If not for the ability to level up, Hyuga Arin wouldn't have fought so desperately.
Even suppressing injuries with medical ninTechnique only allowed him to endure—it didn't mean he could keep fighting. Forcing himself to act would only worsen his injuries.
At worst, he could lose the ability to move altogether.
Losing mobility out here meant certain death. If another hostile ninja showed up, he wouldn't even be able to run.
Only now did he have the breathing room to step forward and collect the items dropped by the two Cloud ninja.
[Skill Book: Endorphin]
"As expected, this thing dropped. Straight out of Baki." Hyuga Arin recognized the skill immediately.
In the game, it was known as one of the most useless skills.
The brain automatically released numbing hormones to reduce physical pain.
But in a game, who didn't set pain to the minimum? Turning pain up was just masochism.
Here, however, this was reality.
For Hyuga Arin, this was an extremely powerful skill.
The Caged Bird Seal inflicted physical pain—and there was no option to lower the pain slider.
He chose to learn it immediately.
[Endorphin (Lv1) EXP (0/100) Trait (None)]
He picked up the second dropped skill.
[Skill Book: Niko Style · Fire Heaven Form]
"Cloud Village drops melee-type skills—things from Baki, Kengan, Demon Slayer, that sort of anime."
He still didn't quite understand why Demon Slayer counted as a melee system.
But these were all items that Cloud ninja could drop. Their equipment followed the same logic.
Actual Cloud Village–native items only dropped from canon characters with names and reputations.
He learned Niko Style · Fire Heaven Form without hesitation.
[Niko Style · Fire Heaven Form (Lv1) EXP (0/100) Trait (None)]
"If I collect the full Niko Style set, it'll fuse into the complete version. Even so, the movement speed boost alone is decent."
Hyuga Arin thought it over briefly.
There was no limit to the number of skills—he could learn as many as he wanted. As for leveling them, he'd decide case by case.
Melee skills had one major advantage: they leveled fast and could quickly form combat power in the early stages.
Still, this skill came a bit late.
He already had a functional combat system.
The Niko Style could wait.
Before returning to the village, he planned to max out Endorphin to counteract the pain of the Caged Bird Seal.
This time, the Hyuga clan definitely wouldn't hold back from using it.
If they weren't going to subdue him, then punishment was the only option left.
Before he fully resolved the Caged Bird problem, all he could do was reduce his suffering.
He didn't know exactly how painful the Caged Bird Seal was—but in canon, even an elite jōnin like Hyuga Hizashi couldn't endure it.
That said enough.
"There's still one more."
Hyuga Arin quickly moved to where the sensor ninja had died earlier.
The corpse was already gone—clearly taken away by the others.
Only the dropped item remained.
"So if the body's taken, the drops stay?" Hyuga Arin let out a sigh of relief and stepped forward.
When he saw the item, he sighed again—this time in disappointment.
"A sword, huh."
He picked it up.
[Ninja Longsword: +50–55 Attack Power]
It was a solid weapon.
But equipping it meant removing the Bandit's Battle Saber. Since the bandit set wasn't complete yet, taking it off didn't matter much.
"As expected—it's Sand Village."
Only the Sand Village had drop rates this absurdly high.
He swapped the two weapons, the Bandit's Battle Saber appearing in his inventory.
After glancing in the direction the two chūnin had fled, he chose to turn away.
The previous fight had been far too dangerous.
Against chūnin, he couldn't afford any frontal combat at all.
And now, he didn't have enough experience to level up again.
No refresh.
Better to leave.
…
After exiting the forest, he didn't cut through the wilderness again.
Instead, he stepped onto the main road.
Seeing the deserted road, he took out the backpack, pulled out one of the scrolls inside, and unfolded it to check.
"They're real?" Hyuga Arin was surprised.
He'd assumed these scrolls were decoys.
If they were genuine, then the chance that they'd been used as bait dropped significantly.
He put the backpack back into his inventory, then used Transformation Technique, changing into the appearance of a young man.
Only then did he follow the main road toward the destination.
"Thirty days… plenty of time."
Hyuga Arin stroked his chin thoughtfully.
Soon, he spotted the silhouette of a village in the distance.
Houses stood faintly visible, thin columns of cooking smoke curling upward. Around them were withered yellow trees, fallen leaves drifting in the wind—like a painting.
Hyuga Arin quickened his pace.
When he reached the village entrance, someone noticed him.
Several figures hurried over.
"May I ask who you are?" an elderly man at the front asked.
"I'm just a passing bounty ninja," Hyuga Arin replied casually.
The old man subtly glanced behind him at two burly men.
The two kept their heads lowered, seemingly unaware of the look.
Or perhaps the old man was deliberately letting Hyuga Arin see it.
Hyuga Arin looked at the three with interest.
"Do you happen to have any commissions? I'm cheap. Any bandits, or bandit-types that need clearing out?"
You're clearly here for bandits, aren't you?
After some thought, the old man said, "There is a group of bandits nearby, in the mountains not far from here. We do need them driven away—but we have no money."
Hyuga Arin frowned.
"No money? Then what am I supposed to live on—northwest wind? My income comes from squeezing villages like yours dry."
…Is that really something you can say out loud?
Even the two burly men couldn't help lifting their heads, staring at Hyuga Arin.
They were curious too—just how shameless was this guy?
"You two dare glare at me? Got a problem?" Hyuga Arin snapped, glaring angrily at them.
The two stared wide-eyed at Hyuga Arin.
They hadn't glared at him at all.
"And you're still glaring!"
Hyuga Arin exploded into action.
With a raise of his hand, he threw ten shuriken, all empowered by Bear Wrestling Hands.
The two men reacted, trying to dodge—
But they had underestimated the speed.
Before they could even move, the shuriken had already struck them.
Their bodies were riddled with holes as they collapsed to the ground, eyes filled with unwillingness.
The old man tried to scream—but hurriedly clamped a hand over his mouth.
Hyuga Arin glanced at the experience notifications.
[Experience +102][Experience +103]
As expected—ninjas.
Judging by their age and experience yield…
"Ugh—!" The old man gagged, trying to vomit, but nothing came up. The shock was simply too much.
"Talk," Hyuga Arin said calmly, stepping forward and collecting the drops from the two corpses.
[Skill Book: Clone Technique]
[Damaged Shield: +10 Defense]
One useless skill book.
One off-hand item he couldn't even use.
Pure trash.
Hyuga Arin sighed in disappointment.
The old man had no idea why Hyuga Arin looked disappointed and hurriedly explained:
"They're ninja from who-knows-where. They took our village hostage and have been tyrannizing us."
They'd truly suffered disaster out of nowhere.
"A group?" Hyuga Arin looked toward the village in surprise.
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