Early Monday morning, in the small grove outside the house.
Yukawa invited Kurenai Yuhi to train with him—she practiced genjutsu, and he worked on his ninja tool throwing techniques.
But what troubled him was not knowing what the remaining three types of ninja tools to choose should be.
There were many ninja tools, but the most common and basic were kunai, shuriken, senbon, and the large Fūma Shuriken.
The rest were significantly more difficult to master.
For example: tachi (long sword), tantō (short sword), ōdachi (great sword), bō staff, and nunchaku.
Explosive tags also technically counted as ninja tools. They were extremely simple to use, but absurdly expensive—he couldn't afford them yet.
As Yukawa trained, his mind drifted toward the idea of making money.
For a kid, there weren't many avenues to earn an income.
After a moment's thought, he suddenly remembered Tsuchihashi from the Konoha Knowledge Bookstore.
In the original timeline, Jiraiya had once shown Naruto his savings account.
He wasn't the richest man in the world, but he was definitely wealthy.
And that money undeniably came from his best-selling Make-Out Paradise series.
In his previous life, Yukawa had read many classic novels.
He even had a ready-made pen name: Raikaiken (Thunderfire Sword).
But he didn't necessarily need to write the books himself.
Ultimately, he decided that the remaining two ninja tools he would train in would be explosive tags and the tachi.
In the Land of Fire, swords and blades were not considered separate weapons.
His reason for choosing the tachi was simple: the Konoha-ryū Kenjutsu.
In the Leaf Village, most sword styles were family techniques—outsiders had no access to them.
For example: the Hatake Sword Style.
But there was one exception—Konoha-ryū Kenjutsu.
In the original timeline, characters like Hayate Gekkō, Yugao Uzuki, and Kosuke Maruboshi had all used it.
As for the final ninja tool, Yukawa had long made up his mind: a scalpel.
It would come in handy once he began learning medical ninjutsu.
"I'm heading out for a run, Kurenai."
Suddenly, Yukawa had an idea.
He needed money—why not just ask Tsuchihashi for some?
As a spy from Kumogakure, he should be entitled to operational funding, right?
That sounded perfectly reasonable.
Yukawa ran two laps around the street and then entered the Konoha Knowledge Bookstore.
"Agent 9527, I'm glad you haven't been exposed yet."
Tsuchihashi greeted him just as he had last time—with a rather theatrical blessing.
"..."
Yukawa's lips twitched.
That kind of blessing felt like a war general in an opera, covered in death flags.
"Yukawa, do you have intel for me?"
Tsuchihashi looked at him expectantly.
Yukawa paused for a second.
He actually knew quite a lot about Konoha—secret details pulled straight from the original story.
"No."
He reached out his hand and said bluntly, "I need operational funds."
"Operational funds?"
Tsuchihashi froze for a moment before understanding.
So, he just wanted money—he could've just said that.
"You're still a kid. It's true you have no income."
Tsuchihashi stroked his chin thoughtfully and said, "I'll give you 5,000 ryō per month from now on."
For a child, 5,000 ryō was astronomical.
Ninja missions were divided into five ranks, with D-rank starting at 5,000 ryō.
But D-rank missions were typically split among four people—ordinary genin would often get less than 1,000 ryō each.
"Thank you, Uncle Tsuchihashi."
Yukawa was very satisfied.
After all, this was essentially 5,000 ryō for free.
"But if you take the money, you've got to do the work."
Tsuchihashi suddenly turned serious. "Kumogakure has a mission for you."
"I will complete it without fail!"
Yukawa responded with firm determination.
"Show off your talent as much as you can at the Academy. And when you graduate, choose a high-ranking Konoha official as your mentor."
Tsuchihashi patted his shoulder and said gravely, "You're currently the only Kumo spy with a chance to infiltrate the upper echelons of Konoha."
"I understand!"
Yukawa nodded seriously.
As long as he could become Tsunade's disciple, that mission would be as good as complete.
"If you can accomplish this, you'll become a named disciple of the Raikage himself, with the right to learn high-level taijutsu."
Tsuchihashi's expression softened and he smiled.
I see.
He's dangling a carrot.
But it's a pretty good carrot. Yukawa was willing to take the bait.
"Uncle Tsuchihashi."
Yukawa scratched his head and asked, "So, I have a friend who wants to publish a book. Could he do that here?"
"Of course."
Tsuchihashi thought for a moment and added, "Since he's your friend, I'll even give him a 20% bonus on his royalties."
"Twenty percent?"
Yukawa asked curiously, "What's the usual royalty split?"
"Seventy-thirty," Tsuchihashi replied after a pause. "The bookstore takes 70%, the author gets 30%."
Only 30%?
That's basically begging on your knees.
Luckily, his friend—no, his book—would get 50%.
"What if my friend provides the ideas and the outline—how would the royalties work then?"
Yukawa thought of another idea: collaborative writing.
He'd read many classics, but only remembered the general plot—and writing was time-consuming.
"This kind of model is new to me."
Tsuchihashi frowned slightly.
He stared at Yukawa in thought.
Under normal circumstances, it wouldn't be allowed.
But Yukawa was a spy from Kumogakure, and a promising one. He was worth investing in.
"If sales are poor, you get 10%. If sales are excellent, you get 40%."
After a moment of silence, Tsuchihashi gave his answer.
Yukawa's eyes lit up.
Forty percent? That's workable.
"I'll bring my friend's ideas and outline next time."
Before leaving, Yukawa browsed the bookstore.
He discovered that so-called adult books weren't nearly as wild as he had imagined—mostly just suggestive.
On second thought, that made sense.
In the original series, Make-Out Paradise was even made into a movie.
After leaving the bookstore, Yukawa didn't head to school immediately. Instead, he visited the nearby ninja tools shop.
He asked the shopkeeper about the price of explosive tags.
Simply put, explosive tags stored Fire Release chakra within a paper charm that detonated on activation.
The power was immense—and so was the cost.
In the original series, Shikamaru Nara could only afford two tags right after becoming a Chūnin.
But Yukawa soon learned that explosive tags came in different varieties.
The expensive ones cost over 10,000 ryō and matched the power of a Jōnin-level Fire Release technique.
That was probably what Shikamaru had bought.
The cheapest ones cost 300 ryō each—just strong enough for blowing up fish.
Yukawa, mostly looking to earn skill entries and save money, bought fifteen of the cheapest tags.
Even so, that purchase left him with only 500 ryō from his original 5,000.
Yukawa returned home and went to the Ninja Academy with Kurenai.
As for the explosive tags, he planned to test them in a secluded area after school.
"Kakashi! This afternoon's physical training—I swear I'll beat you!"
In the classroom, Obito Uchiha's fiery declaration echoed.
"You won't even make the top ten," Kakashi Hatake replied with a glance.
"This time, I definitely will!"
Obito crossed his arms and said, "As the future Hokage, I won't lose again!"
The Academy curriculum was split into theory and combat classes.
Combat didn't just mean 1v1 duels—it also included ninjutsu instruction, ninja tool training, and physical conditioning.
"Ugh, physical training… kill me now."
Kurenai puffed up her cheeks, clearly unhappy.
Yukawa understood.
After all, ninja physical training was even more brutal than university fitness exams.
Last time, both he and Obito failed to make the top ten.