The Gamer: Naruto World - Chapter 68

A sidekick [Body Flicker] is never an enjoyable thing. Moreover, from someone like Shun, who always boasts about his speed, is absolutely horrible.

Raito felt like he was kicked in the head a couple of hundreds of times during this short journey.

Barf

Taking shallow breaths, Raito closed his eyes and tried controlling his breathing. After he regulated his breathing, Raito wiped his mouth then glared at Shun. “What did you do that for? I know [Body Flicker] too, you know. You could have just told me.”

Shun had long ago taken off his mask and was using Genjutsu to alter the look of his clothes, to hide his ANBU uniform. Looking at Raito, Shun pointed towards the door with his chin and said, “Let’s go inside. We need to talk.”

Cough

Looking weirdly at Shun, Raito made the snake hand seal and said, “Shun-nii, why don’t we talk tomorrow? I am out of chakra and the original is somewhere else.”

“Shadow clone?” Shun asked and looked closely, only then he noticed faint red markings appearing on Raito’s cheek.

“Mm.” ‘Raito’ nodded then disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

“Now…where would I find him?” Shun sighed. He looked at the room, which had its light on, on the second floor then tapped the ground, disappearing from the area.

In the middle of night, in front of a huge building, a figure banged on the door furiously while shouting, “Open up.”

Squeak. Only after several minutes the door opened, enough for a finger to pass through but nothing more.

“Young master, you don’t have enough wealth.” The voice of an old man came from the gaps of the door, stopping Raito from pounding the door.

“I want to meet with the mistress of the Poison Hall.” Raito pulled back his fist and stated his reason for coming.

“…Young Master, you don’t have enough wealth.” The old man repeated with a plain tone, “Without wealth, it is impossible to enter.”

“I just want to talk with her. I won’t take more than a couple of minutes.” Raito raged, trying to push the door in vain. “I will buy everything when I have enough money. Just let me in right now.”

“That’s not possible.” The old man behind the door sighed and answered again.

“Why not? Just let me in.” Raito frowned and activated his chakra. As chakra gathered on his fist, Raito looked at the faint opening and swung his fist.

“Young master.” The voice turned stern as the fist which was about to touch the door was stopped, just inches away, by an old hand.

With a sigh, the door opened and an old man wearing weird clothing showed himself but he still did not cross the gate. “The mistress of Poison Hall… has been grounded for committing an offense.”

“What grounded? What offense?” Raito frowned, interrupting the old man.

“When we came to Konoha, we clearly stated that we would never intervene with the village matters. She violated that rule… and hence she was punished.” The old man explained as plainly as he could, but one could still see the irritation on his face.

Raito’s fist softened as he pulled back. “Then-”

The old man looked at Raito then behind him. “Young master, we are neither anyone’s relatives nor anyone’s slaves. There are neither friends nor enemies with us.”

“We have already given out mystic arts for our stay in the village. We don’t owe anything more to the village.”

The old man looked at Raito and closed his eyes, “Our job is to sell ‘you’ the things and nothing else. If you want to buy something, please gather money and come again later.”

Raito watched the door closing in helplessness.

With a quick circle around the area using [Chakra Sense], Raito walked a couple of alleys and disappeared.

“[ID Create – Wasteland].”

With a blink of an eye, the orange sky turned red. The sky had neither stars nor clouds. The birds chirping and the noise of the surrounding inhabitants disappeared.

“Root?”

“It’s too easy.” With a smile, Raito appeared in front of the building and grabbed the doorknob, trying to open it. Soon his face turned ugly. Whether he tried rotating the doorknob clockwise or anticlockwise, it did not have a limit and the door remained closed.

Raito frowned as he tried even harder. “What the heck is this?”

Raito circled the house but did not find any other door or window. Even the roof was fully sealed with holes and gaps sealed by cement or woods. “This place is just like a prison.”

Raito tried sensing the thickness of the wall but soon gave up, as something inside confused his senses. The only opening he had seen was the door. Therefore, Raito gave up trying to find other areas and went straight towards the door.

‘I will just crack open the door and sneak in.’ Raito tapped the ground and took a couple of steps back. With a sudden shift, Raito jump kicked the door with all his strength but it was of no use, as the door remained standing.

In pain, Raito crouched down and grabbed his leg. ��It’s so freakily sturdy.”

Walking in front of the door, Raito traced the area where the kick had landed. Even after that powerful kick, there was just a faint impression of the foot and nothing else.

Taking out lock picking instruments from his inventory, Raito crouched down and tried lock picking but he could neither hear any sound nor feel the mechanism in the keyhole. “That’s weird.”

Next, chakra threads came out of Raito’s fingers and tried going through the keyhole but even it was blocked by something on the other side.

With a huff, Raito took a couple of steps back and took out gloves from his inventory.

[Martial Artist’s Gloves] (+10)

STR +20

“[Fuinjutsu: Weight Training Seal – Release].”

The seals on Raito’s shoulder surfaced and disappeared.

STR: 230

“Without the training seals restricting me, it feels much better.” Raito stretched enjoying the freedom.

Raito looked at the big door and thought for a while. Even in this wasteland, [Observe] could not get anything from the building. Therefore, he could not be exactly sure how much durability, this old door had.

“It won’t be long.” Raito took out a tag from his pouch and pasted it on his body.

Horse, Snake, Bird.

“[Restriction Seal – Release].”

The seals hidden on the wrist, ankles, and neck surfaced then disappeared.

STR: 280

“Done.” Raito lowered the center of his gravity and activated his chakra. Shifting his body, Raito clenched his fist then started gathering chakra.

Stomping the ground, he dashed forward and swung his fist with more than half of his total chakra.

“[Explosion].”

BOOOM

Dust cloud erupted as the thunderous crackling sound was heard.

Raito withdrew his hand as he looked at the small crack on the door helplessly.

“This is such a shitty…” Raito took out the black book from the inventory and started turning pages.

First page and second page, Chakra Storage.

Using the seals to recover his depleted chakra, Raito turned a few pages more and looked at a seal covering both sides of the book. “You made me do it.”

A small but dark smile appeared on Raito’s face as he looked at the seal. “I always wondered what thousands of explosion talisman connected to one seal would do. Normally I would never do this but…”

Raito looked at the door then traced the seal on the book. Upon activation of his chakra and linking it with the seal, the ink hovered above Raito’s hand from the book and made a line towards the door.

Clack. Just as the ink was about to touch the door, the doorknob, which was supposed to stay still, moved.

Raito widened his eyes and jumped a couple of meters back immediately. At the same time, he recalled the Fuinjutsu and the book, then took out a sword and a few talismans from his inventory.

“Hoho.” An old man wearing a black kung-fu jacket with white buttons stepped out of the building with a small smile on his face. Looking at the red sky, he closed his eyes and took deep breaths. Exhaling, he had a sad expression on his face as he slightly shook his head.

Raito looked in shock as he saw the doors of Poison Hall open and a human walked out of those doors. And the person who walked out of the door was the same old man, who he had been talking just a few minutes ago.

“Young master.” The old man walked with a small smile towards Raito.

“Thank you for opening this dungeon. If I had continued sitting in the building, my body would have-”

“Who are you?” Raito cut him off and took a couple of steps back, and at the same time, pointed the sword towards the old man.

“Impatience, impatience.”

“Let me introduce myself.” From his long sleeves, the old man took out a small wooden fan and cupped his fists. “I am called ‘Four’, one of the Tens.”

“Hmm.” Raito looked at Four’s unusual clothing and speech then asked with dry lips. “How can you be here?”

“Straight forward kind.” ‘Four’ smiled and took action to sit. But before the action was complete, a comfortable looking armchair appeared out of thin air.

“It’s storage magic, similar to the young master’s inventory.” ‘Four’ smiled and grabbed the air in front, pulling a teacup and teapot.

“Storage magic?” Raito mumbled but ‘Four’ focused on his tea making.

“Ahh, such a great aroma.” ‘Four’ poured the tea then passed it to Raito.

Raito hesitated for a moment before sheathing the sword and grabbing the cup respectfully. “Thank you.”

[Green Tea]

Quality: Rare (8/10)

Made by: ‘Four’

Not finding anything unusual, Raito copied ‘Four’ and brought out an armchair then sat down.

“A little boy like you coming to the Abyss’s door… how stupid.” ‘Four’ took a sip then shook his head. “Neither wealth nor respect. Tut, tut.”

“Even when I answered you or tried to… you ignored it and even tried to sneak in. How brazen.”

“I just wanted to talk to the mistress of the Poison Hall.” Raito frowned and tried explaining. Although Four’s words were harsh, Raito still had things that he wanted from him.

“But boy… this is not ‘Poison Hall’ but ‘Abyss’.” ‘Four’ laughed lightly then took a sip.

“But ‘Zero’ and others that told me-” Raito frowned and opened his mouth to which ‘Four’ frowned.

“It doesn’t matter who told you what. This is not ‘Poison Hall’, that’s all you have to know.” ‘Four’ seem irritated as he slightly raised his voice.

Raito scrunched his brows then opened his mouth, “The mistress of ‘Poison Hall’… she isn’t here, is she?”

“She is not.” ‘Four’ answered his question then stood up. The items around him also disappeared into thin air. “If there is nothing else…”

“Then… where is she? Out of village or…”

“I don’t have an answer to that. Farewell, young master.”

Raito stood up hurriedly, keeping the teacup in the inventory and taking a couple of steps forward. “Please wait… just one question.”

“Young people.” ‘Four’ stopped then turned around with a sigh. “Speak up.”

Raito brought out an art book, which had a picture of an open book. The book in the picture had words written on it and the name ‘Original Gamer’ at the end, which was a shade darker than the rest. It was the book that Raito had seen at his bedside table, on his first day as a gamer but it was incomplete.

Pointing on the picture, Raito asked, “I want to know who this ‘Original Gamer’ is.”

“…How did you come to that?” ‘Four’ looked at Raito then at the artbook and sighed.

“I just did.” Raito’s eyes sparkled when he heard that. ‘This old man definitely knows.’

“It’s better if you don’t know…”

“I want to know,” Raito said resolutely.

“Fine, bring trouble…” Four mumbled in a low voice but Raito could still hear him perfectly fine.

“He is an extremely normal-looking boy… like the garbage that is everywhere. He must be an a.d.u.l.t now. Your Gamer powers are… were originally his, the original Gamer’s. To think such an ability exist… and it was even… sigh.” ‘Four’ did not say much but was able to stretch whatever he was saying.

‘That doesn’t tell me anything.’ Raito sighed in exasperation. He then put down the artbook then tried opening his mouth.

“Not satisfied, eh?” ‘Four’ looked at Raito in distaste. “Young people like you… always like this. Tut, tut.”

‘You didn’t tell me anything. How can I be satisfied?’ Raito rolled his eyes, hearing this old man complaining.

“Then,” ‘Four’ took a deep breath in then turned around. “He is someone from another world.”

“Eh?” Raito stared at ‘Four’ with his eyes widened.

‘Four’ smirked as he played with his beard. With a smile, he added, “I am from another world too. Different from his and… yours.”

“And that’s the reason I cannot come out of the building. This world has placed restrictions on people like us, forbidding us from interfering too much. Things like reincarnation and whatnot are just fairy tales for people like us.” Four added, taking a couple of steps towards the door.

‘Four’ looked up, at the red sky then sighed. “Forced to leave, hias.”

“Forced to leave? What are you talking about?” Raito tried walking towards ‘Four’ but was stopped by a barrier.

“You should leave, young master.” With that said, ‘Four’ crossed the door and closed it.

“What?” Raito could not understand what was going on but a moment later a horrible feeling overwhelmed him. Like someone pushing him from all directions, pinching him, and at the same time… filling him with air.

“This feeling.” There was a ripple in the sky then the sky stretched, shaping into hands.

As Raito continued looking, he saw the pair of hands ripping open the sky, creating a tear in space.

Raito’s eye widened as panic filled his mind filling him with thoughts of escape. “[ID Escape]”

Raito escaped the dungeon and appeared in the real world.

“I finally found you.” Raito turned as he heard a voice behind him.

“Shun-nii?” Raito was on the ground on all his fours and looked at Shun, who was standing beside him. With pale face and a few drops of sweat on his forehead, Raito tried to smile but a sense of vertigo hit him, which forced him to close his eyes and he fall on the ground.

“Hey!” Shun grabbed Raito’s hand, feeling his pulse and with another hand felt his face.

“Fast pulse.” Shun grew worried as he examined Raito’s vitals. His vitals were out of normal, similar to people in panic.

Due to all of the situations he had experienced, Shun quickly started emergency measures, using diagnostic jutsu to check for any injury on the body. Then using simple healing jutsu to heal small injuries, blood pill for depleted blood after closing the wounds and so on.

“Not working.” Shun tried several other emergency measures but found that they were not working at all. So, he placed seals on Raito’s body to regulate his vitals. After everything was done, Shun carried Raito then disappeared.

“Misfortune.” ‘Four’ shook his head and closed the door.

Inside Raito’s mindscape, a person stood in front of Raito with a cheery smile on his face.

“Yo, you can call me Han Jee Han, Original Gamer.” Jee Han extended his hand in front of Raito, waiting for Raito to shake his hand.

Raito just stared at him with a frown on his face.

Feeling the awkwardness in the air, Jee Han’s smile dimmed and he drew his hand back, “I am sorry for causing such a big scene but it was the only way for me to enter this world. I may have created a tear between dimensions but I have already repaired it… but since you have a link with this world… it might have given you a shock.”

‘I saw Shun-nii. It should be okay.’

Raito frowned and opened his mouth with clear hostility in his words, “So, what is it? I don’t think you just wanted to meet me and say hello.”

Jee Han grinned and snapped his finger. Scenery changed as they appeared at the top of Hokage tower. “You should already know… things never come for free, right?”

Raito looked at Han Jee Han for a long time then nodded. Vague ideas appeared on Raito’s head about what Jee Han was about to say.

“Then it will be quick. In short, this world has something that I need and since I cannot appear in this physical world, I can only ask for someone to do it in my stead.”

“And that’s me.” Raito relaxed then sat on a bench.

“When the time comes, you will get the quest. Until then… you need to become stronger.” Jee Han waved his hand and a small glass globe hovered over his palm.

“This will be your reward for that quest.” Jee Han threw the globe towards Raito and added. “If you complete that quest and accept this reward, there will be nothing more between us. And I will no longer associate with this world anymore.”

Raito looked at the brightly lit glass globe, which slowly disappeared from his hand. He looked at Jee Han who had a small smile and asked, “What was that?”

Jee Han’s smile grew even wider as he started, “If you remember that upgrade with the money thing.”

“I remember. Were you the one?” Raito nodded. It was kind of abrupt and a one-time thing.

“Yup. When I got the Gamer’s powers, I had to pick all those items and money one by one. That was the worst, I even had to pick those zombie’s disgusting flesh, ribs, and eye.” Jee Han shuddered showing a disgusted expression.

“What happened after that?”

“After that… I learned magic. Created golems and used space-time magic, then life became much easier.”

“That globe has an upgrade like that. You will like it.” Jee Han ended his explanation then looked at his Raito’s eye.

“So, you came all the way from another world to give me a quest and have a talk?” Raito conjured a juice and suck on to it.

“Man, you are no fun. I am from another world, you know, another world. Don’t you have any questions? Like how games are like there or what snacks are there.” Jee Han was clearly excited about food and games.

“Games and snacks.” Raito rolled his eyes then started thinking.

Looking at Jee Han who looked so much different from the rest of the people he had seen, Raito opened his mouth and said, “How different is it… your world.”

“Different, very different.” Jee Han nodded. “We have so many games…”

Raito glanced at Jee Han’s hands, which were fading away, then spoke up. “So, anything else?”

Sigh. Jee Han sighed then took a notebook out. “I wanted to help you. About your powers-”

“I know quite a bit already, ya know.”

Raito then added. “I can learn everything and anything, even something stupid like ‘Dishwashing’ and ‘Petting’. Moreover, with instant dungeon, I can even experience all the fighting and killing. What else is there?”

“But you haven’t used your stat points.”

“I will use them when I need to.” Raito retorted immediately. “The higher the level, the harder it is to grind the stat points, isn’t it?”

“I admit you are not stupid.” Jee Han caught Raito’s glare and added, “Those stat points are from the things you killed. It is the amalgamation of those black gases. When you use those stat points, you are just using those black gases to strengthen yourself.”

“Oh.”

“Since those gases are just neutral energies, it won’t have any negative impact on you.”

“Why are you talking so much about stat points?” Raito looked down the tower and saw people walking by, doing their own work.

“You know why.” Jee Han smiled then turned around and looked at his hands.

“I should be going soon.” Raito started but Jee Han grabbed his shoulder and interrupted him. “Just listen to me, okay? I will just say a few things before my magic power depletes.”

Jee Han raised his voice and started talking about different functions of the Gamer powers.

“There are different systems relating to different genres of games…”

Even when Raito tried cutting Jee Han with a question, Jee Han did not stop and continued with his info cramming.

At last, Jee Han stopped and exhaled. “I know you have tons of questions to ask me but the time’s up.”

“Okay.” Raito nodded, not knowing what to say.

“Get stronger, faster.” Han Jee Han smiled and waved his hand. With that, he turned into a small globe of light, gathering on Raito’s hand.

[Absorbing the energy will increase total CP by 1000. Absorb?]

[Yes | No]

“Yes.”

Raito thought for a while about everything that happened in these few moments then disappeared from his spot.

Shun who did not know what was going on inside Raito’s mindscape, dashed towards the top of the Hokage monument.

“SWALLOW,” Shun shouted as he appeared at the top of the Hokage monument.

Several ANBU appeared beside Shun, looked at Raito, who was unconscious then disappeared along with them.

Inoichi, who was trying to break open Baki’s mental barrier, was abruptly pulled back by one of his clansmen from the mindscape.

“What is all this?” Inoichi frowned slightly at his clansman who looked extremely nervous. “What-”

“It’s Raito.” The Yamanaka clansman immediately voiced out, alerting Inoichi. “He-”

Bang

Shun opened the door with a swift kick then dashed in. Giving the big room a quick glance, he dashed for a table then with one hand swept the table clean.

Hearing the door banging and the sound of items being thrown on the ground, Mari and Ibiki hurried to the room from another side.

“I found him outside the ‘Poison Hall’ in this state.” Shun quickly explained what he had seen and done.

Inoichi listened carefully then tried to rouse Raito but failed to do so. “You should have taken him to a hospital.”

“Shun, Inoichi.” Mari walked in with a frown on her face as she looked at Raito.

Inoichi frowned, paying no heed to Mari and Ibiki, then quickly placed his hands on Raito’s face and forehead then activated his chakra. “I’ll be going in.”

“[Mind Walk]”. Chakra gathered on Inoichi’s forehead then launched onto Raito’s forehead.

Appearing in an endless darkness, Inoichi hovered forward and looked around; trying to look for anything, he could link to.

After what felt like a really long time, Inoichi finally felt something he could step on. However, it did not make Inoichi any happy. While he could dive into the innermost part of the mindscape for most of his subjects, Inoichi felt that he was just at the most peripheral part of Raito’s mindscape. “What has this boy been doing?”

Inoichi crouched down and placed his hand on the floor then he rubbed it around and to the edge. “Geometrical.”

Flat, smooth surface and sharp edges. “Mind constructs?”

Just as he turned around, Inoichi found that the floor, which was previously black, turned white and dense fog had covered his sight.

Inoichi sighed as things that he had taught came backbiting him. “Senseless white and Fog of Memories.”

“Raito.” Inoichi walked into a fog world and called out his name but there was no reply to his callings.

“Jii-chan, this is my super special jutsu. I am coming for you, evildoers, ‘Super Shinobi’.” A red glow surrounded Raito as pressure erupted from him with his hair waving on air.

“Are this his imaginations?” Inoichi laughed then waved his hand. The picturesque view turned back into the fog, opening a path for him.

“Kakashi baka-sensei, you can’t read that in public.”

“Anko-nee, you look so chubby.”

“Kneel down and beg for this bowl of godly Gulab Jamun”

Inoichi continued walking and saw countless records of Raito’s vivid imagination. A smile appeared on Inoichi’s face as he nodded, “I can use this as blackmail material.”

“I don’t want team up with her.”

“Sasuke is so annoying. I am not a punching bag.”

“I hate Hyūga. I hate them all.”

“I will save you, Jii-chan.”

Inoichi walked silently through the corridor of memories.

After a long walk, Inoichi finally appeared in front of a giant wooden door with strange patterns on it. “Patterns.”

Inoichi placed his hand on the door to open it but it was stronger than anything he had ever seen during his time in T and I. And the patterns on the door were not reacting to his chakra at all.

After thinking for a while, Inoichi jumped and reached towards the red and green gears on the door. Turning them by two steps, Inoichi hovered back and waited.

A smile appeared on Inoichi’s face as he heard the rumbling sound of the door opening. But his face fell as the door opened to reveal another door with a new kind of pattern.

Blinking, he looked at the door. Not knowing what to say, Inoichi crouched on the ground and massaged his aching head. Taking a deep breath in, Inoichi shouted with all the strength he could muster. “Raito!”

“Inoichi-sensei.” Raito, who was on the other side of the wooden gate, looked around, searching for Inoichi.

Inoichi thought for a while, looking at the gate then said, “Raito? If you are hearing me, try opening the big wooden gate with patterns.”

“What wooden gate? Inoichi-sensei, I don’t see any wooden gate with patterns” Raito frowned. Although he could not see Inoichi, he could see everything inside his mindscape and there was no big wooden gate with patterns.

‘He doesn’t remember… or did he make it subconsciously?’ Inoichi pushed the wooden gate and thought for a while then shook his head.

Amplifying his voice, Inoichi started. “Raito! Listen to me very carefully.”

“You are unconscious right now. If you continue closing yourself into your mindscape, you will hurt your physical body. So, try to connect the physical and mental body, and wake up already.”

“I already taught you about this. I hope I don’t have to guide you.”

Raito looked around at the realistic scene of the village with people walking by and shouting.

Raito closed his eyes and tried connecting to his physical body. When the realization came to him that his body was perfectly fine, Raito sighed. “I was wasting time.”

Looking at the realistic scenery, Raito smiled and disappeared with a thought. Appearing inside Hiruzen’s office, Raito saw him signing on a scroll, doing paperwork. “You are still doing paperwork in my mindscape.”

With a smile, Raito willed to leave his mindscape.

Slowly the scenery greyed out and everything stopped moving, slowly turning into pitch darkness.

Inoichi, who was standing in front of the giant wooden gate, was surprised to see everything disappearing in one wave. The multilayered gate, which he tried so hard to open, also disappeared.

Inoichi walked forward and crossed the late wooden gate. After crossing, Inoichi looked at a distance to see Raito standing blankly with his head tilted slightly upwards.

“Raito.” Inoichi heaved a sigh of relief and shouted.

Raito who was about to leave his mindscape looked sideways towards Inoichi and gave a small smile.

[‘Gamer’s Body’ activated.]

[‘Gamer’s Mind’ activated.]

With a bright light coming from Raito’s silhouette, Inoichi’s construct was forced out of Raito’s mindscape.

“Stupid brat.” Inoichi collapsed on the ground.

“Ah, Inoichi-sensei.” Raito jolted and went towards Inoichi with concern in his face. At the same time, Raito took a sweeping glance around and took everything in.

“My seals,” Shun looked at his palm, which had ‘vital’ written, break down and turn into fragments.

“Stop looking around.” Mari punched Raito on his head.

“Ow.” Raito flinched, grabbing his painful head.

“Now speak… what happened? Why were you like that?” Mari grabbed Raito forcefully and pushed him on the table.

“Mari.” Hiruzen walked in with tiredness in his voice.

“Hokage-sama.” Mari’s expression softened as she let out a breath then turned around with a professional smile.

“Raito, come back tomorrow. I have work for you.” Hiruzen looked at Raito then signaled everyone with his eye.

“I feel so energized. I don’t think I can sleep tonight.” Raito smiled and moved his body.

“You…” Mari pinched Raito’s hand, making him glare at her.

Hiruzen looked at Raito then looked at Inoichi, who nodded. “He just took a special kind of nap.”

“Raito, I want this job done.” Hiruzen looked at the Baki, who was inside the water sphere, then at Raito.

“Hai.” Raito jumped down and rushed away from Mari.

Hiruzen intervened, giving everyone a simple signal, ‘No questions’.

Mari and Shun looked at each other with complex emotions.

“He’s fine.” Hiruzen looked at the two and shook his head then sat on the lone armchair in the room. “Give him the file.”

While Raito read the file, the rest of the people in the room also prepared themselves.

Inoichi walked towards the water sphere then looked at his subordinates, giving them eye signals, telling them to do their work properly.

“Let’s start.” Inoichi looked at the various indicators on the machine then looked for Raito and Hiruzen.

“I’m ready.” Raito placed the file on the table and walked towards Hiruzen.

“I don’t want to see that stupid mental message anymore,” Hiruzen said nonchalantly, looking straight as if he did mean it for Raito.

Raito just laughed then triggered a seal on his hand. The seal on his hand wriggled, breaking into several parts then the fragmented ink gathered on a big black spot on the back of his palm.

“Hokage-sama.” Inoichi walked towards Hiruzen after checking everything.

“Hmm.” Hiruzen pushed his hands towards Raito and Inoichi, which they grabbed.

Chakra gathered on their forehead as they prepared constructs. Inoichi looked at Raito then spoke, “I will be taking lead.”

[Cooperation Ninjutsu: Fragmented Line]

Constructs shot forward from their body, plunging into the sphere of water.

Hiruzen stood in front of the kneeling Baki and pressured him. “Baki-Senshi, you should know that Konoha will not stay still and let others attack. Since we have found Gaara will create trouble for us, we will deal with Gaara. If the children of Kazekage, Temari, and Kankurō, will create trouble, we will take actions accordingly.”

“Hokage-sama, why would I bring Kazekage-sama’s children to this threat, if there is any?”

“There is, there isn’t. We have already concluded that.” Hiruzen frowned. Baki has been going in a circle on and on for so long now that Hiruzen was getting headache.

In a dark area, Inoichi and Raito sat cross-legged with their hands forward.

“So, what is this?” Raito placed his hand on the big mirror in front of him and turned towards Inoichi.

“Mental barrier.” Inoichi answered and added “One of its kind… I have already opened ten.”

Inoichi pushed chakra into the glass getting a reaction from it. “Look first.”

“We are starting with war preparation from tomorrow. What are you planning to do?”

Raito gave Inoichi a side-glance then turned back towards the mirror. “What can I do? I will just train for the finals.”

“What a normal answer.” Cracks appeared on the glass and it started falling apart.

“Did you see how I did that? You have to analyze the seal then move chakra breaking those small barriers one by one.” Inoichi spoke like a teacher, teaching Raito.

Soon another mental barrier appeared in front of the duo, making Inoichi sigh. “Let’s do it again.”

“Can I lead?” Raito asked after looking at it for a while.

“… Sure.” Inoichi could not help but touch his face. ‘It will happen again.’

“How good is your Fuinjutsu?” Inoichi asked, focusing back to the barrier.

“Better than last time,” Raito answered vaguely and pushed his chakra.

[Would you like to destroy the barrier?]

[Yes | No]

-200 CP

Crack. Bang.

“Done.” Raito turned and smiled at Inoichi.

Inoichi frowned and said, “Raito, don’t destroy the barrier; try to open it. If you keep on destroying the mental barriers, you will harm the subject.”

“Remember the rules, follow it.”

“Understood.” Raito nodded then passed chakra again.

[Would you like to analyze the barrier? (-300CP)]

[Yes | No]

This time the Gamer’s powers helped him analyze the barrier but chakra manipulation and breaking open the small barriers, all depended on Raito now.

Crack. Crack. Crack.

The barrier disappeared after several cracks appeared on it.

“Do you know about ‘Chakra Monsters’?” Inoichi asked and at the same time pulled the mental barrier.

“I know… the nine-tailed fox and one-tailed tanuki, also called Shukaku, the sand spirit.” Raito answered making Inoichi nod his head.

“Gaara from Sunagakure… he has a faulty seal on him. Jiraiya-sama along with Konoha R and D, and Nara R and D are working together to modify the seal on him.”

“Are we fixing the seal for Sunagakure?” Raito stopped and looked at Inoichi.

“Orders,” Inoichi shrugged.

“Modifying a seal takes time, a lot of time,” Raito commented.

“That’s why we are hoping to find anything about Shukaku’s seal,” Inoichi answered and broke another barrier. “It would be even better if he has the complete Fuinjutsu.”

As time passed on, the speed with which Inoichi broke the barrier slowed. With an irritation on his face, Inoichi turned towards Raito, who was just staring, and shouted, “What are you doing? Support me.”

“It’s finished.”

“Shatter.”

Raito stood up from his spot and walked forward with his palms thrusted forward.

One second for one step, one step for one barrier.

After nearly two minutes, Raito and Inoichi reached to the core of Baki’s mindscape.

“It’s plain.” Raito felt the corner of his mouth twitch, looking at the extremely plain sandbox in front of him. Although it was gigantic… that was it and nothing else.

“Just finish it quickly. You are faster than an old man like me.” Inoichi waved his hand and called out a scroll from the sandbox.

Raito just walked forward, extend his hand then retracted. “It’s finished.”

With the book in his hand, Inoichi confirmed a few things then along with Raito left Baki’s mindscape.

“Done.” The space beside Hiruzen wobbled and Raito appeared.

“Let’s go.” Hiruzen waved his hand, shattering the space.

When Inoichi, Raito, and Hiruzen opened their eyes, the big water sphere divided into several parts that gathered behind the T and I members, who were wearing the headgears.

Baki, who already had chakra suppressing seal and sleep seal, was put into a barrier seal and taken away by Mari and Ibiki.

Raito immediately took out a talisman then activated his chakra. The chakra gathered on his forehead then linked with the talisman. “Ready.”

“Everything?” Hiruzen grabbed the talisman and looked towards Raito.

“Everything related to Gaara and war.” Raito smiled and replied.

Inoichi sighed as he looked with complicated expression at his men, who were still analyzing the data, then at Raito.

“Don’t think too much about it, Inoichi.” Hiruzen looked at the men behind Inoichi and shook his head. “Everyone has their own pace.”

Inoichi nodded then brought out a scroll from his jacket. With a few hand seals, chakra covered the scroll surface with chakra, and words began to appear on the scroll.

“I wanna learn that.” Raito’s eye shined and immediately dashed beside Inoichi.

“Later.” Inoichi gave Raito a side-glance before gathering chakra on his hand and waving over the characters.

“Chakra is as such. With knowledge and practice you can do anything.” Hiruzen whispered, loud enough for people around him to hear.

Raito pushed the table and looked around then with a nod, he said, “Jii-chan, you can use [Water Moon Mirror] and see it as a movie.”

“Movie?”

“[Water Moon Mirror]?”

“Mm… chakra consumption decreases and you can even hear voices. I don’t have to make sound talisman anymore and sync it with the illusion. I tweaked some things here and there so that I could do it in one go… but I guess whoever Kakashi-sensei and Jii-chan taught must have already made some modification already, right?” Raito waved his finger then took out a scroll from his inventory.

Taking a step further, Raito created a small stand to place scroll.

Hiruzen made a stiff smile as he exchanged glances with Mari and Inoichi. Mari turned around, not daring to meet eyes with Hiruzen but Inoichi let out a big smile, hearing Raito. Was it a comeback?

“Raito, why are you… so prepared?” Mari asked, looking at the scroll and the talisman then at Raito. No matter how she looked at it, she thought Raito had already planned this.

“A good ninja must always be prepared.” Raito raised his finger and said solemnly. Then added a very crucial point, “As much as possible.”