I looked up at the clock.
2 PM... around 9 or 10 hours to explore the village. Should be good enough and plenty of time.
I stored all 20 of the bronze coins in my pocket and made my way out of the apartment.
I ended up spending quite a while wandering through the village, especially since I didn't know my way around. I got a few weird looks when I asked for directions, but I honestly didn't care.
It took like, what? An hour and a half of just walking aimlessly and getting lost. I was never good with streets—it was even worse because I used to be a shut-in.
After encountering the same street food stall for the 3rd time in a row and walking like 30 goddamn blocks, I felt just about ready to throw my pride and shame away and ask for directions once more.
Then, I found it.
The market. Finally found the stupid market!
"Perfect."
I took my sweet time looking at the prices of every single thing I thought I'd need. I couldn't read the actual names, but the numbers were enough.
A carton of half a dozen eggs was 40 Ryō. A kilo of rice would cost 40 Ryō as well. Can't forget the salt and pepper, either—how could I possibly enjoy a meal without seasoning? Those were 10 and 20 Ryō, respectively.
I'd need milk, some kind of meat, and fruits, too.
Beef was really, really damn expensive. A single kilo of shank, the cheapest cut, was still 80 fucking Ryō! Made me wonder if I should even bother wasting my money on meat.
The cheapest option? Fish. Even then, it was still 60 Ryō for a whole one, which I didn't even know how to prep. Fuck, I didn't even know what kind of fish were available, other than the basic ones such as tuna, salmon, and probably some others.
A liter of milk was around 25 Ryō, and potatoes were 25 Ryō for a kilo, too.
I made up my mind. With 200 Ryō, I knew exactly what I should get.
With that money, I bought a dozen eggs, a kilo of rice, salt and pepper, and two liters of milk.
I'm still new to budgeting like this, but it should be enough to last me the whole week, even with just the rice.
Rice was filling, very much so. Eggs would be a nice source of protein, the milk would provide me the calcium I need whenever I have breakfast, and all of that is without even mentioning the ration bars.
I could crumble these and add them to the rice, along with one egg, salt and pepper for a quick and easy lunch and dinner, and I could even meal prep to not waste time and use it for training or studying instead.
So, that's 200 Ryō gone. A thousand are left, and that should last for the remaining three weeks with some leftover if I manage it right.
I'd have gone to Ichiraku to celebrate me getting into the Academy, but I really don't know where it is, and I just ran out of pocket money, so I guess it'll be the next time I go out.
Half an hour of walking passed, and I'd finally made my way back to my own apartment.
I laid the bag of groceries down onto the ground, pulled out my keys to open the door, and entered.
I brought the bag and placed it onto the table and took everything out little by little to store it in the fridge or the shelves, depending on what it was.
Naturally, I didn't even feel like cooking after walking for two hours straight, so I took two ration bars from the box Mika-sensei had given me and unwrapped them to eat.
They tasted... completely bland, but at least they were edible. Not much texture, and they're very crumbly. Like those granola bars, except there's no crunch and no flavor.
The best way to describe them would be cardboard.
"Okay," I threw the wrappers into the trashcan. "Now that I have something in my stomach..."
Let's get to work, shall we?
In the bag, I had snuck in a few leaves that I had plucked from some trees on the way home. For what purpose, you may ask?
It was obvious, but I'm gonna be starting chakra control training by using the Leaf Concentration Technique, or rather, the Leaf Exercise. It was still 4:30 PM, so I still had around 6 hours to kill before going to sleep.
Time wasn't an issue, but my chakra... I don't know how much I actually have or how long it will take before I run out of it.
Really don't wanna learn what chakra exhaustion feels like, because it apparently sucks. Bad. Really bad.
Either way, you know how it goes. No pain, no gain!
I sat down on my bed and took a leaf from the bag.
"How should I go about this...?" I muttered.
I knew you had to send chakra to a focal point, that being wherever the leaf is. The problem is, I don't know how the hell you direct that chakra.
Do I gotta grab a big chunk and apply it until it runs out, then grab another one? Rinse and repeat. Or do I keep a steady stream, supplying it with chakra until I run out?
The latter seemed more efficient, but the former was easier to do. I should probably stick with the stream, as it'll be much more practical in the long run.
Let's try it.
I put the leaf on my forehead and visualized my chakra going to that point. I even tried feeling the way it traveled across my pathways.
To no one's surprise, it fell off after barely a second.
"...This sucks."
Again. More chakra this time.
The leaf was placed on my forehead once again, and I sent in a larger burst of chakra.
It plopped right off.
"This fucking sucks."
Something I noticed was that right after the initial burst of chakra, it was kind of hard to stabilize the stream and then control it. It felt kind of erratic, actually.
Nothing that can't be fixed with practice.
Once again.
I really, really concentrated, and this time, it actually stuck longer than five seconds before I lost control over the stream of chakra. And not because I held my head up, either.
It was less than nothing compared to geniuses like Itachi, who could hold it for over three hours straight.
Still, good progress to me, though. Maybe if I kept this up, I could manage to hold the leaf for at least 3 minutes by the end of the day.
...I didn't even do my daily physical training today. I better find a way to earn money fast and rent some training grounds for myself as soon as possible.
Normal exercises were fine, but soon I'd need a ton more space, weights—can I even use weights? Would that stunt my growth?
I'll figure it out later.
As unrealistic as it was, training with weights on your upper and lower body did wonders for your physical condition in a shonen world like this. Just look at Lee—the madman could move around with 5000 kilos worth of weight on his legs.
Then again, those weights needed money. Everything needed money.
Money rules the world and makes it turn, no matter where it is. Lee probably had gotten his weights from Guy, who was practically an Elite Jonin and likely had both connections and wealth that made getting them way easier.
Plop.
The leaf fell down again. 16 seconds... Not bad. I looked back at the clock, and it was around 5:16 PM.
"Let's keep going."
As I was saying, literally almost everything came down to money. But the keyword is almost.
Talent can't be bought. Bloodlines cannot be bought, either.
Ice Release... it has many possibilities. As far as I remember, Haku was a fairly talented shinobi and could even keep up with a one-tailed Naruto for a while. How do you keep a fucking Jinchuuriki at bay? An untrained one, but a Jinchuuriki nonetheless.
At its core, Ice Release is a combination of both Water Release and Wind Release, but it can't be just that.
Perhaps there's some sort of Yin and Yang balance that needs to be met, and that's naturally achieved by the genes in one's body. That's why Kekkei Genkai could only be passed down through bloodlines.
There's many ways I could apply Ice Release. Weapons crafted with ice, ice projectiles such as shards and needles, skating through the ocean by freezing the water below me, maybe even in Taijutsu, in a way similar to Sub-Zero.
Or perhaps, I could even use it to create hailstorms or anything like that, in a way similar to Sasuke's Kirin. I'd manipulate the humidity present in the clouds to condense it into ice and make all of it fall down onto the battlefield like some kind of Thousand Arrows move from a generic MMORPG, using the gravity for even more destructive power.
If it's possible, the chakra could even allow me to control their direction, kind of like some budget aim-bot. Sounds pretty nice, but the thing is that I still have a long way before I can do anything like that.
Drop.
A minute and 26 seconds... Pretty good progress.
I glanced at the clock once more. 7:08 PM...
I'll stop for now. I have to get in some exercise and start meal prepping before going to sleep.
I took one last look at the leaf, letting it fall to the side as I stood up and stretched.
Academy at 8 AM...
Absolutely barbaric for children, but I can't really complain.
The grind never stops!