Quick, Let Me Copy Yours!

But if he wanted to train further and grow stronger, he would still need to invest a great deal of resources. The money subsidized by the clan alone would not be enough.

Unless...

Uchiha Meikyō touched his eyes.

The Uchiha Clan placed far more importance on clan members who could awaken the Sharingan than on ordinary members.

After all, awakening the Sharingan meant that one's talent was not lacking, and more importantly, that one's Uchiha bloodline was pure enough.

Forget it. First, let's see how much money there actually is.

Uchiha Meikyō looked at the miscellaneous items filling several boxes before him and began carefully taking stock.

The original owner's parents had both been Chunin. They generally took on C-rank and B-rank missions. C-rank missions paid between thirty thousand and one hundred thousand Silver Taels, while B-rank missions paid between eighty thousand and two hundred thousand Silver Taels.

And that was only the total payment for a single mission. The village took a portion first, then the remainder had to be divided among teammates. On top of that, the original owner's parents were ninja who needed to replenish their ninja tools and support their daily training. In the end, the remaining money totaled only a little over seven hundred thousand Silver Taels.

Other than that, the only valuable item left was a box that had originally been hidden beneath the bed.

Inside were several Ninjutsu Scrolls.

Most of them contained standard Uchiha Fire Style ninjutsu. There were quite a few C-rank Ninjutsu, including common techniques like the Great Fireball and Phoenix Sage Fire. As for B-rank techniques, there was only one: the Great Dragon Fire Technique.

Generally speaking, if an Uchiha possessed the Sharingan, even if it was only a Single Tomoe, learning those standard C-rank Ninjutsu would not be difficult.

B-rank Ninjutsu, however, often involved Chakra Nature Transformation and shape transformation, making them much more difficult. If one did not grasp the nature and shape transformations of that type of Chakra, then even if one copied the technique with the Sharingan, it would be hard to bring out its proper power.

Aside from those Fire Style techniques, most of the remaining scrolls contained Uchiha Style Shurikenjutsu, such as shuriken techniques used in conjunction with the Sharingan, like Windmill Shuriken and Great Sword Technique.

The final scroll was the first volume of Uchiha Style Swordsmanship.

"These ninjutsu should be enough to keep me training for a long time. And once my ninja rank rises or I earn War Merit, I can apply to the clan head to exchange for higher-level Ninjutsu Scrolls."

Uchiha Meikyō quickly calculated in his mind.

These ninjutsu should be more than enough for his early training, perhaps even enough to carry him all the way to the Chunin level his original owner's parents had reached.

As for money, it should be enough to support him for now. Besides, there was the clan's subsidy. If he revealed his Sharingan, then an Uchiha who awakened his eyes at only ten years old would certainly draw some outside attention while receiving the clan's full support.

The next day, at seven thirty in the morning.

Still a student, Uchiha Meikyō yawned as he headed toward the Ninja Academy with his schoolbag on his back, occasionally greeting clan members he encountered according to the habits preserved in his memories.

He had stayed up for half the night doing homework.

The previous two days had been the weekend. He had transmigrated on Saturday night, then spent the next day sorting through the household belongings, so naturally he had not had time to do his homework.

"Morning, Meikyō!"

When he arrived at the classroom, a girl with face paint and a German Shepherd puppy in her arms waved at Uchiha Meikyō with a smile.

"Morning."

Meikyō replied weakly.

He remembered her as Inuzuka Tsume. Her grades were decent, and her family had considerable influence within the Inuzuka Clan.

"Meikyō! Save me! I forgot to do my homework again. Quick, let me copy yours..."

"All right, Kibata, Meikyō..."

Inuzuka Tsume hurriedly pulled aside the boy who wanted to copy Uchiha Meikyō's homework. She cast a worried glance at Uchiha Meikyō, who did not seem to be in very good shape, then quietly whispered a few words to Kibata.

"Ah! What? Meikyō, he..."

After hearing her out, Kibata could not help but cry out.

"Shut up!"

Inuzuka Tsume covered Kibata's mouth and turned to look toward Meikyō's seat.

But Uchiha Meikyō had already set his homework aside and laid his head on the desk to catch up on sleep.

When their homeroom teacher, Kuroda Ofune, entered and saw Uchiha Meikyō asleep at his desk, he could not help but sigh softly. He also stopped the nearby students who wanted to wake Uchiha Meikyō.

"Too much has happened to Meikyō over the past two days. Let him rest for now."

After saying that, Kuroda Ofune picked up his textbook, walked to the podium, and began the lesson.

This class was meant to review several important points. In Kuroda Ofune's view, Uchiha Meikyō had already mastered the material well enough, so it did not matter if he missed it. Given the changes in his family, it was better to let the child rest properly for a while.

That situation did not change until noon.

Because Uchiha Meikyō woke up hungry.

I actually slept through the entire morning?

Only then did Uchiha Meikyō realize it.

Still, he felt that the school desks really did make it easy to fall asleep when you rested on them, and the sleep had been surprisingly good.

By then, it was already noon. All the students had taken out the lunchboxes they had brought from home and begun eating lunch.

Damn!

Uchiha Meikyō slapped his schoolbag.

He had been so groggy when he left that morning that he had forgotten to bring his lunchbox!

At the same time, Inuzuka Tsume, who had planned to feed Kuromaru some dog food before eating, noticed what had happened.

"Meikyō!"

Inuzuka Tsume suddenly called out to Uchiha Meikyō.

"Hm? What is it?"

"Well, my mother made a little too much Tempura this morning. To avoid wasting it, could you help me finish some?"

"This..."

Just as Uchiha Meikyō was about to answer, Kibata suddenly slapped his desk nearby.

"Meikyō! I'm already full! But there's still a box of sweets I haven't opened, and I can't eat it either, so I'll leave it to you! Don't waste food!"

Grinning, Kibata handed Uchiha Meikyō a box of pastries.

"Thanks, Tsume. And Kibata..."

Uchiha Meikyō understood what they were doing now and smiled as he nodded at Kibata.

"Hehe, I'm the man who'll become Hokage! When a companion runs into trouble, isn't it only natural to lend a hand?"

Kibata smugly stepped onto the desk and gave himself a thumbs-up.

"Kibata, I'd advise you to be more careful. Stop standing so high up."

Inuzuka Tsume helplessly held her forehead. Even Kuromaru beside her could not help shaking his head.

Meikyō silently watched the scene before him, then suddenly smiled.

It seemed that no matter the world, it was both cruel and beautiful.