It was the same hot spring inn where Yagami had woken up before… the one he'd stayed at when he fought against the Sand forces together with Kushina.
Right now, Yagami was leaning back, soaking comfortably in the hot spring pool.
He was getting more and more addicted to the habit of taking a bath after a battle.
Not only could it wash away the stench of blood from all the enemies he had cut down, but it could also quickly soothe the fatigue that settled into his muscles after going all-out in a fight.
Originally, Yagami had wanted to drag Kushina along and make her take a proper mixed bath with him to loosen up her body as well.
But for some reason, the moment Kushina heard that Yagami was going to the hot spring inn, she suddenly acted like she had a guilty conscience and stubbornly refused to come along no matter what he said.
That left Yagami a little confused.
But since Kushina wouldn't come, he didn't force her and simply came alone.
"Haa…"
After letting out a comfortable breath at the rising steam, Yagami narrowed his eyes, leaning against the edge of the pool as he connected with the system in his mind.
"System, use the advanced lottery."
[Okay, master!]
[Ding! After deducting 100,000 prestige points, the remaining balance is 34,602 points.]
[Premium lottery is now starting…]
[Congratulations to the master for obtaining: Devil Fruit – Lightning Fruit (gold-grade)!]
[Congratulations to the master for obtaining: a pair of Den Den Mushi (blue-grade)!]
[Congratulations to the master for obtaining: Devil Fruit – Glint-Glint Fruit (gold-grade)!]
A bunch of junk rewards were brushed aside, and then three items with different grade colors appeared one after another.
Yagami himself was directly stunned by the content of this draw.
In one lottery, he'd actually gotten two top-tier rewards?
And they were both Logia-type Devil Fruits at the very peak?
This… this probability was way too low, right?!
[Ding! Please choose, master: which Devil Fruit do you want to eat?]
"Ugh…"
Hearing the system's voice, Yagami immediately fell into deep hesitation.
Because both of these Devil Fruits were absolute top-tier in their own right, it made it really hard for him to decide.
"Can I eat both?"
After thinking for a while and still unable to choose, Yagami asked the system.
Two billion dollars notes lying on the ground, and someone was asking him which one he wanted to pick up.
That was exactly how Yagami felt at this moment.
[Ding! No…]
Hearing that reply, Yagami was instantly a little disappointed.
But right then, the system's voice sounded again:
[However, the master can consume 10,000 prestige points to fuse the two Devil Fruits into a brand-new Devil Fruit.]
[In that case, the new Devil Fruit will possess the characteristics of both fruits at the same time.]
[You can use the combined abilities together, or use each one separately.]
"Fusion…?"
"The system has a function like that too?"
Hearing the voice in his head, Yagami's eyes widened in surprise.
He really hadn't expected the system to have such a feature.
[Ding! The system is omnipotent.]
The voice in his mind even sounded a little smug.
But Yagami didn't bother to argue with it right now.
Since the fruits could be fused, there was no reason for him to hesitate anymore.
"Then fuse those two Devil Fruits for me!"
Yagami's voice carried firm resolve and barely contained excitement.
Just thinking about combining the powers of two top-tier fruits into one made his heart race a little.
[Ding! After deducting 10,000 prestige points, the remaining balance is 24,602 points.]
[Ding! Congratulations to the master for obtaining: Golden Lightning Fruit!!]
As the system deducted the corresponding prestige points, the two Devil Fruit cards merged together inside the interface.
A brand-new, pineapple-shaped Devil Fruit was born.
Its surface faintly shimmered with golden light, arcs of thunder crawling lazily across it.
Just from its appearance alone, this new Devil Fruit radiated a sense of overwhelming power.
[Would you like to use the Golden Lightning Fruit now?]
"Use it."
Yagami stared at the brand-new Devil Fruit with burning eyes.
The moment the system's voice rang in his ears, he answered without the slightest hesitation.
As soon as Yagami's words fell, the card shot out from the system interface and sank directly into his body.
A special kind of energy immediately spread from his stomach to every corner of his limbs.
The Devil Fruit began altering Yagami's physique.
His body, submerged in the hot spring, flared with golden light one moment and crackled with raging lightning the next.
The water in the pool around him hissed and popped, "pipi, pipi," as if it were being boiled by the power leaking from his body.
More than ten breaths of time slowly passed.
"Haa…"
"So this is the power of a Devil Fruit…"
Yagami muttered to himself with his eyes closed.
He could clearly feel that wild, special energy flowing inside him.
He could fuse it and use it together as one, or separate it and call on each power individually.
"Let's try it."
Unable to hold back his curiosity about his new abilities, Yagami raised his hands out of the water.
With a single thought, the energy in his body surged toward his hands.
In the blink of an eye, dazzling golden light and blinding white light erupted from his palms.
With another thought, the golden light and white glow peeled apart completely.
His right hand turned into pure golden radiance, while his left hand crackled with violent thunder.
"Fuu…"
"This thrilling feeling… no wonder Blackbeard kept shouting that he was the strongest after getting two Devil Fruits in One Piece… This really does make you drunk on power…"
Yagami exhaled slowly, excitement bubbling in his chest.
Holding both abilities in his hands, he felt his confidence skyrocket, as if he could take on anything in the world right now.
After playing around with the two powers for a while, Yagami finally drew them back into his body.
Then he closed his eyes and went over all the skills and techniques related to the two fruits in his mind.
When it came to developing Devil Fruits, the fastest way was, of course, to learn from the abilities already shown by their previous owners.
Since he hadn't fully mastered the basic power of the Devil Fruit yet, Yagami didn't plan on creating any new, original skills of his own for the time being.
He would first familiarize himself with everything these fruits could already do.
By dusk, Yagami stepped out of the hot spring inn.
After soaking for so long, his entire body felt loose and light.
"Send this victory report back to the village as soon as possible."
"Understood, Lord Orochimaru!"
As soon as he returned to the area outside Kikyō Castle's gate tower, Yagami heard Orochimaru's voice.
A moment later, a Konoha shinobi carrying a scroll walked out of the command post on the tower.
"Lord Yagami!!"
The instant the Konoha shinobi spotted him, admiration flashed in his eyes and he immediately bowed deeply toward Yagami.
"You're heading back to the village?"
Yagami nodded lightly and asked.
"Yes, Lord Yagami!!"
Being spoken to directly by Yagami, the shinobi's face flushed with excitement.
"You, come over here. I need to ask you for a favor."
Confirming that the man really was returning to the village, Yagami quickly pulled him to the side.
He glanced around, making sure Kushina wasn't anywhere nearby.
Then, under the curious gaze of the shinobi, Yagami reached into his system backpack and took out a strange-looking Den Den Mushi.
"Lord Yagami, what is this…?"
The Konoha shinobi was full of questions.
But Yagami cut him off before he could finish.
"Don't worry about what it is. Just help me take it back to the village."
"Then hand it over to the Uchiha clan—specifically to Uchiha Mikoto."
These past few days, he'd been glued to Kushina's side non-stop.
But Yagami hadn't seen Mikoto in quite a while.
Saying he didn't miss her at all would've been an obvious lie.
Now, thanks to the system's lottery, he had gotten a Den Den Mushi.
He could send it back to the village, have it delivered to Mikoto, and then the two of them would be able to talk over the "phone" whenever they wanted—enough to ease their growing longing for each other, even across the battlefield.
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