Kirigakure
“Oh?”
A faint smile appeared beneath the shadows.
“Konoha is hosting a Chunin Exam?”
The voice was calm and steady, as still as an undisturbed lake.
The Mist shinobi kneeling below immediately straightened.
“Yes, Mizukage-sama.”
Yagura slowly lifted his head.
For a brief moment, a crimson gleam flickered through his eyes.
“Then we’ll attend.”
The smile remained.
“I’d like to see what game Konoha is playing.”
Kumogakure
“The Chunin Exams?”
The Third Raikage threw back his head and laughed.
The sound boomed through the room like thunder.
His massive frame radiated overwhelming pressure, making even the surrounding shinobi instinctively tense.
“Konoha invited us?”
“Them?”
“Those cowards?”
A Cloud shinobi exchanged uncertain glances with the others before speaking.
“Raikage-sama, should we accept?”
The Third Raikage slammed a palm onto the table.
Bang!
The furniture groaned under the impact.
“Of course we’re going.”
A fierce grin spread across his face.
“Hiruzen’s trying to intimidate the other villages.”
“He wants everyone thinking twice before making a move against Konoha.”
The Raikage snorted.
“Perfect.”
His grin widened further.
“I’ll show him who’s intimidating whom.”
Sunagakure
“The Chunin Exams…”
The Third Kazekage glanced at the invitation.
Then casually tossed it onto his desk.
“Konoha is trying to display its strength.”
“Under normal circumstances, we would respond in kind.”
He rose from his seat.
The atmosphere in the room immediately grew heavier.
“But now isn’t the time.”
Several Sand shinobi remained kneeling before him.
No one dared speak.
“We will not participate.”
The declaration caused visible tension to ripple through the room.
The Kazekage continued toward the exit.
“We have more important matters to address.”
After several steps, he stopped.
His voice lowered.
“Order the ANBU to intensify the investigation into our missing shinobi.”
“Immediately.”
The Sand ninja bowed deeply.
“Yes, Kazekage-sama.”
The Third Kazekage remained silent for a moment.
Then he spoke again.
“And Sasori…”
For the first time, uncertainty appeared on his face.
A fleeting emotion, but unmistakable.
“I’ll monitor him personally.”
In the end, only two of the Five Great Shinobi Villages formally accepted Konoha’s invitation.
Kirigakure.
Kumogakure.
Both Iwagakure and Sunagakure declined, though neither village provided a clear explanation.
Kusagakure.
Amegakure.
And a handful of others eager to participate.
Hiruzen wasn’t particularly concerned.
If they attended, Konoha would demonstrate its strength directly.
If they refused, the results would spread throughout the shinobi world regardless.
The exam itself wasn’t the important part.
What mattered was the message.
And that message had a name.
Ren Akihara.
As long as Orochimaru’s disciple performed as expected, every major village would witness the strength of Konoha’s next generation.
That alone would serve as a powerful deterrent.
And as far as Hiruzen was concerned—
If anyone could accomplish that…
It was Orochimaru.
Elsewhere in Konoha, the centerpiece of that entire plan sat cross-legged in his room, staring at a glowing system screen.
His eyes gleamed with anticipation.
[Host: Ren Akihara]
[Current Skills:]
Feast (Mythic)
War Cry (Silver)
Mountain Crusher Strike (Silver)
Berserk (Gold)
[Experience Points: 98,129]
A grin slowly spread across his face.
“Time to roll.”
Nearly one hundred thousand EXP.
An absurd amount.
More than two-thirds of it had come from the recent bandit extermination campaign.
The enemies themselves hadn’t been particularly strong.
Most weren’t even shinobi.
There had simply been a lot of them.
A lot of them.
Ren had also discovered another pattern.
Defeating opponents granted experience.
Killing them granted significantly more.
For talented enemies, keeping them alive sometimes produced greater long-term rewards.
Strong opponents could continue generating EXP through future battles.
Weak opponents?
Eliminating them immediately was usually the most efficient option.
Back at the Academy, that approach hadn’t been practical.
Massacring Konoha students tended to attract unwanted attention.
Future enemies, however, would mostly be foreign shinobi.
A much simpler situation.
“Let’s see what I get.”
He selected the draw option.
[10,000 Experience Points consumed.]
[Drawing reward…]
[Reward obtained: Bronze Item — Silver Bullet.]
[Silver Bullet: A pure silver bullet highly effective against spirits, ghosts, and supernatural entities.]
Ren stared at the description.
Then stared a little longer.
“This world doesn’t even have ghosts.”
Complete trash.
“Reroll.”
[1,000 Experience Points consumed.]
[Reward changed.]
[Silver Skill — Bakudo #1: Sai.]
A restraint technique.
Ren immediately lost interest.
“Or I could just punch them.”
“Reroll.”
[Reward obtained: Gold Item — Chop-Chop Fruit.]
“…”
Gold-ranked rewards were genuinely rare.
Anything above Gold was almost entirely dependent on luck.
The fact that he possessed a Mythic skill like Feast was probably the result of some hidden beginner bonus.
Under normal circumstances, drawing a Gold reward would be considered excellent luck.
The problem was—
“What am I supposed to do with this?”
He had no interest in turning himself into a living jigsaw puzzle.
“Reroll.”
One reward after another appeared.
Bronze.
Bronze.
More Bronze.
Then even more Bronze.
Until finally—
[Reward obtained: Bronze Skill — Wild Instinct.]
Ren’s eyes narrowed.
Now that was interesting.
If he remembered correctly, the skill originated from a game adaptation inspired by Kenpachi Zaraki’s combat instincts.
At first glance, it looked unimpressive.
No increase in strength.
No flashy abilities.
No destructive attacks.
Most players would ignore it without a second thought.
Reality was a different matter.
Wild Instinct granted extraordinary combat intuition.
The ability to instinctively choose the optimal action in battle.
The sort of skill that could decide life or death in a split second.
“The rank is low…”
Ren wasn’t concerned.
The system’s upgrade function was real.
A Bronze skill upgraded repeatedly could eventually rival naturally obtained high-rank abilities.
Given enough EXP, even an entire collection of Mythic skills was theoretically possible.
That was why Ren valued usefulness over rarity.
A practical skill was worth far more than a flashy one.
He glanced at his remaining EXP.
Just over twenty thousand.
This draw session had been fairly unlucky.
The repeated rerolls had devoured a large portion of his savings.
“Fine.”
“I’ll upgrade Wild Instinct and call it a day.”
His finger moved toward the interface.
Then stopped.
“…Wait.”
That wasn’t the upgrade button.
He had clicked the draw option by mistake.
Ren sighed.
“There goes another ten thousand points.”
[10,000 Experience Points consumed.]
[Drawing reward…]
[Reward obtained: Gold Item — Skill Upgrade Scroll.]
“…Huh?”
Ren blinked.
Then blinked again.
A Gold-ranked item.
Unlike the Chop-Chop Fruit, however, this reward immediately caught his attention.
Very few items in the entire system possessed universal value.
A direct skill upgrade was one of them.
Especially for someone who already possessed Feast.
For the first time that evening, Ren sat up straight.
The casual expression disappeared from his face.
Now this…
This was interesting.