Chapter 134: Uchiha's Rewards and Attention

"I'm home."

Obito said cheerfully as he changed his shoes at the entrance, letting Grandma know he was back.

"Huh? Is Grandma out for a walk?" Obito was a little puzzled when no one answered.

Usually, whenever he called out that he was home, Grandma either came to the door to meet him or at least replied to him.

When Obito went inside, he found that Grandma wasn't away—she had a guest, and she was entertaining them, so she hadn't responded right away.

"Obito, welcome home," Grandma said with a kind smile.

Obito curiously glanced at the guest sitting in the living room, a middle-aged man with brown hair wearing a dark blue outfit.

He didn't know who it was, but Obito was sure this man was a ninja from their Uchiha clan, because not only did the brown-haired man wear a ninja forehead protector, but the back of his clothes also bore the Uchiha clan's fan pattern.

"Obito, you came just in time. Say hello to Uncle Yashiro," Grandma reminded him.

"Hello, Uncle Yashiro," Obito obediently greeted the guest as Grandma instructed.

Uchiha Yashiro smiled and said approvingly, "You're Obito, right? You're quite good."

"Among the Uchiha of your age, you're one of the best."

"Hehe, not really," Obito said with a bashful laugh, scratching his head, but he didn't feel much about it inside.

He didn't even know this Uchiha Yashiro, so naturally a stranger's praise wouldn't affect him much—unless it came from his Grandma, Rin Nohara, or Muyue.

"Oh, right, Grandma, I got first place in the whole grade in the practical exam!" Obito couldn't wait to share the good news with his grandma.

"Mm, our Obito is really amazing. Once you graduate, you'll definitely become an excellent ninja," Grandma said, patting Obito's head with a smile and praising him.

When Uchiha Yashiro heard Obito's words, he nodded to himself, thinking that Obito was indeed worth his visit.

Being first in the grade didn't guarantee how strong he'd be in the future, but it showed he was outstanding at the moment.

He remembered a Uchiha named Tetsuka who was the same age as Obito—fairly skilled for his age—but even he had never taken first in the grade.

"Keep it up like this. Work hard to become a ninja worthy of carrying on the Uchiha glory," Uchiha Yashiro said.

After saying that, Uchiha Yashiro placed some nutritional items he had brought on the table, then counted out fifty thousand ryo and put it on the table too.

"Our Uchiha are never stingy with outstanding clansmen. This is a reward for your achievements," Uchiha Yashiro said.

He hadn't come to chat with Obito's grandma, of course. Although Uchiha were all somewhat related by blood, unless they were direct family, normal Uchiha wouldn't waste time chatting with an old lady.

He had come to Obito's home specifically to give Obito a reward.

It was a policy within the Uchiha clan: if a clansman's strength far surpassed others of the same age, they would be rewarded.

Obito's reward should have been given at the end of the term exams.

But the Uchiha higher-ups hadn't assigned anyone to keep track of ninja academy results; Obito only had his grandma, and among his peers he was only close to one Uchiha Shisui, making him virtually invisible within the clan.

So the Uchiha had only recently realized that Obito, this little-known Uchiha kid, had turned out to be a prodigy.

"Train hard from now on. After you graduate, you can join the clan's Police Force. I'll personally take you under my wing then," Uchiha Yashiro continued.

Ninjas from big families always had some privileges.

The Hyuga clan's privilege was that the main house didn't have to attend the ninja academy; they were educated within the clan, then became genin and took the chunin exams.

The Uchiha clan's privilege was the Konoha Police Force.

The Konoha Police Force was entirely controlled by the Uchiha; everyone in the force was an Uchiha ninja, and the Uchiha could assign any position to their clansmen as they wished.

If Obito continued to maintain his excellent strength, Uchiha Yashiro wouldn't mind becoming a mentor for Obito on his ninja path.

The prerequisite was that he kept up that level of excellence; otherwise, "taking him under his wing" would only mean guiding Obito through familiarizing work in the beginning.

The Uchiha clan's ancient motto has always been that the strong reign supreme; there has never been a notion of sympathizing with the weak. If you have strength, you can have everything; without strength, no matter how difficult your situation, no one will care.

"Thank you so much. I'll train hard," Obito said with a grateful expression. Then he selectively ignored the part about joining the Police Force.

Seeing Obito's grateful look, Uchiha Yashiro nodded to himself inwardly.

"Communicate more with your Uchiha peers and seniors; only clansmen are the most reliable strength."

"After you graduate and become a genin, you can apply to the clan to learn new fire-style ninjutsu." With that, Uchiha Yashiro left Obito's house.

"Our Daitou is really promising. Your father never received a reward from the family before. You are already better than your father was at your age." Grandma said with a chuckle.

"Father..." Daitou tried to recall, but could not find any trace related to the word "father."

His parents died before he could remember anything.

But precisely because he had no memories, Daitou's childhood was quite happy. With Grandma by his side, he never lacked love from elders.

"Grandma, put the money away quickly, or it might blow away in the wind." Daitou sorted the money on the table and handed it to Grandma.

"Daitou, keep it and buy something to eat. This is what you earned yourself. I don't want it." Grandma said with a kind smile.

"Then I'll leave the money with you, Grandma. I'm afraid of losing it." Daitou thought for a moment, took out one hundred taels, and handed the rest to Grandma.

In the end, Grandma accepted Daitou's money with a gratified smile.

"Daitou, you've really grown up," Grandma sighed. "I just wonder when I'll get to hold my great-grandchild."

Hearing Grandma talk about having a baby, Daitou's face quickly turned red. He reminded her:

"Grandma, I'm still in school!"

Grandma smiled and said, "You can start building a relationship even while in school. Your father and mother were classmates, you know."

"I think Xiao Lin is a very nice girl, very considerate. How are you two getting along lately?"

"I need to go study!" Daitou ran upstairs with a red face.

"Spin, spin — looks like this is the place." Mu Yue looked up at the shop's name and walked in.

He felt the shop owner's naming sense was quite abstract. If it weren't for the words "ninja tools" written next to the shop name, ordinary people probably wouldn't have any idea what the shop sold.

If Minato hadn't recommended it, Mu Yue would probably have gone to a ninja tool shop with a more normal name.

Entering the shop, Mu Yue swept a glance. The counter and walls were lined with various ninja tools — kunai and shuriken of all styles.

Compared to the name, the interior was no different from an ordinary ninja tool shop.

"Sir, what ninja tools do you need?" A young man with a warm smile on his face approached and asked.

"Can I use your equipment to craft my own ninja tool? I might need some assistance from you during the process." Mu Yue asked directly.

"Use the equipment to craft your own?" The young man was a bit stunned. He had been running the ninja tool shop for several years, but this was the first time he had encountered such a request.

"If you want to craft a specific ninja tool, our shop accepts custom orders." The young owner thought for a moment and said.

Mu Yue felt the owner had misunderstood him, so he explained:

"I plan to personally craft a ninja tool as a gift for someone. Compared to practicality, I value the sincerity of making it by hand."

"Is that so? That's very thoughtful." The young owner suddenly understood.

"Whether it's using the equipment or needing assistance, I will pay accordingly. If any accident occurs during the crafting process, I will take responsibility." Mu Yue said.

Mu Yue hadn't spent the wages and bonuses from last semester, plus the summer training salary and one month's salary from the new semester. After setting aside emergency expenses, he could afford a budget of up to seven hundred thousand taels.

Mu Yue felt it shouldn't be that exaggerated — he wasn't using pure chakra metal or extraterrestrial meteorite iron.

An ordinary quality kunai usually costs about two hundred taels. Even if multiplied by a thousand, it would be only two hundred thousand taels.

"It must be for someone important, right? Fortunately, you came to me. Most ninja tool shops in Konoha now buy their stock from other places; there are rarely any tools for forging ninja tools left." The young owner thought for a moment and said.

He had originally wanted to refuse, but considering how sincere Mu Yue was and that he said he would pay accordingly, he decided to agree.

"Follow me." The young owner called down a young woman who looked about the same age as him to watch the shop, then led Mu Yue out of the ninja tool shop.

Mu Yue followed the young owner to the backyard warehouse of their house.

"I occasionally craft some fine ninja tools to sell, but I don't do it much anymore. Selling ordinary ninja tools is more profitable." The young owner pointed at the forging equipment in the warehouse.

"Now everything is mass-produced in factories. Times have changed." The young owner said with emotion.

When he was a child, he often learned to craft various ninja tools with his father. But over a decade later, times changed. Handcrafting ninja tools was not only more tiring but also inefficient.

Next, the two discussed the price. Mu Yue would need to pay for all the materials used during the process, and also pay the owner a guidance fee.

Mu Yue planned to practice with ordinary materials first, and after becoming proficient, he would start the actual crafting with better materials.

His three disciples' birthdays are Shisui on October 19, Might Guy on January 1, and Obito on February 10.

The closest one is Shisui, only eight days away. Considering some related books he had read before, Mu Yue felt that using Shadow Clones to accelerate learning should barely make it in time.

Using Shadow Clones to practice ninjutsu consumes a lot of chakra because you need to leave enough chakra for each clone to use ninjutsu. But blacksmithing is different; just be careful not to create too many clones and accumulate too much fatigue.

Moreover, for the final forging, you can ask the boss to assist throughout, which is enough to compensate for many things.

What a daze, I didn't get up until four in the afternoon.