A Little Secret of the Ninja World

The next day.

The morning light was faint.

Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke arrived at the village entrance together and waited quietly.

Although Wang Yan had set the time for eight o'clock, they had still left half an hour early.

It would be far too costly if they were disliked for being unpunctual.

After all, Wang Yan was no longer merely Team Seven's jonin leader. He was also their "financial backer."

Perhaps it was truly because they were too weak. The Main God had not even assigned the three of them newbie Reincarnator missions, instead impatiently outsourcing the task of training them to Wang Yan, a Dark Lord with warped values.

During this training journey, if Wang Yan thought they performed well, there would naturally be plenty of Reward Points waiting for them. If Wang Yan did not approve of their performance, then all their efforts would go to waste.

As they made their way there, all three silently pondered their futures.

After waiting for a while, Naruto Uzumaki was the first to break the silence. "Sakura-chan, once we get Reward Points, what do you plan to exchange for?"

Once he opened the subject, he quickly became excited. "I saw so many amazing abilities! The Thunder Fruit lets you turn your body into lightning after eating it. It's insanely strong! And there's the Saiyan Bloodline—every time you recover after being beaten to the brink of death, your combat power can increase drastically!"

Hearing this, Sakura and Sasuke exchanged glances, both visibly moved.

The Thunder Fruit was one thing. Both of them had seen similar items on the Exchange List.

Devil Fruit exchanges allowed anyone who ate one to gain powerful abilities. They could even awaken their fruit powers through self-development and obtain the ability to reshape the world. Yet they would also be hated by the sea and become unable to swim.

If they exchanged for such an ability and encountered a Water Release Ninja, they would be completely countered.

Although there was the Main God's improved Devil Fruit Plus Enhanced Version, which removed the weakness of fearing water, it was also far more expensive and definitely not cost-effective.

As for the Saiyan Bloodline...

It could be described as excellent value for money.

A powerful physique, fanatical fighting spirit, immense bodily potential, along with that fearsome racial trait Naruto had mentioned—it almost made one feel that this Bloodline had been born for conquest and battle.

After reading the Book of Prophecies, the two of them knew just how formidable Naruto's recovery ability was.

Even after Chidori pierced straight through his body, he could recover at terrifying speed...

The Saiyan Bloodline and him...

They were simply a perfect match!

"After thinking it over carefully, I decided to give up on Devil Fruits."

Naruto's words made his two teammates see him in a new light.

But his next sentence immediately revealed his true nature again. "The Exchange List says Devil Fruits taste like crap... I'm not trying one!"

Sasuke's eyes flickered slightly as his thoughts drifted.

So he had only stumbled into the correct choice because of the taste...

He forced out a stiff smile. "Naruto, the ability you chose is pretty good. I'm looking forward to fighting you when the time comes."

Sasuke remembered Wang Yan's earlier "teachings" perfectly well—students who knew how to borrow momentum and make use of resources would earn Wang Yan's special regard.

Naruto, Sakura...

These two teammates were enormously promising assets, resources worth using! It could even be said that their very existence was a kind of "momentum"!

The former was the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, the reincarnation of Asura Chakra, and the possessor of a Sage Body. The latter had no special abilities, but since she had been chosen as the protagonist of this world, she surely possessed something extraordinary.

Perhaps she was the World Will's favored child.

Especially after patiently studying "that ability," Sasuke had come to understand that there were no coincidences in this world. Everything was inevitable.

Unfortunately, Sasuke was casting seductive looks at a blind man.

In response to his goodwill, Naruto stuck out his tongue and made a face, saying in an especially punchable tone, "Your smile looks so fake..."

The moment those words left his mouth, veins bulged on Sasuke's forehead. Like a spark falling into a barrel of gunpowder, he exploded instantly.

"You damn dead last! One day, I'll kill you!"

Sasuke's face reddened in unbearable embarrassment as he pounced on Naruto and knocked him to the ground.

All his resolve and all his plans for change were thrown to the back of his mind. His eyes and heart held only the infuriating little blonde beneath him.

"Damn it! I'll never lose to a smug bastard like you! Witness the results of my training!"

Naruto refused to be outdone and shouted back.

"Hey... Sasuke, don't be angry. We're a team..."

Sakura suppressed her true nature and tried her best to act like a good wife and loving mother, gently persuading the two who were wrestling together to stop. "I originally liked Vector Manipulation, but it's too expensive, and it requires enormous computational ability. You need to exchange for many supporting abilities before you can use it perfectly. So I chose two other abilities instead. Can you help me take a look?"

After being separated, Sasuke and Naruto looked at each other and snorted at the same time, like a young married couple in the middle of a spat.

Sakura gave an awkward laugh and continued on her own. "They're two class inheritances: Fire Mist Warrior and Dragon Slayer Mage of Flame. After reading the descriptions, I felt that both were pretty cost-effective and had great growth potential..."

Naruto, the dense fool destined to die alone, was still sulking, but Sasuke's eyes lit up.

"Huh? I think I've seen these two abilities before... Their versatility isn't as strong as the ability I chose, but they can still be considered exchange options with considerable potential."

Just as he was about to speak, a figure materialized from nothing and slowly appeared before the three of them.

"Not bad. You're all on time."

Wang Yan swept his gaze over the three of them. "Then, let's set off."

"Yes!" Team Seven's three genin answered at once.

From Konoha to Sunagakure, if Wang Yan had been alone, he could have gone full speed with his Telekinesis, turned his body into particles, and arrived within minutes.

But now that he had three little burdens trailing behind him, the journey seemed much longer.

Wang Yan floated through the air, maintaining a speed that Team Seven's genin could barely keep up with, and yawned boredly.

A moment later, he put both hands in his pockets and turned around without stopping his flight.

"Now that we've left Konoha, let me tell everyone a little secret of the ninja world..."

Those mysterious words immediately revived the three genin, who were so exhausted that their tongues were hanging out as they panted.

Wang Yan's voice drifted into their ears. "In nearly every class, most genin teams deliberately include a useless, impulsive idiot ninja."

"Why?" Naruto truly lived up to the Uzumaki name. His endurance surpassed Sasuke's and Sakura's, and he still had the energy to think.

He pursed his lips, and the fox whiskers hidden beneath his concealer poked up again. "How could something like that happen? It makes no sense at all. You can tell it's fake just by hearing it!"

"No, there's some basis for it."

Wang Yan looked at Naruto with a half-smile. "The existence of such idiots is meant to boost the team's morale, so that when the other genin encounter exceptionally difficult missions, they can still hold firm to their convictions, charge forward bravely, and unleash twelve hundred percent of their strength."

"What kind of secret is that?! Sensei is lying again!"

Naruto looked at Sakura, then at Sasuke, but found no teammate who matched that description.

(Sakura liked Vector Manipulation because it could reflect ultraviolet rays and make her skin whiter. But she was too poor to afford it.)