Konoha: Starting with Sage Mode

"It's always good for girls to be careful when they're out and about."

Upon hearing this, Uchiha Homura laughed and then handed Chizuru over to Uchiha Kari, who was looking at Chizuru with concern, and asked him to take Chizuru back to her room to rest.

"Clan Chief Yan, I have successfully completed the task you asked me to do before. Shouldn't you settle the payment you mentioned? I have done such a big favor for your Uchiha clan, so you should thank me properly."

After Uchiha Kari left with Chizuru, Kirito looked at Uchiha Homura with expectant eyes and said something with a hopeful expression.

Uchiha Homura felt a little uncomfortable under Kirito's gaze, so he coughed and replied, "I remember Chizuru saved your life during the Nine-Tails' inheritance operation, didn't she?"

"That was because I deliberately gave Chizuru a chance to save me. Otherwise, how could that Cloud Village spy have possibly hurt me?"

Kirito pouted.

He was telling the truth. His main body was unable to move at the time, but his White Zetsu clone was inside him, ready to use defensive ninjutsu to block enemy attacks at any time.

He only refrained from using his White Zetsu clone because he realized Chizuru had already made her move, allowing Chizuru to gain significant merit and clear the Uchiha clan of suspicion of colluding with Madara Uchiha, thus changing many ninjas' perception of the Uchiha clan.

In short, the Uchiha clan should be grateful that he didn't step in to save them from that predicament.

This old man is trying to fob him off with this payment, but he won't accept it.

"It seems you didn't give it your all back then. You're truly a promising young talent. Please continue to take good care of Chizuru in the future."

Uchiha Homura gave Kirito a deep look and smiled.

To be honest, he really didn't expect Kirito to say that. He did want to use Chizuru saving the other party to put pressure on Kirito. It wasn't that he wanted to cut back on Kirito's reward, but rather that he wanted to create a contrast and let Kirito understand how sincere the Uchiha clan was.

He had already prepared the reward for Kirito, which was guaranteed to satisfy him.

The Uchiha clan, a powerful ninja clan with a history spanning over a thousand years, has annihilated countless other ninja clans during that time, and is never short of various resources and strengths.

However, the Uchiha clan has its own heritage and foundation, and most of its members disdain the heritage and foundation of other ninja clans. Therefore, the heritage and foundation that the Uchiha clan has taken from other ninja clans are basically hidden away in the clans' warehouses and gathering dust.

However, while the Uchiha clan may not value these inherited traditions, others might.

He believed that some of the best pieces would definitely appeal to Kirito.

"Damn it, I've fallen for this old guy's trick."

Upon hearing Homura Uchiha's words, Kirito cursed under his breath and then promptly shut his mouth.

When dealing with this old fox, it's best to keep quiet, then get your payment smoothly and leave.

"Come with me. The Uchiha clan always repays kindness. I have already prepared your reward."

Seeing that Kirito had regained his vigilance, Homura Uchiha nodded in satisfaction.

The worst thing a ninja can do is lose their guard, and Kirito clearly showed signs of that just now. This may be because he was having a pleasant time with Chizuru and unconsciously let his guard down, which led to him accidentally letting something slip.

However, from another perspective, it's good that Kirito has changed like this, as it shows that his attitude towards the Uchiha clan is changing in a positive direction.

Chizuru's efforts were not in vain.

That's very good.

Homura Uchiha was ultimately wrong. Kirito's lowering of his guard was largely due to the death of Sakura Uchiha.

Sakura Uchiha's death in battle to save her comrades in Konoha greatly affected Kirito, causing him to truly begin to change his opinion of the Uchiha clan.

The fact that there are still members of the Uchiha clan willing to sacrifice themselves for their non-Uchiha comrades suggests that the Uchiha clan can still be saved and has the potential to integrate into Konoha.

"I hope the Uchiha clan has more Uchiha like Sakura-neechan who are willing to think about outsiders. That way, we might be able to use them for propaganda in the village."

Kirito thought to himself as he followed Uchiha Homura into the house.

Soon, he followed Uchiha Homura to a somewhat dark underground storage room.

By the candlelight, Kirito saw many well-preserved scrolls and books, neatly arranged on shelves. Many of these items exuded a strong sense of history.

If left out in the open, these scrolls and books would certainly be collected by collectors as valuable antiques.

Kirito loved reading the most. Looking at these ancient scrolls and books, he felt a strong urge to take a look. He really hoped that Uchiha Homura would agree to let him take a look.

"Alright, we're here. This is the first thing I'm going to give you."

Uchiha Homura suddenly stopped, turned to Kirito, and pointed ahead.

Upon hearing this, Kirito immediately looked in the direction that Uchiha Homura was pointing and saw a huge scroll.

"Is this a summoning scroll for summoning beasts?"

Kirito looked at the huge scroll and asked in confusion.

"That's right, it's a summoning scroll for summoning beasts. This is a summoning scroll passed down through generations of the Uchiha clan, used to sign a summoning contract with the Ninja Cat clan. As long as you write your name on it, you can receive the help of the Ninja Cat clan in the future."

Uchiha Homura acknowledged Kirito's recognition of the summoning scroll.

After saying that, he stepped forward, unfurled the summoning scroll, revealing numerous names written in blood, and the most recently written name was none other than Uchiha Chizuru.

"The Ninja Cat Clan, huh? Interesting."

Kirito looked at the name on the summoning scroll, pondering thoughtfully, then an excited expression appeared on his face.

He didn't know much about the Ninja Cat Clan, only that it was a very large summoning beast clan with members widely distributed throughout the ninja world.

In short, wherever there is human activity, there may be traces of this race.

The fact that the group's activities are so widespread, and that each member possesses exceptional camouflage, intelligence, and stealth abilities, indicates that this spirit beast group has an extremely strong intelligence-gathering capability.

Cats are a very common small animal among humankind. Because of their excellent mouse-catching ability and cute appearance, they are loved by humans, and many people have become cat slaves, to the point that most humans have no wariness towards them.

Think about the detailed list of Root members that Uchiha Homura had given him before.

Unsurprisingly, it was all the work of the Ninja Cat Clan; they were the eyes of the Uchiha Clan.

If he could sign a summoning contract with the Ninja Cat Clan, regardless of whether he could summon super-powerful Ninja Cats to assist in battle in the future, he would definitely gain an extremely powerful intelligence network.

Uchiha Homura was really generous this time.

They directly handed him a massive intelligence network of immeasurable value.

Chapter 131: Three Pairs of Eyes

"Come on, sign your name on it."

Uchiha Homura gave up her seat and said to Kirito.

These summoning scrolls used to make contracts with summoning beasts are not limited to one per lifetime. As long as a ninja can obtain summoning scrolls from other summoning beasts or directly find some powerful summoning beasts to sign summoning contracts with, it doesn't matter how many they sign.

Therefore, Kirito would naturally not give up the excellent and huge intelligence network of the Ninja Cat Clan.

He immediately stepped forward, bit his finger, and wrote his name in the blank space.

As he finished signing with his five fingers, a strange connection suddenly formed within him, and he faintly heard a cat meow.

"Let's try a summoning. By the way, remember not to use too much chakra. There are also large combat-type ninja cats in the ninja cat clan. My place is small and can't withstand the torment of those large ninja cats. The hand seal sequence is this."

Homura Uchiha reminded Kirito as he completed the summoning contract.

After saying that, he slowly completed the hand seals for a summoning jutsu to summon the ninja cat clan.

Kirito carefully observed the sequence of hand seals, memorized it, and then immediately smeared the blood on his palm and began to perform the hand seals.

"Spiritual communication!"

Kirito finished the hand seals and slammed them onto the ground.

A black psychic spell instantly spread out on the ground.

With a loud "bang".

A puff of white smoke appeared, and then a normal-sized blue cat that stood upright like a human appeared in front of Kirito.

"Huh~, it's not from the Uchiha clan. Kid, call Tom out here. Did you prepare some dried fish and Muten Liao drinks, meow?"

When Blue Cat saw that the person who summoned him was Kirito, who was not from the Uchiha clan, he was immediately surprised, but quickly regained his composure. He then tilted his head back and stretched out a chubby cat paw towards Kirito, asking for a reward.

"Talking Tom?"

Kirito looked at the blue cat with a strange expression and said something.

"It's not Talking Tom, it's Tom Meow, human. If you don't have the Mu Tian Liao drink, then bring me some dried fish, otherwise I won't listen to you and go to work."

Tom, seeing that Kirito couldn't immediately produce anything good, said somewhat impatiently, then his cat eyes subconsciously glanced at Uchiha Homura, the real Uchiha, standing to the side.

When Uchiha Homura saw Tom looking over, he smiled at him.

This was the first time he had seen this blue cat named Tom. However, he had heard some rumors about Tom from his contracted ninja cat. He was said to be one of the few ninja cats in the ninja cat clan with combat talent, and a ninja cat who knew ninjutsu.

"Hello Tom, my name is Kirito Tohsaka. Nice to meet you. By the way, what are your skills? If you don't know anything, you can't get anything from me. Of course, if you are very skilled, you can get the most popular brand of dried fish and Mochi Tenryu beverage from me."

Upon hearing Tom's words, Kirito understood how to get along with him and decisively began to bargain with him.

No sooner had he finished speaking than a blue shadow flashed before his eyes, and then he saw Tom holding a familiar wallet, looking at him with an arrogant expression.

"You've seen too much, meow. I'm really powerful."

Tom opened the wallet and glanced inside, finding only some small-denomination coins. He immediately closed it with a hint of disgust, tossed it back to Kirito, and then looked at Kirito, who was clearly just a little kid, with deep suspicion.

That's it?

This kid really doesn't have much money.

With that kind of money, you think you can treat him to the best brand of dried fish and Mutianliao beverages on the market?

That's a lie, isn't it?

Kirito saw the look in Tom's eyes and knew exactly what he was thinking, so his tender face blushed.

You can't blame him for that; he usually doesn't carry much cash when he goes out these days, mainly because he himself is a walking gold coin.

Shop owners in Konoha generally knew that he was very rich and had high spending habits, so they were all willing to let him buy on credit.

He usually settles his accounts once a month, so he basically doesn't carry any money when he goes out, just a wallet as a token amount, and the little money in the wallet is the change he found when he bought something a long time ago.

However, this Tom cat is quite strong. The speed it just unleashed was at least at the level of a Special Jonin. I didn't expect the ninja cat he summoned so casually to be so powerful. With a little training, it might become a good helper.

"Ahem~, not bad skills, but remember not to steal things from other people in the future, or you'll get beaten up."

Kirito put the wallet away, smiled slightly, and then tossed a gold coin with a cat paw print on its surface back to Tom.

Tom, upon hearing Kirito's words, initially intended to mock Kirito, who seemed like a weak human. However, when he saw the gold coin Kirito threw back, his cat eyes widened in disbelief as he stared at Kirito, unable to utter a word.

When did this human take the cat coins he had hidden on his person?

Could it be that this human is actually incredibly powerful?