``` [Obtained Trait Tag—Ninja]
[Enrolled at six, graduated at twelve. As expendable material in the Ninja World, students received crude and absurd training. Once you could skillfully use the Three Body Technique and fight your fellow students to the death, you could be called a ninja!]
[Trait Effects: 1. Battle Instinct: Makes it easier to spot an opponent's weaknesses in battle and increases luck. 2. The Tree Is Talking: While equipped, lowers your presence in the eyes of those around you, making you harder to detect when hiding. 3. Endurance: Follow the ninja way and better endure pain, hunger, and the urge to defecate...]
As things stood,
Naruto's eye twitched faintly.
He could now accept his idiot system with equanimity. No matter what kind of nonsense it spouted, he remained calm and unfazed.
Never mind how abstract the trait's effects were. At least it was a proper trait that boosted his fighting strength!
Having convinced himself of that, Naruto shifted his gaze to the lower half of the system message.
[What is this feeling? Staring at the water tank with a gaping hole in its top, Sasuke felt an emotion called frustration rise in his heart for the first time. He knew perfectly well how the battle had ended—he had lost.]
[Witnessed a major event: You have witnessed an important event in Naruto's life—defeating Sasuke. Reward issued!]
A cloud of smoke burst from Naruto's palm, and his fingertips brushed against a familiar texture.
A scroll appeared in his hand.
Seeing the bold, sweeping characters on it, Naruto could no longer hold back his grin.
"Are you looking at that wordless Heavenly Book again?"
Bibi Dong furrowed her brow slightly, her words dripping with jealousy. She lived inside Naruto's body, so how could she not know where all his bizarre Self-Created Soul Skills came from?
It was just that, to Bibi Dong, those books really were heavenly books. They didn't have a single word on them.
She wanted to learn from them...to borrow from them, but couldn't. How could she not feel jealous?
As for hoping Naruto would explain them?
That guy's descriptive skills were a disaster!
Who knew who he'd learned it from, but whenever he described the cultivation process, he stuffed his explanations full of onomatopoeia. Who could tell what kind of gibberish he was spouting?
As soon as she finished speaking, she saw Naruto's eyes crinkle with a smug, triumphant expression. He was about to show off, but Bibi Dong immediately turned her head away and cut in before he could, saying airily,
"Yes, yes, it isn't a Heavenly Book. It's the ladder leading you to the Sky Throne. You've said that several times already."
Naruto still wanted to say something, but Bibi Dong had already shut her ears. He could only give up in frustration.
What a killjoy!
After grumbling, Naruto looked down at the scroll in his hand. A cold electronic voice rang in his ear.
[Reward obtained: A-rank Ninjutsu, Rasengan!]
The next day,
Notting Academy,
As a junior Soul Master Academy, Notting Academy wasn't very large. It had only a Training Ground, a few classroom buildings, and some dormitories.
After studying the Rasengan all night, Naruto spotted Tang Wu and Tang San from afar through the dense crowd. The two across from him noticed him too.
Xiao Wu's reaction was as strange as ever. She immediately hid behind Tang San. Tang San turned around and glanced at Naruto, the strong confidence in his eyes still undiminished.
Knowing that the idle move he'd made yesterday hadn't worked, Naruto didn't mind.
The three exchanged glances, then tacitly looked away, each pretending not to know the others.
Just a bunch of losers!
The system was already composing all sorts of Japanese loser lines for Tang Sasuke. With his hands in his pockets, Naruto listened closely, then lifted his chin and puffed out his chest, humming smugly.
"Looks like the next few years will be a lot easier for us."
"Just don't let that make you slack off. Don't forget, you're only a Soul Master now." Bibi Dong chimed in at just the right moment, dousing the kid with a bucket of cold water.
Naruto put his hands behind his head and answered perfunctorily.
"Yeah, yeah, I know..."
"Hmph!"
Four years passed in a flash.
Click.
Bright sunlight spilled into the Jiang Family courtyard, which had been tidied up from end to end.
In front of the mirror by the window, scissors snipped in the sunlight. Pale purple locks fluttered down onto the table.
After a quick trim, the young man set down the scissors and scrutinized his reflection. Anyone with even a little common knowledge about the continent would have noticed something strange about him.
His fair, handsome features went without saying, but the ends of his jet-black hair faded into a bright, pale purple. His eyes were a deep purple too, a rare color on the continent.
Douluo Continent had no such thing as hair dye. Though people did have different hair colors, this sort of gradient was extremely rare. Walking down the street, he was sure to draw plenty of odd looks.
Still, judging by how pleased he looked, he probably didn't care.
"Damn! Why do I get more handsome the older I get?"
Naruto narrowed his eyes and propped his chin on his hand, unable to resist nodding at his reflection in approval.
Not bad.
This young man was Naruto, four years later!
Soul Power nourished the body, and that nourishment affected how quickly a Soul Master's body developed.
When Tang San had just enrolled at Shrek Academy, the twelve-year-old Ma Hongjun had already spent several years visiting brothels, while the fourteen-year-old Oscar had grown a bushy beard and been mistaken by Tang San for a middle-aged man.
That was how much Soul Power could nourish the body.
"Seriously, why does a grown man like you spend all day admiring yourself in the mirror? If you have that much free time, why not hurry up and cultivate?" Bibi Dong frowned in disgust, wasting no time in insulting him.
Naruto ignored her completely and focused his consciousness inward.
Four years had passed, and the Sealing Space had changed a little. The pooled water that had once covered the floor had disappeared at some point, and the flaking walls had returned to their original state, now reflecting a metallic sheen.
Naruto glanced around. This place could no longer be called a Sewer. A prison was a more apt description.
He found Dong Trumpet, as she was now.
Dong Trumpet had changed quite a bit too. A number of objects formed from Soul Power surrounded her. There was no need to mention the sofas and coffee tables, all displaying a decadent, feudal extravagance. She had even left Naruto a shabby chair nearby...
After protesting several times to no avail, Naruto could only swallow his grievance.
And that wasn't all.
Bibi Dong had also changed out of her Golden Silk Papal Robe and into a new outfit for the season.
It was all because Naruto couldn't keep his mouth shut. A few years ago, he'd thought to give Haji-Dong a little spiritual and cultural education, telling her to stop acting crazy and hissing at people all the time. In the end, she hadn't picked up any manners or shame, but she'd taken his talk of enjoying life to heart.
She'd forced Naruto to visit every fabric shop in Nuoding City, then brazenly asked around for patterns.
Fortunately, she only needed to glance at something once or twice before she could recreate it with Soul Power. Otherwise, Naruto would have been in debt long ago.
And she had the nerve to call him vain?
Naruto fumed. Besides, there was a proper reason for his vanity.
Suppressing his complicated feelings, Naruto lifted his gaze to Bibi Dong's lovely face and silently compared them. His brow gradually furrowed.
If anyone else had been there, they would have noticed the oddity immediately. How could the two of them look so alike?
The same deep purple eyes, the same pale purple gradient at the ends of their hair, and similar features. They looked practically like gender-swapped versions of each other!
Stop right there!
The hairs on Naruto's back stood on end. He shook his head, banishing the terrifying thought.
It was probably just an effect of Dong Trumpet's Soul Power. After all, if he thought about it, the six whisker marks on Naruto's face had been caused by the Nine-Tails Chakra. It wasn't strange for him to be affected by Dong Trumpet's Soul Power too.
Having convinced himself, Naruto sneered and changed the subject in his mind—or rather, picked up where they'd left off. "I wonder who it was that said my talent was average back then? You kept me up night after night!"
"And look at me now! I'm already level twenty-eight! What about Tang San? He only just got his Second Soul Ring last year!"
Bibi Dong lounged against the sofa and glanced at Naruto. "Wasn't this all to push you, my dear? If I hadn't pushed you so diligently, would you have grown this quickly?"
"That's nothing but twisted logic!"
Naruto scoffed.
Then, for some reason, the two who usually bickered for half the day fell silent. The smile on Naruto's face gradually faded, replaced by a grave expression.
"Are you sure that person was Tang Hao?"
Bibi Dong paused, then nodded firmly.
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