"Since that's settled, honored elders, I'll take my leave now."
"Very well."
Hiruzen gave a slight nod, signaling his permission to depart.
After all, Sakuma Akaba was only around thirteen years old. Entrusting him with highly critical missions could invite disapproval from some villagers regardless of whether he was capable or not.
For now, this arrangement already represented the maximum possible.
Akaba gave a slight nod.
As he walked out of the Hokage Tower, he kept replaying the meeting in his mind.
An Anbu squad would be dispatched for operations in the Land of Whirlpools.
This was open warfare.
Meanwhile, surveillance over the Land of Rivers and preparations within the village's Preparatory Division served as reserves for another front.
Once full-scale war erupted, everyone from the Preparatory Division would join the battlefield—including him, Sakuma Akaba.
Lucky for me, I've drawn a bunch of manga lately and racked up some points.
A quiet sigh escaped Akaba's thoughts.
Thanks to frequent updates over these past few days, his point balance had surged significantly—now surpassing 2600 on his system panel.
These points were enough to upgrade both [Sensor] and [Healing Enhancement] at the same time.
[Sensor] was crucial.
Possessing this ability provided tremendous help for both survival and offensive capabilities.
Back inside the manga shop's private chamber, he immediately purchased the [Sensor Upgrade].
The system deducted one thousand points.
Then the system's power began to take effect.
Externally, there was no visible change. But internally, Akaba felt his control over spiritual energy had sharpened considerably, while his awareness of the environment became more acute.
The moment he closed his eyes, he could perceive changes in his surroundings instantly.
"Almost half the village."
Taking a deep breath, Akaba quickly retracted his perception ability.
This wasn't the full extent of his range.
The reason his sensing covered only about half the village was because he dared not extend it toward the Senju compound—if Mito Uzumaki sensed it back, he'd be doomed.
With [Sensor] acquired, only [Uzumaki Healing] remained among Uzumaki clan traits he hadn't obtained yet.
[Uzumaki Healing] allowed regeneration through others biting one's own skin. In terms of therapeutic effectiveness, it even surpassed many later medical ninjutsu techniques.
Yet just imagining his body covered in other people's bite marks sent involuntary shivers down Akaba's spine—even though it could heal him, he just couldn't get used to it.
Spending another 1000 points on [One-Handed Hand Seal Proficiency], he had 500 points left, which he used to increase his spirit points by two levels.
As attributes upgraded, prices climbed steeply.
That's rough!
Looking at his pitiful single-digit point total, Akaba sighed involuntarily. Although the latest One Piece manga volume had just arrived and previous Fire Shadow installments weren't fully processed yet, with the Anbu heading off to war, his point sources would inevitably decrease.
He'd have to keep pushing forward.
Then, he organized his thoughts.
One-handed hand seals weren't a Kekkei Genkai—many could master this technique through persistent training.
But since this was system-enhanced, immediately upon acquisition it reached peak proficiency.
[One-Handed Hand Seal, Earth Release].
It only took a second or two to complete the hand seals.
Although slightly slower than using both hands, Akaba's one-handed hand seal technique was still remarkably fast by normal standards.
Akaba returned to his room and climbed out of a hole in the ground.
He felt quite satisfied with one-handed hand seals. This would significantly diversify his future offensive capabilities—he could control two writing implements at once with one hand using the Puppet Technique, while forming seals for simpler ninjutsu techniques with the other.
Combined with no-hand seal jutsu like Monstrous Strength or Rasengan, its utility was vast.
Ignoring his shadow clone drawing frantically, Akaba stood up and prepared to leave, but just as he stepped outside the Private Chamber,
"Jiraiya? What's that guy sneaking around for?"
His sensor abilities kicked in. An annoying side effect of his sensing ability was that he could unconsciously pick up on the intentions of people nearby.
Like right now.
Without even trying, Akaba could sense Jiraiya clearly—as if he were under a spotlight. He wasn't sure why, but Jiraiya was hiding right beneath Sakuma Yunlang, apparently setting up an ambush.
"Yunlang, have you offended Jiraiya recently?"
"Jiraiya? No way!"
Sakuma Yunlang looked baffled, unsure why Akaba asked this.
Akaba stamped his foot and said, "Why are you hiding there? Come out."
"What's going on?"
Confused, Sakuma Yunlang barely had time to react before Jiraiya popped up from underground right in front of him at the counter.
"Hehehe, Big Brother Yunlang, I heard you've gotten a manga called *Kaihime Mūzan*. Could you let me have it?"
Jiraiya rubbed his hands together in a sleazy manner.
Akaba glanced back.
Wow! All nine copies on the bookshelf had been bought already?
Konoha sure has its share of gentleman fans!
"You must be kidding!"
Sakuma Yunlang exploded immediately.
That was the last copy, and Izumi Yamano had come asking about it this afternoon—there were only ten copies in Konoha altogether; all remaining issues would be shipped overseas for sale.
Such a limited edition treasure—how could he hand it over?
"Don't say no, please, Mr. Yunlang. That's undoubtedly a masterpiece extremely meaningful to me. Plus, haven't you always hated this kind of manga anyway?"
Jiraiya jumped up, his expression filled with grievance.
If it weren't for the Toad Sage confining him at Mount Myoboku these few days, he wouldn't have arrived in Konoha so late and certainly wouldn't have learned only now about the release of *Kaihime Mūzan*.
"Who said I hate them? I hate mangas with your low quality!"
Sakuma Yunlang replied without flinching.
Akaba figured it out—Jiraiya must be hiding below intending to steal the volume.
Glancing sideways briefly, he then walked past Jiraiya, intending to leave.
Instantly, Jiraiya grabbed hold of him.
"What do you want now?"
"You help persuade him! I'll pay ten times the price!"
Jiraiya begged with a shamelessly pleading face.
Helpless, Akaba thought to himself: It's merely an artistic manga—did it really become such a rare collector's item that people would fight over it?
After some hesitation, glancing between Sakuma Yunlang and Jiraiya, he spoke, "How about this—you pay to borrow it temporarily. Ownership remains with Mr. Yunlang."
"Borrow?"
Jiraiya hesitated slightly.
Just borrowing meant it wouldn't truly belong to him, and keeping such a manga in Sakuma Yunlang's hands was sheer waste.
"Cheh, don't pull that face. If it wasn't for Master Akaba's recommendation, even if you begged to borrow it, I wouldn't lend it to you. So go ask whoever told you about this book in the first place."
Sakuma Yunlang spoke directly and confidently.
He didn't know where the other nine books were, but he was certain they'd all arrived using Transformation Jutsu.
Konoha's such a huge place—tracking down nine books would be extremely difficult.
As for which book Jiraiya knew about and whose book it was, Akaba didn't think much guessing was needed—just looking at his conflicted expression made it 99% certain it belonged to the Third Hokage.
"Um, I want to borrow it... how much is the fee?"
Jiraiya reluctantly pulled out his wallet. Even after completing numerous missions recently, he didn't have much saved up.
Yunlang held up one finger.
"One tael?"
"You wish! One hundred taels!"
Jiraiya froze like a statue. One hundred taels per day? Why not just rob him!
Akaba shrugged helplessly.
That book belonged to Yunlang, so of course he could set the price himself—that's just how business worked.
As for Akaba himself, he neither discouraged nor encouraged anything.
"Just let me grab some of the old manga volumes first."
Jiraiya had originally intended to say "rent," but swallowed his words halfway through. Then he carefully selected all the unread updates from the store.
Then he pulled out hundreds of taels.
"I'll read through these updates first before renting that book."
Without wasting any time, Jiraiya immediately picked up an unread volume and started flipping through.
Akaba sat down, but quickly frowned and moved further away, asking disdainfully, "What's that smell on you?"
"..."
Jiraiya paused momentarily, sniffing himself.
Though he couldn't detect anything specific, he knew he stank. With a dejected expression, he admitted, *"[Toad Oil] scent."*
[Toad Oil Fireball Jutsu]?
So Jiraiya was developing too, far from someone to underestimate.
Akaba marveled inwardly, yet calmly moved his chair another two or three steps away—the [Toad Oil] scent was quite strong.
"After getting used to it, it's actually not that bad."
Jiraiya said helplessly.
For the sake of increasing his strength, smells and dignity had long since been abandoned—he'd even eaten insects. Compared to that, merely associating with toad oil wasn't a big deal.
Saying this, he resumed reading the manga.
Not coming in for a few days really set him back—he could breeze through four volumes without breaking a sweat.
After starting, his eyes lit up.
"This Sound ninja girl is quite cute too. Ino looks especially beautiful. This technique—I can already visualize it!"
Jiraiya continued reading until reaching the part where Ino used her secret technique to enter King's body and control him. However, judging from the gleam in Jiraiya's eyes, he was clearly picturing more than what was on the page.
"Mm, exactly the kind of plot I can use for next issue."
Jiraiya felt particularly excited.
Just imagining it sent shivers of excitement running down his spine.
Soon, one volume was done. Except when lingering slightly longer over the female characters, he flipped through the rest at lightning speed.
When he reached Sakura and Ino's battle scene, he became enthusiastic again: "Wow, both little sisters are adorable. Sister duo is also great."
Wait, did he come here to read manga or ogle girls?
Even Sakuma Yunlang had his doubts, and Akaba couldn't help feeling like his manga had been insulted.
This is such a typical storyline—yet I can't help wondering what went through his mind after reading it?
When the story reached Hinata and Neji's part, he got excited again.
A dirty-minded person really does see dirt everywhere.
Akaba softly sighed, deciding not to keep watching. Otherwise, he feared he might actually go over and take the manga away himself.
Jiraiya read pretty quickly, skimming through each page at a glance, finishing another volume in no time.
However, when it came to Lee and Gaara's battle scene, he finally stopped skimming and began reading attentively and seriously.
After finishing, he took a deep breath and said with admiration, "Akaba, you know what? I really do know someone like this guy. He has no talent for ninjutsu or genjutsu, yet he insists on strict training every single day."
"Oh?"
Akaba raised an eyebrow.
"He's someone truly pitiful yet determined. He gets up extremely early every morning and goes to bed very late at night. Except for meals, he's always working out. Sometimes I really don't understand why he pushes himself so hard."
The person Jiraiya described was most likely Might Duy.
"Akaba asked after a moment's pause, 'Has he graduated already?'"
"Seems like he's a year younger than me. Probably graduated this year, though he might not have made it either."
Jiraiya replied in a gloomy tone.
There were far too many kids like that—ones who couldn't graduate because they lacked talent.
Every year, countless commoners failed to graduate, eventually dropping out after years of repeating, and reluctantly returning to ordinary life.
"I want to meet him."
"Huh?"
Jiraiya blinked, confused by Akaba's words.
"Just as the manga says, there's another kind of genius in the world—one forged through relentless effort. Even without great talent, persistence can still make someone an excellent ninja."
Akaba continued, "I want to help him."
Someone like that, obsessed with training, wouldn't waste time or money reading manga, right?
Therefore, Akaba wanted to personally tell Might Duy this truth.
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