Chapter 3

In the open kitchen, Yuzhibo Meixiang was tidying up the bowls and chopsticks, noticing that Yuzhibo Dongshilang, who had just come out of the study, was sitting on the living room sofa. She also didn't pay much attention, just seriously tidying up the chores in her hands.

After about ten or so minutes, once Yuzhibo Meixiang had finished her chores, she came to the living room. Seeing the kid sitting properly on the sofa, she immediately sat down beside him and, in one motion, lifted him from the sofa onto her crossed legs.

Our male protagonist, meanwhile, showed an expression of 'having no will to live'; after all, he was a 'old' man with a mental age of thirty. Being placed on his leg and teased like a child by a sixteen- or seventeen-year-old girl, where could his old face go!

After a futile struggle, he could only resign himself to giving up. And in the girl's eyes, his dejected expression of having been violated and unable to resist was simply too 'cute', especially with the baby fat on his face, giving her a feeling of cuteness.

Having resigned himself to reality, he could only put on a stern face, straddling her legs in a horse-riding posture, and utter the words he had been holding back for a long time.

"Meixiang sister, I have decided to become a ninja from now on."

"Become a ninja?" Looking at the small boy sitting on her lap, Yuzhibo Meixiang was momentarily stunned.

"Yes, become a ninja!"

After saying this answer again with a firm tone, he then stared straight into the girl's eyes.

After hearing the little boy answer her with a firm tone, and then seeing those black eyes staring straight at her, Yuzhibo Meixiang put away her teasing attitude toward the little boy.

Through those shining black eyes, she seemed to sense the seriousness and determination of the little boy sitting on her lap.

"Can you tell me, sister, why you want to become a ninja? You should know that ninja training is extraordinarily harsh. Moreover, after becoming a ninja, injuries, bloodshed, pain, and sorrow from missions are everyday occurrences."

"I want to know why my parents, or even my grandparents, ultimately became ninjas. I'm also curious about the supernatural energy called chakra—what special charm does it have that makes every Uchiha relentlessly pursue it?"

"At the same time, I also want to become stronger, because I want to know what the scenery is like from higher up!"

Hearing the words of the child in her arms named Yuzhibo Dongshilang, Yuzhibo Meixiang felt both surprised and yet it seemed reasonable.

The surprise was because the little boy's answer was not about becoming Hokage, nor about protecting everyone, protecting the village.

"My parents and relatives are all ninjas, so I want to become a ninja too, plus my curiosity about ninja power, and finally wanting to see the scenery from higher up! This answer is truly Uchiha!"

"I never expected to hear such an answer from a four-year-old child!" the girl silently added in her heart.

"If you want to become a ninja, Dongshilang, you're going to have a tough time ahead! In about a month, the clan's training for children to refine chakra and basic Taijutsu—hand‑to‑hand combat, shuriken throwing—will begin, so you won't have to wait too long~"

There was no objection; for the Uchiha, becoming a ninja is also an old tradition. Children who are already four years old have reached the time to learn to refine chakra.

She only felt a faint sadness welling up in her heart, murmuring, "This might just be the fate of the Uchiha."

"Fate" is a word widely circulated among ninjas. Countless ninjas, amidst endless missions and slaughter, experience helplessness!

Hearing that his little aunt had no intention of stopping him from becoming a ninja, Yuzhibo Dongshilang took out a yellowed paper from his arms and handed it to her.

"A medicinal bath?" Looking at the content on the paper, she had a vague realization—apparently the preparations were quite thorough!

This is the Uchiha clan's generations‑passed‑down medicinal bath prescription. Whenever a child wants to become a ninja, as long as the family conditions allow, every Uchiha parent will prepare it for the child.

Once a week, each soak lasts about one to two hours. Combined with appropriate exercise and stretching of the muscles and bones, this is one of the reasons why Uchiha clan children have a high success rate in refining chakra.

The cultivation of ninjas is a rather precious and difficult matter. Among ordinary civilians' children, perhaps only one out of ten or several dozen can become someone capable of refining chakra.

Even among large, medium, and small clans, only a few out of many children can succeed in refining chakra. The longer a clan's history of using chakra, the higher the success rate of its children in refining chakra.

And the medicinal bath prescription in Yuzhibo Dongshilang's hands can increase the child's success rate in refining chakra; it is extraordinarily precious.

"Since that's the case, Dongshilang, come with me." Yuzhibo Meixiang put the child down from her lap, took his little hand, and walked toward the bedroom.

She pushed open the door and entered the bedroom. From the drawer beneath the bedside table she took out a dark wooden box.

After opening it, I saw only two bankbooks and some house deeds and other valuables inside; I took out one of the bankbooks.

Dong Shilang, this is your older sister and brother-in-law, that is, the inheritance left to you by your father and mother. The other bankbook is the certificate for receiving the village's relief funds.

Since you have decided to become a ninja, the necessary preparations must also be made; this bankbook contains over six million taels of savings.

The cost of the medicinal herbs for one batch of herbal bath. If the market does not fluctuate greatly, it is roughly around fifty thousand taels. Once a week. As for the duration, depending on each family's financial strength, it ranges from one to three years. Calculated this way, over three years the total expense would be about seven million eight hundred thousand taels. Slightly insufficient, but if we obtain the medicine from the clan, there will be certain discounts and subsidies, which will be more than enough.

As for living and regular training expenses, you can receive 3,000 taels per month from the village, and the family also provides a 1,000-tael subsidy. Just to support a young child like you, there is no problem at all.

Yuzhibo Dongshilang opened his mouth slightly in surprise. Knowing that ninja training is expensive, he never imagined it would be this costly.

Seeing Dong Shilang's surprised expression, Yuzhibo Meixiang let out a humming laugh.

"You know how formidable it is, right?" After saying that, she also pinched his little cheek.

Yuzhibo Dongshilang felt immensely fortunate; he was born into a relatively affluent ninja family, and there was no melodramatic plot of adults oppressing children after their death.

Thank you, Sister Meixiang.

This thanks is both gratitude to Yuzhibo Meixiang for her meticulous care of my original self over the past few days, and also gratitude for her frankness toward me.

Well, don't get too excited too soon! Whether we can successfully extract chakra remains unknown!

Regarding the little boy's thanks, Yuzhibo Meixiang accepted it calmly. However, seeing the smile forming at the corner of the little boy's mouth, she couldn't help but add a discouraging remark.