Konoha: I Have a Gravity Training Room

Anyway, there were plenty of character cards, and it had been approved by the Hokage, so there was no problem.

As for skill cards, they included all kinds of ninjutsu, genjutsu, and secret techniques. Ninja tools included kunai, shuriken, and so on. There were even Mystical Palm Technique medical cards. In short, Xia Mu had considered everything he could.

Shikamaru flipped through the cards in his hand and saw written on the back: Will of Fire. Wherever Konoha's leaves danced, the fire would burn on without end.

It was even politically correct, so it was totally fine.

Once Tenten saw that everyone more or less understood, she said, "No matter how many rules I explain, it won't compare to trying it yourselves. Let's start with a one-on-one practice round. I'll watch from the side and help out. Once everyone is familiar with the rules, we'll start Ninja Village mode. Oh, and as payment, not only am I treating everyone to dinner today, but I'll also give each of you a deck afterward."

"Really? That's great!"

The moment Naruto heard that such good cards were being given away as payment, he got so excited he immediately challenged Sasuke.

Sasuke was clearly interested as well, so he agreed. The others were in no rush to play and instead watched how the two of them did it first.

They first drew character cards. Sasuke was lucky enough to draw an Uchiha character right away, while Naruto drew a character from the Inuzuka clan.

Then they were dealt life cards according to their characters' traits, and each drew ten cards. The game officially began.

Sasuke went first. He drew two cards, then discarded two heart cards. "Activate Sharingan! Then, Kunai: Kill!"

Naruto scratched his head and silently played a Dodge card.

But Sasuke smiled. "Naruto, I activated Sharingan, so my Kill requires two Dodge cards. Either play two Dodges, use Substitution Technique, or lose health."

"What? Isn't that basically cheating?" Naruto grumbled unhappily.

"Hmph! That's the power of the Sharingan! Hurry up and lose health! Or play two Dodges!"

"Then I'll lose health!"

Naruto lowered his health by one, only to be met with another attack from Sasuke. Kunai: Kill, Shuriken: Kill, Body Flicker Technique: Kill—his health rapidly dropped.

Fortunately, Sasuke ran out of cards, which was the equivalent of running out of stamina and Chakra. Next, it was Naruto's turn to attack.

Kiba Inuzuka immediately called out advice from the side. "Naruto, hurry up and use the secret technique Fang Over Fang! It'll definitely make Sasuke lose a lot of health!"

But Naruto did not like being ordered around. After drawing two cards, he first used Mystical Palm Technique to recover some health, then equipped himself with a Water Style skill card before discarding two cards to launch a Water Style attack.

Sasuke calmly discarded a card to dodge. His Sharingan was ridiculously strong—one Dodge card was enough.

Naruto continued using Water Style, Sasuke continued dodging, and the two of them got completely carried away. The scene was incredibly lively.

When Xia Mu returned, he found the courtyard buzzing with noise. He knew these guys had started playing, and both the players and spectators were engrossed.

Kiba Inuzuka did not even want to watch Naruto's foolish moves anymore. He asked Tenten for another deck and started playing with Shikamaru and Choji.

"Yo! You're all playing? Have fun. I'm going to start cooking."

Xia Mu returned with a huge pile of ingredients, smiling as he drew everyone's attention. But they merely responded before lowering their heads and continuing the game.

It was just like playing those old Little Tyrant consoles as kids—even when their parents called them to eat, they would ignore them.

There were simply too few games in the Shinobi World. It was only natural for everyone to get hooked when they finally found something this interesting.

Xia Mu believed that once Ninja Kill went on sale, it would definitely sell like crazy. He would make a fortune too, and would never have to worry about saving up for a wife again.

Chapter 40: Ninja Kill (II)

"Xia Mu, you got yourself a girlfriend and didn't even tell your friends."

Shikamaru played a card and took the chance to complain.

Xia Mu smiled. "It only happened recently. Everyone's met her today, haven't they? I'll formally introduce her during dinner later. You guys keep playing."

Tenten hurried over to help as well.

When Shino saw that, he wanted to help too, but Xia Mu and Tenten pushed him back down.

Today was meant for their friends to play games. Naturally, the hosts would handle the cooking; there was no need for Shino to help.

Before long, everyone had grown familiar with the rules and decisively began Ninja Village Defense Battle. They started choosing identity cards, but when the results came out, everyone's expressions changed.

Shikamaru was the Kage!

Kiba Inuzuka immediately complained, "How are we supposed to play this? With Shikamaru's brains, can we beat him?"

Sasuke reminded him, "Kiba, that complaint exposed your identity. From the moment the identity cards were decided, the game began. Only the Kage's identity is public; nobody knows the others' identities. Right now is the stage for gathering intelligence. Where did all that ninja academy education of yours go?"

Kiba Inuzuka immediately shut his mouth, knowing he had indeed exposed himself. Shikamaru would definitely target him first.

And the Kage's allies would join in to eliminate him as well.

The others all kept straight faces, but who was Shikamaru? He had already swept his eyes over everyone and identified several people's roles at a glance. He immediately smiled sinisterly.

He usually hated trouble, but when it came to this kind of strategy game, it was what he was best at.

Next came his hunting time!

Everyone drew character cards, then received life cards and drew ten cards each in order. Starting with Shikamaru, the Kage, Ninja Village Defense Battle officially began.

Shikamaru: "First, equip Fire Style ninjutsu, then give Kiba a Great Fireball!"

Kiba Inuzuka: "Hehe! Substitution Technique!"

Sasuke: "Naruto is definitely a spy. I'll hit him with Lightning Style: Ground Running first!"

Naruto: "What nonsense are you talking about, Sasuke? You're the spy! No, you're definitely a Rogue Ninja! I dodge, dodge! Then I activate Byakugan. Sasuke, show me five cards from your hand!"

Sakura: "Naruto, Shuriken—kill you!"

Ino: "Everyone, don't make any rash moves, or it'll be troublesome if you kill one of our own. I'll pass!"

Choji, crunch crunch: "Why think so much? Water Release: Dam Who Repair Ha!"

Shikamaru: "Choji, you idiot, that move deals area damage! Everyone has to dodge! Are you an enemy ninja or what?!"

Shino, standing beside Shikamaru, threw out a Third Uncle Comes to Fix the Door card, blocking the Water Release attack for him. However, Shikamaru did not consider Shino an ally; he might have been a usurper.

Everyone was having a lively time playing, while Xia Mu was getting all lovey-dovey with Tenten in the kitchen.

Fortunately, it did not delay the cooking. Around noon, Xia Mu brought out the dishes and set them on the table one by one.

The courtyard, however, was in an uproar. Xia Mu secretly listened in for a moment, then laughed rather unkindly. It turned out Naruto had mistaken Shino for a usurper and relentlessly attacked him. In the end, Shino was an ally, while Sakura—the one Naruto had tried so hard to save—was a Rogue Ninja, nearly getting Shikamaru killed.

If not for Choji's godly follow-up attacks, tossing out area-damage moves from time to time and accidentally killing Naruto, Shikamaru would probably have been dragged down by his pig teammates.

Sasuke, despite being a usurper, had put on an act and pretended to help Shikamaru, only to be seen through by him.

Several Rogue Ninjas and enemy ninjas joined forces, but they still could not outplay Shikamaru. In the end, Shikamaru, the Shadow, survived, and Ninja Village Defense Battle won.

In summary, it had been noisy, lively, and full of laughs.

Still, the game truly tested a ninja's fundamentals. Gathering intelligence, coordinating ninjutsu and taijutsu, teamwork between companions—everything seemed to be found within this game.

Naturally, everyone came to love it.

"Alright, alright, eat first. After the meal, I'll give each of you a deck of cards. Play however you want."

Xia Mu and Tenten called everyone to the table and served them rice one by one. But in the next moment, Xia Mu did something baffling. He scooped out two huge bowls of rice—one for Choji, and the other for Hinata. He even placed the large basin of rice, which should have been beside Choji, next to Hinata instead.

Naruto asked in confusion, "What's wrong with you, Xia Mu? Why did you give Hinata so much rice? She's so tiny. How can she eat all that?"

Xia Mu smiled mysteriously. "Precisely because Hinata is so tiny, she needs to eat more. Worry about yourself first. You're pretty short too, so you can't afford not to eat more!"

Naruto choked on his words and said nothing else.

As everyone said, "Let's eat," they began digging in. The next moment, praise came pouring out.

"Wow! Xia Mu, your cooking is amazing! This is the first time I've eaten food this delicious!"

"How is this possible? There's food even tastier than Ichiraku Ramen? This world makes no sense to me, dattebayo!"

"Xia Mu, are you some kind of culinary god?"

"Delicious, delicious! Another serving!"

The ones talking were all eating it for the first time. As for Shino, Shikamaru, Choji, and the others, they had their heads down and were stuffing themselves, with no time to speak at all.

But soon, something happened that stunned everyone.

Hinata, who was clearly so petite, swept through the table all by herself and ate even more than Choji. No wonder Xia Mu had given her such a huge bowl and placed the large basin of rice beside her. She really could eat!

The key was that despite eating so much, her stomach did not bulge in the slightest, nor did she gain weight. It was as though her stomach were bottomless.

Terrifying! Too terrifying!

"Hinata, you're amazing! How do you do it?" everyone asked in astonishment.

"Um, I-I don't know either..."

Hinata was terribly embarrassed, her face burning again. She even secretly peeked at Naruto, afraid he would dislike her for eating too much. If that happened, she would cry herself to death.

Fortunately, Naruto praised her, "Hinata, you're amazing, dattebayo! If you can eat that much, you'll definitely be super strong in the future, dattebayo!"

Hinata's eyes lit up. "Naruto-kun..."

Then Naruto turned around and went back to fawning over Sakura, instantly shattering Hinata's heart. The spectacle was so good that no one could look away.

After the meal, everyone sprawled over the table without wanting to move, then started playing again. Xia Mu tossed aside the bowls and chopsticks and pulled Tenten in to join them. For a while, the place was incredibly lively.

It was not until the sky began to darken that everyone reluctantly ended the game.

Seeing this, Xia Mu smiled. "We've had enough fun today. There'll be plenty of time to play in the future, but don't get so caught up in playing that you forget to train."

As he spoke, he distributed the cards with Tenten. Since he had promised to give everyone a deck, he naturally would not go back on his word.

Everyone accepted them happily, already wondering who they could play with at the Ninja Academy tomorrow. Seeing that it was getting late, they all said their goodbyes and left. Before long, the courtyard fell quiet.

Tenten took Xia Mu's hand and smiled. "Your friends are really nice."

Xia Mu squeezed her hand in return. "Now they're your friends too."

After that day, Ninja Kill Card Game began to catch on.

It first became popular at the Ninja Academy. The very next day, Naruto and the others brought their cards to find people to kill, and the card game quickly became famous.

Then Tenten's family's Ninja Tool Shop nearly had its doors trampled down by children and parents from all over the village.

After that, other merchants sought out the shop owner to negotiate wholesale card deals. Xia Mu was only the inventor of the cards, after all; how the deals were handled was entirely up to his father-in-law, the shop owner.

Xia Mu only needed to wait for his share of the money.

The shop owner knew Xia Mu was capable, so he happily went off to discuss business.

Ninja Kill truly became popular. For a time, the entire village was obsessed with playing it.

Even some ninja started playing it. After all, missions or no missions, daily life was pretty boring. Not everyone was like Kakashi and enjoyed reading Icha Icha Paradise, and playing poker all the time got dull too. The appearance of Ninja Kill cards filled that gap perfectly.

What could Xia Mu do?

He could only rake in the money!

But what followed right after was trouble.

"Xia Mu, Xia Mu, want to play Ninja Kill? We're getting ready for Ninja Village Defense Battle, but there aren't enough people for it to work, dattebayo!" Naruto shouted again.

"Hey, Naruto, settle down a little."

Xia Mu rubbed his temples. "Playing cards is fun, sure, and it lets you satisfy your craving to be the Kage of a village. But don't forget to study and train properly too. Besides, every time you become Kage, you just go on a killing spree. I've teamed up with you several times, and you killed me every time. Where are the basic intelligence-gathering skills a ninja is supposed to have?"

Naruto blushed at the rebuke and stubbornly lifted his chin. "I-I'm learning, dattebayo! When I become Hokage, I'll definitely be amazing!"

Xia Mu rolled his eyes. "That's exactly why you should study and train properly. Otherwise, you'll only ever be Hokage in a game. In real life? Forget it."

Naruto couldn't argue with Xia Mu, but he couldn't let go of his gaming addiction either, so he simply went to find someone else.

Hinata, that sweet and naive girl, actually volunteered to join them. Only then did Naruto manage to start another round of Ninja Village Defense Battle.

Xia Mu felt that while he had invented this game merely to earn money for a wife, he might have ended up harming Naruto instead. Whether this future savior could still save the world was genuinely uncertain now.

When fighting Lady Kaguya, he couldn't possibly respond to an attack by throwing out two Flash Bomb cards, could he?

Wouldn't the Shinobi World be finished then?

Still, Xia Mu quickly got over it. Naruto was a savior chosen by the world, and that old Sage of Six Paths was always watching too. Nothing too serious would go wrong, so there was no need for him to meddle.

He found Shikamaru. "Shikamaru, do you have any Flash Bombs?"

As he remembered, Shikamaru seemed to be the only one who had used Flash Bombs in the original work. They were perfect for coordinating with shadow secret techniques, so Shikamaru should have some.

Shikamaru tossed down a card and answered in the middle of it, "I've got some at home. I'll bring you one later. But what do you need a Flash Bomb for... Forget it. It's definitely going to be troublesome, so I won't ask."