The Days of the Orphan

Life as an orphan is never easy.

Although the Uchiha clan provided some support, that meager assistance was barely enough to keep one's stomach full.

At the time, Uchiha Kei felt that the prestigious Uchiha clan, being a powerful family, shouldn't be so stingy when it came to caring for their orphans.

Yet, he later discovered that the Uchiha clan was actually doing better than most; orphans without a ninja clan fared far worse.

Truly, there is no pain without comparison.

At the very least, the Uchiha clan was willing to feed their orphans, while children in the village without a clan could only pin their hopes on having a shred of potential themselves.

After all, the worldview of this world is that the strong are respected; Konoha's love does not shine upon those orphans who cannot provide the village with any nutrients.

Even for those who do receive some light, those orphans must possess the potential to become nutrients in the future.

Take, for instance, the legendary spy and "Walking Shrine Maiden," Yakushi Nonō, and her orphans.

The radiance of humanity shone upon that shrine maiden, but the process and the outcome were not something that Kei, living with the sensibilities of a modern society, cared to see.

As an orphan of the village, if you want to survive, you must have potential. At the very least, you must be a spy capable of providing intelligence for Konoha's stability in the future, or at the very worst, become a shrine maiden.

If you lack that potential, please leave the village; if you must beg for food, do it elsewhere.

After all, the Hokage is the kindest soul; he simply cannot bear to look upon the miserable.

Perhaps that is why the director of the orphanage is a shrine maiden!

A so-called shrine maiden is not a witch; she possesses no magic.

To put it in high-sounding terms, it is a way for believers to cleanse their souls through the body of the shrine maiden.

Ahem—having put it so bluntly, those who understand should understand. After all, when it comes to the affairs of noble lords, calling it prostitution sounds far too low-class.

The nobles believe that a shrine maiden is a bridge connecting gods and humans, and through her, one can communicate with the divine.

Naturally, only the most beautiful women are fit to serve the gods.

The noble believers are not satisfying their own desires; they possess a grand sentiment—they are simply praying for the benefit of all mankind.

In such a situation, it is just like performing a Kagura dance; both are simple rituals to invite the gods. The only difference is that the Kagura dance is to invite the gods to bless the nation, while this is to invite the gods to provide personal guidance.

Therefore, such a high-class ritual naturally comes with a hefty price tag.

The nobles certainly know how to play the game; they handle things with such "reason and evidence," committing filthy acts while holding high the banner of nobility.

In Kei's view, no matter how high-sounding the "Walking Shrine Maiden" is described, she is essentially nothing more than a "streetwalker."

And yet, a whole village of orphans requires a streetwalker to provide for them. Is this not a joke?

This is the ultimate destination for most orphans in Konoha: the men become cannon-fodder spies to provide intelligence for Konoha, and the women become shrine maidens to earn foreign currency for the village.

Kei couldn't help but think that this was truly a Japanese manga; between the lines, it revealed the old traditions of the "Land of the Rising Sun."

It is pitiful to think that without this streetwalker, these orphans might have lived even more miserable lives in this society.

Actually, it is not hard to understand. Just look at the life led by the future Hokage's son, Uzumaki Naruto. Despite carrying the surname of the Uzumaki clan—a family that once produced Daimyo—and being the son of the Fourth Hokage, his life was still lived in constant scarcity.

Therefore, the fact that the Uchiha clan could still provide a meal for their own orphans was already quite an achievement.

Such is the state of the village; one becomes accustomed to the strange.

Oh, right, at this moment, the Uzumaki clan's Land of Whirlpools has already been destroyed.

The orphans of the Uchiha clan, with the exception of Kei, were all quite grateful.

Unfortunately, none of this could soothe the restless Kei. Having seen something better, he naturally could not tolerate the filth.

As the saying goes, he who carries a sharp weapon will naturally harbor the intent to kill.

He was a transmigrator, carrying the inexplicable sense of superiority that comes with it. In such an environment, how could he possibly remain calm?

At the time, Kei did not fully understand his "cheat." He only knew that its function was to summon people, but the sudden appearance of so many individuals would inevitably bring him trouble, as it was difficult to explain.

However, Kei still took the step he considered imprudent at the time.

Originally, according to Kei's plan, the cheat only provided him with potential. Before that potential could be converted into strength, it was better to remain low-key and cautious.

Therefore, after being driven to a corner of the orphanage to survive, Kei did not immediately trigger his cheat, but instead endured for several months.

At the time, Kei thought that without a reasonable way to explain where these summoned people came from, caution was the best policy.

At the very least, he needed to improve his own strength while hoarding enough summoning scrolls. It wouldn't be too late to act once he had enough power to protect himself.

However, strength is not so easily gained. Even the genius Uchiha Sasuke needed to defect to Orochimaru and receive guidance from a master before he could achieve sufficient growth.

As for Kei, whose aptitude was merely mediocre and who had no one to teach him, he estimated that without the cheat, the rank of Chunin would be his ceiling.

People are, after all, emotional creatures.

At that moment, Uchiha Kei looked at the unpalatable gruel in his bowl and inexplicably recalled a trivial matter from his previous life.

Back then, he had wanted to eat an egg pancake in the middle of the night, so he drove all over the city looking for a vendor still open, which was naturally impossible to find.

Kei, a grown man, had actually cried out of grievance because he couldn't eat the egg pancake he was craving.

He thought to himself, "I work so hard and try to be a good person, all just to eat an egg pancake. Why is there nowhere to buy one at two in the morning? This world is simply terrible."

"It's all the world's fault!"

"I'm tired, just destroy it all, hurry up!"

Although Uchiha Kei felt embarrassed about it afterward, he still felt he wasn't wrong; it was just that the pressure of life was too great, and he had simply had an emotional outburst over a trivial matter.

Looking back now, it was purely because he had too much time on his hands.

As expected, all the troubles in this world stem from being well-fed; before one is full, there is only one trouble: how to get enough to eat.

Looking at this bowl of mush, which was less substantial than the kitchen scraps he would have thrown away in his past life, the children around him drooling with hunger at the sight of it, and the dozens of consecutive summon scrolls lying in his system, Uchiha Kei finally snapped.

He had transmigrated here to eat well, drink well, and stand at the pinnacle of the Hokage.

He did not come here to stare at a bowl of mush and wonder if the affection of the children around him was sincere, or if they were merely seeking his protection and a share of his gruel.

The Hokage shouldn't be like this, and Konoha shouldn't be like this.

Screw the suppression and suspicion; I'm going to eat meat, and I'm going to live a good life. Whoever stops me from living a good life, I'll make sure they live a miserable one.

"Burn, and let the world feel my pain! This turn, I draw!"