Want to Cheat? Top Up First
February 17, 1968
Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Third Hokage, jotted down this date in his small, weathered notebook. To him, it was a day worth remembering because…
Naruto had taken to the streets.
Even though the boy wore a mask, Hiruzen considered it a milestone worth noting.
The nine-year-old strode through Konoha's busy thoroughfares in a simple white cat-faced mask.
He'd bought it just earlier, replacing his old warehouse mask — which, in his opinion, looked far too creepy.
Dressed in his usual mismatched-yet-consistent fashion — a plain white T-shirt and black pants — Naruto moved with purpose through the crowd. He didn't know much about color coordination, but he had one golden rule: black and white never go out of style.
For now, he was still quietly carrying out his long-term plan — one that involved sealing away something big. Whether it succeeded or not was up to fate… and honestly, he didn't care too much.
Right now, his target was a knife shop. Preferably the one owned by Tenten's family.
He'd always had a good impression of the bun-haired girl. In the future — at least in his memories of the Fourth Shinobi World War — she'd practically hit the loot jackpot, acquiring nearly all of the Sage of Six Paths' treasured tools. Rumor even had it she picked up the horn from Madara's head after the Infinite Tsukuyomi was cast.
If luck were a currency, Tenten would be a billionaire. And Naruto was more than happy to borrow a little.
After circling the district and failing to find her family shop, Naruto settled for a random weapon store.
Of course, he didn't consider that most shops were nearly empty at this hour — 9:30 a.m. Ninjas were on missions, and students were in class.
A cheerful voice greeted him as soon as he stepped inside.
"Welcome, sir! How can I help you today?"
"Four sealing scrolls and a set of leg weights — 50 kilograms each," Naruto replied without hesitation.
He wasn't the kind to browse endlessly. Even in his previous life, grocery shopping took him less than ten minutes.
The shopkeeper moved quickly, fetching the items in under a minute.
"That'll be—" The man named a figure.
Naruto nearly cried on his way out. Seven years of painstakingly saved pocket money… and it only bought him five scrolls. The weights weren't expensive, but sealing scrolls apparently were.
"Tenten really is rich," he muttered. In games from his past life, rich and lucky characters dominated the leaderboards. In this world, however, money and luck didn't guarantee survival. Here, the real winners were the ones with cheats.
He found a quiet alley, warped home through a portal, and began examining his purchases.
The sealing scrolls were the standard type for storing ninja tools, consuming chakra to seal and unseal items. The shopkeeper had even given him an instruction manual.
Chakra cost wasn't a problem — Naruto had plenty of that. The real issue was having only two usable techniques: the Shadow Clone Jutsu and a half-baked Transformation Technique. Substitution? He dismissed it.
"Substitution is for cowards," he'd told himself. "Men go head-on. If you can dodge, dodge. If you can't, tank it. Unless it's space-time ninjutsu, what's the point?"
Why fake-switch with a log when you could throw a smoke bomb, distract the enemy with a clone, and walk away?
His bottomless chakra pool mostly went into making clones… which then cooked, cleaned, and helped him test weird ideas.
Over time, his mindset and Kurama's had rubbed off on each other. The once-proud Nine-Tails was now a stay-at-home fox, while Naruto had absorbed Kurama's reckless streak. The fox's training rule was simple: If you're not dead, you can keep going.
If not for his absurd stamina, Konoha's Nine-Tails Jinchūriki might already have been a corpse.
He started testing the scrolls by sealing 600 skewers of grilled meat — payment for a favor he wanted from Sasuke.
Next came the weights. They weren't as heavy as Rock Lee's — which Naruto estimated to be at least 500 pounds each based on Lee's speed against Gaara — but they were a start.
Naruto figured he trained harder than Lee, if only because Gai knew human limits. Kurama… didn't.
After school, Naruto caught up with Hinata briefly before heading to find Sasuke, who was sitting in a quiet corner of the academy grounds.
"Sasuke, rooftop. I have something to tell you," Naruto said plainly before walking off, leaving the classroom buzzing with curiosity.
On the roof, Sasuke arrived two minutes later, posture calm but eyes guarded.
Naruto handed him a scroll.
"This has eight kinds of grilled meat," he explained.
Sasuke's brows rose. Did Naruto think he couldn't afford barbecue?
"Two of them are special," Naruto continued. "One boosts spiritual strength, the other physical constitution. You understand what that means, right?"
Sasuke did. Sharingan growth was tied to spiritual power. Boosting that would make awakening and using it easier.
"What's the catch?" Sasuke asked.
"Six hundred skewers. Should last you two months. After that, come see me. I can't 'see' the difference between the eight types. I want you to."
Naruto knew Sasuke had already awakened his Sharingan on the night of the Uchiha massacre, but using it too often at his age could strain his body. The plan was to let him build up first, then observe the effects.
If Sasuke's Sharingan couldn't tell the difference, Naruto would test with Hinata's Byakugan. If that failed… well, Rinnegan users were out of the question.
Sasuke understood immediately — and agreed.
"Happy cooperation," Naruto said, opening a shimmering portal and stepping through.
Sasuke, left on the rooftop, eyed the scroll. He'd test for poison first — trust was one thing, but he wasn't stupid.
For Naruto, this was just the start. If it worked, he'd have one more step toward figuring out his system's strange items. If not… well, there was always tree-cutting.