Preparing for a Rainy Day

After saying goodbye to the other two, Aozora returned to the Clan Compound alone.

From now on, he could no longer take D-Rank Missions and could only accept C-Rank Missions.

He felt both happy and regretful about that.

D-Rank Missions were easy and simple for him. He could quickly grind money and merit, but they did nothing to improve himself.

C-Rank Missions were more dangerous and difficult, but they could improve his combat experience.

Perhaps he truly had grown tired of the tediousness of D-Rank Missions. In any case, he was happier about this.

Aozora fully agreed with Aburame Shibi's warning.

Although C-Rank Missions were judged by the village to carry little danger, the Shinobi World was real and never remained unchanged.

Who could guarantee that today's C-Rank Mission would not become a B-Rank, A-Rank, or even S-Rank Mission tomorrow?

Even if the mission itself did not change, it was entirely possible to run into an S-Rank rogue ninja after leaving the village.

Though such possibilities were no more than one in ten thousand, if they really happened and he was unprepared, it would mean certain death.

Therefore, Aozora decided to follow Aburame Shibi's advice and prepare thoroughly.

After returning home to get some money, Aozora hurried to Fukuyama Ninja Tool Shop.

The receptionist recognized Aozora and led him upstairs.

Before long, Fukuyama Uchiha came up and handed Aozora a long, narrow box.

When he opened it, he saw a chilling Flying Dagger lying quietly atop red silk.

The Flying Dagger in the case differed from ordinary ones. Its blade was long and slender, while its hilt was narrow to the point of being almost nonexistent. It resembled a fish leaping from a lake. The blade was mirror-bright, reflecting Aozora's sharply defined face as he leaned closer. A glint of cold light flowed continuously along its edge, adding to its sharp, icy chill.

"Good blade!" Judging by its appearance alone, Aozora was already certain that this Flying Dagger was exceptional.

Fukuyama picked up his tea, slowly took a sip, and smiled reservedly.

Aozora picked up the Flying Dagger and lightly drew it across the index finger of his right hand.

He felt no resistance at all, yet a shallow cut had already appeared on the pad of his index finger.

When he gently infused it with a thread of Chakra, the blade became even sharper, and condensed pale-blue Chakra even appeared upon it.

Aozora played with the Flying Dagger in satisfaction.

Fukuyama asked, "What do you think?"

"It's excellent! Even perfect. It completely meets my requirements. Thank you for the trouble, Uncle Fukuyama!"

Fukuyama laughed heartily. "That's good. Though this Flying Dagger contains no other metals at your request, I made full use of the Wind Chant Stone's properties. As long as you infuse it with non-elemental Chakra, it can unleash Wind Blades. It can be considered a divine weapon."

"The Flying Dagger is yours. Have you thought of a name for it?"

"A name?" Aozora could not help but ponder.

"Yes. This Flying Dagger was forged entirely from Chakra Conductive Metal. It is no inferior to any divine weapon or sharp blade. It would be a pity for it not to have a resounding name."

After thinking for a moment, Aozora slowly stroked the blade. "Then let's call it Zhanxian."

"Zhanxian?!"

Fukuyama cried out in surprise. He took a sip of tea to calm himself, then said, "Isn't that a little too domineering and arrogant?"

In the Shinobi World, there was one and only one sage: the Six Paths Sage.

But Aozora said, "I'm young. If I don't act arrogant now, it'll be too late."

Aozora truly wanted to slay sages. Not just the Six Paths Sage—he even wanted to slay the sage's mother. Their family's mess had nearly shattered the Shinobi World several times over.

He held high hopes for the Zhanxian Flying Dagger, hoping that it would one day become like the god-slaying, immortal-killing Flying Dagger from Investiture of the Gods.

Hearing that, Fukuyama stopped trying to persuade him.

After chatting for a while, they completed the transaction, and Aozora turned to head home.

After dinner, Aozora made his final preparations.

Having updated his equipment, Aozora decided to upgrade his skills.

This week's mission grinding had brought fruitful rewards. Though only four days had passed, he had gained more than he had in the previous two weeks combined.

Team 3 had completed a total of thirty D-Rank Missions and received 156,000 ryo in mission rewards. After deducting the village's and their teacher's shares, each member of Team 3 received 26,000 ryo.

Besides the monetary reward, Aozora had completed twelve missions alone. Many of them involved protecting the environment, such as clearing riverways, so he had gained a full eleven drops of merit.

What made him sigh was that clearing riverways alone had earned him eight drops of merit, while the other missions had yielded only three. It was clear that people's hearts were not what they used to be.

Looking at the Golden Droplets occupying nearly half the Wordless Page, Aozora rubbed his hands excitedly like a nouveau riche.

Since he was going out to carry out missions, the ability to disguise himself and alter his appearance would undoubtedly be extremely useful.

Aozora directly visualized Henge.

The Golden Droplets fought over one another, and two drops of merit won the chance to sacrifice themselves, merging into Henge. The pure golden Henge completely transformed into gilded ancient characters.

Aozora was familiar with the process and accepted the inheritance. A moment later, he opened his eyes.

The Gilded Edition of Henge did not add much. It mainly taught methods of using Chakra to alter the meridians, shift the bones, and replace the skin. In short, the Gilded Edition of Henge allowed him to transform into another person from the inside out.

However, it was ultimately a "false" form, so this Divine Ability still had flaws.

First, Henge could not be maintained for too long. If maintained for too long, the altered appearance would solidify, making it difficult to return to his original form. Generally, it could not exceed two hours.

Second, Henge was ultimately false. Neither one's genes nor spirit changed, so Sensor Ninjas could distinguish truth from falsehood through differences in Chakra.

Even so, Aozora was already very satisfied. Sensor Ninjas were too rare, and those who could distinguish real from fake through Chakra were even rarer.

After practicing twice, Aozora used Henge to transform into Takeshi Kaneshiro and Daniel Wu. Looking in the mirror, he discovered that he was still more handsome.

After returning to his own handsome face, Aozora admired it for a moment before continuing to spend merit.

The second thing Aozora upgraded was Weapon Control.

He had previously upgraded it with one drop of merit, and Weapon Control was now already written in pure golden ancient characters.

Based on Aozora's experience, two or three drops of merit should have been enough to upgrade Weapon Control to the Gilded Edition. But this time, to Aozora's surprise, it took a full seven drops of merit to complete it.

Aozora immediately knew that Weapon Control had gained a great deal of additional inheritance, and he quickly accepted it.

Only after a long time did Aozora awaken from sorting through the inheritance.

"Ah!"

Aozora sighed. "The three methods of refining essence, energy, and spirit are good, but none can quickly increase my strength. It seems I can't count on Zhanxian this time."

The knowledge added to the completed Weapon Control concerned refining Spiritual Artifacts. There were three methods: refining with essence, energy, or spirit. Nurturing it with Essence Blood was the fastest, but harmed the body. Nurturing it with true energy was the gentlest, but took a long time. Nurturing it with the soul was the most unusual and might allow a Spiritual Artifact to develop intelligence.

No matter which method he used, none would show results in a short time.

Glancing at the two remaining Golden Droplets, Aozora directly visualized Nightmare Prayer.

At present, aside from Outer Body Incarnation, Yin-Yang Eye, Nightmare Prayer, and True Fire of Samadhi, all his other Divine Abilities had been completed and were all Gilded Editions.

Of the three remaining Divine Abilities, completing True Fire of Samadhi would be useless before his physical constitution was strong enough. Outer Body Incarnation sounded impressive, but three drops of merit were not enough to complete it.

Nightmare Prayer, on the other hand, was a genjutsu that could genuinely increase his strength.

The two drops of merit merged into it, and Nightmare Prayer turned gilded.