Chapter 378: Ninja Kill

Muzuki’s words brought a look of surprise to Shisui’s face.

Although Shisui wasn’t arrogant, he was confident in his own strength, as he had only lost once to Kakashi recently throughout his life.

Yet, Muzuki claimed there was someone in that Ninja Organization who could instantly kill him. This made Shisui realize that there were always people stronger than oneself, especially since Yahiko and his companions didn’t seem much older.

“No need to dwell on it too much. Just focus on your training. Everyone has their own path to growth, and the final outcome is uncertain until the very end,” Muzuki said, looking into the distance.

Nagato’s stats indeed looked impressive, but those Rinnegan were not his own; they belonged to Uchiha Madara.

Without his own Rinnegan, he couldn’t use the unique ocular Ninjutsu of the Rinnegan, only its basic abilities like Shinra Tensei and Bansho Tenin.

If it were a Rinnegan awakened by the user, they could use special ocular Ninjutsu. Uchiha Madara’s Rinnegan ability was Limbo: Border Jail, while Sasuke’s was Amenotejikara. The effects of special Rinnegan ocular Ninjutsu are far beyond what basic abilities can compare to.

Of course, saying the basic abilities of the Rinnegan aren’t strong refers to battles between individuals of Uchiha Madara and Senju Hashirama’s caliber, or those of the Six Paths. Even the basic abilities of the Rinnegan can easily crush opponents below the Kage level.

Shisui nodded, his expression quickly recovering. He had never considered himself the Ninja World’s top genius, so he didn’t feel any damage to his Dao heart. He merely marveled at the vastness of the Ninja World and the abundance of geniuses, encountering such a Ninja on a casual outing.

Since the Bandits had already been dealt with by Yahiko and his group, Muzuki and the others simply took care of the remaining two Bandits and reported back to the Client.

The speed at which Muzuki’s squad completed the mission greatly surprised the middle-aged Client, who exclaimed that it was indeed Konoha Hidden Village, renowned in the Ninja World, with unparalleled efficiency.

On the way back to Konoha, Anko couldn’t help but sigh.

“I even got a little nervous for nothing. Turns out there were only two Bandits who weren’t much of a fight,” Anko grumbled.

After all, it was a genuine life-and-death struggle, and even Anko, as carefree as she was, wouldn’t be completely oblivious to such a matter.

“Isn’t that great? It’s like we earned a C-Rank Mission’s reward just for dealing with two Bandits,” Shizune said with a smile.

She was quite happy; she could earn so much money just by going out for a walk.

“I’ll use the mission money to buy Lady Tsunade some liver-protecting supplements. Oh, and I need to save some money to buy things for Muzuki-sensei,” Shizune had already begun planning how to use the money in her mind.

“Hehe, you’re right. The mission reward can buy a lot of dango,” Anko chuckled.

She thought Shizune’s reasoning made a lot of sense. It was like a friend coming over, seeing your messy room, and helping you clean up. Then your parents saw it, thought you cleaned it, praised you for being sensible, and gave you some pocket money.

Even if it wasn’t a lot of money, she’d be happy, because it was free money.

The journey back was smooth sailing, without encountering any Ninja.

“Let’s dismiss for today. Training will resume as usual tomorrow,” Muzuki said after returning to Konoha.

Although there was hardly any fighting in this mission, prolonged travel could also be mentally and physically exhausting, so Muzuki still allowed his disciples a day of rest.

“Mhm, mhm,” Anko nodded like a pecking chick, clutching the money Muzuki had given her in advance, and dashed towards the Tuanzi Shop.

Shizune bid farewell to her teammates and walked towards Tsunade’s home. It was a rare day off, so she definitely needed to rest.

Shisui, without hesitation, headed straight for the South Border Forest. He hadn’t yet defeated Kakashi and reclaimed his title as Muzuki’s strongest disciple, so he needed to seize every moment to train and improve himself.

Next, Muzuki went to the mission hall in the Hokage Building to submit the mission, and then went to Tsunade’s house.

Although there had been an unexpected incident during this mission, it didn’t require a special report.

Originally, when an unexpected situation arose during a C-Rank Mission, Ninja had two choices: either ask the Client to increase the payment to match the mission’s new difficulty, or simply quit the mission.

Although Muzuki and his team encountered an unexpected situation during this mission, the Ninja among the Bandits had been dealt with in advance by Yahiko and his group, so Muzuki submitted it as a regular C-Rank Mission.

Seeing Muzuki approach, Tsunade felt both joy and annoyance. Joy because she would get to eat her fill soon, and annoyance because she would have to sacrifice many brain cells again.

She had been perfectly content with her lazy life, but due to her bet with Muzuki, she had to stop being lazy and resume her Ninjutsu research.

Tsunade genuinely regretted it, regretted it so much that she started to quit gambling, but the frequency was too high, and after a few days of quitting, she was back to day one of quitting.

“I should introduce Orochimaru to you. That guy loves researching Ninjutsu,” Tsunade said, rubbing her forehead.

However, Tsunade quickly shook her head and said, “Never mind, it’s better not to know him. That guy’s mind is completely abnormal from researching Ninjutsu now; he even dreams of eternal life.”

When Orochimaru was young, he was just a little peculiar and calm, but Tsunade felt that the current Orochimaru was truly a bit abnormal.

At the end of the Second Shinobi World War, the Sannin had a gathering and briefly discussed their future. Tsunade stated that she didn’t want to do anything, Jiraiya said he would continue traveling to find a disciple who could change the world, and Orochimaru said he would research Ninjutsu to achieve eternal life.

Muzuki smiled and didn’t speak. At this stage, he indeed had no intention of interacting with Orochimaru. However, Orochimaru had not yet defected and was one of the strong candidates for Hokage. It was fine for Tsunade, as one of the Sannin, to curse him a bit, but it wouldn’t be appropriate for him to join in.

Muzuki reached into his Ninja tool pouch, and just as Tsunade expected him to pull out a scroll filled with various questions, Muzuki pulled out a pack of cards.

“This is a board game I came up with in my spare time. Constantly researching can be depressing, so you can play this to relax,” Muzuki said with a gentle smile.

Although Tsunade wouldn’t violate the bet, Muzuki still hoped their cooperation could be more pleasant, so he created a Ninja World version of a certain board game from his previous life.

“A game?” Tsunade showed curiosity, picking up a few cards from the table and flipping them over.

“Uchiha Tajima, Skill: Genjutsu, make the opponent guess the suit of a card in their hand. If they guess incorrectly, deduct one point of their stamina. Skill: Fire Release, a normal attack can be converted into a Fire attack,” Tsunade read the small print on the cards.

“That’s interesting, but you’re making a game out of the Uchiha Clan’s ancestors. Aren’t you worried about trouble?” Tsunade became interested.

“Senju Butsuma, Skill: Senju Clan, stamina limit increases by one. Skill: Benevolence, after gifting two cards, restores 1 stamina point.”

“Good heavens, there’s even a Senju,” Tsunade’s expression turned serious.

“You know, this is my…”

“What do you want for dinner?” Muzuki interrupted and asked.

“I haven’t had boiled chicken in a while. Tonight, let’s have boiled chicken, and also stir-fried pork with lots of chili, and…” Tsunade unceremoniously listed the dishes she wanted to eat that day.

Let alone making Senju Butsuma into a game, Tsunade wouldn’t even mind if her grandfather, Senju Hashirama, were made into a game.

Tsunade even thought that if Senju Hashirama knew, he might even be quite pleased.

However, the game here referred to a normal game; there couldn’t be any insults or degradation, otherwise, Tsunade would still strike with full force.

“Hyuga Ichizoku, Skill: Gentle Fist, can treat an attack as a dodge and a dodge as an attack. Skill: Byakugan, at the start of the round, you can choose any character to view all their hand cards.”

Tsunade looked at the cards while listening to Muzuki explain the rules, becoming increasingly interested in this game called Ninja Kill.

However, Muzuki didn’t immediately start playing with Tsunade, but instead resumed discussing the research on Ninjutsu that complemented the Yang Seal.

“The cards for this game aren’t finished yet, so we won’t play today,” Muzuki explained.

Although making a few cards was simple for him, sometimes slow had its advantages.

Tsunade flipped through all the cards and found that many were indeed missing, including many cards Muzuki had mentioned.

“Then let’s play tomorrow. I’ll tell you about my progress these past few days first,” Tsunade said, nodding.

She wasn’t a child; she could wait a day, there was no rush.

Muzuki put himself in an Enlightenment state and listened carefully to Tsunade’s explanation.

“Since your Rock Breathing can be maintained continuously for twenty-four hours, we can modify the Sealing Technique like this…” Tsunade began her formal explanation.

After listening, Muzuki was glad he had come to Tsunade for help. Tsunade truly lived up to her reputation as the Ninja World’s strongest Medical Ninja; her research capabilities related to the body were incredibly strong.

If he had to research it alone, the time spent would be at least twice as long, possibly even three or four times longer.

The next day after training, Muzuki, as he had said, brought the missing cards and played a few rounds with Shizune and Tsunade.

“Can we have more character cards? Just five Ninja is too few; it gets boring after playing a lot,” Tsunade remarked after a few days of playing.

Because there were so few Ninja cards, if luck was bad, they might play with the same Ninja for several rounds.

“Why don’t you make cards for my grandfather and them too? I’ve already thought of the skills for you. Skill: Wood Release, deal four points of damage to any chosen character,” Tsunade coaxed.

“I’ll go through some history books these days,” Muzuki gently declined Tsunade’s suggestion with a smile.

The reason he made cards for Senju Butsuma and others was that Muzuki only intended to play privately with Tsunade. Senju Hashirama was too close to them, which wasn’t ideal.

“Making a card for me is fine too. I don’t mind. Skill: Super Strength, plus one damage to attacks and duels. Skill: Medical Ninjutsu, restores one stamina point for every stamina point lost,” Tsunade said with a chuckle.

Muzuki said he would consider it.

If Tsunade wanted it, Muzuki could indeed make a character card for her, but the skills definitely couldn’t be as Tsunade described, otherwise, it would be too overpowered.

This was also why Muzuki didn’t want to make a Senju Hashirama card. If he was too strong, he’d be overpowered, but if he wasn’t strong enough, it wouldn’t feel right. The name Senju Hashirama just sounded like it should deal a lot of damage.

Transition, it’s time to speed up the pace.