Danzo

Magicians possess immense mental fortitude, for many high-risk illusions require such a powerful inner core!

Facing White Fang, Li Tong appeared completely flawless. A magician is, by nature, a legal swindler; he excels at deception. If he says someone choked on water, then they choked on water. Whether you believe it or not is your business, but that is how he tells it.

White Fang stared at Li Tong for a long while before finally speaking: "Choked on water?"

"Yes, absolutely true. His breath-holding time underwater wasn't as long as mine, and his swimming skills were inferior. I seized the opportunity to kill him while he was choking." Li Tong looked at White Fang with innocent, wide eyes.

White Fang's brow furrowed into a knot.

He had truly experienced Li Tong's ability to lie through his teeth.

It was something even an idiot wouldn't believe, yet he managed to say it out loud, and with such sincerity!

"It seems I underestimated you," White Fang said in a low voice, his words seemingly carrying a deeper meaning.

"I swear, what I said is the truth!"

"Hmph!"

White Fang let out a cold snort and vanished in a flash.

Li Tong immediately turned to look out the window. Sure enough, White Fang appeared on the lakeshore, whispered something to Chen He, and then disappeared again. Shortly after White Fang left, Chen He and the others also departed the lakeshore, taking the corpse with them.

Hatake Sakumo... he will likely report this incident to Hiruzen Sarutobi, Li Tong speculated inwardly.

The Third Hokage of Konohagakure in the Land of Fire, Hiruzen Sarutobi, is recognized as the greatest Hokage since the founding of Konoha. He is capable, resourceful, and wise. In the original story, he held power in Konoha for over forty years and achieved profound mastery in all five elemental ninjutsu, secret techniques, and sealing arts, earning him the title "Professor of Ninjutsu."

Looking back at the history of the ninja world, Hiruzen Sarutobi is the greatest legend of Konoha!

Having been in Konoha for over half a month, Li Tong had yet to meet him. Li Tong also knew that he was merely a minor character; even if Hiruzen Sarutobi took notice of him, he would only need to arrange for his trusted subordinates to handle it, not yet reaching the point of needing a personal summons.

Will the news of me killing an elite Jonin spread? Li Tong suddenly felt a wave of worry.

It wasn't just possible; it was highly probable!

Important information regarding Li Tong always seemed to spread through Konoha with bizarre and abnormal speed; this had already happened many times.

Li Tong thought for a long time, and the more he thought, the more he felt big trouble was brewing. In the end, he simply stopped thinking about it—it was useless anyway. Improving his strength was the priority.

When soldiers come, block them; when water comes, earth covers it. As long as he had sufficient strength, all troubles would be nothing but passing clouds!

Composing himself, Li Tong opened the Reputation interface once more.

He scanned it quickly, but there was nothing he found worth exchanging. There were A-rank ninjutsu and some forbidden secret techniques, but they were either too expensive or required massive amounts of chakra to execute, making them unsuitable for the current Li Tong.

He immediately took out the Reputation Shop Refresh Card and, without bothering to ask the Card Emperor Sprite, bit it to pieces.

"Ding! Reputation Shop forcefully refreshed!"

Following the prompt, the translucent floating interface flashed, and ten new exchange items replaced the previous ones.

At the very top, the first item made Li Tong freeze the moment he saw it: it was actually Sage Mode! The price was a staggering 180,000 Reputation! Li Tong carefully counted the zeros; it would take 1.8 million Reputation to exchange for it.

It was something he could only look at.

He continued to look down.

The situation was the same as before: either too expensive, or of little help to his current stage. When Li Tong saw the seventh item, his eyes lit up, and he immediately said: "Exchange for this, Fire Style: Flame Bullet!"

"Exchange complete."

The C-rank ninjutsu Fire Style: Flame Bullet cost only a mere 800 Reputation, yet it could bring Li Tong a significant boost.

Because he had previously consumed three Fire Style: Flame Bullet cards, this was the fourth. Once consumed, according to the card-eating rules, the power of his Fire Style: Flame Bullet would reach eight times its base level!

This power was definitely comparable to B-rank ninjutsu of the same type, even surpassing average B-rank fire ninjutsu and rivaling superior B-rank techniques, such as Fire Style: Great Dragon Fire Technique!

However, while the eight-fold power of Li Tong's Fire Style: Flame Bullet matched a B-rank technique, it did not require the chakra consumption of one. As long as he output slightly more than the normal amount of chakra, he could unleash the eight-fold power!

Eight times the power, it should at least cover a ten-meter radius, right? Li Tong muttered, taking the exchanged card from his Item Space and biting it to pieces.

He looked further down.

The last three items.

Specialty weapon Earth-Quaking Blade card—requires 6,000 Reputation.

A-rank ninjutsu Lightning Style: Chakra Mode card—requires 56,000 Reputation.

A-rank medical ninjutsu Mystical Palm Technique—requires 8,000 Reputation.

He skipped the first two because he couldn't afford them and looked at the last one.

Mystical Palm Technique!

A high-level medical ninjutsu that requires extremely high control over a ninja's chakra and is notoriously difficult to master. The original records noted that in Konoha's medical department, medical ninjas who mastered this technique were very rare.

Li Tong considered this and asked inwardly: "Is the price gap for A-rank techniques this large? I saw Fire Style: Majestic Destroyer Flame before, a technique with top-tier power among A-rank fire attacks, and it only cost 5,000 Reputation. Why is Mystical Palm Technique 8,000? And Lightning Style: Chakra Mode is 56,000?"

"The Reputation Shop system uses a unique calculation rule for item prices. Attack types, support types, melee versus ranged, area of effect—these are all factors that influence the price."

"Generally speaking, offensive and defensive ninjutsu cards have lower exchange prices, while support types are slightly more expensive due to their unique utility. As for Lightning Style: Chakra Mode, because it possesses the characteristic that the higher the mastery, the more the training difficulty increases, its price is extremely high! By the late stages of training, the difficulty of Lightning Style: Chakra Mode is already S-rank, approaching that of an ultimate technique."

"Understood!" Li Tong nodded.

In truth, he could understand why Lightning Style: Chakra Mode was expensive, as the technique had been displayed in a monstrous fashion in the original story.

Lightning Style: Chakra Mode, also known as Nintaijutsu: Lightning Armor, was mastered by the Third Raikage and the Fourth Raikage in the original series. The former possessed the "Strongest Shield," which could be called absolute defense, and once relied on this ability to fight against ten thousand Iwagakure ninjas for three days and three nights during the Third Shinobi World War.

The latter excels in speed, possessing a velocity that pushes the limits of human vision; he is one of the fastest individuals in terms of pure physical speed.

"Exchange for Mystical Palm Technique." Li Tong made his decision.

Healing-type cards are precious and should be saved whenever possible; if he could master a powerful medical ninjutsu, it would be much more convenient and save him a great deal of trouble.

After consuming the Mystical Palm Technique card, Li Tong took another look at his Reputation, which stood at 4,800, before closing the Reputation exchange interface.

Half an hour later.

Dressed in new clothes and feeling refreshed, Li Tong appeared on the bustling streets of Konoha. The morning was already halfway over, and he had yet to eat breakfast.

Li Tong arrived outside Jiangchuan Flavor and was just about to step inside.

Suddenly, he felt the back of his neck tighten.

Before Li Tong could react, his vision blurred. The next moment, he found himself in a forest near the bustling district. Beside him stood another person—a Konoha powerhouse who had brought him directly to the woods with overwhelming strength!

Li Tong immediately darted to the side to put some distance between them before fixing his gaze on the figure.

The man was dressed in a black robe and wore a mask. His aura was cold and restrained, making him appear extremely mysterious, yet Li Tong was able to see his information.

-- Name: Danzo Identity: Advisor to the Hokage of Konoha, leader of the Konoha Anbu special mobile unit "Root." Reputation: 4916 Relationship: Neutral --

It's Danzo! Li Tong was shocked the moment he saw the identity information. It's actually him! Why would he suddenly come looking for me?

"The Hokage wishes to see you," Danzo said hoarsely.