A few days later, Uchiha Chi and Sarutobi Shinnosuke crossed paths in a match once again. This time, although Uchiha Chi allowed Sarutobi Shinnosuke to fully display his true strength, he put on a convincing performance of having bitterly practiced The Three Techniques over the past few days.
His Transformation Technique, which he excelled at most, was not a whit inferior to his opponent's. Combined with his Taijutsu and the other two among The Three Techniques, he ultimately put on a show of struggling mightily to fend off his opponent's onslaught until Sarutobi Shinnosuke's Chakra was completely exhausted, securing his victory.
Sarutobi Shinnosuke, who had just tasted the sweetness of success, found his expression looking utterly dismal despite trying his best to control it. He paid no attention whatsoever to the teacher's critique. Having lost his composure, he now felt a certain degree of resentment toward the instructor.
He felt that had the teacher not given pointers to Uchiha Chi last time, Uchiha Chi wouldn't have improved so drastically and found the most suitable countermeasure against him, ultimately beating him.
Instead, he felt that the homeroom teacher did not pay enough attention to him—the Hokage's son—and had failed to offer any genuinely useful advice. At that moment, he desperately wanted to get that teacher ousted, though it was just a passing thought.
It never crossed his mind to reflect on the fact that he had never actually listened seriously to the teacher's advice in the first place.
However, thinking that there was something far more important to take care of—namely, how to persuade Uchiha Chi to let him win their next match—he pushed those thoughts aside.
Just as Uchiha Chi had anticipated, Sarutobi Shinnosuke took the bait. He craved the feeling of being showered with public praise far too much. Unable to consult anyone else, he had to rack his own brains, but after pondering for a long time, he still couldn't come up with a good plan.
In the end, he decided to ask Uchiha Chi out for a private conversation to see if he could get Uchiha Chi to cede the victory of their next duel to him.
Having figured things out, Sarutobi Shinnosuke seized an opportunity to send a message to Uchiha Chi. Upon receiving a reply from Uchiha Chi, the stone hanging in his chest finally dropped. Thus, after school, the two of them sneaked off to the grove behind the school and began their secret parley.
At first, Sarutobi Shinnosuke rattled on endlessly, talking a mile a minute, but completely avoided mentioning money. This left Uchiha Chi feeling profoundly helpless. *If you don't talk about money, isn't that damaging our relationship? Not that we even have a relationship to begin with! And most importantly, you at least need to give me a reason to let you win!*
Left with no choice, Uchiha Chi could only hint to him, "Shinnosuke, it's not that I don't want to help you, but I want that victory too. If I win, my mother will reward me with a lot of money, and then I can buy Mizutani Hayun and Tachibana Taki some things they've been wanting. I'll even be able to treat them to barbecue. The last time they had it, they said the food there was amazing and wanted to go again, but I'm out of money."
Hearing this, Sarutobi Shinnosuke understood immediately and said with grand generosity, "Chi, my friend! Whatever amount your mother gives you, I'll pay double! Please, I really need this victory."
Hearing this, Uchiha Chi was overjoyed inside, knowing the matter was in the bag. He tentatively raised a single finger, intending to say, "How about ten thousand ryo?"
Before the words could leave his mouth, however, Sarutobi Shinnosuke asked with a slightly troubled expression, "One hundred thousand ryo?" Then, gritting his teeth, he continued, "No problem! But I don't have cash on me today, so I'll bring you two hundred thousand ryo tomorrow."
Although Uchiha Chi almost bit his tongue, he had no intention of blaming the other party. In fact, for the sake of the money, for a split second, he felt that Sarutobi Shinnosuke wasn't all that annoying after all.
It was only for a split second, though. Then he spoke up, "Shinnosuke, you really are magnanimous. I've made up my mind to count you as a friend. That being said, I won't say any more; it's a deal. Let's slap hands on it as a pledge, what do you say?"
"Deal." Following that, the two slapped their palms together three times, cementing the agreement.
In their next bout, it ended, true to expectations, with Sarutobi Shinnosuke's hard-fought victory. Of course, since Sarutobi Shinnosuke had only paid for a single match, Uchiha Chi had no intention of throwing any further fights for free. Consequently, in the subsequent matches, he naturally suffered defeat once again.
Afterward, Sarutobi Shinnosuke met up with Uchiha Chi in private once more. Following a round of negotiations, Uchiha Chi—in the interest of sustainable development—reached a further agreement with him: from then on, whenever Sarutobi Shinnosuke wanted to win a sparring match, money would have to change hands. For regular occasions, Sarutobi Shinnosuke would pay the commission equivalent to a C-rank mission for every match he won.
During routine school exams, the tier would be raised to a B-rank equivalent; and for graduation exams, it would count as an A-rank—all calculated, of course, based on the lowest tier of mission payouts.
Finally, Uchiha Chi also retained Sarutobi Shinnosuke's right to challenge him at any time. The moment Sarutobi Shinnosuke managed to defeat him on his own merit, the agreement would become void.
The reason Uchiha Chi engineered this arrangement—while making some quick cash was indeed one of the objectives, given that Uchiha Chiri's allowance wasn't particularly generous, and he wasn't thick-skinned enough to ask for more like Uchiha Mikoto, plus his recent expenses had been somewhat hefty, making self-reliance and opening up new revenue streams desirable—was not its primary purpose.
His main goal was to use this method to project a carefully constructed persona for everyone to see. He was certain that, as Uchiha Chiri's son, his profile had landed squarely on Sarutobi Hiruzen's desk on his very first day of school.
It was just that the Hokage faction was still evaluating his potential and had yet to disturb him, largely because he still had a formidable mother to shield him.
However, once the Hokage faction discovered his true potential, they would certainly not sit idly by. Both his mother and his older sister cut figures that were simply too dazzling.
One possessed immense strength...
Uchiha Chiri was currently the undisputed top powerhouse of the Uchiha Clan, a figure in Konohagakure who could contend for the absolute number one spot, someone even Sarutobi Hiruzen might not be able to defeat.
Uchiha Mikoto had awakened her Sharingan at the age of eight—a singular anomaly in this era and currently holding the highest talent within the Uchiha Clan. In a clan clustered with geniuses, that number-one status carried immense weight. Fortunately, her other traits weren't quite so terrifying, which allowed many people to breathe a sigh of relief.
For the sake of his personal safety, Uchiha Chi felt he couldn't afford to appear too monstrously abnormal. He could still present himself as a normal genius, however; in the eyes of those people, given Uchiha Chi's background, an ordinary genius was essentially mediocre.
Thus, Uchiha Chi benchmarked his false persona against Sarutobi Shinnosuke: talented with decent potential, but saddled with a glaring flaw of being a bit of a womanizer.
Yet, this wouldn't arouse untoward ambitions in certain people. After all, his performance was still a notch below that of Uchiha Kagami, Uchiha Shisui, or Uchiha Itachi—not quite enough to make certain people genuinely wary. Besides, the risks involved in moving against Uchiha Chi were rather high, seeing as Uchiha Chiri was just that little bit terrifyingly strong.
Even if someone happened to pierce through the first layer of his disguise, there was a second layer waiting: talent slightly superior to Sarutobi Shinnosuke's, coupled with a love for money and a weakness for women. This would paint him as someone lacking breadth of character—meaning that even with decent strength, he would ultimately amount to very little.
And the best part? The ultimate guarantor of this persona was the Hokage's own son, which would push the credibility of this intelligence infinitely close to one hundred percent.
In fact, if anyone wanted to win him over, they would surely appeal to his vices. At that point, Uchiha Chi figured the room for maneuver would be vast.
Uchiha Chi believed that having these two layers of camouflage, backed by the protection of Uchiha Chiri, should be enough to carry him safely into adulthood. By that time, he would have the power to protect himself. And if he didn't, he wouldn't even be worth anyone's wariness.