Enemy Tracks

"Officer! You have to stand up for us... This man is rotten to the core. My spouse is deathly ill, yet he refuses to let us go to a proper hospital, just to swindle us out of our money!"

"Uncle Zhang, you need a conscience. What money did I swindle from you? Isn't it just..."

Akaseki was speechless at this point.

What kind of ridiculous plot was this again?

In this scenario, Akaseki had once again taken on the role of Hong Yan. This time, Hong Yan was a medical ninja... well, Akaseki felt that this level of performance implied a highly skilled medical ninja, likely a Jonin—an ordinary doctor without chakra certainly couldn't just touch someone and poke them a few times to cure them, right?

However, this medical ninja Hong Yan, driven by some inexplicable "gratitude" and "attachment to his hometown," had stayed in a village without any other ninjas to treat the villagers...

He hadn't earned a single cent; it was all IOUs.

As a result, these villagers, incited by villains, had all filed complaints against Hong Yan for practicing medicine illegally, and now Hong Yan was facing jail time.

Setting aside how absurd this plot was...

Akaseki also realized that the current scenario, "You Call Me a Quack, So I'll Just Be a Vet," was a different kind of trope.

Beyond the "ingrates" around him stirring up emotions, the more important thing was...

Why was it so agonizingly slow?

For some reason, Hong Yan acted as if he had no mouth; he simply wouldn't say the words "I haven't received payment." Even when Akaseki wanted to say it himself, the system would stop him...

And these so-called "court" officials, for some reason, also inexplicably failed to ask about it.

When our Konoha Military Police Force makes an arrest, we always ask about the amount of money involved!

Akaseki was not only being forced to inhabit Hong Yan, he was nearly dying of anger and impatience. He was even furious at the law enforcement officers here—why don't you come to the Konoha Military Police Force for some advanced training?

The key question was, why didn't a single one of them ask? What was wrong with this world?

If this were the Military Police Force...

They would definitely start by treating these unruly villagers to a round of batons, then drag Hong Yan in for a thorough interrogation—why does someone with no background possess such advanced medical ninjutsu? Are you a spy from an enemy village?

Well, he certainly wasn't, as Akaseki was Hong Yan now and had no such memories.

But Akaseki couldn't understand why they weren't investigating the spy angle and were instead obsessing over his lack of medical credentials...

A full hour had passed. It started in court and ended in court. Akaseki was so annoyed he could vomit; the plot hadn't advanced at all, trapped in a loop of "the ingrates' tearful accusations" and "rebuttals being ignored."

After receiving the "Prosperity Realm Massage Device" reward, Akaseki jumped off the bed...

"Earth Style: Super Lightweight Rock Technique!" Akaseki used Earth Style to attach rocks formed from earth chakra to his waist and back to increase his weight, and then...

Akaseki began doing weighted push-ups frantically to vent his frustration.

Unlike the uniform pressure and corrective effects of the "Correction Device," using Earth Style to add weight was unsuitable for practicing Taijutsu movements and only good for basic physical training.

The second hour of the plot ended, and Hong Yan finally made it to the verdict.

The final result was that because a patient had a seizure on the spot, an ingrate begged Hong Yan to treat them, indirectly exposing the previous lies, so...

He was only sentenced to a large fine, and the protagonist was strictly forbidden from practicing medicine further.

Although Akaseki still didn't understand why no one checked where the protagonist's medical skills came from, it... didn't matter anymore. Akaseki had basically given up on thinking.

The second reward was another massage device, and Akaseki once again used masochistic physical tempering to vent his emotions.

The third hour of the plot ended, and Hong Yan went to open a pet clinic...

Well, I suppose that meant treating ninja beasts? But Akaseki didn't understand why these ninja beasts were so weak, or why the people who kept them didn't know how to treat them themselves.

As a result, for fifty-five minutes of this hour, the same "ingrate" villagers from before came to use moral blackmail, forcing Hong Yan to go back and continue treating people...

Fire Style temperature +1, Fire Style temperature +1, Fire Style temperature +1...

Someone fainted from a seizure on the spot.

Fire Style range +1.

[Prosperity Realm Physical Examination Device: Just one drop of blood to detect your entire body's condition. Results in sixty seconds. Know your health early...]

After Akaseki finished the third hour, he refreshed the physical examination device again, and this time...

[Confirm purchase of Prosperity Realm Physical Examination Device? Surprise discount price, only 98! 300-use warranty! (While owned, this product's GG will no longer appear)]

Akaseki had noticed this prompt the previous two times—after purchasing, the GG would no longer appear, and... it seemed there was a usage limit?

Although it said "quality assurance" and "can be returned if it breaks before 300 uses," based on Akaseki's understanding of this platform, it would likely break exactly after 300 uses...

Ultimately, Akaseki decided to buy the physical examination device!

With his balance of 150, he could only afford one.

While buying the eye protection device or the massage device wouldn't be bad, the benefit of buying the physical examination device was that he could finally use it whenever he wanted, and when he didn't want to use it, it wouldn't refresh and take up the slot for other GGs!

Akaseki felt that choosing the "physical examination device" offered the best value for money...

After confirming the purchase, Akaseki realized that no physical item actually appeared; just like the trial, it would take effect the moment he wanted to use it.

Next, Akaseki spent another four hours, this time using the Eye Protection Device to replenish his Dojutsu Power.

However, just as Akaseki was preparing to practice his ninjutsu...

"Sharingan, activate!"

"Fire... hm?"

After activating his Sharingan, Akaseki was just about to practice his ninjutsu when he suddenly caught a blurry glimpse of a figure flashing in the distance, disappearing directly into the Forest of Death!

The barrier of death has failed? Who is it? Akaseki felt a jolt of alarm.

Akaseki immediately went to check the spot where the figure had passed, only to discover that it wasn't a barrier failure, but rather...

"This is... a Cursed Seal?" Akaseki saw several strange patterns drawn on the wooden stake wall, and the section of the wall enclosed by these patterns had been neatly sliced away.

These wooden stakes weren't just ordinary wood; they were reinforced with barriers. For a piece to be cut away and someone to slip inside, it was clearly the result of interference from some kind of technique.

A Cursed Seal is precisely a technique used to seal the power of a certain jutsu and attach it to another object.

Of course, this technique was far too advanced, and Akaseki only knew the general concept.

"Sealing Jutsu" was already highly advanced, and "Sealing Jutsu" was merely the foundation for Cursed Seals.

However, this didn't stop Akaseki from guessing that it was this Cursed Seal that had silently opened a gap in the barrier of the Forest of Death...

Just as Akaseki recognized the Cursed Seal, the circle of markings began to fade away, and the invisible membrane extending beyond the edge of the wooden stakes began to close up!

Seeing this, a look of hesitation flashed in Akaseki's eyes—someone was definitely doing something detrimental to Konoha, but the strength of the intruder was unknown...

I remember Jiraiya-sensei saying that to break a barrier, one must either completely dismantle it or create a loophole in it. This is clearly just prying open a crack; otherwise, the village would have noticed. Under these circumstances, the loophole in the barrier isn't fully open, so the Chakra of the person passing through this barrier shouldn't be too strong...

Akaseki gritted his teeth, first forming a Warning Seal after activating his eyes, and then, while the barrier had not yet fully vanished, he followed suit and slipped inside!