When Kakuzu suggested clearing out the tasks at all the other Black Markets in Grass Country, Xuan Yu immediately perked up.
He clapped Kakuzu on the shoulder. "Kakuzi, you've grown! Now you're finally starting to look like a mercenary. Not to criticize you, but you spent decades in the Black Market doing nothing but taking it easy!"
Kakuzu took a deep breath at that and didn't argue with Xuan Yu. He'd use a mountain of tasks to make Xuan Yu suffer.
The thought of all the tasks he'd get to grind next made Xuan Yu extremely excited.
As he and Kakuzu headed for the next Black Market in Grass Country, he casually asked, "Kakuzi, why don't we stay in Grass Country and grind tasks?"
"Grass Country is just a small country," Kakuzu replied casually. "The Black Markets only have a limited number of high-value tasks. To make money more efficiently, we'll team up and grind B-rank tasks and above from now on. Don't bother with D- or C-rank tasks."
Xuan Yu said without a care, "It's fine. You take the tasks, and I'll use clones to handle the low-rank ones."
"Go take them yourself!" Kakuzu snorted and quickened his pace.
He thought Xuan Yu was nearing his limit. Although Xuan Yu was still fired up, Kakuzu could see how tired he was.
That was only natural. They'd barely rested over the past few days. Xuan Yu would have to be a monster not to feel tired.
But Kakuzu wanted to tell him that his suffering had only just begun.
Kakuzu was right. Seven straight days of nonstop work had left Xuan Yu utterly exhausted.
But it wasn't a big deal. He and Kakuzu had earned more than 75 million ryō grinding tasks. Add the extra commission he'd earned from turning in tasks in the Empty District, along with the money his Chakra Clones had made from low-rank tasks, and he now had 80 million ryō!
That was no small sum, but unfortunately, opportunities to make money like this were rare.
After he and Kakuzu completely cleared out the tasks at the Black Markets in Grass Country, who knew how long it would take for those markets to recover their bustling, thriving state, with new tasks springing up everywhere?
As he continued following Kakuzu, Xuan Yu started spending his points.
[ Ding! Recharge successful! Current balance: 80.1739 million ryō! ]
[ Name: Uchiha Genba ]
[ Age: 18 ]
Four Attributes:
[ Endurance 2000: Incredible! Your endurance is now equivalent to about 0.9 Kakuzus! With the Xuan Yu Brand Heart, one heart is stronger than six! ]
[ Strength 4013: Your strength is terrifying! In a pure contest of strength against Kakuzu, you'd have a significant advantage! ]
[ Speed 10102: You're as fast as lightning, standing at the pinnacle even among Super Kage Ninja! Your speed isn't just speed—it's the helpless tears Kakuzu sheds while you steal his task targets right in front of him! ]
[ Spirit 951: Have you been to Leaf Hospital for a checkup? The system suspects you may have nervous exhaustion! ]
Talent:
[ Speed Force: With the Speed Force, you've become a speedster. However, the strength of your Speed Force depends on your Speed attribute, while your stamina depends on your Endurance attribute. With your current stats, you're still at the level of a beginner among speedsters. ]
Abilities:
[ Leaf Whirlwind Lv. 10: Your Leaf Whirlwind Taijutsu has gained a special effect: "Whirlwind Fierce Kick." Whirlwind Fierce Kick: When you use this move, you can unleash a powerful whirlwind capable of blowing even Kakuzu away! ]
[ Three Body Technique Lv. 10: Your Three Body Technique has gained a special effect: "Chakra Clone." Chakra Clone: You can create Chakra Clones made of chakra, like the chakra life forms known as tailed beasts. Their strength depends on the amount and quality of chakra. ]
[ Body Flicker Technique Lv. 10: Your Body Flicker Technique has gained a special effect: "Phantom Body Flicker." Phantom Body Flicker: Within a set range, you can create multiple Shadow Clones that are halfway between physical bodies and illusions. Your real body can switch between them. The phantoms are unaffected by attacks, and multiple phantoms can attack simultaneously. The ability's strength is affected by the Sharingan. ]
[ Mystical Palm Technique Lv. 2: Your Mystical Palm Technique is an utter mess. Don't go around telling people you used this system to pay to upgrade it—you'd embarrass us both! ]
After quickly reviewing his system panel again, Xuan Yu began to consider how to spend his points this time.
Should I throw all 80 million ryō into Endurance and claim the Growth Gift Pack? Or should I shore up my Spirit attribute? It's too low right now. If I run into a genjutsu specialist like Itachi, I could easily get caught off guard.
The ninja world is full of danger. One hit, and you're dead. My funds were limited before, so I could only improve my Speed and Strength first. Now I should make up for my weaknesses. As for the Growth Gift Pack, it won't expire. I can claim it whenever.
Once my Spirit attribute is higher, I can claim its Growth Gift Pack too. Mystical Palm Technique isn't a priority either. Ninjutsu doesn't undergo a qualitative change until Lv. 10, and I'm nowhere near that yet.
After quickly weighing his options, Xuan Yu settled on a plan.
Among all martial arts, nothing was unbreakable except speed.
So when spending points, he'd prioritize Speed, then Endurance, Strength, and Spirit.
The ratio would be one to two, with the other three attributes getting one point each and Speed getting two.
For now, he could raise the other three attributes to around 5,000 each.
However, Xuan Yu soon thought of another issue: should he save some of his commission to upgrade a key attribute or an important ninjutsu?
Tasks at the Black Market Bounty Exchanges weren't like leeks, ready to grow back as soon as you cut them.
Many tasks stayed listed at the Bounty Exchange for a long time.
Once those tasks were completed, the Bounty Exchange wouldn't have many more to offer for quite a while.
What's more, he and Kakuzu could probably get away with sweeping up tasks at the Bounty Exchange once or twice. The Black Market managers would be willing to give Kakuzu some leeway.
But they couldn't do it too often. The Bounty Exchange wouldn't put all its eggs in the baskets of one or two ninjas. It also needed to cultivate other mercenaries and bring in a steady stream of fresh blood.
At the moment, the only area where he could reliably grind tasks was the Empty District. Grass Country's Black Markets only counted halfway, and Kakuzu would soon have cleared out their tasks completely.
As Xuan Yu considered these problems, two wandering ninja suddenly appeared and stopped him and Kakuzu.
The two wandering ninja looked ordinary. They didn't seem to be looking for trouble, but Xuan Yu had no idea why they'd stopped them.
After intercepting them, the two didn't waste any time. One of them quickly said, "Please wait, sirs. Lord Nadare Rōga would like to meet with you."
"Not interested. Get out of the way!" Kakuzu wanted to grind tasks until Xuan Yu dropped, so why would he go meet some Nadare Rōga?
Xuan Yu lazily asked, "Nadare Rōga? That name sounds familiar. Does he have a task for us, or is it something else? If he has a task for us, I don't mind going to see him."
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