The Gamer: Naruto World - Chapter 23

Chapter 23 – Surviving the first day

The once jovial smile turned into an ugly and bitter frown. Just as Raito was singing his tune, he unknowingly had accepted a challenge and had sealed his fate for the next five days.

Challenge accepted

Inventory locked until the end of survival exam.

Reward: 500 points

“Nononono, cancel challenge…Close…Stop…Damn stop.” The blue rectangular tab hovering in front of Raito, the longer he looked at it, the angrier Raito got.

Plopping down and sitting cross-legged, Raito tried out various methods to call out inventory but was stopped on the very first step. However he called out inventory, the tab would not form in front of him.

Chōji looked at Raito, who was in front of him trying various hand movements, sometime Raito would call out ‘inventory’ and sometime Raito would stare at the space in front of him. Seeing Raito like that, he remembered the feeling was something like when he would finish the bag of ch.i.p.s and remember that it was the last one, “Raito, what happened?”

Coming out of a daze, Raito looked at Chōji bitterly and said, “Nothing, something happened….that inventory –.”

“Yoshizawa Raito, Akimichi Chōji, you two get in line.” Iruka shouted on the top of his voice as he looked at the distance where Raito and Chōji had gone.

The two lines in front of him had already started entering the cabins for search but the two boys still had not joined the lines.

After a couple of seconds, the two boys hurriedly came and joined the line.

As Raito and Chōji joined the line, Raito glared at Shikamaru and Naruto and asked, “Why didn’t you call us?”

“When did you two disappear? I thought you were right behind us.” Shikamaru easily lied and seemed uncaring.

Hearing Shikamaru, Raito wanted to beat him into the ground but held himself back. On the side, Chōji asked, “Where’s Naruto?”

“Iruka sensei couldn’t stand Naruto so he was sent in early.” Shikamaru replied.

“Nara Shikamaru.” Iruka called Shikamaru, after which he entered the door.

Raito switched with Chōji and stood at the last. Activating his ‘Chakra Sense’ Raito could see the inside, a fat man and thin man, trying to make Shikamaru angry. Raito had only one word for the poor act of the thin men – ‘boring’.

“Call me Eichiro, my team will be responsible for holding your belongings for the period of this survival exams. I will be checking for anything you try to sneak into the exam.” waiting for confirmation, for a second, the fat Chūnin continued without receiving the confirmation. “Any weapons, water, food, books, ropes or compass.”

Smiling Raito gave his weapon pouch to the Chūnin and waited. The fat Chūnin checked the items inside and after counting he gave it to the thin Chūnin behind. “One set of shuriken, five kunai, two sealing tags, and ten exploding talismans.” when he said the exploding tags he looked at Raito with a bit more serious face.

“Oh! Exploding talismans? Can a student buy them? This kid must have brought them from the black market.” the thin Chūnin said in exasperation as he checked the talismans.

The fat Chūnin and Raito looked at the thin one with ‘Are you stupid’ look.

‘A kid knowing black market in Konoha? Oh dear Kami, even I know, no one would dare sell him.’ the fat Chūnin glared at the thin one.

“What creativity, wow uncle you are really….smart.” Raito gave a thumbs up to the thin Chūnin.

“Stop talking…. Jackets and shirts off.” Eichiro gave a command and Raito followed. Handing the jacket and the t-shirt to the Chūnin behind. He grabbed Raito’s face with one hand and with another hand-checked for anything etched on the face.

The thin Chūnin also checked for the jacket, checking one side then another, then the collar and the borders. After he checked everything, one hand glowed with chakra searching for any Fuinjutsu seals on the clothes. “Found one” at the inside of the jacket, at the lower part, the thin Chūnin found a storage seal, passing chakra into it for quite a while, the thin Chūnin got annoyed and called Eichiro, “I can’t open it, captain.”

Eichiro also passed chakra into it and seeing it was of no use, he looked at Raito for a while and commanded, “You must be a seal master….open the seal.”

The thin Chūnin behind Eichiro gave a disbelieving expression and spoke softly, “Captain even if you say that….”

“Keep quiet, Kenichi.” giving his subordinate, Eichiro looked at Raito.

Nodding Raito sent out chakra opening the seal, from where a lighter appeared. Grabbing the lighter Eichiro kept it in a plastic bag, he ordered Kenichi to search thoroughly.

In the next few minutes, Kenichi found a grand total of five seals on the clothes. Eichiro looked at Raito before commenting, “It seems you cannot draw seals on your body just yet.”

“Give the kid back his clothes and store the items.” Eichiro commanded and left the cabin.

Kenichi gave Raito his clothes back then started labeling, “Lighter, compass, rope, medicine kit, a knife.”

“You really came prepared, huh? Too bad I was in charge of checking.” Kenichi gave a victorious smile and kept everything at the cabinet. “Top Fuinjutsu, a brainy, but…. You are still stupid, hehe all this planning wasted…. Do you think we will let you do as you want…?”

As Kenichi continued spouting non-sense Raito ignored him and checked his status and everything. Everything was fine except for the inventory. “Oi Oi…..one more sissy.” saying that he left the cabin.

Raito twitched as he watched Kenichi leaving the cabin.

On exiting Raito cursed Kenichi, hundreds of time. Inventory and the sealed items were taken, now Raito could only use the things he had learned to survive in the exams. Sighing Raito continued trying to cancel the challenge and opening the inventory.

Outside the cabin, the students gathered in groups of three, divided by Iruka. As Iruka saw Raito coming out he commanded, “Raito join Hinata and Naruto, you three will be team thirteen.”

“They took my bandages.”

“Plastic bags.”

“Food, my food.”

“My needles, too.”

“Who the hell needs needles?”

“You never know.”

Raito asked Naruto if anything was taken. The answer was everything, the same as his.

“What about Inventory?” Chōji asked from the side.

Hearing her Raito’s face turned ugly, giving a bitter smile the answered, “I cannot open the inventory.”

As he said that the five looked at him in shock and anger. The anger was from Chōji, quickly grabbing his collar, Chōji asked, “How? Why? A-Are you lying?”

“C-Chōji, I am not lying. I-I…. It was just after you….gave me the ch.i.p.s.” Raito was totally depressed now, the tears from his eyes were just going to drop.

“Chōji, stop.”

Shikamaru looked at Raito and asked, “What happened?”

“I don’t know but after Chōji gave me his ch.i.p.s to store, I couldn’t open the inventory anymore.” Raito answered leaving about the ‘challenge accepted’ thing.

“No-No way it can’t be….but It- it just can’t be.” Chōji seemed as he finally understood what was wrong.

“Did you do something?” from the side Ino asked an evil aura covered her. I concerned her beautiful hair and her good night sleep.

Hearing the sweet poisonous tone of Ino, Chōji became even more afraid and stammered.

“Groups….divide….attention.” as Iruka commanded from the stage, everyone scurried and formed groups before coming into attention.

“Masami Iwasawa.

Abarai Renji.

Haruno Sakura.

Enter.”

The three were approached by a Chūnin then the group entered the training ground.

One after another, the teams kept entering accompanied by the Chūnin. Raito got bored as he waited, in the end, it was only Raito’s team and Sasuke’s that was left.

After everyone left, Iruka approached the two and said, “Both groups have good tracking and scouting ability, so Hokage-sama thought that these two people will be able to hold their ground against you two.” then Iruka gave a signal and two men with ANBU mask appeared. “Please”. Then Iruka went back to the group with the rest of the academy teachers.

The group of students looked at the respective observers standing in front of them. The two ANBU didn’t say anything but walked through the gate. The students looked at each other before following the ANBU.

“Hey, hey ANBU-san, what’s your name? Is it cat, dog, sparrow, bull…?” Naruto asked the ANBU in front of him, trying to get any reaction from him. But to no avail, the ANBU walked without saying a word. The path was flat with no foot trails. Deeper they went, the louder the noise of the animals became but what Raito found shocking was that there were no ferocious animals, there were animals like chicken, duck, goose, rabbits, boar, deer, etc. The mix of animals was quite confusing, it was like a man-made area. The fruits and vegetables were also abundant, growing with companion crops, here and there, about every 100 to 200 ft. in small groups, very much spread.

“I see sweet potatoes there.” Raito made a comment and pointed at a direction.

“Fruits like apples and banana are also there.” Hinata added and wanted to walk towards another direction.

“I’ll go.” Naruto shouted and was about to go but was stopped by the ANBU in front. “Don’t”.

The commanding tone of ANBU made Naruto flinch and he didn’t dare to go.

“Even if he can’t his clone definitely can.” Raito said and made a signal to Naruto.

“Yeah.” Naruto made a shadow clone jutsu hand seal and was about to activate his chakra but was once again stopped by the ANBU in front.

“No deviation until we reach the destination point.” ANBU added, the mask completely hiding his expression.

“Rule book.” Raito directly gave the ANBU in front of him with a nickname but the ANBU remained the same.

Exchanging glances with Naruto and Hinata, Raito started speaking, “With height of about 5 foot and about 6 or 7 inches, not even 6 foot a typical low height problem, short brown hair, very, very common, no unique style, you must be currently…..(with a long pause) a total single.” The figure trembled but Raito continued speaking, “And with that attitude of the rule book, any girl dating him will definitely break up with him within 4 months, not lasting more than that.” the figure trembled, even more, the mask-wearing ANBU wanted to turn but restrained himself.

‘This, this….works?’ Raito had used one of the techniques Inoichi had taught him, but was looking at the figure in front of him with a d.e.s.i.r.e to laugh. “Hai girls definitely-”

The trembling figure calmed down, looking back he said, “….Stop talking.”

After a few minutes of the silent treatment, Naruto was truly bored, so he asked, “Wasn’t the ANBU with Sasuke’s team Inu (Dog)? I remember him, he used to come to play with us. Although he didn’t know how to play many games, he was a good person.”

Raito from the side having puzzled expression asked, “Didn’t Inu have white hair, like an old man?”

“Nope, it was him alright. The smell is just the same.” Naruto replied.

“Who cares?” Raito ignored Naruto walking forward and as he walked, he gathered the small pebbles from the ground.

Seeing what Raito was doing Hinata also started walking on the sides, using her good chakra control to break the neck of the berries, and catching as she walked.

Naruto saw the two and was instantly depressed, searching around for the things he could do, Naruto also went on the side grabbing leaves and buds in random. Hinata who was grabbing berries saw Naruto and seeing he was plucking leaves and buds, she went toward him to verify.

“Naruto-kun these are?” Hinata asked as she pointed.

“Uh these are herbs, I remember this can be used to repel mosquitoes and insects if burned and this….um this bud can be eaten, I think.” Naruto said proudly trying to show off his knowledge he has gotten from reading dozen of books.

“Naruto-kun….these buds are not edible, they are poisonous. And this leaf will cause itching…..so it’s also a poison.” Hinata replied breaking Naruto’s pride.

“Those books, all waste.” Raito made a comment from the behind, an arrow hitting Naruto’s heart.

“Aah. Future Hokage not even knowing the things in his village.” Raito made a mournful sound then continued.

“Maybe Hinata who knows about the herbs will become a good Hokage?” Raito made an exaggerated sigh and continued.

“N-No I don’t want to….I-I….” Hinata in fright replied but couldn’t continue.

“But I read all those books….but still….”

“Things that require practice will need practice, learning from books alone is not enough.” ANBU who was walking in front said.

“It requires practice Naruto-kun and the field of herbology is really vast, it’s natural to get confused. If you want why don’t I help you?” Hinata explained then offered her help.

“Then how did you learn?” Naruto had a tone of not giving up, so he asked again.

“Hyuga clan is from a big clan of the village. Their resources are large and Hinata herself is also hardworking from when she was small not like you reading books just for a couple of days.” Raito was merciless but Naruto didn’t mind, turning to Hinata he asked, “Hinata-chan help me learn.”

Hinata smiled happily and nodded. On the way, she would help Naruto pick up various leaves and she would explain their uses and how to differentiate them.

After two hours of walking, Raito who was walking one the back gathering small pebbles, had already stopped gathering and was provoking ANBU.

“Oi ANBU-san, aren’t we there, yet?” it was umpteenth time Raito had asked in the past hour.

“We are here.” the ANBU in front stopped and walked in a small open area. In the middle of the open area, there was a small wooden box. On top of it, there was an A4 size paper written.

Objective – Survival exams for four days.

Open the box to accept the mission.

Hinata read the content of the letter out loud, the looked at Raito and Naruto, for an answer.

“Hey ANBU-san, do we-” as Naruto was about to ask, he paused, then looked around searching for the ANBU.

“He’s gone.” after checking with his ‘Chakra Sense’, not finding the person, he was slightly amazed in his heart. Then he looked at Hinata for confirmation. After getting the signal, Hinata also checked for the ANBU but failed to do so. “He is not here.”

‘Maybe.’ after making a wild guess, Raito faced Hinata and said, “Hinata I can’t sense through the ground, can you?”

“I can.” after a long time, she still replied the same.

Naruto on the side had already opened the box but seeing the bad face Raito could conclude that it wasn’t anything in the box. “Naruto?”

“Compressed biscuits, some food pills and a bottle of water.” Naruto replied blandly.

“And?” Raito questioned.

“Nothing else.”

Gathering in a circle Raito, Hinata and Naruto sat, making a plan.

“What do we need?”

“Food, Shelter, water.” Naruto replied in lightning fast.

“And warmth.”

“Let’s divide work, for now, Hinata, Naruto, you two look for shelter and water.” then he started to empty the box then with a reminding tone he said to Naruto, “Listen to Hinata and let your shadow clones do the work, okay? I will gather the food.”

Raito, after saying everything left them, with a box in his hand, he walked back to gather the vegetables and fruits.

The two looked at Raito’s fading back, a little bit of sadness invaded their heart. With Hinata’s help, Naruto also started working. Creating clones Naruto helped with scouting and Hinata with her Byakugan also started.

In front of Raito, everywhere he could see was grass and even more grass. If he didn’t have his skills, gathering food would not be this easy, pulling a bunch of grass looking thing, be carrots and radish. “Carrot and radish at the bottom and tomatoes on top.”

“The apples were here.” running around, Raito quickly gathered food, mainly those that do not need cooking. Finding food was easiest for people like Raito, Hinata, Shino, and Kiba, who had the ability in scouting.

The wooden box was completely filled and it felt a little heavy. Sighing Raito searched for the two before walking towards them. On his way, Raito saw many sources of protein like rabbits, chicken, and boar, which was truly suitable. “Lizard, bird and squirrel, it’s best not to mention them, girls will definitely not like them.”

As Raito was nearing them, the two suddenly took off. “Really? Damn.” Seeing the two take-off, Raito stopped running and continued walking.

Naruto and Hinata were in an open area, the trees around them had stab and slash markings, made by weapons of the academy Chūnin. Luck on their side, chipped kunai and shuriken were littered everywhere, not the best but usable. Gathering the kunai and shuriken, they found out that most of those were not usable, from the bundle, only half were usable.

“Raito-san is coming.” Hinata who was checking the surroundings reported.

“Raito, here.” Naruto called for Raito. Putting down the box filled with food, Raito lay down on the ground, panting heavily.

“Look we found weapons everywhere.” Naruto showed the weapons to Raito.

“Only a few are usable, we can’t use the rest.” Raito checked with his skill and said to the duo. There were some that looked usable but were on the verge of breaking. Again from the bundle, Raito selected some and in there end only four kunai and three shurikens were usable.

“Ano Raito-san, Naruto-kun there are more things up.” Hinata who was using her Byakugan commented.

“More?” Naruto and Raito both shouted.

After deactivating her Byakugan, Hinata stood in front of the tree, raising one foot, she placed it on the tree then her another foot hovered above the ground. She was defying gravity, her foot sticking on the trunk of the tree as if ready to walk on its surface. She raised her foot and made a step, then another and another. Within seconds she walked towards the branches. On there she lifted the wood look-like cloth and recovered a large cloth.

Bringing down the bundle Hinata placed it down and quickly opened it. Water bottle, clothes, money, some rations, and a box was inside the bundle of cloth.

“We can use this cloth and the water bottle.” Raito commented.

Acting on Raito’s word Hinata grabbed the cloth and the water bottle, placing them on the wooden box. Naruto, curious, went to open the small box but was held back by Raito. Raito checked the box with ‘Observe’ and found that the owner of the box was Nara clan and it was a stolen item.

“Hinata can you see what is inside that?”

“There is a tube with pink water inside.”

Naruto crouched down and pointed on a symbol on the box, “Hey, isn’t that symbol from Shikamaru’s house?”

“From Nara clan.” Hinata added from the side.

“We can’t keep it.” Raito said then looking all around him he shouted, “ANBU-san”.

The hidden ANBU appearing from the blind spot of the three suddenly entered Raito’s ‘chakra sense’, making Raito turn around and take action. The backhand made by Raito was grabbed by the ANBU, holding the wrist, ANBU pushed back making Raito take a few steps back.

“It’s ANBU-san.” Naruto stated the obvious and helped Raito.

“You shouldn’t attack randomly, moreover an ally.” The ANBU said in his masked voice.

“An ally who I don’t know much and appearing on my back.” Raito said in a somewhat angry tone, although no HP was lost, he still felt a little bit of pain.

Ignoring Raito he watched the other two and asked, “Why did you call? Does your team want to quit?”

“No way, dattebayo.”

“ANBU-san.” Hinata after getting the attention from ANBU said, “This….we wanted to give you this box….it looked like it was from Nara clan. It is a tube with a pink liquid inside it.”

The ANBU looked at the box, opening it he saw the tube and closed it. “I will see that Hokage-sama gets it.”

“Now?” Raito asked

“Yes.” Answering the ANBU disappeared

“Yesh, not even a thanks.”

After that, with the help of shadow clones of Naruto, carrying became one of the least worrying things. Few on the sides, held varieties of foods, dry branches, and tall grasses.

“AHA!” Shouting in surprise, Naruto drew the attention of Hinata and Raito. Looking towards him Hinata asked, “What happened Naruto-kun?”

“I found the waterfall and there is even a small cave for us to sleep for the night.” Naruto replied excitedly.

“How far is it?” Raito asked.

“Not very far, about…about 1…2….around half an hour away.” Naruto tried explaining how long the distance was but couldn’t so he opted for the time needed. He always had trouble regarding numbers and estimating distance, things like that. Everyone was taught the same, but for some reason, it was especially difficult for Naruto.

The group walked towards the waterfall and every now and then Raito in spite, would ask Naruto how far it was. The first, cheerful Naruto when replying felt that ignoring Raito was the best thing now. He didn’t think that he, himself was this annoying when he did it. He would just ask for knowing and had no ulterior motive.

“Naruto-kun, your clone is there waving at us.” Hinata who was picking herbs on the way also used Byakugan frequently, seeing the clone, she quickly informed them.

“Oi, that’s my clone.”

“Whose can it be, if not yours?”

Uzumaki Naruto (Clone no. 4.2)

Durability: 4/25

CP: 40/80

“Boss, I have been waiting for you all for a while now.” after saying a single sentence the clone disappeared. A bit dazed Naruto didn’t take too long to absorb all the information the clone had.

“Follow me.” Naruto with his clones ran towards the area, leaving Hinata and Raito behind to follow.

Catching up to Naruto, they reached the waterfall. The waterfall was large but not too large, the surrounding cliff and hills with the waterfall would make a crescent shape leaving one side to flow, and the mouth was also big enough. The waterfall made a large noise and along with it a cool wind blew around it.

Finally reaching to the original Naruto, he was in front of the cave staring it with a strange expression. The cave-in front of him which could not be called a cave was just enough to fit three people tightly. Also, it was already wet, making it already impossible to get in and sit. It was easier to make a shelter using as a wall on the back but for five days it will be quite difficult.

“I didn’t see it properly. I thought it was big enough.” Naruto said with a bit of guilt.

[Quest created – Home sweet home – 1]

Expand the cave.

Quest reward – 50 Exp

Accept quest?

[Yes| No]

“I can expand this cave?” Raito questioned himself out loud.

“You can?” Naruto also asked.

Pausing for a while, Raito checked his skill list and replied, “I think I can.”

“Get more long grass.”

“Are we having fish?”

“This water is full of fish.”

“We also need a place to make fire.”

….

After the work was divided, Raito was at the cave while Naruto and Hinata went out to get other things done.

“Earth release – Earth pit.”

Raito placed his hand at the back of the cave and activated his chakra, the soil within the circle was gradually pushed back making a crater. Now on the natural, smooth, curved surface of the cave had a small circular crater with about a hand depth.

CP – 1220/1260

Let’s try 50 points of chakra. A new hole was made into the wall. Seeing the hole Raito immediately placed his foot into it. “Woah, half of my leg.”

After quite a while there were holes everwhere, making it quite unsightly to look at. By the end even he wanted to level everything, he couldn’t. Raito’s chakra was already at the end.

“Kami-sama, I am envious.” crying at his low chakra Raito wished for an increase in chakra.

Meditating to recover chakra.

Peeking out Raito was at the middle of the cave. Placing his hand on the sidewall, Raito called out, “Earth Pit” (Just a bit, just a bit)

The hole instantly became big, slightly off the mark. The jutsu made a big hole at the side of the entrance, making a small window.

‘Let’s leave that for now.’ While the jutsu was still active, his hands move downward slowly, the surface was also pushed backward. Chunks of rocks with soil were being pushed back. The sides and back, could be said to be expanded, somewhat.

The touch was far smoother than it had been previously due to the jutsu.

But the problem was that the cave had now extra opening. Also, the floor had few pits which were half a leg deep.

“I have 300 points of chakra left. Expanding cost me less than I thought.” As Raito looked at his status page he continued expanding.

[Skill ‘Earth Release – Earth Pit’ has reached level 7]

“Hey, what is with this hole?” a loud voice entered Raito’s ear, which made Raito cancel ‘Earth Pit’.

“Holes?” Hinata didn’t say much but hit the center with one word, making Raito depressed beyond imagination.

“I tried to make the cave big using the camping jutsu, ‘Earth release – Earth Pit’. But from this….I guess it will take a little bit more time.”

“Woah the cave just got big.” (Naruto)

“It’s not that big, you know.” (Raito)

“Just if there were no holes on the floor.” (Hinata)

“Ugh.” (Raito)

“If we all hug each other that it will be all comfy.” (Naruto)

“Sure, sure.” (Raito)

“H-hug? Hugging Naruto-kun.” Hearing that Hinata got her brain fired and she fainted.

Raito’s lips twitched, “Really?”

“Oi Hinata, Hinata, what happened?” Naruto became frantic and shook Hinata.

“Of course we are all sleeping together, after all, we have only one blanket.” Naruto said in a matter of fact like.

“We also brought some fish and leaves.” Naruto added.

Raito looked at the fish then at the leaves. Then looked at the two coconuts at the side. Grabbing them Raito shook them, hearing the milk inside moving.

“We also got some coconut. The tree was so big but Hinata ran up grabbed few and….and it was so cool.” Naruto said in a slightly awed voice, his eyes sparkling.

“Naruto-kun, Raito-san, tree climbing is a chakra control exercise. I am good at them so….so if you don’t mind I can teach it to everyone.” Hinata explained and offer her knowledge, her voice getting softer at the end.

“Really!? Thanks, Hinata.” (Naruto)

“Thank you Hinata-san.”

Raito looked back to a somewhat messy cave with pits. Then he said, “I’ll start making fire…. Hinata why don’t you prepare the coconut and we’ll eat fish with it.”

Raito started preparing to make fire, clearing the area and putting the stones in formation. While Naruto brought the sticks and woods, Hinata removed the outer bark and made a cut at the top revealing the milk and the meat.

The area was cleared, the stones were in formation filled with dry grass and sticks pointing at the circle. “Naruto keep the rest of dry grass on the cave.” Then facing the dry grass and stick, Raito made hand-seals, right hand on the sticks, “Fire Release – Fire spark”.

Removing the bad innards, cutting the fish in parts, wrapping them with leaves of a banana tree, Raito placed them near the fire. “Big fishes are worth a hundred.”

Now waiting for the fish to cook, he washed the fruits and the vegetable to eat. Stunned as the bottle became empty, Raito realized his bad habit of washing vegetables properly.

“I know the water condensation and water purification jutsu, Raito-san.” Hinata from the side pulled the bottle and said.

Raito nodded.

Sitting on the stones, around the campfire, the three held fish on their hand. Raito held one coconut while another was held by Hinata.

“Hey, where is mine?” Naruto looked around.

Raito shrugged.

“Give me half, Raito.” Naruto pointed at Raito and said.

“No way.” Raito covered his coconut with another hand.

“Then I am not going to get any? I want to.”

Raito didn’t reply but stared to deliver the answer.

“I will share with you Naruto-kun.” Hinata from the side said sweetly.

“Wah! Hinata you are so good….unlike someone certain here.”

“Hmph.”

After bickering for a while, they started eating. Hinata and Naruto were surprised at how delicious the fish was. Raito on the other hand felt it was not so delicious.

“Wow, this fish taste so delicious.”

Hinata nodded from the side vigorously, showing her amazement.

“Delicious water.” Hinata surprised shouted out loud, making Raito and Naruto looked at her weirdly.

Hinata gave her coconut milk to Naruto, after which he also made a yip.

Taking a sip from his own coconut milk, he felt it was only ordinary. “It’s not that great, just okay.”

Ignoring Raito took a bite from the carrot, the taste was at another level, “Hey, this carrot is delicious.”

[Carrot (+1)] A normal carrot enhanced by pure water.

[Coconut milk (+1)] Ordinary coconut milk mixed with pure water enhancing its taste.

[Coconut] An ordinary Coconut.

‘What is this pure water?’ “Hey, Hinata what did you do to this carrot?” Raito asked his words felt like interrogation making Hinata nervous.

“I washed them with the water….that’s all.” Hinata answered.

Grabbing the bottle, Raito checked the water with his skill.

[Pure water (+1)]

Water containing no harmful substances. Contain trace amount of chakra.

Uses>

“Water purification Jutsu?”

“Yes, I washed them with that and also added the water in coconut milk.” Hinata again replied trying to explain herself.

“Wow.” Raito also exclaimed in surprise.

Removing all the worries from his mind Raito ate his fish which was steaming, winds from the shore, heat from the fire and crackling from the branches.

Chewing the fish drinking from the coconut bowl and living under the star. A picture perfect, only if…

Mixing the coconut milk with pure water, Raito drank everything in one gulp.

CP +40

“Wow, it had this effect.”

“Yup it’s really delicious.”

Taking out a cleaned kunai Raito started taking out the white meat.

“Give me yours too.” grabbing the coconut Raito easily took out the meat inside.

Just outside the cave, Raito placed his hand in front of the hole, channeling his chakra, Raito called out, “Earth cover”.

The soil around the hole shifted, the hard rock stretched to join together, covering the hole altogether. Then Raito covered the holes on the ground and it looked like the ground has no holes but tapping the places with holes a sound indicating there was space was still heard.

[Earth affinity has leveled up.]

[Earth affinity has reached level 5.]

[Due to earth affinity being the primary affinity, a skill has been unlocked.]

[Earth Element Control (Active/Passive) Lvl 1 Exp 0%]

Control and manipulate the earth element around you to your command.

Higher the level, more control and variety.

Raito went into dazed for a while and the box appeared in front of him.

From behind Naruto tapped Raito’s shoulder and asked worriedly, “Raito why are dreaming? You made that hole….disappear?”

“Tomorrow I will make this cave even bigger Naruto. Maybe even a nice door or a fireplace. Is should also make water jars…..” Raito was again lost in his thought, hundreds of ideas invading his mind.

The foundational and basic knowledge filling his mind. After a while, Raito came out of a daze, the cave was filled with grass and blanket, Hinata and Naruto sat discussing things.

Seeing that Raito was out of a daze, Naruto called him. “We already went to the toilet.”

“Bakanaru.”

INO-SHKIA-CHO

“They are not here.” Ino looked at the river upstream and voiced her thoughts.

“That means they must have found a waterfall.” Shikamaru poured the water, dowsing the fire.

“We will follow the river tomorrow, after breakfast.” Shikamaru added.

“Four more days.” Ino sighed.

“You have to live four more days without your shampoo.” Chōji from the side revealed the point.

“I am a Kunoichi, I can handle this.”

“Even if we reach there, Raito can’t use ‘inventory’.” Chōji said his mood depressed.

“That’s not final, maybe he can use now.” Shikamaru thought out loud.

SASUKE-KIBA-SHINO

“Cave on one-sided, food on another, fishes on the river, we are so lucky.” Kiba said as he bit on the fish and letting Akamaru take another bite.

“Sasuke-san, should we move to a new location to find other and team up….. or stay?” Shino, as he looked out of the cave, asked without turning.

“….We are fine, here.”

“Oi Sasuke, tomorrow after we collect for food, you and me, let’s fight. Simply surviving is stupid we should go wild.”

“Hn.” Sasuke took a bite from a tomato, making a small sound for confirmation.

IWASAWA-RENJI-SAKURA

“Renji-san, should we quit tomorrow?” the purple-clad girl asked as her charming countenance looked at Renji.

The boy with a wooden sword had a stiff expression, nodded and said, “Okay why not? My father has also decided that it’s time to leave Konoha.” pausing to look at the girl sitting on the rock, there was a hint of admiration in his eyes.

Hesitating for a bit Renji asked, “Can I ask for your origin, miss?”

“I am afraid I cannot answer your question.” the girl then watched the wooden sword and said, “Your sword dance is very fun to watch.” Pausing the girl had a glimmer, “Especially the formless sword formation.”

“Thank you for the praise.”

“Pick up your sword.” Iwasawa gave a command and Renji obeyed, he picked up his sword and started his flow.

From the side Iwasawa looked at the plain sword technique dance and smiled brilliantly, pausing a bit she let out a string of words, which felt sharp.

‘Path of the sword is limitless. A razor of wind, a thousand cuts, flower blossoms, flower withers, just the cycle continues. Time passes, the sun and moon will change but the art of the sword will always be supreme. Remaining at the top, looking down from the peak, the cold eyes, always alone, always aloof.’

The gentle wind turned sharp and slash marks appeared at the ground. The wind swirled around Renji and the wind moved according to his movements. With a wave a sword mark would appear, with a stab stone will be pierced.

“How amusing, Chakara….is really amusing.”

Closing her eyes she went into meditation. If we zoomed out, we could see her sitting on a rock slab which had a smooth surface and one the side was another piece of stone which would fit perfectly on the first rock slab.

Outside the cave, Sakura didn’t dare to enter inside. She was trying to lit a fire using the sticks and stones.

“It’s cold, cold.” She trembled.

When the survival exams started, Sakura along with Iwasawa and Renji, were brought to the area. After that, the Chūnin disappeared. Renji and Iwasawa teamed up and being from the same section, they quickly adapted to each other.

As for Sakura, she was the odd one out. Iwasawa gave instruction but Sakura failed to do so again and again. Her natural intelligence and her vast theoretical knowledge failed her. Her lack of strength and stamina was the main problem. She couldn’t catch up with the two, naturally lagging behind.

Unable to break thick branches, lift stones, catching animals or fishes, collecting foods. Worse was her personality, she would complain after every task and suggest moving towards other places to team up with others. She would complain about water being cold, trees being too high, the rock being heavy and animal and fishes being too fast.

Iwasawa couldn’t take it anymore, she had seen people, many, many people, but what she despised the most were people like Sakura.

Without any hesitation, she directly asked Sakura to leave the group. Renji didn’t question or took a side. Sakura got angry, took a swing at Iwasawa but before she knew, she was thrown out of the cave. And whenever she tried entering, something invisible would block her from entering.

Alone, hungry, cold and in danger, a painful teardrop fell on the ground, before she cried to sleep.