"Sasuke," Sarutobi Hiruzen squatted down, personally helped Sasuke up, even patted the dust off his clothes, and looked into his eyes as he spoke, "I understand your desire for revenge, but as the battle just showed, a ninja needs more than just strength. They also need combat experience and the ability to judge the situation. Therefore, you still have a lot to learn from Kakashi."
Sasuke lowered his head, feeling somewhat ashamed and unwilling.
He had indeed been hit hard by reality just now.
It wasn't enough.
His strength wasn't strong enough yet!
Meanwhile, Naruto watched this warm scene with extreme envy. In his eyes, the Third Hokage was clearly acknowledging Sasuke's strength.
"The Hokage is right," Xin said from the side, also seemingly revealing a helpless smile. "I intervened to save you purely because you're still unfamiliar with the characteristics of the goods, and it's only this one time. If you continue like this, I'm afraid we won't have another transaction, because it's very likely you'll die before then."
Sarutobi Hiruzen listened, nodding inwardly. He hadn't expected this merchant to also try and dissuade Sasuke.
"Therefore—" Xin's words suddenly changed direction, "I strongly suggest you purchase a few more sets of the combat experience series Mystery Box!"
Sarutobi Hiruzen: "o_O???"
"There are combat experience series Mystery Box too?" Sasuke's eyes widened, exclaiming in disbelief.
"Of course," Xin chuckled, speaking confidently. "Never speculate about what items are inside the Mystery Box . That's the motto of our Omniscient and Omnipotent Merchant Association. The combat experience series Mystery Box can help you easily gain extremely strong combat experience, setting traps, defeating the strong with the weak, achieving last-ditch comebacks... If you had combat experience surpassing Kakashi's, the outcome of today's battle truly would have been uncertain."
Sasuke did find it somewhat difficult to imagine.
Not just him.
Even Sarutobi Hiruzen and Tsunade felt it was incredible.
Even if power could be gained quickly, how could combat experience and technique be acquired directly? That wasn't something gained through monotonous practice alone, but required long-term life-or-death battles.
"Your Mystery Box are truly too miraculous," Tsunade finally could only sigh with emotion. "Every time I think I understand these Mystery Box enough, even more miraculous items appear, constantly pushing the boundaries of imagination."
Sasuke remembered last night and nodded in agreement.
However, longing appeared in his eyes again.
Mystery Box!
He needed to buy more Mystery Box!
"I want to buy Mystery Box too!" Suddenly, someone nearby shouted out everyone's inner thoughts.
Yes, it was Naruto.
He clenched his fists, squeezed into the middle of the crowd, pointed at Sasuke, and shouted, "This is too unfair! You can become this strong just by buying Mystery Box, it's basically cheating!"
Although Sasuke still lost to Kakashi today, even Naruto could see it.
The current Sasuke was strong enough to easily beat him a hundred times over.
Even the optimistic Naruto felt a deep sense of despair facing such a visibly huge gap.
"Hmph," Sasuke snorted coldly. "Those Mystery Box also require a price. I have money, do you?"
This sentence hit the nail on the head, getting straight to the point.
Sarutobi Hiruzen took a deep puff from his pipe, a hint of a bitter smile flashing in his eyes.
Money, huh?