"Wake up. You haven't paid yet."
That was all money he needed to improve his living conditions.
Hizashi Hyuga opened his eyes in confusion and stared blankly at Hyuga Akira.
Hyuga Akira took a step back.
"Don't try to shake me down."
Hizashi Hyuga rose to his feet, expressionless. His forehead hurt. Hyuga Akira's kick had struck him right on the head and knocked him unconscious. He demanded in a low voice, "What you just used was Strong Fist."
Gentle Fist and Strong Fist were two different paths. No one in the Hyuga Clan had ever taken the Strong Fist path.
"So what if it was?" Hyuga Akira shrugged, looking utterly unconcerned.
Crushing Fist was a fighting style he had developed himself, piecing it together from memories of his previous life. Unfortunately, it hadn't become a skill on his panel.
It was a purely hard-hitting fist style.
Hizashi Hyuga gave Hyuga Akira a long look.
Then he turned and left.
At that moment, he had no lingering attachment whatsoever.
Hyuga Akira handed the banknotes to Nawaki and looked around.
"Who else!?"
Night enveloped Konoha. Moonlight spilled down, but it couldn't compare to the lights of the shops.
Hyuga Akira let out a soft breath.
"Boss, we earned twenty-three thousand ryo today." Nawaki handed the full twenty thousand ryo to Hyuga Akira.
Hyuga Akira took three thousand ryo from it and handed it to Nawaki.
"This is for your hard work."
"Thanks, Boss."
Twenty thousand ryo was enough to improve Hyuga Akira's living conditions a little, but money wasn't his greatest gain.
It was this.
[Experience: 5625]
"Shinobi really are worth more." Hyuga Akira silently marveled. He had originally only hoped to gain one level.
Now he had enough experience to gain two.
A couple more rounds like this would give him enough to reach level eighteen.
Once he reached level eighteen, he could choose a Class Change.
A Class Change would unlock other class skills, and among those skills were ways to undo the Caged Bird Seal.
"After my Class Change, I'll still have to grind for skills."
Hyuga Akira wasn't in a hurry to level up for now. Level eighteen was no longer all that far away.
Improving his strength was more important.
He spent thirty-five hundred experience points to raise Substitution Technique straight to its maximum level.
The experience required for each level of Substitution Technique only increased by one hundred. Maxing it out required thirty-five hundred experience points.
[Substitution Technique (lv10) Experience (max level) Trait (pending selection)] [Swap: Can swap places with any item currently in use] [Explosion: All props used for Substitution Technique produce a powerful explosive effect] [Illusion: After Substitution Technique is used, enemies cannot see you for a certain period]
There were three traits in total, each followed by a detailed explanation.
After careful consideration, Hyuga Akira came up with three choices.
First, Swap.
Second, Swap.
Third, Swap.
It has to be Swap!! This is practically Flying Thunder God!!
[Substitution Technique (lv10) Experience (max level) Trait (Swap)]
A flood of information about Substitution Technique appeared in his mind. The originally simple ninjutsu suddenly became incredibly complicated, making Hyuga Akira's head feel swollen.
He was about to grow a brain.
He had 2125 experience left.
"Boss!!" Nawaki's sudden shout snapped Hyuga Akira back to his senses.
He turned to Nawaki and scratched his head. "What did you just say?"
His attention had been entirely on the system panel, so he had no idea what Nawaki had said.
Nawaki could only repeat himself. "Boss, I have classes starting tomorrow, so I won't be able to run the stall with you."
Hyuga Akira waved a hand. "It's fine. I'll do it myself tomorrow."
With experience coming in like this, he certainly didn't want to stop so easily.
The two began collecting the kunai stuck in the ground, along with the steel wire wound around them. Hyuga Akira made a show of putting them into his Ninja Tool Pouch.
In reality, he had already placed them in his inventory.
Seeing that there was nothing left to pack up, Nawaki finally asked curiously, "Boss, aren't you already a Shinobi? I remember Shinobi missions pay pretty well too. Why don't you do missions?"
Hyuga Akira said helplessly, "It's not that I don't want to. I really can't. My team only gets along on the surface, and your sister is busy every single day. When would she have time for me?"
Actually, he and Hyuga Hiashi didn't even get along on the surface. They didn't get along in any way.
As for Tsunade, she was mainly treating the wounded, and her schedule was rather tight.
Tensions between the five countries were rising by the day, and the Five Great Shinobi Villages were greatly affected as well. If they encountered ninjas from another country during a mission, it would turn into a fight to the death.
Quite a few Shinobi had suffered serious injuries, and Tsunade was doing everything she could to treat them.
With a team like this, how could they possibly go on missions every day? They still had to wait for Tsunade to give the word.
"That's true." Remembering how his sister was never home, Nawaki naturally knew how busy Tsunade was.
"Then I'll head home first, Boss. I won't be able to join you again until next weekend."
"Go on, go on." Hyuga Akira waved. He really didn't need him to keep him company.
He looked at the growing number of people on the street. Beneath the suggestive neon lights, quite a few people walked past him, talking and laughing.
All sorts of teasing remarks drifted past him.
The night already belonged to the world of adults.
He would give the adult world a try too, even though he wasn't an adult yet and didn't even have a female companion!!
He went straight to an inn and checked in, alone, of course. He no longer wanted to stay in his current place and planned to give it up tomorrow.
What a shame.
After collecting his key from the inn's front desk, he went straight to his room.
Once he shut the door.
Only then did he have time to test his ninjutsu.
He raised a hand and threw a shuriken toward the wall.
"Substitution Technique!"
Chapter 14: Just a little leveling up
A puff of smoke rose, and Hyuga Akira appeared where the shuriken had been. He quickly ducked, and a shuriken flew out from behind him. With a thunk, it embedded itself in the wall.
Nearly a third of his chakra was gone.
"Substitution Technique turned straight into Flying Thunder God." Hyuga Akira rubbed his chin.
"But the chakra consumption is way too high."
Unfortunately, before his Class Change, each level only increased his chakra by ten points.
He still had two thousand experience points.
He spent 1200 experience points to raise Gentle Fist to level five. Raising Gentle Fist from level three to level four required 400 experience points, and reaching level five required 800.
A flood of memories about Gentle Fist appeared in his mind.
There were also Gentle Fist Art: Eight Trigrams Thirty-Two Palms and Gentle Fist Art: Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms.
What mattered was the understanding of Gentle Fist contained within them.
"I've caught up with the Main Family at just level five?"
Without needing the Main Family to teach him, he had already mastered its secret teachings.
And all these skills were contained within Gentle Fist.
"Empty Palm and Rotation count as two separate skills."
Hyuga Akira moved his hands up and down. Blue chakra swayed around his hands without dispersing.
Only when he withdrew his hands did the blue light disappear.
"Last of all."
He looked at Fire Release: Unknowing Fire. This was the skill he valued.
After all, who would fight up close when they could attack from range?
He still had 925 experience points left. He poured one hundred into Fire Release: Unknowing Fire.
[Fire Release: Unknowing Fire (lv2) Experience (0/200) Trait (none)]
He kept pouring it in.
[Fire Release: Unknowing Fire (lv3) Experience (0/400) Trait (none)] [Fire Release: Unknowing Fire (lv4) Experience (0/800) Trait (none)]
The process of using Unknowing Fire kept flowing into Hyuga Akira's mind. He could now develop other skills through Unknowing Fire.
As applications of Unknowing Fire, these skills wouldn't coalesce into new skills of their own.
In the end, only 125 experience points remained, with nowhere left to spend them.
Hyuga Akira clenched his fist. Flames burned over it, yet did him no harm.
"It consumes 0.5 chakra per second. If I keep using it, it'll last about four minutes."
Now that his skill levels had risen, his chakra was no longer enough.
But he was no longer the person he had been just moments ago.
As long as he had enough experience points, he could keep growing stronger without encountering any bottlenecks.
Tomorrow, he would keep at it and milk every genin in Konoha dry.
For now, sleep.
Inside the Hokage's Office.
Hiruzen Sarutobi slowly exhaled a smoke ring and looked somewhat helplessly at his student.
"Tsunade."
"Old man, just tell me what you want." Tsunade folded her arms, her face full of displeasure.
He had called her over in the middle of the night.
Before you continue