Continue?
Yubi's tone seemed to treat this attack deep into enemy territory as a game.
This was no game of make-believe...
Arai glanced at Sasori again.
He recalled the scene just now, when Sasori had killed Amegakure shinobi inside the Land of Rain.
His expression shifted slightly.
Something stirred within him.
These were just two children not even ten years old. Sasori's cold-blooded arrogance when facing enemies, Yubi's composure after surviving mortal danger, as though he enjoyed the thrill of walking the line between life and death... both of the little brats before him were unlike ordinary people.
Was this display of temperaments so different from everyone else's... also part of the brilliance of genius?
Originally, Arai had not intended to agree.
Because this sort of mission was too dangerous... he had only planned to lead the two through it once. If they kept doing it, Amegakure would inevitably grow more vigilant. Even if they took other routes and raided outposts elsewhere, word would eventually spread.
Once Amegakure had preparations and a battle plan... even he would have no way to protect Yubi and Sasori.
But Arai suddenly understood... he thought and considered things this way precisely because he was so "ordinary."
Although he had already become an elite jonin, compared with what lay ahead for Yubi and Sasori... he rather paled in comparison.
"All right."
After a moment of silence, Arai nodded.
At those words, the other Sunagakure shinobi all felt their hearts jolt.
Again?
This boy named Yubi had a death wish... why was Lord Arai going crazy along with him?
As one of the village's main fighting forces, Arai could not possibly be unaware of the seriousness of the situation.
"This time doesn't count... I'll beat you again!"
Sasori stared at Yubi and enunciated every word.
Although he had killed more people, he also knew that Arai's assessment of their performance just now had been entirely fair.
This time, he would carry out the mission perfectly using Yubi's methods and claim victory.
He would leave Yubi with nothing to say.
"You can... but neither of you is allowed to step out of line. Especially you, Sasori... you must follow my instructions to the letter," Arai said, raising one finger.
Sasori said nothing.
But it was undoubtedly tacit agreement.
"Let's go!"
Afterward, Arai said a quick goodbye to the Sunagakure shinobi and immediately set off, taking Yubi and Sasori to other locations along the border.
From Amegakure's perspective, this clash would very likely be regarded as nothing more than an act of harassment from Sunagakure.
Minor skirmishes like this happened frequently between the two sides and would not receive much attention.
But the Amegakure outposts along this route would definitely strengthen their defenses and deployments, making it impossible to slip in again.
So they could only go elsewhere and look for another route.
In any case, the entire border region was vast... for the first few raids, before word had spread fully, Arai would not be under too much pressure as the one protecting the two brats.
Watching the trio leave, the Sunagakure shinobi exchanged looks.
Although they did not know Yubi, they understood that this little fellow, like Sasori, was a genius from their village... the brilliance of such people could not be concealed. They had been ahead from the moment they were born-not in terms of their backgrounds, but their talent and ability.
Eight years old... when they had been eight, they had also started carrying out missions, but those had all been trivial affairs.
Nothing like this.
What was more, this was a Shinobi World War... the tense standoffs between nations, along with the dangers of their surroundings, were nothing like what they had experienced in their youth.
It seemed that the "soil" of a great war like this was the best nourishment for the village to cultivate geniuses like Yubi and Sasori.
On the road, Yubi called up the system interface.
After those earlier days of fighting Amegakure at the rear positions within their territory, and the patients he had treated and enemies he had killed, his two types of experience points now stood at: Positive Experience Points (521), Negative Experience Points (203).
Of these, his Positive Experience Points included the 200 points awarded for treating Sasori, a character from the story.
After all, the experience points he had accumulated at the beginning had already been exchanged for two ninjutsu, the Mystical Palm Technique and Chakra Scalpel, leaving almost nothing.
The main source of these several hundred points was still that major battle between Sunagakure and Amegakure.
He had not gained much during the following two months of training under Arai and carrying out daily missions.
That was also why he had considered the outbreak of that battle a rare opportunity.
The speed and amounts of his experience gains made it clear that, compared with killing people for Negative Experience Points, increasing Positive Experience Points as a medical ninja was the fastest approach... when saving and killing people were compared, Positive Experience Points also yielded more than Negative Experience Points.
There was no helping it... the system was, after all, built around being a medical ninja. As a doctor, saving people was naturally his primary task.
Killing... was not the direction he was supposed to work toward.
But whether he used Positive Experience Points or Negative Experience Points, the key to the abilities he could exchange for revolved around the word "doctor."
In other words, Positive Experience Points could buy abilities and items for saving people, while Negative Experience Points could buy medically related methods with harmful effects... but those abilities also had to be related to doctors.
For example, toxins, abilities that inflicted diseases... hallucinatory abilities related to mental illness, or abilities that could remove or affect organs.
His Negative Experience Points could turn Yubi into a black-market doctor with "no moral boundaries whatsoever," allowing him to develop toward offense and destruction.
With that thought, Yubi willed the interface to respond and began browsing the abilities available for Negative Experience Points.
The more powerful an ability or item, the more experience points it cost.
Taking the two A-rank ninjutsu, the Mystical Palm Technique and Chakra Scalpel, as examples, an A-rank ninjutsu cost around 150 experience points.
So his 203 Negative Experience Points could only buy a skill slightly better than an A-rank ninjutsu.
The reason Yubi had pushed Arai to continue the missions was to gain more Negative Experience Points.
Either type of experience points was useful to him anyway.
Given the mission and the current circumstances, an ability focused on assassination would be best. Not only would it expand my combat options... it would also help me earn more Negative Experience Points later. Of course, the most important thing is that it suits my fighting style and template... otherwise, no matter how good an ability is, if it doesn't suit me and I can't bring out its full effect, it'll be a waste.
Yubi weighed it up inwardly.
After scrolling through the system interface with his mind for quite some time, he finally found a skill that suited him fairly well.
Possession Thread: Threads can be attached to a fixed target to control throwing knives for effective shooting. Death Waltz: The user can manipulate threads with their fingers to perform difficult-to-detect assassination techniques, and can also tie threads to throwing knives to control them remotely. (This ability comes from Belphegor, a character in Reborn!)
Since the system includes this ability, it must consider throwing knives and this knife-control technique compatible with the medical profession... Yubi thought.
Presumably, the original character's throwing knives were much like the scalpels he currently used.
But this ability was undoubtedly intended for killing enemies.
Yubi had chosen this ability because the system's description let him see at a glance that, in plain terms, this combination skill... was very similar to Chakra Threads, except it controlled little knives rather than puppets.
More lethally, with this ability, he would effectively be able to direct scalpels through the air to kill enemies.
Enemies would be struck by his scalpels without even seeing him.
It was practically a simplified version of the sword-control techniques in novels.
It was simply tailor-made for ambushes and assassinations.
"Still, as a medical ninja, I earn Negative Experience Points more slowly... and the price is a little higher, too."
Yubi grumbled.
Of course, that also depended on what sort of "doctor" he wanted to become-an angel or a demon.
After being exchanged for, this ability would also be assimilated into a ninjutsu, but it would not reach S-rank and would remain at the level of an A-rank ninjutsu.
Yet it cost 200 points.
It was more expensive than either the Mystical Palm Technique or Chakra Scalpel.
System: Congratulations to the host on obtaining the combination skill Possession Thread and Death Waltz. This ability has been assimilated into a ninjutsu!
After some thought, Yubi exchanged for it anyway.
What mattered more to him was that this ability required almost no "energy" to operate, which meant that after assimilation, even prolonged use would not consume much of his chakra.
It was more like a technique for using ninja tools.
Previously, he had mostly relied on Taijutsu to fight at close quarters and use his scalpels.
In the Ninja Academy's tests on throwing concealed weapons and using ninja tools, he had actually only just passed.
Although he had trained since childhood, Yubi had always focused on his body for the sake of his Taijutsu and chakra reserves. As for other areas... he was not someone who excelled in every subject.
After all, however hard he worked... he could not achieve perfection in everything. With his goal of becoming a medical ninja and limited time, he could only focus on doing one area well first.
Killing enemies head-on... was not, in principle, his role as a medical ninja.
Soon, he reached into his waist pouch and found a coil of piano wire.
Yubi glanced at Sasori. Both involved controlling threads with their fingers, but one used a physical object, while the other used Chakra Threads.
Although he did not plan to become a puppeteer, he was from Sunagakure, after all. Knowing a similar ninjutsu... should be fine, right?
He could call it his self-created ninjutsu.
"I'll use you as my excuse, then."
Yubi stared at Sasori and smiled slightly.
Sasori noticed his gaze and looked over coldly.
Seeing Yubi smile at him, he remained unmoved.
Clearly, at this moment, Sasori was still absorbed in the idea that he and Yubi were rivals.