Lamp!

"A-rank Ninjutsu?"

Shinji felt a stir of interest.

After all, Ninjutsu famous throughout the Ninja World like 'Great Fire Annihilation', 'Violent Wind Dance', and 'Shadow Clone Technique' were only B-rank.

A-rank Ninjutsu often included techniques like 'Chidori', 'Rasengan', and 'Multiple Shadow Clone Technique' – skills that were practically peerless.

Normally, anyone capable of mastering an A-rank Ninjutsu would be at least a Jonin.

Therefore, when he heard he could obtain an A-rank Ninjutsu, he was indeed tempted.

However, the word 'random' that followed made him hesitate.

While there were indeed many peerless killing moves among A-rank Ninjutsu, there were also many that would be of little use to the current Shinji.

After all, the A-rank designation primarily referred to the difficulty of learning and mastering the Ninjutsu, not solely its power.

For example, the 'Clone Explosion' technique was A-rank.

And the 'Wind Blade' used by Sunagakure Jonin Baki to kill Gekko Hayate in the original timeline was also an A-rank Ninjutsu in terms of training difficulty.

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

For Shinji, who possessed the Mangekyo Sharingan, these A-rank Ninjutsu held little significance. They wouldn't significantly boost his combat power, nor would they compensate for his shortcomings in certain areas.

So, if he randomly received one of those, it would be quite a loss.

More importantly, he was in Konohagakure.

As the foremost of the Five Great Shinobi Villages, Konohagakure had no shortage of Ninjutsu, and he had many avenues to acquire them. There was no need for him to gamble his luck here.

If he were to gamble, he might as well try for the random reward he would receive after achieving an A-rank evaluation.

At the very least, he could try to ascertain the origin of the mysterious voice and what kind of rewards it could offer through this random reward!

After weighing his options, he made his decision: "I'll forgo the Ninja World's Gift and choose the random reward!"

[Generating random reward]

[Acquired 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, rarely, responded.

"I can upgrade my permissions!?"

Shinji's eyes lit up.

It was truly a case of needing sleep and someone bringing a pillow!

He recalled that the mysterious voice had previously mentioned he was currently a 'Reserve Lantern Bearer', which was why his questions were often ignored due to insufficient permissions.

Therefore, upgrading his permissions was an urgent matter for him.

Only by improving his permissions could he overcome his informational disadvantage and gain a more comprehensive understanding of what a 'Lantern Bearer' truly was, who the mastermind behind the invasion of the Ninja World was, and what their objective was.

"Alright, help me upgrade my permissions!"

[Upgrading to 'Junior Lantern Bearer' requires the consumption of 10 Merit Points.]

[Confirm?]

"10 points? Confirm!"

Shinji nodded without hesitation.

[Upgrading permissions]

[You have become a 'Junior Lantern Bearer'.]

Shinji asked, "Can I continue to upgrade?"

[Upgrading to 'Lantern Bearer' requires the consumption of 100 Merit Points. You have 16 Merit Points remaining, which is insufficient for further upgrades.]

"So now it answers all my questions?"

Shinji pondered this silently while experiencing the changes brought about by the permission upgrade.

He had completed one E-rank evaluation and one A-rank evaluation, plus the 20 Merit Points from the random reward, totaling 26 points.

This meant that the two missions combined had yielded 6 Merit Points.

An A-rank evaluation was likely 5 points, and an E-rank evaluation was 1 point.

"I have 16 Merit Points left, meaning I need at least 17 more A-rank evaluations to reach 'Lantern Bearer'." He paused, then shook his head. "No, that's not right. As long as I achieve an A-rank evaluation, there's a chance to receive a random reward, which is also a way to obtain Merit Points!"

Take this instance as an example: he received 5 Merit Points for the A-rank evaluation, and another 20 Merit Points from the random reward, totaling 25 points in one go.

If he could maintain this efficiency, he would be promoted to 'Lantern Bearer' after just four more A-rank evaluations.

At this moment, his gaze fell upon a mark on the ground.

This mark was left after the blood-red light that tore space had vanished. It looked like a burn mark, one to two meters long.

Shinji asked, "What is this?"

[Detected Light Mark]

The mysterious voice immediately provided the answer.

Shinji quickly pressed, "Light Mark? What is that?"

This time, the mysterious voice didn't answer immediately, but after a pause.

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

[Junior Lantern Bearer, regrettably, we have been captured.]

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

[Light Marks cannot be removed.]

Shinji's expression immediately darkened.

Afterward, he inquired in detail about 'Light Marks'.

Clearly.

This 'Light Mark' came from that mysterious 'Lantern Bearer'. Its function was simple: to anchor the Ninja World.

As long as the 'Light Mark' could successfully shine into the Ninja World, the other party could locate the Ninja World through the 'Light Mark'.

And with further inquiry, Shinji received astonishing news.

Everything from other worlds was highly toxic to the Ninja World!

The 'everything' here didn't just refer to the demons that invaded the Ninja World.

The flesh and blood of demons, their items, the traces of their existence, the information they left behind, and even the memories they imprinted in the minds of Ninja World creatures were all poisons!

This poison would contaminate the Ninja World, forming anchors similar to 'Light Marks'.

The more anchors linking the two worlds, the more blurred the boundaries between them would become, eventually causing the two worlds to overlap and collapse entirely!

Shinji was stunned for a long time before asking, "Isn't he also a Lantern Bearer? Knowing that this would endanger both worlds, why did he do it?"

Perhaps this question was beyond Shinji's authority, or perhaps even the mysterious voice couldn't understand why someone would act this way.

In any case, the mysterious voice did not answer this time.

Shinji was helpless.

Before, he had always felt that although these invading demons were troublesome, they weren't a major problem for the Ninja World.

The waters of the Ninja World ran deep!

But now, he realized that things were completely different from what he had imagined.

If the very existence of the invaders, including intangible things like information and memories, was highly toxic to the Ninja World, then the problem was indeed serious!

Composing himself, Shinji said solemnly, "I have one more question: what exactly are you?"

The mysterious voice echoed in Shinji's ear.

[Lamp]

The comments haven't recovered yet, there's no feedback at all, I'm so panicked! Everyone, I can only continue to ask for recommendation tickets and monthly tickets!