Kakuzu's frustration was something Xuan Yu couldn't care less about.
After eating his fill, he headed straight back to the inn to rest.
Naturally, he went back to the private room Kakuzu had originally booked—the one he'd taken over.
Humming a little tune as he returned, Xuan Yu flopped comfortably onto the bed and stretched with a satisfied sigh. "It's great mooching off Kakuzi for food and lodging! But I got so caught up lecturing him that I forgot the important stuff. I still haven't asked how the mission's going."
Remembering that he was still short a huge sum of money, a hint of urgency flashed in Xuan Yu's eyes. "I need a lot of cash to boost my strength right now. After a brief rest, it looks like I'll have to drag Kakuzi out to grind missions day and night."
He'd already made up his mind.
Whether it was the Growth Gift Pack awarded for reaching 10,000 points in speed, or the special effect he'd get after leveling Mystical Palm Technique to LV10, he wanted both!
Of course, to achieve both goals, he'd need to find a way to scrape together at least another 80 million ryo.
Even with his current strength and Kakuzu—an old hand at making money in the Ninja World—as his partner, earning 80 million ryo in a short time wouldn't be easy.
But that was a problem for later. For now, he planned to spend some points and see what treasures the Growth Gift Pack could give him.
Xuan Yu immediately called the system in his mind. "Brother System, give me some points! Spend 40 million ryo to boost my speed, then another 10 million to level up Mystical Palm Technique!"
[You spent 40 million ryo! Your speed increased from 6,102 points to 10,102 points! Your speed has surpassed 10,000 points, earning you: Growth Gift Pack ×1! Current balance: 10.0736 million ryo!] [You spent 10 million ryo! Your Mystical Palm Technique increased from LV1 to LV2! Current balance: 73,600 ryo!]
After spending the points, Xuan Yu looked at his empty balance and let out a long sigh. "Making money is like gathering dirt with a needle, but spending it is like sand washed away by water! I'd barely gotten my hands on 50 million from Snake Bro, and before I knew it, I'd spent every last bit."
"From now on, I'll have to drag Kakuzi out to grind missions for dear life! Our current pace of making money is practically leisurely. If we keep plodding along like this, when will I become the strongest in the Ninja World?"
Despite his grumbling, Xuan Yu hadn't forgotten what he needed to do.
His gaze shifted to the Growth Gift Pack he'd just gotten in his system inventory, and he immediately contacted the system to open it.
[Ding! "Growth Gift Pack ×1" opened. You received: Scratch-off Card ×10!]
Ten thin scratch-off cards appeared out of nowhere in Xuan Yu's hands.
"Uh... Does opening a Growth Gift Pack come down to luck, too?" Staring at the ten scratch-off cards in his hands, Xuan Yu nervously swallowed.
His luck was pretty terrible, to put it mildly.
How many people had transmigrated into the Uchiha Clan as eighteen-year-old guys and still hadn't even awakened a mere One-Tomoe Sharingan, despite having practically no talent as a ninja?
That alone proved his luck was basically nonexistent!
In other words, anything that depended on luck was a massive disadvantage for him.
But complaining wouldn't help. He still had to scratch them.
Xuan Yu took a deep breath. "Whatever. Let's get scratching!"
With that, he grabbed the first scratch-off card and vigorously scraped away all the silver coating.
The card then turned into a streak of white light, which coalesced into a reward.
[Congratulations! You received: Expired Milk ×1!]
Xuan Yu's eyes went wide. "(O_O)???"
"Holy crap! What the hell?!"
He nearly tossed the scratch-off card away.
"A brutal opening hit! What is this, Naruto's prize pool? How can it have stuff like expired milk in it?"
Getting such a dud on the first card chilled Xuan Yu's heart, and his hand trembled a little.
But he'd already started, so he couldn't stop now. He could only nervously begin scratching the second card.
He scraped wildly again, clearing away the silver coating on the second card.
This time, the scratch-off card turned into a blue beam of light, revealing its reward.
[Congratulations! You received: Icha Icha Paradise, complete set ×1!]
"Oh-ho! Such a magnificent work deserves to be studied in painstaking detail—with a critical eye, of course!"
As he spoke, he quickly stored the Icha Icha Paradise set in his system inventory.
The rest of the scratching could only be described as "utterly uneventful."
There were no surprises, but neither did another unbelievably unlucky prize like "expired milk" show up.
[Three-Color Dango ×10!] [Ichiraku Ramen ×10!] [Shuriken ×10!] [Explosive Tag ×10!] [Kunai ×10!] [Fuma Shuriken ×3!]
He'd scratched eight cards in a row, and the rewards had all been food or basic ninja tools. Not one was particularly valuable.
Xuan Yu could only smile wryly at the results and put all his hopes in the two scratch-off cards he had left.
He casually stored the piles of dango, ramen, and ninja tools he'd won earlier in his system inventory, rubbed his sore fingers, and prepared to take the final two cards seriously.
"Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish!"
Amid a flurry of scraping, most of the coating on the ninth scratch-off card was stripped away.
"Hm?" Xuan Yu had sharp eyes, and couldn't help blurting out a sound as the result appeared.
The first eight cards had produced either white or blue light. But now, the ninth scratch-off card was glowing with dazzling purple light!
[Congratulations! You received: Uchiha Gunbai ×1!]
"This...!"
Xuan Yu was at a loss for words when he saw what he'd won.
The Uchiha Gunbai was a legendary weapon of the Uchiha Clan.
It was said to have been made from a part of the God Tree. It could use Wind Release to control Fire Style, and could also perform Uchiha Return to deflect attacks back at their source.
One particularly impressive feat was deflecting a small Tailed Beast Bomb.
Anyone would be happy to get their hands on a ninja tool like this, and Xuan Yu was no exception.
After all, not only was it powerful, but even better—he could use it to impersonate Lord Madara and mess with Obito!
For a long time, after all, another Uchiha Gunbai had been left at the Graveyard of Mountains as a decoration.
Xuan Yu could tell Obito, with a perfectly straight face, "You're Madara's public successor, and I'm his successor in secret. Together, one in the open and one in the shadows, we'll carry on Madara's will!"
But when he thought about it, it was only fun to imagine.
Obito wasn't that easy to fool, and Black Zetsu was always with him.
He might be able to mess with Obito Bro using this story, but actually convincing him was another matter entirely.
Xuan Yu played with the gunbai for a moment, then set it aside with satisfaction and took a deep breath, preparing to scratch the final card.
"Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish!"
After another flurry of scraping, all the silver coating on the tenth scratch-off card was stripped away.
Then a dazzling golden light burst before Xuan Yu's eyes!
"No way! This thing has a 'golden legend' tier, too?!"
Xuan Yu shouted excitedly, his heart pounding.
He had no time to think. He quickly held his breath and focused on inspecting the final reward.
[Congratulations! You received: Speed Force (Talent)!]
"Holy crap?"
The result of this draw left Xuan Yu stunned.
He'd assumed that the Pay-to-Win System could only draw rewards from the Naruto Universe, since the first nine rewards had all come from there.
But the Speed Force he'd just drawn was a bug-level ability from the DC Universe.
Unfortunately, his Speed Force was pretty weak for now.
To put it more positively, it had a lot of room to grow.
His Speed Force talent was described as follows:
[Speed Force (Talent): You possess the Speed Force and have become a speedster. However, the strength of your Speed Force is tied to your speed attribute, while its duration is tied to your stamina attribute. With your current stats, you're still at the level of a beginner trying to learn to walk among speedsters.]
From the detailed description of the reward, it was clear that his Speed Force talent was still at the starting stage.
But that wasn't a big problem. With his current ability to take on missions, there was no limit to how far he could go with the system.
Before you continue