Five Deaths in a Row

"Ah~ Ah~ Ah~" As soon as Jiraiya entered the game and saw the name displayed above his character, he let out a bloodcurdling scream.

"Why?! Why did this happen? I clearly entered 'A Necklace'! How did it turn into 'A Lotus'?"

"Hm? Jiraiya, are you asking for a beating? You dare imitate my ID? Hahaha! 'A Lotus'? It suits you perfectly, Jiraiya." Tsunade looked disgusted.

"Idiot." Orochimaru delivered a very fair assessment.

Might Duy had already slipped out of Konoha and started killing chickens.

"Wow! Duy, you sneaky guy! You took advantage of us talking and went off to train by yourself!" Jiraiya successfully diverted Tsunade's attention.

Just then, a young man walked in from outside. He ordered a cola, then noticed how lively things were over here and came over. Seeing the little figures on several screens being controlled to beat up small animals nonstop, he couldn't help finding it novel. "Um... What is this? Can I play too?"

Xian Yu was chasing after a deer and hacking at it. In the middle of all that, he glanced over and said, "Ask the front desk to set you up at a computer. There's a game called Ninja Legend on the desktop. Just click it. It's free this week; after that, it'll cost three taels of silver per hour."

Nonō was carrying five cups of cola over. Hearing this, she carefully set one cup in front of each of Xian Yu and the others, then gave the young man a warm smile and led him to a computer, where she showed him how to open the game's help menu.

Before long, Xian Yu and the others saw another character run out of Konoha. The character's ID was Dan Katō. Since characters hadn't learned their class skills before level seven and all looked the same, they couldn't tell which ninja class he had chosen.

The others didn't think much of it, but Xian Yu was taken aback. He couldn't help glancing outside the private room, though he didn't dwell on it.

Now that he had unexpectedly joined them, the Sannin's destinies had clearly diverged greatly from those in the anime of his previous life. Besides, this world had many things that didn't match up with the anime from his previous life.

For instance, in the original, Konoha was tiny, and you could count its population on your fingers. But the real Konoha had a full hundred thousand permanent residents, not counting the transient population. There were also more than twelve thousand officially registered ninja.

There were also quite a few small clans in the real Konoha that had never even been mentioned in the original, and each wielded considerable influence.

Take the Akagi Clan, for example. They were skilled in Fire Release and were a pure Fire Release clan, devoting their entire lives to studying Fire Release Ninjutsu. Their family supplied sixty percent of the Explosive Tags in Konoha's low-end market. The Uchiha had a complete monopoly on the high-end market.

Then there was Sikong Mo, the current head of the Sikong Clan. He could bring his drawings to life and summon guardians to fight alongside him. His strength was at the peak of the Elite Jonin level, enough to rival Sarutobi Hiruzen and Danzo, who were still young and hadn't yet reached their peaks. Unfortunately, his clan was small, much like the Hatake Clan, with only one heir per generation. Xian Yu suspected Sai might be descended from the Sikong Clan.

These clans and people had never existed in the original at all.

After a long chase, Xian Yu finally cut down a deer and crouched beside it to carve out some meat.

He could sell the venison to an NPC in Konoha for money, then buy things like potions and return scrolls.

"Meow! Meow!" Several piercing yowls suddenly rang out, and Jiraiya's screen turned gray. His character, 'A Lotus,' was sprawled on the ground. "Ah~ I'm dead. Damn Multi-Hook Cat!"

"Haha, Jiraiya, you're so weak! You can't even beat a cat!" Tsunade slapped the table, laughing uproariously.

"Idiot." Orochimaru twisted the knife again.

Might Duy silently patted Jiraiya on the shoulder to encourage him.

Jiraiya burst into tears...

Jiraiya was stubborn, too. He seemed to have it in for that Multi-Hook Cat. After reviving, he charged at it bare-chested to fight it one-on-one, only to die again after a few hits. After dying more than a dozen times, Jiraiya finally admitted, helplessly, that he was no match for a cat. By then, Xian Yu, Orochimaru, Tsunade, and Might Duy had all reached level three.

"Um... There's an orc here, and it's really strong!" Dan Katō called out from the main hall outside the private room.

Xian Yu was at a loss for words. Instead of killing the small animals by the entrance to Konoha, the guy had run to the other side of the map, near the Orc Tomb, to get himself killed...

What a weirdo.

"Hey? What are you guys doing?" Another person came in just then. It was someone they knew.

"Well, look who it is—Nara Pengyi! Come on over. Big brother will show you something fun!" Jiraiya called out excitedly.

Before long, Nara Pengyi had joined the Ninja Legend crew. His ID was "Women Are Such a Pain," and his class was Ninjutsu Ninja.

"Hey! Pengyi, you bastard! You just ditched your teammates and ran off. Why didn't you help me kill this Multi-Hook Cat?" Jiraiya shouted.

Nara Pengyi rolled his eyes. "You hit it more than a dozen times, and its health barely went down. It hit you once, and you lost a third of your health. Only an idiot would go up against it, right?"

"Haha, Pengyi, you should come join my side. Jiraiya's completely unreliable. We're all level six and about to hit seven and learn our skills." Tsunade never missed a chance to mock Jiraiya.

Xian Yu silently carved out another piece of venison, then ran all the way back to Konoha and found the butcher. He sold the half-inventory of meat for 86 copper coins. Then he spent 50 gold coins at the pharmacy on a bundle of six small blue potions, and another 30 gold coins on three small red potions. After that, he happily went back to chopping at deer.

He knew exactly how much experience each type of monster gave. Early on, killing chickens and deer was the most efficient. These animals didn't attack; they only ran away. They gave no less experience than Multi-Hook Cats. Before long, he was the first to reach level seven and automatically learned the Summoning Medic class's first skill, Mystical Palm Technique. It was a single-target healing skill that restored health to himself or his teammates.

"Ah! Xian Yu, how are you already level seven?" Jiraiya shouted again, grief-stricken as he looked at his character, who was only level three.

"Idiot."

Not long after, Orochimaru, Tsunade, and Might Duy also reached level seven one after another. They automatically learned:

The Ninjutsu Ninja's first skill, Fire Release: Small Fireball

Mystical Palm Technique.

The Taijutsu Ninja's basic taijutsu.

In Ninja Legend, each class's first skill was fixed and learned automatically at level seven. After that, players had to buy skill books from bookstores in villages or towns.

After Xian Yu's extensive modifications, the skills available later on were incredibly varied, with many different branches.

Since skills also had levels and were extremely difficult to train, it was best to choose a few skills you liked and combine them sensibly.

For instance, the Summoning Medic class could eventually branch into specializing in summoning beasts, healing, poison, or physical enhancement.

Of course, you could learn them all, but if you couldn't raise your skill levels, then you might know a hundred kinds of Ninjutsu and still get sent to watch a gray screen by someone's single Fire Release.

As for S-rank skills and forbidden techniques from level thirty-five onward, you had to defeat powerful monster bosses to obtain them.

Just then, Tsunade stared at her character using Mystical Palm Technique to heal herself, as if she'd been struck by an idea...