Watching Uchiha Sasuke bolt from the room, Shiranui Hayate couldn't help but sigh internally. I promised to bring your clansmen, kid. Whether your parents are among them... well, that's a promise I can't quite make yet.
It wasn't that Hayate wanted to be vague; it was a matter of mechanical reality. He didn't know if Uchiha Fugaku or Mikoto were even in the system's recruitment pool. Before his soul had crossed over from Feng Yi, the mobile game hadn't featured the Uchiha parents as playable characters, though there were plenty of versions of Shisui and Itachi.
Shaking off these heavy thoughts, Hayate lay back on his bed and dove back into the system interface. He opened the Mission Hub and saw that the B-Rank mission—Protecting Wesley—was marked as complete. He tapped the reward button.
[Reward: 2,000 Reputation, 200,000 Copper Coins, and 1 Common Treasure Chest.]
He opened the chest, and another 2,000 Reputation popped out. No ninja shards this time, but Hayate wasn't complaining. Reputation was the hard currency required for upgrading Summoning Beasts, and he was going to need a mountain of it soon.
Now came the moment he had been itching for: Ninja Recruitment. He virtually rubbed his hands together, offering a silent prayer. "Six Paths Sage, bless me. Give me a powerhouse. B-Rank or higher, let's go!"
"Ninja Recruitment: 10-Pull! GO!"
The swirling whirlpool sigil of the Land of Whirlpools appeared, radiating a blinding light. As the glow faded, the results scrolled across his vision:
[C-Rank] Naruto (Ninja Academy Shard) x2
[C-Rank] Tenten Shard x2
[C-Rank] Haruno Sakura Shard x2
[C-Rank] Shizune Shard x1
[B-Rank] Hinata Hyuga (Shippuden) Shard x2
[C-Rank] Temari (Kamidari) Shard x2
[B-Rank] Hinata Hyuga (Shippuden) Shard x2
[C-Rank] Uchiha Sasuke (Sharingan)!
[A-Rank] Hidan Shard x4
[C-Rank] Hinata Hyuga Shard x1
A full-screen splash appeared: Congratulations on recruiting [Sharingan] Uchiha Sasuke! The image showed Sasuke as he appeared during the Chunin Exams—clad in his sleek black one-piece outfit, hands wrapped in bandages, and eyes brimming with intensity. Despite the cool factor, the words C-Rank sat mockingly next to his name.
Hayate immediately checked the skills.
[Sharingan] Uchiha Sasuke: C-Rank Ninja
Skills: Fire Style: Great Fireball, Sharingan, Chidori.
He tapped on the Sharingan skill to inspect it. To his surprise, it wasn't the basic one-tomoe version; it was the two-tomoe Sharingan. The other two skills were identical to the version of Sasuke he already had.
"Sigh..."
Hayate let out a long breath. He wondered if he had used up all his luck just by surviving the transmigration. Was the Six Paths Sage unable to hear him in the Marvel Universe?
"It's not me," Hayate grumbled to himself, "the Six Paths Sage just doesn't have jurisdiction here. Next time, I'll try praying to a local god. Maybe they'll be more generous."
He refused to admit he was just a "natural-born unlucky puller."
"A whole ninja for a two-tomoe Sharingan isn't a total loss," he rationalized. "Better than pulling a Ninja Academy student."
As he claimed the reward, a surge of chakra manifested in his body—another "Genin-level" increase to his total pool. He could now fire off three additional Chidoris before running dry. He nodded, satisfied with the raw utility.
He looked at the other rewards. It seemed the system really wanted him to build Hinata Hyuga; he had pulled shards for both her C-Rank and B-Rank versions.
Then his eyes widened. Hidan. An A-Rank ninja. Even though it was only four shards, it was a huge jump—essentially completing ten percent of the requirement in one go.
While B and A-Rank shards were notoriously hard to synthesize due to their random drop rates, the C-Rank ninjas like Temari, Tenten, and Shizune were close. A few more ten-pulls and he'd likely have a full roster.
Hayate opened his ninja list. It now displayed four names: Umino Iruka, Rock Lee, Uchiha Sasuke, and [Sharingan] Uchiha Sasuke.
He didn't want two Sasukes running around his office. He selected the Card Fusion option.
In this system, cards of the same character could be fused. The fused character retained all memories and expanded their skill slots to six. For example, fusing an Academy Naruto with a Chunin Exam Naruto would result in a single, more powerful Naruto whose physical form and stats matured.
Hayate first recalled the active Sasuke into the system space. In a blink, the boy sleeping in the other room disappeared.
With both cards now "idle," Hayate initiated the fusion.
[Confirm Fusion? (Note: Star-level requirements will now be the sum of both cards.)]
Hayate didn't hesitate. Confirm.
A brilliant light engulfed the cards.
[Fusion Successful! Due to identical skills, 'Fire Style: Great Fireball' and 'Chidori' have been reinforced.]
The ninja's name remained Uchiha Sasuke (C-Rank), but he now had four skill slots and a much higher potential for growth. Hayate immediately placed the newly fused Sasuke back into the active deployment slot.
[Deploy to: Previous Location / Within 3 meters of Shiranui Hayate?]
Previous Location.
A few doors down, Sasuke reappeared on his bed. He had only been "gone" for a few seconds.
The young Uchiha sat up abruptly, his heart racing. He scanned the room, making sure he was truly back. As he did, he focused his vision. In the dark room, his eyes suddenly glowed crimson, each pupil now bearing two tomoe.
Feeling the heightened perception and the rush of new power, Sasuke whispered into the silence:
"Thank you... Master Hayate."