Return to Konoha

Under Shuofang Si's guidance, the crimson energy of the dragon blood flowed out of his dantian qi sea and traveled upward through his meridians.

It paused briefly as it passed the already opened eye apertures, then continued upward into the acupoints around his ears: Tinggong, Tinghui, Ermen, Yifeng, and the others.

The power of the dragon blood battered all nine acupoints at once. Each one stung as though pierced by needles, and the pain spread from the roots of his ears through his entire skull, as if countless steel needles were churning between his bones.

But he gritted his teeth and kept going. Fortunately, the Eight-Nine Mysterious Art could locate and gauge the apertures on its own. Otherwise, he really would have had no way to refine them with such violent energy.

After an unknown length of time, he heard a soft pop, like a thin membrane being punctured, like a tightly shut door being pushed open.

Then the sounds of the entire world came flooding in. He could even hear his own heartbeat, every contraction accompanied by the full sound of valves opening and closing and blood spurting through them.

His ear apertures had opened.

His eye apertures let him see the world's details; his ear apertures let him hear its pulse. Of the nine innate apertures, he had now opened four.

"Main God, heal me."

A pillar of white light descended from above and lifted him out of the bathtub.

The dragon blood lingering on his skin evaporated into pale red mist under the light, revealing the cracked skin beneath.

Then the white light turned green, and a deeper restorative energy poured into his body, smoothing away the hidden injuries caused by unlocking his gene lock.

But Shuofang Si did not leave everything to the Main God. While receiving treatment, he also circulated his cultivation method, guiding the dragon blood energy remaining inside him to activate the healing chapter of the Nine Yin Manual and recover in tandem.

I don't have many points left. I still need to save enough to go back and farm side plots.

Still, the abilities granted by the second-order gene lock were indeed far stronger than those of the first order. Even if his strength had come from an exchanged A-rank enhancement rather than cultivation, he would have been able to bring out fifty percent of its power.

Shuofang Si closed his gene lock, and his vacant eyes regained their clarity. The treatment ended as well, lowering him to the ground.

He looked down at himself. The true dragon blood in the bathtub had lost its crimson hue and become a murky, dark brown liquid.

He had absorbed all of its essence. After the Main God's treatment, his newly regenerated skin was firmer than before.

His skin also carried a faint ivory sheen, the result of tempering his body with both the Golden Bell Shield and the Muscle-Tendon and Bone-Forging Chapter. Now that the dragon blood had strengthened it further, his physical toughness far surpassed that of ordinary cultivators who had likewise opened four apertures.

He stood up out of the bathtub and rolled his shoulders.

A series of crisp clicks came from his joints. He clenched his fists, and the strength he felt between his knuckles was more solid than before.

His cultivation at the aperture opening stage had fully stabilized, and opening his eye and ear apertures had raised his perception to a whole new level.

His mastery of the second-order gene lock had given him a trump card for desperate situations, and he had also gained an initial grasp of the Nine Revolutions True Dragon Core Scripture. He had achieved every goal of this secluded cultivation session.

Now it's time to do some real work in the Naruto World. As Shuofang Si wiped the bloodstains from his body, he looked at the runes of the Nine Revolutions True Dragon Core Scripture.

Only after gaining an initial grasp of the scripture could he understand the contents of this chapter. Its runic system was more complex than he had imagined, but it did indeed point toward deciphering the third-order gene lock.

That was a matter for later, though. Right now, he had something else in mind. Raiga Kurosuki's lightning blades, Kiba, and Ranmaru's Red Eye bloodline ability were both quite valuable.

Shuofang Si stood on the Main God's platform and connected his consciousness to the balance inquiry.

Although he still had one C-rank side plot, he had barely over a hundred points left. He fell silent for a moment.

Repairing gene lock damage really is expensive. His meager reward points had disappeared far faster than he had expected.

Still, a hundred points would be enough to exchange for ten days in the Naruto World, trigger a side plot, and earn some rewards.

Once he completed this side plot and obtained Kiba and the Red Eye bloodline ability, his reward points would naturally recover too.

He did not teleport immediately. Instead, he first lowered his head and circulated his cultivation method.

The Tendon-Contracting and Bone-Shrinking Method from the Nine Yin Manual quietly went to work, and the nascent transformation abilities of the Eight-Nine Mysterious Art activated along with it.

A flurry of faint clicks came from his body. He grew two inches shorter, his shoulders narrowed by half a palm's width, and the upright physique he had developed through cultivation reverted to the loose posture of an ordinary person.

His face changed as well. His cheekbones flattened slightly, and his jawline became a little rounder.

After Shuofang Si made these simple adjustments, his entire appearance had changed noticeably. There was no trace of his previous face.

"Main God, exchange for ten days in the Naruto World. For the location, make it the dense woods outside Konoha's gate."

A flash of light swept across his vision.

When Shuofang Si opened his eyes again, he had arrived.

He now stood in a dense forest, with Konoha's main gate not far away.

He left the woods and stepped onto the main road. The guards were still Konoha's two familiar gatekeepers, Kotetsu Hagane and Izumo Kamizuki.

Both wore Konoha's green flak jackets and looked thoroughly bored, but they straightened up as soon as they saw someone approaching.

"Halt. Please show your travel permit," Kotetsu Hagane said politely, raising a hand.

After the joint invasion by the Sound Ninja and Sand Ninja, Konoha's alert level clearly had yet to come down.

"I'm a merchant from the Land of Fire Capital. I've come to Konoha to post a commission." Shuofang Si remained perfectly calm.

Izumo Kamizuki looked him up and down several times and found no sign that he possessed chakra.

Shuofang Si stood at ease. A few seconds later, Izumo Kamizuki nodded.

"Welcome to Konoha. The commission desk is on the first floor of the Hokage Building. Just follow this main road straight ahead until you see the round red building."

The two stepped aside to let him through. Shuofang Si thanked them and walked through Konoha's gate.

Konoha had recovered. It was no longer the village he had seen last time, shrouded in smoke, with villagers crying and cursing amid the ruins.

The roadside shops had reopened. Traces of Earth Release were still visible on the repaired walls, and pedestrians walked the streets in twos and threes. Though their faces still held some of the tension left by the recent war, at least they were living normal lives again.

Looks like Konoha is still Konoha, and those nasty villagers are still the same bunch. They just don't know the guy they beat half to death is back.

Reflections were all well and good, but he could not let them delay important business. What should I eat today?

Before heading to the Hokage Building, he decided to address one problem first: food.

His last visit to Konoha had been one long fight. Now that he had finally entered the village peacefully, how could he not sample the cooking of the legendary Ichiraku Otsutsuki and check out Ichiraku Ramen?

The Ichiraku Ramen Shop stood on one of Konoha's side streets. Its sign was small but easy to recognize.

A cloth curtain bearing the name "Ichiraku" hung at the entrance. Warm yellow light and the rich aroma of pork-bone broth drifted out from behind it.

Shuofang Si lifted the curtain, bent down, and stepped inside.

But the next second, his pupils contracted. Wait, what? Why is he here?