The sky was overcast, the air cold and biting.
By the time Jiraiya leaped up onto the Earth-Style Wall and looked into the distance, he realized that, at some point, the area for hundreds of meters in front of him had been completely frozen over.
The ground was covered in a thick, cold layer of ice, shimmering with a diamond-like brilliance under the gloomy sunlight.
As for the Kirigakure's Ninjas he had been fighting earlier, they had long since vanished from the spot.
Even the body of the Kirigakure's Chunin had been taken away, leaving only the bisected remains of Hizashi, frozen within the ice.
Jiraiya fell silent, because the development of events had completely exceeded his expectations.
Originally, Jiraiya's purpose in leading his team here was to find the infiltrating Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist.
He never expected that instead of finding the main targets, he would encounter an even more troublesome opponent.
'Ice Release, black hair, youth, handsome…'
'And that long sword that caused an inexplicable sense of dread… '
Recalling the details of the earlier fight, Jiraiya felt only shock and fear.
Hizashi was killed, Shisui severely wounded, and even he himself, taking action personally, had failed to capture that mysterious Kirigakure's youth.
'Who is he?'
Ten thousand question marks floated in Jiraiya's heart.
The bizarre speed, exquisite swordsmanship, powerful close-quarters combat, plus that unbelievable Ice Release… He truly couldn't imagine when Kirigakure had nurtured such a monstrous genius Ninja.
'Could it be…'
'He's Kirigakure's secret weapon, meant to rival Minato?'
As he pondered, Jiraiya also jumped down from the high platform.
Looking at Hizashi's mutilated corpse in the ice, his expression turned serious, "Immediately report the intelligence from this battle to the frontline headquarters and the Hokage. Alert all operational units to heighten their vigilance. A terrifying individual has appeared on Kirigakure's side!"
"Yes, Jiraiya-sama!"
Immediately, a Konoha Jonin bit his finger and summoned several messenger pigeons using the Summoning Technique. After tying the intelligence scrolls to the pigeons, he hastily released them.
Flutter flutter~
Flutter flutter~
Soon, the messenger pigeons flew towards Konoha and the direction of the border front lines.
At this moment-
Watching the Konoha's Ninjas collecting Hizashi's remains, Jiraiya's face was also dark.
The Hyuga and Uchiha Clans had sent Hizashi and Shisui into his team with the intention of having them gain some merit by riding on his coattails.
He never expected such a poor performance in their first engagement, resulting in one killed and one severely wounded by the Kirigakure's Ninja right from the start.
With such an embarrassing record, even as one of Konoha's Sannin, he would probably face severe questioning upon returning to the village.
…
Several hours later,
60 kilometers southeast of Tengen Town, in a lush forest.
Under a towering ancient tree, system prompts continuously rang in Sora's ears.
[Mission 1 Complete: Defeat the Konoha's Ninja, Uchiha Shisui. Reward: Reiatsu +1000, Hakuda Exp +1000, Kido Exp +500]
[Mission 2 Complete: Kill the Konoha's Ninja, Hyuga Hizashi. Reward: Reiatsu +2000, Kido Exp +1000]
[Mission 3 Complete: Repel the Konoha's Sannin, Jiraiya. Reward: Reiatsu +10000, Kido Exp +2000]
[Additional Reward Obtained: Portable Gigai]
[Portable Gigai: Ultimate Enhanced Version. Possesses self-intelligence, can perfectly simulate a living being's thoughts and actions. Current operational time: 48 hours. After exceeding the time limit, or 10 minutes after sustaining fatal damage, it will self-destruct and refresh after 24 hours.]
[Additional Reward Obtained: Kido - Soul Manipulation]
[Soul Manipulation: Can control power at the soul level. The higher the Reiatsu level, the stronger the skill's effect.]
…
As the prompts ended, a light suddenly shone in Sora's eyes.
Clearly,
The richness of the rewards from this series of special challenge missions far exceeded his expectations.
Thirteen thousand Reiatsu points, 3500 Kido experience points, plus 1000 Hakuda experience points… this was considerably stronger than the rewards from daily survival missions.
Add to that the Ultimate Enhanced Portable Gigai and the special Kido - Soul Manipulation as extra rewards, Sora had truly hit the jackpot this time.
With over 10,000 Reiatsu, Sora's combat power would increase by another significant margin!
After all, Shinigami is all about Reiatsu!
Don't forget!
The king of villains with maxed-out coolness factor, Aizen, once said: The fight between Shinigami is essentially a fight of Reiatsu!
When Reiatsu is sufficiently powerful, one can even crush the opponent's Bankai with just a Zanpakuto in its normal state.
Moreover, one could directly use terrifying Reiatsu to suppress and kill the opponent's soul, or even cause the entire world to shake or collapse.
In short-
Reiatsu is the foundation of a Shinigami. The stronger the Reiatsu, the stronger the combat power naturally is!
Now,
After completing three special missions, Sora's Reiatsu increased by over ten thousand points out of thin air. He was naturally very excited.
'And…'
'This special equipment, the Portable Gigai, and the Soul Manipulation Kido, both look like extremely valuable rewards!'
Sora glanced at the Portable Gigai that had suddenly appeared in his system space and instantly had a general understanding.
Possesses self-intelligence, can perfectly simulate a living being's thoughts and actions…
Simply put,
This was a perfect-level shadow clone, with fewer side effects and greater damage resistance.
It could be used for combat or to deceive enemies. Moreover, even if it was destroyed, it would refresh in the system space after 24 hours, effectively making it a perpetual motion machine.
As for the Soul Manipulation Kido, the system's description was quite vague, probably requiring Sora to explore it slowly through practice.
However,
Based on his guess, things related to the soul level were probably somewhat similar to the abilities of the Human Path among the Six Paths of Pain, or could be used as a reference.
At this moment-
The increase of thirteen thousand Reiatsu points caused Sora's aura to instantly become even more awe-inspiring. He simply stood there quietly, yet an astonishing murderous intent permeated the air around him, making one's hair stand on end.
At this time,
With a thought from Sora,
The system's personal panel once again appeared before his eyes.
[Eternal Shinigami Master System]
[Host: Yuki Sora]
[Reiatsu: Rank 4 (20,000/50,000)]
[Hakuda: Proficient Level (1200/10,000)]
[Zanjutsu: Expert Level (0/10,000)]
[Shunpo: Proficient Level (400/10,000)]
[Kido: Ordinary Level (4000/10,000)]
[Zanpakuto: Hyorinmaru (Shikai)]