Five Kage

Ruri nearly sprang out of bed. This was fucking Wood Style—the Wood Style that could restrain Tailed Beasts! Its power was admittedly exaggerated by Hashirama's massive chakra reserves, but there was no denying that in the early days of the Shinobi World, Wood Style could crush most ninjutsu. Fire Style, Water Style—whatever it was, before Wood Style, it all had to call it daddy. Yamato had been hailed as an Anbu elite ninja despite only being able to bring out twenty percent of Wood Style's power. If the power system had not collapsed later on and all that Six Paths nonsense had not appeared, Wood Style would have absolutely ranked among the greatest Kekkei Genkai!

[Please remain calm, Host. The lottery reward is merely a Wood Style ninjutsu, not Wood Style itself. Host can only use the acquired ninjutsu and does not possess the Wood Style ability.]

With the system pouring cold water on him, Ruri calmed down as well. Thinking about it carefully, this was unrealistic to begin with. The lottery was only a minor branch of the achievement rewards—how could it possibly give him complete Wood Style? The wine-brewing method from before was more realistic. Still, hadn't the system said the lottery could only draw things that helped the village develop? How had he drawn a ninjutsu?

[Wood Style—Four-Pillar House Technique. It can construct elaborate wooden residences and is extremely convenient and practical. It can even build high-rise structures, allowing the village to construct housing.]

That made so much sense that he was completely speechless. Using Wood Style to build houses could not be more convenient!

His three lottery draws were used up: one wine-brewing method, one waterwheel manufacturing method, and one house-building ninjutsu. It seemed like none of them would be useful at a grand occasion like the Five Kage Summit.

Should he try telling Hashirama that they had fine wine? Ruri remembered that Tsunade had learned her love of drinking and gambling from Hashirama, hadn't she? Or maybe he could discuss waterwheels with the Kazekage? Living in the middle of a vast desert, they surely needed those...

Forget it. He would take things as they came. After thinking for so long without coming up with any good ideas, Ruri decided to sleep. With the Truth-Seeking Orb in hand, as long as no one understood what it was, getting a status equal to the Five Kage should not be a problem.

The night passed without incident.

"Kakuzu, get ready to depart. The Five Kage should be entering the city right about—" Ruri had to stop halfway through his sentence.

"Hey, hey... Put down the kunai and shuriken first, and put away those Explosive Tags. Don't look so eager to fight. We're not here to start a battle. The Five Kage Summit isn't a Five Kage tournament, much less the World's Greatest Martial Arts Tournament..." Ruri shoved everything in Kakuzu's hands into his Ninja Tool Pouch. Why was everything going wrong so early in the morning...

"Didn't you say before that you were going to fight Senju Hashirama, Big Brother?" Kakuzu asked doubtfully as he fastened his Ninja Tool Pouch.

"Maybe we won't have to fight after all..." It was only one ninjutsu, but it was still Wood Style. Given Hashirama's personality, there was no way he would refuse to show him some consideration. If they really came to blows, his opponent might be Tobirama instead. After all, Hashirama's own younger brother did not have Wood Style, yet an outsider had learned it. That would be rather awkward, wouldn't it?

"Fine..." Kakuzu looked somewhat disappointed. He had thought he would get to fight the God of Shinobi. Even if he lost, at least he could brag about it later.

"If anyone fights, it'll be me. Not to put you down, but you can only handle the Five Kage's guards..." Ruri was helpless as well. He had sensed their chakra from far away. Other villages' Kage brought guards at near-Kage level, while Kakuzu, though quite famous, was still not enough by comparison. It seemed that after returning to the village, he would have to find a way to improve Kakuzu's strength. He also needed to search for Earth Grudge Fear. How could a village have only one ninja capable of holding his own? They needed to build a harmonious ninja village together.

When talent was lacking, secret techniques could make up for it. There would always be a way to strengthen the Takigakure Ninja. Ruri simply could not tell how talented he was. Feeling that his strength would not improve, he had desperately focused on improving his ability to survive instead. It would be best if he could revive even after dying, like Orochimaru. Thus, he had frantically collected a pile of secret techniques, along with ninjutsu copied from the original story. He truly knew quite a few techniques. The chakra Sensory Secret Technique he was using now had been found years ago in the ruins of an exterminated small clan.

Within Ruri's senses, ten blazing chakra signatures appeared at the city gate. Their immense chakra reserves were like huge lightbulbs, and as though they had arranged it beforehand, they entered the city together.

Ruri had naturally mastered the Body Flicker Technique to perfection, a survival technique. Under Ruri's influence, Kakuzu had become fairly skilled at it too. Thus, the two of them flashed in unison and appeared before the Five Kage.

Hashirama:?

Ishikawa:?

Retto:?

A:?

Byakuren:?

Five utterly baffled faces. There were not many people in the Shinobi World who could make all five Kage wear such expressions at once. This might have been an unprecedented and never-to-be-repeated sight. Ruri really wished the system would reward him with a camera. If he could record the Five Kage looking this dumbfounded, he could brag about it for the rest of his life!

The thought was nice, but the others gave Ruri no time. The moment he landed, a water dragon rose beside him and charged at him with unstoppable force. Yet in the next instant, Ruri waved his hand, and the entire water dragon vanished without a trace. "Don't be so impatient..."

What had happened? Byakuren, the First Mizukage and first to attack, was horrified. Being able to create such a powerful Water Dragon Bullet out of thin air was already enough to demonstrate his mastery of Water Style. Yet it was as though nothing had happened. The formidable Water Dragon Bullet had not even dampened the newcomer's sleeve.

Though Byakuren had attacked, the other four Kage did not move. Hashirama frowned, unable to tell whether the newcomer was friend or foe. If he had needed to block Byakuren's Water Dragon Bullet under the circumstances of a sudden attack, even he would have needed to use Wood Style. Yet this man had merely waved his hand casually.

The others thought the same. As old rivals, they knew better than anyone how powerful Byakuren's Water Style was. Anyone who could wave a sleeve and make a Water Dragon Bullet disappear was no mediocrity. Even if he could not stand on equal footing with them, he was at least someone qualified to speak with them as an equal.

Tobirama took it all in. He seemed to have sensed a spatial fluctuation just now, but his identity was only that of the Hokage's guard. With none of the Five Kage having spoken, it was not yet his turn, so he said nothing. He was an expert in Water Style and knew just how terrifying Byakuren's Water Style was. He had also studied spatial ninjutsu. Even though it was only at the research stage, that preliminary understanding was enough for him to recognize how frightening spatial ninjutsu could be. If the other party had truly transferred the Water Dragon Bullet elsewhere through spatial ninjutsu, he was definitely not someone Tobirama could provoke at present.

[Name: Byakuren]

[Overall Strength: Kage]

[Talent: Kage]

[Attributes: Water, Wind]

[Special Ability: None]

[Evaluation: A peerless expert who has perfected Water Style. With his talent, it is only natural. In truth, he is just an aging salted fish.]

That had been close, truly close. Fortunately, he had prepared in advance and brought out the Truth-Seeking Orb immediately. Just as Kakuzu's investigation had said, the First Mizukage was already an old man past fifty, but his temper was even more explosive than the Raikage's. As Ruri walked forward, he said, "Mizukage-sama, attacking the moment we meet is a little excessive, isn't it? This isn't the Land of Water."

"The Land of Water?" Byakuren froze, not understanding why Ruri had suddenly mentioned the Land of Water. Then he looked around and understood. The passing samurai were glaring at him with hostile eyes. Within the Land of Iron, a nation of samurai, using such a large-scale ninjutsu was a provocation against the bushido they had always upheld. That was also why the other four Kage had not acted.

However, although these samurai were hostile toward them, none stepped forward to interfere. The existence of ninja was an unstoppable trend, one they could not resist. Moreover, they knew these people were among the strongest ninjas alive, controlling more than half the forces of the entire Shinobi World. They were not people the Land of Iron could provoke at will.

As Ruri approached step by step, the Five Kage assumed guarded stances but did not stop him.

"Who are you?" Hashirama stepped forward and asked.

"The First Takikage, Amamiya Ruri."