[Name: Hatake Kakashi]
[Life Mission: True strength lies in protection]
[Primary Objective: Protect his companions, protect everything he cares about]
[Mission Progress: 100% (Remaining trigger count: 4)]
What surprised Mutsuki was that Kakashi's life mission progress had directly maxed out, making him the first disciple to reach full progress on a life mission.
However, considering that Kakashi's life mission only settled rewards once every fifty percent, Mutsuki felt it was still reasonable.
[Disciple Kakashi successfully erupted in a desperate situation and protected his companions, obtaining a progress reward - Medium Sword and Blade Training Experience, Lightning Attribute Chakra Nature Transformation (Mastery level), Sword-Related Skill Extraction Scroll (Mastery level)]
[Sword-Related Skill Extraction Scroll: Guarantees the appearance of a sword- or blade-related skill]
[Disciple Kakashi successfully erupted in a desperate situation and protected his companions, obtaining a progress reward - Item Upgrade Scroll, Lightning Release Skill Extraction Scroll · S+ (Mastery level)]
[Item Upgrade Scroll: Can be used to upgrade some of the tangible rewards granted by the system]
"So there's even an S+ grade lottery scroll." Looking at the reward for one hundred percent progress, Mutsuki was somewhat surprised-this was the first time he had obtained a scroll of this tier.
"If there's S+, could there also be SS or even SSS?" Mutsuki thought curiously.
He believed there was still a certain possibility, after all, even potential could reach double S.
However, even if such grades existed, the difficulty of obtaining them would definitely be extraordinary; otherwise, it wouldn't have taken so long to get a single S+ level Extraction Scroll.
Because he already had a Mastery-level Lightning Attribute Chakra Nature Transformation, the Mastery-level Nature Transformation from the progress reward was converted into three thousand proficiency points, filling Mutsuki's mind with a great deal of Lightning Release training experience.
After claiming the rewards, Kakashi's life mission progress reset to zero. Next, Mutsuki did not rush to use the Extraction Scrolls, but instead looked at the life missions of the other disciples. This time, it wasn't only Kakashi whose mission progress had changed.
[Name: Might Guy]
[Life Mission: Walk the path to becoming the strongest in Taijutsu]
[Primary Objective: Become a top-tier powerhouse in the ninja world who excels at Taijutsu-whether in strength or reputation-so that all ninja know that even without proficiency in Ninjutsu, one can still become strong]
[Mission Progress: 28%]
Might Guy's progress jump wasn't as dramatic as Kakashi's, but it was still a substantial increase. Not only did it trigger one settlement reward, it was also close to the next settlement.
[Disciple Guy's strength increased and his fame rose, allowing him to advance a short distance on the path to becoming the strongest in Taijutsu. Progress reward obtained - Moderate Constitution Increase, Fist and Foot-Related Skill Extraction Scroll (Mastery level), Evening Elephant (Mastery level)]
Guy's progress rewards were fairly decent as well. The moderate constitution increase didn't bring an especially obvious boost to the body, but compared horizontally, Obito's twenty-percent reward was only one thousand four hundred Chakra, so it was still reasonable. Moreover, rewards related to the body were harder to obtain than Chakra.
The Fist and Foot-Related Skill Extraction Scroll should be related to Guy's usual focus on Taijutsu, just as Kakashi's reward was a sword- and blade-related Extraction Scroll.
Aside from Kakashi and Guy, Obito's life mission progress also changed a bit, though the increase wasn't very significant and didn't reach the threshold for a settlement reward. Mutsuki estimated that once this incident spread, it would rise a bit more, since reputation also increased the chances of becoming Hokage.
After that, Mutsuki clicked on the Item Upgrade Scroll. He didn't have many tangible rewards obtained from the system, but there were still some-mostly consumables like kunai, shuriken, and training secret medicines, followed by the black-framed glasses and the Six Paths Staff.
After clicking to confirm its use, a selectable upgrade list appeared on the panel. There were only three options: kunai and shuriken, and the black-framed glasses.
After a brief consideration, Mutsuki used it on the black-framed glasses.
If the Six Paths Staff had been an option, he would definitely have chosen the Six Paths Staff. The Six Paths Staff itself was extremely sturdy and also possessed the ability to disrupt ninjutsu, making it the strongest weapon in his possession at the moment.
However, compared to strengthening kunai and shuriken, strengthening the black-framed glasses was clearly the better choice.
Judging by the enhancement magnitude of skill upgrades, enhancement would not cause a qualitative transformation; it would only strengthen the item based on its current foundation.
Enhancing ordinary kunai and shuriken might ultimately produce results inferior to having a ninja tool master forge kunai and shuriken using high-quality materials.
Although the black-framed glasses had no offensive capability, they were still a special item with unique effects, allowing Mutsuki to use the Byakugan without any concerns.
[Item Upgrade Scroll used, black-framed glasses successfully upgraded]
[Black-framed glasses: Can conceal major changes occurring throughout the body, slightly produce an intellectual aura, and once worn, they will never fall off or be damaged unless the wearer removes them voluntarily]
"From just the head to the entire body-this makes using Transformation much more convenient," Mutsuki said, looking thoughtfully at the description of the upgraded black-framed glasses.
For Mutsuki, the Transformation skill was not really a combat skill, because compared to other ninja, his advantage lay in the high-level, powerful skills he possessed-this was where his combat strength resided.
At present, Mutsuki had not seen anyone with a Perfect-level skill. The only one was Hiruzen, who had a Combination Jutsu approaching the Perfect level. Yet Mutsuki himself already possessed four Perfect-level skills: Fire Attribute Chakra Nature Transformation, Armament Haki, Thunder Breathing, and Water Breathing.
Not only did these skills have high proficiency levels, they were also powerful techniques from other worlds localized into the shinobi world. Before a fight even began, he already held an informational advantage. Copying other people's skills could not effectively raise Mutsuki's upper limit of strength.
After all, Transformation scanning was still limited by one's own proficiency level. Abilities with excessively high proficiency could not be fully scanned, and ninja with great strength and abundant information consumed an enormous amount of chakra. For truly equal-level battles, the drawbacks were simply too many-especially since he did not specialize solely in the Transformation skill.
Mutsuki only treated Transformation as a support skill to enrich his methods.
For example, with the Ino-Shika-Cho clan's secret techniques, if Mutsuki wanted to interrogate someone, he could use Transformation to become Inoichi, which would be extremely convenient. Another example was Tsunade's medical ninjutsu, which could greatly enhance Mutsuki's medical abilities.
After the black-framed glasses were upgraded, Mutsuki thought of a new way to use the Transformation skill: using Transformation in combat to confuse his potential enemies.
For instance, his Ice Release was actually not very strong-still only at the Proficient level. But if he used Transformation to fight as Minazuki, his Ice Release would be on an entirely different level. Those who knew his previous Ice Release proficiency would assume that he had trained it hard to reach that strength, creating the false impression that Mutsuki placed great importance on Ice Release. This would essentially feed them incorrect intelligence.
In a situation where the enemy was in the dark and he was in the open, Mutsuki believed this new use of Transformation had definite strategic value.
Although he still had a few trump cards left, because he needed to teach his disciples, some of his personal information would inevitably be exposed to Madara and Black Zetsu.
Feeding false intelligence could cause Madara and Black Zetsu to form incorrect judgments about him, making it easier for mistakes to appear when they devised plans targeting him.
After using the Item Upgrade Scroll, Mutsuki prepared to do a lottery.
Before starting, as usual, Mutsuki washed his hands first. It might not really help, but it made him feel a bit more at ease.
Mutsuki first used the Fist and Foot-Related Skill Extraction Scroll obtained from Guy.
After clicking confirm, a huge roulette wheel appeared before Mutsuki's eyes, and he even saw some martial arts techniques from wuxia novels of his previous life among them.
[Fist and Foot-Related Skill Extraction Scroll consumed, skill obtained - Six Styles (Mastery level)]
Once the pointer completely settled, a large amount of training experience related to the Six Styles flooded into Mutsuki's mind. However, it was not the original pirate-world version; all of it had been localized to the shinobi world and required the use of chakra.
Although the system categorized Six Styles as a single skill, it was actually composed of six taijutsu techniques: Soru, Tekkai, Kami-e, Geppo, Rankyaku, and Shigan.
Mutsuki had previously obtained a Proficient-level Soru. Because its proficiency level was rather average, he rarely used it in battle, but this time it received a solid upgrade.
However, when it came purely to Body Flicker-type techniques, Mutsuki still believed that the Water Body Flicker Jutsu was stronger-Nature Transformation wasn't added for nothing.
But for someone like Guy, for whom learning ninjutsu was extremely difficult, Soru was still a very good choice. Moreover, with Stone Breathing as support, Guy's taijutsu was stronger than ordinary taijutsu.
For Mutsuki, the greatest significance of Six Styles lay in its ability to enhance his disciples' aerial combat capabilities. Although Geppo from Six Styles could not allow someone to truly fly, it could still enable brief movement in midair.
[Sword-Related Skill Extraction Scroll consumed, skill obtained - God of Fire Thunder (Mastery level)]
God of Fire Thunder was a Thunder Breathing technique self-created by Agatsuma Zenitsu in Demon Slayer, combining other Thunder Breathing sword forms. It balanced speed and power, looked impressive, and was a fairly outstanding move.
Finally, Mutsuki turned his gaze to the S+ grade Lightning Release Skill Extraction Scroll. This was the highest-level Extraction Scroll he had obtained so far.
Without hesitating for long, Mutsuki quickly clicked to extract it. No matter how good an Extraction Scroll was, it was useless if left unclaimed.
[Lightning Release Skill Extraction Scroll · S+ consumed, skill obtained - Musou no Hitotachi (No Thought Blade) (Mastery level)]
At the instant the extraction was completed, an enormous amount of training experience flooded into Mutsuki's mind-there were experiences related to various sword techniques as well as Lightning Attribute Nature Transformation. The sheer volume made Mutsuki feel as if he had devoted hundreds of years exclusively to training Lightning Release kenjutsu.
Even setting the skill itself aside, the byproducts brought by the skill alone left Mutsuki extremely satisfied. Not only were his experiences with various swords fully maxed out, but his Lightning Attribute Chakra Nature Transformation even increased by another one thousand proficiency points as a result.
Mutsuki's Lightning Attribute Chakra Nature Transformation proficiency level had now reached five thousand points. Although it was still slightly inferior to Mastery-level attributes like Wind and Water that benefited from system bonuses, within the ninja world it already surpassed the vast majority of ninja.
After briefly organizing his memories, Mutsuki went to find Orochimaru.
Orochimaru was the battlefield commander, the highest-ranking ninja on the battlefield. Coupled with their Root-related connection, Mutsuki had to report this incident to Orochimaru no matter what.
"Orochimaru-sama, earlier the squad my disciples were in encountered the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist. With Might Duy's assistance, they killed Fuguki Suikazan of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist and forced the remaining members to retreat," Mutsuki said, getting straight to the point.
After his initial surprise, Orochimaru showed a contemplative expression. If he remembered correctly, the squad Mutsuki's disciples were in consisted entirely of chunin, and all of them had only recently been promoted-there wasn't a single ninja over ten years old.
As for Duy, Orochimaru didn't recognize him at all, but judging by the surname, he could tell this person was related to Might Guy.
Because of the earlier matter of forming new squads, Orochimaru had a slight impression of their team. However, he truly hadn't expected them to possess the strength to defeat the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist. After all, the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist were a team composed of seven outstanding Hidden Mist jonin.
"It seems that a remarkable batch of geniuses has appeared in Konoha," Orochimaru praised.
Although it was highly unreasonable for a squad of seven chunin to defeat the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist, Orochimaru still believed it, because the one making the report was Mutsuki.
Mutsuki had no reason to fabricate such a lie to deceive him-unless Mutsuki were mentally unsound. But from Orochimaru's observations, Mutsuki was not only normal, but also very intelligent.
"When the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist were retreating, I arrived at the scene to block their withdrawal. However, at that moment, Minazuki arrived as well with a Hidden Mist squad. Under their cover, the injured Juzo and Kushimaru managed to retreat," Mutsuki continued his report.
Since he did not plan to conceal anything this time, he would recount the entire process.
"Minazuki..." Orochimaru's eyes flickered. This was no simple character. Coupled with the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist, Mutsuki and his disciples had essentially fought a small-scale elite battle against the Hidden Mist.
"Aside from Juzo and Kushimaru, who managed to retreat, all other Hidden Mist ninja were killed by me on the spot. Five ninja swords were seized as spoils," Mutsuki stated his overall results at the end.
Looking at the calm expression on Mutsuki's face, Orochimaru felt a trace of curiosity about the details of Mutsuki's battle.
According to Mutsuki's report, the battle had just taken place, and there were no injuries on Mutsuki's body. In other words, Mutsuki had killed Minazuki, four members of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist, and multiple Hidden Mist ninja without taking a single wound.
Such combat strength was somewhat beyond Orochimaru's expectations. His expectation of Mutsuki had only been that he could defeat Minazuki or Zangetsu.
"Mutsuki-kun, you've truly given me a big surprise," Orochimaru said with a faint smile curling at the corner of his mouth.
Although this sudden encounter battle would affect Orochimaru's plans against the Hidden Mist, overall it was a major victory worthy of Konoha issuing a separate commendation. With just a slight addition such as "under Orochimaru's leadership," Orochimaru himself could also gain considerable merit.
"I'd really like to chat more with you about the specific details, Mutsuki-kun, but an emergency combat meeting needs to be convened right now," Orochimaru said as he stood up.
This encounter battle had a significant impact on the entire eastern coast battlefield of the Land of Fire. The Hidden Mist not only lost a powerhouse like Minazuki, but also five elite members of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist-an extremely heavy loss.
Under such circumstances, Orochimaru's strategy of luring the enemy would be difficult to implement, so he needed to change the overall battle plan and take the initiative to force the Hidden Mist into battle.
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