Looking at the accumulated values of various stats on his system panel, Naruto felt that this layout plan was imperative.
A one-tenth discount exchange for the [Domesticated Hashirama Cells] required one million silver taels, ten thousand shock points, and ten thousand negative points.
While his current negative points and shock points were very close to reaching that, his silver taels were still lagging far behind.
With the Hashirama Cells, he was certain that even without the bloodline limit of the Uchiha Clan, he could still use the various abilities of the Sharingan without suffering damage.
After all, having read the original story, Danzo was a living example.
Of course, Naruto knew that the cells of the First Hokage which Danzo collaborated with Orochimaru to transplant were flawed and defective products; after the transplantation, half of his body and his arm remained in a sealed state for a long time, not to mention awakening Wood Release.
As for the [Domesticated Hashirama Cells] he dug out through the system at a one-tenth discount, the system not only directly removed the hidden dangers in the cells, but upon transplantation could also awaken traits like Wood Release, making it simply an unrivaled divine artifact for a beginner's development.
With a formidable body, as long as the various stats and silver taels were in place by then, a Susanoo-Clad Kurama might not be impossible to achieve.
To step back ten thousandths of a year, even if a Susanoo-Clad Kurama could not be realized, Sage Body + Eight Gates Formation would also do.
Naturally, to achieve such an effect in the future, he had to keep a low profile in the early stages, develop steadily, and strive to make preparations as thorough as possible before Sasuke defected from Konoha at age twelve.
One thought after another gradually rose in his mind, coupled with obtaining a massive amount of negative points and shock points in class today, causing him to completely overlook one small detail.
However, just as he was about to step out of the school playground, a flash of white light appeared before his eyes.
Staring intently, Naruto immediately put on an expression of innocent adoration, hurriedly stepping forward with a smile, and said, "Grandpa Hokage, how do you have time to come see me?"
Indeed, Hiruzen Sarutobi was still a wretched old man, and had not turned into a woman as he had guessed.
"Yo, little Naruto."
Facing the village's strategic weapon and Jinchuriki, Hiruzen Sarupobi also wore a warm smile. "Out of money for food, are you?"
As he spoke, Hiruzen Sarutobi produced a stack of silver tael banknotes, a full one thousand taels!
To fit his current persona, Naruto could only feign gratitude and pleasant surprise on the outside while cursing his mother to high heaven on the inside.
Holding the massive savings my old man left me, yet only giving me 1,000 silver taels a month?
Konoha sure knows how to play!
Why was Naruto cursing the Third in his heart?
You had to know that a single bowl of Ichiraku Ramen cost 90 taels.
In other words, if Naruto ate Ichiraku Ramen for every meal, and even then only ate two meals a day, it would only last him five or six days, leaving him to drink the northwest wind for the remaining twenty-some days.
This was also why the Naruto in the original story always ate instant noodles and made eating Ichiraku Ramen his wish.
Sure enough, upon seeing Naruto's expression of gratitude, Hiruzen Sarupobi was immensely gratified. After generously handing the money over to Naruto, he signaled him to go eat, while pacing in the direction of the classrooms.
"Thank you, Grandpa Hokage..."
Watching the Third go and turn around, Naruto's smile slowly faded.
"I thank your entire family. Subsidizing money that rightfully belongs to me, yet you still want me to feel grateful to you and grateful to Konoha... Are you out of your damn mind?"
Naruto turned and walked toward the school gates, yet what he did not know was this.
Right at the school gates at this moment, there were three boys half a head taller than him blocking his way, and one of them was his deskmate.
Meanwhile.
On a certain path leading directly to the Uchiha Clan Compound.
Sasuke kept having the words Naruto had spoken replay in her mind.
"The darkness of Konoha and the light of Konoha..."
She kept failing to understand why Naruto would say these words to her.
Swish...
At this moment.
An old man suddenly appeared before the twin-tailed girl. As he turned, the old man looking at the girl wore a kind smile.
"Little Sasuke."
Upon seeing the old man's true visage, the twin-tailed girl was clearly startled, speaking sub-consciously, "Lord Hokage?"
The old man walked up to the girl with a smile, reached out to stroke the girl's head and nodded, and then with a flip of his hand, a stack of banknotes totaling a full 10,000 silver taels appeared in his hand.
"Little Sasuke, this is your living expenses for this month, take it and go eat." With that, the old man wore a benign smile and continued, "From now on every month I'll give you living expenses."
The words falling into her ears felt to the girl like a thunderbolt.
Sasuke stared blankly at the Third Hokage's benign smile, yet felt a slight chill in her heart.
At the same time, she could not help recalling the words Naruto had said to her.
The darkness of Konoha and the bright side of Konoha.
"Take it, eat well, and graduate from the Ninja Academy as soon as possible to become a ninja who can stand on her own."
Seeing the girl's eyes turning red, the old man was extremely satisfied, assuming that what he did had moved Sasuke.
In truth, what he did not know was that through Naruto, Sasuke had already learned about the relationship between Root and the Hokage.
The Third stuffed the silver taels in his hand into Sasuke's grasp, then stroked Sasuke's head once more before performing the Body Flicker Technique and vanishing.
Sasuke's eye rims were red as she looked down at the large stack of silver tael banknotes in her hand, a trace of disgust slowly rising in her heart toward the village where she had grown up.
At this moment, Sasuke finally understood what Naruto meant by the light of Konoha and the darkness of Konoha.
"Darn it..."
Sasuke wore a look of fury, filled with revulsion as she looked at the stack of silver tael banknotes in her hand.
Then her right hand whipped out fiercely, and the banknotes immediately scattered and flew into the high sky.
"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"
Whoosh whoosh whoosh...
A large fireball spewed from Sasuke's mouth, directly igniting the silver tael banknotes drifting in the air.
The banknotes were ignited by the flames and fluttered down in all directions.
Having done this, Sasuke clenched her fists tightly and walked mechanically toward her home, the hatred in her heart toward her older sister growing even more intense.
"Is this the Konoha you spoke of, is this your so-called Will of Fire?"
In the original story, before Naruto became a ninja, he always lived a life of going hungry, being full one meal and starving the next, and suffering bullying.
Yet after the massacre night, Sasuke, an orphan also aged 7, was able to grow up healthily and never worried about food and drink.
Why?
It was none other than the factor that Itachi was still alive, and Konoha dared not treat Sasuke the way they treated Naruto.
What made one's hair stand on end upon deeper thought... after Minato Namikaze and Kushina died, Naruto lost a single relative and any further reliance whatsoever, and coupled with the fact that he was the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, Konoha's methods consequently became very realistic.
Meanwhile.
Naruto walked out the school gates with his hands clasped behind the back of his head.
Without even knowing what was going on, he was blocked right at the school gates by three chubby little boys.
"Naruto Uzumaki!"
"Monster... how dare you bully my younger brother in class?"
"Older brother, it's him! Not only did he tear my book, he even wanted to hit me!"
Due to long-term malnutrition, Naruto's stature remained short even among his peers, let alone compared to two chubby boys a few years older than him.
Hearing this, Naruto sneered, glanced over all three of them, and slowly extended his middle finger. "Trash."
"Darn it..."
"Hit him!"
Perhaps today happened to be the Third's day for playing the good guy, so ever since entering the school grounds, Naruto had not sensed the monitoring gaze of the ANBU.
If he were still being monitored by the ANBU at this moment, he certainly would not have taken action lightly.
However, as for right now...
Seeing the three little runts charging over viciously, Naruto also hurriedly flashed and dashed into a nearby grove of trees.
"Stop right there, monster! Don't run!"
"Hmph, he can't run away. After him!"
As the three were led by Naruto into the tree grove.
In less than three minutes or so.
Naruto walked out pacing with a smile on his face, clearly having had a good time.
As for the three little runts, they all collapsed in the grove, shedding tears and doubting the meaning of life.
By merely displaying a Genin's taijutsu prowess, Naruto had easily dispatched all three of them.
From this, he also gained a clear understanding of his own strength.
This also multiplied his confidence for the rematch with Sasuke after school in the evening.
There were only two classes in the afternoon.
After all, children in the ninja world did not need to study English and other such extraneous knowledge, leaving plenty of personal training time in the early stages.
Returning to the class in the afternoon, Naruto simply slept soundly straight through until the after-school bell rang.
After experiencing firsthand and understanding the darkness and light of Konoha, Sasuke instantly turned cold toward everyone.
"Sasuke, a new batch of flowers just arrived at my house. Want to go check them out together?"
As soon as the after-school bell rang, Ino walked up to Sasuke with a flirtatious air and said smugly.
"Buzz off... Not interested."
Sasuke's cold attitude directly choked the words Sakura Haruno was about to utter right back down her throat.
All the boys who wanted to ask Sasuke to hang out were given the cold shoulder right along with her.
Yet before leaving the classroom, Sasuke paused her steps, intentionally turned her head, and glanced at the sleep-fogged Naruto.
[I merely took one extra glance at you amidst the crowd... Cough, cough.]
Well, this was fantastic; Naruto instantly became a thorn in the eyes and a splinter in the flesh of the numerous boys, who wished they could immediately drag him out and execute him by firing squad for three days and three nights.
The boys believed that Naruto must have done something excessive to Sasuke in the morning to cause Sasuke to act this way.
"Naruto!"
"Naruto Uzumaki..."
Naruto had just woken up and had yet to figure out what was going on. Seeing everyone closing in on him, he simply vaulted directly out the window and slipped away.
Meanwhile.
The notifications in his ear rang out continuously.
Beheaded 500 negative emotion points!
After slipping out of school, Naruto headed straight home to retrieve the canvas bag containing kunai and shuriken.
Though he possessed system inventory slots to directly store these items, the surveillance of the ANBU and Root always kept him uneasy.
After all, he was only seven years old and shouldn't know any sealing jutsus; pulling out so many shuriken and kunai out of thin air without knowing sealing jutsus would definitely draw the attention of Root.
Once the Root members knew, it was the same as the morbidly paranoid Danzo knowing, and once Danzo knew, it was the same as the hypocritical pervert disguised as a gentleman, the Third, knowing.
Having watched Naruto twice, he knew his age was dangerous, and anyway, he was the village's inauspicious monster; no one would snatch his things anyway, so trading safety for convenience to plunge himself into crisis was an unwise course of action.
Slinging the canvas bag over his shoulder, Naruto walked briskly away from home, heading straight for the agreed-upon riverbank.
Meanwhile.
Sasuke had also fully prepared and left the Uchiha Clan Compound. Seeing the bulging ninja tool pouch slung around her waist, it was clear that Sasuke was taking today's battle extremely seriously.
About fifteen minutes later.
It was still the deserted riverbank from last night.
A blonde-haired boy wearing a white T-shirt met here with a girl wearing twin tails and black Uchiha-style attire.
PS:------
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