Chapter 63: The Ask-and-You Shall-Receive System

Trembling, Uchiha Gin placed a finger beneath the foaming-at-the-mouth Senju Itama's nose and mouth. Finding that the boy was barely breathing, his heart sank heavily.

He quickly stripped off the stinky brat's upper garment and pressed his ear against the soft, tender chest to listen closely. Only after catching the faint sound of a heartbeat did Uchiha Gin let out a sigh of relief.

"Good thing he just scared himself unconscious." Having made a fuss over nothing, Uchiha Gin put Senju Itama's clothes back on, wiped the filth from his face, hauled him into the bedroom bed, and left him to fend for himself.

"The Senju clan has incredible vitality, right?"

Closing the door gently, Uchiha Gin thought with a guilty conscience.

Glancing at the Three-Tails doll in his hand, Uchiha Gin sighed. It was fortunate he had bought a gift; he just hoped this little brat wouldn't wake up tomorrow and make a fuss about seeking death.

Hiding the gift away, Uchiha Gin felt exhausted in both body and mind. He first took a bath, and after finishing, lit some incense and bowed into the void toward the Uchiha ancestor, Indra.

Everything was ready except for the gacha draw. Entering the system space and staring at the Heartsteel orb dropped from the chessboard settlement earlier that day, Uchiha Gin rubbed his hands together, approached with nervous trepidation, and muttered under his breath,

"Watch me get blessed by the European Emperor! Open up!"

Feeling the momentum was right, Uchiha Gin slapped the orb on the left without hesitation. A dazzling golden light instantly enveloped the Heartsteel orb. Seeing the golden light, Uchiha Gin's heartbeat accelerated instantly, his breathing turning ragged. Was he truly about to take off?

[Gold Bricks *5]: Universal currency, usable for real-world purchases.

WTF! As the golden light slowly dissipated, five substantial gold bricks lay neatly lined up on the ground. Uchiha Gin almost choked on his breath, his eyes reddening as he gritted his teeth to forcibly calm his turbulent mood.

Turning his gaze to the other Heartsteel orb, Uchiha Gin thought,

"There's still one more, right? Let's just treat the previous one as a dud; this one is guaranteed to drop something good!"

Clasping his hands together, Uchiha Gin bowed deeply and devoutly toward the sole remaining orb. I am counting on you for a good drop!

"Open!"

Having mentally prepared himself, Uchiha Gin remained completely composed, reaching out to press the orb. A flash of blue light instantly flooded the entire space. After a few moments, the blue light transformed into two glowing orbs that floated quietly before him. He casually opened the first one.

[Hyuga Clan Physique *1]: Grants a trace of the Hyuga clan bloodline upon use, with a minor boost to attributes.

??? The Hyuga Clan?

Seeing the first reward, Uchiha Gin was completely dumbfounded on the spot. Having transmigrated for so long without ever encountering anyone from the Hyuga clan, how could he possibly roll a Hyuga constitution? Besides, didn't the Hyuga bloodline require the Byakugan?

His own eyes were a pair of genuine Sharingan; even if they might have been distant cousins once upon a time, by now they were completely unrelated.

Puting this bizarre reward aside for the moment, Uchiha Gin opened the second glowing orb.

As the faint light faded, a few words slowly materialized. With his sharp eyes, Uchiha Gin caught the characters for "Wood Release" written at the front, and he was instantly so excited he almost jumped in place.

At that moment, his hands were shaking as his mind began to conjure up the glorious mental image of slamming his hands together and wrapping a Susanoo around a Wood Golem.

As Uchiha Gin's breathing grew increasingly rapid, the characters following behind slowly revealed themselves.

[Wood Release: Four-Pillar House]: Instantly creates a complex wooden dwelling. Highly convenient to use.

??????

I can't take this anymore, folks. What kind of junk is this system handing out?

Uchiha Gin rubbed his reddening eyes hard, tilting his head at several different angles to confirm that the ninjutsu before him hadn't been misread.

It was indeed the Wood Release ninjutsu used by Yamato, who was known in the future as the Minor Hashirama, and its primary function was... building houses.

Uchiha Gin pinched the bridge of his nose between his eyes, scrambling for excuses to comfort himself.

"It's fine, it's fine. Wood Release is Wood Release after all, right? At least I won't need to hire anyone to fix the backyard fence now, isn't that right?"

Having forcefully convinced himself, Uchiha Gin beckoned into empty space, absorbing the two rewards into his body. In an instant, a surge of warmth rushed into his eyes. Even without activating his Sharingan, his unawakened eyesight had improved dramatically. It seemed that whether it was the Uchiha or the Hyuga, their bloodlines shared the trait of enhancing vision.

The ninjutsu Wood Release: Four-Pillar House was also engraved into Uchiha Gin's mind. There were no particular restrictions, and it could be used without requiring the Senju bloodline.

Grumbling curses as he left the system space, the "massively rewarded" Uchiha Gin first went to the backyard and attempted to cast the ninjutsu based on his memory.

"Wood Release: Four-Pillar House!"

As his chakra circulated, several pieces of lumber burst forth from the earth in the vacant backyard. Guided by the design in Uchiha Gin's mind, they arranged themselves neatly in order. Several logs marched in an organized circle around the perimeter of the backyard, ultimately locking firmly together to form a row of exquisite wooden fences right then and there.

Looking at the fence, which looked no different from his mental design, Uchiha Gin nodded in satisfaction. Though it lacked the fine detail of Kakashi carving dog heads into an Earth Release wall, it made up for it with aesthetic appeal and elegance.

Clapping his hands and humming a little tune, Uchiha Gin returned inside the house. He first checked on Senju Itama, only to find that the boy had fully recovered and was now fast asleep with drool pooling from his mouth.

"It's great being a kid; you can live without a single care in the world."

Sighing over how hard it was to grow up, Uchiha Gin turned around, collapsed onto the sofa, and fell fast asleep.

The next morning, Uchiha Gin woke up bright and early to make breakfast. He devoured one portion with great relish, left another portion on the table, and after cleaning up, headed out for work.

Walking along the main avenue of the clan compound, he passed fellow clansmen heading out to work one after another. Recalling the series of events from yesterday, Uchiha Gin's mind felt rather chaotic.

He had originally just wanted to understand what had truly happened during the clan massacre six years ago, only to stumble blindly into finding his imprisoned grandfather and having several massive bombshells dropped on him.

The original body owner's Mangekyou Sharingan had been gouged out by a hypocritical uncle who framed his parents to seize the seat of the clan head, and his own eyes were about to be born—meaning if he took them back, he could soar straight to the top and become the clan leader standing above all others.

Before he could even process these bombshells, he ran into Uchiha Fenghuo, a former underling of the original body owner's father, who recounted firsthand events that made the tales told by his grandfather locked in the dungeon seem completely untrustworthy.

"Can we please have fewer dark web tropes? Whatever happened to a lighthearted, comedic story?"

Uchiha Gin viciously rubbed his unruly curly hair, unable to stop himself from ranting.

"Cousin! What are you up to so early in the morning?"

The boisterous voice of Uchiha Izuna interrupted Uchiha Gin's train of thought, yanking him back to reality.

"What else could I be doing? Going to work, of course. I've already turned into a pathetic adult. Izuna, you better cherish your current happy days."

Sighing, Uchiha Gin reached out to ruffle the small, spiky hair of the foolish-looking Uchiha Izuna before him. Did all Uchiha kids look this delightfully foolish when they were young?

"I don't get what you're talking about anyway. I won't have to work when I grow up; my family is rich!"

Uchiha Izuna impatiently slapped away the hand of this disgusting adult, puffed out his chest proudly, and spoke.

"Bam!~~"

Uchiha Gin delivered a classic, righteous knuckle-rap to the head.

"That's why I hate self-righteous little brats."

Shaking his slightly stinging hand, Uchiha Gin ignored Uchiha Izuna, who was squatting on the ground in autistic pain, and walked toward his post.

"Lord Uchiha Gin, have you seen that old jailkeeper?"

Just as Uchiha Gin sat down at his office desk and before he even had time to pull out his teacup, Uchiha Luchai poked his head through the crack of the door and asked cautiously.

"I saw him. Many thanks for Luchai's help."

For the highly efficient Uchiha Luchai, Uchiha Gin did not spare his words of praise.

"With Luchai's immense talent, how could you be left languishing in the position of a mere guard? Why not join my command? Only then can you fully stretch your talents and accomplish great things!"