Shu’s stance was steady and grounded.
“Ha!” He stepped forward, stomping his right foot hard against the smooth floor.
His waist and stance moved as one, power surging upward from his heel through every part of his body.
BANG!
A seemingly simple Heart-Piercing Elbow smashed through empty air with a sonic boom.
The blast of wind even swept Shu’s bangs backward.
“What brutal power generation!” Shu looked at his elbow with great satisfaction.
“I didn’t use a single bit of Cursed Energy or chakra in that strike.” “But Bajiquan’s raw physical force alone is already enough to crush an ordinary person’s sternum and heart!” Satisfied, Shu relaxed his stance.
Once the excitement passed, he looked at his pitiful remaining balance again.
After his shopping spree, his once-bulging wallet had been reduced to a lonely 300 Reward Points.
Every last Side Plot was gone too.
“Sigh…
I originally wanted to save up for something like a spatial ring or storage scroll.” “Looks like that’s not happening.” Shu helplessly shook his head.
“Whatever.
Resources should be spent where they matter most, and strength is the foundation.” “No point hoarding these last 300 either.
Might as well spend everything.” Shu quickly searched through the consumables list.
He spent 100 Reward Points on several sets of high-quality combat clothing and armored underlayers.
Another 100 went toward medical supplies, firearms, and explosives.
With his final 100, Shu even bought some gold bars, food, and miscellaneous consumables.
Only when his balance finally reached a perfect zero did Shu stretch in satisfaction.
“Everything that needed upgrading is upgraded.” “And everything I needed to buy is bought.” He raised his head toward the Main God’s sphere.
“Main God!
End my stay and return me to my home world!” Flash!
White light erupted.
Uchiha Shu vanished from the plaza.
…
Konoha.
The outskirts of the Uchiha clan district, inside a modest house.
Flash!
White light flickered, and Shu appeared exactly where he had left.
He steadied himself and looked around.
The familiar tatami mats.
The wooden table.
Everything was exactly the same as before.
“Ha…
Made it back safely.” Shu released a long breath, then glanced at the old-fashioned clock hanging on the wall.
“What the…” “Only one second passed?!” “So no matter how many days I spend in a mission world or the Main God Space, almost no time passes in the Naruto world.” “Or rather, only an instant passes.” “That’s actually pretty convenient.” After confirming that everything around him was safe, Shu finally relaxed completely.
He badly wanted to test his new abilities.
But it was already late, and causing a commotion might draw unwanted visitors.
Suppressing his excitement, Shu collapsed onto the tatami and went to sleep.
…
Early the next morning.
A booming voice suddenly exploded from the courtyard.
“Shoe-bro!
Let’s go!
What are you standing around for?!
Get out here!
Today’s patrol isn’t gonna be easy!” Shu’s pleasant dream shattered instantly at that cursed nickname.
A vein throbbed twice on his forehead.
He yanked open the wooden door and shouted at the man outside.
“Uchiha Akaishi!
I’m warning you one last time—can you pronounce my damn name properly?!” “Huh?” Akaishi scratched the back of his head.
“Shoe-bro?
Shu-bro?
What’s the difference?!” “Everything!” Shu stared at him speechlessly while fastening his clothes and walking down the steps.
Every time he heard that cursed “Shoe-bro,” his mind uncontrollably conjured the image of a man wearing overalls with center-parted hair.
The grinning idiot in front of him was Uchiha Akaishi.
They had grown up together since they were little kids.
Akaishi was an Uchiha too, but his talent was every bit as terrible as the original Shu’s.
He sucked at ninjutsu and taijutsu alike.
Even now, he hadn’t awakened the Sharingan.
After barely graduating from the Ninja Academy, their combat ability had been deemed too unimpressive for anything important.
So the two were bundled together and assigned to the Konoha Military Police Force as bottom-rung officers.
And everyone knew what happened to bottom-rung employees.
Their daily work involved handling lost cats, arguing couples, illegal street vendors, and every other trivial headache villagers could create.
Shu sighed and splashed water over his face at the washbasin.
“Why are you here so early today?” “Don’t even start, Shu-bro!” Akaishi immediately put on a miserable expression.
“That bastard Uchiha Kenshu gave us a ridiculous workload today!” “He wants us to patrol the entire commercial district three times before noon!” “And that’s not all.
There are several backlogged shop disputes waiting for us too.” Akaishi’s face twisted.
“Every single person involved is some unreasonable old man or old lady!” “The kind who’ll throw themselves on the ground if you so much as brush against them!
They’re a fucking nightmare!” Growing angrier, Akaishi spat onto the ground.
“That bastard is absolutely abusing his authority to settle a personal grudge!” “He dumps every exhausting, thankless job that gets people cursed at onto us!” Hearing the name, Shu paused while washing his face and frowned.
‘Old men and old ladies, huh?’ ‘Yeah.
That’s genuinely annoying.’ Especially because these were Konoha troublemakers.
Everyone knew Konoha villagers had practically perfected equal-opportunity bullying.
Whether you were the Hokage’s son, the heir to a major clan, or some completely ordinary civilian…
Konoha villagers would bully anyone equally.
Of course, there were good people too.
Teuchi, who kept serving Naruto ramen despite everything, was an obvious example.
But people like him were far too rare.
And the old men and women who started fights over a few coins in the commercial district, screamed in public, and collapsed dramatically if anyone touched them?
They were the final bosses of Konoha’s professional troublemakers.
If someone from the Military Police dared lay a hand on them, rumors of the Uchiha clan violently abusing civilians would spread throughout the village by the next morning.
But if you didn’t use force?
They’d climb onto your head and shit on you.
Calling this the Konoha Military Police Force was almost misleading.
Sometimes “glorified municipal enforcement” felt more accurate.
Every time, Shu had to play the patient good guy and mediate between both sides.
It was exhausting, thankless work that could disgust a man straight down to his soul.
As for Uchiha Kenshu…
He had been in the same Ninja Academy class as Shu and Akaishi and was around their age.
Unlike them, however, Kenshu had real talent.
He awakened the Two-Tomoe Sharingan early and became an Elite Chunin several years ago.
Now he was even the deputy captain of the Military Police Force’s Fourth Squad.
Which unfortunately meant he was Shu and Akaishi’s direct superior.
Back in their Academy days, Akaishi couldn’t stand Kenshu’s arrogant, nose-in-the-air attitude.
The two had gotten into arguments several times and even fought.
Akaishi had been completely crushed.
Unable to beat Kenshu or swallow his anger, Akaishi went crying to Shu for backup.
Shu originally had zero interest in getting involved in stupid childhood rivalries.
But Akaishi clung to him with tears and snot running down his face until Shu finally gave in.
So the two of them cornered Kenshu together.
At first, they actually had the advantage.
They managed to pin him down and land several punches.
Unfortunately, that didn’t last long.
As they grew older, Kenshu’s talent started revealing itself.
His chakra reserves rapidly surpassed theirs.
His taijutsu and ninjutsu improved at astonishing speed.
He even awakened the Sharingan early.
From that point onward, their positions completely reversed.
Whenever another conflict broke out, Shu and Akaishi became a pair of human punching bags while Kenshu beat both of them senseless.
They couldn’t even fight back.
And just like that, the grudge became permanent.
Later, the difference in talent between them grew even wider.
Shu was still somewhat better off.
At least he had awakened One-Tomoe Sharingan.
But because of his chakra problems, he could never properly learn any decent ninjutsu and remained stuck as a Genin.
Akaishi had it even worse.
Not only was his ninjutsu terrible, but he hadn’t awakened the Sharingan at all.
For an Uchiha to still be a Genin in his twenties wasn’t something the clan would openly call disgraceful.
But it was definitely humiliating.
After all, even if an Uchiha truly had no talent for awakening the Sharingan, the clan naturally possessed greater chakra reserves and stronger bodies than ordinary civilians.
With even a little effort in taijutsu and ninjutsu, becoming a Chunin should’ve been as easy as drinking water.
Right?