Save Where You Can, Spend Where You Must-Don't Bring a Single Coin Home!

[Ding! Recharge successful! Current balance: 50,073,600 ryo!]

After transferring all 50 million ryo he'd squeezed out of Orochimaru into the Pay-to-Win System, Xuan Yu couldn't help wondering, How can I make 40 million ryo quickly?

He'd gotten the Mystical Palm Technique from Orochimaru for free earlier, and had originally planned to upgrade the jutsu so drastically that it would undergo a qualitative change.

In other words, he'd spend money to raise it to LV10 and see what special effect it unlocked.

But after taking just a few steps, he started having second thoughts.

Every time any one of his four attributes broke through ten thousand points, he automatically received a Growth Gift Pack.

That meant if he spent another 40 million ryo to raise his speed attribute past ten thousand, he'd get a Growth Gift Pack.

Should he save up to upgrade the Mystical Palm Technique, or open a Growth Gift Pack first and see what was inside?

If the special effect he got from raising a jutsu to LV10 were merely average, Xuan Yu would've made up his mind long ago.

But he'd gained astonishing boosts in ability when he'd raised Leaf Whirlwind, the Three Body Technique, and the Body Flicker Technique to LV10. That convinced him the Mystical Palm Technique wouldn't disappoint him either.

At the same time, though, the Growth Gift Pack that came with pushing any one of his base attributes past ten thousand was incredibly tempting.

One option meant saving up and taking his time; the other meant spending the money and seeing results immediately. Weighing them against each other, Xuan Yu found himself hesitating.

He scratched his head, then decided to check on the progress of Kakuzu's mission first and see if he could "leave the choices to children and get everything like an adult."

Meanwhile, in the laboratory of a dark cave, Orochimaru and Kabuto Yakushi were conducting a comprehensive analysis of the chakra sample Xuan Yu had provided.

As Lord Orochimaru's trusted assistant, Kabuto had taken part in nearly all of his research, so he had a discerning eye.

Watching the numbers flicker across the testing equipment, he couldn't hide his astonishment. "Lord Xuan Yu's chakra... is quite unusual."

Orochimaru smiled faintly, excitement gleaming in his golden, slit-pupiled eyes. "That boy's chakra really is rare. First of all, he possesses chakra of every nature. Even more astonishingly, his chakra has an incredible degree of malleability and vitality."

"Though I still don't know why that boy's chakra is so special, there's no doubt that it's extremely valuable to study."

Orochimaru licked his lips, his voice brimming with barely contained excitement.

Most people would've been heartbroken to pay 50 million ryo for such a small chakra sample.

But Orochimaru felt it was worth every penny.

Xuan Yu's chakra sample was enough to advance several of his ongoing research projects!

For the next while, he planned to devote himself to studying the secrets of Xuan Yu's chakra.

"Lord Orochimaru thinks so highly of Xuan Yu's chakra..."

Kabuto Yakushi felt both astonished and envious.

He knew that Lord Orochimaru had probably already considered Xuan Yu one of the candidates for his next "vessel."

In Kabuto's eyes, becoming Lord Orochimaru's reincarnation vessel would be the greatest honor Xuan Yu could hope for.

Of course, Xuan Yu knew nothing about any of this.

By now, he'd returned to the Black Market in Grass Country and was comfortably mooching food at a restaurant.

The food, naturally, was what Kakuzu had ordered.

Kakuzu fixed a cold glare on Xuan Yu, who was hunched over his meal across from him. His anger was boiling, and his patience was nearly gone.

As he watched Xuan Yu's chopsticks repeatedly reach for the dishes he'd ordered, Kakuzu finally snapped. His voice was as cold as iron in winter. "Why don't you order your own food?"

Without even looking up, Xuan Yu kept shoveling food into his mouth and replied without a hint of shame, "Do you really have to ask? I'm broke."

Xuan Yu's matter-of-fact attitude left Kakuzu speechless. After a long pause, he finally asked in a low voice, "What happened to your money? Didn't you make over 24 million ryo not long ago?"

Xuan Yu answered carelessly, "Kakuzi, I told you already: when it comes to money, save where you can, spend where you must—don't bring a single coin home!"

He waved his chopsticks with conviction. "Whenever I earn money, I put it all into getting stronger right away. Otherwise, how do you think my combat power has been growing so quickly?"

"So you're going to eat my food, use my things, and live in my place?!"

Kakuzu finally slammed his hands on the table and stood up, anger flashing in his gray-green eyes.

Xuan Yu still looked completely unconcerned. He waved a hand and said, "Come on, Kakuzi, broaden your horizons. These expenses are pocket change. We're mercenaries; we need to think big. Don't sweat the little stuff."

Kakuzu was utterly at a loss for words.

It sounded reasonable.

It was true that these expenses for food and lodging were nothing to them.

The problem was that Xuan Yu mooched off him every single day. It was infuriating!

Kakuzu forced down his anger and said in a low voice, "How about this? From now on, I'll take 51% of the mission pay, and you'll take 49%. That extra 1% will be your contribution toward living expenses."

"What?!" Xuan Yu nearly choked on his food. He jumped to his feet. "Kakuzi, that's going too far! You're just robbing me in broad daylight! No matter what, I'm not taking less than 50% of the pay for any mission. Otherwise, how are we supposed to enjoy grinding missions together?"

Kakuzu narrowed his eyes. "Are you threatening me?"

The two stared each other down, and the atmosphere suddenly grew tense.

Yet Xuan Yu seemed not to notice Kakuzu's anger. He even sat down slowly and reached over to take another piece of roasted meat from Kakuzu's plate. "I'm not threatening you. I'm reasoning with you. You think I'm strong, don't you? When we work together, we're more efficient, right? We can also take plenty of high-paying jobs you couldn't handle alone, can't we?"

He put down his chopsticks and continued, counting off on his fingers. "For example, I have an extensive intelligence network, and you don't. And if there are several targets, I know the Multi-Shadow Clone Technique, so I can send clones to handle some of them. You can't do that. Also, if we run into a bounty target who's good at escaping, I'm faster than you. They might get away, but I'll still catch them. They'd be lucky to escape me, but you might not be able to keep up, right?"

Xuan Yu summed up his argument in a steady stream. "The point is, since we teamed up, all that money you used to struggle to earn—or couldn't earn at all—you can make easily now, right? So what's wrong with me mooching some food and drink once in a while? Loosen up and think big."

After hearing Xuan Yu's long-winded argument, Kakuzu's face darkened. He let out a long sigh and couldn't be bothered to say anything more.

When it came down to it, Xuan Yu wasn't entirely wrong.

Ever since they'd teamed up, Kakuzu had indeed become much more efficient at completing missions. He could also take jobs he hadn't been able to handle before, so naturally his earnings had increased.

Still, Xuan Yu had given him more than his fair share of headaches.

Kakuzu had wondered why Xuan Yu always arrived long after the mission had started. Later, while Xuan Yu was off discussing a partnership with Orochimaru, Kakuzu took the chance to look into it.

It turned out the little punk had been taking a pile of low- and mid-level missions under Kakuzu's name while they were working together, then slipping away to complete them himself in his spare time.

When he learned about this outrageous scheme, Kakuzu was completely speechless.

There were so many things wrong with it that he didn't even know where to begin.

Aside from that, Xuan Yu gave Kakuzu headaches in plenty of other ways, too.

Kakuzu was disgruntled to discover that the only time the boy acted even remotely normal was when he was taking Xuan Yu along and grinding through missions day and night.

Whenever Xuan Yu had free time, he was sure to stir up a whole heap of trouble... ```