The shuriken seemed to form a wall, bearing down on the two men.
The two wanted to dodge, but their injuries from the explosive tags were too severe. They could only raise their swords to defend themselves.
Against the wall of shuriken empowered by the strength of four bears, however, they could only block a few with all their might. There was no way they could stop so many.
What kind of Shinobi threw shuriken so recklessly?
Besides, throwing shuriken was far faster than forming hand seals.
They had no time to form hand seals. They still had plenty of chakra and powerful taijutsu, but never got to use either.
Instead, this single genin had caught them off guard and killed them.
The shuriken instantly pierced their bodies, turning them into a shower of flesh and blood that fell to the ground.
[Experience 1556] [Experience 1365]
"Level up!!"
[Name: I'm Xiao Ming] [Class: None] [Level: lv15 (0/3500)] [Chakra: 200/150+50]
His injuries rapidly healed, and his depleted chakra rapidly recovered.
Chapter 30: Still in Danger After Leaving Combat?
If he could not level up, he would never have fought so desperately. Even if he suppressed his injuries with Medical Ninjutsu, he could not fight. Fighting would only worsen his injuries.
It could even leave him unable to move.
If he lost his mobility here and other hostile Shinobi came along, he would not even be able to run.
Only then did he have time to approach and pick up the items the two Cloud Ninja had dropped.
[Skill Book: Naufra]
"So this really does drop. It's an ability from Baki the Grappler." Hyuga Akira knew this skill.
In the game, it was considered one of the most useless skills.
An anesthetic hormone automatically released in the brain could reduce physical pain.
But who played a game without turning the pain setting all the way down? Wouldn't turning it up be downright insane?
Now that this had become the real world for him, however, it was an extremely powerful skill.
After all, the Caged Bird Seal counted as physical damage, and he had no option to turn down the pain.
He immediately chose to learn it.
[Naufra (lv1) Experience (0/100) Traits (None)]
He picked up the second dropped skill.
[Skill Book: Niko Style · Flame Sky Form]
"Kumogakure drops fighting skills, including moves from anime like Baki the Grappler, Kengan, and Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba."
He did not quite understand why Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba counted as a fighting series.
But these were all things that could drop from Kumogakure, and the equipment they dropped also came from these anime.
Items belonging to the Cloud Ninja themselves only dropped from characters with established names in the original story.
He immediately learned Niko Style · Flame Sky Form.
[Niko Style · Flame Sky Form (lv1) Experience (0/100) Traits (None)]
I need to collect all of Niko Style to fuse it into the complete version, but increasing my movement speed is pretty good too.
Hyuga Akira pondered for a moment.
There was no limit to his skill list. He could learn as many skills as he wanted, and allocate experience to level them up as needed.
One advantage of fighting skills was that they leveled up quickly, allowing him to develop combat strength rapidly in the early stages.
But this skill had come a little late. He had already developed effective combat strength.
Niko Style could wait.
He planned to max out [Naufra] before returning to the village, to resist the pain of the Caged Bird Seal.
The Hyuga Clan would certainly use the Caged Bird Seal when he returned this time.
With no intention of bringing him into line, all that remained was to punish him.
Until he completely resolved the problem of the Caged Bird Seal, he could only reduce his pain.
Although he did not know exactly how painful the Caged Bird Seal was, even Hizashi Hyuga, an elite jonin in the original story, had been unable to endure it. Clearly, it was not something an ordinary person could withstand.
"There's one more."
He quickly headed toward where the scouting Shinobi had died. The body was already gone, apparently taken away by those two.
Only the dropped item remained where it was.
"So even if the body is taken away, the item stays?" Hyuga Akira sighed in relief and hurried forward. When he saw the dropped item, he sighed in disappointment.
"A sword, huh." He stepped forward and picked it up.
[Ninja Longsword: Increases attack by 50-55]
It was a decent weapon, but using it would mean unequipping the Bandit's Sword. Since he had yet to farm the complete Bandit Set, taking it off did not really matter.
"Sunagakure after all."
Only Sunagakure had such a high equipment drop rate.
He swapped the two weapons, and the Bandit's Sword appeared in his inventory.
Glancing in the direction the two chunin had left, he chose to turn around and leave.
The battle just now had been far too dangerous. Against chunin, he did not dare fight head-on at all.
He did not have enough experience to level up now, either.
He could not refresh his condition.
Leaving was the better choice.
He emerged from the forest. Rather than cutting through it, he took the main road.
Seeing that the road was deserted, he took out the backpack, retrieved the scroll inside, and unrolled it for a look.
"It's genuine?" Hyuga Akira was a little surprised. He had thought these scrolls were all fake.
If it was genuine, the possibility that they had been used as bait was lower.
He put the backpack back into his inventory and used the Transformation Technique, taking on the appearance of a young man.
Only then did he follow the road toward his destination.
"Thirty days is pretty generous."
Hyuga Akira rubbed his chin.
Before long, he spotted the outline of a village in the distance.
Distant houses stood in hazy outlines, wisps of cooking smoke rising above them. Withered yellow trees surrounded them, their yellow leaves drifting in the wind, like a painting.
Hyuga Akira quickened his pace.
When he reached the village entrance, someone noticed him.
Several figures also hurried over.
"May I ask who you are?" the old man at the front asked.
"I'm a bounty ninja passing through," Hyuga Akira said casually.
The old man cast a discreet glance at the two burly men behind him. Both had their heads lowered and did not see it.
Or rather, the old man had deliberately meant for Hyuga Akira to see it.
Hyuga Akira looked at the three with interest. "Do you have any jobs for me? My rates are pretty cheap. Any bandits or, say, bandits you need driven off?"
You're just here for bandits, aren't you?
After some thought, the old man said, "There is indeed a band of bandits nearby, in the mountains not far from here. We do need them driven off, but we have no money."
Hyuga Akira frowned. "No money? Am I supposed to live on air? Squeezing little villages like yours is how I make my living."
Can you really say that so openly?
Even the two burly men could not help looking up at Hyuga Akira. They were both quite curious about who could be so shameless.
"You two dare glare at me? Got a problem with me?"
Hyuga Akira looked at the two with fury written all over his face.
The two stared at Hyuga Akira with wide eyes. When had they glared at him?
"Still glaring?"
Hyuga Akira attacked in anger, raising his hands and throwing ten shuriken from each, empowered by Kumate.
The two reacted and tried to dodge quickly, but both underestimated the shuriken's speed. Before either could move, the shuriken had already struck them.
Their bodies were riddled with holes, and they fell to the ground, unwilling to accept their deaths.
The old man wanted to scream, but hurriedly covered his mouth.
Hyuga Akira watched the experience notifications flash before his eyes.
[Experience 102] [Experience 103]
They really were Shinobi, but judging by their age and this experience...
"Urgh!" The old man opened his mouth to vomit, but nothing came out. Hyuga Akira's attack had simply been too frightening.
"Tell me about it." Hyuga Akira stepped forward and took two dropped items from the corpses.
[Skill Book: Clone Technique] [Broken Shield: Increases defense by 10]
One useless skill book and one off-hand weapon he could not use.
Two pieces of trash, really.
Hyuga Akira sighed in disappointment.
The old man did not know what had disappointed Hyuga Akira, but hurriedly said, "These Shinobi came from who knows where. They seized our village and have been throwing their weight around here."
They had suffered a completely undeserved calamity.
"A group?" Hyuga Akira looked toward the village in surprise.
Chapter 31: Speed-Farming Bandits
"Bastard! You dare kill our brothers!!"
Seven or eight people dressed as villagers rushed out, each carrying a longsword, furiously intent on killing Hyuga Akira.
"So they really aren't from a major ninja village."
[Experience 763]
Seven or eight people had given him only this much experience and some completely useless trash.
For example.
[Old Kunai: Increases attack by 5-10] [Skill: Substitution Technique]
Before you continue