Your Ninjutsu is Useless, Come Buy Weapons at Grandma's Shop!

Granny Cat, though somewhat exasperated by Xuan Yu's frequent visits for free meals, didn't turn him away. Instead, she smiled and served him a bowl of rice.

In response to Granny Cat's question, Xuan Yu vaguely replied, "Granny, I did earn some money, but it was all spent on training. Otherwise, how could I, a commoner from the Uchiha clan with no ninja talent, be capable of taking on bounty missions?"

He then added silently in his heart.

Why spend money when I can freeload? Freeloading is bliss!

Granny Cat pondered his words for a moment and nodded.

Xuan Yu's explanation wasn't entirely unreasonable.

Ordinary people without ninja talent who wished to become ninjas had to expend immense resources and effort, often with little to show for it.

While she didn't know exactly where Xuan Yu spent his money, his strength had indeed been steadily improving.

Given his relentless effort, if he had even a shred of ninja talent, he would likely already be a formidable ninja.

With this thought, Granny Cat sighed and said earnestly, "Talent is something you can't force. It's good that you persist in training, but you don't need to be too harsh on yourself. Just do what you can."

Xuan Yu, who was devouring his meal like a whirlwind, mumbled indistinctly, "Granny, I understand. If I had any ninja talent, I wouldn't have none at all. I'll definitely train within my limits, don't worry."

Seeing his perfunctory attitude, Granny Cat knew her words had gone in one ear and out the other.

But it didn't matter; it was always a good thing for young people to be willing to work hard.

Moreover, there were indeed ninjas in the ninja world who, despite lacking talent, became incredibly powerful through unparalleled effort.

Perhaps this young Xuan Yu could become such a person, though the chances were slim.

Xuan Yu was unaware of Granny Cat's thoughts.

If he had known, he would have confidently told Granny Cat.

As long as the commission was sufficient, he could raise all four basic stats to a million, and develop several ultimate ninjutsu at level 100. Then, not only could he easily defeat a few Kage-level powerhouses.

Even if he encountered Kaguya Otsutsuki, he would be confident in a nine-seven split.

Kaguya gets three, he gets seven!

After shoveling down a few more mouthfuls of rice, Xuan Yu suddenly remembered something important.

So far, he only knew "Leaf Whirlwind."

And Leaf Whirlwind was strictly speaking a taijutsu. This meant he didn't even know a single decent ninjutsu.

This wouldn't do.

Admittedly, his Pay-to-Win System had no upper limit, and he could pursue the extreme "One-Punch Man" route.

However, setting aside how difficult it was to truly reach the height of One-Punch Man, even just investing 100,000 points into his Strength stat would require a colossal sum of 10 billion Ryo.

He definitely couldn't earn that much commission in the short term.

For example.

When Kakuzu killed Asuma Sarutobi and went to the Bounty Exchange to collect his reward, he received 36 million Ryo.

For Kakuzu to save up 10 billion Ryo, he would need to kill 278 Asumas!

Even if he killed one a day, it would take him over half a year.

To put it another way, even if he killed one per episode, it would take 278 episodes to save up!

This showed that the One-Punch Man route was simply not feasible in the short term, as the required commission was astronomical.

Before he possessed inexhaustible funds, Xuan Yu still had to diligently learn various ninjutsu and increase his combat power through ninjutsu combinations, which was a more realistic approach.

But the problem was, obtaining ninjutsu in the ninja world was no easy feat.

The Ninja Academy typically only taught the three basic jutsu and some fundamental taijutsu.

Unless one came from a prestigious clan, ordinary people could only hope to learn a powerful ninjutsu or two from their Jonin leader after graduation.

Although Xuan Yu bore the Uchiha surname, he was merely a commoner from a collateral branch with no ninja talent.

He had neither the opportunity to learn the secret ninjutsu of the Uchiha clan nor the chance to be assigned to a three-person squad and train under a Jonin sensei.

Moreover, he was currently a fugitive from Konoha, making it even more urgent for him to become stronger quickly.

For Xuan Yu, becoming stronger boiled down to two things.

The first was to find a way to acquire ninjutsu, and the second was to earn more money.

Then, he would rely on commissions to continuously pay and upgrade, increasing his strength.

After shoveling down a few more bites of food, Xuan Yu turned to Granny Cat and asked, "Granny, do you know how I can get ninjutsu?"

As Xuan Yu spoke, Granny Cat's spirits immediately lifted.

She put down her chopsticks and said to Xuan Yu with a serious expression, "Xuan Yu, you have no ninja talent, so practicing ninjutsu is twice the effort for half the result. Furthermore, ninjutsu is difficult to obtain; ninjas from the major villages generally do not pass on their ninjutsu to outsiders."

"But!" Granny Cat's tone shifted, and her eyes suddenly lit up as she said, "You can buy weapons and equipment and follow the path of a samurai from the Land of Iron! The ninja tools, various weapons, and medicines I have here are all of the highest quality!"

Xuan Yu: (O_O)???

Granny Cat's words completely bewildered Xuan Yu.

Follow the samurai path?

Those samurai things are truly useless!

Don't be fooled by the current surface calm of the ninja world; which ninja will observe any code of honor going forward?

They'll all be fighting with cheats or mechs!

If he were foolish enough to walk the samurai path, taking a katana to cleave someone's Susanoo, wouldn't he be directly promoted to the second "Pot Shadow"?

Xuan Yu quickly waved his hands, saying with a wry smile, "Granny, times have changed! The samurai path won't work. Could you help me think of another way to get ninjutsu?"

Hearing Xuan Yu's words, Granny Cat's originally enthusiastic expression instantly dimmed, and she listlessly lowered her head to continue eating.

On one hand, the avenues for acquiring ninjutsu were already extremely limited.

On the other hand, in her opinion, even if Xuan Yu obtained ninjutsu, he might not be able to learn it.

Xuan Yu's talent for ninjutsu was too poor; even if he luckily obtained a cultivation scroll for a certain ninjutsu, he most likely wouldn't be able to practice it effectively.

Even taking a step back, if Xuan Yu truly mastered ninjutsu, his own chakra reserves probably wouldn't be enough to sustain him for multiple uses.

Therefore, in Granny Cat's mind, walking the path of a samurai from the Land of Iron was Xuan Yu's best option.

Xuan Yu saw Granny Cat's nonchalant demeanor and immediately guessed her thoughts.

Clearly, Granny Cat hadn't taken his request seriously at all.

Acquiring ninjutsu through Granny Cat's channels was basically out of the question.

This gave Xuan Yu a headache.

Acquiring ninjutsu was truly too difficult!

In fact, he hadn't stopped trying to find ways during this period.

He had scoured various Black Market shops and even posted bounty missions to acquire ninjutsu at the Bounty Exchange, but all had yielded no progress.

Up to now, he still hadn't found any effective way to obtain ninjutsu.

Meanwhile, in the Land of Rain's Amegakure, at the summit of a towering structure, Kakuzu appeared.

Amegakure was perpetually shrouded in mist and rain, with minimal contact with the outside world, rendering the village almost completely isolated.

And the ninja world's most powerful mercenary organization—Akatsuki—was hidden in this land of perpetual drizzle.

At this moment, Kakuzu stood on the top-floor platform of Amegakure's towering structure, enduring the cold rain as he awaited something.

"Whoosh—"

Not long after, countless paper fragments flew in from afar.

These paper fragments rapidly spun and assembled in front of Kakuzu, transforming in moments into a female ninja with beautiful blue hair.

A pure white paper rose was pinned to her head; her features were exquisite, and her aura was cold, elegant, and noble.

The villagers of Amegakure called her "Angel," and she was the de facto second-in-command of the village.

In her more widely known identity, she was the second member of Akatsuki, Konan.

Having heard of Kakuzu's "track record" of killing his partners, Konan's delicate brows furrowed, and her expression turned cold upon seeing Kakuzu return alone once more.