Failed!
Looking at the glaring red words, Qifeng took a deep breath.
"Stay calm. A fifteen percent success rate is perfectly normal."
No normal person could hit a fifteen percent chance on their first try. This was not just a matter of probability—it was a matter of luck.
"How about this? If I get the chance, I'll send your body back to the Land of Earth too. If Konoha allows it."
Qifeng squatted there, trying to bargain with a corpse.
Everything was negotiable.
After spending more than ten minutes sweet-talking it, he placed his sweat-covered palm on it again and tried once more.
Success! Obtained Iwagakure Quasi-Kage Akagi Shi Experience Card (Rare)!
It worked!
Qifeng excitedly pumped his fist.
"Thank Buddha! Thank God! Thank the Sage of Six Paths!"
He had used a Jonin Experience Card and gotten back a Quasi-Kage Experience Card, along with Kaseki's Obsession and a single-attribute +2 Boost Card.
He had not lost out this round.
No, he had made a killing!
"Sure enough, corpses are meant to be respected. If you communicate with them properly, they can understand."
Qifeng felt that he had grasped the key trick to looting corpses.
If you respected the other party, even if it was only a corpse, it would give you an appropriate response. Perhaps it was just coincidence, just his imagination.
But taking one extra step would not cost him anything.
What if it was real?
This result made him even more determined to treat every corpse properly from now on, and to help those deceased who still harbored obsessions but lacked the ability to fulfill their final wishes.
One gave, one received. He felt perfectly justified.
He had succeeded on the second try, so it did not matter whether the third one worked. He was already making a profit anyway.
But sometimes, Murphy's Law did not only work on Earth. Even in this Naruto World, Murphy's influence still existed.
Success! Obtained Earth Release Chakra Amplification Card!
Huh?
There was more?!
Looking at the gorgeous red card resting quietly in the system, engraved with magnificent rocks, Qifeng blinked.
A fifteen percent chance, and he had succeeded twice!
He only wanted to ask one thing.
Who else could do it!
His lucky bloodline had been confirmed!
Sit down, everyone. Sit down. Routine operation, routine operation.
He opened the attributes of the Amplification Card he was seeing for the first time.
Name: Earth Release Chakra Amplification Card Description: As a ninja, how could one limit oneself to a single attribute? Effect: Increases compatibility with Earth Style Chakra. Attribute gained: Earth Remarks: None (Does this even need remarks? Hurry up and use it!)
"Damn." Qifeng smacked his lips.
Earth Style Chakra.
As a ninja, he knew very well that a ninja's chakra attributes were generally innate. Aside from the hidden Yin-Yang Release, the rest were Fire, Earth, Wind, Lightning, and Water.
In terms of talent, the number of chakra attributes one possessed could also be considered a form of talent.
Of course, there were also powerful ninja who developed a single attribute to its peak, such as those rough brutes from Kumogakure.
Most people only had one attribute. A small number had two, an extremely small number had three, and those born with all five were basically cheating.
But that was innate talent. It could also be developed through hard work later in life, though it was extremely difficult and consumed a great deal of time and energy, so few people did so.
After all, if one had not even pushed a single attribute to its limit, developing multiple attributes would only waste their already limited time and effort.
Lacking chakra of a particular attribute did not mean one could not use ninjutsu of that attribute, but its power would be greatly reduced.
Qifeng, who originally possessed only Fire Release Chakra, had now gained Earth Style Chakra. As long as he mastered the corresponding ninjutsu, his fighting methods would become more diverse. Combining Earth Release and Fire Release ninjutsu would also produce more impressive power.
This was a long-term and beneficial gain. The longer time passed, the more apparent the benefits would become.
"Thanks." After thinking it over, that was all he could say to express his joy.
His desperate protection had not been in vain.
He still had three chances to draw left, but he did not use them all at once.
Maybe another decent blind box would be delivered tomorrow.
He yawned.
He was sleepy.
It had been quite an exhausting night.
After locking the door, he returned to his little place nearby and fell asleep as soon as he hit the bed.
In a corner of Konoha, at the Morgue.
Two months had passed since Qifeng killed Iwagakure's hidden agent.
Over those two months, his life had been very regular. He slept until noon, got up to receive bodies sent by the Anbu or the Medical Unit, spent the afternoon fulfilling whatever final wishes he could for some of the deceased, cleaned the blood and wounds from the corpses in the evening, and drew cards from the corpses late at night when all was quiet.
During that time, aside from Asuma coming by whenever he had nothing to do—supposedly to chat, though he really just wanted a quiet, secluded place to sneak a smoke—
Anyone with a smoking habit knew that smoking alone meant smoking loneliness, while smoking with two people meant actually smoking.
Whenever they had nothing to do, the two would chat, and Qifeng learned plenty of useful and useless information from him.
For example, Asuma liked the red-eyed and adorable Kurenai Yuhi, and Hiruzen Sarutobi was wearing red underwear that day.
For another example, he occasionally heard words like war, Iwa-nin, and mist ninja.
They were not far apart in age and shared the same hobby, so Qifeng had become one of Sarutobi Asuma's few friends.
Asuma would always ask, "Aren't you bored or scared, staying around corpses all day?"
Qifeng would answer, "The dead are paramount. We must respect the departed and the last traces they leave behind in this world."
Asuma did not understand his happiness.
Two months passed.
His growth had also been especially noticeable.
The system allowed him to gain something every day. Most of it was items such as kunai, shuriken, and Ration Pills. Occasionally, he received attribute Boost Cards or Ninjutsu Cards, while Experience Cards and Bloodline Cards had barely appeared again.
He was still one card short of the Uchiha Clan Thin Bloodline Card, yet he had not obtained it for a long time.
After all, Uchiha Clan corpses did not appear so easily.
The only Uchiha corpses sent here were those who had never awakened the Sharingan, and only Green Corpses had a chance of yielding Bloodline Cards, making it even more difficult.
But he was not in a hurry. He was very calm.
The closer they came to the brink of war, the more restrained the Great Hidden Villages became instead.
Friction between them grew smaller and smaller, as though they were making their final preparations. As a result, the corpses he received became fewer and fewer, and their quality became increasingly ordinary.
Sitting in a rocking chair with a cigarette between his teeth, only the occasional smoke ring and the movement of his eyes proved that he was alive.
The life of a slacker was so comfortable that he was almost forgetting he was a ninja.
He looked exactly like an old gatekeeper.
Take a look at his status after two months.
Character: Maruyama Qifeng Age: 13 Attributes: Fire, Earth Strength: Chunin Body: 25 Spirit: 24 Ninjutsu: 22 Genjutsu: 19 Control: 27 Seals: 22 Ninjutsu: Three Basic Jutsu, Fire Release - Great Fireball, Earth Release - Rock Concealment Technique, Earth Release - Earth Shore Return, Fire Release - Flame Bullet Items: Uchiha Clan Thin Bloodline Card (2/3), Kaseki's Obsession, Iwagakure Quasi-Kage Akagi Shi Experience Card (Rare)
Two words.
Easy life.
But sometimes, accidents always came when one least expected them.
Just as he was enjoying the leisurely afternoon, a figure abruptly appeared before him.
"Maruyama Qifeng, Lord Hokage summons you."
The visitor was an Anbu Ninja wearing a mask. After speaking in a deep voice, he flickered and vanished again like a ghost.
Hiruzen Sarutobi wanted to see him?
Qifeng paused slightly. He was merely a corpse collector with an extremely low profile. Did he really need to be personally summoned by the Hokage?
Was that not taking him too seriously?
For some reason, the scene of smoking with Asuma last time suddenly flashed through his mind.
"Pssh—Qifeng, you really ought to go outside more. If you keep nesting here, won't you rust away?"
"Puff—What does a kid know? You don't understand the happiness of adults."
"Puff—You're only a few years older than me, yet you're pretending to be an adult! Do you know that war might be coming soon? If you go to the battlefield like this, how will you survive?"
"Pssh—I'll survive by hugging a corpse."
The two exchanged words amid swirling smoke.
He had not noticed it before, but now he understood.
It had to be Asuma!
As long as Asuma casually mentioned his name a few more times in front of Hiruzen Sarutobi, with Sarutobi's memory for every villager's name, he would definitely remember this Genin who was about to rust away.
Qifeng irritably scratched his head.
What could he do? Lord Hokage wanted to see him. Obviously, he could not refuse.
He tossed the cigarette butt onto the ground, crushed it hard beneath his feet, and flashed toward the Hokage Building.
Before you continue