The hunter walked with a stiff gait, leading them down the muddy trail that cut through the sparse woods toward the Gate.
He couldn't have been more than a few years older than them, but his eyes carried something that made him look twice that age—hollow, sunken, and rimmed red from sleepless nights.
His words came in a low rasp as he spoke.
He told them about how he and his closest friend had been reckless enough to enter the Gate when it first appeared, thinking themselves brave men. His voice cracked when he admitted his folly.
"We thought… we thought it was like a hunt. Just another beast. But it wasn't." His hands trembled as he gestured vaguely at the swampy stretch ahead. "It came out of nowhere. Before I knew it, it had Yuto in its jaw. It… it tore Yuto apart… chewed on him, swallowed, like…" He cut himself off, teeth clenched, his haunted gaze flicking to the ground.
He wasn't sure he wanted to hear the rest of the story but he did so nonetheless.
Apparently, the seconds the monster spent eating his friend had been enough for the hunter to gather himself and run out of the portal.
"I didn't stopped running." The hunter admitted in a hollow voice, as if the admission took everything out of him. He could see that the experience had broken something inside this man. Something that he would never recover from.
The hunter then described what he had seen inside: a dark, reeking swamp, trees jutting out of muck like twisted fingers. Pitch black water, buzzing with insects.
The monster, at least what he got from the jumbled description, resembled a crocodile in shape, but massive, far larger than anything his previous world had ever birthed.
Eventually, the trees parted and the Gate loomed before them.
He had seen its illustrations countless times in academy texts, but the reality was far more unsettling. A swirling, glowing disk, nearly five meters across, suspended in the air without support.
The surface rippled like liquid glass, pulsing faintly with light as though it were breathing. The edges shimmered with unnatural hues, colours, that made his eyes ache to stare at them too long.
The hunter stopped there and bowed low, voice breaking as he whispered, "Please… kill them all."
Hoshigawa regarded the hunter silently, with no emotions on his face. Then he turned his head toward the team, gaze sweeping over them with the same intensity he always carried. "Inside," he said.
Just a simple command with no comforting words or false promises of safety. But when Hoshigawa eyes lingered on him for half a heartbeat longer, he understood what it meant. Don't disappoint me. Don't die.
He nodded back.
Hoshigawa was the first to step into the Gate. His body passed through the rippling surface with no hesitation, and then he was gone.
One by one, the others followed. Aya after their leader. Shin was next. Kazuki after him, silent and calm as always. And Haruto was the second last, throwing with a cocky, challenging grin toward him before he too vanished within the gate.
When it came to his turn, he stared at the glowing surface, heart thundering. His hands clammy from nerves.
This was it. This was what he had been preparing for.
Then he clenched his fists tightly and stepped forward.
And the world folded around him.
—————
The air inside the Gate was heavy and wet, clinging to his skin like slime. The world was a decaying swamp, exactly as the hunter had described.
The ground was uneven, slick with moss and muck, and the water stank of rot. It buzzed with life—or rather, with decay. Fat insects with translucent wings droned in the air, and every so often, he caught sight of long, segmented creatures writhing through the dark waters.
The trees here weren't like the ones back in the village—these were gnarled, twisted things, their bark blackened as if burned, their branches curling in unnatural ways, resembeling skeletal hands.
Some parts of the swamp were deceptively shallow, water rising only to their ankles. But a few steps away, that same water dropped into depths so dark and murky that even the sharpest eyes couldn't see the bottom.
He shuddered, imagining the massive crocodile-like monsters lurking just beneath the surface, waiting for the slightest ripple of movement above. In that moment, he silently thanked every hour he had put into mastering Water Walking.
He glanced around, searching for the horizon, but the swamp stretched endlessly in all directions. A suffocating sea of trees, water, and mist. But he knew this place wasn't infinite. It only looked that way.
Every Gate has a size limit. The higher the class of the Gate, the larger the pocket world within—but never endless.
Hoshigawa's voice cut through the thick silence.
"You two. Up the tree."
It took him a second to realise the leader was pointing at him and Aya. His mouth opened before he even thought about it. "Wait, what?"
Hoshigawa didn't answer immediately, just adjusted the strap of his blade and narrowed his eyes. "Your job for this mission, is to stay with the medic and keep her safe. From here, you'll observe."
The words struck him harder than he expected. Protect Aya? Watch from the sidelines? He had waited three long months for this moment, to finally step into a Gate, to finally fight monsters and grow stronger.
This was his chance to gain experience, to reach Level 1, to finally climb upward—and he was being told to sit in a tree like a scared child. His jaw tightened in frustration.
He drew in a breath to protest, but Hoshigawa turned and looked at him. Just a look. Nothing more. But it was enough. He remembered all the lessons that'd been drilled into him. But the most important one had always been 'when given an order, follow it through. No question. Especially once inside a gate.'
The words died in his throat. He clicked his tongue in annoyance and turned away.
Sullenly, he followed Aya as she leapt lightly onto the nearest giant tree. Its trunk was wider than a house, roots curling like the limbs of a titan into the swamp.
They climbed higher until they found a sturdy branch that overlooked the murky waters below. From here, they had a clear vantage of the team spreading out across the swamp.
Aya settled in beside him, and upon noticing the tension in his face, she reached out and rested a hand on his shoulder. "Don't feel bad," she said softly. "This isn't a punishment. It's for your own good. First time inside a Gate, you should sit back, observe, and learn."
He stared at her, at the kindness in her expression, and found himself exhaling slowly. Letting out his frustration with the breath.
Aya continued, her voice gentle but firm. "It might not seem like it at first glance, but my husband cares for his team. Greatly. He wouldn't put you here if he didn't. He's protecting you."
He knew she was right. He had seen it too, beneath the hard edges of their leader's words and actions. Hoshigawa cared. Not with warmth, not with smiles—but with brutal training that ensured that his team survived.
In a way, Hoshigawa was like the father he never had in this world. And for a moment, he felt ashamed of being angry at being ordered sit on the sidelines when it was for his own good.
Yes, he needed the experience points for his system. But… perhaps that could wait a month or two more.
Still, as he looked down at his teammates wading through the swamp below, preparing for battle, he couldn't stop the hollow ache of disappointment gnawing at him.
Logically, he knew this was for his own but but emotionally? It seems like his young body and hormones had more of an effect of him than he previously thought.
—————
He sat beside Aya, the rough bark of the branch pressing against his legs, and watched the team at work below.
They moved in formation, spread out, but close enough to cover each other. They advanced steadily through the swamp, their eyes sharp, their senses alive. It struck him how natural it all seemed for them, like breathing.
Kazuki, being the sensor of the team, was the first to tense. His head tilted slightly, then came a sharp click of his tongue. His hand flicked through the air once, a subtle gesture, but the others reacted instantly.
The shift was so seamless that he nearly missed it—they fanned out slightly, blades and kunai ready, bodies angled toward a patch of still water.
The next instant, the swamp erupted.
The water split open with a violent splash, a massive shape bursting out, jaws wide enough to swallow a horse whole. It was a monster in every sense of the word—a crocodile, but larger than any he had seen or imagined.
Its scales were dark and ridged, its body as large as two school buses place back to back. The beast lunged straight for Shin, faster than anything that size had any right to be, its jaw wide open.
Shin didn't flinch. Not even a twitch of fear. His body was already in motion before the beast fully broke the surface. Calmly, as though he had practiced this exact scenario a thousand times, Shin flicked a kunai upward.
Its handle spun once in the air, and the explosive tag wrapped around its hilt glowed faintly with chakra. The kunai vanished into the monster's cavernous mouth just as Shin stepped lightly to the side, his boots skimming across the swamp's surface.
The crocodile's bulk missed Shin by inches and slammed back into the water with a roar, vanishing underneath and sending waves rippling outward. For a breath, there was only silence. Then—
Boom!
The explosion ripped through the swamp. Water and mud sprayed skyward, showering over the area like rain.
When the spray finally settled, the surface of the swamp was dyed red. Bubbles rose sluggishly, and then the monster's corpse floated upward, its body twitching with the last spasms of death. A massive hole gaped through the underside of its jaw, its insides blown apart.
His lips parted, though no sound came out. He found himself staring at Shin, watching the older boy lower his hand with an almost bored expression, as if killing that monster had been no more troublesome than swatting a fly.
Against his will, a grudging thought crept into his head. 'Cool. That was… actually cool.'
He scowled to himself almost immediately. He would never, ever say that out loud. Not to Shin. The smug bastard would never let him hear the end of it.
The team pressed forward, and the pattern repeated itself again and again. Kazuki's warning. A ripple in the swamp. A monster lunging from below. And then his teammates would cut it down with brutal efficiency.
Hoshigawa's blade flashed once, cleaving through scales and bone. Haruto's fists struck like iron, cracking open armored hides with sickening crunches. Shin threw kunai and tags with unerring precision, each attack finding its mark.
The monsters were terrifying, there was no denying that. To a normal villager, even to a squad of newly minted genins, they would have been nightmares made flesh. A single mistake against one of those beasts would mean death.
He remembered the panic he had felt when facing just one Kobold, how it had overwhelmed many of his fellow classmates. Compared to these crocodilian horrors, the Kobold felt almost tame.
But his team… his team tore through them as if they were nothing more than training dummies.
He was so entrenched by the slaughter below that he forgot himself. His eyes were so glued to Hoshigawa's blade, to Shin's deadly aim, to Haruto's crushing fists that he didn't notice the subtle ripple beneath the tree. Didn't hear the bubbling shift of water displaced by something massive.
The only warning he got was the sudden tremor beneath him—the branch quivering beneath his weight. Instinct screamed, and in the next heartbeat, the swamp exploded upward.
A massive crocodile monster surged out of the water, its gaping maw snapping toward him. Rows of teeth gleamed slick with swamp muck, wide enough to bite him in half.
Three months ago, he would've frozen in shock. His body would've locked in terror, his mind blanking as his life ended in one savage crunch. But not now. Not anymore. Even caught off guard, his body reacted. He grabbed Aya's hand without thinking and hurled himself off the branch.
It was the wrong move. He knew that the moment he jumped off.
Instead of vaulting toward the trunk, or leaping to another branch, his body had chosen the most dangerous path—the open air. They plummeted thirty feet below, his stomach lurching as the swamp rushed up to meet them.
They hit the water with a heavy splash, and he sank halfway into the swamp before Aya yanked his arm upward, dragging him up to the surface. He scrambled, chakra flaring under his soles, until at last he managed to find purchase, standing unsteadily atop the water's rippling surface.
The beast was gone. Its dark shape already sliding back into the murk. He cursed under his breath. Without Kazuki's sensory ability, without Haruto's sharp eyes or Shin's quick hands, he and Aya were blind. Another crocodile could be under them right now and they wouldn't know.
His chest tightened. He had one job—protect Aya. Keep her safe while the others fought. And in his first real task, he had already failed.
Aya's voice snapped him out of it. "Move!"
He didn't hesitate. He took Aya and dove to the side just as the swamp erupted again. The crocodile lunged, its jaws snapping shut where he had stood a breath ago. Water cascaded down like rain. His hands scrambled to his pouch.
He nearly fumbled the kunai. His fingers were slick with swamp water, his heart hammering too fast. No calm precision like Shin. No steady confidence like Hoshigawa. Just raw panic and training barely holding him together. Still, he managed to yank out a explosive-tag kunai in the nick of time and threw it, aiming desperately for the beast's eye.
He missed.
The kunai didn't pierce the eye. It struck just beneath, sinking into the ridge of bone beside it. It was not what he had aimed for. But it was thankfully close enough to get the job done.
The beast dove under the water, and a moment later…
The tag detonated.
The swamp convulsed as the explosion ripped through the monster's skull. Red bloomed in the water, dyeing it like spilled ink.
The crocodile thrashed once, twice, its massive body breaking the surface in a final, grotesque display. Half of its skull was missing, the socket where its eye had been blown apart, jagged bone and glistening brain spilling into the swamp. Then it stilled, floating lifelessly.
1 monster crocodile killed!
You've gained 9 experience points!
Level 0 (Next level up: 52/100)
He staggered, relief washing through him so violently that his knees nearly buckled. His first kill inside the Gate. Messy, desperate, far from graceful—but his.
Smack!
A hand cracked against the back of his head. He spun, ready to snap at whoever dared—only to find Haruto standing behind him, grinning like a wolf. The rest of the team stood beside him, not looking very impressed by his near death.
"Don't slack off, brat," Haruto said with a sneer. "Killin' one monster doesn't mean you stand around gawking. That's when you die."
He opened his mouth to argue, but the words died in his throat. Because Haruto was right. His shoulders slumped. He had done exactly that—stood there, frozen in relief, instead of resetting, instead of preparing for the next attack. He felt shame twist in his gut.
Three months of preparation and he'd still fumbled the bag.
Aya patted his arm softly, but even her kindness didn't ease the sting.
The truth was clear. For all the training, for all the beatings he had endured, he still wasn't ready. He had survived only because of luck, because of Aya's quick pull and an explosive tag hitting close enough. Aya—who was supposed to be protected—had kept him alive instead.
The others were right. Sitting on the sidelines hadn't been an insult. It had been necessary.
And now, with blood still staining the swamp, he finally understood just how far he still had to climb.
He sat perched atop a thick, gnarled branch, his gaze sharp and unblinking as he followed every movement below. Haruto faced the dungeon's boss alone while the rest of the team lingered at a safe distance, content to watch their teammate at work.
The creature was a monster of a crocodile, easily dwarfing the others he had seen and fought before. Its scales glistened like wet stone, giving it an almost armoured look. Its massive jaws snapped with a thunderous sound, each bite capable of crushing a man whole.
Worse yet, it wasn't just larger—it was quicker, and smarter its lunge sending sprays of swamp water flying, its tail whipping about with terrifying force.
And Haruto… Haruto was toying with it.
'Could I kill that beast?' the thought crossed his mind unbidden. He measured the monster with his eyes, imagined his blade striking deep, his body darting past those jaws.
The answer formed bitterly. Yes—if he were very, very lucky. But nine times out of ten, it would end with him being ripped apart and turned into that beast's breakfast.
Haruto seemed to share none of that concern. With a smirk, he baited the beast, leading it across the mire as if it were a misbehaving pet. Then, at last, he lured it onto a patch of firmer, drier ground. His hands blurred through a sequence of seals before he slammed his palms down onto the earth.
The swamp groaned. A moment later, a dozen earthen spikes erupted upward like the fangs of some great beast. They punched through the crocodile's belly and flanks, impaling it in an instant. The creature gave a strangled bellow, thrashed once, twice, and then sagged lifelessly.
Silence fell over the swamp.
Now that the boss monster was dead, the gate would close within a week, its warped ecosystem collapsing with the death of its core guardian. But their task wasn't over.
In truth, the most grueling part lay ahead. The battlefield was littered with corpses—hulking reptilian bodies that now needed to be stripped, carved, and harvested. Every part of a swamp beast had value if handled correctly.
"Bring the scroll over, Rookie," Haruto called, his grin insufferably cocky.
He leapt down from his perch and did as ordered, unrolling the scroll before him. Seals glowed faintly along its length, forming neat compartments, each filled with specialised tools for dissecting bone and butchering meat.
Aya appeared at his side, carrying massive storage scrolls of her own. They were very expensive storage scrolls with incredibly large space inside them.
The teeth and claws of the monsters were sharp enough to be reforged into weapons, their jagged edges ideal for throwing knives or shuriken.
The hides were thick, almost armor-like, and could be cured and stitched into protective gear that would rival even the best leather armor sold in the market.
But it was the meat that held the most practical value. It's been recorded that if an untrained civilian ate monster meat like this consistently for ten years, they would develop the physique of an average genin. And theorised that consuming the meat for a century, would give civilians a body rivalling that of a Chunin.
And this was the meat of a monster from E-class gates. He could only imagine how incredibly valuable the meat of higher tier monsters would be.
Yet even the monster meat was not the most valuable part of the monster boss.
Hoshigawa clambered atop the boss' massive head, the sheer size of the creature dwarfing him as he balanced on the slick, scaled surface.
With a practiced swing, his blade sliced down, splitting the skull. Inside, embedded within the brain of the monster, was a fist-sized crystal, pulsating faintly with an inner light. The core — the most coveted reward of all gate bosses.
Eating one core alone won't make someone a powerhouse. But repeated consumption over time starts improving a shinobi in every way possible. Strength, reflexes, chakra capacity, perception stamina… you name it.
He'd heard rumours that even a Dojutsu or bloodline can be improved by consuming these core, but he wasn't sure how much truth there was behind those rumours.
Hoshigawa handed the core to Kazuki, who carefully stored it in a reinforced scroll with a separate compartment for valuable items.
"We have to submit half or every core we get to the village," Shin told him with slight disappointment. "It's regulation."
He nodded, having already known that. It didn't make him feel any less disappointed.
With 6 of them in the team, it'll take them 12 gates to get enough Core for every single one of them. And considering that they clear one gate every month, he'll have to work hard for an entire year to get a single core. Or that's the basic math at least.
In reality the number was even less in his favour as the team leader, and veteran teammates receive a much larger portion of the loot.
"Don't worry. You'll get a part of the money we earn from selling the corpses. And a part of the boss' meat as well." Aya said upon noticing his disappointment.
He nodded, giving her a grateful look.
Admittedly, the profession of a shinobi has become far more dangerous with the advent of the gates. But at the same time, it has also become far more profitable than ever.
—————
They harvested the monster boss inside the dungeon, and then dragged the rest of the corpses outside where they got the help of the villagers with the harvesting. Giving the villagers a part of the harvest as gift.
A week later, after having harvested all the corpses, they arrived back at the village. And immediately went over to the mission hall where they told the clerk about the successful clearance of the E-class gate.
He watched with envious gaze as the team leader handed over the core of the monster boss to the clerk, who handed it over to his supervisor to be stored in a safe place.
'Half of the cores go to the village higher ups without them ever having to step out of their chair or doing any hard work whatsoever.' He thought, feeling slightly angry at the rip off.
The more he thought about it, the more this entire thing felt like a pyramid scheme. Where the bottom grunts take most of the risk and do most of the work but the ones at the top get most of benefit.
Alas, he was weak and there wasn't much he could do about it. This was the system the village worked on, and if he wanted to take advantage of it, then he'll have to climb his way to the top. And once he's there. He'll be the one who exploits instead of the one who gets exploited.
The clerk got their report regarding the mission, signed and stamped a few forms, and then gave them the payment of the E-class mission.
A measly 3,000 Ryo. Basically nothing compared to the danger they went through. The risk they took.
But none in the the team seem concerned. Everyone knew that the real wealth came from the sale of the monster parts. The mission fee was only a token; the market was where a team like theirs made their fortune.
The meat from the monster boss, the richest part, would be kept by the team for their own consumption. The rest would all be sold.
Two days later, he finally received his share of the loot. The total harvest had been carefully divided into twenty parts, reflecting seniority, contribution, and team hierarchy.
Six parts went to Hoshigawa. Aya received four parts for her role as medic and a backup combatant. Haruto and Kazuki each received three parts, Shin two, and he himself received a single part, the smallest share, as deserving of his current abilities.
One last part had been set aside for the team's training equipment—tools, scrolls, and resources that would help them prepare for the next gate mission.
But Even his single part of the loot was a pretty good amount— 15,000 Ryo. By extrapolation, the total wealth generated from the gate approached 300,000 Ryo— and that's after paying their taxes and other transaction fees.
For comparison, this was the kind of wealth a shinobi might expect after completing an A-class mission, yet this had come from a single E-class gate.
—————
The next morning, he ate the delicious meat of the monster boss. Juicy and rich, unlike anything he had ever tasted before.
He wondered if it was truly that delicious, or if the flavor was heightened because he and his team had hunted and harvested it with their own hands.
The rest of his share of the meat was carefully stored in a time stasis storage scroll, a rare item that would preserve it indefinitely. The scroll had been given to him by the team leader, Hoshigawa, as a gift for completing his first real mission. And he found himself checking it again and again, almost in disbelief that it belonged to him now.
After breakfast, he returned to the training ground. The others were already there, going through their warmups. Their movements steady and precise, having been drilled into them through countless repetitions.
As he approached, Hoshigawa called out to him. "Ken, come here."
He stepped forward quickly, and Hoshigawa held out a thin slip of paper.
"Pour chakra into this," the man instructed.
He blinked, taking it carefully. "Is this a Chakra paper?" He asked, having seen something similar in the canon story.
"Yes," Hoshigawa said, his tone even. "It reveals your nature affinity. You've completed your first mission now, earned both money and merits. Those can be used to buy ninjutsu from the village archives. But before that, we need to know your chakra affinity."
His heart quickened at those words. A smile forming on his face before he paused. "Uh… you told me that I wasn't ready to learn Ninjutsu though."
"I did. Three months ago. But now, your basics are solid. All you lack is real experience, and that will come with time. You're ready to begin learning ninjutsu."
Excitement surged through him. The thought of learning actual ninjutsu—offensive techniques meant to cut down monsters—made his chest tighten with anticipation.
At the academy, they had been taught only the Academy Three and a handful of simple jutsu for traveling: sparking fire, drawing clean water, and other small conveniences. Barely worth classifying as ninjutsu at all.
This was different. This was real ninjutsu. The kind that he could use to kill monsters within the gates.
He pressed the paper between his fingers and focused his chakra into it. The result came instantly.
The chakra paper split neatly in half.
The others had gathered closer to watch and saw the same thing as him. Shin winced. Haruto burst out in mocking laughter. Aya's lips curved into a sympathetic smile. Kazuki gave no reaction, which was a reaction onto itself. And the team leader, Hoshigawa's expression went utterly blank.
"Wind Affinity." He said, rubbing the back of his head with a nervous smile. "It's not bad, is it?"
"It's not." Hoshigawa said, his expression level. "If you were a Suna shinobi, that is. In Konoha, those with Wind affinity are rare. And it's hard to train without the right teacher. Wind release, is lethal. A single mistake and you could injure yourself badly, or worse, kill yourself."
Fuck.
Naruto had Wind Release Chakra as well. But he also had an Elite Jounin as his Sensei who was renowned for knowing a thousand jutsu. And Jiraiya was a Wind Release user as well. Not to mention hundreds of Shadow Clones willing to take the risk and work hard in his stead. Plus a healing factor in case he did got injured. And in case the healing factor wasn't enough, he also had the world's greatest medic-nin to aid him.
He himself… had none of that.
The only thing he had was a system and he didn't know what the heck it even did.
"What do I do then?" He asked.
"You have three choices." Hoshigawa said. "One. Learn Wind Release Ninjutsu on your own despite the danger. Two. You can search for any Wind Release user in Konoha willing to mentor you. Maybe you'll get lucky and find one. Three, you can give up on Ninjutsu altogether for now and focus on the other shinobi disciplines. Genjutsu, Taijutsu, Kenjutsu, or even Iryo-jutsu. Finding mentors for those will be much more easy."
He scratched his head, unsure of which choice to take. And decided that he'll wait till he reached Level 1 in his System and understood what it did before making a decision on the topic.
"I'll search for a Wind Release user." He said, mostly to buy time for his System. "If I can't find one in a few months, then I'll focus on learning Kenjutsu."
Hoshigawa stared at him for a long moment, and then nodded. "Very well. Let's start with our daily training. You made quite a few mistakes in the gate that I need to iron out."
"Yes, senpai."
—————
AN: For those of you that are getting impatient, don't worry, MC will reach Level 1 in next chapter.
Two months later.
His breath came out in small clouds, the sharp wind stinging his face as if someone was pressing needles into his skin.
It was cold. Too cold. And if he didn't have the physique of a Genin, then he would've died soon after he entered this gate.
The forest around him was unlike anything near Konoha. The trees were massive, their trunks so thick that ten people holding hands couldn't circle one.
Each tree rose high into the sky. And everything—trunk, branches, even the leaves—was completely white.
He dashed from one branch to another, feet kicking up soft puffs of snow, as sharp ice senbon rained down behind him, hissing as they cut through the air.
He kept moving, knowing that standing still even for a second would get him skewered. The monsters above shrieked as they chased, their cries echoing through the tundra forest like broken whistles.
He slid behind one of the massive trunks, his back pressed against its icy bark. The tree was big enough to provide him with cover but he knew it was only a temporary measure. He could already hear the monsters shifting above. Their bodies blended perfectly into the frozen leaves, almost invisible if not for the brief movements he was able to track.
A sharp sound split the air. He rolled away just as the ground he had been standing on was filled with icy needles.
He didn't waste time. His hand flashed, and a barrage of shuriken spun through the air toward the moving shape up in the branches. A loud screech tore out, high and painful. A white shape fell from above, thrashing wildly as it crashed through the branches.
The monster hit the ground with a heavy thud, but it wasn't dead. Its body twitched as it pushed itself up, its tendrils waving like pale whips. Frost gathered at the tips of those tendrils, forming into yet another sharp ice senbon.
Before it could fire the senbon, he was upon it. His tanto flashed, and in one clean swing he cut through the monster's neck. The head rolled into the snow, and the body collapsed, still twitching.
He didn't stay there. He jumped back quickly, just in time. More senbon flew down, hitting the place where he had stood only a moment earlier.
The battle stretched on for hours, or minutes. He couldn't rightly tell. He moved quickly, dodging the rain of senbon, waiting for the right chance to strike.
His breathing grew heavy, and the cold burned at his lungs. But his hands stayed steady. In the end, two more monsters fell to him—one by his blade, one by a well-aimed explosive tag attached kunai to the face.
Then came silence. No more shrieks, no more sounds of claws scratching bark. Only the wind whistling through the giant white branches.
He crouched low, listening. His eyes swept the forest above, but no more shadows moved.
A soft thud broke the silence. Hoshigawa landed beside him, snow crunching under his boots. The team leader's breath came out in controlled puffs, his eyes calm as always.
"That was the last one," Hoshigawa told him. "Kazuki has already taken care of the boss. We're done here."
He nodded, his tense muscles finally relaxing. He wiped his blade clean on the snow, then slipped it back into its sheath before moving with the leader to rejoin the others.
The rest of the team was waiting not far away, dragging the monster carcasses in one place.
Haruto was the first to speak, his grin wide and cocky as usual. "Got separated from the team, huh rookie?" He teased. "Good thing you didn't freeze to death out there."
He ignored the bastard and his amused laughter.
Shin stood nearby, resting his sword on his shoulder. When their eyes met, Shin gave him a small smile and raised his hand, showing eight fingers. Eight kills. Much more than the three he had managed on his own. Not unexpected. This was only the third gate he'd participated in.
Aya came over quietly, her steps soft on the snow. She carried her medical pouch close to her chest and knelt beside him. Her hands glowed faintly as she placed them on the cuts and scrapes he had taken. The warmth of her healing chakra spread across his skin, melting away the sting of the cold and the ache of his wounds.
She took out the three Senbons stuck on his back and thigh and patched up those wounds as well.
"Hold still," she said gently. "This will only take a moment."
He stayed silent, letting her work. When she finished, she gave him a small smile, her eyes full of kindness that made his chest feel warm despite the freezing air.
If Hoshigawa was the father of the team, then Aya was their mother. Both taking care of them in their own way.
The team gathered together then, standing around the bodies of the fallen monsters. It was time to harvest.
This was the part of the raid that he hated almost as much as the fighting part, but it was just as important.
"Go and bring the carcass of the monsters you've killed." Hoshigawa said before he took out a cleaver and got to work.
He nodded and left the ground.
He moved through the snow quietly, and reached the bodies of the three monsters he had killed.
Once he'd reached them, he confirmed that no one was nearby and paused. And then, he stared into the empty air in front of him.
To anyone else, there was nothing there—just snow, frost, and the pale trunks of trees stretching into the white sky. But to him, a glowing panel shimmered into existence, floating like a page of light only he could read.
3 Ice Monsters killed!
You've gained 19 experience points!
Level 0 (Next Level up: 103/100)
You've gained enough experience points. Do you want to Level up?
-Yes-
-No-
His hand trembled slightly. Even though no one else could see it, he hesitated, eyes darting as if the others might suddenly appear and catch him staring at nothing. Then, with a deep breath, he willed his choice.
"Yes."
The panel rippled like water touched by stone. The numbers shifted.
Level 0 (103/100) → Level 1 (Next Level up: 3/200)
Congratulations!
You've gained +1 Active and Passive Growth.
Congratulations!
You've gained the Perk: Limitless Growth.
He blinked at the screen, confusion flooding his mind. "What the heck are Active and Passive growth supposed to mean?" he muttered under his breath.
At once, another panel unfolded in front of him, neat words spelling out the explanation.
Active Growth: +100% reward to all training.
Every ounce of your effort would now give double the reward.
Passive Growth: 1 Slot. Choose any skill, physique, trait, or even bloodline ability and place it into the slot. This slot will constantly improve it, as if you were training 24/7 without rest.
Note: You may learn bloodline abilities with the passive growth but not get the bloodline itself. Example: You may learn the ability Kotoamatsukami (without going blind at its usage), but it'll not give you a Mangekyo Sharingan or the Uchiha bloodline. Similarly, you may learn how to use Adamantine Sealing chains, but you'll not gain the Uzumaki bloodline.
He froze. His lips parted, but no sound came out. The words he read echoed in his head again and again, almost too much to take in.
Double growth from training was impressive enough as it was. Especially because he was currently just at Level 1. How fast would his growth speed become when he reaches Level 2, 3, 4 or more?
But it was the Passive growth that left him truly speechless. It was basically endless growth, and without him needing to train for it. Basically, a way to become stronger without lifting a finger.
If he placed his Physique in the passive growth slot, then it'll continue to improve his physique as if he were training 24/7 without rest.
Compare that to Rock Lee or Might Guy who probably trained 4 hours a day. With this, it would be like he was training 6 times as much as them in a day. And gaining just as much benefit.
If he kept his Physique in that slot for an entire year, then by the end of the year, he would've grown as strong as Rock Lee would've after 6 years of continuous every day training.
And he could do this with basically anything. He could learn Hiraishin, Edo Tensei, focus on improving his chakra, or even his talent. Anything basically. The sky was the limit.
He could technically retire as a shinobi right this instant and thanks to the Passive Growth, he'll become a Kage-tier shinobi within a few years. And a Super Kage-tier in a few decades.
And that's if he does nothing and only stays at Level 1 after this.
If he levelled up a few more times, then his growth would become even faster.
Holy shit!
His fists clenched at his sides, the cold of the tundra forest long forgotten.
"This… this is insane," he whispered.
Any suspicion he had regarding the system being useless were now completely and utterly wiped out from his mind.
Yes, it had taken him a lot of effort and danger to take it up to Level 1. But the end result was completely worth it.
He was going to strongest shinobi in the entire world. And the best part—nobody else would even know that he'd growth that strong.
He wasn't just going to play catch up with Rock Lee and Neji anymore. He was going to surpass them all. Even Naruto and Sasuke whom he had not even dared to think of as his rivals before.
His gaze then went to the perk he had gained and asked the system. "What does the perk 'Limitless Growth' do?"
As if answering his question, a new panel appeared in front of him.
Limitless Growth: Your limits are broken. Regardless of what you're learning, your growth will not slow down or plateau. A simple Wind Blade Jutsu can be grown to the point where it can cut apart entire mountains, or, given enough time, even entire planets.
This perk also ensures that your growth will always remain positive. Your skill, physique, or traits will not deteriorate with time. Basically, no maintenance is required to retain the fullness of your powers.
This…
He blinked and read the description once more. And then a few more times. And then, he scratched his head in confusion.
'Wait. Does this mean I'm immortal?' He thought to himself.
Because if his Physique will never deteriorate, then doesn't that basically means that he'll never grow old and weak?
Well, he certainly hoped so. But even if the ability doesn't work that way, he was sure he'll be able to find other ways to make himself immortal.
Because now that he knew what his system could do, he had suddenly awakened a fire within him that had been doused over ever since he realised his very human limitations.
An ambition has awakened within him.
An ambition to become the strongest.
And why just stop there?
He didn't just want to be the strongest. He wanted it all. Wealth. Influence. Women. Everything.
And he would get it one way or another. He would get everything he wants. It was only a matter of how long it was going to take to get it.
A month later.
He sat cross-legged in his bed, eyes closed. The sounds of the village were faint but constant in the background—distant chatter of merchants calling out their wares, the steady clatter of wooden practice weapons from other shinobi, the occasional laughter of children running past the streets nearby.
But he wasn't listening to any of that.
Instead, he focused on the stillness inside himself. He let his chakra spread outward, flowing into the world like water filling cracks in stone. His eyes might have been shut, but a new kind of sight has been opened to him thanks to his newest ability- Kagura's Mind Eye.
When he first got this ability a month ago, it gave him a sensing ability in a thin circle that barely reached half a meter around him. But in the past month, thanks to the Passive growth, the circle grew and grew until it spread across a few kilometers of radius. And the world bloomed in his mind like a 3rd map made of chakra.
Every flicker of life, every spark of energy lit up around him.
He could feel the faint pulse of chakra from Aya in the hospital district, carefully practicing her medical techniques. Shin's stronger, water nature chakra flickered on the other side of the village, probably training his sword forms again. Haruto's Earth nature chakra, came from near the marketplace, darting here and there as if he couldn't stand still even when off-duty.
Beyond them, thousands—no, tens of thousands—of signatures painted Konoha in his mind. Civilians, shinobi, even animals glowed faintly in his senses. It felt like he was standing in the middle of a vast web where every movement tugged a string that led back to him.
Kagura's Mind Eye.
One of the strongest sensory techniques in the world. Karin Uzumaki had used it to track chakra over entire regions, to detect the lies in someone's voice thanks to their mental state, even to notice when someone was trapped in genjutsu. And she had done that as a girl of sixteen, alone, without anyone to teach her the intricacies of the ability.
With his Limitless Growth, there was no ceiling. Karin's limit would not be his. Not ever.
'One day,' he thought, pulse quickening, 'I'll be able to sit here in Konoha and sense everyone on the continent. No— the whole world. And if I grow this even further… even the Otsutsuki clan remnants hiding on the Moon won't be out of my sensory ability.'
But for now, his focus was simpler: survival.
That was why he had chosen this skill first. If he could sense enemies before they reached him, then no one could surprise him again. Not in Konoha, not in the wilderness, not inside a gate.
He would see the ambush before it came, and instead of being the hunted, he would become the hunter.
He slowly opened his eyes. His room looking the same as ever. But even with his eyes open, his senses remained spread wide in a semi-usable state, painting a picture more detailed than sight ever could.
Kaguga's Mind Eye was currently not powerful enough to cover all of Konoha. Not even half of it, really. But it was enough. Enough to give him confidence for the next gate he would go inside.
—————
He left his apartment and walked toward the training ground where the rest of his team had already gathered. He didn't even make it halfway before a faint flicker brushed against his senses—a familiar chakra, hidden, sneaking.
He let the corner of his mouth twitch, already knowing who it was.
A trash bin stood strangely out of place against the edge of the path.
He turned his head and stared directly at it.
There was a beat of silence before the transformation dropped in a puff of smoke. Shin stepped out with a click of his tongue, his usual smirk edged with disappointment. "Tch. No fun anymore. You've gotten too boring ever since you picked up that sensing trick."
He rolled his eyes and walked past without bothering to answer. Shin's grumble following behind him.
When they reached the training ground, Kazuki was already waiting, arms crossed. His sharp gaze swept over the two of them before landing on him. "You. With me."
What followed was another round of training, but this time it was different. Kazuki, being the team's sensor had clearly decided to teach him the intricacies of a sensing ability.
He was drilled on picking out 4 small chakra signatures in a crowd and then following them through the next hour. And he was to record everything about them. Where they went, what they did. Who they met.
It was exhausting in a new way—mental strain more than physical—but he endured. He had thought that since Kagura's Mind Eye was one of the best sensing ability out there, Kazuki won't have anything to truly teach him. Kazuki had proven him wrong again and again in this past month.
By the time the sun had shifted higher, Hoshigawa's voice cut across the field. "Enough. Pack your things. It's time for another Gate mission."
The team straightened at once. Training ended, duty began.
They walked together to the mission hall, the wooden floors buzzing underfoot with the steady flow of shinobi coming and going. At the counter, Hoshigawa signed them in and received a sealed scroll with their target's location. And soon enough, they were on the road.
This time, he didn't let his ability rest. Kagura's Mind Eye spread around him in a wide circle, painting every flicker of chakra across the landscape.
For the most part, it was the usual—birds, small animals, shinobi patrols faint and distant. But then, something stirred.
Something big.
His brow furrowed. "Stop."
The others halted, immediately alert.
He closed his eyes, reaching further. The chakra was massive, heavy like a boulder rolling through his mind. And strong. Much stronger than anything they had encountered inside an E-rank Gate. Much stronger than even Hoshigawa.
"Two and a half clicks ahead," he said quietly. "Something's there. Big and powerful. Even more so than you captain. I think… no, I'm pretty sure it's a monster."
The team exchanged looks. Hoshigawa's eyes narrowed, while Kazuki's jaw tightened.
"Direction?" Hoshigawa asked.
He focused again, tracing the faint pull. "…It's in currently between us and the direction we're moving in. Wait. Now it's moving away from us. In the opposite direction."
Kazuki frowned, but Hoshigawa spoke first. "We'll confirm that this is indeed a monster. Track the monster but keep your distance. One click at least. We don't want to fight it."
He gave a short nod. "Understood."
They pressed forward, but it wasn't long before the mood shifted.
The smell hit first—of overturned earth, faint smoke, and something dead. When they crested the next ridge, the sight hit them.
A village. Or what was left of one.
The Houses had been torn to pieces, the ground ripped open as though an earth-style tunnelling jutsu had been cast again and again until nothing whole remained. The walls protecting the village had collapsed inward, and streets vanished under mounds of dirt.
It looked like someone had buried the village alive and dug it up a thousand times.
He paused, Kagura's Mind Eye sweeping through every corner, every ruined building. Nothing. Even civilians have a minuscule amount of chakra. But here, he couldn't sense any. That could only mean one thing.
"...They're dead," he said softly. "Everyone's dead."
His chest tightened, and for the first time since awakening Kagura's Mind Eye, he wished he hadn't used it.
Shin's chakra flared hot beside him. He stood stiff, fists clenched so tight the knuckles cracked. "Damn it!" His voice shook with rage. "Damn it… damn those fucking monsters!"
Aya's face paled, her hands tightening on her pouch. Haruto stood silent, his grin absent for once, Kazuki didn't show any outward emotion, but his teeth were clenched in frustration.
Hoshigawa knelt, running his fingers through the shredded earth. His expression was grim. "A Gate must've broken somewhere nearby. The thing you sensed… if it was truly a monster, then the gate must be C-class." He stood, eyes narrowing toward the horizon. And for the first time since he had gained Kagura's Mind Eye, he sensed an emotion that he'd never thought he would sense within Hoshigawa. He sensed fear. "Or higher." Hoshigawa added.
His mouth went dry at those words.
He licked his lips and opened his mouth, ready to ask Hoshigawa what their plan was now, but the words died in his throat. Something flickered at the very edge of his senses—five chakra signatures, steady and controlled, coming from Konoha and moving toward them in a tight, efficient formation.
"Five incoming. Likely our own" he said quickly. "They'll be here in under a minute."
The team immediately shifted, spreading into a cautious line, ready to face whatever came. They were probably Konoha forces—but even then, caution was drilled into them. You didn't survive long out here by assuming every silhouette was friendly.
The five shinobi arrived within a minute, just as he'd said. Their uniforms were familiar enough—standard Konoha gear—but the masks told a different story. At first glance, ANBU. But no—the masks were plain, expressionless, lacking the usual animal motifs that defined true ANBU.
Worse, their chakra signatures were too cold, their emotions too blank. Their presence gave him the feeling that something deep had been broken inside them.
Having watched canon storyline, he already knew who they were.
Root.
The captain of the root team stepped forward, his presence powerful, and spoke in a voice that carried no warmth at all. "State your reason for being here."
Hoshigawa moved up, his voice calm but respectful. "Gate-clearing squad. Assigned mission north-east sector. Came across signs of a broken Gate."
The Root captain studied them for a breath, then gave a short, clipped nod. "Confirmed. A B-class Gate broke open in this region. Orders are as follows: your squad will take a fifty-kilometer detour north to avoid it and continue with your mission."
The words carried no room for argument. Hoshigawa gave the expected nod. "Understood—"
But the captain raised his hand, cutting him off before he could say more. "Correction. Three of you will remain. This is an emergency mobilization. You." He pointed at Hoshigawa. "You." His hand shifted to Haruto. Then Kazuki. "You three will be assigned to support duty in suppressing the outbreak."
The silence that followed was heavy.
B-class.
Even he, still so new to everything, knew what that meant. Inside those Gates, the weakest monsters could thrash your average jounins easily. Solo Jounins weren't even allowed to take those missions. Only Elite Jounins (preferably more than one) or multiple teams of regular Jounins.
Aya's hands tightened into fists at her sides. "Wait—that's too dangerous! If you pull them into a B-class, they'll—"
"Aya." Hoshigawa's voice cut her off, low and firm. He looked at her with something akin to tired fondness. They all knew what this meant. You can't refuse the order of a superior during an emergency as it would be seen as treason.
Refusal wasn't an option here.
"Aya, listen. If I don't return, give up the life of clearing Gates." Hoshigawa said. "Stay in Konoha. Work at the hospital. Heal people. Don't throw yourself away like this."
Aya's eyes widened, her lips trembling.
Hoshigawa turned back to the Root captain, his jaw tight. "Haruto and Kazuki are too inexperienced for a B-class. They'll just get in the way. Let them go with the others to clear the smaller Gate. I'll come with you."
The Root captain's blank mask tilted, unshaken. "My orders are not up for discussion."
He felt his own chest tighten. He couldn't just stand there and let those three go into danger. His senses were sharp, his Kagura's Mind Eye already saw far beyond what most shinobi could dream of. With him guiding, they wouldn't be walking blind in that monster-infested battlefield. He opened his mouth to speak—
A heavy stomp on his feet turned his words into a strangled yelp.
Kazuki had the back of his boot pressed on his toes, his sharp eyes glaring at him with a silent message: Don't.
The words he wanted to say stuck in his throat. He clenched his fists, frustrated by his own weakness. But he stayed quiet.
And then it was over. The Root squad surrounded the three of them like a net, and in moments Hoshigawa, Kazuki, and Haruto were gone, disappearing into the white horizon toward the broken Gate.
The silence they left behind hurt more than he expected.
Aya's shoulders shook, tears threatening to spill, but she drew in a sharp breath and wiped them away with the back of her hand. "...We can't waste time." Her voice trembled, but her eyes burned with determination as she turned to face him and Shin. "We still have a Gate to clear. If we don't, if it breaks, then another village ends up like that one."
She looked at the two of them, her back straightening as if forcing the weight onto herself. "Until they return, I'll act as captain. Do either of you have a problem with that?"
He shook his head at once. Shin followed a second later, lips pressed tight in anger and helplessness, but respectful toward Aya.
"Good." Aya took a breath, gathering herself, then gestured north. "We'll take the detour, as stated. Fifty clicks North, and then we go back to the usual route. We won't cross the anbu's battlefield. Understood."
""Yes."" He and Shin replied.
She started forward, her footsteps steady even though her hands still trembled faintly.
He and Shin exchanged a look with a silent agreement to protect her once inside the gate, and fell in step behind her, the three of them moving in silence across the ruined land.
The Gate this time turned out easier than he had expected.
The moment they stepped through, he let Kagura's Mind Eye expand outward, painting the entire strange world in his mind.
The terrain was damp, rocky, and cloaked in heavy fog that made visibility quite low. Mountains rose on all sides, their surface hollowed by thousands of holes.
Quite a few of those holes pulsed faintly with chakra. Monsters. Over a hundred of them.
At first, the sheer number made his stomach tighten. But then he reminded himself of the rule: the more monsters there were, the weaker they tended to be. And his senses confirmed it.
The creatures inside those caves were small and jittery, their chakra weak, barely Genin-level. Their appearance made his skin crawl—ugly things that looked like twisted mixes between goblins and monkeys.
Sharp claws, thin wiry limbs, and faces too humanlike to look at without discomfort. But their strength was laughable. Low-tier genin at best.
Even alone, he could handle three or four at once without much trouble.
They moved carefully, though, working as a team. The monsters stayed in groups, anywhere from three to ten clustered together inside their holes, sometimes screeching, sometimes scuttling over the rocks like insects.
He, Shin, and Aya took it slow, going from cave to cave.
Shin's sword flashed, cutting through the creatures' wiry bodies with ease. Aya kept behind them, striking with precise poison coated senbon needles when needed and healing the small scratches they picked up.
Aya put on a brave front, but both he and Shin could see that she was very tense and not in the right state of mind, and thus, they did their best to keep her away from the combat.
He himself relied on both his tanto and his Kagura's Mind Eye—every movement of the creatures was obvious to him before they moved, making the fight almost unfair.
One group fell, then another. Minutes turned into hours as they cleaned the caves one by one, driving the population down until the day turned to dusk.
He knew that without a powerful sensor like him, the fog, the mountain terrain, and the thousands of caves would've made this gate a nightmare for an ordinary genin time. But with Kagura's mind eye, the gate had become child's play instead.
The boss revealed itself as the sun was about to go down: a larger, more vicious version of the same goblin-monkey creature, stronger than the rest but still far weaker than the icy creatures from the tundra Gate, let alone the monster crocodiles he'd faced in that swamp gate. Together, the three of them cut it down with little effort.
The harvesting took much longer than the fighting, as it usually did.
Three whole days were spent pulling the creatures' carcass out of their holes, carving them up, sealing away what they could use.
Their flesh looked edible enough once stripped of skin, but he wanted nothing to do with it. Just the thought of putting it in his mouth made his stomach turn. Their faces had been far too human.
Still, he knew the markets wouldn't care. Once butchered and cut, it would all sell. Meat was meat. No one would know what the monster looked like, and the merchants would find a price for it.
When they finally emerged from the Gate, they made a beeline toward Konoha. And he had to remind Aya again and again to take it slow, lest they burn themselves and run into another monster ambush.
The last thing they needed right now, was to get attacked by another one of those giant monsters that came out of the B-class gate.
It took them much longer to reach Konoha due to his vigilance, but they did reach it safely.
The three of them trudged to the mission hall, tired but carrying sealed scrolls heavy with their harvest. They handed over their report to the mission clerk, who nodded briskly, recorded the clearance, and passed them their pay and merit slips.
Before leaving, he asked the question weighing on his mind. "What about the B-class Gate break?"
The clerk's face tightened, just slightly. "It's been cleared. Konoha acted fast."
Relief spread through his chest, but it was cold and short-lived as the clerk continued.
"Casualties were high though. Thirty percent killed. Many more wounded." The clerk must've noticed something in his expression because he paused. "Uh… did you… did you have anyone join in on that mission?"
He nodded slowly.
The clerk grimace. "The survivors are already back in Konoha. If they're injured you'll find them in the hospital now. If not, they should be waiting at home, or in the morgue."
He nodded, the clerk's words still echoing in his mind. Thirty percent. For a single B-class Gate. He could almost see the ruined village again, hear Shin's angry shout, feel the helpless silence when Root dragged their teammates away.
And now… were those three even alive?
A part of him almost didn't want to know. To live on in ignorance. But he knew that was a stupid thought. He needed to face the truth.
Aya didn't waste time. "I'm going to the hospital," she said firmly, her hands clenched at her sides.
He and Shin looked at each other and nodded. "We're going with you." And so they did.
—————
The hospital smelled like medicine, alcohol, and faint traces of blood that no amount of cleaning could hide. The white walls were too bright, too clean, and somehow made everything feel colder.
Hoshigawa lay on the bed, his skin pale and his movements sluggish from heavy medication. Still, when he noticed them entering, he managed a faint smile. His lips barely curved, but the warmth in his eyes was enough to make Aya break.
"How… did the mission go?" Hoshigawa asked, his voice was hoarse, but steady.
Aya didn't answer with words. She rushed forward and buried her face into his chest, sobbing as if she had been holding it in since the moment he was taken away. Her shoulders shook, muffled cries spilling out as her fingers clutched his robe like she was afraid he'd vanish if she let go.
He lowered his gaze, heart twisting.
Haruto sat in the corner of the room, his arms folded, his usual grin gone. On the outside, he looked fine—just a few scratches, a bandage or two. But his chakra told the real story. Heavy, suffocating guilt poured from him like smoke.
Kozuki wasn't there.
He already knew what had happened, having read the report about his teammates before entering the room. But the weight of it hit much harder than he'd expected.
Kozuki had died. He'd given his life to save Haruto's during a critical moment.
The silence stretched too long, so he moved closer, pulling a chair beside Hoshigawa's bed. His voice came out soft. "The Gate was easy. The monsters numbered over a hundred, but they were weak and scattered. We picked them off group by group."
Hoshigawa's tired smile grew, just slightly. "Good. That's good. Then the three of you can keep the mission reward. You were the ones who completed it."
The words settled like a stone in his chest. He wanted to protest, to say that it wasn't right, that Hoshigawa had always led them and this wasn't theirs to keep. But he bit his tongue. The last thing Hoshigawa needed right now was another argument.
So he stayed quiet
No one else spoke for a while, and the room was silent except for Aya's muffled sobs.
Almost unwillingly, his eyes dropped to Hoshigawa's legs. Or what remained of them.
The sheets ended at his thighs, and beneath them—nothing. Just stumps, wrapped in clean white bandages. His throat tightened. Without legs, Hoshigawa would never fight again. The shinobi who had led this team for over a decade, who had trained rookies again and again, was finished.
And so was their team.
The thought burned. A cruel whisper rose in the back of his mind: 'Was this my fault?'
The team had thrived for years before he came along. Yes, some of the rookies had died—everyone knew the risks—but the core members had always survived. But only months after he joined… Kozuki dead. Hoshigawa crippled.
His hand clenched on his knee. 'Am I the curse?'
Logically, he knew what this was. Survivor's guilt. But emotionally, knowing that didn't help him much.
The silence cracked when Haruto finally spoke. His voice was rough, sharper than usual. "I… I'm going to ask for promotion. Apply for a Chunin position."
Hoshigawa looked at him, studying him for a moment, then nodded slowly, weakly. "You deserve it. You've grown well. Keep going, and in a few years… Jounin won't be far."
Haruto's head dipped. His chakra churned again, thick with guilt and self blame.
Then Shin spoke. "I'll join him. I'll go for Chunin too." His tone was steady, his emotions stable. Determined. Shin Hozuki, being a former citizen of Kiri, was no stranger to loss.
And then, as if on cue, every gaze turned to him. Everyone except Aya, who still pressed her face into Hoshigawa's chest, shoulders shaking with quiet sobs.
He swallowed, forcing the words out. "I… don't know. I'll take a few months off. Focus on training. Maybe I'll try the Chunin position as well."
Shin nodded slowly. "You'll have to clear enough E-rank gates first. 25 of them in total. But after that, the three of us should team up. Make a new squad. Focus on clearing D-class Gates."
The offer was heartfelt, he knew that. A new team. A new start. But even as Shin said it, he already knew his answer.
He shook his head. "No. I'll work alone."
The silence after that was rather uncomfortable, with everyone staring at him. But he was not going to change his decision.
He continued speaking, his tone leaving no room for argument. "Once I become Chunin, I'll go solo. Chunins can also clear E-class Gates instead of D-class gates. They just need to clear more of the E-class ones as recompense. Twelve of E-class a year can replace the four D-class gates that's mandatory for them to clear. I'll do that. Alone."
Of course, the main reason why he wanted to go alone was his system. Because with his system, he would grow too fast, gain too many new skills that he would not be able to explain afterward.
Even the reveal of his Kagura's Mind Eye had filled his team with suspicion, even if they kept that suspicion to themself. How would he explain the dozen new unique skills he would get in the future?
The answer was simple. The only path forward for him was to go alone.
Shin's jaw tightened. He clearly wasn't happy with his decision but he didn't push further. Aya's sobbing quieted just enough for him to hear her sharp intake of breath, though she didn't lift her head. Haruto turned his eyes away, guilt and something else flickering in his chakra.
And he knew that this was the moment their team finally dissolved.
From now, his path would be his own.