176. Reinforcement

Exchange Shop?

System?

Huh?

Even though Naruto had experienced the events at the cinema, the sight before him still left him in a daze.

Exchange Shop? Does this mean everything above can be exchanged? The hell, can I even be exchanged?

Kurama's voice rang out, gritting his teeth. Naruto asked in surprise, "Kurama, you can see it too?"

Yeah, that voice said something about me assisting you in killing Kalifa and gave me 50 points of Green Seal... Kurama then cursed, Damn it, isn't green the trashiest tier? They're just fobbing me off with this?!

Naruto automatically tuned out the rest of Kurama's insults. This stinky fox had really been lacking manners lately; he didn't know who he picked it up from, but he couldn't let it rub off on him.

Naruto shifted his focus to the implications behind the scene before him.

In the cinema, Naruto had seen the concept of a "system" in web novels, so even though he hadn't expected to encounter such a thing himself, he accepted the reality quickly.

However, there were two very important questions... Where did this shop come from? Everything exchangeable was from this world, so was it a manifestation of the world itself? The World Will?

Furthermore, was this something only he could see, or could everyone who killed these so-called otherworldly Calamity Thiefs open it?

If so, did it mean that to people from the Pirate World like Kalifa, we people of the Ninja World were their Calamity Thiefs? Did they have a similar shop?

Thinking back to the "future path of this world" mentioned by the voice, and the man's voice on the Den Den Mushi... a chill crept into Naruto's heart.

It was known that Kalifa's arrival was no accident; others from the Pirate World had come to the Ninja World, and it was highly likely that if they killed people from the Ninja World, they could also obtain seals to exchange for boons... Didn't this mean that from the very beginning, the conflict between the two worlds was irreconcilable?

As long as one killed, they could strengthen themselves. With the thrill of leveling up like in a game, how many people in the Pirate World could resist such temptation?

And never mind others; based on Naruto's understanding of ninjas, if this shop were truly open to everyone and a path existed between the two worlds... he feared the vast majority of ninjas would be like starving wolves, howling to hunt people from the other world.

...World War? Pirate World vs Konoha?

In a sense, as an orphan of war, Naruto felt no excitement for this corner of the future he had deduced. Even though the cinema had changed him a lot, deep down, he still hoped for peace.

Only madmen and fools loved war.

--However.

If war was inevitable, then those who fled from this reality were even greater cowards.

Naruto couldn't help but take a few deep breaths. The appearance of this shop provided vague answers to many of his doubts; presumably, the reason the plot had changed was because of these otherworldly visitors.

Thinking about it this way, was the person Kakashi fought earlier not Roshi, but Akainu?

How did he survive that?

Had the Konoha high-ups known about the existence of another world over a month ago?

Old doubts hadn't been fully resolved, and new ones followed in their wake.

Seeing that he couldn't figure it out for the moment, Naruto decided to start by studying the Exchange Shop.

The entire shop was divided into five tiers of exchangeable boons: Red, Gold, Purple, Blue, and Green. Different tiers of boons required corresponding tiers of seals to exchange.

Below the shop was a small decomposition option. According to the small text explanation next to it, the decomposition rule was that higher-tier seals could be broken down into lower-tier ones, with a uniform ratio of one to ten—meaning one Red Seal could be broken down into ten Gold Seals.

However, lower-tier seals could not be combined into higher-tier ones... Looking at it this way, decomposing high-tier seals was definitely not a cost-effective deal, as they were much harder to obtain.

Then there were the exchange prices for the different boons.

[Ten-Tails Chakra Tree] 15,000 Red Seals.

[Nine-Tails Kurama] 3,500 Red Seals.

[One-Tails Shukaku] 500 Red Seals.

--By the way, Kurama laughed extremely loudly when he saw this.

However, this raised a new question: if one were to truly exchange for a Tailed Beast, what would happen to the original one? Would there be a situation where two identical Tailed Beasts existed simultaneously?

So, taking a bold guess, if this were the Exchange Shop of the Pirate World, would there be two identical Devil Fruit powers?

"Impressive."

Naruto sighed, then turned to search for what kind of awesome stuff he could exchange for with his 100 Red Seals.

After looking around, he found that apart from a [Harmonizer] of unknown use that cost exactly 100 Red Seals, he couldn't afford anything else.

The two boons he coveted the most were:

One was the [Eternal Light Mangekyo Sharingan Bloodline], which required 5,000 Red Seals—more expensive than Kurama.

The other was the [Flying Thunder God (Complete)], which required 1,000 Red Seals... well, twice the value of Shukaku.

The reason Naruto wanted the latter went without saying, while he wanted the former because he coveted its various ocular techniques, and he also wanted to know if his Sage Body would have any unexpected gains if it acquired a Sage Eye.

Unfortunately, while his 100 Red Seals were indeed valuable, they were stuck in an awkward middle ground where he couldn't exchange for anything, unless he decomposed those 100 points to exchange for Gold-tier boons.

There were indeed many abilities he wanted among the Gold boons, but Naruto couldn't make a decision immediately, so he could only look at the Blue boons first.

Among the Blue boons, Naruto's eyes were immediately drawn to [Intermediate Physical Enhancement], valued at 300 Blue Seals.

After all, this was an aspect where Shadow Clone could not accelerate his training, and since he might have to fight those from the Pirate World in the future, just thinking about their inhuman physical stats... Naruto felt it was necessary to strengthen his own small frame.

It would be incredibly awkward if he landed dozens of ninjutsu on an opponent, only to be finished off by a single stab himself.

Having made up his mind, Naruto chose to purchase it directly, taking the opportunity to verify this Exchange Shop.

As the Blue Seal points in Naruto's possession decreased by three hundred, the icon for Intermediate Physical Enhancement glowed, and unlike the direct enhancement he had imagined, a white pill appeared in his hand out of thin air.

The pill looked plain and unremarkable, with no strange phenomena or fragrant scent... but since the exchange took this form, it meant that the gift could be traded or gifted?

Suddenly, Naruto's expression shifted as memories from his peripheral Shadow Clone arrived: reinforcements from Konoha had arrived.

If he waited to deal with them, it would surely take a long time, and he would be under strict surveillance once he returned... Thinking of this, Naruto no longer hesitated and swallowed the white pill in one gulp.

The pill melted the moment it touched his tongue, and an indescribable warm current instantly slid down his throat, rapidly spreading to his limbs and bones.

This warmth was extremely gentle, like soaking in a hot spring, nourishing and transforming Naruto's body bit by bit. The fatigue from the battle faded rapidly, as if countless tiny electric currents were weaving through every inch of his muscles, every bone, and every blood vessel.

Naruto felt so comfortable he almost groaned; this sensation of power steadily climbing was intoxicating.

The effect lasted only ten seconds before vanishing, and as a sense of emptiness rose in his heart, it was replaced by the illusion that he was stronger than he had ever been.

Naruto instinctively clenched his fist and then lunged forward at full speed. A sharp whistling sound pierced the air and vanished in an instant, and his figure had already appeared on the opposite bank of the Cold Pool.

"So fast..."

Naruto was secretly shocked by the effect of the Intermediate Physical Enhancement. Although it was only a rough test, his physical stats were at least thirty percent stronger than before!