Kaya Shihōin’s fury was justified. That initial goal of obtaining a mere 100,000 ryō sounded simple enough on paper—until you realized how absurdly hard it actually was.

  In the world of Naruto, the currency system was deceptively punishing. The ryō wasn’t even the smallest denomination. One ryō equaled ten mon (see footnote ps1), and that mon had a purchasing power roughly equal to the Japanese yen from Kaya’s previous life. When you did the math, the number was downright terrifying.

  Take a standard ninja income, for instance. Kaya’s father, an elite chūnin, could typically only take on B- or C-rank missions. Each mission might net him fifty to sixty thousand ryō, meaning the family’s monthly income barely scraped past one hundred thousand.

  For a civilian, that kind of money would seem astronomical. But for a ninja? It was just enough to survive.

  Between a shinobi’s monstrous appetite, the cost of tools, medicines, and all sorts of essential training supplies, their family’s finances were stretched razor-thin. In that kind of household, asking his parents for a lump sum of 100,000 ryō was about as realistic as sprouting wings and flying to the moon.

  The only reason he had that kind of money now was pure luck—he’d been sent to deliver payment to the Nara cn. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have touched that kind of cash until he started taking on missions as a genin himself.

  Even assuming he made it through genin without dying—a big assumption—and managed to save up over time, just think how many years of training he’d be sacrificing. How much progress he’d be losing out on.

  And let’s be real—what kind of ninja gets money and doesn’t immediately blow it on more meat, better gear, or training herbs? Saving up 100,000 ryō in one go? Almost impossible. Ninja life wasn’t some nine-to-five job where you could hoard cash and expect to survive.

  Maybe once he hit chūnin level, and only maybe, would he start having money to spare.

  And considering the garbage-tier talent of this body, the odds of him making it to chūnin were… bleak.

  Even if by some miracle he survived, he'd probably be forty by then. Honestly, it wouldn’t be much different from those tragic protagonists in the novels he read in his past life—those guys who only unlocked their systems on their deathbeds.

  “Dumb luck... all dumb luck,” Kaya muttered, almost relieved. Any deviation in timing and he would’ve been stuck in that kind of story instead.

  Across from him, the system’s mascot—a smug-looking maneki-neko—grinned sheepishly in the face of his anger.

  “Well... you can’t really bme me. Systems have bugs, y’know? Totally normal!”

  ...

  Kaya stared silently at the cat, too annoyed to even speak.

  Noticing his mood cooling slightly, the maneki-neko jumped at the chance to reintroduce itself.

  “My name is Yuanbao, and I’m your system assistant! You can toggle me on or off anytime, or even change my name—though renaming requires a Rename Card! Avaible in the shop now at a 20% discount...”

  As the cat rambled, Kaya’s expression grew increasingly strange.

  This was a system? Why did everything about it reek of money-grubbing greed? The name, the features, even the idea of a "Rename Card" screamed predatory monetization.

  And Yuanbao? That gaudy, money-stinking name—who the hell came up with that? Did they just give up on subtlety?

  The red fgs were piling up so fast that Kaya didn’t even know where to start compining.

  And it only got worse from there.

  According to Yuanbao, the system’s most basic function was the Training Grounds. There, Kaya could gain a massive boost to his training efficiency—limited to once per day.

  Through the Training Grounds, he could accumute valuable experience and allocate it to different attributes.

  Sounded great.

  Until you realized it was a trap.

  “Yuanbao... forget it. I’m just gonna call you System. System, show me my current stats.”

  “Understood.”

  In the next moment, a window popped up in front of his eyes:

  Kaya ShihōinNinjutsu: Genin Rank 0 (236/10,000)Taijutsu: Genin Rank 0 (1,326/10,000)Genjutsu: Genin Rank 0 (-100/10,000)Character Cards: NoneSummons: NoneNinja Tools: NoneKekkei Genkai: None

  Elemental Proficiency:Fire: Level 3 (100/1,300)

  Special Traits:

  Keen Senses (Enhanced vision and hearing. Increased susceptibility to genjutsu.)

  Low-Tier Fire Affinity (Unlocks fire-element chakra nature. Slight boost to fire ninjutsu training speed and power.)

  Unique Skills: None

  This was Kaya’s core status sheet.

  And it was... tragic.

  As he'd just learned, Genin Rank 1 was the threshold for being recognized as an actual genin. Kaya’s numbers weren’t even close. The system had thrown him a pity bel of "Genin 0" because his stats were so pathetic.

  Fire Affinity Level 3 sounded decent until you realized the cap was 100. His genjutsu stat was actually negative, which made him worse than a civilian in that department.

  “System... why the hell can stats go negative?!”

  “That’s because primary stats are based on your comprehensive ability, including resistances to ninjutsu and genjutsu. Due to your innate traits...”

  That’s when Kaya noticed it—the Keen Senses trait.

  He used to think this body was complete trash. But now he realized there was at least something useful. Come to think of it, he had always been sharper than others—maybe this counted as a kind of sensory aptitude.

  And the reduced resistance to genjutsu? Compared to the benefits, maybe that wasn’t such a big deal.

  “Not bad...”

  After testing out the basic taijutsu training function, Kaya was actually pretty satisfied. One session netted him 30 points of taijutsu experience. That kind of gain was substantial.

  But then came the reality check.

  At that rate, reaching Genin Rank 1 in a single stat would take a full year.

  And to max out Genin’s five levels and advance to Chūnin? Six or seven years—per stat.

  That was fast by ordinary standards. Most ninja graduated at twelve and made chūnin by their te teens.

  But in the chaos of a shinobi war, would a mere chūnin survive? Of course not. Even if he hit Chūnin Rank 1, he'd be bottom-tier, and that was assuming he'd built up only one stat. In battle, that might not mean much at all.

  Eventually, Kaya asked the system a very obvious question—and got an infuriating answer.

  “Of course, you can speed things up with microtransactions! Buy stamina refills to train multiple times a day! Or grab a Multiplier Potion—double XP for just 1,000 ryō, quadruple for 10,000...!”

  Staring at the beaming maneki-neko, Kaya was once again overwhelmed with the urge to punch it into next week.

  And the more the system expined, the more that urge intensified. Everything—equipment, summons, character cards—it all required money. For someone as ft broke as he was now, it might as well have been a fantasy.

  “Forget it... Pay-to-win’s off the table. I don’t have that kind of money,” Kaya muttered, just about ready to close the interface.

  And then the system dropped a bombshell.

  “First-time top-up of 60,000 ryō unlocks Rock Lee as a character card!”

  Character Cards—another system function—allowed Kaya to borrow various characters' abilities and traits.

  And Rock Lee’s card? That was the one he wanted most.

  Why? Because it came with a passive trait: +20% experience gain for taijutsu training at the genin level.

  Exactly what Kaya needed.

  He stared daggers at the system, teeth clenched.

  “Just wait... I’ll figure out a way to get that money.”

  <><><><><>

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