Gonna do 1 chapter per day until we reach 25 or 40 advanced chapters on Patreon.
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Smack!
Seeing Jiraiya peeking again, Isamu slapped him on the butt once more.
"Damn it! Is this bathhouse haunted?" Jiraiya spun around, looking everywhere in confusion. No matter how hard he searched, he couldn't find anyone responsible.
"Forget it… forget it. I'd better get out of here. Maybe there really is a ghost."
Grabbing his towel, Jiraiya hurriedly fled the bathhouse.
"Hahaha! Jiraiya is such an idiot!"
Isamu surfaced from the water and burst out laughing.
"Hahaha! Getting scared by something like that… I'm dying!"
Tōwa looked at him helplessly.
"Is it really okay to scare him like that?"
"Tōwa, you just don't understand," Isamu said with a grin. "This is the fun of being young. As the saying goes, laughter keeps you young. You should smile more—it might make you look a few years younger."
Tōwa didn't believe a word of it.
You just wanted to mess with him and made up an excuse, he thought.
And besides… my country is in trouble. How could I possibly feel like smiling?
The two continued soaking for a while longer. After finishing their bath, they returned to their rooms and rested for the night.
---
The next morning, after washing up, the group set out again.
"That hot spring inn was terrible," Jiraiya complained loudly. "The place is haunted. I'm never going back there again."
He had barely slept the entire night, convinced the bathhouse was haunted. Dark circles hung under his eyes.
"Haunted?" Tsunade snorted. "What nonsense are you talking about? Are you still half-asleep?"
"There's no way that place is haunted," she continued. "You probably just had a weird dream."
Orochimaru nodded in agreement. He didn't believe in ghosts or supernatural nonsense either.
"You don't believe me? I'm telling you, yesterday in the ba—"
Before Jiraiya could finish his sentence, Isamu suddenly covered his mouth.
"Alright, that's enough," Isamu said calmly.
"There are no ghosts or gods in this world. We're getting close to the Land of Hot Springs, so stop talking nonsense and stay focused."
He wasn't worried about ghosts—he was worried Jiraiya might reveal what actually happened. With Tsunade present, it would be better if that embarrassing story stayed buried.
Seeing Isamu shut the topic down, the group dropped the conversation and began paying attention to their surroundings.
Only Tōwa glanced at Isamu with a strange expression.
---
"There are two genin waiting in ambush ahead," Isamu said suddenly after sensing chakra nearby.
"Go deal with them quickly and clear the path."
"Yes!"
The three immediately became serious and quietly moved toward the location Isamu had pointed out.
Not long after—
Boom! Boom!
The sound of clashing ninjutsu echoed through the forest.
Isamu frowned slightly as he looked toward the explosion.
"I told them the enemy's location in advance, yet they were still discovered… and it even turned into a ninjutsu battle."
He sighed.
"Either I overestimated them… or their strength really is just this limited."
Turning to Tōwa, he added quietly:
"It seems relying on them for this mission isn't realistic. The future Sannin are still too young. A mission like this is probably too much for them right now."
Soon the explosions stopped.
Isamu walked toward the battlefield with Tōwa.
When they arrived, the three of them looked rather miserable. They had even suffered minor injuries.
Clearly, the future Sannin were still inexperienced rookies.
"Two genin made you look this pathetic?" Isamu said with a frown.
"This makes me seriously question whether you have the strength to complete this mission."
"Big Brother Isamu, this isn't our fault," Tsunade explained.
"Those two genin were practically chūnin-level fighters. It's already impressive that we managed to defeat them."
"Yeah!" Jiraiya quickly added.
"We're not weak—it's just that the opponents were strong. We barely won."
Orochimaru nodded.
"Their strength was indeed unusual for genin."
"Stop making excuses," Isamu said coldly.
"You were careless and underestimated your enemies."
"I told you exactly where they were hiding, yet you still got discovered. And it even turned into a ninjutsu clash."
His gaze landed on Orochimaru.
"Especially you. With your chūnin-level strength, you couldn't even defeat a genin quickly."
"You had the advantage in numbers and still ended up injured."
He shook his head in disappointment.
"I'm starting to doubt whether you're even real ninja."
The three lowered their heads, feeling wronged but not daring to argue.
After all… Isamu wasn't entirely wrong. They had indeed been careless.
Watching them silently, Isamu let out a sigh.
"Sigh… it's not completely your fault either."
"I didn't expect the enemy ninja to be this capable. Their strength is comparable to ninja from smaller hidden villages."
He paused.
"Forget it."
"From now on, I'll clear the path ahead."
"I'll deal with the enemy genin, and you three will focus on protecting Tōwa."
"Yes, Big Brother Isamu," the three replied seriously.
"We'll work harder to improve our strength."
"Good," Isamu said. "I hope you won't disappoint me next time."
The moment he finished speaking—
He vanished.
---
"Uh… where did he go?" Tōwa asked nervously.
With Isamu gone, the strongest person in the group had disappeared. Tōwa instantly felt much less safe.
"He probably went ahead to clear the path," Orochimaru said calmly.
Then he turned to Tōwa.
"Uncle Tōwa, how far are we from the Land of Hot Springs?"
"Not far," Tōwa said after checking the surroundings.
"We're about three kilometers away. We should reach the border very soon."
"So close…" Orochimaru nodded.
"Tsunade, you're responsible for protecting Tōwa."
"Jiraiya and I will stay on guard."
With Isamu gone, Orochimaru, the strongest among them, naturally took command and assigned tasks.
No one objected.
Hidden nearby, Isamu silently watched them.
He nodded with satisfaction.
This wasn't actually his real body—it was a Shadow Clone.
While the real Isamu had gone ahead to clear the path, he still felt uneasy leaving them completely alone, so he left behind a clone to watch over them.
---
Meanwhile, the real Isamu had already traveled more than two kilometers ahead.
Soon, he sensed three more genin.
"More ninja?" he muttered.
"These bastards… are they trying to turn the Land of Hot Springs into a small hidden village?"
"There must be some kind of conspiracy."
Just then—
Ding!
A mechanical voice sounded in his mind.
Mission issued: Dismantle the invading force.
Successfully expel the foreign ninja from the Land of Hot Springs.
Reward: 300,000 points and one opportunity to upgrade your Sharingan.
Failure: Immediate erasure.
"Damn!"
Isamu's eyes lit up.
"Three hundred thousand points… and a Sharingan upgrade?"
"I'm about to hit the jackpot."
"If the Mangekyō Sharingan upgrades again, it'll become the Eternal Mangekyō."
"I've avoided using Susanoo before because it's incomplete and still flawed."
"But with the Eternal Mangekyō, I could just activate a full Susanoo every time I fight."
"Imagine the enemies' faces when they see a giant Susanoo appear—haha."
"And later I could even summon Tailed Beasts and combine them with Susanoo…"
"The Majestic Attire: Susanoo."
"That move is ridiculously powerful."
"In the original story, even Hashirama only defeated Madara's Majestic Attire Susanoo by using True Several Thousand Hands."
The more Isamu thought about it, the more excited he became.
As for the punishment for failing the mission…
He didn't care at all.
"With Kamui and several Tailed Beasts under my control, how could I fail?"
"With a broken ability like Kamui, failure isn't even an option."
He smirked.
"Honestly, System, even though you still threaten to erase me… I've noticed your missions are getting easier and the rewards better."
"I will mo make fun of you anymore."
Unfortunately, the system gave no response.
---------------Author---------------
U might notice tl quality drop a bit, its because I try to translate to many chapters at once, that why 1 chapter per day.
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