Heavenly Dao's smile didn't fade until he reached the apartment door.
The boost from Konoha Style Taijutsu far exceeded his expectations.
He even felt that with his current level of Taijutsu, it wouldn't be much of a problem to be evaluated as a Special Jonin specializing in Taijutsu.
As for Mizuki—
Heavenly Dao's favorability toward him had already moved from "indifferent" to "average"; if Mizuki challenged him a few more times, it would soon rise to "friendly."
"It looks like you're in a good mood today, smiling so happily."
A slightly raspy, mature female voice rang in his ears.
Heavenly Dao turned his head, his smile widening slightly.
At the apartment entrance, a purple-haired beauty in casual clothes was leaning against the door.
She had just showered; her long purple hair was still damp, and her loose robes couldn't hide her soft curves.
Just standing there quietly, she looked like a freehand painting of a beautiful lady.
"Sister Yugao, you're back."
Yūgao Uzuki's voice was low and gentle, like softly clinking wind chimes; Heavenly Dao had always loved listening to her speak.
She smiled gently. "Mhm. I have a mission outside the village tomorrow, so the captain gave us the night off."
"Don't worry, it's just a routine patrol, nothing dangerous. Don't go back home; I just finished making dinner and was worried I couldn't finish it all by myself."
"Sure, sure," Heavenly Dao agreed almost instantly.
The two entered the house together and brought the food out from the kitchen—four dishes and a soup. It wasn't extravagant, but it was all Heavenly Dao's favorites.
This, of course, couldn't be a coincidence.
Heavenly Dao and Yūgao Uzuki had known each other since childhood; their parents were very close, making them classic childhood friends.
Yugao was three years older than him and had always considered herself his older sister. During the Nine-Tails Attack, both their parents died in the battle against the beast, and the two orphaned children had depended on each other ever since.
Until they graduated from the Ninja Academy and truly entered the Ninja World.
Yugao entered the Anbu thanks to her outstanding talent in Kenjutsu, and the frequency of their meetings decreased.
[Latest Mission: The Uchiha bloodline must not end!
Quickly "spread the branches and leaves," let the Sharingan bloom everywhere, and include Yūgao Uzuki in the Uchiha Clan registry.]
[Mission rewards will be distributed in stages.]
[Unlock Intimate Contact CG Reward: Konoha Style Kenjutsu.]
[Unlock Defeat CG Reward: Yang Release Chakra enhancement.]
A translucent system panel abruptly popped up in front of him.
Heavenly Dao, who was busy eating, paused.
'That's it? This level of mission is looking down on me too much.'
He sneered in his heart but put on a "slightly troubled" expression on his face.
"What's wrong? Is it not to your taste?"
The purple-haired beauty, who had been watching his expression, immediately put down her chopsticks and asked with concern.
"The soup seems a bit salty," Heavenly Dao casually made up an excuse.
"Is it?"
Yūgao Uzuki walked over to him, picked up a spoon, and took a sip. "I clearly paid attention this time; did I still put too much?"
The beauty drew close, her body heat transmitting through the fabric. The steam from the food in the kitchen mingled with the faint citrus scent of her bath in the small space.
Heavenly Dao's gaze fell on her slightly moist lips.
Without hesitation, he pulled her onto his lap and leaned down to kiss her.
Yugao froze for a moment, then slowly closed her eyes, her hands unconsciously clutching his collar.
The kiss seemed to stop time until both were somewhat out of breath and reluctantly separated.
[First stage mission completed:
Reward "Konoha Style Kenjutsu" has been distributed, please claim it promptly.]
Heavenly Dao was delighted but remained calm, saying softly, "Sister Yugao, the soup tastes just right now."
"You, you just love finding ways to tease me."
Yūgao Uzuki leaned in his arms and chided him.
In fact, she had long since grown accustomed to this "sudden frivolity," though she would still be shy about it.
It wasn't until the moon reached the middle of the sky that Heavenly Dao emerged from Yugao's room.
[Claim mission reward.]
As he confirmed in his mind, a vast amount of knowledge and experience regarding "Konoha Style Kenjutsu" flooded his brain like a tide.
Muscle memory, neural reactions, power techniques... almost instantly, he went from a "Kenjutsu novice" to a master capable of skillfully performing Konoha Style.
However, this time, he ultimately failed to complete both stages of the mission at once.
It wasn't that the two weren't ready—
But rather that Yūgao Uzuki was not only a Kenjutsu expert but also a Water Release master.
Just "intimate contact" had already caused her to "lose too much water." Considering she had a mission tomorrow, Heavenly Dao had to reluctantly stop and go home to "guard the empty room" alone.
The next day.
Heavenly Dao woke up at eight as usual.
Yūgao Uzuki next door had already left early in the morning, leaving a breakfast warming in his kitchen.
With the "breakfast of love" in his mouth, Heavenly Dao sauntered to the Hokage Building to clock in for work.
Agricultural Machinery Research Class—
This was his current workplace.
wind release harvester—
This was the project he was working on.
"Building Harvesters in the Naruto World".
It sounded like the title of some outrageous fanfiction novel, but it was indeed his current daily life.
As can be seen from the original work, the technology tree in the Naruto world is quite absurd:
There are monitors, radios, surveillance cameras, refrigerators, trains... the overall level is close to Earth in the late twentieth century.
But years of constant warfare have kept these technologies firmly in the hands of the major ninja villages and nobles, almost completely isolated from the commoners.
Commoners unlucky enough not to be born in the Five Great Nations might never see these things in their entire lives.
This is the reality of the Ninja World.
However, under such strict control, some "small innovations beneficial to the upper class" were still tacitly allowed—
For example, the wind release harvester, which can increase the speed of grain harvesting.
This was also why Heavenly Dao was able to gain the favor of his female superior, Inuzuka Akita.
He had done a lot of research on "turning Ninjutsu into agricultural tools," and these research directions happened to overlap significantly with what Inuzuka Akita had always wanted to do.
Of course, this was no "coincide" (coincidence).
Precisely because he knew she would become the head of the Scientific Ninja Weapons Team in a certain non-combustible sequel, "Boruto," Heavenly Dao deliberately let her see his research manuscripts "unintentionally."
As for why he didn't directly work on Scientific Ninja Weapons—
The reason was simple: the resistance was too great.
In "Boruto," Scientific Ninja Weapons were still highly controversial.
Now, even Shippuden hasn't started yet; trying to make Scientific Ninja Weapons in this era would be pure suicide.
The establishment of the Agricultural Machinery Research Class was a compromise resulting from various parties' concessions.
Of course, it was mainly the Inuzuka Clan exerting influence behind the scenes.
Otherwise, as a commoner, he would have no qualification to push for the establishment of a new department.
Heavenly Dao sat at his desk.
The third version of the wind release harvester had been finalized and was in the machine verification stage, so his current work was actually quite leisurely.
Thinking of the "Konoha Style Kenjutsu" reward he got yesterday, he rubbed his chin:
In next month's funding application report, he had to find a way to write more about "Chakra Metal loss."
After all, Edison tried thousands of materials to invent the light bulb; it was perfectly reasonable for him to conduct more experiments for agricultural tools.
Experiments always involve loss, after all.
Melting down some "scraps" to forge a sword on the side was perfectly logical.
The only thing to be careful about was that the experimental report needed to be well "polished" so no one could catch any faults.
Calculating these plans for "rational resource utilization" in his heart, Heavenly Dao picked up his teacup, preparing to brew some red date and goji berry health tea.
Just then—
Two massive waves of pressure quietly descended from behind.
Heavenly Dao's hand holding the teacup paused slightly as he slowly turned around.
What met his eyes was the dark face of his superior, Inuzuka Akita, comparable to Yama.
"Heavenly Dao, your secret's out. Come with me."
Heavenly Dao: "..."
Wait, he hadn't even submitted the funding application yet.