Planning

The next day, Hyuuga Nen opened his eyes and sprang from his bed, spotting Taro still fast asleep. He walked over to the cabinet and opened it; seeing the letter and scroll were safe and sound, he let out a quiet sigh of relief.

He went to the living room and checked the time, only to find it was later than when he usually woke up, and his mother had already gone out.

Hyuuga Nen gave his face a quick splash of water, then immediately returned to his room, opened the cabinet, took out the scroll, and walked toward Taro.

As soon as he reached him, Taro woke up and looked up at Hyuuga Nen.

Hyuuga Nen crouched down and stroked Taro's head. "Taro, let's go to the basement and open the scroll." Upon hearing this, Taro was the first to get up and run toward the basement.

Once in the basement, Hyuuga Nen unrolled the scroll and placed it in front of Taro. Taro stepped forward, raised a paw, and pressed it gently onto the center of the scroll. With a "poof," a large pile of items appeared before Hyuuga Nen.

"A scroll, several books, and two boxes!"

Hyuuga Nen looked at these items in excitement and sat directly on the cool basement floor. He opened one of the boxes first and found it filled with money. "It seems this is the living expenses for my mother and me."

Hyuuga Nen then opened the other box. Before his eyes were several wrapped kunai, some shuriken, a few brushes, bottles of ink, blank scrolls, and sheets of white paper.

Hyuuga Nen picked up a sheet of white paper and examined it closely. "This shouldn't be ordinary paper. Could it be chakra paper?"

Setting the paper aside, Hyuuga Nen looked at the blank scrolls and writing supplies but left them be. "There aren't many of these; they must be for me to practice with. I can't get my hands on these things yet, so I have to use them sparingly."

He closed the two boxes and set them aside. Hyuuga Nen turned his gaze to the books and picked up the thin one on top.

The words "Chakra Refining" appeared before him. This is it! Hyuuga Nen thought to himself, but he didn't read the book in detail, instead quickly flipping through all of them.

Setting down the last book, Hyuuga Nen frowned slightly. "These books feel very standardized in their wording, the tone is quite official, and the text is printed. Could these be textbooks?"

Hyuuga Nen thought for a moment and confirmed his suspicion. "It seems my cheapskate father simply moved the Ninja Academy textbooks here and processed them so no one could tell their origin. But that's even better; it's conducive to me learning ninja knowledge."

As for the contents of the final scroll, Hyuuga Nen had already anticipated it. Upon opening it, he saw it indeed recorded various ninjutsu, ranging from the most basic Three Body Technique to techniques of various natures.

"This scroll even records medical ninjutsu, genjutsu, and sealing techniques." Hyuuga Nen scrutinized the scroll. "It actually doesn't record any taijutsu?"

Hyuuga Nen pondered for a moment and realized why. Whether it was the Hyuuga clan's Gentle Fist or Konoha's Strong Fist, their characteristics were too distinct; once used, they would be easily identified.

Hyuuga Nen looked at the section on sealing techniques. "Four-Symbol Seal, Eight-Trigrams Seal, and various other seals I've heard of and some I haven't."

He frowned as he looked at them. "It records Konoha's sealing techniques—this doesn't fit my father's style at all!"

Thinking of this, Hyuuga Nen pulled a book from the pile. It had no title and was the only one among all the books that was handwritten.

Opening it, he skipped the sections on cultivation insights and ninjutsu usage, going straight to the part about sealing techniques.

"The back of this book details my father's personal experience with using sealing techniques, the difficulties encountered during cultivation, the causes, and the solutions." There was also a warning for him: never use sealing techniques in front of anyone.

Seeing this, Hyuuga Nen recalled the night he arrived in this world and the black lines dancing before his eyes.

"It seems my father is highly skilled in sealing techniques and has expectations for me. He risked discovery to bring out Konoha's sealing techniques, and telling me not to use them in front of others is his insurance policy."

At this thought, Hyuuga Nen felt the pressure mount, and his excitement ebbed away.

Looking at the books before him, Hyuuga Nen rubbed his chin and fell into thought.

After a while, he pulled two books from the pile: one on chakra refining and one on basic taijutsu training methods. The moves in the latter were just simple punches and kicks, so there was no need to worry about exposure.

"The knowledge in these two books is what I need most right now; everything else can wait," Hyuuga Nen thought to himself.

He then set the box of money aside, had Taro put the rest of the items back into the scroll, wrapped the scroll in cloth, placed it in an iron box, wrapped that box in waterproof material, put it in another container, and buried it in the unpaved dirt of the basement floor.

Looking at the packed-down earth, Hyuuga Nen felt slightly more at ease.

Now, he wondered whether he should start refining chakra immediately. "Although this is the Land of Iron and there are no ninjas, there are samurai. If it's discovered that I possess chakra, I don't know what the consequences will be. Sigh, I still know too little about this world!"

"My previous life of caution caused me to lose many opportunities to understand this world. I need to make a change, even if it means taking certain risks," Hyuuga Nen secretly resolved.

"I should ask Mother first; she might know something, after all, she is from this world," he added to himself.

That evening, Hyuuga Nen was eating with Rika. He set down his bowl and chopsticks and looked at her. "Mom, do you know about chakra refining?"

"Chakra refining? I do. It's something only ninjas and samurai can master. Nen, why the sudden question?"

"Father sent someone to find me, just last night," Hyuuga Nen said to Rika after a moment's thought.

Rika froze upon hearing this, her expression complex. "It seems you already know quite a bit. Are you going to be like him and become a ninja?"

Hyuuga Nen looked at Rika, nodded, and then voiced his concerns.

After listening, Rika smiled and said, "Don't worry about that. Chakra refining isn't something rare; it's not hard to obtain. I once thought about becoming a ninja and practiced it too, but unfortunately, I didn't succeed."

"Really?" Hyuuga Nen looked at Rika in surprise; he hadn't known she had such an experience.

Rika nodded. "Whether one can become a ninja is decided the moment they are born. Besides, many children in the Land of Iron want to become samurai. If you want to become a samurai, I can help you put the word out; that's not a difficult task."

Hyuuga Nen thought for a moment and said, "Let's not do that just yet." His thought was that if chakra refining was so common, he could master chakra first and then try to become a samurai.

Becoming a samurai would not only allow him to train his taijutsu but also provide him with an identity to integrate into this world and understand it better.

With that, Hyuuga Nen had set his short-term plan: master chakra, thoroughly digest the textbooks his father gave him, and then become a samurai.

Just as he was thinking, he heard Rika's voice. "Nen, your father..."

Seeing her hopeful expression, Hyuuga Nen silently handed her the letter he had been carrying.

"Father asked me to give this letter to you. He also gave us some money, which I've put in the basement."

Rika nodded without a word, happily took the letter, and couldn't wait to tear open the envelope and read it.

Watching her joy, Hyuuga Nen didn't feel happy for her; in that moment, he actually felt she was a bit pitiful.