Though Granny Cat was a little exasperated that Xuan Yu had come by to freeload another meal, she ultimately didn't turn him away. Instead, she smiled and served him a bowl of rice.
When Granny Cat asked, Xuan Yu answered vaguely, "Granny, I did earn a little money, but I spent it all on training. Otherwise, how could an Uchiha commoner with no talent for being a ninja like me take on bounty missions?"
After saying that, he silently added something to himself.
If I can get a free meal, why spend money? Freeloading is the best!
After hearing him out, Granny Cat thought it over briefly and nodded.
What Xuan Yu said did make some sense.
For an ordinary person with no talent for being a ninja to become one took an enormous amount of resources and effort, and the results were often meager.
She didn't know exactly what Xuan Yu had spent his money on, but his strength really had been steadily improving.
With how hard Xuan Yu worked, if he had even a little talent for being a ninja, he'd probably already be a formidable one.
Thinking of this, Granny Cat sighed and said earnestly, "Talent isn't something you can force. It's good that you're committed to training, but you don't need to be so hard on yourself. Just do what you can."
Xuan Yu was bent over his food, eating like a whirlwind. He answered indistinctly, "Granny, I understand. If I had even a little talent for being a ninja, I wouldn't have none at all, right? I'll definitely train within my limits. Don't worry."
From his dismissive attitude, Granny Cat could tell her words had gone in one of Xuan Yu's ears and out the other.
But that was all right. It was a good thing for young people to be willing to work hard.
Besides, there really were some people in the Ninja World with no talent at all who'd become powerful ninjas through unparalleled effort.
Perhaps little Xuan Yu here could become someone like that too, though the odds were slim.
Xuan Yu had no idea what Granny Cat was thinking.
If he had known, he would have confidently told her:
As long as the commissions were big enough, he could raise all four of his basic stats to a million and get himself a few ultimate ninjutsu at Lv. 100. Then forget about beating up a few Super Kage-level fighters with ease—
Even if he ran into Kaguya Otsutsuki, he'd be confident he could go seven-three with her.
Kaguya would get three, and he'd get seven!
After shoveling down a few more bites, Xuan Yu suddenly remembered something important.
So far, he only knew one move: Leaf Whirlwind.
Strictly speaking, Leaf Whirlwind was still Taijutsu, which meant he didn't know a single decent ninjutsu.
That wouldn't do.
It was true that his Pay-to-Win System had no limits, and he could always take the extreme route of One-Punch Man.
But setting aside how difficult it would be to truly reach One-Punch Man's level, even boosting his Strength stat to 100,000 would cost a fortune of ten billion ryo.
There was no way he could earn that much in the short term.
For example, when Kakuzu killed Asuma Sarutobi and collected the bounty at the Bounty Exchange, he got 36 million ryo.
For Kakuzu to save up ten billion ryo, he'd have to kill 278 Asumas!
Even if he killed one a day, it would take him over half a year.
And even if he killed one Asuma per episode, he'd have to keep it up for 278 episodes to save enough!
Clearly, the One-Punch Man route wasn't an option in the short term. The commissions he'd need were simply astronomical.
Until he had an inexhaustible supply of commissions, Xuan Yu would have to buckle down and learn a variety of ninjutsu, combining them to improve his combat power. That was much more realistic.
The problem was that getting ninjutsu in the ninja world wasn't easy.
The Ninja Academy usually only taught the Three Body Technique and some basic Taijutsu.
Unless you came from a prestigious clan, ordinary people could only hope to learn a powerful jutsu or two from their jonin squad leader after graduation.
Although Xuan Yu's surname was Uchiha, he was just a commoner from a branch family with no talent for being a ninja.
He had no chance to learn the Uchiha Clan's secret techniques, nor any chance to join a three-person squad and train under a jonin instructor.
What was more, he was currently a defector from the Leaf Village, so he urgently needed to grow stronger as soon as possible.
For Xuan Yu, getting stronger came down to two things.
First, he needed to find a way to obtain ninjutsu. Second, he needed to earn more money.
Then he could rely on commissions to keep paying for upgrades and improving his strength.
After taking a few more bites, Xuan Yu turned to Granny Cat and asked, "Granny, do you know how I can get my hands on some ninjutsu?"
At Xuan Yu's question, Granny Cat immediately perked up.
She put down her chopsticks and looked at him seriously. "Xuan Yu, you don't have the talent for being a ninja, so training in ninjutsu will take twice the effort for half the results. And ninjutsu is hard to come by. Ninjas from the major villages generally won't pass their techniques on to outsiders."
"But!" Granny Cat changed tack, her eyes suddenly lighting up. "You could buy weapons and equipment and follow the path of the samurai from the Land of Iron! The ninja tools, weapons, and medicines in my shop are all top quality!"
Xuan Yu: (O_O)???
Granny Cat's suggestion left Xuan Yu at a loss for words.
Take the samurai route?
Samurai were honestly pretty useless!
The Ninja World might seem peaceful on the surface now, but how many of those ninjas in the future would fight fair?
They'd all be using cheat powers or giant armored avatars in battle!
If he foolishly went down the samurai path and tried to slash someone's Susanoo with a katana, wouldn't he end up earning himself the title of Second Hokage "Pot Kage"?
Xuan Yu hurriedly waved his hands, laughing helplessly. "Granny, times have changed! The samurai route won't work. Please think of something else and see if there's a way I can get my hands on ninjutsu."
Hearing this, Granny Cat's eager expression dimmed. She lost interest, lowered her head, and went back to eating.
For one thing, there were very few ways to obtain ninjutsu.
For another, in her opinion, even if Xuan Yu managed to get a technique, he might not be able to learn it.
Xuan Yu's talent for ninjutsu was too poor. Even if he got lucky and acquired a training scroll for some technique, he probably wouldn't get very far with it.
And even if, against all odds, Xuan Yu really did learn a ninjutsu, his Chakra reserves probably wouldn't be enough to let him use it very often.
So in Granny Cat's mind, following the way of the samurai from the Land of Iron was the best choice for Xuan Yu.
Seeing how nonchalant Granny Cat was, Xuan Yu immediately guessed what she was thinking.
Clearly, Granny Cat wasn't taking his request seriously at all.
It was basically hopeless to get ninjutsu through Granny Cat's connections.
That gave Xuan Yu a headache.
Getting ninjutsu was just too hard!
In fact, he'd spent a lot of time trying to find a way.
He'd searched through various Black Market shops and even put up a bounty at the Bounty Exchange to purchase ninjutsu, but he'd gotten nowhere.
Even now, he hadn't found any effective way to obtain ninjutsu.
Meanwhile, far away in the Land of Rain, at the top of Amegakure's towering central tower, Kakuzu appeared.
Amegakure was perpetually shrouded in drizzle and had very little contact with the outside world. The village was almost completely isolated.
The strongest mercenary organization in the Ninja World—the Akatsuki—was hidden in this land of never-ending rain.
At that moment, Kakuzu stood on the top platform of Amegakure's tower, waiting in the icy downpour.
"Rustle, rustle—"
Before long, countless slips of paper came whirling in from the distance.
They spun rapidly in front of Kakuzu, then joined together. In moments, they had transformed into a beautiful kunoichi with blue hair.
A pristine white paper rose was pinned to the woman's hair. Her features were delicate, and her bearing was cold and noble.
The villagers of Amegakure called her "Angel-sama." She was the village's de facto second-in-command.
More widely known, she was the Akatsuki's second-in-command, Konan.
Since she'd heard that Kakuzu had a history of getting his partners killed, seeing him return alone yet again made Konan furrow her brows and turn cold.
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