Devouring Sea King Meat Raw, Combat Power Soars!

Zhao Hai paused for a moment.

[Zhao Hai]: "There really is."

[Zhao Hai]: "Do you have any medicine over there that can quickly restore stamina?"

[Zhao Hai]: "That old man Garp's training intensity is insane."

[Zhao Hai]: "Every day after training, I feel like I'm about to die."

[Zhao Hai]: "The medicine on the warship works, but it's way too bitter and has side effects."

The moment Qian Ye saw the message, he thought of Military Ration Pills.

Military Ration Pills in the Naruto World were indeed awful to eat.

But their effects were absolutely top-notch.

They could rapidly replenish stamina and chakra in a short time.

Zhao Hai had already extracted chakra.

The nutrition and medicinal effects in the Military Ration Pills would definitely be useful to Zhao Hai.

Qian Ye immediately replied.

[Qian Ye]: "Yes."

[Qian Ye]: "I have Military Ration Pills here, specifically for quickly restoring stamina."

[Qian Ye]: "They don't taste great, but they work very well."

[Qian Ye]: "There aren't any obvious side effects at normal doses."

[Qian Ye]: "I still have over a dozen on hand. Want me to send five over for you to try first?"

Zhao Hai replied immediately.

[Zhao Hai]: "Sure!"

[Zhao Hai]: "Let's test the effects first."

Qian Ye pulled five Military Ration Pills from his Ninja Tool Pouch.

Each one was only the size of a fingernail.

Together, they weighed less than ten grams.

They were just within the day's transportation quota.

Qian Ye placed the five Military Ration Pills into the transfer box.

The system notification sounded.

Transfer successful.

A message from Zhao Hai arrived soon afterward.

[Zhao Hai]: "Got them."

[Zhao Hai]: "These things look like ordinary pills."

[Zhao Hai]: "I'll try one now."

About a minute passed.

Zhao Hai sent another message.

[Zhao Hai]: "Holy shit!"

[Zhao Hai]: "This stuff really works!"

[Zhao Hai]: "My whole body was aching just now, but after taking one, the pain eased up a lot!"

[Zhao Hai]: "And my stamina recovered incredibly fast!"

[Zhao Hai]: "Though the taste really is bitter as hell."

Qian Ye curled his lips when he saw the message.

[Qian Ye]: "As long as it works."

[Qian Ye]: "Once I have more supplies here, I'll get more over to you."

[Qian Ye]: "Save more Sea King meat for me too."

[Zhao Hai]: "No problem."

[Zhao Hai]: "We help each other out."

[Zhao Hai]: "Oh, right. Is that Orochimaru of yours reliable?"

[Zhao Hai]: "I remember that guy seemed to go dark later in Naruto."

Qian Ye's fingers paused over the screen.

Zhao Hai was right.

In the original story, Orochimaru had indeed gone down a wicked path.

Human experimentation, forbidden jutsu research, defecting from the Hidden Leaf.

Each was crazier than the last.

But the current Orochimaru had not reached that point yet.

Qian Ye felt that perhaps he could change something.

At the very least, he could help Orochimaru take fewer detours on his path toward immortality.

And hurt fewer innocent people.

Qian Ye typed into the chat box.

[Qian Ye]: "Don't worry."

[Qian Ye]: "I know what I'm doing."

[Qian Ye]: "Orochimaru hasn't gone crazy yet."

[Qian Ye]: "And I pointed him toward a path tonight."

[Qian Ye]: "Maybe I can pull him toward the right path."

Zhao Hai replied.

[Zhao Hai]: "All right."

[Zhao Hai]: "Just be careful."

[Zhao Hai]: "Don't end up getting used as an experiment by your own teacher."

Qian Ye's mouth twitched when he saw the message.

[Qian Ye]: "Screw off."

[Qian Ye]: "You're the one who'll get used for experiments."

The two chatted idly for a few more lines.

Qian Ye closed the chat interface.

He lowered his head to look at the Sea King meat wrapped in oil paper inside his Ninja Tool Pouch.

Qian Ye squatted in a corner of the camp and, by the light of an oil lamp, peeled away the layers of oil paper.

The Sea King meat was a strange deep red, its grain thick enough to be alarming. One look was enough to tell that it was no ordinary meat.

He took out the small knife he carried with him, sliced off a piece, and stuffed it into his mouth.

A fishy smell first rushed into his nostrils, followed by an indescribable fresh sweetness that burst across his tongue. It was in a completely different league from the medicinal taste of Military Ration Pills.

Qian Ye chewed twice, and his eyes instantly lit up.

What the hell was this divine food?

He could not be bothered with chewing slowly anymore and began tearing into it in huge bites. He intended to finish all five pounds of meat tonight.

Eating it raw was a little rough, but he had no conditions for starting a fire right now. The wounded soldiers' camp was packed with people, and if the smell of roasted meat spread out, everyone would come over asking questions.

As he chewed, Qian Ye circulated his chakra and carefully guided the small amount of remaining energy in his body toward his stomach and intestines.

It was a crude method he had figured out over the past few days. Chakra could stimulate cellular activity, allowing the nutrients he consumed to be absorbed faster and more thoroughly.

If an ordinary person ate five pounds of raw meat, they would probably be so stuffed they would roll around on the ground.

With chakra assisting him, Qian Ye somehow digested all five pounds of Sea King meat without leaving a single scrap.

After swallowing the last bite, he slumped to the ground and felt his entire abdominal cavity growing hot.

The sensation was extremely strange, as if a ball of fire were burning within his internal organs. Yet it was not uncomfortable at all. Instead, his entire body felt refreshed.

The speed at which chakra flowed through his meridians visibly increased.

Qian Ye closed his eyes and focused on sensing the changes in his body.

His muscle fibers seemed to have rearranged themselves. The soreness and cramping that normally came after training had somehow faded by more than half.

He tried clenching his fist, then flexed his wrist.

His strength really had increased.

This was what real nourishment felt like.

Qian Ye did not think much of it. He got up, stretched his limbs, and decided to find an open patch of ground to test his current combat power.

The moment he rose to his feet, a burst of hurried footsteps suddenly came from the distance.

"Enemy attack! Sunagakure is attacking again!"

Qian Ye had barely gotten up and his bones had not even loosened when the alarm exploded like a death knell.

"Again?" Qian Ye's face turned green.

They had only slept for a few hours. Were these Sunagakure bastards taking shifts to attack?

The wounded soldiers' camp erupted into chaos once more. Ninjas with broken arms and legs supported one another as they crawled outside. Battle cries mixed with screams, completely wiping out the comfort the Sea King meat had brought Qian Ye.

He checked his Ninja Tool Pouch. His revolver was still there, but only three bullets remained.

He had plenty of Kunai and Shuriken, though. He had scavenged quite a few from Sunagakure corpses last night.

"By Lord Orochimaru's order, all available forces on the front line are to return to their positions immediately!" a Chunin shouted at the top of his lungs.

At the same time, outside Kikyo Pass, at the Sunagakure camp.

Dawn had not fully broken, yet the camp was already in utter chaos. Messengers rushed between tents while the sounds of ninjas gathering their equipment rose and fell without pause.

Pakura stood before her tent, her expression so gloomy it seemed water could drip from it.

The scene of being reprimanded in turns by Chiyo and Ebizo last night remained vivid in her mind. The humiliation of being publicly suspected was like a thorn lodged in her heart.

Rasa rode a Gold Dust Disc and slowly drifted before Pakura.

"Pakura, you'll still be the main force in today's attack." Rasa's tone was calm, but his gaze was fixed tightly on her. "Lady Chiyo specifically told me to remind you of something."