Chapter 21: Lei Dun—Rasengan!

The next day, Fujinaka Genma collected his mission reward.

The original C-rank mission had been upgraded to B-rank, but the payout was only 30,000 ryo—barely enough to buy a decent chakra blade.

What left him speechless was that while Konoha had raised the mission rank, the Ride and Kill system remained unchanged.

After collecting his pay, still disgruntled, Fujinaka Genma met up with Kushina Uzumaki and Minato, who were on leave.

Today, he would begin training in the sealing technique—Jin Gang Lock.

Last night, he had passed the test for the Eight Trigrams Seal.

After teaching Minato the training method for Rasengan, Fujinaka Genma quickly realized just how difficult Jin Gang Lock was.

No wonder even Minato Namikaze hadn’t mastered it!

By the end of the day, he hadn’t even crossed the threshold.

As a result, Fujinaka Genma couldn’t even spend skill points on it.

On the second day of his leave, Fujinaka Genma stopped forcing himself to push through Jin Gang Lock and began allocating his time more wisely.

He couldn’t neglect the High-Frequency Thunder Blade or the Rasengan Shuriken either.

Soon.

The three-day leave ended, and the next mission began.

Another C-rank mission.

This time, escorting a merchant caravan to the Land of Birds.

Though they had to pass through the turbulent Land of Rain, no incidents occurred along the way.

After more than two months, when Fujinaka Genma returned to Konoha, it was already Year 41 of Konoha.

The only gain during the mission was that the High-Frequency Thunder Blade had begun to show results.

As the High-Frequency Thunder Blade neared completion, the Chidori naturally evolved into Lei Qie.

Lei Qie could now inflict physical damage without requiring a sprint.

Progress on Jin Gang Lock remained slow, still just short of entry level.

As for the Rasengan Shuriken, he could only hold it in his hand—it couldn’t be thrown, and using it would hurt him before it hurt the enemy, making it worthless to Fujinaka Genma.

March 15, Year 41 of Konoha.

The training ground behind the citrus grove.

Fujinaka Genma lowered his gaze, hands clasped together.

Strong chakra reactions radiated from his body, so intense that chakra leaked outward, forming a faint golden aura around him.

Ding! Ding! Ding!

Suddenly, crisp sounds rang out.

Followed by a clattering, like chains rattling.

From behind Fujinaka Genma, segments of golden chains gradually extended outward.

Fujinaka Genma, still with lowered gaze, trembled slightly, beads of sweat rolling from his forehead.

“Ah… come out!”

Suddenly, Fujinaka Genma opened his eyes and roared, his chakra exploding outward, his clothes stirring without wind.

Instantly, behind him, the Jin Gang Chains shot out rapidly, stretching to five or six meters in an instant.

But this single chain vanished after less than three seconds.

Boom!

Fujinaka Genma sat heavily on the ground, gasping for breath, sweat dripping from his chin.

“Finally… succeeded!”

Fujinaka Genma offered a tired smile.

Though it lasted only a moment, it was a promising start.

After all, before this, he had burned through 90% of his chakra.

He opened his system, expanded the skill menu—Jin Gang Lock had indeed appeared, now at Level 1.

“I have three skill points; even if I spend them all, I can only raise it to Level 4.”

“No, I need to level up first before spending points—otherwise it’s a waste.”

In the end, Fujinaka Genma resisted the temptation to spend the points.

After resting a while, he quickly ate the tasteless ration pills to restore his strength, then prepared to begin his next training—when a familiar voice called out.

“Genma!”

Fujinaka Genma turned to see Hibiya leaping toward him.

“Genma, emergency mission—meet at the village gate in thirty minutes!”

Hibiya landed before Fujinaka Genma and spoke quickly.

“What’s the mission?”

Fujinaka Genma stood up.

“Go to the Land of Grass, assist the Grass Village in repelling unknown enemies!”

Hibiya explained, his expression grave: “The Grass Village isn’t weak—they’ve been forced to request aid from Konoha. The enemy must be extremely powerful!”

Fujinaka Genma was startled, but then smiled to reassure Hibiya: “Don’t worry too much—we’re genin who just graduated. Even if we go, we’ll probably just be assigned minor tasks.”

Then the two parted ways.

Fujinaka Genma returned home, packed his things, bid farewell to his mother, then went to inform Kushina Uzumaki before heading to the village gate.

There he discovered that Kakashi’s team was also present.

After greetings, Mura Hachijo and Sarutobi Hikari arrived.

“Since everyone’s here, let’s move out!”

Mura Hachijo gave the order, and the eight of them left the village, heading straight west.

After leaving the village, Fujinaka Genma fell in beside Mura Hachijo and asked: “Teacher Hachijo, is this mission only our two teams?”

“No, two elite teams have already departed ahead of us.”

Mura Hachijo explained: “Our task is to guard a specific location for the Grass Village—we won’t be sent to the front lines yet.”

“But don’t let your guard down—the enemy might infiltrate.”

Fujinaka Genma nodded, yet felt puzzled: “Steal something from the Grass Village?”

“What could the Grass Village even have worth stealing? A secret technique?”

The Grass Village did like studying other villages’ jutsu—that was possible.

“Wait!”

Suddenly, Fujinaka Genma remembered something.

The Paradise Box!

“Forget it. Just complete the mission. Whether it’s the Paradise Box or not, I wouldn’t gain anything from it anyway.”

He silently shook his head and focused on the journey.

They departed at 3 p.m., rested at night, and didn’t leave the Land of Fire until the next day, then entered the Land of Grass.

The lush vegetation of the Land of Grass rivaled that of the Land of Fire.

And it was full of towering fungal plants.

Perfect for ambushes.

After entering the Land of Grass, Mura Hachijo and Sarutobi Hikari immediately ordered heightened vigilance and slowed their advance.

But with Byakugan, even complex terrain and dense foliage couldn’t hide enemies from Hyuga Mio’s vision.

“One, two… six!”

Hyuga Mio completed her reconnaissance and reported the hidden positions of the enemies to Mura Hachijo and Sarutobi Hikari.

Hibiya couldn’t help but say: “Didn’t two teams already come ahead of us?”

Fujinaka Genma smiled: “Of course they pick the soft targets.”

“Tch, these guys—they’re dead meat now that they’ve met us!”

Hibiya drew his kunai.

At that moment, Mura Hachijo assigned roles: “Genma, Itachi and Kakashi team up. Hibiya, stay behind to protect Mio—watch our rear!”

On the other side, the other two genin in Kakashi’s team were also ordered to remain as reserves.

A few meters apart, Fujinaka Genma and Kakashi exchanged glances—then, like leopards, they shot forward, racing at high speed through the foliage.

Fujinaka Genma’s body was wrapped in white lightning arcs; as he charged, he looked like a streaking bolt of white light.

A masked black-robed ninja hiding behind a tree sneered at Fujinaka Genma’s approach: “A brat? Then die!”

He immediately split into a clone, striking from left and right.

Fujinaka Genma immediately noticed the enemy’s movement, pivoted, and charged toward the left opponent.

Fire Release—Fire Dragon Flame Bullet!

The masked ninja on the left appeared atop a mushroom, raised his hand—and the flame projectile, like a massive sphere, crashed down with a thunderous boom.

Simultaneously, the other masked ninja attacked from Fujinaka Genma’s right.

Yet Fujinaka Genma didn’t dodge—he charged straight ahead, taking the full impact of the flame.

Boom!

Fujinaka Genma exploded into a cloud of smoke.

“Huh… Shadow Clone?”

The two masked black-robed ninja froze; they had been fixated on Fujinaka Genma and hadn’t noticed when he’d created the clone.

Almost simultaneously, from behind a rock, Fujinaka Genma’s true body lunged forward, hurling the Rasengan from his left hand as he charged.

The next instant, the Rasengan vanished.

“Distorting my vision?”

The masked black-robed ninja who had prepared to respond blinked again—then the one wielding the fire jutsu saw clearly that Fujinaka Genma was charging straight at him. He sneered inwardly: “So Itachi figured out I’m the real one? Kid, Itachi’ve got some skill—”

But the next moment, he stopped smiling.

The clone, which he’d assumed was harmless, suddenly curled up like a shrimp, its abdominal robes shredding to reveal a spiral-shaped charred wound, then burst into smoke with a loud pop.

Lightning Release Rasengan!

Since he’d mastered Lightning Release and already had the Rasengan, how could Fujinaka Genma not combine them?

Having instantly destroyed the enemy’s clone, Fujinaka Genma was already before the masked black-robed ninja.

The two were about to close in for hand-to-hand combat.

Then, just as their ninja blades were about to clash, the electric arcs swirling around Fujinaka Genma suddenly exploded, spewing streams of lightning outward.

Chidori Stream!

“No!”

The masked black-robed ninja’s face paled—too close to dodge. The current struck his body, paralyzing him instantly.

Puff!

Fujinaka Genma’s form blurred past; his chakra blade sliced cleanly through the masked ninja’s neck, severing his head entirely.

Behind him, Ebisu turned pale: “Genma, Itachi’re overdoing it!”

The two other members of Kakashi’s team also went pale—the image of a flying head was too vivid.

Only Hyuga Mio watched with excitement as Fujinaka Genma charged forward, blade swinging: So cool!

On the other side, almost at the same moment, Kakashi had also eliminated one of the enemies.

One minute later, the battle ended.

Six enemies: four dead, two fled.

“Battle concluded. Your equipped gear has received a slight enhancement.”

The Ride and Slash system’s notification suddenly rang out.

Fujinaka Genma immediately felt a change in his chakra blade.

He immediately channeled chakra into it—and realized its chakra conductivity had improved by one tier, with less chakra loss.

Moreover, his control over the chakra along the blade’s surface had become far more intuitive.

This meant he could now increase the frequency of his high-frequency lightning blade with far less effort.

“This ability is amazing!”

For the first time, his gear had improved—Fujinaka Genma was delighted.

But the frequency was still low.

And it only improved through combat.

“Still, if I keep this up over time, I might end up with a top-tier set of gear.”