An orphan's life wasn't easy. ♡👽 🍬🍬
Although the Uchiha Clan offered some support, it was barely enough to keep you fed.
Back then, Kei had wondered how a prestigious clan like the Uchiha could be so stingy, especially when it came to caring for orphans.
But later, he realized the Uchiha Clan was already doing a pretty good job. Orphans without a ninja clan had it much worse.
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It really was true: no comparison, no pain.
At least the Uchiha Clan was willing to feed its orphans. The children in the village without a ninja clan could only hope they had some potential of their own.
After all, this world was ruled by strength. Konoha's love didn't reach orphans who couldn't provide the village with anything.
Even the ones it did reach had to possess the potential to become useful to the village someday.
Like the legendary spy, the Wandering Miko Yakushi Nonō, and the orphans in her care.
The light of humanity shone from the miko, but the process and its outcome weren't something Kei, who had lived in modern society, wanted to see.
As an orphan in the village, you needed potential just to survive. At the very least, you had to be capable of becoming a spy who could provide intelligence for Konoha's security—or, at worst, a miko.
If you didn't have that potential, sorry, but you'd have to leave the village. If you wanted to beg, go do it somewhere else. 69รђยא.ς๏๓
After all, the Hokage was so kindhearted that he couldn't bear to see the unfortunate suffer.
So that was why the orphanage director was a miko!
A miko wasn't a witch and didn't have magic.
To put it in lofty terms, believers purified their souls through the miko's body.
Ahem. That was putting it bluntly, but anyone who understood should get the idea. After all, these were the affairs of the nobility; calling it prostitution sounded far too vulgar.
The nobility believed mikos were bridges between gods and humanity, and that through them, one could communicate with the divine.
Of course, only the most beautiful women could serve the gods.
The noble believers weren't satisfying their own desires. They were driven by lofty ideals, praying for the well-being of all humankind.
So, under these circumstances, it was just like a sacred kagura dance: a simple ritual to summon the gods. The kagura dance called on the gods to bless the nation, while this ritual asked them to guide an individual.
Naturally, such an exalted ritual came at a steep price.
The nobility really knew how to play. They made the whole thing sound so reasonable: doing something filthy while waving the banner of virtue.
In Kei's eyes, no matter how lofty the claims, the Wandering Miko was essentially just a "courtesan."
And yet an entire village's orphans needed a courtesan to look after them. Wasn't that a joke?
That was the fate of most orphans in Konoha. [̲̅6][̲̅9][̲̅s][̲̅h][̲̅u][̲̅x][̲̅.][̲̅c][̲̅o][̲̅m] The boys became expendable spies, providing intelligence for Konoha; the girls became mikos, earning foreign currency for it.
Kei could only say, Figures. It's a Japanese anime—the old traditions of Japan seep through every line.
It was sad to think about. Without that courtesan, the orphans might have lived even more wretched lives in this society.
It wasn't hard to understand, either. Just look at how the future Hokage's son, Uzumaki Naruto, lived. He bore the surname of the Uzumaki Clan, a family that had produced a Daimyo, and he was the son of the Fourth Hokage, yet he still lived hand to mouth!
So the Uchiha Clan managing to give its orphans a bowl of rice was already no small feat.
That was just how things were in the village. You got used to it.
Oh, right. The Land of Whirlpools, home of the Uzumaki Clan, had already been destroyed.
All the Uchiha orphans except Kei were deeply grateful.
Unfortunately, none of that could soothe Kei's restless spirit. Once you'd seen better, you couldn't stand to endure filth.
They said that carrying a sharp blade awakened the desire to kill.
He was already a transmigrator, with the inexplicable sense of superiority that came with it. In an environment like this, how could he possibly stay content?
At the time, Kei didn't know much about his cheat. He only knew it could summon people, but having a bunch of people suddenly appear would inevitably cause trouble, since he'd have no way to explain it.
Even so, Kei took a step that he himself considered reckless.
According to his original plan, the cheat had only given him potential. Until he could turn that potential into strength, it was best to keep a low profile and stay cautious.
So after being driven to a corner of the orphanage to fend for himself, Kei activated his cheat but didn't immediately make a move. Instead, he kept his head down for several months.
At the time, he figured that since he had no way to explain where all the people he summoned came from, he'd better play it safe.
At the very least, he needed to improve his strength while saving up enough summoning scrolls. There was no rush to act until he was strong enough to protect himself.
But getting stronger wasn't so easy. Even a genius like Uchiha Sasuke had to join Orochimaru and receive guidance from a skilled teacher before he could grow strong enough.
Kei had only mediocre talent and no one to teach him. Without using his cheat, Chunin would probably be his limit.
People were emotional creatures, after all.
At the time, Uchiha Kei stared at the bowl of hard-to-swallow gruel in front of him, and, for some reason, remembered a little incident from his previous life.
One night, he'd gotten the craving for an egg pancake, so he'd driven around the city looking for somewhere still selling them. Of course, he couldn't find any.
Kei was a grown man, but when he couldn't get the egg pancake he'd been craving all night, he actually cried from frustration.
I work so hard and try to be a good person. All I want is an egg pancake. Why can't I buy one at two in the morning? This world is awful.
It's all the world's fault!
I'm tired. Destroy it already!
Afterward, Kei had felt embarrassed, but he still didn't think he'd been wrong. The pressure of life had just been too much, and he'd broken down over a tiny thing.
Looking back now, it was just because he'd had too much to eat and nothing to do.
Sure enough, all the world's troubles came from having a full stomach. Before you'd eaten your fill, you had just one worry: how to get enough to eat.
He looked at the bowl of gruel, which was less filling than the kitchen scraps he'd thrown away in his previous life. He saw the children around him drooling over their bowls, and thought of the dozens of summon draws waiting in his system.
Uchiha Kei finally couldn't hold back anymore.
He'd transmigrated to eat and drink well, to stand at the pinnacle of the ninja world.
He hadn't come here to stare at a bowl of gruel and wonder whether the children around him were affectionate toward him out of genuine feeling, or because they needed his protection and a share of his gruel.
The Hokage world shouldn't be like this. Konoha shouldn't be like this.
To hell with suppression and suspicion! He was going to eat meat and live well. Anyone who stopped him from living well would get a death anniversary instead.
"Burn! Let the world feel my pain! This round, I draw!"
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