Strengthening

Exchange Shop?

System?

Huh?

Naruto had been through something like a movie theater, yet the sight before him still left him momentarily dazed.

Exchange Shop? Does that mean everything listed above can be redeemed? Damn it, even I can be redeemed?

Kurama's voice rang out, sounding somewhat gritted. Naruto asked in surprise, "Kurama, you can see it too?"

Yeah. That voice said I helped you kill Kalifa, so it gave me 50 Green Seals... Kurama immediately cursed, Damn it, green is the lowest rank, isn't it? They think they can fob me off with this little bit?!

Naruto automatically tuned out Kurama's subsequent string of insults. That stinking fox had really been losing his manners lately. He didn't know who Kurama had picked it up from, but he couldn't let himself be infected...

Naruto turned his attention to the significance behind the sight before him.

At the movie theater, Naruto had encountered the "system" concept from web novels. So although he hadn't expected to run into something like this himself, he accepted reality fairly quickly.

However, there were two important questions... Where had this shop come from? The items available for exchange were all from this world, so was it a manifestation of the world itself? The world's will?

And was he the only one who could see it, or could anyone who killed one of those so-called Calamity Thieves from another world unlock it?

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

Thinking back to the "future path of this world" mentioned by the voice just now, as well as the man's voice from the Den Den Mushi... Naruto couldn't help feeling a chill rise in his heart.

He knew that Kalifa's arrival hadn't been a coincidence. Other people from the Pirate World had come to the Ninja World, and it was quite possible that killing people from the Ninja World would earn them Seals to exchange for Gifts... Didn't that mean the conflict between the two worlds had been irreconcilable from the start?

If killing people could make them stronger, with the exhilarating sensation of leveling up in a game, how many people from the Pirate World could resist that temptation?

And that was without even mentioning anyone else. Based on Naruto's understanding of ninja, if this shop really was open to everyone, and there truly was a passage between the two worlds... then most ninja would probably be like starving wolves, eager to hunt down people from the other world, wouldn't they?

...A world war? Pirates versus ninjas?

In a way, Naruto, who had become an orphan because of war, wasn't excited by this glimpse of the future he had pieced together. Even though the movie theater had changed him in many ways, deep down, he still hoped for peace.

Only madmen and fools liked war.

But—

If war was unavoidable, then those who ran from that reality were even greater cowards.

Naruto couldn't help taking several deep breaths. The appearance of this shop had given him vague answers to many of his questions. The reason the story had changed was probably these visitors from another world.

Thinking of it that way, could the person Kakashi had fought earlier have been Akainu instead of Roshi?

How had he survived?

Had Konoha's higher-ups learned of the existence of another world more than a month ago...

Before he could fully resolve his old questions, new ones came tumbling in.

Seeing as he wasn't going to figure it out right away, Naruto simply began examining the Exchange Shop.

The shop had five ranks of redeemable Gifts: red, gold, purple, blue, and green. Each rank of Gift had to be redeemed with a Seal of the corresponding rank.

There was also a small option at the bottom of the shop labeled "Disassemble." According to the small print beside it, higher-tier Seals could be disassembled into lower-tier Seals at a fixed rate of one to ten. In other words, one Red Seal could be disassembled into ten Gold Seals.

Lower-tier Seals couldn't be combined into higher-tier ones, though... From the looks of it, disassembling high-tier Seals was definitely a bad deal, since they were harder to obtain in the first place.

Next came the prices for the various Gifts.

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

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

[Shukaku, the One-Tail] 500 Red Seals.

—Incidentally, when Kurama saw this, he laughed out loud.

However, this raised another question. If someone really redeemed a Tailed Beast, what would happen to the original? Would there end up being two identical Tailed Beasts at the same time?

So, to make a bold guess, if this were the Exchange Shop in the Pirate World, would two identical Devil Fruit abilities appear?

"Awesome."

Naruto exclaimed, then searched to see what awesome thing he could redeem with his hundred Red Seals.

After looking through the options, he found that aside from a [Harmonizer] of unknown use that happened to cost exactly one hundred Red Seals, he couldn't afford a single other item.

The two Gifts he coveted most were:

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

The other was the [Flying Thunder God Technique (Complete)], which cost 1,000 Red Seals... Well, twice as much as Shukaku.

There was no need to explain why Naruto wanted the latter. As for the former, he coveted the various eye techniques that came with it, and he also wanted to know whether gaining Sage Eyes would bring any unexpected benefits to someone like him, who had a Sage Body.

Unfortunately, although Naruto's hundred Red Seals were certainly valuable, they put him in an awkward middle ground where he couldn't redeem anything. He would have to disassemble them and use them to redeem a Gold-tier Gift.

There were indeed plenty of Gold Gifts with abilities Naruto wanted, but he couldn't make up his mind right now, so he could only look at the Blue Gifts first.

Among the Blue Gifts, Naruto immediately set his eyes on [Intermediate Physical Enhancement], which cost 300 Blue Seals.

After all, it was an area in which Shadow Clones couldn't speed up his training. Besides, he might have to fight people from the Pirate World in the future. Just thinking about the inhuman physiques of his opponents... Naruto felt he had to toughen up his small frame.

It would be awkward if he hit the other guy with dozens of ninjutsu, only to get stabbed once and die.

Having made up his mind, Naruto immediately chose to buy it, conveniently putting the Exchange Shop to the test.

As Naruto's Blue Seals decreased by 300, the icon for [Intermediate Physical Enhancement] lit up. But instead of directly enhancing him, as he had imagined, a white pill appeared out of thin air in his hand.

The pill looked completely ordinary. There was no strange light or unusual fragrance... But if that was how Gifts were redeemed, did that mean they could be traded or given to someone else?

Suddenly, Naruto's expression shifted. Memories from his Shadow Clone stationed outside reached him—the Konoha reinforcements had arrived.

If he waited until he finished dealing with them, it would take a long time. And once he returned, he would be placed under strict surveillance again... Thinking of this, Naruto didn't hesitate. He swallowed the white pill in one gulp.

The pill melted as soon as it entered his mouth. A hard-to-describe warmth slid down his throat and instantly spread through his limbs and body.

The warmth was gentle, like soaking in a hot spring. It slowly nourished and transformed Naruto's body, while the fatigue from battle faded rapidly. It felt as if countless tiny currents were coursing through every muscle, every bone, and every blood vessel.

Naruto was so comfortable he nearly groaned. The feeling of his strength steadily rising was utterly intoxicating.

The effect lasted only ten seconds before it faded. As a faint sense of emptiness rose in his heart, it was replaced by the feeling that he had become stronger than ever before.

Naruto instinctively clenched his fist, then suddenly sprinted forward at full speed. The sharp sound of air breaking rang out and vanished in an instant, and his figure had already appeared on the opposite bank of the Cold Pool.

"So fast..."

Naruto was secretly amazed by the effects of the intermediate enhancement. Though he had only given it a rough test, his physical abilities had improved by at least thirty percent!