Chapter 75: [95.55%] — The Second Inheritance?
The Red Sand Scorpion stared at the blade piercing his chest, blood bubbling from his lips. Disbelief colored his voice.
"How... how did you know?"
Ordinary opponents, cut in two, were considered dead. A swordsman confident in his art wouldn't bother with a final blow. Ryuzen had made that mistake against Kimimaro.
But Sasori had no blood flowing from his severed lower half. No internal organs spilling from the wound. Nothing that marked a living thing.
Ryuzen glanced at the bisected puppet body—dry, hollow, bloodless—then back at the heart he had just skewered.
"I'm not blind."
He withdrew his blade and sheathed it in one motion. Then he turned, walking toward the cave entrance, his voice carrying like a passing breeze:
"...He'll probably last a while longer."
His Kenbunshoku Haki remained locked on Chiyo, tracking her every breath, every shift of weight, every flicker of killing intent. He didn't relax until he had fully exited the cave.
For ninja in this world, the village always comes first. I don't understand it. But I respect it.
Chiyo had watched her grandson die at his hands and done nothing. If she had chosen otherwise, Ryuzen would have done what needed to be done—alliance with Suna be damned.
He stepped onto the air, Geppo carrying him skyward.
At ten meters altitude, his Kenbunshoku Haki spread like a vast net, seeking familiar signatures—Hinata, Shino, the others. Twenty seconds later, he found them.
He ran through the air for a distance before descending into the forest, switching from Geppo to Body Flicker to conserve energy.
Three years of training had given him mastery over Soru and Geppo. The techniques had addressed his weaknesses—close-quarters speed and aerial mobility.
But he couldn't use them recklessly.
Like Rock Lee's Lotus, these physical techniques drained stamina. The toll on his body far exceeded chakra consumption from ninjutsu. Outside of combat, Body Flicker sufficed. Its effectiveness remained significant—combined with Geppo, Ryuzen felt there was nowhere he couldn't go.
[You have killed the Red Sand Scorpion. Experience gained: 2.66%]
[Dracule Mihawk Inheritance Template: 95.55% Unlocked]
The notifications echoed in his mind as he moved through the forest.
Ryuzen's lips curved slightly. Unknowingly, the progress that once felt impossible has nearly reached its end.
Almost ten years since the system activated.
As a child, that daily 0.02% had felt like a mountain. Yet even that tiny increment had been enough to rocket him past his peers. Six years at the Academy, and he'd left them all behind. The day after graduation, he'd defeated his own jōnin instructor.
But after that, progress had slowed. Stagnated, even. Until two years ago, when he'd finally broken through to Great Swordsman—a plateau that had seemed unbreakable.
The past two years had been about stabilization, solidifying that realm. The gap between him and the Mihawk of the spiritual world remained.
Still, his progress wasn't just from daily tasks. Team 8 had undertaken numerous missions over the last two years. Countless wandering ninja and hostile shinobi had fallen to his blade. Added to the experience from Kisame's clone and the Red Sand Scorpion today—
He murmured to himself, anticipation coloring his voice: "I wonder... when the Mihawk template reaches one hundred percent... will there be a second inheritance?"
He remembered activating the system. But the inheritance itself remained a mystery.
After saving Hinata from those three bullies all those years ago, he'd dragged his battered body home and collapsed. In the haze between waking and sleeping, a notification had sounded in his head. He'd thought it a hallucination—until he woke to find the inheritance and mission templates accessible in his mind.
The Golden Finger had awakened. But how he'd obtained Mihawk's legacy... that was still unknown.
He wasn't certain there would be more.
But the system's name—The Strongest Inheritance System—suggested otherwise.
Ryuzen's hands tightened fractionally. One year until the Fourth Great Ninja War. Even if I only do daily tasks, that's another 7.3% experience. And in the coming year, the Akatsuki will be our enemy...
If there is a second inheritance, I'll find out soon enough.
He set the thought aside and accelerated.
Ten minutes later, guided by Kenbunshoku Haki, he reached a clearing in the forest.
Teams 7 and 8 stood gathered around Gaara's body. Team 7's faces were drawn with grief. Hinata and Shino simply looked somber—remembering the Chunin Exams, Sasuke's defection, how much had changed in a few short years.
Hinata spotted him first. She hurried over, checking him for injuries, her hands gentle and thorough.
"Ryuzen-kun? Are you alright?"
He smiled. "I'm fine."
Relief softened her features.
Shino approached, adjusting his sunglasses. "Ryuzen. What about your opponent?"
"Dead." Ryuzen's gaze moved to the others, knowing the answer already. "What about yours?"
Shino's voice was flat. "He used a self-destruct technique. Kakashi-sensei transported him to another dimension with space-time ninjutsu."
Ryuzen nodded slowly. Just as in the original story. Deidara faked his death and escaped.
He said nothing about it. Some knowledge was better kept to himself.
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