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~ I'm planning to increase the number of advanced chapters to +18 this weekend!
~ I've edited some of the previous chapters to remove anything you might consider "cringe" or "unnecessary." I'll continue reviewing them from time to time!
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Gate into Training Ground 13
Naruto's eyebrow twitched as he heard the snarls of monsters inside the training ground. He was really hoping that his Jiji punished those morons of the Spandex Brigade for undoing all of his hard work on the training ground, and even ended up making it worse!
Reaching out, Naruto tapped the gate and made the window appear. Reading it made him growl in irritation.
[Training Area Thirteen]
Which Area do you want to enter?
- Area 1 (LV12+)
- Area 2 (LV13+)
- Area 3 (LV14+)
- Area 4 (LV15+)
- Area 5 (LV16+)
- Area 6 (LV17+)
- Area 7 (LV 19+)
- Area 8 (LV20+)
- Area 9 (LV21+)
- Area 10 (LV22+)
- Area 11 (LV24+)
- Area 12 (LV25+)
- Area 13 (LV27+)
The levels of the individual areas hadn't just gone up; they'd shot up like weeds! Area 13 had previously been restricted to Level 20 and over, and now it was Level twenty-seven and over! Gah, he was going to have to prank someone when he got out of this place just to blow off some steam, he was so pissed!
[Gamer's Mind] activated!
'Calmly does it, calmly does it.' He chanted to himself as his temper was forcefully brought to heel.
Say what you will, but that power was just too damn useful at times.
Reaching out, he jabbed 'Area 1', and the gate creaked open, just as eerily as it had done the first time.
Squaring his shoulders and palming a handful of shuriken in each hand, Naruto advanced into the first sub-area. In terms of appearance, the forest hadn't changed, but the atmosphere was slightly oppressive. He could almost feel the malice coming from the chakra mutations in the place.
"Ok, so the original monsters here were squirrels…" he muttered as he advanced, "Wonder if that's different now…?"
Skirting around the trees, Naruto spotted an iron-banded wooden chest sitting at the base of an especially thick tree that he could have sworn hadn't been there the last time he'd been through the sub-area. Evidently the chakra saturation had mutated some of the trees as well now.
Cautiously approaching the chest, the blond boy barely touched it when his [Detect Bloodthirst] skill screamed at him to dodge to the left. Throwing himself to the side, Naruto gaped at what had lunged at him. It was, superficially, a [Rabid Red Squirrel], except it was as large as the more powerful [Gnashing Grey Squirrels] and had several bone plates across its body that seemed to act like armour in addition to the razor-sharp claws and fangs.
LV12 Ravening Rabid Red Squirrel
So the monsters getting powered up added a word to their names? Weird.
With a roll, a jump and two well-trained flicks of his wrists, Naruto pelted the squirrel with ten shuriken all at once from a meter in the air, something he had never tried before. Usually it was only three shuriken per hand, not five, so he was looking forward to seeing if he developed a skill from it. He could have tried to create it at the Shurikenjutsu range at his apartment building, but he had discovered that it took ages to make a skill using repeated actions outside of combat, whereas in the heat of combat, they developed in a few fights, which could be as short as ten minutes or as long as an hour.
The threat of being harmed by the chakra mutations was somehow not a concern for Naruto.
The giant chakra mutation, now the size of a large dog, shrieked as several of the metal throwing stars pelted its body, sinking deep into its flesh. Once it recovered, it glared at Naruto and bared its fangs before pouncing at him claws first.
Drawing a pair of kunai, Naruto danced around the mutation, scoring cut after cut on it while avoiding the swipes of its claws and froth-filled mouth. Although it did score a couple of glancing blows on him, the [Ravening Rabid Red Squirrel] finally fell, covered in cuts.
You have defeated a [Ravening Rabid Red Squirrel]! You gain 300 EXP!
As a result of a specific action, you have learned the [Cluster Throw] skill!
[Cluster Throw] (Active) [LV1, 00.00]
Throw enough mud at a wall, and some of it will stick. That is the basis behind this little technique. It is only usable with shuriken and kunai. By throwing five shuriken/kunai from each hand, you can deal great damage to the enemy. While it is possible to combine this technique with quick-draw techniques, it is impossible to gain the full effect from them without possessing a holster on each leg.
- 50% chance to fumble the shuriken.
- Adds +2 to the damage of each shuriken that strikes its target.
- User suffers from an aim penalty of -5 to hit at LONG and MEDIUM ranges.
As a result of repeated actions, you have learned the [Short Blades Mastery] skill!
[Short Blades Mastery] (Passive) [LV1, 00.00]
A short blade is defined as any bladed weapon the length of a tantō or shorter. These weapons include Tantō, Yoroidōshi, Kabutowari, Kaiken and Kunai. All of these weapons are seen as being weak or useless compared with larger weapons, such as swords, spears or even maces, but in the hands of a master, these short weapons can be just as deadly.
- Adds +1 to all damage dealt by the user while wielding short blades.
- All skills involving short bladed weapons have a 5% higher experience gain.
- The chance of learning skills involving short blades is raised by 10% while wielding them.
"OK, this is so damn cool." Naruto grinned, "Now what's in this chest…?"
Opening it was rather interesting. Golden light shone from the contents for a moment before dimming and fading away, revealing a belt with a bronze circular buckle, a stack of Ryo notes and a necklace shaped like a biwa?
[Belt of Lesser Improved Muscular Regeneration]
Accessory
A belt that uses a cunning application of Fūinjutsu to enhance the growth and development of the user's muscles. At least that was attempted. What the creator of this item actually got was a belt that improved the regeneration of the muscles after exertion. Needless to say, he wasn't happy about creating this by accident, but it still sold well. His naming sense sucked though.
DUR: 60/60
- While worn, the user's training to do with STR has an increased effect, improving by 25%.
[Charm of Benzaiten]
Accessory
Benzaiten, commonly known as Benten of the Seven Lucky Gods, is commonly depicted with a musical instrument, typically either a biwa or a veena. This charm has been blessed by one of her priests and calls upon her aspect as a goddess of monetary fortune to bring about good luck in monetary gains. This effect raises the amount of money the wearer finds in treasure chests and from fallen monsters.
- Raises monetary loot from treasure chests and monsters by 10%.
"Useful." He commented as he pulled the necklace on and snapped the belt closed around his waist before picking up the cash, which looked a bit thicker than it did before he put the necklace on.
You gain 450 Ryo!
"Well then…let's get to clearing out this area!" Naruto grinned as he collected the loot from the fallen squirrel (just some Ryo).
The act of clearing out the first sub-area of TG13 was somewhat cathartic for Naruto, who was feeling more than slightly irritated at the Spandex Brigade's stupidity. Hadn't they ever been told not to use ninjutsu in a chakra-saturated area like TG13 before? It boggled belief!
He took down three more [Ravening Rabid Red Squirrels] in quick succession, suffering only minor wounds in doing so, about 50 HP all told. After he collected the loot from the last corpse (more Ryo, all he'd been getting from the squirrels), he suddenly found himself in the middle of a clearing and facing three chakra mutations, two [Ravening Rabid Red Squirrels] and what looked like a more heavily mutated version of the [Gnashing Grey Squirrel]. This one had very, very large fangs and an equally large head to carry them.
LV13 Gnasty Gnashing Grey Squirrel
'…what is with the alliterating naming sense here?'
Shaking off that thought, Naruto charged in with a kunai in each hand. With a snarl, the grey squirrel seemed to order the smaller red ones forward to counter charge him. Dodging two red squirrels at once was hard work, much harder than when he only had a single opponent. Fortunately for him, the chakra mutations had all the teamwork of a slab of butter and a saw; i.e. none whatsoever. This allowed him to make the two squirrels attack each other some of the time when they swiped and missed him.
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