Year 26 of Konoha.
June.
Winter and spring had passed, and midsummer was approaching.
The sun hanging high in the sky had once again begun to radiate the heat it was meant to. Beneath its warm rays, a great river that ran through all of Konoha lay behind the Senju Clan Compound!
The surroundings were very peaceful. There was only the sound of the water flowing and the occasional birdsong.
A white-haired boy dressed in Senju clan clothing sat quietly on the riverbank, waiting for a fish to bite!
This river had never been subjected to the three methods of fishing with electricity, drugs, or explosives, so it was rich in all kinds of fish. It was truly a paradise for fishing pilots. If there had been such a great place in his previous life, his fellow fishing enthusiasts wouldn't have kept going further and further down the path of becoming fishing pilots!
Sadly, the fish had been biting nonstop in the past, and he'd never once come back empty-handed. Today, though, it looked like that streak was about to end!
Looking at the empty fish bucket in front of him, Uka Senju set down the scroll in his hand and let out a long sigh. With a thought, he opened the system panel that only he could see.
[Energy: %]
Ever since he first learned to refine Chakra at the age of five, this tempting carrot had hung in front of him.
To get his hands on it, Uka Senju collected energy wherever he could whenever he had free time.
After trying all sorts of methods!
He'd decisively given up on plant energy!
Plants died as soon as he absorbed even a little energy from them. A tiny amount now and then was fine, but any more and someone would easily notice something was wrong. After all, this was a world of ninja, filled with all kinds of strange techniques. Who knew whether anyone was nearby when he absorbed energy!
For the sake of safety, he'd reluctantly chosen biological energy.
But back then, he wasn't even a Genin. Forget leaving the village-he couldn't even go into the forest behind it!
After going around in circles, this river in front of him was his only remaining source of energy!
Under the pressure to get stronger and stay alive, Uka Senju had picked up the skills from his previous life again and spent four years locked in a struggle with the great river.
Thankfully, this world didn't have that many crooked tricks. With all kinds of fish fearlessly giving themselves up, he'd managed to collect % energy without a hitch!
He'd thought he'd finish off the remaining % today!
Who would've thought that an entire day would pass!
Forget fish.
Even the bobber hadn't moved once!
If he came back empty-handed today, he'd have to go to school tomorrow when it started again, and he wouldn't be able to return until a week later!
After working hard all summer, was he really going to have that carrot dangling in front of him for another week?
He imagined what it would be like to be left hanging at % for a week.
That gnawing, heart-wrenching feeling...!
Uka Senju couldn't help shaking his head. After being tempted and led along for four years of grinding!
When he was at the final push, even if he had to cover it up, he still had to go through with it!
At worst, he'd get punished one more time!
Once he'd made up his mind, Uka Senju stood up and took three egg-sized 'grenades' out of the tackle box beside him.
This thing was the first flap of his wings after arriving in this world!
Two years ago, after suffering through the struggle of collecting energy, he'd come into contact with an Explosive Tag for the first time. His first thought had been of the scenes of fishing with explosives in his previous life, so he'd combined an Explosive Tag with an iron can and bits of gravel to make a Shinobi World version of a 'homemade bomb'!
Unfortunately, the first time he used it, he'd blown up a big one!
A 'summoning beast'!
He'd had to pay three hundred thousand ryo to settle the matter!
Luckily, his aunt was a ninja who'd come back from the battlefield. Once she'd heard what happened, she'd immediately had the clan look into it.
Following the ideas Uka Senju had provided, they'd made Shinobi World versions of grenades and land mines!
And, sure enough, they worked pretty well!
Much better than the ones from his previous life!
The grenades were now being sold to the public. They were one of the Senju Weapon Shop's flagship products, and the cut he received from selling these weapons had supported Uka Senju's energy-collecting efforts over the years!
Although the principle was simple, and he could make them himself after using one just once.
But the Senju-designed and improved Senju-style 'grenades' had greater power, a smaller size, and a faster activation time, and were clearly popular with the market.
For individuals and small clans, the cost of imitating them was too high, and the results were inferior to the Senju version. It was better to just buy them.
As for the great clans, they all had businesses of their own. It just wasn't worth falling out with the Senju over the money from this business!
The Senju hadn't earned their reputation through peaceful exchanges.
But as the grenades spread, the survival rate of Genin in the Shinobi World had been pushed even lower!
The Genin in the Senju Clan now learned defensive Ninjutsu first, and even Uka Senju, the inventor, was no exception.
Looking at the grenade in his hand, Uka Senju silently reminded himself that playing with grenades hadn't been his original intention.
He was only a hundred or so jin short. You guys hadn't shown him an ounce of respect, so he'd have to teach you a lesson!
He carefully packed away his fishing gear and personal belongings one by one, leaving them behind a big tree!
Then he ran back to the riverbank and jumped onto a large rock.
Although he'd decided to use technology, he still planned to check that the surroundings were safe first, so he wouldn't repeat his earlier mistake.
He'd gotten into all sorts of trouble this summer. There had really been quite a lot of it!
He looked around at everything within a hundred meters. As far as the eye could see, there were only trees. The only person there was himself, standing on the rock.
There were no houses or other objects nearby either!
But his past experiences still left him a little uneasy. He didn't know which deity he'd managed to offend.
Whenever he used a grenade, something was bound to go wrong!
To get punished less, he followed the instructions in the scroll, circulating the Chakra in his body and sensing his surroundings!
He closed his eyes, and his mind spread slowly outward along with his Chakra.
After sensing quietly for a while, Uka Senju detected no other Chakra-bearing creatures or large life forms within a hundred meters!
Apart from the sound of the flowing water and the insects!
There was nothing else!
He stopped using the Sensory Technique and put all his earlier worries away!
"Good, it's safe. I can't keep being this unlucky forever!"
As he muttered, Uka Senju glanced at the spot where he'd chummed the water earlier!
He gripped the iron spheres in his palm and, following his aunt's instructions, fed them Chakra to activate and set the timer. With a flick of his hand, he tossed all three into the river!
"Boom-boom-boom!"
Three loud blasts rang out one after another, and the calm river surface erupted into chaos.
Three tall columns of water shot up, spraying in all directions!
The blast was much stronger than the grenades from his previous life!
He hid behind the large rock and waited for the spray from the explosion to fall.
Uka jumped back onto the rock he'd been standing on. He saw large fish with their white bellies exposed continually rising to the surface, which was still churning in front of him.
Looking at the scene before him, the corners of his mouth lifted slightly. There was no way he wouldn't finish % now. There were so many fish-he'd thought there'd be nothing here today, after all. That was what they got for not biting the hook. Now they were all done for!
He immediately circulated the Chakra in his body, pushed off hard with both legs, and jumped about ten meters before landing steadily on the water. He began gathering his catch as he walked across its surface.
One.
Two.
Three...
As he watched that damned energy bar fill up, Uka Senju collected the fish with renewed vigor.
Suddenly, a burst of bubbles appeared in the water to his left, close to the bank.
A figure slowly surfaced from beneath the water!
The unexpected catch before him made the happy expression on Uka Senju's face freeze completely. He dropped the fish whose energy he'd already absorbed and rubbed his brow in annoyance!
"Damn it, I still didn't keep it from happening. I'm in trouble now!"