He could now hold his own against teachers like Kakashi and Asuma.
All he lacked was the means.
So Uchiha Sora eagerly opened the Gatling Gun blueprint!
The system interface appeared at once.
A new recipe had appeared in the synthesis menu.
Gatling Gun (manual or automatic, multi-barrel linkage machine gun!)
The recipe was as follows:
Steel or pure copper barrels, 0/6.
Industrial-grade springs, 0/6.
Copper magazine and ammunition belt, 0/1.
Firing mechanisms, 0/3.
Sliding ammunition hopper, 0/1.
Bullets of a specific caliber, several.
(System tip: Ammunition is very important. Ten rounds can be purchased in the shop for 300 gold coins!)
(If the host thinks that's too expensive, he can make them himself!)
The requirements seemed reasonable enough at first, but when he saw the last one, Uchiha Sora's eyelid twitched.
What the hell!
What kind of lousy system was this?
Were the bullets made of gold? Was the primer made of gold dust?
Three hundred gold coins for ten? Why not just rob me? And this wasn't even a sniper rifle!
It was a Gatling Gun!
One of the most notoriously expensive weapons to fire.
It could spin at 3,600 rounds per minute. Firing it was a blast, but the logistics would be a nightmare!
And now it was telling him that this thing cost 300 gold coins for ten rounds?
How many gold coins did he even have on him right now?
Even if he sold himself, he'd only be able to afford a few hundred rounds.
Forget firing for a whole minute. He'd probably run out of ammo before the barrels even warmed up!
"This lousy system takes care of the killing, but not the cleanup!"
Uchiha Sora nearly cursed aloud, but he soon calmed down.
He knew there was no point complaining.
His top priority was finding a way to get bullets.
But first, he had to build the weapon.
Fortunately, aside from the bullets, the other parts seemed reasonably priced.
He couldn't make them himself, but the shop had them.
Take springs, for example. They were made from simple materials, but making one by hand would be difficult for him right now.
In the shop, though, they only cost a few hundred gold coins!
"The shop's great! Let's see what else I can buy."
Uchiha Sora immediately opened the shop.
He soon found the materials he needed.
First were the barrels. They were the soul of a gun, and determined its durability and how long it could fire.
The shop even had different quality grades.
The cheapest option was an aluminum alloy barrel.
It cost only ten gold coins.
But no matter how cheap it was, Uchiha Sora wouldn't touch it.
Aluminum alloy was lightweight, sure, but it was only suitable for construction.
Or for parts that didn't come into direct contact with ammunition.
The stuff was just too brittle, and couldn't withstand high temperatures.
A few shots would be enough to bend the barrel.
No wonder it was so cheap!
Uchiha Sora kept scrolling. The options below were higher-grade barrels.
There were five grades in total.
Besides aluminum alloy, there were steel, pure copper, and special alloy. The last one was even more ridiculous: Susanoo material!
That was completely beyond his understanding.
It was also incredibly expensive, costing a whopping 500,000 gold coins.
He couldn't scrape that much together even if he sold himself.
The only one Uchiha Sora could afford was made of pure copper.
Six barrels cost 7,000 gold coins.
Uchiha Sora glanced at his balance. He still had more than 20,000 gold coins, so he could easily afford them.
So Uchiha Sora clicked to buy them.
Then he kept looking and soon found all the remaining parts.
He bought materials that were neither the best nor the worst, just as before.
At the very least, they would guarantee enough firepower to match a conventional Gatling Gun.
Only then did Uchiha Sora check out the ammunition.
"There are three ways to get it. The first is daily missions. There are five a day, and they're assigned at random. Completing one gives you a fixed twelve bullets, so you can get sixty a day."
"The second way is to make them yourself. Buying a single bullet costs 300, but if I just buy the casings, ten gold coins gets me 300 of them."
"All I have to do is fill them with chakra and gunpowder. Judging by my chakra reserves, I should be able to make tens of thousands in a day without doing anything else!"
"But I've spent most of my gold coins. I'll have to figure out how to earn some more."
"As for the third way..."
Uchiha Sora hesitated.
The third option was a little bizarre.
It required Uchiha Sora to go out and grind monsters to level up.
That was right: grind monsters in the Naruto World.
Of course, there weren't actually any monsters to grind in the Naruto World.
The system had unlocked a new feature called the Drop Function. That was what it meant by grinding.
Whether he went out to chop wood, fish, or gather ore, anything he did had a chance to trigger bonus rewards from daily missions.
In other words, the system was encouraging him to go out and level up.
After giving it some thought, he realized that everyone else in the village was out and about, busy with work.
He was the only one cooped up at home.
If he suddenly pulled out a huge new weapon, people would definitely get suspicious.
So Uchiha Sora made up his mind. For the next few days, he'd just pick up whatever missions he could find.
He could gather supplies while he was out, and make bullets with his chakra.
He could also collect more gold coins at the same time.
Having settled on a plan, Uchiha Sora headed straight for Konoha's Mission Assignment Office.
Missions were divided into A, B, C, and D ranks. Whether a ninja could accept one depended on their abilities.
Uchiha Sora had received his Forehead Protector, but he could only really be considered halfway to Chunin.
After all, he hadn't officially graduated yet.
Still, even being halfway there was enough to qualify him for plenty of good missions.
Uchiha Sora glanced around and immediately spotted several missions.
"Exterminate bandits... A small village affiliated with Konoha is suffering from bandit attacks. They appear to be ordinary people. Completion reward: 300 merit points."
Uchiha Sora read the description and decided the mission suited him well.
He could kill them without much danger.
Against ordinary people, ninjas had an overwhelming advantage.
And even a Genin could accept the mission.
Without another word, Uchiha Sora accepted it. He didn't bring a teammate, and left the village alone.
Meanwhile,
not long after Uchiha Sora left the village,
Kakashi emerged from the woods not far away.
His gaze was deep as he took out a talisman and lit it. Then he said,
"Lord Hokage, Uchiha Sora seems to be heading out. Should we stop him?"
In the Konoha office, Hiruzen Sarutobi raised his eyelids.
A blank sheet of paper suddenly appeared before him. As it burned, Kakashi's voice came from within.
"No need. It's just a minor mission near the village. Orochimaru has already been driven back, so there shouldn't be any trouble for a while."
"Young people can't grow up under our protection forever. They need some space of their own."
Kakashi nodded calmly.
It turned out that the village's leadership had already taken an interest in Uchiha Sora.
Putting aside that strange weapon of his...
Before you continue