'Hmm?!'
'Spiritual Pressure has advanced to a new level!?'
As the system notification faded, Kyo's eyes immediately lit up.
He hadn't heard this Spiritual Pressure advancement notification for several years!
And now, in just one short day since leaving his hiding place, through the rewards from these side missions, he had successfully raised it!
'Is this the accumulation of small amounts making a big difference?'
Kyo had a faint smile as he raised his hand, a thread of Spiritual Pressure emerging from his palm.
It was clearly visible that both the density of the Spiritual Energy and its oppressive force far exceeded their previous level.
And when Kyo tried concentrating this Spiritual Pressure on the flower pot in front of him.
Bang!!!
The moment the flower pot was enveloped by the Spiritual Pressure, it was as if struck by an invisible, tremendous force, exploding instantly!
As dust flew, the flower had already been reduced to fragments.
'Just as expected!'
'Now, Spiritual Pressure could indeed begin to interfere with the real world!'
The smile on Kyo's face grew even more intense.
The benefits of increasing Spiritual Pressure were almost self-evident.
"It seems I can't slack off on side missions in the future either."
Kyo murmured to himself with a smile.
If even his current intermediate-level Spiritual Pressure had this kind of power,
he believed that as long as he completed enough missions, he would eventually reach a level where he could be invincible in the world using only Spiritual Pressure!
After a moment,
Kyo's attention returned to the system panel.
'Etra Reward: Hado #90: Kurohitsugi—'
Among Shinigami, the signature technique of Aizen Sosuke, the high-level Hado ranked 90th!
Upon release, it traps the opponent within a huge black cube, and in an instant, countless shadow blades surge forth, attacking with a thousand gravity-flowing swords of Spiritual Pressure.
A high-level Hado like this meant extremely strong destructive power, as well as a very high difficulty of release.
However, for Kyo, who possessed an "excellent" level of Kido proficiency, the moment he learned its incantation, he would be able to completely master it.
And afterwards, without any additional conditions, he could easily release it in an incantationless state!
Although abandoning the incantation would sacrifice some of its power,
the advantage was speed.
'If Kido were to reach the "ultimate" level, I wonder if incantationless release would have the same power as a full incantation...'
Kyo thought to himself, but at least for now, it was impossible to know.
Moreover, although this kind of high-level Hado was powerful, its Spiritual Energy consumption was equally high. Under normal circumstances, he naturally wouldn't use it casually.
…
Two days later.
In a cave within Amegakure, inside a secret meeting room.
Three seats were arranged in a triangular formation, positioned on three sides of the room. On each seat sat a person.
On the left side sat one person, wearing the black robe with red clouds, with blue-purple hair and an iris flower ornament in her hair. She was the owner of Akatsuki's White ring, Konan.
On the right side sat another person, also wearing the black robe with red clouds. A pair of light purple Rinnegan emitted a faint glow in the darkness. He was the Akatsuki's leader, Pain.
Strangely, the person sitting in the middle seat was not wearing the Akatsuki uniform.
Instead, he was clad in a black robe, with a dark green scarf draped over his shoulders. Moreover, he wore an orange swirl mask on his face, obscuring his features.
Only one right eye was visible, gleaming with a crimson light.
He was the shadowy leader of the Akatsuki,
one of the three great actor-kings within the Akatsuki — the Masked Man, "Uchiha Madara".
At that moment, he sat with his legs crossed, one hand propping up his chin, and spoke in a low voice:
"I have learned from your messages about Sasori of the Red Sand being killed by that guy named Kyo."
"So, tell me..."
"What intelligence do you have on this suddenly appearing fellow?"