Researching potions and Ninjutsu with his father had always been an exhausting yet fulfilling endeavor for Seimei.

It had already been a couple of years since he had begun working as Tobirama's research assistant. During this time, not only did his knowledge of the Shinobi increase, but he also discovered his talent in potioneering.

With Seimei's high intelligence, incredible comprehension, the system's assistance, and Tobirama's teachings, his potioneering skills had improved by leaps and bounds.

He could already brew a large number of low-grade potions, at least thirty different kinds of intermediate-grade potions, and a few high-grade potions with ease.

These potions included the frequently used minor healing potion, blood replenishing potion, stamina restoration potions, chakra recovery potions, nutrient potion, general detoxification potion, etc.

He had even delved into complicated potions like Mind Clarity potions that cleared the user's mind and increased their focus sharply.

This allowed them to understand advanced Jutsu's underlying principles better and master them in less time, as long as they had the aptitude to learn them.

Of course, this potion could also help ninjas resist Genjutsu to some degree and stay focused in chaotic situations, greatly increasing a Shinobi's chances of survival in dangerous situations.

Now, since it was an advanced potion, its price was naturally sky-high. Most ninjas didn't dare to use them casually.

But there are still clan ninjas. They would buy these potions in a heartbeat.

For the potions Seimei sold to the ninjas outside of the Senju clan, he easily earned at least 10x profit per vial of potions.

In Konoha, Seimei could consider himself to be a little rich man.

However, Seimei wasn't wasteful. He carefully saved every single Ryo for his future.

Ninjas in this world could live for hundreds of years. Seimei's current lifespan could already be counted in thousands of years.

For ninjas with a long lifespan, no amount of money would ever be enough.

With money, you could get elemental crystals, artifacts, rare materials, and many other things that could help you improve your strength.

Sure, you could find rare materials yourself.

But for people with money, that would be a waste of time.

With enough money, you could get your hands on almost anything while minding your own business. Wasn't it better to focus on improving your strength in peace while others deliver the things you desire to your doorsteps?

Well, with enough money, you could do that.

Anyway, ninjas are notorious for burning money like paper to improve their strength. Did you think the herbs required for the medicinal baths were cheap?

Seimei remembered checking out the prices of the herbs of the medicinal baths he used during his chakra infusion training exercises.

Each container of medicinal liquid mixture costs at least 50,000 Ryo.

That wasn't training. That was burning money.

Unfortunately, to avoid unnecessary detours and the risk of hidden injuries, burning money was the only option.

That was one of the main reasons why civilian ninjas' strength usually increased at a much slower pace than the clan ninjas.

Most civilian ninjas didn't have enough money to invest in those training formulas and ingredients. So, they had to be very careful when learning new Jutsu or techniques to avoid injuries.

They couldn't quickly swallow flawless soldier pills or chakra recovery potions to instantly restore their depleted chakra reserves and train nonstop to reduce learning time.

They couldn't buy whatever Jutsu they wanted.

Yes, as long as your ninja rank was enough, you could purchase common Ninjutsu or other techniques that are not secret or require separate contributions with money.

Of course, it would cost a lot of money, which many civilian ninjas just couldn't afford. So, they only had to rely on finishing missions and accumulating contributions to get new techniques.

Inevitably, this would lead to slower power-ups.

With enough money, all these problems could be solved.

Seimei could get most resources from his clan and the Ninja Academy anyway. So, saving money was the right choice.

But that wasn't important right now.

"Hmm…"

"Tomorrow, I will see those guys together again."

Seimei mumbled as he covered himself with a quilt.

"Let's just sleep now. I have to wake up early tomorrow. I should be able to get four hours of quality sleep."

With that, Seimei, who was lying on his bed with a quilt covering him, slowly closed his eyes.

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Konoha, Land of Fire, March 2nd Year 015

In the morning, in a public training ground…

It was a nice Sunday morning. Seimei came to the public training ground to attend the gathering of his academy friends.

After entering the fourth year of the Central Ninja Academy, Seimei and his friends had to focus on their training schedules fixed by their homeroom teacher and finish their mandatory missions every month.

As a result, they hardly got any time to interact leisurely during the weekdays.

Instead, they met each other mostly after the academy hours by luck. Otherwise, they scheduled a gathering on the weekends.

But even then, not all friends could gather due to various missions, clan training, or other reasons.

So, today was one of those rare days when Seimei could arrange a get-together with all of his friends.

As for his friends…

Of course, it was Uchiha Reina, Nara Shikamo, Ishimori Haneda, Uzumaki Keiko, Uchiha Touma, and Sarutobi Yuto.

Yes, they were his teammates from the Inter-class competition, and were all class 1-S students.

And just like Seimei, their strengths had also increased by leaps and bounds.

Thanks to becoming the winners of the competition, both Konoha and their respective clans (except for Haneda, since he came from a civilian family) invested a lot of resources in nurturing them into excellent Shinobi.

As Seimei thought about this, his mind drifted toward other kids of the Konoha Ninja Academies.

Under my father's constant brainwashing and the Genjutsu: Will of Fire, most academy kids had been molded into becoming extremely loyal to Konoha.

Most of those kids don't even realize that they have become exceptional toolmen under the subtle guidance of my father.

Of course, a few exceptional and intelligent kids from the major clans are exceptions.

For example, kids from the Nara and Uchiha clans.

But it doesn't matter.

They still love Konoha. Nobody wants to go back to the Warring States Period and live a harsh, uncertain life. Not unless they were madmen like the Kaguya clan of the Kirigakure.

And that's enough.

As Seimei was immersed in an internal monologue, he walked to the designated location in the training ground, where he agreed to meet his friends.

There, he saw all six of his friends, talking to each other or doing their own stuff.

He saw Ishimori Haneda and Sarutobi Yuto chatting enthusiastically. Uzumaki Keiko was frolicking around Uchiha Touma, who had an annoyed expression on his face, but he was actually happy. Nothing mystical. His eyes gave him away.

Nara Shikamo was lying on a tree branch and chilling. He looked oddly content. Typical Nara behavior.

As for Uchiha Reina…

She was standing in the middle of the small river that passed through the training ground. She had her eyes closed.

She was focusing on controlling the river water around her. Thin, translucent ribbons of water were already circling her in a majestic pattern.

Apart from that, there were countless tiny orbs of water standing mid-air around her, which occasionally changed shape, gathered together, or separated abruptly.

Seimei, who was a master of the water element, thanks to the rigorous training he received from Tobirama, had already noticed that Reina was using chakra to manipulate natural water.

There was no Jutsu involved.

It was pure manipulation of natural elements via an incredibly high nature transformation affinity for water.

This was an incredible feat that many S-rank Shinobi struggled to achieve.

She had at least reached LV6 in water nature affinity. In that case, she should also be able to control the temperature of the water…

As soon as these thoughts popped into Seimei's mind, the water around Reina abruptly cooled down and turned into ice.

Then, the ice around her suddenly shattered into fine powder. The powdered ice danced around Reina. When the sunlight passed through them, it was refracted into multi-colored, rainbow-like light, making the atmosphere around Reina even more mystical and mesmerizing.

At last, Reina opened her eyes and turned to stare at Seimei with pitch-black pupils that shone like the night sky filled with radiant stars.

Her lips curled into a smile as she said, "You're here, Seimei."

The other five friends looked at Reina first and then turned their heads toward Seimei.

Ishimori Haneda waved at Seimei, who was still a couple of hundred meters away, and shouted, "Yo, Seimei. Long time no see!"

"I almost thought that your almost masochistic urge for training non-stop flared up again, and you forgot about the get-together."

Hearing the last sentence, Seimei, who was about to wave back, suddenly froze.

His lips couldn't help but twitch uncontrollably.

He just thought…

Our usually reserved and quiet Haneda had been corrupted by this bastard monkey, Yuto.

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