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While Nikō was thinking of a way to find an opening and defeat Kanda Rokuro...
Rokuro suddenly took two steps back and held up a hand. "Alright, let's call it a day!"
Nikō halted his attack.
He gave Rokuro a look and instantly understood the other boy's reason for stopping.
It was to spare him from losing.
Because if the fight dragged on, unless Nikō resorted to lethal assassination techniques, the one who would ultimately lose was him.
And he couldn't kill Rokuro.
So, his defeat was a 100% certainty.
Nikō's expression returned to its usual calm. He took a deep look at Rokuro and said, "I acknowledge your strength. You can come challenge me anytime."
Rokuro touched his aching face, wincing in pain. "Don't worry. Once I fully digest the combat experience from today, I'll come find you again. I just hope you don't aim for my face next time!"
Nikō turned and walked away without a word.
Coming so close to losing made him extremely uncomfortable. He needed to go back and train harder. He didn't want to look at Rokuro's face right now.
Watching Nikō retreat to his room, Rokuro turned his head toward the surrounding forest and shouted, "Is anyone out there? Can someone get a doctor for me?"
The moment he spoke, Okamoto stepped out from the treeline, glaring fiercely at Rokuro. "Are you getting cocky, kid? You've only been learning combat for a few days, and you immediately go challenge the number one ranked trainee?!"
Rokuro didn't care at all. He just gave a goofy smile. "Fighting strong opponents is how I get stronger, right? Didn't you want me to become stronger, Lord Okamoto? Isn't this a good thing?"
Okamoto was stunned for a moment, his expression turning serious. He looked at Rokuro, thought about it, and said, "You make a fair point. Ninjas are not greenhouse flowers; they face life-or-death danger every day. Since you are so eager to get stronger, tomorrow I will create a Shadow Clone to spar with you!"
Rokuro was overjoyed!
When it came to combat experience, Okamoto's clone would undoubtedly be vastly superior to Nikō.
Training with Okamoto's clone meant his progress would skyrocket.
"Thank you, Lord Okamoto..."
Thrilled, Rokuro quickly bowed in gratitude.
Okamoto grabbed Rokuro by the collar, lifting him up. "Enough. Let's get you treated first. You're in no shape to train anymore today. Take a good rest. Your real training officially begins tomorrow!"
Since the orphanage branch conducted live combat training, they naturally had a doctor on staff.
Okamoto dragged Rokuro to a dedicated medical room.
There, a middle-aged man applied medicinal ointments and massaged Rokuro's bruised muscles.
This kind of treatment left Rokuro feeling a bit disappointed.
He had hoped they would arrange a doctor who could use Medical Ninjutsu. That way, he could have chatted the guy up and secretly learned Medical Ninjutsu through the System.
What a pity!
Medical Ninjas were highly valuable assets. It was highly unlikely a small outpost like this would be assigned one.
Having a regular doctor to treat injuries was already pretty good.
Under the doctor's massage and medicine, the pain in Rokuro's body eased significantly. The doctor ordered him not to engage in any strenuous physical activity for the rest of the day and sent him home.
Back in his room, Rokuro lay down to rest.
He had been here for almost two months, and today was the first time he actually had a moment to properly plan his future.
He lay there thinking quietly until the sun went down.
Then, he got up and started his training.
He still hadn't completed his two Daily Quests.
That was 600 EXP.
He absolutely could not waste it.
Even if his body was still aching, the quests had to be done.
By the time he finished both quests, it was already 9:00 PM.
Thinking about the grueling training with Okamoto's clone tomorrow, he decided to just lie back down and go to sleep.
After a night's rest, Rokuro got up, ready to go find Okamoto.
While washing his face, he checked the contents of today's Random Quest.
Ugh!
The System flipped out again!
Yesterday, he had taken a beating from Nikō.
Today's Random Quest was: [Beat Nikō to a pulp.]
It seemed that if he didn't beat Nikō up, this quest was just going to hang there indefinitely.
Which meant he would be losing out on 100 EXP every single day.
Staring at the quest, he hesitated for a while before deciding to ignore it for now.
Nikō's skills were solid. Just defeating him was hard enough; beating him to a pulp was incredibly difficult.
He needed to raise his own strength first.
He would train diligently with Okamoto's clone. Once his Taijutsu Level reached Level 3, then he would go teach Nikō a lesson.
In the meantime, he could still seek Nikō out to hone his combat experience.
Abandoning the Random Quest, Rokuro began his brutal daily training regimen with Okamoto's clone.
Every five days, he would run over and challenge Nikō to a fight.
Time flew by.
Over twenty days passed.
During his fifth challenge against Nikō, Rokuro was finally able to fight him to a complete standstill. It was no longer a one-sided affair where Nikō landed all the hits.
Rokuro's rapid progress stimulated Nikō to train even harder.
Sometimes, when Rokuro was sleeping in the early hours of the morning, he could hear the sounds of intense training coming from the room next door.
It seemed Nikō was going all out.
Life at the orphanage branch was just training, followed by more training. There was no entertainment whatsoever.
Every single day was exactly the same.
In an environment like this, it was incredibly easy to lose track of the date.
Rokuro was no exception.
He trained so obsessively every day that he forgot about the passage of time.
Until one day, he returned to his training room, finished his Daily Training Quest, and dumped the newly earned EXP into his Taijutsu stat.
A System prompt chimed, notifying him that his [Taijutsu Level] had broken through to Level 3.
Only then did he realize he had been training non-stop for almost a month and a half.
With the Taijutsu level up, his body began to heat up rapidly once again.
This time, the searing heat lasted for a full ten seconds before subsiding.
His physical strength had taken another massive leap forward.
Snapping back to reality, Rokuro immediately rushed to test his new limits.
He threw a solid punch at the testing machine.
The force gauge skyrocketed to 121 kilograms (approx. 266 lbs).
Seeing this number, he was thrilled.
According to the information he had gathered from Okamoto, his raw physical strength was now completely on par with a standard Genin. If Ninjutsu wasn't a factor in the evaluation, he possessed the physical qualifications to become a Genin right now.
Furthermore, a standard Genin only reached this level of physical output by enhancing their bodies with Chakra. Without Chakra reinforcement, their base physical strikes would only register around 75 kilograms.
He had achieved the output of their Chakra-enhanced strikes using pure physical muscle alone.
(Of course, this only applied to normal Genin, not the monstrous freaks of the ninja world).
Excellent!
Absolutely excellent!
Rokuro pulled up his status panel, feeling quite satisfied.
[Host: Kanda Rokuro]
[Main Stats:]
Taijutsu Level 3: EXP 231 / 40,000
Ninjutsu Level 1: EXP 0 / 10,000
Genjutsu Level 1: EXP 0 / 10,000
[Taijutsu Skills:]
Kunai Throwing Technique Level 3: EXP 48 / 4,000
Shuriken Throwing Technique Level 1: EXP 3 / 1,000