Chapter 13

Liuyun laughed and carried Uchiha Mikoto inside.

Teasing his future little wife had become part of his daily routine.

At the dinner table, Uchiha Mikoto kept her head down and ate.

Liuyun paid it no mind. He finished quickly and returned to his room.

"System! Check in!"

"Ding! Congratulations, host! You've received a pair of Uchiha Mikoto's panties!"

Liuyun was speechless. He was starting to see that this damn check-in system never gave him anything good.

What use did he have for Mikoto's panties? Couldn't he get them himself?

Shaking his head, Liuyun took out the check-in reward anyway.

They were pink, with a cute little rabbit printed on them!

Liuyun frowned. Weren't these the ones Mikoto had just bought?

Just then, Uchiha Mikoto ran into the room.

"Liuyun! Do you have anything that needs wash—"

But when she saw what was in his hand, her already flushed face turned apple-red.

"Li-Liuyun! Why do you..."

Before she could finish, her petite body burst into motion at an astonishing speed.

She dashed up to Liuyun and snatched the panties. By the time his eyes flicked toward her, Uchiha Mikoto had vanished.

It happened so suddenly that Liuyun was caught off guard.

He rubbed his nose. A faint trace of fragrance seemed to linger on his hand.

He gave a wry smile. "Well, that's that! She caught me red-handed!"

That damn check-in system was unreliable beyond belief!

He would have to give Secret Room Douluo a thorough going-over tonight!

A Year of "Miserable" Experiences!

Muttering to himself, Liuyun pulled that day's Genjutsu scroll from beneath the Tatami and began studying it in earnest.

Morning brought familiar smells and familiar surroundings, but Uchiha Mikoto was nowhere to be seen.

After breakfast, the two of them settled back into their routine of moving between home, school, and the Training Ground.

Time flowed like water. In the blink of an eye, a year quietly passed.

The night was clear, with few stars and a full moon hanging high!

At the Uchiha Clan Compound!

On a tree thick as a man's waist, a boy sat with one leg crossed over the other. A foxtail grass stem hung from his mouth as he lounged against a branch.

Figures flickered below him—dozens of them, at a rough count.

The boy was Liuyun, and the figures below were the Shadow Clones he used for training.

He looked up at the brilliant full moon, his face carrying a world-weariness far beyond his years.

The cheats reserved for people who crossed into other worlds really were something. In just one year, his strength had grown at lightning speed.

Apart from spending time with Uchiha Mikoto and Kushina at school, Liuyun had spent the year wandering around, waiting for the system to trigger a choice.

He tried to complete all three choices each day. His strength depended on it, after all.

Looking back on the year, Liuyun could only describe it as "brutal."

There had been choices like kissing Kushina, hugging Mikoto and Kushina together, and peeping into the women's bathhouse...

They triggered either when he was near Mikoto and Kushina or when he was around Tsunade.

Calling this damn thing a divine choice system was a stretch. It was more like a pervert system!

Worst of all, there was one choice he would never forget for the rest of his life.

It had told him to peep at Kushina and Mikoto bathing together.

Just look at that! What kind of choice was that? What decent person would do it?

But the reward was so generous that Liuyun had reluctantly accepted.

Once he got there, Liuyun learned exactly what it meant to eat his words.

If the divine choices were there to make him stronger, the check-in system existed purely to give him junk.

A year of check-ins had done little for his strength, and Liuyun had plenty to complain about.

Of course, checking in was like buying a lottery ticket. Liuyun had long since stopped expecting anything from it.

Throughout that year, Liuyun had never stopped developing the Ice-Ice Fruit or practicing Genjutsu.

Sometimes the divine choices rewarded him with Genjutsu experience.

So he spent most of his time developing the Ice-Ice Fruit. A year ago, he had barely been a beginner with its powers.

Now he had reached proficiency.

Both the speed at which he froze things and the hardness of his ice had improved tremendously.

But he was still a long way from the absolute zero he wanted to achieve.

Liuyun was in no hurry. He had plenty of time.

As for the Ninja Academy's Water Walking and tree climbing exercises, Liuyun had mastered them long ago. His control was every bit as good as a Jonin's.

System! Open the Character Panel.

[Uchiha Liuyun]

Physical condition: Elite Jonin

Chakra: 6.5 Kakas

Ninjutsu: Rasengan, Multiple Shadow Clones, Body Flicker Technique...

Taijutsu: Proficient swordsmanship, Kunai Throwing...

Genjutsu: Hell Viewing Technique, Tree Binding Death...

Bloodlines and abilities: Uchiha Bloodline, Three-Tomoe Sharingan, Ice-Ice Fruit powers

Overall combat strength: Junior Kage Level

Inventory: Secret Room Douluo Deluxe Edition (severely damaged), Teacher Haku (lightly worn), Underground Teacher series (10 volumes, severely worn)...

That was Liuyun's strength now. The inventory could be ignored, of course.

With Kage Level strength, he could protect himself in the Second Shinobi World War!

"System! Check in!"

Liuyun glanced at the time and rose from the branch. Mikoto would probably be here soon.

"Ding! Congratulations, host! You've received Uchiha Itachi's lifetime of Genjutsu experience!"

"Itachi's Genjutsu experience? Not bad!" Liuyun was delighted.

He had already received the Genjutsu experience of Shinku Yuhi and Shisui Uchiha from earlier check-ins. Now he had Uchiha Itachi's as well.

The experience of three of Konoha's Genjutsu masters had come together in one person.

When it came to Genjutsu, Liuyun now dared to call himself number one. No one else could claim second place.

As his Mental Energy had grown, absorbing these sudden floods of memories had stopped being painful.

In the blink of an eye, Liuyun had absorbed all of Uchiha Itachi's Genjutsu experience.

Liuyun sighed in admiration. "As expected of Uchiha Itachi, one of Konoha's three great Genjutsu masters!

"His Genjutsu experience was every bit as good as Shisui Uchiha's and Shinku Yuhi's."

After absorbing Uchiha Itachi's memories, Liuyun also realized just how much Itachi had held back when fighting Uchiha Sasuke.

An ocean's worth, probably.

Is that Uchiha Fugaku? Looks like he didn't take my warning to heart.

Sensing the familiar Chakra nearby, Liuyun's face darkened.

The surge in his Mental Energy had not only awakened his Three-Tomoe Sharingan, but also granted him Sensory Ninjutsu.

It was somewhat similar to the Uzumaki Clan's Mind's Eye of the Kagura.

Its range had been much smaller at first, of course. But as Liuyun's Mental Energy grew, it had come to cover a fifth of Konoha.

The Uchiha Clan was well within that range.

He sensed Uchiha Fugaku approaching Mikoto. Liuyun had warned him off every previous time.

This time, Liuyun had no intention of holding back. Any more of that and he'd turn into a Ninja Turtle!

Ding! The system has detected some old lecher lusting after your future little wife. Host, it's time to defend your honor as a man.

1. Break one of Uchiha Fugaku's legs for good. Reward: a pair of Mangekyō Sharingan!

2. Give Uchiha Fugaku a thorough beating. Reward: double Chakra!

3. Give Uchiha Fugaku a thorough beating and a stern warning. Reward: double Chakra and physical condition!

Looking at the three options, Liuyun chose the first without hesitation.

The third was tempting too, but it paled beside the first.

After days of training, his Mental Energy had reached a bottleneck. Neither choices nor training could increase it in the slightest.

The Mangekyo was the best way to break through that bottleneck.

Arrogant Uchiha Fugaku!

Beat Uchiha Fugaku senseless!

Even without the choices, Liuyun would have picked the first option.

Why had he kept training so hard even after getting a system? So the women he loved could have better lives.

Those women—or, to be precise, Uchiha Mikoto and Kushina—were the two people he would never let anyone touch!

Anyone who dared bully them had better be ready for Liuyun's retaliation.

A year had passed. He had thought Uchiha Fugaku had received enough warnings.

Apparently, the brat still hadn't given up!

Liuyun narrowed his eyes, a cold glint flashing through them.

"Uchiha Fugaku, you brought this on yourself. Don't blame me! You should have listened!"

Whoosh!

The next instant, Liuyun vanished from the tree.

On the road to the Training Ground where Liuyun was.

Uchiha Fugaku held a bouquet of flowers and spoke with a tender expression.

"Mikoto! I just bought these flowers from a merchant from the Land of Water. They're for you!"

"No, thank you. If you don't need anything else, young clan leader, please step aside. I have to find Liuyun!"

Uchiha Mikoto's voice was cool as she refused without hesitation.

"Uchiha Liuyun?"

A dark look flashed across Uchiha Fugaku's face before giving way to disdain and arrogance.

"Him? He's managed to go from failure to genius. I'll give him that much. He might even qualify to serve as one of my personal guards someday!"