Creak—
The door closed once more.
The sadness on Qingming's face vanished instantly. Though he had inherited the memories of his predecessor, he felt little attachment to the "parents" he had never met.
Still, for the sake of the pension, Qingming decided he would visit their graves once a year and offer a bouquet of flowers.
That, of course, was assuming he survived.
Otherwise, such promises would mean nothing.
He opened the envelope and counted the contents. A total of 1,010,000 taels lay inside.
"Not bad. No one skimmed anything off the top."
Both of his predecessor's parents had been Chūnin. After dying in battle, each was compensated with 500,000 taels. Adding the clan's 10,000 taels monthly living allowance brought the total to exactly 1.01 million—not a coin more, not a coin less.
Then again, if even compensation like this were embezzled, what cohesion would the clan have left?
Still, while a million taels sounded like a lot, it wasn't truly that much.
In Konoha, mission rewards were roughly as follows:
D-rank: 5,000–50,000 taels
C-rank: 30,000–100,000 taels
B-rank: 80,000–200,000 taels
A-rank: 150,000–1,000,000 taels
S-rank: Over 1,000,000 taels
Chūnin could take C- and B-rank missions, while Jōnin handled B- and A-rank missions. Even after splitting rewards with teammates and the village, earning a million taels wasn't particularly difficult.
As for the 10,000 taels monthly allowance—
A single bowl of ramen cost 60 taels. Eating three meals a day would total 5,400 taels per month.
And that was just food.
For a ninja, training expenses were the real burden.
In other words, the allowance was barely enough for Qingming to survive. Using it to improve his strength? That would be wishful thinking.
For the past week, he had been training under exactly these constraints.
But now things were different.
With this million taels, he could purchase medicinal supplements to assist his cultivation.
With that thought, Qingming left his house and headed straight for the pharmacy run by the Nara clan.
Within Konoha, the Nara were unrivaled in medical expertise. Their products were synonymous with quality.
However, after browsing the shop, Qingming discovered that the most practical item for him was—
Soldier Pills (Bingliang Pills).
Yes, the kind that could replace an entire meal with a single pill.
They provided all the nutrients the human body required and were commonly used as field rations by ninjas on missions.
Some specialized versions could even temporarily boost chakra.
But Qingming didn't need those.
He only needed the basic kind.
With them, he could extend the time spent practicing the Chakra Refining Technique, then use the additional chakra to train the Three Body Techniques, creating a feedback loop that would improve multiple skills simultaneously.
Once he made up his mind, he acted immediately.
Ignoring the clerk's strange looks, Qingming spent a large sum purchasing a bulk supply of soldier pills.
If he had bought other kinds of supplies in such quantities, it might have drawn attention from the village.
Still, just to be safe, he decided to stop eating outside for a while.
That way, others would assume he was simply training hard and substituting meals with soldier pills.
---
Back home, Qingming opened his panel.
A familiar pale-blue interface appeared before him:
---
Name: Uchiha Qingming
Age: 10
Constitution: 5
Spirit: 7
Chakra: 17 (131 → 159)
Bloodline: Sharingan (Unawakened) (51/100)
Skills:
Chakra Refining: lv0 (8/100) → lv0 (53/100)
Clone Technique: lv0 (46/100) → lv1 (2/200)
Transformation Technique: lv0 (77/100)
Substitution Technique: lv0 (71/100)
Basic Taijutsu: lv0 (35/100) → lv1 (16/200)
Ninja Tool Throwing: lv1 (29/200) → lv2 (10/500)
---
Over the past week, Qingming had trained the Chakra Refining Technique for four hours each night. Most sessions yielded six points of proficiency, though occasionally a bit more.
In total, he gained 45 proficiency points, raising the technique from lv0 (8/100) to lv0 (53/100)—already past the halfway mark.
During this time, his chakra capacity increased by 28 points, from 131 to 159. Still modest, but at least there was steady progress.
If he kept this up, becoming a "chakra monster" someday wasn't impossible.
The roughly 200 chakra points he recovered daily were all poured into ninjutsu practice.
In the last two days, he focused entirely on the Clone Technique, pushing it to Level 1. He could now create a stable, albeit still imperfect, clone.
That was enough to pass the weekly test.
However, once it reached Level 1, progress slowed dramatically—just like with Ninja Tool Throwing.
Qingming understood why: he had exhausted the experience left by his predecessor. From here on out, improvement would depend entirely on his own effort.
So he shifted focus to the Transformation Technique and Substitution Technique.
Thanks to his inherited experience, he gained 2–3 proficiency points per attempt, making rapid progress.
Within five days, both techniques reached:
Transformation: lv0 (77/100)
Substitution: lv0 (71/100)
At this rate, he would master them in just a few more days.
After that, the advantage of inherited experience would be completely used up.
---
As for Basic Taijutsu—
In the past week, Sugimu Itō organized three more sparring sessions. Qingming used them to push the skill to Level 1 (16/200).
Beyond that, improvement would require consistent training.
---
Finally, Ninja Tool Throwing remained his fastest-growing skill, now at Level 2 (10/500).
At this level, he could hit the bullseye of a stationary target within ten meters with perfect accuracy.
That was already comparable to some genin with several years of experience.
But the skill had clear limitations.
Without the Sharingan, he estimated he could only push it to Level 3 at most.
At Level 2, training already required hitting a bullseye at 15 meters—anything less yielded no progress.
Reaching Level 3 required 500 proficiency points, a steep climb.
Even at its peak, this skill alone wouldn't make him formidable in real combat—except in ambushes, group fights, or against much weaker opponents.
---
"But the Sharingan…"
Qingming glanced at the stagnant progress bar:
(51/100)
…and fell silent.
Over the past week, he had tried multiple methods to stimulate its awakening.
None had worked.
The progress remained completely stuck.
Still, he didn't give up.
If the panel displayed progress, then progress was possible.
He simply hadn't found the right trigger yet.
___________________________
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