude toward Orochimaru was: stay away from me, don't bother me, and I won't bother you (for now).