“Father, dinner’s ready.”

  From a distance, Kaya Shihōin called out to his father, who was still standing in the courtyard, lost deep in thought.

  But his father merely turned to gnce at him bnkly before bowing his head again, continuing to mull over whatever was on his mind.

  Kaya gave a helpless shrug toward his mother nearby and shook his head lightly.

  Ever since his father got his hands on that B-rank ninjutsu scroll Kaya had brought home, the man had become completely obsessed, as if possessed. He had been poring over it day and night without pause.

  Kaya had to admit—this gift from the First Hokage had turned out to be far more valuable than he ever expected.

  Not only did the scroll contain a solid B-rank jutsu, but it also included personal training notes from the First himself. While most were early-stage musings from his youth, considering the First's natural genius and vast resources, even those rudimentary notes were priceless treasures to an ordinary shinobi—practically a cheat code for power.

  No wonder his father had gone borderline fanatic.

  Still, Kaya didn’t feel the need to stop him. The Uchiha cn had been acting increasingly strange in the vilge tely. The long-prophesied csh between the First and Madara felt like it could erupt at any moment. A war was brewing, and when that time came, the more strength they had, the better their chances of surviving.

  “Mom, I’m heading out. Can I… borrow a little money?”

  After dinner, Kaya asked with a sheepish grin.

  Soon enough, he was strolling happily down the street, five hundred ryo in his pocket.

  Ever since Kaya somehow managed to cozy up to the First and delivered that B-rank scroll to his dad, his parents’ attitude toward him had undergone a complete transformation. They’d started treating him more and more like an adult. And when he asked for pocket money under the excuse of hanging out with little Tsunade, they almost never turned him down anymore.

  After all, what’s a bit of pocket change compared to getting on good terms with the granddaughter of the vilge leader? His parents probably figured this was a solid investment. That B-rank jutsu alone, plus the attached training notes, might be worth more than what his father could earn in a lifetime. It was a deal too good to pass up.

  With this, Kaya had finally secured himself a somewhat stable source of income—scattered allowances totaling over ten thousand ryo a month. It was enough to ease his cash-strapped troubles for now.

  Sure, relying on your parents wasn’t exactly ideal, but honestly, it’s not like there were that many ways for a kid his age to earn decent money. As for Tsunade—even though she was never short on cash, he couldn’t just leech off her too hard either.

  Patting the slightly bulging pouch at his waist, Kaya suddenly felt a strong urge to draw a new character card or equipment card from the system.

  After experiencing the sheer usefulness of the Rock Lee card, he was itching to get his hands on more. The remaining cards had clearly solid effects and powerful abilities.

  Granted, according to the system, drawing a full card was rare. Most pulls just gave fragments, or sometimes nothing at all.

  Still, with the way luck had been treating him tely, Kaya couldn’t help but feel optimistic. Maybe this time, he’d strike gold and get a complete card.

  But after a long moment of hesitation, reason prevailed. He decided to hold off for now. Early-stage power scaling was more important—once he had some breathing room, he could roll to his heart’s content.

  “Ugh, in the end... still not enough money...”

  He wandered aimlessly through the streets, eyes glued to the system interface as he browsed the different character abilities, all while racking his brain for ways to make more money.

  He needed his own cash flow, pin and simple. Without that, his growth would remain frustratingly slow.

  Suddenly, something up ahead caught his attention—a small, skinny figure standing out from the crowd.

  “I’m telling you, I’m really tough! I’ve got this special ability—I don’t feel pain. Doesn’t matter how bad the injury is, I won’t feel a thing!”

  The scrawny boy, about Kaya’s age, was boasting proudly to a group of older kids.

  The older boys exchanged sly grins... then suddenly burst out ughing.

  “Oh yeah? Then let’s put it to the test!”

  Moments ter, they’d surrounded the kid and started beating him up.

  Whack—Thud Thud—

  Even though the boy clearly looked uncomfortable, he kept that wide grin pstered on his face, pretending like nothing was wrong.

  “Tch… what a lousy way to get attention…”

  Kaya couldn’t help but shake his head.

  Kids at that age—some had no talent, no friends, and no options. So they did dumb things just to get noticed. He’d seen it before—Naruto, Iruka… this wasn’t anything new.

  This kid’s approach was especially dumb, though. He practically begged to be bullied. Still, as the other kids said, he brought it on himself. Nobody could really interfere.

  If it had been a while ago, Kaya probably would’ve just walked away—no strength, no point.

  Even now, he wouldn’t normally bother getting involved. No need to stir up trouble for nothing.

  But something about the skinny kid's face tugged at his memory.

  “Jiraiya?”

  “Huh? Who—who just called me?”

  …It really was him.

  Kaya had actually been keeping an eye out for familiar names from the original timeline. But besides obvious figures like Tsunade and Sakumo—people tied to prominent cns and thus easy to locate—he hadn’t come across anyone notable.

  Konoha was massive. During the war, it could mobilize over 20,000 shinobi, and with non-combatants, traders, performers, and others, the popution easily topped 100,000. Finding one or two specific people in that sea of faces? Not easy. Everyone had their own daily routine, their own corner of the vilge. And most kids, well, they didn’t stray far from home. Kaya wasn’t about to spend his days circling the whole vilge like some wandering tourist.

  Plus, let’s be real—people in this 3D world looked a little different from their anime counterparts. Lots of folks had simir features. You couldn’t be sure just by looks alone.

  He’d figured he’d have to wait until ninja academy to meet people like Jiraiya and Orochimaru. But here he was, bumping into him just days before school started.

  If it had been any other random kid, Kaya might’ve kept walking.

  But since it was Jiraiya…

  Well, now that was someone worth getting to know.

  He strolled over, zily picking his teeth with a toothpick as he approached the group of older boys still “pying” with Jiraiya.

  “Hey. You guys over there. Don’t you think you’re going a little overboard?”

  Before, Kaya might’ve wanted to help but wouldn’t have had the power to back it up. Now though—his strength had surged recently, and he had a new skill that even the First had praised. Beating up a few bullies? Child’s py.

  And, truth be told, he was kinda hyped.

  He hadn’t had a real chance to test out this shiny new skill of his—aside from that little demo in front of the First Hokage.

  Time for a proper debut.