After yesterday's hard work in the Naka River, Hyuga Satoru had accumulated some metal ore.
Ideals were plump, but reality was skinny.
He had originally held out a sliver of hope that he might pan some gold dust.
But when he struggled out of the river and onto the bank, he found his rolled-up legs, from thighs to toes, densely covered in all sorts of strange things.
There were rusted kunai and shuriken, tangled clumps of steel wire, misshapen pots, bowls, and ladles...
What he had not expected was that there was even women's underwear???
Because of its metal underwire, it clung stubbornly to his butt like a slug.
Which Uchiha Clan member's masterpiece was this?
The spot where he panned for gold was downstream on the Naka River. The middle and upper reaches ran through the Uchiha Clan Territory, so these strange objects undoubtedly all came from the Uchiha Clan.
Still, aside from all that junk, Hyuga Satoru had also obtained some fairly pure metal ore.
Some of the materials seemed quite good.
Once he had gathered enough, he planned to ask about the buyback price at a ninja tool shop in the village.
As far as he knew, ninja tool shops consumed a considerable amount of metal every day. If one was willing to buy his ore, then even at a low price, it would at least give him a source of income.
The training plans he had in mind next...
Were going to burn through money!
After wandering around Konoha, Hyuga Satoru settled on a ninja tool shop.
Unlike the other shops, this one had a metal smelting furnace beside it, which meant there was a good chance it bought reclaimed metal ore.
The owner was a middle-aged man with one shoulder exposed, and he had a fairly muscular build.
Hyuga Satoru took a breath and forced himself to approach.
"Hello, I have some metal ore. Do you buy this sort of thing here?"
Hyuga Satoru handed the bag of metal ore to the man.
The man frowned slightly. His first instinct was to send Hyuga Satoru away, but when he saw the ore in the bag, he paused in surprise and took it for a closer look.
The smallest pieces of ore in the bag were only the size of fingernails, while the largest were fist-sized, reflecting a faint sheen.
Hyuga Satoru waited nervously for the man's response.
He did not know how much the ore was worth, but it could be easily drawn in by his Electromagnetic Force, and its purity seemed high. The ninja tool shop might be willing to buy it.
Sure enough, after carefully inspecting it, the man nodded.
"This ore is fairly pure and relatively easy to refine. If you have a lot of it, I can buy some."
Hyuga Satoru breathed a sigh of relief.
"Where did you get this ore?"
The man eyed him suspiciously.
"I picked it up by the river. I usually collect stones along the riverbank, and over time, I built up a bit of a stash."
Hyuga Satoru answered calmly.
He had prepared his excuse long ago.
"I see!"
The man nodded.
Though he was not a ninja, he recognized Hyuga Satoru's Byakugan.
A member of the Hyuga Clan?
He looked young, but he was still from a prestigious clan. Perhaps his parents were powerful ninja too.
There was not much ore, but its purity was good. Buying it as a favor would not be a problem.
Of course, he would never have imagined that Hyuga Satoru was an orphan whose parents had both died.
"I'll give you 300 ryo for this ore! If you find more later, you can bring it here for me to buy."
"Then thank you, mister!"
Hyuga Satoru replied with a smile.
Three hundred ryo was not a small amount. After all, his monthly living expenses were only 1,500 ryo.
Round it off, and he was earning over ten thousand a month!
Could you believe it?
He was not even seven yet.
It was still the same river.
Hyuga Satoru had rolled his pant legs all the way up and was diligently fishing out ore.
There were two piles of things on the bank. One pile was ore, and the other was also ore.
The difference was that the smaller pile contained ore Hyuga Satoru had carefully selected for its resale value.
The larger pile was full of strange junk: rusted pots, bowls, and ladles, iron wire, and the like. Even if there was ore mixed in, it was scrap the ninja tool shop would not buy.
On the nearby campfire, the metal skewer holding a grilled fish turned by itself, releasing an enticing aroma.
"Time to eat!"
After collecting everything in this stretch of river.
Hyuga Satoru stretched lazily, then walked over to the grilled fish and happily began eating.
Be his own worker and reject the 996 grind!
"It's time to develop a new ability!"
After eating and drinking his fill, Hyuga Satoru murmured thoughtfully.
He took a coin from his pocket and tossed it high into the air.
As the coin fell, the world around him seemed to slow down.
Electric sparks flickered at Hyuga Satoru's fingertips as he lightly curled his finger and flicked.
Whoosh!
Wrapped in crackling arcs of electricity, the coin shot out and struck a fish in the river in an instant.
Water splashed as the fish floated belly-up to the surface.
Railgun, the famed signature move of the Railgun!
Now that he had awakened Electromagnetic Force, not recreating the Railgun's signature technique would be an insult to all the anime he had watched in his previous life.
But at the moment, an LV1 Railgun...
Could only be used to catch fish.
Hyuga Satoru sighed.
He did not know whether his Electromagnetic Force level was the same as the Railgun's level in Academy City.
But developing a Railgun at LV1 was not impossible. Its power was just painfully disappointing.
These past few days, Hyuga Satoru had been thinking about how to develop an Electromagnetic Cannon.
His Byakugan currently had a range of an entire kilometer. Within that kilometer, virtually no living creature could escape his sight.
If he paired that with long-range strikes from an Electromagnetic Cannon...
Sir, the times had changed???
He could not do it barehanded. He would have to use tools.
His first idea was a gun-like weapon, using a high-precision iron barrel and ammunition to create something like the Electromagnetic Sniper Rifle from his previous life.
But he quickly abandoned that idea.
First, an ordinary ninja tool shop simply could not make such a high-precision weapon. Even if one could, the price was beyond what he could afford right now.
Second, there was the matter of power. With the strength of LV1 Electromagnetic Force, achieving his desired level of destructive power was probably unrealistic.
Once his Electromagnetic Force level improved, that approach would likely be the optimal solution.
His second concept was a weapon similar to a bow or crossbow.
A long, narrow metal rail in the middle would provide Electromagnetic Propulsion. The specially made metal bolts would be flat and elongated, allowing them to receive the maximum acceleration from the magnetic field.
On top of that, the bow's elastic potential energy could be combined with electromagnetic energy to achieve maximum killing power!
Hyuga Satoru's eyes lit up.
For his current Electromagnetic Force level, the second method was undoubtedly the optimal solution.
The first could be used in the future once his Electromagnetic Force level rose.
The second could be used right now!
Now that he had a long-range attack method, he also needed to develop one for close quarters. As the Hyuga Clan's most famous form of attack, the Gentle Fist...
Hyuga Satoru declared that not even a dog would learn it!
He walked up to a large tree thick enough to wrap his arms around, lowered his center of gravity, and assumed a Gentle Fist stance.
Hyuga Satoru took a deep breath. His gaze sharpened, and a pale blue film of light gradually brightened over his right palm.
Once it had accumulated to a certain degree.
Smack!
Hyuga Satoru suddenly struck out!
A dull boom rang out. The pale blue film erupted from his palm into the trunk of the arm-thick tree, sending bark flying.
On the tree behind it, branches shook amid the rapidly spreading blue film of light, and leaves scattered across the ground.
If the Hyuga Clan Head had been here, his eyelids would have twitched as he cried out, "Is this fucking Gentle Fist?"
Hyuga Satoru looked at his palm. Its reddened surface trembled slightly.
"Just as I expected, compressing magnetic flux to a certain degree before releasing it creates this kind of high-intensity electromagnetic pulse."
An electromagnetic pulse weapon!
In other words, an EMP. It appeared in plenty of science-fiction films, and its principle was not particularly complicated.
A rapidly expanding, powerful alternating magnetic field struck the nitrogen and oxygen atoms in the air, splitting and ionizing them. Then, through electromagnetic induction, it instantly generated high-voltage current in circuits and blew them out.
The palm strike Hyuga Satoru had just unleashed carried an intense high-voltage current and possessed immense repulsive force.
That was why the leaves on the tree behind it had fallen all over the ground.
"I'll call this move Magnetic Storm Palm! Its power is decent enough. If I have enough chakra, I can make every strike of Gentle Fist: Sixty-Four Palms into a Magnetic Storm Palm! It's just..."
Hyuga Satoru frowned slightly as he looked at his trembling palm.
"Every force has an equal and opposite reaction. This move demands a great deal of physical strength. With my current physique, I probably cannot even throw eighteen palms, let alone sixty-four."
"Looks like I need to improve my physical conditioning. Aside from catching fish and panning ore, I can also put that Convict Conditioning routine from my previous life to use."
In his previous life, he had been a corporate drone with no time to exercise, so he had bought the complete set of Convict Conditioning books. He had built up quite a lot of theoretical knowledge.
Having decided on a direction, Hyuga Satoru stretched lazily, feeling incomparably refreshed.
"Then it's settled! Pan ore to save money and develop the Electromagnetic Cannon, use Convict Conditioning to train Magnetic Storm Palm!"
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