Chapter 13 - Yamanaka Flowers

Leaf Village Streets.

As Daichi was walking down the road he took out the horticulture guide book he bought earlier. He started going through the book. It not only had instructions on how to grow and maintain a healthy garden but also information on several kinds of flowers, how to grow them, their uses, and what they represent.

Since this was his first personal project he wanted to make this memorable. He wanted to start from scratch. Daichi was planning on buying the seeds of a few plants and growing them and then expanding.

Daichi remembers seeing the remnants of the flower Lilies in the garden. He decided that would be one of the flowers he would buy. As he looked through the different flora that are native to this land, two caught his attention.

The first plant was Daffodil. The flower that symbolizes rebirth and new beginning. Daichi felt that this flower perfectly represented him. Someone who was reborn and was given a new beginning.

The second one that caught his attention was Agrimony. The flowering plant that belongs in the family of Roses. This flower represents gratitude and thankfulness. A flower, the young boy decided, would be dedicated to the old man.

By the time he was done skimming through the book he had reached the shop. He entered and looked around. There were a few women buying flower bouquets from the counter at the time. And a couple others who were admiring the displays and having a debate on which one to buy. Daichi took a moment to look around the store.

On his right side there were potted plants of all shapes and sizes. Flowers of all decorative nature were displayed in an orderly fashion. To his left he saw a glass shelf and in it several flowers of various attractive colors were arranged.

'The glass shelf must be for temperature control.' Daichi deduced.

He then looked towards the front. He wasn't all that surprised to see that the man in charge of the counter was Inoichi Yamanaka. Head of the Yamanaka clan and father of Ino. After the women at the counter left, Daichi walked forward towards the man.

[??][Inoichi Yamanaka]

[???]

'Observe' skill revealed nothing. 'This is starting to get irritating. I need to get to at least level 25 soon. Then I'll be able to see the information on someone up to level 70.' Daichi was a little frustrated with the constant lack of information he was recently shown. But he didn't show any of that expression on his face.

"Hello little man. Welcome to Yamanaka flowers. How can I help you?" Inoichi was a little surprised to see the kid, as young children often don't come to buy flowers alone. But regardless he was polite since he would be a customer and greeted the child.

Daichi slightly bowed and then straightened. "Hello sir. I would like to buy seeds for 3 flowering plants and some fertilizers."

"Oh. Have you decided on which ones you want.?"

"Yes. Lilies, Daffodils and Agrimony."

"Hmm. I think we have some seeds for those. Let me check. " With those words Inoichi went through the several boxes on the shelf and after a couple of minutes found what he was looking for. He also took a small bag of fertilizers and brought it to the counter.

"Here they are. That will be 500 Ryo."

Daichi paid the money and took the seed packets and placed them in his backpack. He took the fertilizer bag and thanked the clan head and left the store.

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At the same time in Aiko's orphanage.

"Hello Miss Aiko. It's been a long time. How have you been?" Genma asked the orphanage matron.

They were in Aiko's office catching up. Aiko had, on a few occasions, healed Genma when she was working as a medic for the village. So they had some familiarity with each other.

"I have been well, Genma. It's been a long time. If memory serves me right, the last time I saw you was when you were just starting out as a chunin, wasn't it. Now look at you. All grown up and a Jonin. How cute." Aiko smiled lightly, teasing him.

Genma had a smile and a slight almost imperceptible blush on his face. When he was young he had a small crush on Aiko. So when she mentioned his chunin days he couldn't help but become a little embarrassed. He scratched the back of his head and lightly laughed.

"So Genma, not that I mind but what brings you here?"

"Ahh… Well... I'm actually looking for some information. On a child that was recently here."

"Oh. And who might that be?" Aiko was curious.

"His name is Daichi Hekima. Records at the archive show he was assigned to this orphanage. So if you could show me the file I'd really appreciate it." Genma had a polite tone and smile on his face the entire time.

Aiko too had a smile on her face but she was cautious inside. Even though he phrased it as a request she knew it definitely wasn't. She knew that if Genma was personally interested in Daichi, he wouldn't ask for the boy's file like this as there were some restrictions and procedures to follow before seeing them.

But since he asked so directly, 'This must be for the Hokage. But why would he need Daichi's files? He was only gone two days ago. What did he do that caught lord Hokage's attention?' she deduced.

"Hold on, I'll get them for you."

She stood from her chair and walked to the filing cabinet. Opening and after looking through some folders, she found the one that was marked with Daichi's name. She took it out and handed it to Genma.

"Here it is…. Can I ask?...Is he alright? Is there any trouble or something?" Aiko was concerned. Daichi was one of her favorite children.

"No no. Nothing like that. I just wanted to check his background information and learn a bit about him. Nothing more than curiosity."

The Jonin said nothing more as he started reading the file. He went through the few pages quickly. After about 5 minutes he asked. "Can I take this with me?"

"Sure." Aiko nodded. "Do you need anything else?"

"Yes. What can you tell me about him?" He asked.

"What do you want to know?"

Genma now had a slightly serious expression. "Everything."

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After exiting the flower shop Daichi went to a pet store to get a mouse and then to a general shop to buy various miscellaneous items. He wanted to test the capabilities of his inventory ability. Once he got everything he wanted he headed straight to home.

It was only 4 in the afternoon but Daichi didn't want to delay any longer. He wanted to reach home and conduct his tests and start on his pending quests as soon as possible. He took out the horticulture guide book and started reading up on the proper ways to plant and germinate the seeds he bought.

Within half an hour he reached home. He closed his book and put it in his bag. He saw his grandpa standing at the front feeding a few birds in a nearby tree.

"Welcome home Daichi. How was your day?" He asked while a little bird was pecking food off his hand.

"It was interesting. I went to the library. Read up on a lot of stuff. Ate some delicious ramen. Bought a few things. Oh! And I also met the Hokage." Daichi said nonchalantly.

When Kensei heard that, he was surprised. He didn't think the boy would meet the Hokage on his first trip alone through the village. He was curious but he didn't ask what they talked about.

"What's with the sunglasses and fertilizers?"

"The sunglasses because I thought they look cool and fertilizers because I wanted to grow that garden you showed me."

Rep increases with Kensei Yasaji.

"Oh." Kensei said nothing else. When he was done feeding the birds both of them entered their home.

[Quest 'Don't be late' completed.]

[Rewards:]

[+115 Exp]

[Rep increases with Kensei Yasaji.]

[You have leveled up.]

'Yes. Finally, Level 5. Lets see my status page. Status.'

[Name : Daichi Hekima (The Gamer)]

[Class : Civilian]

[Age : 5]

[Title : Capable Child, Explorer]

[Level : 5 (90/1700)]

HP : 375

CP : 230

SP : 225

[Primary Stats]

Strength - 10

Vitality - 8

Dexterity - 5

Agility - 10

Intelligence - 11

Chakra - 3

Wisdom - 11

[Special Stats]

Sense (LOCKED)

Stamina - 4

Indomitable (LOCKED)

Charisma (LOCKED)

Persistence (LOCKED)

Dignity (LOCKED)

Luck (LOCKED)

[Note - (Unlocking Special stats requires certain actions or reaching specific conditions. Different stats are unlocked with different methods. Stat points cannot be allocated to these stats.)]

[Stat Points - 35]

[Ryo - 400]

'Hmm… So my wisdom and intelligence comes first with strength second and the weakest is chakra. I gotta get to work on that first thing tomorrow. '

'Since level up increases special stats I need to unlock those quickly. The sooner the better. But the problem is I don't have any concrete ideas on how to do that. Need to come up with some theories.'

'35 stat points huh. Yeah. I'm definitely not spending any of that any time soon. Unless I'm mistaken stat points get harder and harder to increase with training the bigger they are. So I'll be saving my points for a rainy day. And considering the monsters that roam this world I should be prepared for a flood.'

'I'm getting low on cash. Hope quests or dungeon run rewards some cash. I'm gonna need some untraceable cash in case of an emergency.'

'Got a lot of things to do… Well… no one said it would be easy… Alright Daichi. Just take it one step at a time. You can do this.'

Daichi went to his room to put away his things. He put the mice he bought in a cage and placed it near the table. Then he took the seed packets and fertilizer bag and went outside.

He reached the garden that was overrun with weeds and insects. He started cleaning the place. After about 2 hours he got rid of everything. And since he spent the 2 hours doing physical tasks,

[Due to the continued physical labor, you have obtained +1 VIT]

He got a stat increase in vitality. Daichi was quite happy with his progress.

He then fertilized the soil and planted the seeds. After watering the ground he suddenly got a new notification.

[Quest 'Take care of the Garden' is now ongoing. Rewards would be distributed at the end of the week. This Quest will expire after 6 years.]

Since he got a 1 point increase in his vitality stat Daichi wanted to see what it would do. 'Status' He opened his status page.

[Name : Daichi Hekima (The Gamer)]

[Class : Civilian]

[Age : 5]

[Title : Capable Child, Explorer]

[Level : 5 (90/1700)]

HP : 390

CP : 230

SP : 235

[Primary Stats]

Strength - 10

Vitality - 9

Dexterity - 5

Agility - 10

Intelligence - 11

Chakra - 3

Wisdom - 11

[Special Stats]

Sense (LOCKED)

Stamina - 4

Indomitable (LOCKED)

Charisma (LOCKED)

Persistence (LOCKED)

Dignity (LOCKED)

Luck (LOCKED)

[Stat Points - 35]

[Ryo - 400]

'Hmm… the last time I checked this, my HP was 375 and SP was 225. But now with one vitality point my HP and SP increased to 390 and 235. So each vitality point gives 15 health points and 10 stamina points. Not bad….I need to figure out just how much the rest of the stats give. And exactly how the HP, CP, SP are calculated.'

By the time he was done with all the work the sun had set and night began. Daichi went to his room and got cleaned up and went downstairs. His grandfather had set the food on the table. Both of them ate and talked about various topics.

When they were done Daichi took the dishes and cleaned them.

[Skill Dishwashing's level has risen by one.]

Happy with another skill increase Daichi went to his grandpa.

"Can I take a look at some of the books from your library tomorrow?" He asked.

"What sort of books are you looking for?"

"Books on chakra. I want to understand and unlock my chakra." Daichi said.

"Come with me."

With those words Kensei went to his library. There were numerous books and scrolls with various titles and markings. Kensei went to a particular shelf and took out a few books.

"These are books on chakra theory and control, hand seals and the anatomy of the human body. These three will do for now. Study them thoroughly. Once you're done with them, place them back here. I will see your progress at the end of the month."

With that Kensei gave Daichi 3 books.

Since it was getting late, they both retired to their rooms. Daichi set the newly bought alarm clock to 6 am. He was excited about tomorrow.