Chapter 7: Genius Author

The wheel had landed on "Bleach" (A/N: Spoiler - Black Clover will be one in the future, don't worry), earning Kurogami the Bleach Manga Manuscript which put itself straight into his inventory.

New Quest!: Sub Quest - Ninja World's Entertainment - Part 2!]

[Sub Quest Objective: Draw 1 volume of Bleach and publish it officially]

[Sub Quest Rewards: Part 3 of Quest, +10 Levels on Drawing Skill, +5 Levels on Fuinjutsu Skill, Proper Mangaka Materials]

[Accept Quest? Y/N] Without hesitation, he pressed Y and accepted the quest. 

He took out the manuscript and saw that Volume 1 of Bleach was 192 pages long, with 7 chapters in total. With a long, strong exhale, Kurogami got to making the first chapter of Bleach.

After many failed attempts and throwing of scrunched paper into the bin, Kurogami was eventually finished with the first chapter of Bleach: "Death & Strawberry", the start of it all... 'My favourite anime' He cried, proud of his fine, 'borrowed' work.

His Drawing skill increased by 3 from the first chapter, from level 10 to 13 which increased the drawing speed from 20% to 26%. 

And so, for the rest of the week, Kurogami's routine was as such:

Go to school from 9am to 4pm (Potentially 'borrow' paper, pens and pencils) -> Arrive home and draw a Bleach chapter a day -> Sleep

It was as simple as that. But by following that simple routine, Kurogami's gains were as follows:

[Passive Skill: Drawing - Lv. 13 -> 25]

[The drawing skills of user increases, allowing for better, more skilled pieces of art. 26% -> 50% increase in drawing speed]

[Name - Kurogami

Age - 6

Race - Human 

Title - Bully Destroyer

Clan - Clanless (Orphan)

Level - 10 (470/2600)

HP - 1040/1040 -> 1080/1080 (Regen: 118.8/Min)

CP - 1050/1050 (Regen: 105 -> 115.5/Min)

SP - 1060/1060 -> 1100/1100 (Regen: 121/Min)

Control - 10%

STR - 10 -> 14

VIT - 14 -> 18

DEX - 15 -> 19

INT - 5 -> 10

CHA - 12

CC - 2

Luck - 5

Stat Points - 24

Money - 0 Ryo]

The STR, VIT and DEX gains were all from the physical activity lessons. Whereas the INT gains were from when Kurogami would actually listen to the boring, never-ending lectures.

He also gained a title from answering questions and impressing the teachers, coming off as a genius even though all he did was answer basic questions (In his eyes):

[New Title Gained: Little Professor]

[Title: Little Professor - Increases Grades by 5%. Increases Reputation of all 'Teachers' by 5. Increases INT by 1.5x when doing exams or answering questions]

'So I'm a nerd now, basically' Kurogami shrugged at the thought, 'Oh well, being a nerd just means I'm smart' 

It was now Sunday. As Little Ninja Academy, fortunately, operated from Monday to Friday rather than to Saturday like Japan, it allowed him to spend the whole day yesterday to draw half of Volume 2: Goodbye Parakeet, Goodnite my Sista

With Volume 1 of Bleach in hand, Kurogami walked over to the library. The streets of Konoha were quite empty. Because it was Sunday, all the civilians finished work early which allows them to chill with their family at home.

Arriving at the library, Kurogami saw Shizuka Nanao, the librarian, reading a new book with a frown. It had been a while since he came to the library (Last time was the first time he came here), but he shook his head of the thought as he walked over to her desk.

"Hm?" The slamming on her desk got her attention, and not in a good way "Who-" She was ready to berate the culprit, but her expression eased up when she saw a familiar, cute face, "Ah! It's been a while, kid! What's the matter?" She asked

"Do you know a publisher?" He asked in response, her eyebrows raised slightly in disbelief, "I drew something and I wanna see if I can publish it... it's pretty good, at least I think so" He chuckled awkwardly seeing her shocked face.

"R-Right..." She gulped, surprised that a kid as young as Kurogami wanted to publish something - this was the first time this had happened in all her years of being a library - she looked at the large stack of close to 100 pages of paper, "Mind if I take a look?" 

"Of course! Take your time" He answered with a small nod, "The pages are in order, don't worry" Kurogami added with a smile.

With low expectations, Shizuka looked at the first page and read it... then the second... then the tenth... then the hundredth... then the final, 192nd.

"..." Her mouth was wide open. She should be glad she weren't outside, otherwise a fly definitely would've flown into her mouth.

"Ma'am...?" Kurogami, seeing her skim through the pages with a strong gaze, was at first excited at her response. But seeing her now, he was slightly worried. To either ease or worsen his worry, he used his Observe skill to see her Status Condition: [Shocked, Excited, Desire], seeing the words, his worry was now gone.

Shizuka took off her reading glasses, a serious expression on her face as she looked at Kurogami's small stature, "Please, call me Shizuka or Nanao" She revealed a big smile and hungry eyes, "Have you got anymore?!" She asked with pleading eyes, her throat dry as she needed more volumes to quench her thirst for more.

"I've done half of the next one so far" He answered

"How many are you planning on making?" She questioned straight after he answered

"Around 70" He replied

"Have you already got a story in line?!" She asked, her face trembling as she waited for his answer.

"...Yes" He answered, causing Shizuka to jump out of her seat and over her desk nimbly, surprising Kurogami who expected her to snap her back or something from the action.

"I'll get my most trustworthy publisher right now!" She stated, performing a hand sign as she disappeared from the library with a *Swish* sound, 'Body Flicker Jutsu! And quite advanced as well...' Kurogami thought in surprise, though he kind of expected it.

A minute or so passed, with Shizuka finally returning to the library with a middle-aged man by her side who looked at Kurogami with a frown

"A kid, this time? THIS is the 'genius' you were rushing me for?" The man face-palmed, fed up of Shizuka's antics. The last time she mentioned a 'genius', the book flopped completely - and this was for the last 5 clients.

"Yes. This is the one, I swear it" Her voice was stern and serious, surprising the man himself as his throat felt clogged, Shizuka's chakra unconsciously filtering out of her body from her excitement which affected the man.

"Alright, I'll have a look" The man turned to Kurogami, "Where is it, kid?" He asked, to which Kurogami pointed to Shizuka's desk with all the pages stacked in order, "Let's see here..." He began reading it whilst seated in Shizuka's seat.

[Mamoru Hattori, CEO of The Fantasy Publisher], [Level: 33], [Reputation: 1... 2... 3... 5... 7] The Reputation finished on 7 once he read all the pages of Bleach. Also, Shizuka's had increased from 7 to 10 since she read the first volume.

After finishing the volume, Mamoru stood up and walked over to Kurogami, his eyes shadowed from his hair. He held out his arms and grabbed Kurogami's shoulders, his body trembling.

"You..." His voice matched his body's state, "You...!" He spoke louder - fortunately there wasn't anyone in the library due to it closing half an hour ago, "Name your price!" Mamoru revealed his face which couldn't help but chuckle in disbelief, 'This was made by a kid no older than 10...?! He MUST join us, he can change the entertainment world!' He proclaimed proudly, no fear or doubt in his claim.

"Join my publishing company, please!" He even went as far as pleading, he could not let this talent go to waste, "How much do you want per page?! 300 Ryo? 500? Name it!" His desperation was clear.

(A/N: 1 Ryo = 10 Yen, according to google. The average amount per page a mangaka makes, according to google, is 3k to 8k yen)

"I want 800 per page, and 20% of whatever profit you make from selling my books" Kurogami said, his tone serious.

At the request, Mamoru came to a halt and hesitated, "...What about 500-"

Kurogami interrupted him, "900 per page, 20%"

"600-" 

"1000, 20%" 

Not wanting the price to go up, or for Kurogami to not join, Mamoru voiced his answer, "Okay! 800 per page... but I can only give you 10% of the profit until you can show that you can be consistent with your sales..." He began to sweat, 'Is this really a bloody kid?!'

"I'll be nice, 750 per page. And that's fine by me, pleasure doing business" Kurogami simply bowed and went to leave the library, leaving the first volume on Shizuka's desk for Mamoru to take, "Oh, and I'll be giving you a volume a week, is that fine?" He asked, looking over his shoulder, trying his best to not smile

"Yes... that's fine" Mamoru replied with an 'I give' expression as he and Shizuka watched Kurogami leave the library with a wave, "Did I just get overwhelmed by a kid?" He asked Shizuka on his side for clarification, in disbelief still at what had just happened.

"Fufufu" She chuckled, "Yes... don't feel down, though... that's not any ordinary kid, I think we can BOTH tell that" She looked at the Bleach volume on her desk with a smile, "That kid... his future is going to be immense, I know it"

.

.

.

With a giddy smile on his face, Kurogami jumped up and cheered, "Woo!" He yelled energetically. He used the price skimming strategy/tactic, where he started high before lowering the price to attract the customer into buying his service and product.

[Sub Quest: Ninja World's Entertainment - Part 2 - Complete]

[Sub Quest Objective: Draw 1 volume of Bleach and publish it officially]

[Sub Quest Rewards Gained: Part 3 of Quest, +10 Levels on Drawing Skill, +5 Levels on Fuinjutsu Skill, Proper Mangaka Materials + A Stable Income]

[Passive Skill: Drawing - Lv. 25 -> 35]

[The drawing skills of user increases, allowing for better, more skilled pieces of art. 50 -> 70% increase in drawing speed]

[Active Skill: Fuinjutsu - Lv. 1 -> 11]

He then looked at his inventory and saw a ton of black ink and dip pens, pencils, paper, colouring materials, and more to enhance his books.

He looked at the colouring materials with an "Ooo", as now this meant he could colour 'his' works. He was one of those who preferred reading something with colours rather than black and white as it's more clear, and he was sure others would have the same problem.

'It'll be more time consuming, but you gotta do what you gotta do' He thought to himself as he walked back home to the orphanage, but not before looking at his new chain quest.

[New Quest!: Sub Quest - Ninja World's Entertainment - Finale!]

[Sub Quest Objective: Draw All of Bleach and publish it officially]

[Main Rewards: +20 Levels on Drawing Skill, +10 Levels on Fuinjutsu Skill, +5 Levels, Random Shonen Manuscript, Random Shojo Manuscript, Random Seinen Manuscript, New Perk - 'Mangaka's Influence']

.

.

.

A month had passed, with nothing much happening to Kurogami except his self-improvement and living a better life.

Over this month, Kurogami had published another 5 volumes, which mean 6 were currently published for people to read (1 per week, but he published Volume 2 and 3 together since he was already half way done) and he had earned quite a hefty amount of money. His work had reached all over the world, his pen name "Tite Kulo" becoming a prominent figure in the world. (Because Japanese R's sound like L's, instead of Tite Kuro he's done Kulo to avoid any obvious hints to him being the 'Genius Author')

[Title: Genius Author - Increases drawing speed by 5% (1.05 after his Drawing Skill: so nx1.7x1.05). Increases Reputation of all 'Tite Kulo Fans' by 10. Sales increase by 10%]

His Drawing Skill also increased from 35 to 43 (70% to 86%). He's realised that levelling the skill is getting harder and harder the higher the level, but it's fine as he's got a lot of (Future) books to increase his level.

As for Kurogami's profit: Mamoru was selling each Bleach volume for 800 Ryo (He's also done a bundle offer where consumers can buy the first 5 volumes for 3000 Ryo), which meant Kurogami would receive 80 Ryo per sale. He's also drawn 1,184 pages from the 6 volumes, which meant he'd earned 888,000 Ryo merely from drawing the first 6 volumes of Bleach, and that was excluding the profit made from each singular sale.

'Let's just say I'm set for life' Ryo thought with a smile, looking at the money he'd always dreamed of having.

With all the Bleach and money things out the way, after a month of school and sitting through boring lessons and participating in the daily physical activities, his stats were as such:

[Name - Kurogami

Age - 6

Race - Human 

Title - Bully Destroyer, Little Professor, Genius Author

Clan - Clanless (Orphan)

Level - 10 (470/2600)

HP - 1080/1080 -> 1130/1130 (Regen: 135.6/Min)

CP - 1050/1050 (Regen: 115.5 -> 126/Min)

SP - 1100/1100 -> 1200/1200 (Regen: 144/Min)

Control - 10%

STR - 14 -> 19

VIT - 18 -> 28

DEX - 19 -> 26

INT - 10 -> 20

CHA - 12

CC - 2

Luck - 5

Stat Points - 24

Money - Set for Life]

A few of his other skills got stronger a little, though nothing compared to his [Drawing] skill:

[Active Skill: Stealth - Lv. 2 -> Lv. 4] 

[Activating the ability gives you the power to hide in plain sight, a crucial skill for being a ninja. 10% -> 20% chance of not being spotted. For stronger opponents, -2% for each level they surpass you]

[Active Skill: Sprinting - Lv. 3 -> Lv. 8]

[Activating the skill increases running speed by 11% -> 14%]

[Mixed Martial Arts: Active Skill - Lv. 6 -> Lv. 8]

[Activating the skill grants +6 STR and +6 DEX -> +8. Speed of attacks increased by 20% -> 24%]

He felt kind of ashamed with himself that the rest of his skills were so low compared to his [Drawing] skill, but he couldn't help it that he was prioritising drawing Bleach - which he was having fun doing, especially because the nostalgia of reading his favourite anime threw itself at him.

'Plus, I have so many years to chill anyway, I don't have a need to become so strong unless a problem arouses... Even the Uchiha Clan is still intact which is saying something, so I don't know when Itachi's gonna massacre it, if he even does' He thought to himself

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A/N: A lot of system things this chapter, I know. Next chapter, a bit more to do with the academy/slice of life will be done

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