ShihōinNaraku hurried home amid the enthusiastic greetings of the many shinobi he passed.
His mind was completely occupied by the system that had suddenly appeared.
He couldn’t wait to figure out everything about it.
Once he returned home and entered his quiet room, Naraku sat cross-legged and called out softly.
“System?”
[Ding!
The Promotion System is at your service!]
Hearing the system’s voice in his mind once again, Naraku finally relaxed.
So he hadn’t imagined it.
He immediately devoted himself to studying the system, and before long, he had a fairly comprehensive understanding of how it worked.
As its name suggested, the Promotion System was naturally connected to promotions.
Regardless of what position ShihōinNaraku held in Konoha, as long as his position changed, he would receive lottery draws from the system.
A demotion would grant one fixed lottery draw.
A lateral transfer would grant two.
But promotions offered the greatest number of draws.
Depending on the importance of the new position, he would receive a minimum of three and a maximum of five lottery draws.
And once he had lottery draws, he could randomly obtain all kinds of powerful treasures, abilities, and other items from across the myriad worlds.
“Then let’s see what kind of good stuff we can get!”
The moment ShihōinNaraku finished speaking, an enormous lottery wheel appeared in his mind.
Countless dazzling and extraordinary prizes came into view.
“What are all these things…?”
“Ninjutsu, genjutsu, the Byakugan, the Sharingan…”
“Tailed Beast chakra?
It even has that?
The Ten-Tails?”
“This is ridiculous.
If the Ten-Tails is on the list, why not just throw Kaguya Otsutsuki in there too?”
Naraku’s eyes swept across the countless prizes before he muttered to himself.
“It’s not limited to the Naruto world?”
“Devil Fruits?
And this is… a Zanpakutō?”
“Dragon Slayer Magic… Wait, the Kaioken?”
“Senzu Beans, the Flying Nimbus…”
ShihōinNaraku’s eyes widened.
There were simply too many incredible treasures in front of him.
He could barely take them all in.
“I want all of them!”
Naraku admitted that he was no longer capable of staying calm.
The system was simply far more powerful than he had ever imagined.
As a Jōnin of Konoha, and especially as Tsunade’s direct disciple, ShihōinNaraku possessed outstanding medical ninjutsu, and his own combat strength was by no means weak.
But even Naraku had to admit that his strength was, at best, near the top of Konoha’s Jōnin ranks.
There was still a gap between him and the strongest among them.
After all, the Shihōinclan didn’t possess any particularly powerful Kekkei Genkai, and Naraku knew that he had already reached the limit of what he could accomplish through his natural talents alone.
But now things were different.
The appearance of the system would help ShihōinNaraku break through that limit and give him the strength to truly contend with the strongest shinobi in the world.
A genuine smile spread across his handsome face as he stared at the various extraordinary items displayed on the lottery wheel.
“System, how many lottery draws do I have right now?”
[The Host currently has twelve lottery draws remaining!]
[Friendly reminder: Ten consecutive draws have a higher chance of producing extraordinary items!]
Naraku had received seven draws from his two new positions—the Deputy Director of the Medical Department and Deputy Commander of the Konoha ANBU.
Adding the five draws from the system’s Newcomer Gift Pack, he indeed had twelve draws.
“If ten consecutive draws have a better chance of producing good stuff, then let’s do it.
Ten-pull!”
[Ding!
Would you like to activate your first ten consecutive draws?]
“Activate!”
The moment ShihōinNaraku spoke, the enormous wheel before him began to spin.
The pointer swept past one incredible prize after another, and Naraku couldn’t bear to blink.
There were simply too many dazzling treasures.
His eyes nearly crossed trying to keep up.
[Ding…]
[Congratulations, Host!
You have obtained the following rewards…]
[1.
High-Quality Shuriken ×5!]
[2.
Delicious Soldier Pills ×5!]
[3.
1,000 ryō in banknotes!]
[4.
Fire Release: Hiding in Ash and Dust Technique!]
[5.
Fire Release: Great Fire Destruction!]
[6.
100 ryō in coins!]
[7.
Lightning Release: Thunderclap!]
[8.
Seven Chakra Natures: Fire, Water, Wind, Lightning, Earth, Yin, and Yang!]
[9.
Flame-Flame Fruit!]
[10.
Water Release: Exploding Water Shock Wave!]
[Ding!
Congratulations, Host!
You have mastered four ninjutsu!]
[Ding!
Congratulations, Host!
You have completed all seven chakra natures!]
…
ShihōinNaraku sat cross-legged in his quiet room.
A pile of objects suddenly appeared on the low table before him.
Loose banknotes and coins clinked together.
Shuriken lay scattered across the table, along with several neatly wrapped Soldier Pills.
And, most importantly, there was a strange-looking fruit.
“This is a Devil Fruit!
The Flame-Flame Fruit!”
Naraku completely ignored everything else and immediately reached out to pick up the Flame-Flame Fruit.
[Flame-Flame Fruit: After consuming the fruit, the user gains the ability to manipulate flames.
Any part of the user’s body can be transformed into fire!
(The seawater of the Naruto world does not contain the special substance found in the original world, so it will not affect the Host.)]
“Excellent!”
The system’s explanation made Naraku even more satisfied with the Flame-Flame Fruit in his hand.
What he valued most was actually the fruit’s ability to turn his body into flames.
That was precisely what he needed.
Most shinobi in the Naruto world might possess tremendous combat power, but their physical bodies were still relatively fragile.
Sometimes, even a tiny concealed weapon could kill a powerful shinobi if it struck a vital point.
Naraku had personally witnessed powerful shinobi die after being struck in vulnerable areas during the Great Ninja War.
That was why the Flame-Flame Fruit’s ability to transform his body into an elemental form was so important.
“Urgh—!”
ShihōinNaraku took a bite of the Flame-Flame Fruit.
An indescribably bizarre taste instantly flooded his mouth, nearly making him vomit.
“This taste… Urgh… It’s absolutely disgusting!”
Even though he had been mentally prepared for it, Naraku was still defeated by the Devil Fruit’s horrifying flavor.
After taking a moment to recover, Naraku spread out his palm.
Puff!
A flame suddenly ignited in the center of his hand.
Watching the fire dance across his palm, Naraku was extremely satisfied.
“I got the Flame-Flame Fruit on my very first draw.
Then, from now on…”
At that moment, Naraku made up his mind.
He was going to get promoted!
He was going to work hard and keep getting promoted!
From now on, no one would be allowed to stand in the way of his promotions!
With his strength greatly increased, Naraku immediately began experimenting with the Flame-Flame Fruit’s abilities.
Of course, he couldn’t conduct those experiments inside his house.
…
BOOM!!!
Rocks flew in every direction as a burst of blazing fire erupted, unleashing tremendous destructive force.
A wave of scorching heat instantly swept through the area.
It took quite some time before the testing ground deep within the forest finally settled down.
ShihōinNaraku clenched his fist and looked around at the testing ground, which had been reduced to a complete mess.
He nodded in satisfaction.
“With this level of improvement, even if I haven’t quite reached the level of an Kage, I’m not far off.”
“The most important thing is the boost to my Fire Release…”
At this moment, Naraku could proudly declare that there was no one in the entire shinobi world more proficient in Fire Release than him.
Before obtaining the Flame-Flame Fruit, his greatest strengths—aside from medical ninjutsu—had been Fire Release and Water Release.
His Fire Release in particular was already among the best in Konoha.
There were only a handful of shinobi who could claim to surpass him.
And now, with the Flame-Flame Fruit, the power of his Fire Release had increased dramatically.
More importantly, he no longer needed hand seals to perform Fire Release!
It was just like the First Hokage, Hashirama Senju.
Clap his hands together, shout the technique, and boom—out it came!
Of course, Hashirama Senju used Wood Release.
Naraku used Fire Release!
For the rest of the day, Naraku devoted himself to familiarizing himself with his explosively increased strength.
After all, strength was the foundation of everything.