The End

Shiro woke up in the hospital, two days after the Ryūchi Cave trial.

That day, the outcome had been decided the moment Shiro projected Rule Breaker. The gap between him and Cannon Fodder Snake had not been so vast that he could not even touch him. Even so, Shiro had not fared much better. After sending Cannon Fodder Snake back to Ryūchi Cave, he could no longer hold on.

In the end, he had passed out. Before losing consciousness, Shiro saw the Third Hokage tell Kushina that he was fine before vanishing in a puff of smoke.

So that day, it was only a Shadow Clone Technique? Well, that made sense. Someone of my status isn't worth his personal attention. It was probably more because I'm a Ryūchi Cave contractor. Still, this is really miserable. Shiro smiled bitterly.

Indeed, Shiro had been seriously injured this time. The muscles throughout his body had suffered severe strains, and even some of his bones had cracked. More seriously, his Magic Circuits had been heavily overloaded. He could not use Magecraft for a while, and would even need to spend system energy to repair them.

This also showed that Eight Inner Gates: Modified still had plenty of room for improvement. Of course, whether he could actually develop it further was another matter entirely. It was like his teacher's evaluation of him in his previous life: Your English has great potential.

Yes, enormous potential. The full score was 150, and he had scored 30, listening included. How could that potential not be enormous?

Still, although the price had been steep, it had been worth it! A good summoned beast could make Shiro's growth much smoother. However, since he had collapsed from exhaustion after passing the trial, the scroll was not currently in his hands. And even if it were, he could not use it. Just mobilizing a little Chakra caused Shiro pain now.

So Shiro was not in a hurry. He could not use it anyway, and Orochimaru would not stoop to deceiving him over that little bit of knowledge.

As for the Projection Magecraft he had exposed this time, Shiro was not worried about drawing the covetous attention of the Third Hokage and Danzo. He had publicly claimed that both Reinforcement Magecraft and Projection Magecraft were his family's secret arts. Aside from Orochimaru, who had happened to investigate deeply enough to discover their true nature, other ninja had not delved further because they were family secret arts.

After all, Konoha had a whole host of secret-art clans. This was a forbidden area. Even Danzo could only have those secret-art clans send branch families to join Root.

And Shiro's family currently had only one ninja—him. Even if the Third Hokage and Danzo had nothing better to do and set their sights on Shiro's Magecraft, they could not touch him. They could only start with branch families among his descendants.

After all, the other secret-art clans would not simply stand by and watch. If he could come after you today, then he could come after me tomorrow. For that reason, no matter what conflicts these clans usually had, once the Third Hokage and the others showed such intentions, they would unite!

Moreover, unlike Kekkei Genkai, secret-art clans in Konoha could be said to encompass Konoha's middle and upper ranks. Their influence was enormous.

Kekkei Genkai, on the other hand, were comparatively rare in Konoha. There were only a few of them. Though they were powerful, they were not especially united. Later on, the Uchiha had even been exterminated!

Shiro would have to have water in his brain to claim he had a Kekkei Genkai. Besides, Shiro had not forgotten that the Shinobi World was full of black technology. Swapping hands and eyes was easy enough.

Especially eyes. Replacing them was simpler than changing a light bulb—plug and play!

Therefore, Shiro classified his Reinforcement Magecraft and Projection Magecraft as secret arts. As long as Projection Magecraft had not yet become truly powerful enough to break the rules, the Third Hokage and Danzo would never move against him while facing pressure from all the major clans.

And once Projection Magecraft became strong enough... well, Shiro would not be afraid anymore. Everyone knew Madara's Mangekyo Sharingan was powerful, but did anyone dare try to steal it?

Besides, there were plenty of ninjutsu capable of forcibly canceling a summoning. Shiro alone knew of one: the Contract Seal. So Rule Breaker would not surprise the Third Hokage too much.

Thus, Shiro's main task now was to recover from his injuries, then welcome his new teammates. After his performance in front of the Third Hokage this time, although he had ended up looking rather pathetic, he should be assigned somewhat better teammates, probably.

"Creak—"

Just as Shiro's thoughts continued to wander, Kushina and Minato pushed open the door and walked in.

"Shiro, you're awake? Are you okay? Don't take such risks next time. Big Sis was really worried about you!"

The moment Kushina entered and saw that Shiro was awake, she rushed over, hugged him, and spoke anxiously.

To be honest, Kushina's actions truly moved Shiro. He could tell that she genuinely treated him as a younger brother.

Shiro had initially approached Kushina with an ulterior motive. Yet after she found out, not only had she not blamed him, she had helped him greatly and treated him like her own younger brother.

Of course, that was largely because Shiro was still a child. Otherwise, Kushina was not some naïve fool. If Shiro had truly been a problem, the Anbu would have silenced him after he approached Kushina.

That was no exaggeration. After the incident where the Cloud Ninja tried to abduct Kushina, Konoha had raised her protection level considerably.

Therefore, if Shiro had truly been suspicious, he likely would not even have been able to approach Kushina. And so, based on her own judgment, Kushina had merely beaten Shiro up.

Then, during their later interactions, the lonely Kushina came to regard Shiro, who was several years younger than her, as her little brother. Thus, although she had known beforehand about the side effects of Eight Inner Gates: Modified—though Kushina did not know its name—when she truly saw Shiro's injured state, she was still deeply saddened.

"Alright, alright, I get it, Boss. Let go already!" Seeing no sign that Kushina intended to release him, Shiro signaled Minato with his eyes while trying to persuade Kushina.

"Alright, Kushina, let go. Shiro hasn't recovered yet."

"Hmph! I know that!" Kushina first released Shiro, then haughtily turned her head away.

Shiro and Minato exchanged helpless looks. Suddenly, Shiro felt that Minato had it hard too. If Minato were not the Yellow Flash, he might truly have had no way to deal with Kushina.

"Shiro, is your body really alright? Kushina told me about it. That technique's side effects are severe. The doctor said your muscles suffered extensive strains and your bones were nearly injured too. Good thing you were brought in quickly. How could you be so reckless? If you missed this summoned beast, you could always find another. What if your body was left with lasting problems?"

"And you, Kushina. It's one thing for Shiro to be immature, but you joined him in this nonsense too!"

"Uh, Big Brother Minato, I was the one who kept pestering Boss to help me. It has nothing to do with her. By the way, Big Brother Minato, do you know who my new teammates are?"

Seeing that Minato wanted to continue, Shiro hurriedly interrupted him. Minato might enjoy lecturing him now, but afterward Kushina's target for venting would be him.

"Not yet. They're still being assigned. Besides, you probably won't be able to take missions for some time, so it will likely be a while before the results come out. But don't worry. You performed well this time, so Lord Hokage should arrange good teammates for you."

"Oh, right, I almost forgot. Senior Orochimaru said that once your body recovers, you should visit him. You were unconscious before, so he didn't give you the scroll. Go collect it afterward."

"Got it, Big Brother Minato."

Afterward, Minato and Kushina chatted with Shiro about cultivation for a while before leaving, telling him to get some proper rest.

After Minato and Kushina left, Shiro summoned the system, checked his energy reserves, and had it continue repairing his Magic Circuits.

Before the trial began, Shiro had ordered the system to begin repairing his Magic Circuits immediately after the match ended. However, it only carried out preliminary recovery, also to avoid alerting the hospital. After all, because of the system's disguise, Shiro's Magic Circuits appeared to others as Chakra Pathways. Their essence was simply different.

Sorry, I may not be able to deliver the extra chapters I promised everyone. I took a look over the past two days, and my writing is too ugly... So I want to improve the quality first. If you have any opinions, you can leave them in the chapter comments. I check them every day. Lastly, thank you all for your support.