Chapter 377: Ninja Kill

Shisui's face showed surprise at Muyue's words.

Although Shisui was not arrogant, he was confident in his own strength, after all, the only time he had lost from childhood until recently was to Kakashi.

Yet Muyue actually said that there was someone in that ninja organization who could instantly kill him, which made Shisui feel that there are always stronger people, because Yahiko and the others didn't look old either.

"There's no need to worry too much, just train hard. Everyone has their own path of growth, and the outcome is uncertain until the very end." Muyue said, looking into the distance.

Nagato's stats indeed looked impressive, but those Rinnegan were not Nagato's own after all; they belonged to Uchiha Madara.

If the Rinnegan are not one's own, one cannot use the unique dojutsu of the Rinnegan, only the basic abilities, like Shinra Tensei and Bansho Ten'in.

If one awakens the Rinnegan oneself, one can use special dojutsu. Uchiha Madara's Rinnegan ability is Limbo: Border Jail, while Sasuke's is Amenotejikara. The effects of the Rinnegan's special dojutsu are absolutely incomparable to basic abilities.

Of course, saying the Rinnegan's basic abilities are not strong refers to battles at the level of Uchiha Madara and Hashirama Senju, or among the Six Paths. Even the Rinnegan's basic abilities can easily crush anyone below the Super Kage level.

Shisui nodded, his expression quickly recovering. He had never thought of himself as the number one genius in the ninja world, so he didn't feel his resolve damaged; he just marveled at how vast the ninja world was with so many geniuses, that a casual trip could encounter such a ninja.

Since the bandits had already been dealt with by Yahiko and the others, Muyue and his team disposed of the remaining two bandits and went to report to the client.

The speed at which Muyue's team completed the mission surprised the middle-aged client, who remarked that the renowned Konohagakure indeed had different efficiency.

On the way back to Konoha, Anko couldn't help but sigh.

"And here I was nervous for a bit, but it turned out to be just two bandits who couldn't fight." Anko complained.

After all, they were going to a life-and-death battle; no matter how carefree Anko was, she wouldn't be that thick-headed about such a matter.

"Isn't that great? This way, it's like getting a C-rank mission reward for just dealing with two bandits." Shizune said with a smile.

She was quite happy to get so much money just by taking a walk.

"I'll use the mission money to buy some liver-protecting supplements for Lady Tsunade, and I also need to save some money to buy something for Teacher Muyue." Shizune had already started planning how to use the money in her mind.

"Hehe, that's right. The mission reward can buy lots of dango." Anko chuckled.

She thought Shizune's reasoning made sense. It was like a friend coming over to play, seeing your room was messy and helping you clean it up, and then your parents saw it and thought you cleaned it, praising you for being mature and giving you some allowance.

Even if it wasn't much money, you'd still be happy, because it was free money.

The way back was still smooth, without encountering any ninja.

"Let's disband for today. Training as usual tomorrow." Muyue said after returning to Konoha.

Although there was basically no fighting in this mission, long periods of travel can still exhaust the body and mind, so Muyue let his disciples rest for a day.

"Mm-hmm." Anko nodded like a chick pecking at rice, clutching the money Muyue had given her in advance and sprinting toward the dango shop.

Shizune said goodbye to her teammates and headed toward Tsunade's house. Since it was a rare break, she was definitely going to rest.

Shisui, without hesitation, headed straight for the Southern Forest. He hadn't yet defeated Kakashi to reclaim the position of Muyue's strongest disciple, so he had to seize every training opportunity to improve himself.

Then Muyue went to the mission hall in the Hokage building to submit the mission, and then went to Tsunade's house.

Although there was an unexpected incident during this mission, no special report was needed.

Originally, when a C-rank mission encountered an unexpected incident, ninjas had two choices: one was to have the client increase the payment to match the mission rank, and the other was to simply quit and leave.

Although Muyue's mission had an unexpected incident, the ninja among the bandits had been dealt with in advance by Yahiko and the others, so Muyue submitted it as an ordinary C-rank mission.

Seeing Muyue approaching, Tsunade was both happy and annoyed. Happy because she could eat well later, annoyed because she would have to use up a lot of brain cells.

She had been perfectly content slacking off, but because of her bet with Muyue, she had to stop slacking and start researching ninjutsu again.

Tsunade really regretted it so much that she started trying to quit gambling. But the frequency was too high; after a few days, she was back to day one of quitting.

"I should introduce you to Orochimaru; that guy likes researching ninjutsu." Tsunade said, rubbing her brow.

But soon Tsunade shook her head and said, "Forget it, better not to know him. That guy's brain is no longer normal from researching ninjutsu; he even thinks about immortality."

Orochimaru was a bit odd and calm when he was young, but Tsunade thought the current Orochimaru was truly abnormal.

At the end of the Second Shinobi World War, the Sannin had a gathering where they briefly discussed the future. Tsunade said she didn't want to do anything, Jiraiya said he would continue traveling to find a disciple who could change the world, and Orochimaru said he would research ninjutsu to achieve immortality.

Muyue smiled and didn't speak. At this stage, he really had no intention of contacting Orochimaru. However, Orochimaru hadn't defected yet and was a strong candidate for Hokage. As a fellow Sannin, it was fine for Tsunade to scold him, but it wouldn't be appropriate for Muyue to join in.

Muyue reached into his ninja tool pouch. Just as Tsunade thought he would take out a scroll full of various questions, Muyue pulled out a pack of cards.

"This is a tabletop game I came up with in my spare time. Researching every day can really make you feel down; you can play this to relax." Muyue said with a gentle smile.

Although Tsunade wouldn't go so far as to break the bet, Muyue still hoped the cooperation between them could be a bit more pleasant, so he based it on a board game from his previous life and made a ninja-world version himself.

"A game?" Tsunade showed a curious expression, picked up a few of the cards on the table, and flipped them over.

"Uchiha Tajima, skill: Genjutsu—make the opponent guess the suit of a hand card; if they guess wrong, they lose 1 HP. Skill: Fire Release—convert a normal Kill into a Fire Kill." Tsunade read the small text on the card.

"Kind of interesting, but aren't you worried about causing trouble by turning the ancestor of the Uchiha clan into a game?" Tsunade grew interested.

"Senju Butsuma, skill: Senju Clan—max HP +1. Skill: Benevolence—after giving away two hand cards, recover 1 HP."

"Nice, even the Senju are in here." Tsunade's expression turned serious.

"You know, this is my…"

"What do you want for dinner?" Muyue interrupted and asked.

"I haven't had white-cut chicken in a while, so let's have that tonight, and also stir-fried pork with extra meat and chili peppers, and…" Tsunade rattled off the dishes she wanted to eat today without any reservation.

She wouldn't have a problem even if he made a card of her grandfather, Senju Hashirama, let alone Senju Butsuma.

Tsunade even thought that if Senju Hashirama knew, he might actually be quite happy.

But by "game" here she meant a normal game — no insult or demeaning allowed, or else Tsunade would still throw a heavy punch.

"Hyuga Tenma, skill: Gentle Fist—treat a Kill as a Dodge and a Dodge as a Kill. Skill: Byakugan—at the start of your turn, choose any one character and view all their hand cards."

While reading the cards and listening to Muyue explain the rules, Tsunade became more and more interested in this game called "Ninja Kill."

However, Muyue didn't start playing with Tsunade right away; instead, they resumed discussing the research on the supporting jutsu for the Yang Seal.

"The cards for this game aren't finished yet, so we won't play today." Muyue explained.

Although making a few cards was very simple for him, sometimes going slow had its advantages.

Tsunade flipped through all the cards and found that quite a few were indeed missing — many of the cards Muyue had mentioned weren't there.

"Then let's play tomorrow. I'll first tell you about my progress over the past few days." Tsunade nodded and said.

She wasn't a kid; she wasn't going to be unable to wait even one day.

Muyue activated his Enlightenment state and listened attentively to Tsunade's explanation.

"Since your Rock Breathing can be maintained non-stop for twenty-four hours, we can modify the sealing technique like this…" Tsunade began her formal explanation.

After listening, Muyue was glad he had come to Tsunade for help. As expected of the strongest medical ninja in the ninja world, her research ability regarding the body was truly impressive.

If he had to research it alone, it would take at least twice as long, and three or four times wasn't impossible either.

The next day, after training ended, Muyue brought the missing cards as promised and played a 2v2 with Shizune, Tsunade, and Nohara Rin.

Although the role-playing version was more classic, they really didn't have enough people, and they couldn't just use Shadow Clones, right? There was no need for that in a game.

"Can't we get more character cards? Only five ninjas — that's way too few." After a few days of playing, Tsunade voiced her opinion.

With so few ninja cards, if you were unlucky, you might end up with the same ninja for several rounds.

"How about you make card versions of my grandfather and the others? I already thought of their skills: skill Wood Release — choose any one character and deal four damage." Tsunade urged.

"I'll flip through some history books these few days." Muyue smiled and politely declined Tsunade's suggestion.

The reason he had included Senju Butsuma and the others was that he had originally planned to only play privately with Tsunade. Senju Hashirama was too close to them; it wouldn't be appropriate.

"Making a card of me is fine too; I don't mind. Skill: Monster Strength — Kill and Duel damage +1. Skill: Medical Ninjutsu — recover 1 HP for every 1 HP lost." Tsunade said cheerfully.

Muyue said he would consider it.

If Tsunade wanted it, Muyue could make a character card of her, but the skills definitely couldn't be as she described — that would be way too overpowered.

This was also the reason Muyue didn't want to make a card for Senju Hashirama: if it was strong it would be overpowered, and if it wasn't strong it would feel wrong. The name "Senju Hashirama" alone had a kind of beauty of dealing burst damage.

Transition period; it was time to speed up the pace.