Light!

"An A-rank technique?"

Shinji was tempted.

After all, famous techniques in the Shinobi World like Great Fire Annihilation, Violent Wind Dance, and Shadow Clone Technique were only B-rank.

Many A-rank techniques were signature moves, like Chidori, Rasengan, and Multiple Shadow Clone Technique.

Under normal circumstances, anyone who could master an A-rank technique was at least a Jonin.

So when he heard that he could obtain an A-rank technique, he was indeed tempted.

It was the word "random" that followed which made him hesitate.

There were certainly many A-rank techniques that were signature killing moves.

But there were just as many that would be of little use to Shinji right now.

After all,

the A-rank classification mainly reflected how difficult a technique was to learn, not necessarily how powerful it was.

For example, Clone Explosion was an A-rank technique.

And the Wind Blade that Sunagakure Jonin Baki used to kill Gekko Hayate in the original timeline was also a technique with an A-rank difficulty.

There were also Water Style's Great Waterfall Technique, Earth Release's Underworld Swamp, and the Sand Mind Control Technique, which controlled the brain.

For Shinji, who possessed the Mangekyō Sharingan, these A-rank techniques were actually of little significance. They could neither greatly increase his combat strength nor make up for his weaknesses.

So if he randomly got one of those A-rank techniques, it would be a pretty bad deal.

More importantly, he was in Konoha.

As the foremost of the Five Great Shinobi Villages, Konoha had every kind of technique. He had plenty of ways to obtain techniques, so there was no need to gamble on his luck here.

If he was going to take a gamble, he might as well try for the random reward he would get after achieving an A-rank evaluation.

At least he could use that random reward to find out what the mysterious voice was, and what kind of rewards it could offer!

After weighing his options, he made up his mind. "I'll forgo the Shinobi World's gift. I want the random reward!"

[Generating random reward]

[Obtained Merit Points: 20]

[Calculating total Merit Points]

[Total Merit Points: 26]

Shinji blurted out, "Merit Points? What are those?"

[Merit Points can be used to increase your rank and upgrade your permissions.]

The mysterious voice answered him, which was unusual.

"Upgrade my permissions!?"

Shinji's eyes lit up.

Talk about perfect timing!

He remembered that the mysterious voice had previously mentioned that he was currently a Reserve Lantern Bearer. His questions were often ignored because his permissions as a Reserve Lantern Bearer were insufficient.

So upgrading his permissions was an urgent matter.

Only with higher permissions could he overcome his disadvantage in access to information and learn more about what the Lantern Bearers were, who was behind the invasion of the Shinobi World, and what their purpose was.

"Great. Upgrade my permissions!"

[Upgrading to Junior Lantern Bearer requires 10 Merit Points.]

[Confirm?]

"Ten points? Confirm!"

Shinji nodded without hesitation.

[Upgrading permissions]

[You are now a Junior Lantern Bearer.]

Shinji asked, "Can I keep upgrading?"

[Upgrading to Lantern Bearer requires 100 Merit Points. You have 16 Merit Points remaining, which is insufficient to upgrade further.]

"So now it'll answer any question?"

As he felt the changes brought about by his upgraded permissions, Shinji mused to himself.

He had completed one E-rank evaluation and one A-rank evaluation. Adding the 20 Merit Points from the random reward made 26 in total.

By that calculation, the two missions had earned him 6 Merit Points altogether.

The A-rank evaluation had probably awarded 5 points, while the E-rank evaluation had given him 1.

"I've got 16 Merit Points left, so I need to get at least 17 more A-rank evaluations to become a Lantern Bearer." Shinji paused, then shook his head. "No, that's not right. I can't calculate it that way. Every time I get an A-rank evaluation, I get a chance to earn a random reward. That's another way to get Merit Points!"

This time, for example, he had gotten 5 Merit Points for the A-rank evaluation and another 20 from the random reward, making 25 in all.

If he could keep up that pace, he would only need four more A-rank evaluations to become a Lantern Bearer.

Just then, his gaze settled on a mark on the ground.

It had been left behind after the streak of blood-red light that split open space disappeared. It looked like a scorch mark and was about one or two meters long.

Shinji asked, "What is this?"

[Light Mark detected]

The mysterious voice promptly answered.

Shinji quickly pressed further. "A Light Mark? What is that?"

This time, the mysterious voice didn't answer right away. A while passed.

[The plane has been anchored by an unknown Light Mark.]

[Junior Lantern Bearer, I'm afraid we've been captured.]

Shinji immediately stared at the inconspicuous mark on the ground. "Can it be removed?"

[Light Marks cannot be removed.]

Shinji's expression darkened at once.

After that, he asked in detail about Light Marks.

Obviously,

this Light Mark came from the mysterious Lantern Bearer. Its purpose was simple: to anchor the Shinobi World.

As long as the Light Mark could shine into the Shinobi World, the other party would be able to locate it through the mark.

As he continued asking questions, Shinji learned something astonishing.

To the Shinobi World, everything from other worlds was deadly poison!

"Everything" didn't just mean the ghosts that invaded the Shinobi World.

The ghosts' flesh and blood, their possessions, traces of their existence, the information they left behind, even the memories they planted in the minds of living beings in the Shinobi World—all of it was poison!

This poison would contaminate the Shinobi World and form anchors similar to Light Marks.

The more anchors linked the two worlds, the more indistinct the boundary between them would become. In the end, the two worlds would overlap and collapse completely!

Shinji was stunned for a long time before asking, "Isn't he a Lantern Bearer too? If he knows this will endanger both worlds, why would he do it?"

Perhaps the question was beyond Shinji's permissions. Or perhaps even the mysterious voice couldn't understand why the other party would do something like this.

In any case, the mysterious voice didn't answer this time.

Shinji was at a loss.

He had always thought that the invading ghosts were troublesome, but not much of a problem for the Shinobi World.

The Shinobi World's waters ran deep!

But now he realized that things were completely different from what he'd imagined.

If the invaders' very existence—including information and memories, things that were difficult to define as physical—counted as deadly poison to the Shinobi World, then this was serious!

Composing himself, Shinji asked solemnly, "I have one more question. What exactly are you?"

The mysterious voice rang in Shinji's ears.

[Light]