80. Little Thief

"Knock, knock, knock~"

Pounding heavily on the door of his mansion, Uchiha Gin reminded himself to stay calm.

"I'm coming, I'm coming!"

As the familiar voice sounded, the door was yanked open, and there stood Senju Itama, his face greasy from food, excitedly saying, "You're early today! Hurry up and give me the fish—"

But the moment he saw Uchiha Gin standing there, the kid's expression instantly changed.

Bang!

The door, which had just been opened, was slammed shut. Hiding behind it, Itama's eyes widened in shock. How could this guy already be back?

Knock, knock, knock!!!

As the knocking became more frantic, the boy leaned against the door, trembling, moving from shock to pure terror. Suddenly, with a loud crash, a hole appeared in the heavy wooden door, punched through by a fist. A head poked through the gap, grinning mischievously.

"Here's Johnny!"

"Ahhh! Ugh..."

Although he didn't understand what the words meant, that didn't stop Senju Itama from being terrified. As expected, the kid fainted again.

Looking at the unconscious boy lying on the floor, Uchiha Gin raised an eyebrow.

"I haven't even gotten into the really scary stuff yet, and he's already out. Too easy."

When Itama eventually woke up, he saw Uchiha Gin happily devouring the grilled fish he had ordered. Guiltily, the boy swallowed hard and dared not say a word.

"You're living quite the life, huh? Even have food delivery service?"

Swallowing the last bite of fish, Uchiha Gin used a fishbone to pick his teeth as he casually asked.

"Not really, just for a few days."

Senju Itama shrank back, mumbling quietly. Suddenly remembering something, he quickly explained, "The restaurant offers delivery, and I didn't want to cause any trouble by going out, so I ordered a month's worth of meals."

"Smart kid, aren't you?"

Uchiha Gin stood up, sighing in admiration, and grabbed a broom.

"Well, of course! I'm... Ahhh, stop hitting me!"

Before he could finish his proud statement, Uchiha Gin's blows rained down on his backside, making the boy yelp in pain.

After putting the boy in his place, Uchiha Gin felt rejuvenated and ordered him to clean the entire house. Gin himself headed to the long-forgotten backyard.

During his hospital stay, he hadn't had the chance to grind on NPCs, and he wondered if today might finally bring some good loot.

After waiting for a while and seeing no signs of anything spawning, Uchiha Gin frowned, thinking there might be a problem with the system.

Just then, he heard a faint sound behind him, and strangely, he could see what was happening behind him in his peripheral vision.

A small figure emerged from a familiar ripple of light, appearing behind Uchiha Gin, cautiously watching him.

"Izuna?"

Seeing the person, Uchiha Gin's first thought was that his little cousin had come to visit. But upon noticing the other's attire and the forehead protector from a different era, he realized this was an NPC from the system.

"Sasuke?"

So, after the big one, now comes the little one, huh? He eyed the boy dressed in a blue shirt and grey shorts—the classic look from Sasuke's early days as a genin.

But what could this kid offer? Gin wasn't sure if Sasuke had even learned Chidori at this stage. Without that, the rest of his skills weren't that impressive.

Without saying a word, the younger Sasuke charged at Uchiha Gin with emotionless eyes.

"Fine, I'll humor you. Think of it as rehab."

With a sigh, Uchiha Gin didn't even bother activating his Sharingan. With just one hand, he easily took down young Sasuke.

Unsurprisingly, Sasuke was knocked out after the first exchange.

"Is that it?"

Though he knew this was just an NPC, Uchiha Gin couldn't resist some sarcastic taunting. The boy, lying on the ground, suddenly lifted his head with difficulty, a flicker of awareness in his otherwise empty eyes. He gave Gin a complicated look before the ripple of light reappeared and swallowed him, leaving no trace.

"Daily backyard refresh: random skill acquired—[Indra's Chakra]. You've obtained [Indra's Chakra] *1."

"???"

What the heck? He dropped this? Uchiha Gin was momentarily stunned.

The fragment floating in his system didn't seem like a skill at all. Swallowing hard, Gin stared at the fragment. Other than displaying its name, there was no explanation, nor did it say how many fragments were needed to collect the whole.

Clenching his fist, Uchiha Gin felt a surge of determination. It looked like farming these fragments was going to become his next big grind.

As a cool sensation washed over him, the sweat from his earlier sparring with Sasuke vanished without a trace. In high spirits, Uchiha Gin returned home, where he decided not to bully the Senju kid any further. Instead, he retreated to his room to review his recent spoils.

Within the system space...

The once-empty chessboard was now piled high with loot. After a week of "hard" battles, Uchiha Gin had completed two rounds of Steel Heart events. Most of what he'd received were gold bars—so many, in fact, that he no longer cared about money. His attention shifted to a few special items he had obtained.

To his left was the Blademail from a few days ago. Two more had dropped since then, along with a blue claw-shaped necklace and a colorful card.

[Dragon Claw]: Gain 9% max HP. Recover 5 HP every two days.

[Metabolic Accelerator]: Gain 2 HP per day. (Unique Binding)

Curious about the concept of HP, Uchiha Gin asked the system for clarification.

"HP refers to your health bar. The higher your HP, the thicker your health bar. The host's lifespan is affected by HP."

The system, long unseen, explained this to him.

"How much lifespan does 1 HP equal?"

Uchiha Gin seized the opportunity to ask.

"HP and lifespan are 1:1. That is, 1 HP = 1 day."

"Good heavens!"

Doesn't this mean that by wearing these two items, he could gain an extra 4.5 days of life for every day lived? Uchiha Gin instantly felt invincible. With a full set of health regeneration gear, could he survive until Boruto's grandson took over as the protagonist?

"Only one life-recovery item or Hextech card can be equipped at a time."

The system poured cold water on his ambitions, swiftly killing his dream.

Clicking his tongue in disappointment, Uchiha Gin woke from his daydream, shaking his head. Of course, it made sense to only allow one item with such overpowered effects.

"Ahhh!"

Back in reality, Uchiha Gin lifted the blue, fang-shaped necklace to his neck. Immediately, a warm energy surged through him, leaving him feeling tingly and weak. The sensation was so pleasurable that he couldn't help but moan.

"Hey, hey, keep it down! There's a kid in the house, remember?"

Senju Itama's voice suddenly came from outside, startling Uchiha Gin. In his shock, he accidentally dropped the Metabolic Accelerator card onto the floor.

"Watch your step. Don't litter the floor with trash, okay?"

Senju Itama casually pushed open the door, expertly sweeping up the mess. He noticed the pile of papers, some of which looked like artifacts.

"Tsk! These papers—are they worth anything?"

Senju Itama made quick work of cleaning up the supposed artifacts, but then his eyes landed on the golden card Uchiha Gin had just dropped. Intrigued, he picked it up.

"It'd be such a shame to lose something so valuable. I'll take it with me!"

Without waiting for permission, he pocketed the card and turned to leave.

The whole sequence of actions was so fast, it was like a seamless flow. Uchiha Gin, still recovering from his earlier pleasure, only managed to react after Itama was already walking out the door. He yelled loudly,

"Give that back! You little thief!"

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