Bang!
As the saying went, "Some rejoice while others worry."
While Sarutobi Hiruzen was congratulating himself on quelling the public's anger with his prestige, an old friend of ours, far away at Root, was in a rather foul mood.
Danzo slammed his hand on the table in anger and hurled the intelligence report to the floor. Displeasure filled his eyes. "Damn it! That Hiruzen! He quelled the public's anger without doing a thing!"
"Heh... Lord Danzo certainly has a fiery temper..."
A pale face slowly emerged from a shadowy corner. The cold, snake-like vertical pupils in those eyes were truly unnerving.
"Orochimaru? What are you doing here?!"
"Don't tell me the Wood Release research was successful?"
"Heh, Lord Danzo must be joking. Wood Release is the First's exclusive technique. How could it be replicated so easily?"
Seeing that Orochimaru had no good news either, the fire in Danzo's heart burned even hotter. His expression darkened. "Then did you come here just to mock me?!"
"Of course not..."
"There's a child... His compatibility with Wood Release Cells is exceptionally high, but the equipment in the laboratory still isn't advanced enough, and we're a little short on funds..."
"What?! Are you telling the truth?!"
Wood Release, in Danzo's eyes, was synonymous with "Hokage" and "powerful." As soon as he heard that there had been progress, he immediately forgot about his failed attempt to smear Sarutobi Hiruzen and asked for the details.
Even when he learned that they might need to spend tens of millions, or even over a hundred million ryo, on new equipment, he didn't care in the slightest.
After all, as one of the Konoha High Command, Danzo had never been short of money. Sarutobi Hiruzen also allocated funds to Root every year. "There's no way to spend it all. We simply can't spend it all!"
"Heh... Then I'll have to thank you, Lord Danzo... I'll send someone to inform you as soon as there's any new progress..."
Having achieved his goal, Orochimaru left Root without looking back. Danzo returned to his seat. "The plan failed, but the progress with Wood Release is still good news..."
Beside a small wooden house by a river in Konoha.
On a lazy afternoon, Qian Yu lay beneath a tree beside the stream, quietly waiting for a fish to bite.
It had been nine years since he'd been used as a speed bump by a heavy truck and ended up in the Naruto world... He wasn't a ninja, didn't have a Kekkei Genkai, and, since both his parents had died, had to live on a pension. As a result, he was malnourished and still under 1.3 meters tall at nine years old...
And because he lived on the outskirts of the village, every day he had to watch out for foreign spies infiltrating Konoha and trying to kill him, as well as people trying to abduct him for human experimentation. It was extremely dangerous.
Fortunately, though, the system had awakened a month ago and given him the ability to protect himself... Although, technically, the ability to protect himself hadn't been given to him personally...
"Dimensional Summoning System"—that was the name of Qian Yu's system.
As the name implied, its function was to summon characters from the various dimensions of the myriad worlds and put them at his disposal. During the newbie period, Qian Yu also enjoyed the "newbie benefit" of a ninety-percent discount on his first thirty pulls from the Premium Pool.
The characters he summoned were one hundred percent loyal to him, would never betray him, and would obey all his orders.
Furthermore, by having his summoned characters influence the native inhabitants of the Ninja World, he could earn the system's currency: Dimensional Points.
Dimensional Points were incredibly useful. He could exchange them for all kinds of items in the System Store, or even use them to draw new characters and items from the pools of the myriad worlds.
The pools were divided into regular pulls and Premium pulls. The former cost just 5,000 Dimensional Points per pull and offered a thrilling experience. As for the latter... they were a little more expensive, but a ten-pull guaranteed at least one A-rank reward.
(The ranks of characters and items, from lowest to highest, are D, C, B, A, S, SS, and SSS.)
"Great! That's the last one! Another full catch today!"
Qian Yu struggled to lift the heavy fish basket, which held at least a dozen big fish. Just as he was about to head home—
A strange, hazy mist rolled across the ground. The wind couldn't disperse it, and a bone-chilling cold crept up Qian Yu's back, making him shudder involuntarily.
"Mommy!"
The next moment, a warm feeling pressed against Qian Yu's back. Two slender, pale hands wrapped around his neck, and a child's voice sounded in his ear.
"All right, little Jack. No sneaking up on me from behind! And don't call me 'Mommy'!"
"Just call me... Uh... Boss or big brother!"
Qian Yu turned around. In front of him was a cute little girl in a white dress, with a red bow pinned to her chest. A data panel appeared beside her.
[Character] Jack the Ripper
[Introduction] From the Fate series. In truth, she was the grudge of tens of thousands of babies who had been denied the chance to be born.
[Abilities] Murder on Misty Night, Presence Concealment A+, Surgery E, Information Erasure B, Maria the Ripper, Darkness Misty Metropolis
Her bright, expressive eyes were emerald green. Although two conspicuous scars marked her slightly chubby cheeks, they did nothing to diminish her cuteness.
"But... when I call you 'Mommy,' your heart beats really fast, big brother?"
Faced with Jack's pitiful, puppy-dog eyes, Qian Yu could only admit defeat. He kept repeating "Three years at a minimum... Three years at a minimum..." in his mind, trying to fend off her cute attack, but it didn't do a damn thing...
All right... It seemed he really had no way of dealing with this little girl...
Jack the Ripper... This green-eyed, white-haired little girl was the first character Qian Yu had drawn from the beginner Premium ten-pull gifted by the system.
Don't let her harmless, adorable appearance fool you. Her true form was the grudge of tens of thousands of abandoned infants, and her personality was purely cruel. When she encountered prey, she would physically tear them limb from limb. She was truly terrifying!
Since Qian Yu lacked the "chakra" that could serve as a substitute for "magical energy" to keep Jack active, she had to eat a human heart every so often to replenish herself...
For Qian Yu, who didn't even dare kill a chicken, this was undoubtedly a huge problem.
But Jack didn't care in the slightest. In her eyes, killing people was as normal as breathing.
Still, Qian Yu couldn't bring himself to let Jack slaughter innocent people. Before every hunt, he had her investigate the target, then carefully weigh the matter before making his final choice.
But this couldn't go on forever!
The name "Fog Demon" had already spread far and wide. As a result, fewer people were coming to Konoha, making it increasingly difficult to choose targets.
"Looks like I'd better learn to knead chakra soon..."
He was already a student at the Ninja Academy, but he was just a civilian. He had no powerful Kekkei Genkai or clan techniques, and his talent was terrible. He was the "dead last" in the whole school.
Even the dead-last students in their own classes would proudly lift their chins and give Qian Yu looks of disdain when they saw him.
"Tch... Being called the dead last really doesn't sit well with me!"
Jack had been making quite a name for herself lately, and he'd saved up enough Dimensional Points for a ten-pull... Qian Yu acted at once, jabbing at the system's summoning pool—
Brilliant light filled the entire room. "Whoa! Purple rarity!"
[Congratulations, Host! You obtained a C-rank character card—"Patrick Star"!]
[Congratulations, Host! You obtained a D-rank item card—"A Dozen Rolls of Soft, Comfortable Toilet Paper"!]
[Congratulations, Host! You obtained a D-rank item card—"Sharingan Contact Lenses"!]
[Congratulations, Host! You obtained a B-rank character card—"Uncle"!]
[Congratulations, Host! You obtained an A-rank item card—"Rooster Talisman"!]
[Congratulations, Host! You obtained a D-rank ability card—"Substitution Technique"!]
[Congratulations, Host! You obtained a B-rank ability card—"Shadowkhan"! (Ninja Corps)]
[Congratulations, Host! You obtained a D-rank item card—"50,000 Ryo in Cash"!]
[Congratulations, Host! You obtained a C-rank item card—"A Three-Piece Stain-Resistant, Cold-Resistant, Heat-Resistant, Self-Cleaning Outfit"! (Top, bottoms, and underwear)]
[Congratulations, Host! You obtained an A-rank item card—"Magma-Magma Fruit"! (After eating it, you will automatically master all the Magma-Magma Fruit's techniques)]
As the system's light faded, the ten-pull came to an end. Qian Yu immediately checked the descriptions of the items and abilities he'd obtained.
[Character Card] Patrick Star
[Rank] C (Special)
[Introduction] A goofy pink starfish who lives in Bikini Bottom.
[Ability] Spacing out...
Uh... Although Patrick Star was a comedic character and should technically have been "invincible," this wasn't a comedic world, so he couldn't display his usual "comedy god powers." That was why he'd been rated C-rank. Still, it was a special C-rank, and maybe he'd show off his special power at some point...
Next came the two D-rank items... Was there really any need for things like toilet paper and contact lenses that only polluted the system's summoning pool...?
Then came the other, somewhat useful things—
[Character Card] Uncle
[Rank] B
[Introduction] From the world of Jackie Chan Adventures. A disciple of a great mage, he knows thousands of Qi Magic spells.
[Abilities] Qi Magic, magical artifacts (pufferfish, gecko)
[Item Card] Rooster Talisman
[Rank] A
[Introduction] From the world of Jackie Chan Adventures, one of the twelve Talismans of Shendu, the Fire Demon. It represents the power of levitation.
[Ability] Allows its bearer to levitate in the air and move objects around with telekinesis.
[Ability Card] Substitution Technique
[Rank] C
[Introduction] An E-rank ninjutsu from the world of Naruto. At the instant of an attack, the user quickly replaces their body with a piece of wood, tricking the opponent into thinking their attack succeeded.
First was Uncle... Although he looked like nothing more than a frail old man and didn't have great destructive power, Uncle knew all sorts of strange Qi Magic spells and could still hold his own in a fight.
Then there was... the Rooster Talisman? Its ability was telekinetic levitation... Too bad it wasn't the Rat Talisman or the Dog Talisman or something... Still, in a world like Naruto where flying techniques were rare, it seemed pretty good? Maybe he could even pass it off as a Kekkei Genkai.
As for the Substitution Technique... At least it meant he could learn ninjutsu now, right? Maybe he could even use it to pass the graduation exam!
Next were the "50,000 Ryo in Cash" and the "Stain-Resistant, Cold-Resistant, Heat-Resistant, Self-Cleaning Three-Piece Outfit"—both extremely useful to Qian Yu.
As an orphan living on a pension, the 50,000 ryo would at least make his meager life a little easier for a while.
As for the "Stain-Resistant, Cold-Resistant, Heat-Resistant, Self-Cleaning Three-Piece Outfit," it was practically a "godsend" for Qian Yu!
Now he could save time on laundry every day, and he wouldn't have to worry about sudden temperature changes when the seasons shifted. It was the ultimate slacker's tool!
Finally, there were the items that mattered most to Qian Yu right now—the ones that represented power...
[Ability Card] Shadowkhan (Ninja Corps)
[Rank] B
[Introduction] From the world of Jackie Chan Adventures. They serve under General Ninja.
[Ability] Grants the host the ability to summon ninja warriors who are one hundred percent loyal and can move freely through shadows.
[Item Card] Magma-Magma Fruit
[Rank] A
[Introduction] A Logia Devil Fruit from the world of One Piece. After eating it, the user becomes a magma human who can control magma.
[Abilities] Control over magma, elemental transformation, Hell Hound, Great Eruption, Dog-Biting Crimson Lotus, Great Eruption, and so on.
The Shadowkhan and the Magma-Magma Fruit... Those two things could directly boost Qian Yu's feeble combat power.
But... he didn't want to charge into battle and fight people just to earn Dimensional Points... Was there some way to earn Dimensional Points without having to go into battle himself?
[There is, Host. There is!]
[The Host can fuse up to one character card, one ability card, and one item card, causing the summoned character to undergo changes in combat power and personality.]
"In that case..."
The moment Qian Yu saw Patrick Star and the Magma-Magma Fruit, an image sprang into his mind: the pink starfish who often appeared in jokes about "Akainu," the Marine Admiral, in the novels he used to read in his previous life.
He'd been wondering whether the system's item cards could only be used by him. Since they could be given to other characters...
Marine Admiral "Chixing"! Deploy!
Before you continue