"Money, oh money, you really are a wonderful thing~"

  While humming a tune he’d made up himself, Kaya Shihōin sighed in boredom and kept thinking of ways to make money.

  It had been almost a month since his system had been activated, and Kaya had exhausted every method he could think of to earn cash. Finally, he had managed to scrape together 10,000 ryo.

  Although it seemed like a lot, in reality, Kaya had only earned a little over 1,000 ryo himself. The remaining 8,000 or so had come from an old man, who Kaya had helped out by telling a few jokes. The man cimed the money was for him to buy candy.

  Kaya wasn’t too surprised by the man’s presence. In this era, only recently after the great war had been settled, Konoha was filled with hidden powerhouses. How many people who followed the First Hokage or Madara were weak? Kaya was just lucky, he thought.

  Sometimes, it really does come down to luck. Maybe no matter how hard you work, you can’t beat someone who just stumbles upon an opportunity, or simply gets lucky.

  But Kaya didn’t feel overly proud of himself. He was still far from the 60,000 ryo he wanted.

  Should he go back to that old man? Kaya didn’t think it was realistic. The st time had mostly been a stroke of luck—seemed the old man had been in a mood for jokes. Although Kaya had made an effort to become more familiar with him, he doubted he could get more money out of him.

  As for working himself...

  Kaya wasn’t optimistic. What kind of work could a kid like him find? His dad risked his life and only earned a fraction of that in a whole month. And besides, many small jobs required him to keep it secret. If his father ever found out he wasn’t training and instead spending his time earning a few coins, Kaya was sure he’d be in for a beating.

  Sigh... if only I had been born into a big family...

  Kaya sighed again, feeling like an adult burdened with too much responsibility. “Isn't money the true hero of the world...?”

  Just then, voices rang out from outside the courtyard.

  "Kaya, Kaya, come train with us!"

  A group of kids, about the same age as Kaya, were calling out to him.

  These were the children of his father's friends, and they had always been close to Kaya.

  Kaya gnced at them from a distance. He wanted to refuse, but couldn't think of a good excuse.

  It was worth mentioning that, in this post-war era, ninjas didn’t sck off. Even children barely out of diapers didn’t have “let’s go py” pns—when they gathered, it was for training.

  Normally, Kaya wouldn’t have hesitated to join. But now that he had tasted the benefits of training through the system, the small improvements in his attributes from basic physical training no longer interested him. He could be spending this time earning some money to buy more training sessions instead.

  However, just as he was about to refuse, the words suddenly slipped out of his mouth.

  "Alright, let’s go."

  He couldn’t afford to be suspicious. If he kept avoiding training with these kids, his parents would definitely start to wonder.

  It’s strange, Kaya thought. His biggest obstacle to making money was his parents. They wanted him to train and improve his strength, so he could earn money through hard work. If he didn’t train, they’d think he was pnning on dying on the battlefield.

  To avoid worrying his parents, Kaya had no choice but to put on a show.

  Soon, Kaya found himself in a clearing, training with his little friends, when something unexpected caught his eye.

  "Big sister, please take the money, or my dad will beat me..."

  Kaya saw a dark-skinned boy, tears streaming down his face, desperately pleading with a little blonde girl.

  But the blonde girl looked anything but pleased.

  "I don’t want it! I lost to you fair and square! I won’t take the money back. I’m not the kind of person who can’t handle losing!" The girl puffed out her chest, acting like an adult.

  On the other side, the other boys were looking even more pitiful.

  "Please, big sister, we really..."

  After a long round of pleading, the girl finally relented, her expression softening as she reluctantly took the money.

  "Hmph!"

  But as she pocketed the money, her displeasure only seemed to grow.

  Kaya turned to the person next to him, curious about the situation.

  There was no doubt in his mind—the only person who could be this addicted to gambling at such a young age was Tsunade.

  Kaya had seen Tsunade from a distance a few times before, but they weren’t really in the same circle. He never had much chance to get close to her. With Tsunade's status, she was always surrounded by her subordinates. But now, something seemed to have changed.

  It all came down to gambling, after all. Tsunade had been dragging others into gambling matches when she had nothing else to do. Naturally, with her luck, she lost every time. So, the kids who won her money were always getting beaten up when they went home, and the beatings were pretty severe.

  Of course, Tsunade had the support of the First and Second Hokage behind her. While those two might not care much, the people around them weren’t so naive. It was a universal rule to ftter those in higher positions. You wouldn’t want to make enemies of them, especially over a few thousand ryo. If it weren’t for Tsunade’s terrible luck, they might have let their kids lose a few hundred thousand ryo to her.

  But after repeated beatings, these kids started to shy away from gambling with her. In fact, many began to avoid her altogether, especially with their parents’ guidance. Gambling was a bad habit, after all. It was like letting your kid hang out with a millionaire who did drugs—it’s not the kind of friend you’d want your child to have. At least, you’d warn them.

  Tsunade, once surrounded by followers, was now left with fewer and fewer companions.

  But Kaya, on the other hand, had his eyes gleaming with excitement. A bold idea had struck him.

  "Opportunity... opportunity!"

  Tsunade, known as the 'cash cow,' was the perfect target for a scheme like this.

  Others might worry about offending their superiors, but Kaya knew better. The First and Second Hokage wouldn’t care about something so small as a few thousand ryo. As long as he didn’t take too much, just enough to get started—say, five thousand ryo—nobody would bat an eye. And in the future, as long as he kept it low-key, he could slowly make more. If things went well, it would all work out.

  And even if, worst case, he left a bad impression with the Second Hokage and the others... so what? Compared to improving his strength and boosting his chances of survival, nothing else mattered. After all, they probably wouldn’t live for many more years.

  "I’ll bet with you!"

  Suddenly, Kaya stopped the little blonde girl, fshing a harmless smile.

  "Finally, I’ve found a way to make money! Hehehe, so clever of me," Kaya thought, feeling quite pleased with himself.

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