Money!
For anyone walking the path of science, money wasn't everything—but without it, nothing could be done.
Just a glance at his progress before and after graduation said it all.
In the past two years combined, Shien's research results didn't even amount to a tenth of what he'd achieved in these last few months.
And the biggest reason his strength had skyrocketed—was simple.
He paid for it.
Even the Summoning Contract of the Shōzaki Lizard had been acquired only because he'd hired Kakuzu with cash.
Without money? He could forget about even touching that scroll.
That's why he was determined to make a big profit off this Joint Chunin Exam.
With how obscure he was—just a "background Uchiha nobody" in most people's eyes—the betting odds on him defeating the "Genius of Sunagakure's Sealing Arts" were sure to be high. At the very least, it should double their principal.
And as for Uchiha Mei's principal capital—
She'd raised over a hundred million ryō by pooling funds through Nagafusa and several Uchiha clansmen. She was literally betting her reputation.
That's why it was fair to say—she had gone all in.
If they lost and she couldn't pay back the debt, it wouldn't just ruin her financially—it would be social death, a disgrace she could never wash away.
"Those taijutsu moves of yours… are they Uchiha secret techniques?"
Kakashi asked curiously as Shien sat down beside him to rest.
He couldn't help it.
Shien's fighting style looked nothing like ordinary Uchiha combat forms—it was flashy, dynamic, and brutally efficient, as if lifted straight from a fighting game.
Powerful, elegant, and absurdly stylish.
Who wouldn't be curious?
"No," Shien replied calmly.
"I developed them myself based on some old materials."
There was no way he'd claim they were "Uchiha secret techniques."
If he dared to say that, the clan would really come after him to confiscate them.
Many special ninjutsu were guarded by strict lineage rules—talent alone wasn't enough; you also needed permission.
Take Kakashi's future Chidori for example. Without his consent, others couldn't learn it—and even if they did, they couldn't use it. It was basically a kind of patent right recognized within the village.
Such boundaries existed to keep the great clans' secret techniques from leaking out—a rule as solid as iron.
Of course, it only applied within the same village.
If someone from another village learned it, the clan would simply send assassins to recover or erase the technique by force.
That was why Shien stuck to the story that he'd "developed" his style himself, never claiming it was Uchiha property.
"You… developed it yourself?"
Kakashi began to refute him, but then stopped midway.
Right—Shien was that kind of genius.
Flame Cloak.
He'd personally developed that jutsu in less than a month, right before Kakashi's eyes.
Sure, most of the technical framework had come from their teacher, Namikaze Minato, but the concept and creative spark had been Shien's.
So, developing such a unique and powerful hybrid fighting style—wasn't impossible for him at all.
Nintaijutsu—a fusion of ninjutsu and taijutsu—was a rare art. The most famous example was the Lightning Release Chakra Mode used by the Raikage line.
Low chakra cost, overwhelming power—
Its only flaws were the steep learning curve and the near-impossible difficulty of creation.
Which was exactly why Kakashi was so intrigued.
"Your match is coming up soon," Shien said, steering the topic away.
Even though they were sitting in a quiet corner, there were still other people around. Not the place to discuss this sort of thing.
"Mm."
Kakashi stood up.
Thanks to Minato's warm encouragement and Kushina's boundless energy, he had finally thawed a little from the emotionless machine he used to be.
In the past, he wouldn't have replied at all.
The match ended swiftly.
One round. That was all Kakashi needed.
The gap was simply too vast.
Between an ordinary ninja and a true genius, the difference was like that between a man and a dog.
You only had to look at Gangtu and Maki to see it.
Both had finished their matches in a single round as well—no need to drag things out.
They weren't holding back at all. The reason was simple—the tournament rules.
All matches were to be completed within a single day.
Meaning, no time to rest, recover chakra, or heal wounds between fights.
If you burned too much chakra early on, the later rounds would be hell.
Extracting chakra from the body took days of recovery, and even Soldier Pills merely forced cells to overwork themselves to produce more.
So everyone fought with full force—to end battles fast and conserve stamina.
One bloody, spectacular match after another sent the audience into a frenzy.
By the end of the day, only eight contestants remained.
No, that wasn't a miscount—
Four others had been eliminated by injury and exhaustion, unable to continue.
Next came the draw—the quarterfinals, eight into four.
And at that stage, powerful matchups were inevitable.
Though as Shien muttered inwardly—"Yeah, sure. Totally random draw."
Come on—this was the ninja world. Cheating was practically a survival skill.
With all the strange ninjutsu out there, rigging a bracket was child's play. As long as the three major villages didn't make a fuss, no one could prove anything.
Sure enough, the "top aces" of each village hadn't been paired against one another.
And Shien's luck? Pretty rotten.
He'd drawn Maki.
Clearly, the higher-ups had struck a little deal. Maki's teammate Ryōra had conveniently drawn Kakashi.
Two ace fighters, safely separated—while their teammates were served up as sacrifices to protect them.
Shameless. Utterly shameless.
Still, even as irritation simmered in his chest, another thought came to Shien's mind—
The odds.
His fight against Maki was the perfect setup for a lucrative bet.
And , the odds were thrilling.
1.2 : 2.5.
In other words—betting 100 ryō on Maki yielded 120 back; betting on Shien brought back 250.
The aristocrats and merchants running the betting pools weren't fools.
They'd already collected intelligence on Shien—though earlier misinformation had skewed their data, they'd since corrected it.
So while most spectators saw this as a guaranteed win for Maki, the house wasn't about to offer anything higher than 2.5x.
At the betting stands by the arena entrance, the crowd was buzzing.
Spectators flooded in between matches to place their wagers.
"Fifty million ryō on Maki of the Sand!"
A blonde twin-tailed girl slammed a heavy chest of cash onto the counter, stunning the clerks.
They'd seen big bets before—but never from someone so young.
"Y-You're sure you want to bet it all?" one staffer asked hesitantly after checking the contents.
Each banknote carried a ten-thousand-ryō denomination. Sure enough, the chest held a full fifty million.
They only needed to confirm that the bettor was doing this voluntarily—not under duress or impulse.
As for fears of her causing trouble if she lost?
Please.
Anyone running a gambling stand in this world didn't fear anyone.
Even the Five Great Villages couldn't bully them when the house was in the right.
"Yes, all of it!" the girl declared excitedly.
"How could I pass up such easy money?"
To her, this was free profit.
But just as the staff finished counting the cash and handed over the betting slip—
A low, unfamiliar voice spoke up.
"Two hundred million ryō on Uchiha Shien to win."
Everyone turned.
The speaker was cloaked head to toe, a conical straw hat shading his face. Clearly, he didn't want to be recognized.
Two large chests landed on the counter with a heavy thud.
"Understood!"
The staff didn't even hesitate this time. Big-money bettors often came in exactly like this—anonymous, discreet, and decisive.
As for payout concerns?
It might be an astronomical figure for a single person, but for the noble and merchant syndicates running the book—it was pocket change.
"You're just throwing your money away," the blonde twin-tails girl said kindly after receiving her own slip.
But the cloaked figure didn't so much as glance her way.
Silently, he took his betting slip and walked off.
"Tch. Fine, ignore my advice," she muttered, hurrying toward the arena.
"You'll regret it when you lose!"
And as she stepped inside—
the final match of Round Two was about to begin.
The one everyone thought had the most obvious outcome—
and the one that would soon prove them all wrong.
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