Time passed quickly.
Kuroda Ren’s daily routine remained largely unchanged.
Classes during the day, training with Yūhi Kurenai in the evenings, and additional solo training throughout the entire weekend.
During the second month’s monthly exam, Kuroda Ren once again took first place with ease.
This time, however, there was no “extra” reward.
Imai Nobuyuki was only an ordinary Chūnin, and he didn’t know many ninjutsu himself.
Naturally, he couldn’t teach Ren a new technique every time he came first in a monthly exam.
Besides, Water Release: Wild Water Wave was already enough for Ren to study for quite some time.
Simply learning to cast it at a basic level would be a complete waste of Ren’s talent.
Only after fully mastering the technique and then further developing it into a version of “Water Shockwave” unique to himself would it truly be worthwhile.
Every ninjutsu had to go through a process of continuous development and refinement if it was to become perfectly suited to its user.
It was just like how the Rasengan in the hands of Fourth Hokage Namikaze Minato was completely different from the Rasengan in the hands of Uzumaki Naruto.
If one wanted to become a true powerhouse, it wasn’t necessary to improve every single ninjutsu.
But at the very least, one’s core techniques had to be modified until they were perfectly suited to one’s own characteristics.
Only then could one’s strength be brought out to its fullest potential.
After more than a month, Kuroda Ren’s progress in improving Water Release: Wild Water Wave wasn’t particularly impressive.
The main problem was that his chakra control and mastery of chakra nature transformation were still insufficient.
Most of his time was being spent training those two areas.
Once his proficiency in both improved, developing the ninjutsu itself would naturally become much easier.
As for taijutsu, without Umino Ikkaku as his sparring partner, Kuroda Ren’s rate of improvement had slowed considerably.
Compared with the other students in his class, however, he still maintained a huge lead.
…
Ding-ding-ding!
The alarm rang, marking the arrival of a new day.
Kuroda Ren opened his eyes, and the system notification automatically appeared.
[Obtained 19 Gold and 5 Ability Power.]
Kuroda Ren glanced at the system panel.
His gold balance had already reached 1,204.
Over the past two months, the [Lucky Bag] Hextech augment hadn’t given him a particularly large increase in attributes.
But it had allowed him to accumulate a considerable amount of gold.
1,200 gold wasn’t enough to purchase a complete legendary item.
However, it was already enough to buy the first important component of his first major item.
Kuroda Ren opened the shop interface, searched for a while, and directly spent 1,200 gold to purchase [Lost Chapter].
[Lost Chapter: +40 Ability Power, +300 Maximum Chakra, +10 Ability Haste.
“Enlightenment”: When killing an enemy, restore chakra equal to 20% of maximum chakra over 3 seconds.]
The item’s attributes had changed slightly compared with the game.
The biggest change was its “Enlightenment” passive.
Instead of triggering upon leveling up, it now triggered when killing an enemy.
The other attributes remained unchanged.
Kuroda Ren equipped [Lost Chapter] in his item slot.
He immediately felt a change in his body.
His various attributes had all increased by a noticeable amount.
But combined with the [Mind to Matter] Hextech augment, it also increased Kuroda Ren’s Constitution accordingly.
The overall improvement was far from insignificant.
Kuroda Ren opened the system panel and checked his attributes.
…
Name: Kuroda Ren
Age: Six
Class: Ninja Academy Student
Constitution: 869
Spirit: 177
Maximum Chakra: 1,705
Attack Damage: 869
Ability Power: 278
Ability Haste: 25 (affects ninjutsu casting speed)
Kekkei Genkai: None
Skills:
Arcane Mastery
Hextech Augments:
Mind to MatterConvert Physical to MagicLucky Bag
Items:
Tear of the GoddessLost Chapter
…
After equipping [Lost Chapter], Kuroda Ren’s attributes received an across-the-board boost.
His Constitution had soared into the eight hundreds.
With another hundred or so points, he would cross the threshold for Jōnin-level physical ability.
His maximum chakra had increased by an even more substantial amount.
As a result, his Attack Damage, Ability Power, and other attributes had also risen to varying degrees.
Of course, this improvement wasn’t entirely due to [Lost Chapter].
The small random attribute rewards provided daily by [Lucky Bag] had also contributed.
The [Lucky Bag] Hextech augment gave him a small amount of random attributes every day in addition to gold.
Each individual reward wasn’t much.
But over time, the accumulated gains couldn’t be underestimated.
Perhaps because the rules of this world were different from those of the game, certain attributes had also undergone changes.
For example, Ability Haste reduced skill cooldowns in the game.
In this world, however, it had instead become an attribute that increased the speed at which ninjutsu could be cast.
Aside from those changes, Kuroda Ren’s body had also grown slightly stronger through more than two months of natural development and high-intensity training.
The increase wasn’t much—probably only five or six points of Constitution.
Still, it was an additional gain.
I’m one step closer to becoming Ryze Emperor.
Kuroda Ren smiled with satisfaction.
Once he managed to forge [Seraph’s Embrace], his strength would rise even further.
However, of the three components required to forge [Seraph’s Embrace], Kuroda Ren currently only had [Tear of the Goddess] and [Lost Chapter].
He was still missing [Fiendish Codex], worth 850 gold, as well as the 450-gold combination cost.
In other words, he was still short 1,300 gold in total.
The [Lucky Bag] gave him an average of around 20 gold per day.
That meant he would need a little over two more months.
He definitely wouldn’t be able to gather enough before the end of the current semester.
He would have to wait until winter break before he could afford it.
Roughly one item every four or five months.
Six full items in less than three years.
Kuroda Ren nodded to himself.
That was more or less consistent with his previous estimate.
Kuroda Ren was only six years old.
Even three years from now, he would only be nine.
He could afford to wait.
Still, if I could get a few more powerful Hextech augments, that would speed up my development.
A thought suddenly crossed Kuroda Ren’s mind.
As far as he knew, aside from the “Ryze Emperor Template” given by the beginner’s gift package when the system first activated, the only time he had ever been allowed to choose a Hextech augment was when he entered the Ninja Academy.
At the time, the system notification had said:
“Class Advancement.”
In other words…
His next opportunity to choose a Hextech augment should come when he graduated from the Ninja Academy and officially became a Genin.
Should I apply for early graduation?
The thought only appeared in Kuroda Ren’s mind for an instant before he immediately dismissed it.
The shinobi world at this point in time was far from safe.
Even Genin were being sent to the battlefield.
As a “late-game carry,” his priority before reaching his full potential was to stay safely inside the Ninja Academy and quietly farm his strength.
Early graduation might accelerate his development.
But the danger would increase several times over as well.
The cost-benefit ratio simply wasn’t worth it.
After all, reality wasn’t like a video game.
If you died, you couldn’t simply respawn at the fountain.
If an enemy killed him…
He would really be dead.
Enough thinking about this.
I should train first.
My chakra control and Water Release nature transformation have already improved considerably.
It’s the weekend today, so I have plenty of time.
Perfect for researching Water Shockwave.
Kuroda Ren quickly packed his things and left home, heading toward the Konoha training grounds.
◇ Bonus Chapter Goals ◇