Early the next morning, Tachibana Kenji got himself ready bright and early and headed to the Mizukage Building to register as a ninja.
This was the first time Tachibana Kenji had ever entered the cylindrical building marked with a large Water character.
In the past, he had only ever seen it from afar.
The creator of this world seemed to have a particular fondness for cylindrical architecture.
From Tachibana Kenji’s memories of his previous life, among the Five Great Nations, only the protagonist’s home village of Konoha seemed to feature a variety of differently shaped buildings.
The other four great nations—and even many smaller countries—appeared to favor cylindrical buildings as their dominant architectural style.
Perhaps to emphasize the Mizukage’s status, the Mizukage Building had been constructed on a high, gently sloping mountainside.
Below the mountain was a semi-open plaza carved into the rock, resembling a massive archway.
It served as a place where ordinary civilians could submit requests for missions.
The circular building above it housed the Mizukage and Kirigakure’s senior officials.
To reach it, visitors had to climb a long flight of stone steps.
Fortunately, nearly everyone coming and going through the upper levels was a ninja, so few considered the climb much of an inconvenience.
“All the teams that were short on personnel have already been assigned those medical ninja who transferred from the medical staff.” “As for you, the current Ninja Academy class will be graduating in another month.
There will be plenty of newly formed genin teams then, so we’ll assign you to a team with genin from your graduating class.
It’ll make it easier for everyone to get used to one another.” The two ninja at the registration desk—one fat and one thin—briefly checked Tachibana Kenji’s information.
After recording it on the necessary forms, they took turns explaining his future assignment.
Genin from my graduating class, huh?
Once Zabuza goes on a killing spree during the graduation examination next month, there probably won’t even be enough survivors to form a single team.
Wait…
don’t tell me I’m going to end up on a team with that guy?
Tachibana Kenji silently grumbled to himself.
“Then what does the village have planned for me during this next month?” Since he was already here, Tachibana Kenji decided to ask another question, just in case he might miss something important.
“You can arrange your own schedule, but I’d recommend stopping by Kirigakure Hospital.” “That’s right.
There are several medical ninja who haven’t been assigned to teams yet.
Since they were previously medical staff, they’re currently working at the hospital while waiting for assignments.” “Otherwise, if you just stay home training, someone might forget about you when they start assigning the graduates to teams.” Watching the two of them play off each other like a comedy duo, Tachibana Kenji felt a vein throb on his forehead.
They were nice enough people, but they were far too enthusiastic to fit the image of people from the Bloody Mist.
Perhaps their work at the ninja registration office was simply too boring, and the two of them had become natural chatterboxes.
They reminded Tachibana Kenji of Izumo Kamizuki and Kotetsu Hagane, Konoha’s famous gatekeepers.
“Thank you both.
I’ll be on my way!” Seeing that the two still didn’t seem to be finished talking, Tachibana Kenji decisively picked up his forehead protector and turned to leave.
[Ding!
You have become a genin.
Achievement unlocked: “You’re Already Invincible—Now Go Save the World!”] I’m not even a Konoha genin!
How the hell is a Kirigakure genin supposed to save the world?!
Complaining inwardly, Tachibana Kenji opened his achievement panel.
A surge of delight immediately welled up inside him.
He hadn’t expected the achievement for becoming a genin to reward him with 300 coins.
He had only received a reward of that size once before—when he first arrived in this world.
Well, this is a world of ninja, after all.
The rewards for becoming a chūnin and a jōnin should be pretty good too, right?
Too bad there are only the three standard ranks.
Outside Konoha, no other village is extravagant enough to have a special jōnin rank.
Having received such a generous reward, Tachibana Kenji happily walked out of the Mizukage Building, tying his forehead protector around his left arm as he went.
It might be called a forehead protector, but if an enemy had already landed a blow on his head, it probably wasn’t going to save his life.
Wearing it around his arm was much more convenient.
Like an armband, it could identify him as a ninja without interfering with his everyday activities.
Maybe someday, after defeating an enemy, I can dramatically tear off the forehead protector tied around my arm and shout, “Actually, I’m a Super Chef!” Tachibana Kenji grinned to himself as his mind filled with references that no one in this world could possibly understand.
He continued toward Kirigakure Hospital, intending to share the good news with Aunt Keiko.
The other ninja passing by didn’t find Tachibana Kenji’s foolish grin strange at all.
Probably some kid from a clan who’s just thrilled about finally becoming a ninja.
However, it seemed that even heaven couldn’t stand seeing Tachibana Kenji so happy over such a small matter.
[Ding!
The Third Shinobi World War has officially begun.
Achievement unlocked: “S3!”] [Ding!
Limited-time event draw pool unlocked: “Survival Rate-Up Pool.” This pool will close when the event ends.] The sudden system notifications instantly shattered Tachibana Kenji’s good mood.
He had only just become a genin, and the Shinobi World War had already begun.
The announcement of the limited-time event pool also gave him a faint sense of unease, and he hurriedly opened his system panel.
The achievement for the outbreak of the Third Shinobi World War had also rewarded him with 300 coins, and the event’s Survival Rate-Up Pool contained quite a few excellent rewards.
But Tachibana Kenji wasn’t happy in the slightest.
“Why is the limited-time event only thirty days?!” Tachibana Kenji carefully examined the Survival pool and found that, as expected, it was filled entirely with items and abilities designed to keep the user alive.
The Purple-tier rewards alone included incredible prizes such as Protect, Mirror Coat, and Disguise.
He had even spotted the Abilities Stalwart Shield and Prism Armor, powers associated with Legendary Pokémon, among the Gold-tier rewards.
Even setting aside the quality of the rewards, this was a non-type-specific pool containing skills from several different types.
If he could draw enough of them, he might even unlock new type-specific pools.
But he had just spent two ten-pulls yesterday.
Even after adding the 600 coins from today’s two achievements, he only had 1,520 coins left.
With another thirty days of daily missions and achievements, he would probably only manage around twenty more pulls before the event ended.
Tachibana Kenji had never believed his luck was good enough to pull a Gold-tier reward without reaching the pity threshold.
Besides, every additional survival-oriented reward would increase his chances of staying alive on the battlefield.
When he thought about it that way, it felt like he had missed out on a fortune.
What made it even more painful was that pity counters weren’t shared between different pools.
Still, for the sake of his own safety, Tachibana Kenji decided that he would draw from the event pool even if it meant wasting progress toward the pity threshold elsewhere.
Right now, he felt like someone who had just left a supermarket after spending all his money on discounted groceries, only to find a newly opened restaurant around the corner offering an all-you-can-eat buffet for a ridiculously cheap price—with only a couple of coins left in his pocket.
Forget it.
Life is impossible to predict.
From now on, I should probably save up some coins whenever I can.
However, the system’s announcement that the Third Shinobi World War had begun probably only meant that Sunagakure and Konoha had entered into conflict.
He should still have a brief window of time to grow stronger before Kirigakure became involved.
After giving the matter some thought, Tachibana Kenji continued toward Kirigakure Hospital as originally planned.
For now, he wanted to see Saionji Keiko first.
Meanwhile, not long after Tachibana Kenji left the Mizukage Building, the Third Mizukage received an urgent intelligence report delivered by a ninja hawk from a border outpost.
His expression immediately darkened.
“Summon every jōnin currently in the village who isn’t out on a mission.
We’re holding a meeting.”