Harvest

After hastily putting together the beginnings of an organization, the three of them went home. For now, the organization was only an idea. If they truly wanted to put it into action, they first had to free themselves from the restraints each of them was under. Otherwise, it would all be empty talk. Given Zi Xu's personality, the first thing he did after getting home was naturally deal with the danger lurking inside him.

"Deep Blue—no, System, add points!" Zi Xu called out to the system in his mind. Now that he knew Konoha had left poison in his body to keep him in check, he couldn't sit still. Every minute he left the danger unresolved, it felt as if ten thousand ants were crawling through his body.

[Spend 9500 points to raise Kaido Physique Fusion Level to 25%?]

"Confirm!"

Zi Xu watched his points slowly dwindle from five digits to three, mourning the points he'd barely had time to enjoy. But he knew he couldn't afford to hold back.

As the points dwindled, Zi Xu gradually felt his body changing. His bones seemed to be compressed and compacted over and over, while his muscles went through a cycle of swelling and contracting. It felt a little like pounding rice cakes, steadily building strength through repeated compression.

Strangely, Zi Xu felt no pain. On the contrary, he felt especially comfortable. It was like lying contentedly on his big bed after a bath, then having someone scratch his back just when it started to itch—a subtle, delightful sensation.

"This is a lot more comfortable than raising my Fusion Level by hurting myself. It just costs a lot of points, which is a little heartbreaking..." Zi Xu silently weighed the pros and cons of raising his Fusion Level with points versus doing it himself. At the same time, he felt the explosive strength surging through his body and tried clenching his hand.

"Crack, crack." The sound of his knuckles shifting came from between his fingers. It was enough to make anyone's teeth ache just to hear it. Zi Xu tried to control his strength, but found it difficult. He wanted to take out a Shuriken to test his physical abilities, but accidentally bent it out of shape instead.

His overall build hadn't changed much. His bones seemed no larger, and he didn't appear to have gained any muscle. But the difference between his physical abilities now and before was like night and day. If he'd been a piece of cotton before, now he was an iron block of the same size. His volume hadn't changed, but his density had increased, naturally making him much stronger.

"Is Fusion Level gained through system points harder to control...? That might be the drawback of using points." Zi Xu tried to look at the advantages and disadvantages objectively. Training to raise his Fusion Level was slow, but it gave him better control of his body.

Raising his Fusion Level with system points was fast, but he had to adapt to the new strength himself. Both methods had their pros and cons. Still, Zi Xu planned to use points as little as possible unless necessary. He could slowly increase his Fusion Level through training instead.

"System, has the poison in my body been removed?" Zi Xu was still more concerned about his safety. The improvement from spending nearly all the points he'd just obtained should have been enough to deal with whatever Konoha had left inside him.

[Latent poison has been removed. The host is now immune to most poisons.]

"System, how do I unlock the other abilities in my template?" Only after confirming that there were no longer any dangers in his body did Zi Xu relax. He wanted to see what he could do with the 500 reward points he had left.

[Devil Fruit Abilities require points to unlock. The Haki System can be unlocked through self-awakening or by spending points.]

"How many points does each one cost?" Looking at the 500 points he had, Zi Xu could almost hear them wailing.

[Unlocking Devil Fruit Abilities requires 50,000 points. Unlocking the Haki System requires 30,000 points.]

"Slap..." Zi Xu covered his forehead with one hand. Once he confirmed the costs were counted in tens of thousands, he abandoned the idea of unlocking any other abilities for now. There was a chance he could awaken Haki on his own, but Devil Fruit Abilities could only be unlocked by throwing points at them.

"Come to think of it, is there a way to master several Devil Fruit Abilities without using the Darkness-Darkness Fruit?" Zi Xu's mind started turning again.

[The plan is feasible. The host needs to learn a specific ninjutsu...]

The system replied. It didn't specify which ninjutsu, but knowing it was possible was enough. From now on, whenever he learned a ninjutsu, he could just ask the system about it.

"I'll save my points to unlock Devil Fruit Abilities. I can awaken the Haki System on my own... Better to save where I can." Zi Xu set himself a modest goal. Of course, plans could change. If an unexpected situation arose—for example, if he had enough points to unlock the Haki System but still fell short of the amount needed for Devil Fruit Abilities, and awakening Haki could turn the tide—he wouldn't hesitate to unlock the Haki System.

"Uh... wasn't there also a faction section? What's that for?" Zi Xu soon got his answer. The system helpfully brought up a list of the faction module's details.

[Organization Name: Jin]

[Members: Uzumaki Zi Xu, Hyuga Chino, Aburame Hatsumi]

[Organization Creed: Will of Fire (New)]

[Organization Mission: Break free from Konoha's control]

[Organization Strength: D-]

[Organization Funds: None]

[Organization Storage: None]

[Organization Buildings: None]

[Affiliated Organizations: None]

[Organization Reputation: Unknown]

[Please work hard to raise your organization's influence. The system will reward the host based on its assessment of the organization's influence.]

Looking at all the "None" entries, Zi Xu understood that their organization might not even qualify as a fledgling group. It was more like a secret society. Still, as long as the system recognized it, that was good enough.

"Accept the second phase of the mission." Zi Xu remembered that this was a chain mission. Perhaps the chain missions had appeared because the organization he'd put together was so small?

[Mission accepted: Establish an Organization (Second Phase)]

[Mission Details: Raise the organization's strength to C+]

[Mission Deadline: Before graduating from the Ninja Academy]

[Mission Rewards: 30,000 reward points, 4 random item draws, 1 random A-rank ninjutsu]

This mission had a generous deadline. Judging by their group's current progress, Zi Xu probably had about four years before completing the Ninja Academy curriculum, so there was plenty of time. He'd taken care of the threat inside himself, but the Cursed Seals on Hatsumi and Chino were the hard part.

Still, if the system was encouraging him to build an organization, he couldn't just go through the motions. After all, increasing the organization's influence would earn him points, too. Their combined strength was currently D-. Judging by ninja rankings, that was probably around trainee level, while C+ should mean an upper-tier Genin. Ordinary Ninja Academy students graduated at Genin level, so to complete the mission, they'd have to surpass most of their peers by graduation.

Zi Xu himself shouldn't have any trouble, but the mission required the organization's overall strength to rise. It all depended on how far Hatsumi and Chino could grow. Still, they both came from major Konoha clans, so their strength shouldn't be a problem.

"All right, I've accepted another mission. Now it's finally time for the main event." After handling the organizational matters, Zi Xu could finally get to his favorite part. He didn't have many hobbies, but card draws were one of the few. His countless gacha experiences in his previous life had already proven that he was terribly unlucky, but people never believed in fate. They were always thinking, What if?

"Come on, three random item draws!" Zi Xu rubbed his hands together, eager to get started, and called out to the system.

A gigantic virtual wheel appeared before Zi Xu. It was crammed with all kinds of items, and the dazzling array made his eyes gleam. The wheel allotted different amounts of space to items according to their value: the rarer the item, the smaller its slice. Looking at the tiny spaces occupied by the golden-glowing items, he thought the pointer took up more room than they did.

"Black Blade Night, Murakumogiri, Enma, Soul-Soul Fruit, Tremor-Tremor Fruit, Adam Tree, Pluton..." All kinds of legendary items he knew by heart nearly blinded him. But there were even more strange items than there were impressive ones.

"Pink Feather Coat? Empress's Qipao? Chopper's Fur? Sanji's Cigarette? Artificial Devil Fruit?" Looking at the wheel, which included all kinds of Devil Fruit-related items, Zi Xu couldn't help feeling that he'd probably end up drawing those weird things most of the time.

"Pah, pah, pah! What a depressing thing to say. System, one draw can bring a miracle—let's do all three at once!" When it came to gacha, Zi Xu's confidence soared. He wasn't sure where it came from.

[You obtained Tashigi's Glasses.]

Glasses, huh? They weren't much use, but he could give them to Hatsumi and help her feel more connected to the organization. Not a bad deal.

[You obtained Slippers.]

...Slippers, huh? They were wearable and practical. Weren't they better than some Demon Fruit or another? Zi Xu definitely wasn't jealous of anyone's Demon Fruit.

[You obtained the Silent Fruit.]

!!! To hell with glasses and slippers—they were both junk. Wasn't the Silent Fruit better than all that? As Zi Xu drew his prizes, he vividly demonstrated what it meant to be a chameleon. Ochumelov would have been impressed.

"That's a Demon Fruit! The Silent Fruit might not have much offensive power, but it's still a Demon Fruit!" Zi Xu looked at the fruit inside the virtual space, excited. He'd unlocked the Kaido Template, but he still hadn't unlocked Devil Fruit Abilities. Now an actual Demon Fruit was right in front of him. How could he not be thrilled?

But after his initial excitement, he gradually calmed down and began wondering whether the fruit still came with drawbacks.

"Using abilities in battle is common in the One Piece world. But because everyone's an Ability User, people rarely use water to fight. This is the Naruto World, though, and Water Release is nothing unusual. If eating the fruit leaves me with a weakness to water, wouldn't I be unable to get around?"

"Could I turn into a dragon and charge at the enemy, only for them to knock me out of the sky with a Water Dragon Bullet?" Zi Xu thought it over. The water in the Naruto World didn't contain Seastone, but he still couldn't be completely sure that wouldn't happen. Besides, he wanted to unlock Kaido's Devil Fruit Ability.

Who knew whether eating the Silent Fruit would prevent him from awakening the Fish-Fish Fruit Ability? If he ended up blowing himself up and dying, that would be a real joke.

After considering everything, Zi Xu decided to keep the Silent Fruit for now. He planned to try having a Shadow Clone eat it once he'd learned the technique, preferably after awakening Kaido's Devil Fruit Ability.

"He also had to prepare for the worst. If it really did leave me with a weakness to water, I'd need to keep that weakness hidden and learn more ninjutsu. I could use ninjutsu to beat ninjutsu. Earth counters water, so I could start with Earth Release." After casting one last reluctant glance at the Silent Fruit, Zi Xu stored it in the system for the time being and went back to training his body, hoping to get used to his newly increased strength soon.