Grind Combat Points

Smack!

The Gold Coin struck Uchiha Jun squarely on the top of his right foot.

The damage was minimal, but the humiliation was immense!

Uchiha Jun's foot went numb, and his body involuntarily tilted backward, sending him sprawling flat on his back!

Urgh!

[Hit by Fortune Pill's Gold Coin attack, stagger interrupted!]

"What the hell???"

Uchiha Jun lay on the ground, staring up at the clear blue sky, completely dumbfounded.

Datafication had even inherited the trait of being basic-attacked to death?!

What kind of bullshit was that?!

But the Fortune Pills gave him no time to think. More Gold Coins rained down like droplets in a storm!

"Substitution Technique!"

Uchiha Jun did not hesitate. He consumed a Chakra Bean and vanished from where he stood.

"Bang—"

A wooden log appeared where he had just been lying and was instantly riddled with Gold Coins.

Uchiha Jun appeared in an open area ten meters away, his face dark as thunder.

"Good lord, just... good lord."

"So these are game rules, huh?"

"It looks like if I ever obtain an ability that activates 'Datafication' in the future, I'll need to use it carefully. If I run out of Beans and get basic-attacked to death, that'd be utterly ridiculous."

Uchiha Jun's gaze sharpened. He stopped hesitating and formed hand seals with both hands.

"Water Style: Water Wave!"

A violent torrent burst up from the ground, blasting several Fortune Pills before him into the air.

[Skill-body state: Skill being cast. Immune to interruption from non-grab skills!]

[Chakra +1]

Sure enough, the Fortune Pills' Gold Coins struck the water stream this time and had no effect on Uchiha Jun whatsoever.

"So that's how it is..."

A sharp glint flashed in Uchiha Jun's eyes as he gradually figured out the rules of this state.

While in the skill-body state, he could not be controlled by "basic attacks." The effect was equivalent to super armor in the game.

As for "overlord armor," it probably made one immune to all attack-control effects except "grabs"!

And adamantine armor—although he still did not know how to enter that state, based on game experience, it should be the highest level of super armor, triggered only when unleashing an ultimate, piloting a Gundam, or sitting atop a giant Buddha.

"Since that's the case..."

Uchiha Jun took a deep breath and tapped the Secret Scroll.

All or nothing!

"Chakra!"

A warm current instantly surged into his body. The Chakra Beans above his head changed from three to four—full Beans!

A sense of power also spread through his entire body, and all his skill icons lit up.

"This ends now—"

Uchiha Jun pressed his hands together, and the Chakra within him erupted!

"Ultimate! Multiple Explosive Tags Jutsu!"

In an instant, countless Explosive Tags flew out from around Uchiha Jun like white butterflies, flooding in every direction.

Each Explosive Tag flashed with blinding red light and gave off heart-pounding Chakra fluctuations.

The Fortune Pills seemed to sense the danger and turned to flee one after another.

But it was already too late.

"Explode!"

"BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM—!!!"

A continuous series of explosions erupted. Flames shot into the sky, and shockwaves rolled outward!

The entire grassland was swallowed by explosions as countless Fortune Pills were blasted into dissipating golden light.

Uchiha Jun stood at the center of the explosions, a faint golden glow enveloping his body—

The Gold Coins struck him and bounced straight off, unable to inflict any stagger.

The explosions continued for a full ten seconds before finally dying down.

When the smoke cleared, not a single Fortune Pill remained in the village.

Only shattered Gold Coin fragments and scattered Copper Coins covered the ground.

[Clear successful!]

[Rating: S (99% HP remaining, 0 Chakra Beans remaining)]

[Rewards obtained: Copper Coin ×1000000, C-Rank Ninja Fragment [Shinki] ×2, Secret Scroll Fragment [Chakra] ×3]

[First-clear reward: Ninja World Recruitment Scroll ×1]

"Awesome!"

Uchiha Jun looked at the rewards that appeared on the panel, the corners of his mouth lifting.

But he quickly reined in his smile.

"No, that was only E-rank difficulty and I nearly wiped. How hard are the later stages going to be?"

"And the number of Fortune Pills was clearly designed around something. If I hadn't conserved my Substitution Technique just now and lacked enough Chakra Beans to use my ultimate, that would have been really hard to deal with."

Uchiha Jun fell into thought.

The battle mode in the Abundance Chamber was completely different from reality.

In reality, he could combine all kinds of ninjutsu, taijutsu, and sword techniques in battle. But here, his skills had been compressed into just two, forcing him to calculate carefully and allocate his Chakra Beans properly.

"Still... this mode is pretty good for training hand speed and reaction time."

Uchiha Jun exited the Abundance Chamber and returned to the cave.

The campfire was nearly out, leaving only a few glowing embers.

He added more firewood, reignited the campfire, then sat cross-legged and sorted through his gains.

[Current Copper Coins: 1000000]

[C-Rank Ninja Fragment [Shinki]: 7/10]

[Secret Scroll Fragment [Chakra]: 3/30]

[Ninja World Recruitment Scroll: 1]

"Copper Coins... what are these even for?"

Uchiha Jun opened the detailed description for Copper Coins, and his eyes immediately lit up.

[Copper Coin: Can be used in the [Summoning Beast] interface to recruit summoning beasts. Can also be used with Secret Scroll Fragments to upgrade Secret Scrolls.]

[Summoning Beast Recruitment: Spend Copper Coins to recruit summoning beasts.]

[Secret Scroll Upgrade: Spend Copper Coin ×1000000 + Secret Scroll Fragment ×30 to raise a Secret Scroll's level.]

"Summoning beasts?!"

Uchiha Jun's eyes widened.

"So as long as I farm enough Copper Coins, I can recruit summoning beasts?!"

General Shell, Panda Lover, Old Crab!

Uchiha Jun took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing his excitement as he continued reading.

[Currently recruitable summoning beasts:]

[Ninja Dog (D-rank): Costs Copper Coin ×5000000. Summons a Ninja Dog to charge into enemies ahead, dealing damage and increasing movement speed by 15%.]

[Blue Snake (D-rank): Costs Copper Coin ×5000000. Summons a Blue Snake to repeatedly burst from underground and strike enemies, leaving poisonous gas that deals continuous damage.]

[Gamakichi (D-rank): Costs Copper Coin ×5500000. Gamakichi uses "Water Gun" from the air to launch multiple attacks forward. Deals high damage, can launch enemies airborne, and increases attack power by 10%.]

(More summoning beasts require a higher [Abundance Chamber] rating to unlock.)

"Ninja Dog... Blue Snake... Gamakichi..."

Uchiha Jun stroked his chin, his gaze shifting among the three options.

Gamakichi was suitable for damage dumping, but Uchiha Jun currently had no ninja with a grab. He did not even have Secret Scrolls like Rage or Insertion, so recruiting Gamakichi this early would be somewhat unnecessary.

Besides, that shabby little frog cost five hundred thousand more Copper Coins than Blue Snake and Ninja Dog.

Blue Snake could deal multiple hits and leave poisonous gas behind, but considering this was reality rather than an arena, its usefulness was much lower.

After all, ninja would not stupidly stand in place and inhale poison gas.

And Blue Snake did not provide any buff either.

"You it is! Once I scrape together enough Copper Coins in three days, I'll get this Ninja Dog!"

Uchiha Jun ultimately decided to recruit the Ninja Dog.

He stood and looked out at the night sky beyond the cave.

The moon had risen, and stars speckled the sky.

"For the next three days, I need to farm the Abundance Chamber to the limit and grind Tobirama Senju's Combat Points up to 2500."

"Orochimaru's assessment in three days..."

"I have to go all out."

A sharp glint flashed through Uchiha Jun's eyes, and a smile tugged at his lips.

"After all, I'm still waiting for them to deliver S-Rank Ninja Fragments to me."

Under the moonlight, Konoha, Root base.

Shimura Danzō sat in a dimly lit room, several intelligence reports laid out before him.

He picked one up. Uchiha Jun's name was written prominently across it.

"Uchiha Jun... bottom of the class in the Genin assessment... yet today, he defeated three Genin from his own clan at the training grounds..."

Danzo narrowed his eyes, his fingers lightly tapping against the desk.

"And Orochimaru was actually assigned by Hiruzen to take him on as a student?"

"Interesting."

Danzo set down the report and looked toward an Anbu in the corner.

"Continue surveillance."

"Yes!"

The Anbu vanished, and the room returned to silence.

Danzo closed his eyes and murmured to himself.

"Uchiha..."

Meanwhile, the Hokage's office.

Sarutobi Hiruzen stood by the window with a pipe between his lips, looking out at the moon.

"Is it appropriate to let that child become Orochimaru's student...?"

Sarutobi Hiruzen exhaled a plume of smoke, a trace of concern passing through his eyes.

"I hope... Orochimaru won't let him touch those forbidden experiments."

He shook his head, turned back to his desk, and continued processing the mountain of documents.

Several words were written on one document atop the desk—

Kannabi Bridge Battle Preparation Plan

Upstream of the Naka River, inside the cave.

Uchiha Jun leaned against the stone wall with his eyes closed, his mind sinking into the panel.

[Current Character: Tobirama Senju (Youth)]

[Combat Points: 220/500 (Shinobi World Rising Star)]

[Next-stage reward: Ninjutsu Chakra consumption reduced by 20%]

"Tomorrow morning, I'll go to the Forest of Death to farm points."

Uchiha Jun opened his eyes, a faint smile appearing on his lips.

"Three days will be enough to grind out 2500 points."

"By then..."

He looked at the [Second Pillar (Susanoo)] fragments on the panel.

[8/40]

"Just 32 more fragments, and I'll possess Kage Level power!"

A fiery gleam flashed in Uchiha Jun's eyes.

"Skeleton Dog, wait for me."

"Soon, I'll be able to swagger through the Shinobi World!"

The night wind passed through the cave entrance, making the campfire flicker.

Moonlight spilled across the Naka River, shimmering on its surface.

A new day was about to begin.