Starting Today, I'm the Jungler

The bear's paw, as large as a tree trunk, was just about to come down when it abruptly stopped in midair. Only a gust of palm wind continued to sweep toward Sakura.

With the intelligence of a giant bear, it had no way of understanding how its foreleg had been tightly bound by a tongue that could only be described as slender compared to its own size. In the next moment, its entire massive body was suddenly hoisted into the air by that tongue and flung away like a bag of trash, kicking up a cloud of dust, leaves, and branches.

Starcall! After throwing the giant bear away, Tahm immediately used the skill to heal the injured Naruto. Naruto's injuries were severe, and it was only after Tahm used the skill several times in succession that he slowly woke up in Sakura's arms. When he opened his eyes and saw Sakura's tear-filled eyes, which she had not yet wiped dry, he struggled to get up and fight again.

"Get out of the way and hide. Leave what comes next to me." Tahm gave his instructions, then turned his gaze toward the giant bear that had just climbed back to its feet.

With that size and strength, even an ordinary genin would have trouble dealing with it, right? How had one appeared in this forest? Tahm was somewhat puzzled.

The giant bear recovered from the blow, but it clearly had not learned its lesson. It opened its bloody maw at Tahm, revealing fangs still hanging with bloody shreds of flesh, and roared furiously.

You want to eat me? Tahm, of course, was not afraid of this bear that looked so formidable. Back on Mount Myoboku, he had dealt with giant beasts like Gamabunta, who could move mountains, every day. Compared to them, what was this bear's size supposed to mean?

The giant bear's intelligence had yet to develop, so it did not sense the danger posed by the short toad before it in the slightest. It exerted itself and charged forward again.

But just as its enormous body rushed out, the target before it suddenly vanished.

Alpha Strike!

In the next second, Tahm darted around the giant bear along a bizarre trajectory invisible to the naked eye, like a brilliant shooting star leaving streaks of light in its wake. Every time a trail of light flashed by, the giant bear felt a wound being violently torn across its body.

Master Yi used a sword to perform this move, while Tahm's weapon was his tongue. Although it lacked a sword's sharpness, the skill underwent a special transformation when used by Tahm. As he struck while darting around, the stacks of Tahm's passive were instantly filled to three by the special energy attached to his tongue.

Activate: Devour!

The giant bear had only just managed to let out a miserable roar over its injuries when its mountain-sized body vanished without a trace.

"Where did it go?" Ino asked in surprise. Then she suddenly thought of one of Tahm's abilities and became even more incredulous. "No way. Can Tahm swallow a bear that huge?"

Yes. Tahm's alternate dimension could contain a target regardless of its size. However, the larger or stronger the target was, the greater the expenditure and burden on Tahm to keep it trapped.

This was the strongest creature Tahm had swallowed since obtaining the skill. He could feel the giant bear struggling painfully inside the alternate dimension, with every movement consuming large amounts of his stamina and chakra as he maintained control over it.

Feeling that the time was right, Tahm opened his huge mouth. A giant bear emerged in a bizarre manner, growing from small to large as it was spat out. The bear was covered from head to toe in destructive fluid. It lay on the ground, struggling, but had no strength left to rise. All it could do was roar pointlessly.

A giant beast that attacked people of its own accord could not be allowed to remain. For the first time, Tahm felt murderous intent toward a living creature.

He suddenly circulated chakra into his tongue, which lashed out like a fierce whip and struck the bear's massive head. The force was so great that even the ground shook, while the nearby trees trembled and shed a flurry of leaves.

The giant bear's life came to an end before it even had time to scream.

At the instant Tahm completed his first kill in life, the system notification that had been silent for so long suddenly appeared.

Detected the completion of a monster kill.

Gained 30 experience points.

Unlocked the Experience Level System module.

Gained 28 gold coins.

Unlocked the Game Shop System module.

Unlocked the Equipment Slots.

The amount of information was overwhelming, but Tahm could still see at a glance that the experience bar that had not moved for several months had finally risen a tiny bit. Tahm had previously wondered why, no matter how he trained, his level had always remained at one. Did he need to kill enemies to gain experience? But Tahm lived in the orderly and prosperous Konoha. He could hardly run out and kill someone, could he?

Now Tahm discovered that killing monsters could also grant experience. Although he did not know how his body would change after leveling up, this was at least a clear path toward breaking through his cultivation bottleneck.

What excited Tahm even more was that killing also granted gold coins. The Game Shop and six equipment slots had finally appeared on his system interface. When he opened the shop, Tahm saw all kinds of familiar equipment. However, because he did not have enough gold, they were all blacked out and unavailable for purchase. Only the free Stealth Ward could be used. This was already enough to satisfy Tahm. Although his battle minimap could reveal every target within a hundred meters of him, it had a range limit. Beyond that distance, everything was covered by the fog of war. With the ability to place wards, his scouting range became much broader and more flexible.

As for the equipment he could not buy yet, it showed Tahm an even wider future. It meant that he had the chance to obtain all kinds of game equipment with attribute bonuses and strange functions. This was another path that could make him stronger.

Tahm was completely immersed in his own world. In Hinata and the others' eyes, however, he had stood there in a daze for several minutes after killing the giant bear, making them worry. Could he have suffered some hidden injury during the battle?

Hinata anxiously tugged at Tahm's hand and called out, "Tahm, are you all right?"

Only then did Tahm come back to his senses. He revealed an exaggerated, delighted grin and said somewhat hysterically, "Hahaha! I'm feeling great!"

Hinata was relieved, but she could not help worrying about Tahm's strange mental state.

Tahm laughed for quite a while before finally calming down. "Your performance just now should have been better. That bear was strong, but you shouldn't have been at such a disadvantage."

Sakura said somewhat embarrassedly, "We haven't experienced real combat before, so we panicked when we encountered that danger."

"Yeah, yeah," Naruto chimed in.

Only then did Sakura realize that Naruto had already been healed and was bouncing with energy, yet he was still lying in her arms. Her face flushed with embarrassment. But when she remembered how Naruto had fearlessly taken the blow for her, she could not bring herself to throw him out.

"Speaking of which." Tahm suddenly changed the subject. "How did such a huge bear appear here?"

Ino immediately answered Tahm's question. "It probably escaped from the Forest of Death. They keep many ferocious beasts there for ninja training. A few occasionally getting out isn't unheard of."

Oh? The Forest of Death? Tahm secretly formed a plan.

Starting today, I'm Konoha's number-one jungler!

Suddenly, I realized I had received the first reward of my life. Did this mean I had successfully signed a contract? I only saw the shipping notification for my contract today, so Qidian's editor had been incredibly efficient. In any case, thanks to the reader Srange Phantom Thief for supporting me so much when this book was only a few tens of thousands of words long. Thank you! I'll write another chapter to celebrate.