New Home
Are you serious?
You can't be serious. The matron told me about this, but I didn't expect it to actually be true.
"You'll be living in this apartment until you graduate from the Academy, become a ninja, and have a source of income," the proctor from earlier explained, handing me a single key.
State-provided housing was nice and all, but how do you expect a literal child to live alone? This was some nightmare-mode kind of shit. I knew a fair bit about taking care of a place by myself, but I was seriously lacking in one department.
Height.
Maybe a lot of height.
God fucking damn it.
"I have two more things to give you," she said, a puff of smoke appearing on her palms. Storage seals, and a pouch with what seemed to be bronze coins appeared in her hands. "Only for this time, I'll give you the stipend for this month. Next time, you'll have to go collect it at the administration office yourself,"
"'Kay," I answered, taking the pouch. "Is all of this provided to orphans?"
"Of course it is," she chuckled, patting my head as if I was a child. Which, I was. "The village can't just leave you to fend for yourself, so we provide you with various things, such as a place to live in until you can support yourself, with running water, electricity, a compact bathroom and even a small kitchen. Then, there's the monthly monetary subsidy, which you'll have to learn how to manage on your own and be responsible with."
I looked at the pouch in my hand, my expression completely deadpan. I'm supposed to stick to this budget? I don't even know how the economy works here, or where the markets are.
By the way, this woman's name is actually Mika Ishikawa. She's the one who proctored the admission exam, and the one who will be my classroom teacher.
Her name is literally the only thing I know about her so far.
"So," I continued in a flat tone. "How much is this, actually? I don't really know how to count."
It was really just an excuse for her to tell me how much each coin is worth. As far as I know, there's bronze, silver and gold Ryō, along with the paper equivalent, which would be bills.
"Good question," she said, "In that pouch, there are 10 silver Ryō coins, each worth 100 Ryō, which totals to 1,000 Ryō. Plus, there are 20 bronze Ryō coins each worth 10 Ryō, so that's an additional 200 Ryō. Altogether, you're holding 1,200 Ryō for the month."
"Oh, so then the next coin would be worth 1000 Ryō, right?"
"Not exactly, a gold Ryō coin would be valued at 10,000 Ryō. Then, there's also paper bills, which are usually used for large sums but sometimes for change. You'll see 1 Ryō bills, 2 Ryō bills, 5 Ryō bills, 25 Ryō bills, 50 Ryō bills, 500 Ryō, 2500 Ryō, and then larger sums even bigger than the gold coin. You got that so far?"
"Mhm," I nodded. "It's good information to know."
"It is essential in civilization," Mika answered. "That said, you are much more mature about this than your peers. The most of them didn't even bother asking about money, and some even panicked at the idea of living alone."
No shit. You're throwing literal children into the world to care for themselves. Not that I would say that out loud to her face, I don't want to die early.
"I suppose."
"Anyway, here's the last thing that I'll give you."
"Huh?"
Another puff of smoke, and a box with wrapped... bars? appeared in her hands.
"What are those?" I asked, skeptical. What the hell is she trying to give me?
"Ration bars." Mika stated, as if matter-of-factly while handing me the box. "They've got every nutrient you'll need, plenty of carbohidrates and proteins, and they're easy and compact to store. In this bag are around 30 of them, one for each day of the month. This is the food of ninjas, developed by Tsunade-hime herself, and to the village's shame, Orochimaru too aided with their creation."
I didn't think I could get any more impassive, but motherfucking ration bars? For children? This is a military village, but giving this kind of food to kids is fucking insane.
"Don't look down on them. They may taste bland, but they'll save you from every kind of situation, especially when you're alone and starving. There's a reason they're called the food of ninjas!" She waved her finger around, as if talking to a kid.
I've repeated this, but of course I am one. It's weird, I should be used to this by now but my mental age keeps conflicting with my actual age.
"I guess that's cool, then. I have to rely on these whenever I can't afford the time to cook?"
"You know how to cook?"
Crap, I slipped.
"Uh, yeah—yeah! One of the caretakers taught me a few recipes back at the orphanage, because I often tried to watch them and pick up a couple things."
Mika seemed to ponder for a moment, before finally replying.
"Well, it's always nice to learn new things," she chuckled, "Just don't go burning down the kitchen, you hear? Otherwise, the money to repair the damages will come straight out of your pocket."
"I won't," I forced a pout. Embarrassing to do this, but it still makes me feel like I'm more of a child.
"Also, just like the monthly stipend, you'll also come to the Academy to collect these ration bars every start of the month. Remember that classes begin tomorrow, at 8 AM."
E-EIGHT AM?! Motherfucker, that's supposed to be the schedule for high school students, not children! This world really needs some child protection laws or a budget version of the UNICEF, because this is ridiculous!
Even at the orphanage, we didn't wake up earlier than 10 AM. Now, you expect me to wake up at like 7 AM to prepare for everything? Fuck this world!
"I-I'll be there," I forced a smile, looking at my teacher.
She snorted, "You better. A good ninja needs to always be on schedule."
-------Somewhere else.-------
"Achoo!"
Kakashi sneezed, rubbing his nose absentmindedly as he flipped through his favorite book. It was a good way of coping with his work as an ANBU captain, so he usually read it on his rare free time.
"Wonder if someone's talking about me."
---------------------------------
I'd make a joke about Kakashi, but it wouldn't really fit. He must be in the ANBU right now, and he probably won't retire until the Uchiha Massacre happens—which I'm not really looking forward to.
"Take care, okay? Don't waste the money needlessly, and give it a good use."
"I won't waste it. See you, Mika-sensei."
She kneeled down, and gave me a quick hug, before getting back up and stepping away, vanishing in a swirl of leaves.
What the...?
That was actually kind of cool. Body Flicker? I have to learn that.
"I gotta check this place and figure out what to do, though."
My right hand went into my pocket (because of course, my other hand was busy with the box of ration bars and pouch of coins all at once), and picked out the key for the apartment.
Click.
I opened the door with a slight creak, stepping inside and closing the door behind me.
I took a look around, and genuinely? It wasn't all that bad. It was minimalistic, sure, but it could be very comfy to live in for a singular person.
"Pretty damn good," I muttered.
There was a small table with a single chair, a compact bed pushed up against the far wall, and a kitchen area with shelves and a counter along one side. The sink sat right next to a tucked-away fridge, and the bathroom wasn't that bad. Had both a shower, a toilet and another sink.
I jumped and plopped right down onto the bed with a deep sigh, sinking into the mattress.
There was quite a few pros to this, but cons as well.
I'd rather be positive, so I think I'll start listing the pros that come with living alone.
First, privacy. Lots more privacy, compared to before. No kids to annoy me and no one to look at what I'm doing. This means I can get in a lot of training without anyone batting an eye, and start working on chakra control—the ones I could do in here would most likely be the leaf technique, walking on the walls, chakra threads, or hell, even the steps of the Rasengan.
The Rasengan was pure chakra manipulation, after all. Rotation, power and maintaining all of that while containing it.
Then, second. I could manage my own diet, and eat better food because I can cook. No way that I'm gonna be eating these bars every day—I haven't even had one yet, but whenever you think of the word ration you think of something dry, flavorless and bland. Not in the mood to have that kind of meal every day.
Finally, third—I could set my own schedule and explore the village freely. No one would hold me back with chores or other stuff, and I'd be able to study what I want.
...I still need to learn how to read the japanese symbols. Hopefully we'll be taught at the academy.
So, the cons...
I wouldn't really consider it a con, but I'm alone here. Living by yourself is a lot of responsibility, even when basically everything is provided by the government here. I'd have to go shopping for groceries myself while sticking to a strict budget, keep the place clean, and uh, the place was small, so I'd have to use the space wisely until I learn Fuinjutsu and make storage seals for myself.
Seals were probably expensive, and definitely not attainable with my budget. There's a reason I hadn't seen any kind of seal at the orphanage—or they were just hidden, maybe there's seals for electricity, heat and other convenient stuff.
"This is ridiculous," I sighed. "Why didn't I get reincarnated into a noble family or whatever? My life would be so much easier."
Yeah, being lazy wasn't really an option in this world.
As for the second con, I haven't yet figured out the prices of food items. I'd need things like beef, grains, vegetables and fruits, but if I don't know the costs, how am I even supposed to make a proper budget?
I got up reluctantly from the bed, and headed over to the fridge.
I opened it, and it was... You guessed it.
Empty.
Third con, I have no fucking food to speak of. At least the fridge was functioning.
"Guess I'll go outside and search for the market." I said in disappointment, closing the door of the fridge.
Again, I don't know how to read, but numbers don't lie. They never do.
I don't like the outside world or talking to people, but you have to do what you gotta do.
Damn it all.
This stupid isekai just keeps getting worse and worse, doesn't it?