The light and shadows at the edge of the forest shifted suddenly, and the scene of the secret training base came into view.
“Yo! Minato!”
Chiba walked out from the woods with venison on its shoulders and a few wild rabbits in its hands, smiling and waving to Minato, who was training diligently.
“Eh?”
Hearing the voice, Minato immediately stopped its training and turned its head.
Seeing Chiba’s return, Minato’s eyes were full of surprise: “Chiba, you’re back so soon? It’s only been a little over three hours!”
Scanning the prey filling Chiba’s hands and back, the surprise in Minato’s eyes deepened: “It looks like you had a very fruitful harvest today!”
“Hehe, just lucky.”
Chiba smiled and gently set down all the prey.
Its gaze swept over the ground and trees, which were covered with fine blade marks and wind lacerations.
Chiba noticed the clues at a glance and raised an eyebrow, smiling: “It seems you have also successfully mastered a Wind Release Ninjutsu. You’re making fast progress.”
Chiba then asked: “How is it? Your Chakra and stamina are both exhausted, right? Do you want to head back now?”
Minato focused its senses to check its nearly depleted Chakra and exhausted body, then nodded solemnly: “Indeed, it’s completely bottomed out. Continuing to train would just be futile and offer no gains. Let’s head back then!”
“Let’s go!”
“I’ll help you carry some of the prey!” Minato stepped forward and shouldered the heaviest deer.
As they walked side by side towards their dwelling, Minato suggested, “Let me go hunting tomorrow. We should take turns!”
In the past, both of them were weak and didn’t dare to venture deep into the forest, so they could only hunt small game on the outskirts, always taking turns to hunt and share the burden.
The inheritance and pension left by Chiba’s parents were enough to cover daily expenses, so Chiba wasn’t short on money in the short term.
However, Minato was alone and from a poor background, so they had a tacit understanding to live frugally, saving money for future training and purchasing supplies.
But now that Chiba had unlocked the system and figured out the upgrade path, Chiba had new plans in mind.
Chiba needed to hunt a large number of ninja beasts that possessed Chakra to farm rewards and quickly improve its strength, so there was naturally no need to stick to the rigid rotation anymore.
“No need to take turns specifically.”
Chiba shook its head and said with a smile: “Things are different now than before. We have successfully refined Chakra and mastered Ninjutsu; our strength is no longer what it used to be, and the difficulty of hunting has significantly decreased.”
“From now on, we can just go hunting together.”
Chiba looked at Minato beside it and said seriously: “Besides, hunting itself is the best practical training. It can hone our combat experience and on-the-spot reactions. We can just take this opportunity to train together and progress together. What do you think?”
Previously, with insufficient strength, the two had to be cautious and didn’t dare to provoke the fierce beasts in the forest.
Now that they had mastered Ninjutsu and possessed the enhancement of Chakra, they already had the capital to venture deep into the forest for training, so they naturally had to seize this natural opportunity for practical training. Get faster updates on novelping.com.
“Oh?”
Minato was slightly stunned upon hearing this.
After a moment of thought, Minato immediately reacted, its eyes lighting up as it nodded happily: “That’s true!”
“Then it’s settled. From now on, we’ll go hunting in the forest together. It’s perfect for honing our skills through actual combat and making up for our lack of combat experience!”
The two walked with light steps, chatting and laughing all the way, and soon returned to the residential street of the village.
In the evening, the streets were filled with the smoke of cooking fires, and many villagers who had finished their day’s work were resting along the street.
Seeing the two teenagers returning side by side, many neighbors smiled and greeted them.
“Chiba, Minato, you’re back? Whoa, you caught so much prey today, that’s impressive!”
“Haha, it’s alright, just luck!”
Chiba and Minato smiled and responded to everyone one by one.
Their gentle and polite demeanor and well-behaved appearance made all the neighbors very happy.
Passing by the entrance of Uncle Tie Mu’s small grocery store, Uncle Tie Mu, who was tending the shop, and Elder Makuma noticed the two immediately.
Seeing them covered in prey, their eyes held approval.
“Chiba, Minato, back already? A very good harvest.”
The two quickly stopped and greeted them respectfully.
Minato scratched its head, feeling a bit embarrassed, and explained honestly: “Hehe, all the prey today was caught by Chiba. I spent the whole day focusing on training and didn’t help at all.”
“Oh?”
Elder Makuma and Uncle Tie Mu raised their eyebrows simultaneously, their gazes instantly locked firmly onto Chiba.
The two exchanged a glance, their brows furrowing almost imperceptibly.
A flash of shock and surprise flitted across their eyes, but they didn’t ask more on the spot.
They just waved gently at the two: “No matter. You go back first to process the prey and get things settled. We’ll come find you after we close the shop later.”
“Alright! Then we’ll head back first!”
Chiba and Minato didn’t think too much about it.
After politely saying goodbye, they carried the heavy prey and hurried back to Chiba’s small courtyard.
The two worked skillfully and efficiently, with a clear division of labor.
They quickly skinned, cleaned, and butchered the prey.
In just a short while, they had processed all the prey cleanly and arranged them properly.
“Chiba, Minato, are you there? We’re here.”
“Yes! Coming right away!”
Minato immediately responded, ran quickly to open the courtyard gate, and welcomed Elder Makuma and Uncle Tie Mu into the courtyard.
The group walked slowly into the living room and sat down.
Chiba obediently brewed some tea and served it to the two.
After some small talk, Elder Makuma and Uncle Tie Mu exchanged a glance.
Each took out an ancient-looking Ninjutsu scroll from their robes and handed them to the two solemnly.
“This is a small token of our appreciation, meant to support your path of cultivation. Train hard and don’t let us down.”
“Thank you, Elder Makuma! Thank you, Uncle Tie Mu!”
Chiba and Minato showed joy on their faces, quickly bowing to thank them, and each took a scroll.
The moment the scrolls were in their hands, a crisp notification sound from the system rang out in Chiba’s mind.
[Congratulations to the host for collecting a common collectible: “Lightning Release: Lightning Ball Technique”. Reward unlocked: Top-tier Lightning Affinity.]
[Congratulations to the host for collecting a common collectible: “Water Release: Water Fang Blade”. Reward: Chakra limit +50, 100,000 Ryo.]
Chiba felt a surge of joy in its heart, a glint hidden in its eyes, and Chiba mused to itself: I didn’t expect it to be a Lightning Release Ninjutsu!
With top-tier Lightning Affinity, future training in Lightning Release Ninjutsu will also be twice as effective with half the effort.
Having all three major attributes maxed out with top-tier affinity is a huge profit.
But on second thought, Chiba frowned slightly, feeling puzzled: But the collection reward for this Water Release Ninjutsu only has a Chakra limit increase and Ryo, with no new talent enhancement.
Could it be that after repeatedly collecting Ninjutsu of the same type and attribute, the quality of the rewards decreases?
Although Chiba felt a bit disappointed, it didn’t reveal it at all.
Chiba silently noted this speculation, intending to test it slowly in the future to figure out the complete rules of the system.
For the next while, the four sat in the living room chatting about their recent training progress and discussing key points of cultivation.
As the atmosphere relaxed, Elder Makuma quietly gave Uncle Tie Mu a look.
“Minato, you go check the drying status of the prey in the courtyard first. We want to have a word with Chiba alone.”
“Alright!”
Minato nodded obediently, without the slightest suspicion, turned around, walked out of the living room, and closed the door behind it.