Right.
Even putting the galgame aside, in the Naruto world itself, bonds were a huge deal—especially in Konoha, where every three people seemed to generate at least two kinds of emotional ties. If the galgame system didn't have something like that, that would've been stranger.
What he hadn't expected was that the unlock condition would be this harsh—
He needed 10 romance targets.
"Come to think of it… I really do have ten now…"
It hit Mikami Yuu a little late.
Let's see…
The Three Basic Jutsu, Great Fireball, Phoenix Sage Fire, Wild Water Wave, Eight Gates, Healing Technique, Hatake Swordsmanship… and now Water Formation Wall.
Yep.
That made ten.
In a game like this, romancing multiple "pretty girls" at once was normal, but the fact that he had somehow ended up standing on ten boats at the same time… was honestly a little impressive.
That said, it also proved the old saying—if you grab too much, you chew badly.
Ninjutsu needed time to [Practice], and "relationships" needed energy to cultivate. Out of those ten "girls," the ones Mikami Yuu had really made solid progress with were only five or six. The others hadn't even unlocked their first-stage traits yet.
And one red-haired, dark-skinned PE girl had already been neglected for a full week.
Because once you were out on a mission, you obviously couldn't keep doing what you did in the village—wake up every morning and immediately run ten kilometers with her.
So yes, the idea of unlocking targets first and letting them sit in the romance list until he had time later wasn't wrong—
but there was no need to get obsessive about stacking more and more targets.
Priority still had to go to the jutsu that actually fit his combat system and could be turned into real fighting power.
With that in mind,
Mikami Yuu focused on the system again:
[Bond Codex: A special codex unlocked after multiple established romance targets all reach max affection. Each bond grants the host an additional buff.]
[Currently activated bond: Trinity · Phantom Play]
[Trinity · Phantom Play (Transformation Technique, Clone Technique, Substitution Technique): Your Three Basic Jutsu have reached the summit. Their activation speed is greatly increased and they require almost no hand seals. At the same time, by consuming additional chakra, you can create an 80m × 80m "Phantom Stage." Within the Phantom Stage, your Three Basic Jutsu can link seamlessly with no hand seals or cooldown.]
(Note: This bond can only be triggered once per day.)
"Whoa."
Mikami Yuu's face lit up.
"Seamless Three Basic Jutsu within an 80-meter area… isn't this tailor-made for the Shadow Prison Phantom Kill Formation I was imagining?"
Could it be the galgame system also had some kind of mind-reflection function?
It looked like this was something he absolutely had to test.
The only thing still unclear was how much that "additional chakra cost" actually was. If it wasn't too severe, then Mikami Yuu could develop the technique he'd been imagining on top of this bond effect.
And—
"If the Three Basic Jutsu have a bond… then what about Great Fireball and Phoenix Sage Fire?"
"And Wild Water Wave with Water Formation Wall?"
Eight Gates didn't count, because Mikami Yuu genuinely couldn't think of any jutsu that would form a bond with her. Strength of a Hundred? Or… Thousand Years of Death?
Either way,
this trip already felt completely worth it.
Since he was still outside the village, and because developing Shadow Prison Phantom Kill Formation obviously wasn't something he could do overnight, Mikami Yuu didn't test it right away. Instead, he practiced swordsmanship for a while, then gave himself half a day off and chatted a bit with the jutsu inside the galgame system.
Even though some of them—especially the Three Basic Jutsu—were already maxed out and couldn't gain more affection through [Talk],
it was still pretty fun to talk to them from time to time, given how distinct their personalities were.
Honestly, it felt kind of like joking around online with internet friends in his previous life. Very stress-relieving.
If a certain idiot next door had a galgame like this, he probably wouldn't have gone dark so easily…
Then again, maybe he'd still end up launching the Infinite Tsukuyomi plan just to create a world where 2D girls could become real. Same destination, different road.
Soon enough,
it was the morning of the third day.
At dawn, with a flash of golden light, Minato reappeared in camp—
and brought back a specially prepared medical case.
"Hebishi, this is the antidote Tsunade-sama urgently mixed with her team. If injected within eight hours of poisoning, it can neutralize ninety percent of the toxicity. It's a little late now, but it should still have sixty to seventy percent effectiveness. After that, with normal detox methods and some rest, they should recover."
"That's wonderful. As expected of Tsunade-sama!"
Hebishi immediately organized the medical team and began administering the antidote to the poisoned wounded.
Once the medicine started working and the blood seeping from the wounds turned bright red again, the atmosphere in camp finally relaxed.
At that point, the mission could basically be considered an overachievement.
Afterward, Mikami Yuu and the others stayed in Wildfire City for two more days, helping Hebishi, Tsume, and the others where they could.
Along the way, he also learned a little more about the current border situation—
In Mikami Yuu's memory, one of the major triggers of the Third Great Ninja War was the disappearance of the Third Kazekage. Sunagakure had spent years and enormous manpower investigating, only to learn over a decade later that the culprit had actually been the teenage Sasori of the Red Sand.
Earlier, Akiyama Hayato had said that Sunagakure had been moving unusually, as if searching for something.
That "something" was very likely the Third Kazekage.
And if that event had already happened, then Sunagakure's move toward open war was probably only a matter of days.
But Mikami Yuu was still just an ordinary genin. He couldn't exactly jump up and play prophet, blurting out state-level secrets. At most, when talking with Minato and the others, he could make a few observations that fit his current identity and hopefully count as a warning.
Whether those warnings helped or not wasn't really his problem.
One thing worth mentioning—
Tsume came over to talk with Minato a few times during those two days. Apparently they had graduated from the Academy in the same year. She asked him about what Konoha had been like lately, especially regarding the Inuzuka clan. Every now and then she also asked about Uzumaki Kushina.
"…Wow, Minato, looks like you're going to become the Uzumaki family's son-in-law pretty soon."
Tsume teased.
Minato, unusually, looked a little embarrassed. "That's still a long way off. The ninja world is unstable right now. Things like getting married can wait until things settle down.
"More importantly, Tsume—you've been stationed at the border for years after making tokubetsu jōnin. Aren't you thinking about going back to the village?"
"We'll see."
Tsume laughed. "The village is too dull. It's more fun out here. Speaking of which, your students are pretty impressive. Makes me want to try being a squad leader too. Hey, you three—any of you like dogs? When the ninja hounds in my clan have puppies, you can come pick one."
That last line was aimed at Mikami Yuu and the others.
Kakashi looked up first, but didn't say anything.
He was a real dog lover—he couldn't even use Earth-Style Wall without carving dog heads into it—but the Hatake clan already had the Eight Ninja Hounds under contract, and they didn't really overlap with the Inuzuka style.
The one who reacted next wasn't Obito or Mikami Yuu.
It was Rin.
"Really?"
~~~
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