Konoha Hospital.
After sustaining injuries while completing the mission, Kirito and the others were admitted straight into the village infirmary.
"Kirito‑kun… did you really defeat that jōnin‑level enemy?!"
Lee was wrapped head to toe in bandages. The aftereffects of forcibly opening several of the Eight Gates still lingered, but thankfully, he had only opened the first three before being interrupted. The damage wasn't too severe.
"…"
Nearby, Neji remained stoic, his expression unchanged, but his ears had clearly perked up. As someone who had always looked down on Kirito as the Hyūga Clan's infamous "deadweight," he couldn't help but feel a flicker of shock, and curiosity.
Kirito simply waved a hand, replying casually, "How could I? I just got lucky with a sneak attack at the start. Pulled off a little trick and managed to scare him off."
"Is that so?" Tenten blinked, seemingly convinced, and her blunt personality led her to thank him without hesitation, "Well, whatever the case, Kirito‑kun, thanks for saving me. And my teammates too."
Kirito shrugged and grinned. "Then how about repaying me… with your hand in marriage?"
"Rejected~"
Rather than blushing like a typical girl, Tenten shot him a playful glare and wagged a finger in front of his face. "Do three things that make me happy. This one counts as the first. Finish two more, and maaaybe I'll throw you a reward."
…
In the wilderness of the Land of Fire, beside a riverbank, lay the corpse of the man Kirito had slain, his body still impaled with weapons and soaked in dried blood. Before the corpse, a figure cloaked in black appeared, wrapped from head to toe with only a pair of eerily pale green eyes visible through a mask. There was no whites in his eyes, only void.
"The first wound entered from the back, piercing directly through the heart. Judging from the clean angle of penetration, he must not have noticed anything until it was too late."
The voice was calm and clinical.
"A skilled assassin, perhaps… no, multiple enemies…"
The figure scanned the nearby ground. Footprints, large and small, scattered, as though made by different people, but each trail abruptly vanished after just a few steps. As if the wearers had… disappeared.
"Like Shadow Clones dispelled…"
He muttered.
Another dead partner.
But his tone bore no sadness.
With practiced movements, he drew a scalpel and methodically decapitated the corpse. Wrapping the head in cloth, he whispered as if reciting a mantra:
"This one's worth a payout. And money… is absolute."
He turned.
As he walked away, the crimson clouds on his black cloak fluttered into view.
Akatsuki.
…
Back in Konoha.
After being discharged from the hospital, Kirito returned to his dorm with a slight weariness.
This last mission had been more than a little dangerous. One misstep and he might've lost his life. But with high risk came high reward.
Thanks to his decisive actions during the ambush, he not only received his payment for escorting the convoy, he was also awarded nearly 60% of the total C-rank mission bounty, shared from the earnings of Tenten's team. All three agreed without hesitation.
But beyond the official reward… Kirito had earned something far more valuable.
Back in his room, he locked the doors and windows tight, then turned his focus inward, ready to examine the system's reward for completing the B-rank darkline mission.
With a thought, a flash of light appeared in his hand.
First Draw:
> Name: M700 Light Sniper Rifle
> Length: 1117 mm
> Weight: 4.6 kg
> Effective Range: 800 meters
> Muzzle Velocity: 777 m/s
> Ammo Capacity: 10 / 20
> Damage Rating: ?
Jet black and sleek, the rifle sat lightly in Kirito's grip. It was the first modern firearm he had received since acquiring the Arsenal System.
The system didn't give a definite damage value, for good reason. In this world, enemies were shinobi. Their physical durability and jutsu defenses varied wildly. But even so, Kirito knew: this weapon's lethality far outclassed basic tools like kunai or shuriken.
Its speed alone made it almost impossible to evade at close range.
This was weapon one.
Second Draw:
> Name: Boots of Swiftness (Conceptual Armament; not a physical item)
> Effect: +? Movement Speed
> Additional speed bonus after 5 seconds out of combat: +?
This reward was… unique.
It wasn't an item Kirito could touch. It was a conceptual piece of gear, a kind of passive ability.
Upon equipping it, his legs flashed gold for an instant, the shape of boots appearing and vanishing in a blink.
He stood.
Moved.
Faster. Lighter. Sharper.
He could feel the effect underfoot, even without actual weight or texture. The boots existed not in form, but in function.
Weapon two, speed embodied.
Third Draw:
> Name: ???
> Status: Asauchi (Unreleased)
> Description: An unnamed Zanpakutō. The true power has yet to awaken. Through continuous combat, it will gradually release its true form.
In Kirito's hand appeared an unadorned katana.
Plain. Ordinary. Nothing special on the surface.
But he knew better.
Though the blade had yet to awaken, its potential lay dormant. And that potential would become the foundation of Kirito's close‑quarters combat.
This was weapon three.
…
Together, these were the three weapons Kirito earned from completing the B-rank mission.
And because no allies died in the ambush, he also received bonus attribute points.
To say it was "lucky" was an understatement.
He had succeeded in deceiving a jōnin-level enemy, survived a life‑or‑death battle, and emerged with powerful new armaments. It was all thanks to his passive ability Presence Concealment, and his initial deception of "dying instantly" in the first ambush. Had any of it gone wrong… he wouldn't have lived to collect the reward.
But now, armed with these three new weapons, Kirito had gained a genuine foothold.
He now faced a choice.
The system offered him four stats to boost: Strength, Stamina, Agility, Endurance.
Only one point to spend.
> Strength would enhance close combat, but Kirito lacked the swordsmanship to use it properly, even with his new Zanpakutō.
> Stamina would help in prolonged fights, but Kirito's fighting style favored burst kills, not drawn-out battles.
> Agility was already bolstered by his passive equipment and weapon perks.
> Endurance, plainly put, was survivability. It meant the difference between life and death when things went south.
Given how close he came to dying this time…
Kirito assigned the point to Endurance.
Just in case the next fight didn't go as planned.
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200 P.S = 1 Extra Chapters