Second Draw

"Bang!"

The front door slammed shut.

Miss Yukie, having forcefully kicked off her slippers, spun around. With her hands on her hips, she stood at the entrance, staring intently at the young man before her, her small face tightly strained.

"Sa! Ha! Ra! Mizu!"

Even though he had somewhat anticipated it, Mr. Sahara hadn't expected such an astonishing roar to erupt from Miss Yukie's small body.

"Yesterday you clearly said you'd finish work by ten, but you didn't come home all night!"

"Your office phone was constantly busy, and the food I made for you got cold! In the latter half of the night, there was a huge commotion from the Hokage Building, such a big fire broke out, Anbu were running all over the rooftops, the Uchiha Police Force was mobilized, and there were even signal fires and flares on the village walls..."

"Later, when the noise stopped and you still weren't back, I thought something terrible had happened to you!"

Miss Yukie's voice grew more and more aggrieved as she spoke. Around her dark, sleepless eye bags, a circle of red had appeared.

Large, glistening tears welled up in her eyes, and she had to clench hard to keep them from falling, her voice trembling as she spoke.

"In the end... in the end, you were actually out on a date with that cheat again, and only came back when it was almost daytime..."

"And... and you were so slow about it!"

"Walking as if you were strolling down the street, you didn't even think to hurry back and tell me."

As the girl spoke, her face, which was about to turn red from holding back, finally couldn't maintain its composure. She took a step forward with her foot, and like a little cat charging, she threw herself into Sahara Mizu's arms, rubbing her head against his chest resentfully.

As if she wanted to bite him.

A subtle wetness stained the clothes on his chest, while her small hands clutched his sleeve tightly. Even her sobs were muffled, with a slight nasal tone:

"I was so scared."

"Yes, yes."

Sahara Mizu gently held her, reaching up to stroke the girl's head softly, smoothing down her flowing long hair, like comforting a frightened cat.

For Miss Yukie, the brother she had grown up with, relying on each other, was her only support in this world. From childhood to adulthood, she had always been the one protected behind him, and he was also the most important safe harbor in her life so far.

This kind of feeling manifested in daily life as a rather extreme brother complex, but during wartime, it was the constant worry she felt every time he went on a long-term mission.

During his time working at the Hokage Building, it wasn't too bad. When Sahara Mizu had just graduated and was following his team on missions to various places, Miss Yukie often couldn't sleep all night, counting the days until he returned.

Even though, this brother of hers was just an imposter.

Sahara Mizu thought calmly, his voice becoming even gentler: "Today was my fault. I didn't come home sooner and made Yukie worry."

"Mm."

The girl made a sound with a heavy nasal tone, but she was still not satisfied.

"Next time, I will definitely come back earlier," Mr. Sahara added.

"Mm."

Still not satisfied.

"What else?" Mr. Sahara hoped for a little hint from Miss Yukie.

"And you're not allowed to go on dates with that cheat!" Sahara Yukie said quite domineeringly, "Especially at night!"

"Huh?"

Sahara Mizu's voice was slightly hesitant.

"Hmm?!"

Miss Yukie immediately bristled.

"Yes, yes."

Sahara Mizu agreed with a reluctant tone.

However, the important thing was to make Miss Yukie calm down quickly; future matters could be discussed later.

Only then did the girl nod in satisfaction and turn to walk towards the living room: "You haven't eaten tonight, have you? I've kept dinner warm. Do you want to grab a bite first?"

"Indeed, I'm almost starving."

Sahara Mizu said, taking off his shoes and stepping into the entrance hall.

"Also..."

As Miss Yukie spoke, she subconsciously glanced at the change of clothes he was wearing, the blood-stained ninja shoes, and the faint smell of blood emanating from him.

Although he had concealed some of it, as a fellow ninja, Sahara Yukie still noticed the signs of battle on her brother – which was also something Mizu had done intentionally.

"What exactly happened tonight?"

Sahara Mizu thought for a moment and smiled: "It should be considered a good thing, I think."

After eating his fill, Sahara Mizu was sent off to the bathroom by his little housekeeper.

That blood smell that permeated his entire body was indeed a bit unpleasant.

It wasn't until his whole body was submerged in the bath that he finally had some leisure to think about what to do next.

His performance in front of Hiruzen Sarutobi tonight should partially alleviate the suspicion the upper echelons of Konoha had towards this suddenly appearing 'genius', but the necessary vigilance would definitely not be reduced.

At the same time, as someone with a "blemish," it would be difficult for him to be included in the selection scope for the Hokage's master-disciple inheritance. This was a matter of principle.

Sahara Mizu could accept this level of exclusion.

As long as the Hidden Mist didn't reveal too many flaws going forward, his ninja life would become quite comfortable – compared to the initial long period as an Undercover Agent.

Beyond that, the biggest gain was leaving a preliminary impression on Orochimaru.

As Sahara Mizu thought, he touched his left pectoral muscle, feeling his heart beating strongly.

Brain, tongue, heart.

These three specified seal restrictions were his top priority from the very beginning.

With the System as support, Sahara Mizu's future life was bound to move further and further away from the image of a 'Hidden Mist Undercover Agent'.

Since that was the case, he absolutely could not be constrained by others.

However, high-level Fuinjutsu and its dismantling methods were absolute secrets within absolute secrets in every Ninja Village — in order to obtain Fuinjutsu, the Hidden Mist and Hidden Cloud had even personally orchestrated the war that destroyed the Land of Whirlpools.

The entire Uzumaki clan became a sacrifice for the Fuinjutsu they were most skilled at.

Therefore, it was extremely difficult to obtain Fuinjutsu through conventional means.

It was precisely because of these numerous difficulties that Sahara Mizu thought of the path through Orochimaru.

— This was someone who dared to do anything, and whose Ability was particularly strong.

However, to make him willing to exchange, Sahara Mizu had to show his own value.

The upcoming promotion selection was a good opportunity.

Besides that...

Sahara Mizu looked at the panel before him.

「Personal Information」

「Name: Sahara Mizu」 「Age: 15」 「Talent: Photographic Memory (B), Kekkei Genkai (A)」 「Ability: Limitless Technique · Stage Two (S), Water Release (A), Lightning Release (A+), Fire Release (B), Taijutsu (B+), Genjutsu (A), Fuinjutsu (D+), Ninja Tool Proficiency (C+)」 「Overall Rating: A+」 「Heart Points: 1」 「System Rating: Kek! A mere Kage-level expert? What do I have to fear! This solid muscle, and this powerful aura, aren't they meant to be used at times like this?! Gwak! Kill! Ya! Jian! Gu—Xi, can we reconcile?」

Looking at the rating on the panel, Mr. Sahara's face immediately soured.

This damned rating, the moment it opened its mouth, there was a wave of weakness.

At his current level, even within the entire ninja world, he was already a quasi-first-tier expert below Kage-level and top-tier elite Jonin, alright?

However, thinking about System Sis starting off with 'Gu Sha Otsutsuki'... maybe it wasn't entirely incomprehensible.

These weren't the main points.

Sahara Mizu scanned the Abilities on the panel, finally looking at the Heart Points marked with the number 1.

Currently, he hadn't accumulated points to wait for further enhancement qualifications. Every resource gained needed to be spent quickly and converted into his own strength — one had to know, this conversion process also required time.

The second upgrade of "Limitless Technique" required two points, and the increase was relatively limited.

But Sahara Mizu still had many shortcomings.

He lowered his head, looking at the four options on the lottery panel: "Breakthrough," "Survival," "Perception," and "Special," thinking quietly.

Based on the last draw options, "Breakthrough" and "Survival" represented attack and defense-oriented Abilities respectively. He wasn't particularly lacking in these two for now.

As a squishy profession, most ninjas only needed a single light cut to be fatal.

Even puppeteers who could protect their main body, or Earth Release defenses, could be completely broken through with "Six Eyes" and "Limitless Technique."

The only ones who could give him a headache were guys like the Third Raikage or Uchiha Obito, who could both take a hit and run.

However, unless he hit the jackpot, it was basically impossible for him to face these two head-on.

"Perception" goes without saying; the effect of "Six Eyes" was temporarily sufficient.

Excluding various options, Sahara Mizu's gaze finally landed on "Special."

Perhaps it was the spatial Ability brought by "Limitless Technique" that gave him a tangible taste of its benefits, or perhaps Sahara Mizu subconsciously believed that he had a little bit of a 'protagonist's luck'.

Almost the moment he saw this option, he associated it with time-based Abilities that were as high-level as space.

Whether it was Kurumi Tokisaki's "Zafkiel" used to manipulate time, or Okabe Rintaro's "Time Machine" developed to allow people to go back to the past, or Diavolo's "King Crimson," they all provided a considerable supplement to his current situation.

Although Sahara Mizu himself was unwilling to admit it.

But ever since he was bound to this System, he had to form deeper bonds with the people around him.

These people were clearly those he couldn't abandon.

It was precisely for this reason that he needed to prepare a 'fallback' for himself even more.

So that one day in the future, he wouldn't encounter something he'd deeply regret.

"Targeted: Special"

"Cost: 1"

"Let's get this damn drawing done!"

Amidst the familiar cursing of the System, the blank screen flickered once more.

Sahara Mizu's gaze initially furrowed with dissatisfaction, but when he saw the text on the screen, his eyes suddenly widened.

"Ability Acquired"

"Kyoka Suigetsu (S)"

"Information localization complete"

"Complete Hypnosis: Dominates the opponent's five senses, making them completely believe the appearance, form, quality, feel, and even smell of a specific target are whatever the host wishes."

"Activation Conditions: 1. Select three Activation Factors (Hand Seals, characteristic, Word Soul), 2. Chakra is higher than the enemy's, 3. Target is within the host's Chakra influence range, 4. Continuously consumes Chakra while the ability is active."

"Cost Heart Points to upgrade"

Although the ability that appeared on the screen wasn't what Sahara Mizu had hoped for,

when he saw the lines of explanation, his heart couldn't help but race, and a smile unconsciously appeared on his face.

With this, he would have much more room to maneuver in his actions.