At that moment, Liu Qiaoyan-no, Naruto Uzumaki, who had accepted his new identity-was beside himself with excitement. Just now, an electronic voice had suddenly sounded in his mind. That familiar yet unfamiliar voice thrilled him. Wasn't this the very system he had so often seen while scrolling through videos in his previous life?
"Holy shit, is this the legendary system? Just as I thought, I'm the one-in-ten-thousand chosen one. Since I've transmigrated, getting a golden finger is only part of the proper procedure."
"System, introduce your services."
[I'm here, host. The Combat Power Cultivation System is officially at your service.]
"Combat power cultivation? What the heck is that? Hurry up and tell me what you can do!"
[This system aims to create the strongest existence in the Shinobi World. Within this system, the host can obtain large amounts of gold by completing various daily missions or checking in daily. Gold can be used to purchase Shinobi World Recruitment Tickets or ninja fragments. Shinobi World Recruitment Tickets can be used to recruit ninjas. Once a set number of fragments has been collected, that ninja can be unlocked, after which the host can obtain some of that ninja's abilities... Please explore the other functions yourself.]
The more Liu Qiaoyan-no, Naruto Uzumaki-listened, the darker his expression became. This damn thing sounded like the Naruto mobile game he played. It was precisely that thing that had landed him here, so how had it followed him through transmigration? Most importantly, it had actually become his system. That made it even more surreal. Naruto grew even more depressed when he heard that he still had to complete missions for Shinobi World Recruitment Tickets and collect ninja fragments. How could he not know the sort of things that little blue-and-white cube did?
[Host, would you like to load this system's interface? Downloading. Please do not exit at will...]
Speak of the devil. He had only just thought about it, and now he was seeing it again. When that familiar blue-and-white cube appeared on the system's loading screen, Naruto completely lost it. Good grief, it really was Morefun. Since when had they started offering transmigration services too?
With a thoroughly exasperated expression, Naruto tapped into the system interface. The moment he entered, he saw a selection screen, one so familiar it drove him mad.
[Please select the guidance method suitable for you: 1. I'm a beginner: experience the beginner stages and full beginner tutorial. 2. I'm an expert: skip the beginner stages, unlock basic functions by default, and increase your level to 20.]
Without even looking, Naruto began frantically tapping "I'm an expert." But after all that tapping, all he got was a loading screen with a circle endlessly spinning, refusing to load. At first, Naruto thought the interface had frozen. Refusing to believe it, he tapped "I'm a beginner."
The interface instantly stopped lagging and went straight in.
Naruto's already unpleasant expression grew frighteningly grim. Was this right? Wasn't this just bullying an honest man?
Once it finished loading, Naruto saw that utterly familiar screen. Only, most areas were locked, his level was a pitiful one, and his combat power was just 648. Naruto raised an eyebrow. Was this a hint that he should top up 648?
As Naruto expected, the interface really did have stamina, copper coins, and gold. There was even a beginner trial in the upper-right corner, offering the A-rank ninja Uchiha Itachi for checking in ten days. It was that same utterly familiar flavor. But right afterward, Naruto spotted something that excited him: an icon offering Sichuan Opera Jiraiya just for checking in. This guy, who had been the king of cancerous gameplay from the moment he came out, was seriously strong.
Naruto was already imagining his future life of invincibility in the Shinobi World: kicking Madara Uchiha around, shattering Obito's simp dreams with one punch, and making Kaguya sing "Conquest" beneath his crotch.
While Naruto was still indulging in his fantasies, the system kicked him out.
[The host has been detected taking no action for an extended period. The host has been kicked out...]
Naruto was rather speechless. This system really didn't know who was boss, actually daring to kick him out. Still, his future days were looking more and more promising.
[Ding. A bug has been detected in the host's battle interface. Granting the host 100 gold, plus a beginner gift pack containing Shinobi World Summoning Ticket x10, reputation x3000, reincarnation stone x2500, and copper coins x20000. You may skip the beginner tutorial, advance directly to level 20, and begin using the system's basic functions.]
Naruto was long used to this familiar practice of handing out gold whenever a bug appeared.
After he tapped to claim the rewards, Naruto's combat power began rising rapidly, instantly jumping from its original 648 to 5024. Naruto felt a tingling sensation all over his body. Could this be the benefit brought by his increased combat power?
He clenched his fists, feeling the steadily strengthening power within him, and grew a little full of himself. Just wait, puny Shinobi World. Sooner or later, I'll have you in the palm of my hand.
Naruto checked the system again. Looking at the familiar interface, he felt somewhat nostalgic. After all, he had loved this game long before becoming a streamer for it, but when passion became work, the interest faded.
Yet he had never expected to one day transmigrate directly into the Naruto world, accompanied by a system much like the game he played.
Seeing a red dot light up over recruitment, Naruto tapped into it with a thought and saw the familiar draw screen: advanced recruitment, limited-time return, normal recruitment, and wish treasure hunt.
He tapped the few free draws. Seeing the scattered materials and ninja fragments he received, Naruto couldn't help drawing in a sharp breath.
"Hiss, that familiar feeling. That's exactly the flavor."
Although most functions remained locked, Naruto felt the future looked promising.
When he saw that his ninja inventory contained only two pitiful C-rank ninjas, however, Naruto still sighed. Now he wasn't sure the future looked promising; from the looks of things, it would be pretty rough.
A one-star C-rank Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha.
[Ding. The host has been detected obtaining two ninjas. You may actively select one skill from each ninja you have obtained.]
"Oh? Obtain abilities? I remember these two being at least Genin level at this point. Huh? Wait, I remember Naruto and Sasuke seeming to stay Genin their whole lives in the original."
Whatever. As long as they're useful.
Naruto carefully studied this system function. It turned out that whenever he recruited a ninja, he could extract that ninja's skills for himself. For C-rank ninjas, he could actively choose one; for B-rank, two; for A-rank, one would be randomly drawn from three; and for S-rank, he could randomly draw two skills. He could also turn unwanted skills into experience and fuse it into other skills.
As for when a ninja reached five stars, he could obtain all of that ninja's abilities.
Once he understood the system's function, Naruto chose both ninjas' ultimate skills without hesitation. After all, ultimates had to be stronger than regular skills, right?
[Ding. Congratulations to the host for obtaining abilities: Naruto Uzumaki Two Thousand Barrage (one-star C-rank ninja, Naruto Uzumaki), Chidori (one-star C-rank ninja, Sasuke Uchiha).]
Looking at those two familiar ultimates, Naruto felt slightly more secure. At least he now had some ability to protect himself. As for the effects of his increased combat power, they weren't particularly apparent yet.
"System, show my personal panel."
Host: Naruto Uzumaki Strength: Newborn First Stage (can beat the children at the Ninja Academy) Abilities: Naruto Uzumaki Two Thousand Barrage, Chidori. Combat power: 5024 Chakra: 3.1415926... Evaluation: (a starting stage with a little strength; completely insignificant across the entire Shinobi World. System evaluation: bot.)
Naruto's lips couldn't help twitching when he read this. This system sure had a lot to say.
However, the thought that he now had two particularly badass skills made the corners of his mouth rise uncontrollably. But just as Naruto tried to see whether he could summon a Shadow Clone, he was dumbfounded.
Refusing to believe it, he tried the other skill, Chidori, only to find that it couldn't be used either.
"What the hell? What's going on? Why can't I use my skills?"
"System, why can't I use my skills? You didn't give me fakes, did you? Fuck you, give me a refund."
[Ding. Host, please stop bitching. Anything produced by the system is guaranteed quality. If you can't use your skills, why don't you look at your own shortcomings? Have you worked hard at cultivating chakra over the years? Do you have enough chakra? Have you carefully read the instructions? Also, you extracted ultimate skills. You need ultimate points to unleash them.]
Only after the system explained did Naruto understand what was going on. He had originally thought choosing two ultimate skills would leave him without a care, only to be told that he still needed to accumulate ultimate points.
Oh? It's a Morefun product? Never mind, then.
Naruto resigned himself to his fate. He could only hope that when he recruited his next ninja, he wouldn't immediately choose an ultimate again. Otherwise, he wouldn't be able to use it and could only stare at it, with that helpless feeling of being too short to reach that layer.
For some time afterward, Naruto completed the system's daily missions on schedule every day to obtain materials for increasing his combat power, as well as gold, all so he could obtain powerful ninjas and thereby improve his fighting strength.
That day, Naruto went out onto the street as usual, planning to buy some supplies for the days ahead. Unless something came up, he wouldn't go out for a while. It was pretty dangerous outside. After all, it wasn't just that old bastard Hiruzen Sarutobi's men watching him now; that old schemer Danzo's Root was watching him too.
"Sigh, when will these days ever end?"
As expected, Naruto was once again turned away by a shopkeeper. Feeling somewhat unhappy, he instantly understood what was going on.
It was all that old bastard Hiruzen Sarutobi's doing. Just thinking about Hiruzen Sarutobi made him angry. Never mind being unable to find a shop to buy food from, he was only given a thousand ryo in banknotes each month. What the hell was that enough for? Was he trying to starve him to death?
Thinking of this, Naruto grew even more resentful. That old bastard Sarutobi really was straying further and further from being human. Surely his parents must have had some savings, no matter what? How had even getting a meal become a problem for him?
Naruto wouldn't believe Hiruzen Sarutobi hadn't done something underhanded, even if someone beat him to death. And that old schemer Danzo was no good either. Just wait. Once he had the ability, he would definitely teach them a proper lesson. He had no idea how the original Naruto had endured it. It was all Asura's fault. Damn it, that guy had no brains.
The Anbu monitoring Naruto nearby were also observing his every move. Seeing him come outside left them somewhat displeased.
"That damned demon fox. Can't he just stay quietly inside? Making us follow him out too. What rotten luck."
"Enough. Stop complaining. This is our mission. The target's moving again. Hurry and follow."
When our Naruto appeared again, he had reached a familiar stream. In his memories, this was where he came whenever he went hungry. Because the stream was fairly shallow, even at night he could still see large fish swimming in the water.
Naruto rolled up his trouser legs and went straight into the stream to catch fish with his hands. Fortunately, the weather wasn't too bad, and the chill of the water was tolerable. Before long, Naruto actually managed to catch a few small fish.
"Hahaha, not bad luck! Tonight's dinner is sorted."
If a transmigrator starved to death, wouldn't all the other transmigrators laugh him to death?
After catching the fish, Naruto skillfully removed their innards, found a sharp stone, and scraped off their scales. He threaded a sturdy branch through the fish, sprinkled on a little salt, and began grilling them. In his previous life, he had often watched videos of Starving Master De and Badass Master Bei, so he knew a little about wilderness survival. Starting a simple fire and grilling a fish couldn't have been easier.
(Who said you couldn't learn anything from Dou+? Speak up, haters!)
Before long, the aroma of grilled fish slowly wafted out. High-end ingredients often needed only the simplest cooking methods to bring out their best.
While eating his grilled fish, Naruto didn't forget to check the Shinobi World Summoning Tickets in his system, which had already accumulated to ten. He was all too familiar with these things. Once he had eaten his fill, he planned to try his luck with the draws.