Boost Card and Experience Card

"If I said I was just cleaning off dust, would you believe me?"

Maruyama Qifeng withdrew his hand and lightly wiped it on his clothes.

Kakashi's rigid face rarely showed wariness, given his earlier actions combined with the question he'd just asked.

Believe you, my ass!

Kakashi did recognize Maruyama Qifeng. Though they weren't in the same class, they'd crossed paths a few times at the Ninja Academy. But that wasn't the point—after all, Kakashi had only spent half a year there himself.

The main reason was that since becoming a chunin, Kakashi had finally earned the right to lead his own squad. His team's mission completion rate was extremely high.

But the mortality rate? Heh.

He was practically a regular at this morgue.

"Qifeng, you... ah. I understand." The medical ninja patted him on the shoulder.

Pressure was too much.

Under the crushing weight of blood and death, everyone bore immense stress, developing all sorts of little quirks—nothing too hard to accept.

Besides, Maruyama Qifeng worked with the dead every day; it was inevitable his personality would twist.

Even if others mostly turned to drinking or violence, his particular hobby was admittedly a bit unusual.

Understand my ass?!

Maruyama Qifeng raged impotently inside.

"By the way, Qifeng, Lord Hokage has ordered Chunin Kakashi to retrieve his comrade's body for burial."

Back to business.

"Oh."

The medical ninja patted his shoulder again. "Handle the handover."

Then he leaned in and whispered in his ear.

"Qifeng, the deceased are to be respected."

Most of the dead ninja had families in the village. If word got to them, he'd have people knocking on his door.

"..."

Maruyama Qifeng rolled his eyes in utter resignation.

The other man left without another word.

Leaving only him and Kakashi staring at each other.

As the village's shining genius, Kakashi was naturally someone he knew—and knew well, perhaps even better than Kakashi knew himself.

But facing this so-called "eternal fifty-fifty" genius, his main focus was on the burial site of the other's father.

The Konoha White Fang's corpse should yield some surprising things, right?

"Cough. Let's follow procedure."

Kakashi shot him another glance, dropped a scroll, and walked into the tent.

No one would give a good face to someone coveting their father's remains.

Maruyama Qifeng couldn't be bothered to explain further.

Necrophiliac it was. Given the cheat he'd obtained, he'd probably be dealing with corpses a lot in the future. Explaining too much would just seem like covering up.

He gave the scroll a quick scan—it was a burial order stamped with the Hokage's seal.

Half an hour later.

Staring at the morgue, Maruyama Qifeng felt a pang of loss.

Among the remaining bodies, there were either white light dots or none at all. Having savored the thrill of Yellow and Green Corpses, his first experience with a White Corpse left a bad taste.

He sat back down in his chair.

Shaking off the small disappointment, he began re-examining the system and the things he'd just opened.

Earrings, underwear—nothing worth studying. His focus was on those cards.

[Name: Single Attribute Random +2 Boost Card] [Description: As a qualified chunin, every aspect of him is worth learning from] [Effect: Randomly boosts a single attribute by 2 points] [Note: Trust me, you'll need more]

"Of course I know I need more, but that depends on having that many corpses."

He pulled out a card that was entirely green, its face filled with the number "2." It felt metallic to the touch, with slightly raised, rough patterns, as if possessing some mystical power.

Staring at the card, Maruyama Qifeng's eyes lit up.

He knew all too well how poor this body's talent was. So cards like this one became his capital and starting point for growing stronger.

Following the system's prompt, he used it correctly.

A hexagonal roulette wheel appeared before him, engraved with six attributes: "Body, Essence, Ninja, Illusion, Control, and Seals," representing a ninja's physical technique, chakra, ninjutsu, genjutsu, chakra control, and hand seals.

Finally, the pointer stopped on "Body."

[Body +2!]

A surge of immense heat burst from some corner of his body, flowed into his meridians, scattered, and gradually faded into the cells throughout his body.

Maruyama Qifeng clenched his fist.

He could clearly feel that his body had become lighter, his arms stronger, and his whole being felt so comfortable he wanted to moan, like he'd drunk some happy water.

He opened the panel again.

[Character: Maruyama Qifeng]

[Age: 13]

[Affinity: Fire]

[Rank: Genin]

[Body: 12]

[Essence: 12]

[Ninja: 12]

[Illusion: 5]

[Control: 15]

[Seals: 15]

[Ninjutsu: Three Basic Jutsu]

[Items: Konoha Jonin Miura Ikkou Experience Card (Rare) ×1, Uchiha Clan Thin Bloodline Card (1/3), Standard Kunai ×1, Exquisite Earrings ×1, Lady's Underwear ×1]

An increase of just 2 points in Body might not seem like much, but his base was only 10 points—a full one-fifth increase—so the effect was very noticeable.

"I really need more of this. It's not for enjoyment, purely for boosting strength. Yeah, that's right!"

He turned to look at another card, a special one engraved with Miura Ikkou's likeness.

[Name: Konoha Jonin Miura Ikkou Experience Card (Rare)]

[Description: This is a very rare experience card that allows you to briefly unleash abilities beyond your physical limits.]

[Effect: Combines your own attributes with the card's attributes to temporarily enhance and alter abilities, attributes, ninjutsu, awareness, etc.]

[Note: As a jonin experience card, it's recommended to use it just before you die.]

This was a good thing.

Just by glancing at the description, Maruyama Qifeng was sure this was definitely a good thing.

It could build on his own foundation and combine it with the abilities of Jonin Miura Ikkou, allowing him to surpass his current strength for a short time.

Used in a special situation, it would definitely produce unexpected results.

As a trump card, it was undoubtedly the best choice.

As for how much his strength would actually increase after using it, he hadn't tried it and didn't know.

But Maruyama Qifeng estimated that even if he couldn't reach the jonin level, temporarily attaining the level of a special jonin shouldn't be a problem.

His job was to collect corpses from behind the lines, which seemed safe on the surface.

But he knew that on a battlefield, no place was truly safe.

Even the home base camp could suffer a sudden sneak attack.

If an AOE came down on him, his life would be over.

Even without large-scale AOE, stealing corpses, intelligence, and even bloodlines was something every great hidden village loved to do.

Every side had corpse-collection squads, and likewise, there were squads that stole corpses.

Even if they only got a few scraps of key intelligence, it could potentially turn the tide of battle to some extent.

That's why corpse collectors never had high survival rates—they could even be described as low, only slightly higher than the ninjas fighting on the front lines.

But now, during peacetime, he was very safe.

He silently stared at the morgue, shadows flickering with the candlelight.

Thankfully, there were no ghosts in the Naruto World, or he'd have gone insane from fear.

But he had to admit, he was addicted to opening blind boxes. Looking at these cold corpses, he felt nothing but warmth.

Now he couldn't wait to touch a few more corpses, even if they were empty.

But no, his daily uses were used up. He'd have to wait until tomorrow.

He got up reluctantly, closed the door, and locked it securely with an arm-thick chain. Inside were precious treasures.

Holding an umbrella, he stepped into the night. Time to go home!

Oh, home wasn't far—it was right next door.