The Gains

(Chapter 40: The Gains)

Mirai passed out. The Third Hokage also saw that the life force of the two people had completely faded. Grief-stricken, he ordered, "Take the Fourth Hokage and Uzumaki Kushina's bodies back. Don't let this get out. We'll say that the Fourth Hokage and his wife died together with the Nine-Tailed Fox to protect the village."

"Yes, Lord Third! What should we do with these two children?" one ninja asked the Third Hokage, carrying the unconscious Mirai while another held Naruto Uzumaki, who was still swaddled in his blanket.

"Take Mirai to the hospital and make sure he receives proper treatment. Have someone take good care of Naruto. He's the Fourth Hokage's only child. Let's go back. There's still a lot to do in Konoha." Seeing the Fourth Hokage die for Konoha at such a young age left the Third Hokage feeling helpless. But now wasn't the time to grieve. The Nine-Tails had destroyed many parts of Konoha.

Many villagers' homes needed to be rebuilt, and there were other ambitious ninja villages that would surely try something while Konoha was badly weakened. War could very well break out, and he had to take charge of the situation again.

Three days passed in a flash. Mirai had slept in the hospital for three whole days. His Sharingan's ocular power and his chakra had been severely depleted, and the serious injuries to his body had all caught up with him at once. He couldn't take any more.

After three days, Mirai opened his eyes. The wounds on his body had been treated while he was unconscious. He still felt sore all over, but he was no longer in any danger.

Mirai looked around at where he was and realized he was in the hospital. He still remembered the last thing he'd seen. All he could do was sigh. There was nothing he could have done against a battle of that level.

Mirai suddenly remembered the Hero Pavilion and Rare Beast Pavilion he'd heard about just before passing out. He hadn't had a chance to see what they were, so he opened the System Shop.

The first thing Mirai clicked on was the Hero Pavilion. Before he'd passed out, the system had mentioned that it was connected to the Fourth Hokage and Uzumaki Kushina. Since they had both saved his life, he was especially concerned about what had happened to them.

[Hero Pavilion: Collect various heroes in the Hero Pavilion and summon them to aid the host. By spending a certain number of Points, the host can summon a character for a corresponding length of time. Summoned characters retain all their strength and memories from when they were alive and can help the host fight and complete missions.]

After reading the description, Mirai began to understand what this was. In terms of online games, they were like mercenaries. He could spend Points to have them help him fight.

Mirai realized he could use this as his trump card. A powerful summoned character could appear at a critical moment and save his life.

Mirai looked at the characters in the [Hero Pavilion]. For now, there were only the Fourth Hokage, Namikaze Minato, and Uzumaki Kushina. The summoning cost was also quite expensive: the Fourth Hokage required one Point per second, and Uzumaki Kushina cost the same.

The cost left Mirai speechless. His entire fortune wasn't enough to summon them for even ten seconds. Still, he decided that once he had enough Points, he would reunite the Fourth Hokage's family. Before she died, that had been Uzumaki Kushina's greatest wish.

He would do it as repayment for the Fourth Hokage and Uzumaki Kushina saving his life. It was the only thing he could do for them.

Then Mirai opened his [Rare Beast Pavilion] and looked at its description.

[Rare Beast Pavilion: Spend a certain number of Points to purchase Tailed Beasts from this pavilion and summon them to fight as your beasts. You can also use Possession to increase the host's combat power.]

"..." Mirai was speechless. As he'd expected, wasn't this basically a pet? Damn, had he really been transported to another world, or was he playing an online game?

But Mirai was actually very excited. This was a roundabout way of becoming a Jinchuriki. Becoming a Jinchuriki wasn't easy; it required compatibility with the Tailed Beast.

The process of becoming a Jinchuriki was almost always a matter of life and death. If you couldn't withstand the Tailed Beast's chakra, you died. Mirai wasn't ready to risk that, so he'd planned to follow the path of the Sharingan's highest evolution and reach the Rinnegan. Now, though, he had another trump card.

Mirai checked the Tailed Beasts and found that, just like the Hero Pavilion, almost all of them were unavailable. Only one had any information.

It looked like a very, very tiny fox, only about the size of a palm. It was incredibly cute. Mirai tapped to open its listing.

[Nine-Tails: Infant stage. A creature created by the system, formed from extracted Nine-Tails Chakra. In its ultimate form, it possesses power equal to that of the Nine-Tails and is a great aid in battle. (Note: Its loyalty is absolutely reliable; there is no risk of betrayal.) Purchase cost: 100 Points. Helpful hint: The Nine-Tails grows rather slowly. We recommend purchasing "Rare Beast Feed" to greatly accelerate the growth of Tailed Beasts.]

It really was the Nine-Tails. It couldn't compare to the imposing aura of the one Mirai had seen, not at the size of a palm, but it was still the strongest Tailed Beast after the Ten-Tails.

When Mirai used to play games, he'd always ended up with trash pets and could only envy the rich players riding flashy mounts and showing off powerful pets. Now it looked like he could show off too.

His system really was incredible. After seeing it snatch a soul from the Death God, Mirai had known it was powerful. It didn't just summon characters; now it even had pets ready for him. He'd made quite a haul this time. It would only make sense for him to conquer the Naruto world! Mirai felt a domineering aura rise from his dantian. (In the near future, Mirai would regret buying the pet. Without "Rare Beast Feed," its affection would plummet, dropping below 50 and even putting it at risk of running away. Mirai would be on the verge of tears. The system was really screwing him over! But there were no returns, so he could only keep the glutton. His heart would bleed every time it ate. That was when Mirai would learn one thing: if you tried to show off without money, you were the one who suffered in the end.)

"Creak—!" The door to Mirai's room suddenly swung open. He froze. Had someone come to see him?