My first priority was preparation.
If this month was going to be as productive as I planned, I couldn't go half-baked. An A-Rank Gate was no joke, let alone the ancient Uzumaki ruins or an A-Rank Castle.
Sitting in the quiet isolation of my apartment, I opened the [System Shop]. I scrolled past the basic starter gear and immediately filtered the catalog for high-tier consumables and equipment. I ordered advanced HP and CP potions, durable armor meant to withstand heavy environmental damage, and a few high-grade secondary weapons—a pair of chakra-conductive short swords and a reinforced buckler shield, just in case my primary daggers were ever incapacitated.
The total came out to a hefty 800,000 Ryo, but I didn't even flinch at the price as I hit confirm.
[PURCHASE SUCCESSFUL: -800,000 Ryo]
[CURRENT BALANCE: 30,895,000 Ryo]
It's nothing but pocket change compared to what I'm going to make back, I mused, watching the items materialize perfectly into my [Inventory].
I planned to tackle the core objectives on my agenda on a week-to-week basis. Depending on how fast I completed each task, I'd adapt my schedule leading right up to the Chunin Exam finals. But before I stepped foot into the first Gate, I needed to test out the new skill I'd acquired.
I sent a Shadow Soldier out, and after a little while of waiting, I used [Shadow Exchange] to transport to an isolated clearing deep in the surrounding forests, miles away from any Anbu patrols.
I pulled the skill scroll from my inventory.
[SKILL SCROLL: Shisui Uchiha's Body Flicker]:
Effect: Allows near-instantaneous, untraceable movement. Leaves behind 3 to 5 physical afterimages that confuse enemies and nullify tracking/targeting skills for 2 seconds. Momentum is fully preserved upon exiting the flicker.
Cost: 100 CP per activation.
[LEARN NOW?]: Y/N
"Yes," I confirmed.
The scroll dissolved into golden particles that rushed into my chest, sending a sudden, sharp rush of information directly into my nervous system. The new pathways of knowledge immediately hardwired into my muscle memory.
Now, let's see why they called him 'Shisui of the Body Flicker,' I thought, summoning a [Shadow Clone].
"Take note of every detail," I commanded.
"Yeah, you got it," he saluted.
I instantly focused my chakra. [SKILL ACTIVATED: Shisui Uchiha's Body Flicker]
VUUUSH.
"Whoa!" I heard the clone say as I suddenly found myself standing a good distance away from where I was just at.
"What did it look like?!" I asked.
"Like a flicker," he responded.
"Well, no shit, dumbass!" I replied. "Quit playin' and tell me what you saw!"
"Hey, take it easy, man!" he said defensively. "You asked and I answered. If you wanna know what I mean, then take a look for yourself."
I nodded and dispersed the clone. The moment I did, the information rushed into me, and I got a perfect understanding of what he meant when he said it looked like a 'flicker'. I had moved so fast that my main body appeared to have faded from sight; it looked like some kind of camera flicker or shuttering effect. From the clone's perspective, I had left a couple of completely corporeal, solid afterimages of myself, which lingered for exactly two seconds before silently fading into light.
Wow, he wasn't kidding, it really did look like that, I thought. And it has this cool effect during the flicker where my body looks like it's blurring. Hmm, if my clones are able to do it too, then things are gonna get wicked. Let's test it some more.
[SKILL ACTIVATED: Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu]
Poof. Poof. Poof.
Three clones popped into the clearing. "Alright you three, move to different angles. We're gonna look for any blindspots and the limits of this jutsu," I commanded as they saluted and spread out.
I performed the jutsu again, and again. Blazing across the clearing in a zigzag pattern, leaving various distinct afterimages behind me.
After about ten minutes I finally stopped and dispersed my clones. From what they gathered the jutsu offered flawless deception; sensors could not distinguish me from the afterimages. And it allowed seamless transitions between dodging, repositioning, and lethal tracking strikes. However, the biggest problem with it was its linear path trajectory. More skilled shinobi could probably make an educated guess about the general path of where I was accelerating, which can lead to them creating some kind of trap to counterattack. They could also avoid fighting me all together and create some kind of AoE attack to hold me back.
It's a cool jutsu, I mused. It has a cool aesthetic to it, and the tactical applications are pretty wicked. With my naturally insane reaction speeds practically mirroring the predictive capabilities of a Sharingan, I could wait until the last second of an enemy's attack, activate the Flicker, and counterattack their blind spot while they strike at an afterimage.
I opened up my [Inventory]. Time to put this to the test, I thought, grabbing one of the two A-Rank Keys and activated it.
The space high above me warped as a massive, heavy stone door materialized out of the sky, plummeting downward and landing with an eerie, gravity-defying softness in front of me. Engraved directly into the center of the imposing doorway was a glowing, crimson 'A' insignia.
I stepped through, and the air instantly turned thick, heavy, and foul.
[DUNGEON ENTERED: The Rotting Mire]
I found myself standing on a patch of sinking mud in the middle of a highly corrosive swamp. The trees were sickly, twisted, and mutated, and a thick, green miasma hung low over the murky waters. I watched as the toxic fog drifted against a nearby rock, hissing as it actively ate away at the stone.
I definitely can't breathe this in for long, I noted, immediately channeling chakra into my lungs to filter the ambient poison before stepping deeper into the muck.
[QUEST OBJECTIVE: Scour the dungeon to locate the Crystallized Sage Resin.]
[TIME LIMIT: None]
A fetch-quest dungeon? Say less, I thought, drawing out my daggers. Pretty simple, too. Should be relatively easy for an—
Suddenly, the mud around me began to violently bubble.
[ENEMIES DETECTED:Miasma Crawlers]
A dozen massive, heavily armored centipedes the size of buses burst from the muck, their mandibles clicking viciously. From the treeline, mutated acid-spitting salamanders emerged, rearing their heads back to fire globs of melting venom at me.
Immediate action, I mused. I expected nothing less.
A barrage of acid rained down on my position.
VUUUSH.
The acid splashed violently against the mud, melting right through the three corporeal afterimages I left behind. I reappeared in the air directly above the Salamanders, my momentum perfectly preserved from the flicker.
[SKILL ACTIVATED:Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu (Medium Output)]
I expelled a massive sphere of fire. The intense heat instantly ignited the ambient toxic gas in the air, creating a secondary explosion that vaporized the Salamanders in seconds.
I hit the ground and immediately dashed toward the centipedes.
VUUUSH.
For the next several hours, I turned the swamp into a slaughterhouse. I used the Body Flicker to seamlessly weave through poisonous vines shot by Corrupted Treants—sentient, tree-like beings—slicing the monsters apart with my daggers while they desperately tried to fight the ghosts I left behind. The synergy between my ninjutsu arsenal and my new movement skill made me virtually untouchable.
After another couple of hours of searching through the massive space, I was covered in thick mud and monster guts, but I had finally reached the exact center of the dungeon.
Rising from the center of a bubbling toxic lake was a massive, ancient tree. It glowed with a faint, pulse-like light, constantly absorbing the ambient energy of the swamp. Hardened at its massive roots were large, glittering chunks of amber.
[NOTICE: Target item detected.]
My eyes immediately locked onto the amber. The Crystallized Sage Resin, I noted. And that energy seems familiar somehow.
[NOTICE: Swamp contains massive amounts of Natural Energy.]
Nature Energy?! Really?! I thought with widened eyes.
[NOTICE: DUNGEON GATEWAYS ARE SPATIAL ANOMALIES ANCHORED TO THE PLAYER'S CURRENT DIMENSION. TO FORMULATE THEIR EXISTENCE, THE MOST POTENT AMBIENT FORCES OF THE PLAYER'S WORLD (NATURAL ENERGY) GETS SIPHONED AND CONDENSED INTO THEIR CREATION. THIS CONCENTRATED ENERGY MUTATES AND EMPOWERS THE DUNGEON'S ECOSYSTEM, ALLOWING THEM TO MANIFEST WORLD-SPECIFIC REWARDS, WEAPONRY, AND JUTSU UPON COMPLETION AND CREATURE DEFEATS.]
Wow, that's actually an amazing piece of lore, I thought, genuinely awestruck. And if those ambers are really filled with Natural Energy, then it makes perfect sense why they're in a Gate like this.
As I looked upon the ambers again I noticed that they weren't unguarded.
There was a horde of hundreds of Miasma Crawlers and Corrupted Treants, forming an impenetrable, writhing wall of fangs, acid, and poison.
Welp, I knew it wasn't going to be easy, I thought, then glanced at the Resin. But I know exactly why now. Which is extremely bad for you all.
I gripped my daggers, feeling my CP rapidly recovering from a potion I had downed a few minutes prior, and charged directly into the center of the swarm.
It was a brutal, relentless melee. I flickered, slashed, burned, and blasted my way through the horde. By the time I finally reached the base of the tree and physically carved away the massive chunks of glowing resin, the entire center of the swamp had been reduced to scorched earth and monster corpses.
As I stowed the resin into my [Inventory], the familiar, beautiful sound of System bells chimed in my ears.
[DUNGEON CLEARED!]
[TIME ELAPSED: 14 HOURS]
[LEVEL UP!]
[LEVEL UP!]
[LEVEL UP!]
[LEVEL UP!]
[LEVEL UP!]
[FULL RECOVERY ACTIVATED]
[NEW LEVEL: 210]
Five levels, I smirked, wiping the sweat from my brow. And fourteen hours ain't bad. I'm gonna hit that evolution to my Soldiers pretty quickly at this rate.
[DUNGEON CLEAR BONUS:+1,000,000 Ryo]
[RYO BALANCE: 30,895,000 Ryo → 31,895,000 Ryo]
[REWARDS GRANTED]:
Material Gained: Corrupted Ironwood (x10) - High-Quality Crafting Material
Material Gained: Toxic Miasma Sacs (x50) - High-Quality Crafting Material
Item Gained: Petrified Spirit-Seed
"'Petrified Spirit-Seed'?" I read, raising a brow at the final prompt. "System, what's that?"
[NOTICE: ITEM CONTAINS HIGH-PURITY NATURAL ENERGY. CAN BE ASSIMILATED TO UNLOCK FUTURE SENJUTSU PATHWAYS.]
"Senjutsu pathways…" I repeated, my eyes lighting up at the prompt.
A direct pathway to Sage Mode, I mused, looking at the glowing seed. How perfect. This Gate just paid out massively.
[EXIT DUNGEON?]: Y/N
"Yea, get me outta here," I confirmed.
The thick, corrosive miasma instantly gave way to the cool, crisp air of Konoha's surrounding forests. I took a deep breath, letting the clean oxygen flush the lingering tension from my lungs.
[TIME ELAPSE: 32 HOURS]
"So, nearly a day and a half went by," I said, looking around the moonlit area. "That's not bad at all. If I continue on at this pace, I'll find myself clearing everything relatively quickly."
I should take a little break before I jump straight into the next Gate, I mused.
I locked onto the signature of the Shadow Soldier I had left guarding the inside of my apartment.
[SKILL ACTIVATED: Shadow Exchange]
I transported back into the familiar, dimly lit interior of my apartment. I dismissed the Soldier back into my shadow and headed straight for the bathroom. After a long, hot shower to scrub the toxic mud and monster guts off my skin, I threw on some clean clothes and grabbed a quick bite to eat.
It's only been a day and a half, I mused, looking out the window toward the general direction of the forested areas and the village training grounds. And I've already secured the Sage Resin, gained a pathway to Senjutsu, and mastered Shisui's speed. Let's see how the competition is doing.
I tapped into my planted Shadow Soldiers, letting their sensory links feed directly into my mind so I could get a look at what the other participants were trying to do.
From what they observed, Sasuke had been running himself into the ground under Kakashi's strict supervision, pushing his physical limits to try and match my speed. Neji had been aggressively striking a wooden dummy, his Byakugan flaring as he perfected his clan's secret techniques. Gaara, on the other hand, was wide awake. He sat in the pitch-black corner of his assigned room, his bloodshot eyes unblinking as he silently crushed stones into fine sand just to keep the One-Tail's whispering at bay. And Shikamaru... had slept for most of the day.
I shifted my focus to the Soldier I had attached to Karin. She was resting in a small, dingy room assigned to the Grass Village genin. Interestingly, she was shifting uncomfortably in her sleep. With her Kagura's Mind's Eye, she could probably subconsciously feel the faint, dark presence of my Soldier lingering in her shadow. But she was safe, which was all that mattered for now.
Next to the Grass ninjas' quarters were the eliminated Taki ninja. I overheard them packing their gear, quietly planning to leave Konoha immediately before the finals even started. They had already achieved their goal of securing potential deals from the visiting rulers of neighboring lands, so they didn't see a reason to stay any longer now that none of their Genin had made it out of the second phase.
Perfect opportunity, I thought, immediately issuing a mental command.
"Detach and latch onto the Jonin leader's shadow," I instructed. Go back to Taki with them. Once you're there, locate the Seven-Tails Jinchuriki, Fu. Keep a low profile and monitor her. We're going to make sure she doesn't get captured by the Akatsuki."
The Soldier silently obliged, slipping away in the dark.
Lastly, my mind drifted to Hayate. In the original timeline, the proctor was going to get himself killed sometime this week after eavesdropping on Kabuto and Baki. To prevent that, I needed to know exactly when it would take place, but the only problem was that I didn't.
So, I commanded another Soldier to track him down and stay hidden in his shadow. "When he has that encounter, don't intervene in the fight, I ordered. Just wait for them to leave, grab his dying body, and discreetly drop him off at the Konoha Hospital."
Thinking about Hayate's chronic, hacking illness gave me an idea. "System, is there anything I can craft to cure natural illnesses? Something to fix whatever is destroying his lungs?"
A massive golden prompt instantly materialized in front of me.
[SUB-QUEST INITIATED: The Holy Grail]:
Objective: Gather the required materials to synthesize the Legendary S-Rank item, [Holy Water of Life].
Reward: Holy Water of Life (x3)
[ITEM DESCRIPTION: An all-purpose cure for all natural diseases, bodily ailments, and terminal illnesses.]
[NOTE: This item cannot be purchased in the [System Shop]. Materials can only be gathered from A-Rank or higher Gates.]
The potion straight from Solo Leveling, I thought, my eyes widening at the S-Rank classification. Absolutely game-changing.
A thought suddenly appeared in my mind. If it's truly all-purpose, what else can it cure?
"System, can this cure the Curse Mark, too?" I asked.
[NOTICE: The Holy Water of Life only cleanses natural biological ailments. It has no effect on spiritual curses, foreign chakra parasites, or granted afflictions.]
Makes sense, I reasoned. That's why Anko's Elixir is a completely separate recipe. Still, having a flawless cure-all is insanely valuable.
I smirked, leaning back on my bed. Alright. Time for a little nap before getting right back to Gate number two.