At noon, Shin and Kushina left school. Classes were over, and they were getting ready to go home for lunch.
"Shin, wait a minute."
Shin was walking along when he heard Nawaki call out. He stopped at once and turned to look as Nawaki ran over.
"Shin, you and Kushina just arrived in Konoha, so you probably don't know your way around yet. How about I show you around?" Nawaki offered enthusiastically.
Shin thought it over. He did need to get to know Konoha, and having Nawaki show them around sounded like a good idea.
"Sure. Sorry for the trouble, Nawaki."
"No trouble.
Come on, let's get something to eat first. I'll treat you to ramen." Nawaki scratched his head and grinned.
"You're taking us around Konoha, so let me treat you instead," Shin told Nawaki.
Shin and the others had plenty of money. They'd had a generous allowance back when they lived with the Uzumaki Clan, and had managed to save quite a bit.
"Well, then, I won't stand on ceremony."
Nawaki thought about how poor he was. The pocket money he had left probably wasn't enough to treat them, so he didn't argue with Shin.
Though Nawaki was the young heir of the Senju Clan, he was genuinely poor. After all, he had
an older sister who spent money like water. He'd never be rich in this lifetime.
With Nawaki leading the way, Shin and the others went to a street of eateries not far from the school and stepped into a ramen shop.
"I see a lot of Ninja Academy students eating here," Kushina said.
"Yeah. Going home is too much trouble. If you go back and forth, you'll use up your whole lunch break, so most people either bring a lunch box or eat here."
Nawaki explained it to Shin and Kushina.
"True. We only get a little over an hour for lunch. If we go home to eat and then come back, we might be late."
Shin nodded. If someone lived close to the Ninja Academy, it was fine, but anyone who lived farther away really might be late.
"Oh, Mikoto, you're here too?"
Shin glanced around the ramen shop and spotted Uchiha Mikoto sitting quietly in a corner, eating ramen.
"You have sharp eyes. You spotted her even though she's all the way in the corner," Kushina said, looking at Shin with a hint of jealousy in her voice.
"Shin?"
Uchiha Mikoto looked at Shin in surprise.
"Do you mind if we sit here?" Shin asked with a smile as he walked over. Kushina followed reluctantly, a faint hostility in her eyes as she looked at Uchiha Mikoto.
Nawaki, bringing up the rear, hesitated before joining them.
To be honest, Nawaki didn't want to sit with anyone from the Uchiha Clan. The feud between the Senju Clan and the Uchiha Clan couldn't be explained in just a few words.
"I didn't expect you, Shin, Kushina Uzumaki, and Nawaki Senju to come here too," Uchiha Mikoto said with a gentle smile.
"If I'd known, I might as well have gone home," Kushina muttered. She spoke softly, but only she and Shin could hear her.
Shin ordered tonkotsu chashu ramen, and Kushina got the same. Nawaki ordered miso ramen.
Perhaps because Uchiha Mikoto was there, Nawaki, who was usually talkative, fell unusually quiet.
Kushina rested her chin in her hands as she waited for her ramen, while Uchiha Mikoto ate in silence. The table grew quiet.
The ramen shop itself was still bustling, though.
After a while, their ramen arrived. As Shin lowered his head to eat, the shop
suddenly fell silent.
Shin looked up, puzzled. But when he saw a ninja enter the shop, he understood. The man's clothes bore a crest just like Uchiha Mikoto's. It looked like a ping-pong paddle, but was actually the Gunbai.
"Are Uchiha Clan members really that intimidating?" Shin couldn't help thinking.
"He's a Jonin from the Uchiha Clan. He has a terrible personality."
Uchiha Mikoto suddenly spoke up.
"A Jonin from the Uchiha Clan? He's a Jonin?"
Shin suddenly remembered his Copy System. He focused his mind inward and asked, System, can a Common Copy Card copy his Sharingan eye power?
He wanted to copy the eye power itself, not the Sharingan Kekkei Genkai. He didn't know whether a Common Copy Card could copy it, or whether eye power could be copied on its own.
"His strength is at the Jonin level. It can be copied," the system replied.
Once he had his answer, Shin returned to his senses and glanced at the Uchiha Jonin. Then he silently thought, Use one Common Copy Card to copy his Sharingan eye power.
In an instant, Shin felt a tingling itch in his eyes, and powerful eye energy surged into them.
Feeling the strange change, Shin hurriedly put down his chopsticks and covered his eyes. Three black tomoe flashed briefly in each eye.
"Shin, what's wrong?"
Kushina saw him covering his eyes and hurriedly asked.
"Nothing. I accidentally splashed some soup into my eyes." Shin moved his hand away and smiled.
"Oh. Be more careful."
Shin continued eating, but his mind was elsewhere. It turned out eye power could be copied too.
After copying the Uchiha's eye power, his Sharingan had advanced from One-Tomoe to Three-Tomoe.
If the Uchiha Clan found out a five-year-old had a Three-Tomoe Sharingan, who knew what they might do?
The system really is amazing. What's the point of training hard when one copy gives you everything?
Shin couldn't help sighing.
Still, no matter how much he marveled at it, he still had to work hard.
He had such an overwhelming advantage. If he didn't put in the effort, he'd feel like he was letting the system down.
If I keep building up my eye power, could my Sharingan keep evolving?
Shin wondered.
He figured that if his eye power were strong enough, he could evolve his Mangekyo Sharingan into an Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan without transplanting his own brother's eyes.
Sharingan eye power was, in essence, Yin Release. Yin Release was the manifestation of spiritual energy. For instance, all genjutsu used Yin Release—in other words, spiritual energy.
That meant that if his spiritual energy became strong enough, he might even be able to awaken the Rinnegan.
No, the Rinnegan probably wasn't that simple. It seemed he needed to combine Yang Release with it to bring forth the Rinnegan.
Whatever the case, Shin felt he'd found another way to awaken the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan.
"Hey, Shin, why are you spacing out over your ramen? You've got some up your nose!"
Kushina nudged Shin, bringing him back to his senses.
Kushina, Uchiha Mikoto, and Nawaki were all looking at him. Shin felt a little awkward.
"I was thinking about something and got distracted."
Shin shook his head, casting aside the jumble
of thoughts. He could think it over at home later, when he had some free time.
After they finished eating, Shin paid the bill, including Uchiha Mikoto's share.
Uchiha Mikoto had felt a little embarrassed and wanted to pay him back, but Shin brushed her off, saying it was what friends did.
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