13: Senju Hashirama, Uchiha Madara, and Hagoromo Masahiro
Masahiro skillfully opened the inconspicuous, dusty small box in front of him, rubbing his hands together in anticipation.
He finally saved up 1600 Primogem. This time, he should get a gold card, right?
Give me a Ten-Pull!
The familiar meteor shower suddenly appeared before his eyes. Seeing the animation was still nine blue and one purple, Masahiro cursed and clicked skip.
[Congratulations on obtaining Fierce Wind Palm *1]
[Congratulations on obtaining Substitution Jutsu *!]
[Congratulations on obtaining Transformation Jutsu *1]
Annoyed, Masahiro refined the Fierce Wind Palm to level five, furious internally: This damned System, it really is only giving me the guaranteed minimum, isn't it? This is the eighth Ten-Pull! Do you know how hard it is for me to save up Primogem?
Since the mission in Urakawa Town ended, Masahiro and his team, led by Yoshizawa, had continuously completed various missions. Days passed by in a cycle of going on missions, cultivating, and fighting Retsu.
Over the past year, whenever Masahiro didn't have group missions, he explored the entire area outside the clan territory. Not only were his breakthrough materials fully stocked, but his card pool pity count had just reached 80 pulls.
Sigh!
Looking at the pile of refined level five low-to-mid-tier Ninjutsu on his panel, Masahiro sighed heavily, rubbing his face vigorously to comfort himself: At least I managed to get the proof of strength this year.
Looking at the sparkling proof of strength item in his inventory, Masahiro couldn't help but recall that extremely perilous mission experience.
It was supposed to be a mundane mission to suppress the Mountain Bandits, but who knew that several Rogue Ninja had infiltrated them? Two of those Rogue Ninja were so strong that Yoshizawa nearly fell into their trap.
Fortunately, the five of them successfully completed the mission, albeit suffering serious injuries. The proof of strength dropped from one of the powerful Ninja.
That was the first time Masahiro had solo-killed a Ninja whose strength was on par with Yoshizawa's level. Based on the rating standards of the original work, they were definitely a Jonin.
Since then, Masahiro understood that the proof of strength only drops from Ninja at the Jonin level. No wonder he hadn't seen one in all the missions he had done before.
Ending his suddenly wandering thoughts, Masahiro glanced at the beautiful, scenic environment around him and sighed softly.
The place he was currently in was quite a distance from the Hagoromo Clan Territory, and this was his first time exploring this area.
He had originally planned to get a gold card and then grind out another Ten-Pull, but the 80-pull Fierce Wind Palm just now completely killed his enthusiasm.
"Forget it, forget it. I'll rest today."
Listening to the trickling sound of the stream nearby, Masahiro found a massive tree with lush branches, propping his head up with his right hand as he lay there lazily. Accompanied by the noisy chirping of cicadas in the high summer, he gradually drifted off to sleep.
——————
Not long after Masahiro fell asleep, a mushroom-haired boy wearing a green short-sleeved shirt walked out of the forest on the other side of the river.
He skillfully picked up small white stones by the riverbank and played skip-stones, flicking them intermittently.
It was another beautiful seven skips across the river.
Hashirama clapped his hands, seemingly done playing and ready to go back.
"That last throw was pretty good."
The sudden voice from behind made Hashirama tense up.
Damn, he was too absorbed in playing. He didn't even notice a stranger approaching this close—too careless!
"Who?!—Huh?"
He whipped his head around, his hands hidden behind his back already prepared to form seals, only to see a hedgehog-haired boy wearing a dark cyan, belted robe watching him with interest.
"Me?" The hedgehog-haired boy didn't answer Hashirama directly. "Just like you, I'm wandering around here."
He casually picked up a stone and threw it, mimicking Hashirama's previous action: "Looks pretty simple."
"Plop"
Before he finished speaking, the stone hit the water and immediately sank.
"Hahahahahaha." Seeing the hedgehog-haired boy's face instantly sour, Hashirama clutched his stomach and burst into laughter.
Watching Hashirama laugh uncontrollably, the hedgehog-haired boy became enraged: "I wasn't serious just now, it doesn't count! Watch this!"
This time, he carefully selected a smooth, round stone, weighed it in his hand, and threw it with a special gesture.
He is a Ninja after all? Hashirama frowned slightly as he watched the boy's unique throwing movement.
The stone did skip a few times across the water this time, but it still didn't successfully reach the opposite bank.
The humiliated and angry boy turned around and unleashed a torrent of abuse at Hashirama: "You bastard, you purposely stood behind me to distract me, didn't you?"
"I'm super sensitive! If someone stands behind me, I can't even pee!"
Unexpectedly, this outburst completely shut Hashirama down. He squatted on the ground, disheartened: "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to."
The boy felt a sense of guilt seeing Hashirama squatting pitifully on the ground, hugging his knees: "You don't have to apologize like that, I was actually—"
Before he could finish, he heard Hashirama muttering continuously: "But if you skip stones like that, you'll never succeed."
Realizing he had been tricked, the boy flew into a rage: "If you keep jabbering, I'll use you as a stone and skip you across the water!"
However, Hashirama completely ignored the hedgehog-haired boy's threat. He suddenly stood up and, acting as if nothing happened, began teaching the hedgehog-head the trick to skipping stones.
Hashirama wiggled his fingers and said with a smile, "You have to slightly lift your fingers like this."
The hedgehog-haired boy showed no gratitude: "You're annoying. Get lost."
Saying this, he picked up another stone from the ground and angrily threw it toward the opposite bank of the river.
"Ouch—"
Unexpectedly, the stone seemed to have hit someone on the opposite bank. A clear cry of pain came across: "It's bad enough you're making noise and disturbing my sleep, but now you're trying to attack me?"
The boy and Hashirama exchanged glances: Crap, they hit someone.
Hashirama immediately began apologizing: "I'm sorry, my friend didn't mean it. We were just playing skip-stones."
Friend? Hearing Hashirama call him that, the hedgehog-haired boy looked at Hashirama in surprise.
Were they friends now?
"Apologizing is enough after hitting someone..." Half-asleep, Masahiro slowly got up, rubbing the head where the stone hit. He instantly woke up when he clearly saw the figures of the two people on the opposite bank.
Senju Hashirama? Uchiha Madara? Is this the Naka River?
Masahiro, realizing the significance of the location, looked around the environment in surprise.
"Hey, are you alright?" Hashirama couldn't help but worry when he saw the person opposite him staring blankly and looking around: He wasn't hit so hard he became stupid, was he? Such a handsome face, it would be a pity.
Hearing Hashirama's question, Masahiro snapped back to reality. Speaking of strong individuals, who could be stronger than the two people standing before him?
Looking at the still young and naive god of shinobi and the asura of the shinobi world across the river, a plan quickly formed in Masahiro's mind.
"Heh heh, how could I be fine?" Masahiro gave Madara and Hashirama a gloomy look, his smile malicious: "This young master is absolutely furious right now!"
The Naka River's water flow was considerable, the trees here were lush, and the air humidity was high, making it perfect for releasing Water Release Jutsu.
Thinking this, Masahiro quickly formed hand signs: "Water Release: Exploding Water Colliding Wave!"
Massive amounts of Chakra instantly gathered in Masahiro's mouth, transforming into an overwhelming, roaring tide that surged toward the opposite bank.
Why is this guy crazier than an Uchiha?
Seeing this terrifying Water Release, Madara's eyelid twitched. They just accidentally hit him with a rock, was it necessary to cause such a huge commotion?
"Get out of the way!"
Without time to think, Madara simultaneously warned Hashirama to run while forming seals to resist: "Fire Release: Great Fire Annihilation!"
"Sizzle—"
The surging waves collided with the high heat, turning into a massive fog amid a deafening sound of dissipation. In the dense fog, Madara couldn't see the mushroom-head, nor could he see the lunatic on the opposite bank who attacked without warning.
With visibility drastically reduced and most of his sight lost, Madara had no choice but to adopt a defensive stance, nervously focusing on a single spot.
That was the direction of the opposite riverbank.
"Not bad, you've got some skills." Masahiro instantly Body Flicker Technique'd behind Madara like a ghost and delivered a powerful, heavy kick to his back.
Behind me? Masahiro was too fast. Madara only had time to turn around and block with his hands crossed over his chest.
"Ugh!" Madara's arms were already numb from just one blow—this lunatic had immense strength.
"Are you alright?" Hearing Madara's muffled groan in the dense fog, Hashirama felt a surge of anxiety. He didn't care if he exposed his identity anymore: "Wind Release: Great Breakthrough."
.
.
.