Fortunately, although Arata's appetite had grown enormous, food in the Land of Fire was always plentiful. Ingredients weren't especially expensive, so for the time being, he could still afford it.
It was just that after his appetite surged again, the amount of money he used to give each month was no longer enough—otherwise, this situation wouldn't have come up at all.
Previously, Arata handed money to Anzai once a month. This time, it was clearly because his food intake had skyrocketed yet again, leaving the funds short.
With that in mind, Arata took out a money pouch and tossed it over. The amount inside was three times his usual monthly allowance. Even with his current wealth, this was something that required more careful budgeting.
After taking the pouch, Anzai counted the money and said hesitantly,
"Arata-sama… this is too much, isn't it? It's three times the usual amount. I'm afraid—"
Arata knew what she was worried about and waved it off.
"Use it without concern. Kushina is family now too—of course we can't let her go without proper meals."
Anzai naturally understood that Kushina couldn't be treated poorly. From Arata's behavior so far, it was obvious how fond he was of the new girl joining the household. Even Shizune adored Kushina. Anzai would never dare shortchange her.
Still, Anzai had a general idea of Arata's income. If things continued like this, she knew that even his savings might be drained within a few years.
That was why she had reminded him. But since Arata told her to use it freely, she could only nod. After all, this household ultimately answered to him.
In truth, Arata had already thought things through. Making money would be effortless for him.
Konoha alone was enough to make him wealthier than a nation. Take the barbecue business that later swept through the village, or the countless dishes and business ideas from his previous life—if he introduced them to Konoha, earning massive profits would be easy.
It wasn't that he couldn't do it before; he simply hadn't bothered.
Back then, his strength barely reached the level of an elite jōnin. Whether he could even survive a war was uncertain—he had no right to think about enjoyment. As long as food filled his stomach, that was enough. He couldn't afford to be picky.
But now, things were different.
Arata finally had the capital to enjoy life. As his strength steadily improved, indulging in good food from time to time was hardly excessive.
As for so-called financial pressure, that might be a problem for ordinary people in the shinobi world—but not for him.
Besides, Anzai was only a servant by background. She had no idea that if Arata truly wanted money, the great clans would practically line up to offer it.
The Yamanaka clan alone had once promised him prime storefronts.
He just hadn't made use of them yet. It seemed he should find time to turn some of the business ideas in his head into reality. Once that happened, money would truly become nothing more than an afterthought.
After all, even in the original history, there had been ordinary people who rose through commerce to effectively control entire countries—like Gatō of the Land of Waves.
If Arata put his mind to it, he could likely achieve something similar. Controlling a great nation might be unrealistic, but a small country like the Land of Waves—no larger than a single town in the Land of Fire—would be well within reach.
After dinner, Arata didn't linger with the two girls. He still had many matters to attend to, and for a long while to come, he would likely be away from home. With a brief apology, he took his leave.
Kushina and Shizune, though still young, were quite sensible. They understood that Arata was Konoha's great hero, one of the strongest figures in the entire shinobi world. Someone like that couldn't spend all day entertaining children.
So after he left, the two of them simply played together.
The moment Arata departed the house, he left Konoha itself.
The village's sensory barrier might as well have not existed for him. With his mastery of the space–time ninjutsu Kamui, he could leave the village without anyone ever knowing.
He didn't need to pass through the range of the detection array at all—he could step straight outside the village.
This was precisely why Uchiha Obito, in the original story, could bypass all defenses and summon the Nine-Tails right in the heart of Konoha. Kamui was simply that convenient.
Unlike the Flying Thunder God, which required pre-marked locations, Kamui only needed a rough sense of coordinates to transport the user directly.
Later on, during the battle with Ōtsutsuki Kaguya, it could even lock onto her five separate dimensions—spaces entirely outside the shinobi world. Obito only needed to glimpse the distortion of space to identify their coordinates and teleport there.
In essence, Kamui was even more versatile than the Flying Thunder God.
Its only drawback was speed. Flying Thunder God relied on pre-established coordinates, requiring only chakra and sufficient physical resilience to tear through space. Kamui, on the other hand, had to calculate coordinates on the spot, and ensured that neither the caster nor the target suffered harm during transit—making the process slightly slower.
Once outside the village, Arata casually found a dense forest and slipped inside.
Then he opened his system inventory.
Two items lay within.
One was a small bottle resembling a medicine vial. The other was a familiar-looking Mangekyō Sharingan.
Arata examined the vial first.
[Thousand Years Lifespan Pill]
Contains one hundred lifespan pills. A person may consume at most one. Upon use, the consumer gains an additional thousand years of life. Consuming more than one has no effect. After use, the user's appearance will remain fixed at the age of consumption, unchanged until death.
The lifespan pill didn't surprise Arata much. As the name suggested, it simply extended life. Its main appeal was the preservation of one's appearance.
Arata wasn't a woman, but he certainly didn't want to live for a thousand years only to look like the Sage of Six Paths—an ancient, withered old man.
If possible, who wouldn't want longevity?
Naturally, Arata wanted to live as long as possible. Without hesitation, he used one pill.
What puzzled him, however, was that system rewards couldn't be taken out and given to others. Since one person could only use a single pill, weren't the remaining ninety-nine essentially wasted?
Then it struck him.
The system had previously offered an option for a system upgrade. If that happened, would it allow items to be taken out?
Arata didn't know—but he couldn't help looking forward to it.
In any case, Tsunade wouldn't need it anytime soon, so there was no rush to worry about the pills just yet.