[Choose one Minor Rune as your reward:]
Second Wind: When struck by an enemy with chakra, restore 3% of missing vitality over 6 seconds.
Cut Down: Deal 8%–20% bonus damage to targets with more vitality than you (min +10% difference; max +100%).
Coup de Grace: Deal 6% bonus damage to targets below 40% of your max vitality.
"Oh?" Ren glanced at the three options, surprised to see two offense-focused choices.
He eliminated Second Wind immediately.
If it scaled off his maximum vitality, it might be insane for him.
But it scaled off missing vitality—meaning it only shined when his health was low.
And Ren lived with Absolute Focus basically as a permanent buff.
He wasn't about to intentionally bleed himself just to make Second Wind matter.
And if someone forced his health low enough that Second Wind mattered…
Even double the healing wouldn't save him.
So it came down to Cut Down versus Coup de Grace.
Ren opened his panel and scanned his accumulated "capital."
[Grasp of the Undying] triggered: 9,467,581 times
[Dark Harvest] souls collected: 537; soul strength stacks: 2
[First Strike] skill proficiency gained: 2,459 times (LV4×5, LV3×61, LV2×749, LV1×1,644)
[Biscuit Delivery] chakra/vitality bonuses: 10/10
[Absolute Focus] active
Ren inhaled slowly.
With Grasp of the Undying continuously raising his vitality ceiling—and the possibility of gaining Time Warp later to magnify that vitality further—
Coup de Grace could be pushed into an absurd range.
Maybe not enough to include the final boss of the world…
But by the time he stood before that kind of existence, one minor rune wouldn't matter.
[Minor Rune chosen: Coup de Grace]
The moment he selected it, a strange sensation opened behind his eyes—like a new layer of perception.
Ren could clearly sense the vitality "weight" of living beings around him.
And more than that—he instinctively understood how to apply the same force to cause greater damage against the weak point of a target's life.
"…Hah. It even comes with an extra effect—like a built-in 'detect weaklings' sense?"
He swept his gaze over the Mist shinobi around him.
As expected—everyone triggered Coup de Grace.
Even Mei.
Though Mei's "life flame" burned noticeably stronger than the average chūnin or genin.
In Ren's eyes, it was the difference between a lone firefly and a wavering candle.
"Did the ambush work, Ren?" Mei asked, relief already showing. Ren was bloodstained, but his mouth curved upward—and his squad returned with no losses.
"An ambush against a commander who's been sitting in a greenhouse too long? If that failed, we'd have to 'resist' symbolically and hand Kanayama back to Konoha."
The Kiri shinobi erupted in cheers.
Mei exhaled hard, then pulled out the summoning scroll Ren had given her, about to return it—
Ren pressed her hand down.
Mei looked up, confused.
Ren shook his head gently, then turned to the gathered Mist ninja.
"Set today's watches. Anyone off rotation can relax a little—Konoha lost a quarter of their people. They won't rush us again immediately."
"But the battle for Kanayama is far from over."
"We hold until every last Konoha stronghold on this front becomes ours."
"If you don't want to die when the fighting intensifies, keep training. Understood?"
"Understood, Ren-sama!"
Their voices rose as one—steady, fervent.
For a moment, it felt like they were responding to the Mizukage himself.
Mei stepped behind Ren, smiling faintly.
"You just gathered your first supporters—besides me. Happy, Ren?"
"Not really," Ren said quietly, eyes on the faces before him. "They have to survive first. Only then do they qualify to be my supporters."
"Then that depends on your leadership, Captain." Mei's teasing was light.
"Don't flatter me. My leadership is basically 'ambush' and 'follow me and finish them,'" Ren leaned back, hands behind his head, staring at the sky with a grimace. "Stuff looks one way on paper and another when you're the one bleeding."
"At least I'm Kaguya. No one expects Nara-level scheming from us—"
Mei burst out laughing.
"Done?" Ren's face darkened.
"N-no—" Mei wiped tears from her eyes, voice strange with mirth. "Did you start holding grudges after getting outplayed by the Nara?"
"Maybe," Ren's expression went pitch-black as he recalled being rolled for kilometers. "A clan that can mass-produce brains across generations… yeah. Nara are built different."
"But even if they plan against you, they can't really hurt you, can they?"
"I'm not worried about them targeting me." Ren's voice deepened.
"I'm worried about them targeting everyone else."
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