After Kabuto left, Charles opened all five boxes containing the 084 items on the ground.
Ding! Rechargeable items detected. Do you wish to recharge?
"Yes!"
Upon Charles's confirmation, all five 084 items were successfully recharged, yielding a total of 16,000 gold coins.
The value of each item varied, with the lowest recharge providing 1,000 gold coins and the highest yielding 5,000. Charles was relieved that none of the items were non-rechargeable.
After checking his balance, Charles saw a substantial total of 299,530 gold coins, feeling quite affluent.
Charles opened the system shop and navigated to the B-rank ninja section, setting his sights on Karin Uzumaki.
Karin Uzumaki fragments: 40 units; monthly limit (0/1); price: 9,800 gold coins.
Seeing the reasonable price, Charles quickly spent 9,800 coins to purchase the 40 ninja fragments.
Unfortunately, Suigetsu Hozuki wasn't available for purchase, or he could have added another subordinate for Orochimaru.
However, Anko Mitarashi, Orochimaru's former disciple, was available, though Charles hadn't yet decided whether to assign her to Konoha or to reunite her with Orochimaru.
Navigating to the ninja roster, Charles proceeded to recruit his new subordinate. He clicked on Karin Uzumaki's portrait, and her information appeared.
B-Rank Ninja: Karin Uzumaki; Fragments: 40/40. Recruit?
"Recruit!"
Ding! Congratulations, Charles Doyle, on successfully recruiting two-star B-Rank Ninja Karin Uzumaki.
In the next moment, an image appeared before Charles, showing Karin standing with red eyes behind a pair of glasses.
The background featured one of Orochimaru's secret bases, and her unique ability, Kagura Mind's Eye, allowed her to see through others and sense movements from afar.
Charles observed the red-haired Karin, dressed in a purple crop top exposing her midriff, black shorts, black thigh-high socks, and ninja sandals.
From her appearance and description, he knew she belonged to the Uzumaki clan, possessing powerful chakra and excellent sensory abilities.
Charles then opened the ninja details to review her skills.
Karin Uzumaki: B-Rank Ninja
Star Rating: Two stars
Basic Attack: Taijutsu Attack
Uzumaki Bloodline Ability:
Kagura Mind's Eye: One of the Uzumaki clan's abilities, enabling her to close her eyes and sense disturbances within a radius of dozens of kilometers.
She can track specific chakras, detect detailed positions, movements, numbers, features, and speeds. In danger, she can conceal her chakra, giving her an escape advantage. Additionally, by sensing others' chakra, she can determine if they are lying.
Physical Healing: Another Uzumaki clan ability, allowing rapid chakra and injury recovery by biting her skin. It's so effective that it can heal severe injuries, like those Tsunade suffered when her body was split in two.
Substitution Jutsu: Wood Substitution
Skills:
Perfume Spray: Sprays a poisonous perfume at the enemy, causing poisoning.
Missile Kick: Launches a crescent kick, sending the enemy airborne, then follows up with a powerful kick in a missile-like fashion.
Explosive Perfume Combo: Throws a large amount of perfume at the enemy, inducing poisoning, and finally detonates it with kunai bearing explosive tags.
Seeing Karin Uzumaki's three abilities, Charles couldn't help but feel a bit underwhelmed. She lacked any truly powerful moves, though her Uzumaki bloodline granted her skills like Kagura Mind's Eye and Physical Healing, both very formidable.
However, her strongest bloodline ability, the Adamantine Sealing Chains, had yet to awaken.
The pure Uzumaki bloodline had a lot of potential. With proper cultivation, Karin could become a powerful asset.
Charles knew that besides her basic version, Karin also had cards for Christmas Miracle, Team Taka, and the Ninja World War.
If all these were unlocked, she could develop into a high-level support ninja, capable of both healing and using Adamantine Sealing Chains.
Claiming the ninja, Charles felt his chakra reserves increase by another 5 cards, bringing his total to an astounding 472 cards.
Additionally, his Uzumaki bloodline became even stronger, and Karin's knowledge of ninja techniques was transmitted to him as well.
…
Meanwhile-
Gilgamesh of the Eternals had brought Thena to New York to seek Charles Doyle's help in sealing Thena's recurring mental breakdowns.
Looking at the bustling New York City, Thena smiled, saying, "This place has changed so much. The last time I set foot here, it was desolate with no large settlements."
Gilgamesh, vigilant, watched Thena carefully, wary of her slipping into another berserk episode.
She had already gone through one episode before their departure, resulting in a fierce battle before she could regain control.
Back in the isolated deserts of Australia, such incidents didn't risk civilian lives.
But in New York, a city of millions, if Thena lost control, it could lead to countless casualties, not to mention the immense destruction he might cause trying to restrain her.
After briefly considering this, Gilgamesh replied, "When we first arrived, the Native Americans hadn't developed much technology. Now, they're scarcely present."
Thena nodded thoughtfully, "Such a pity."
Then, she suddenly asked, "It's been so long since we saw Charles Doyle. Do you think he has missed me?"
Gilgamesh shrugged, "It hasn't been that long. I'd say it was only a short while ago we last met."
Thena stopped in her tracks and looked at him, "For humans, this has been quite a while."
She sighed, "He hasn't visited us once in all this time. Some friend he is…"
Gilgamesh felt helpless. Given their lifespan and time spent on Earth, these past two years seemed more like two days—or maybe two weeks—to them.
Still, he offered a defense for Charles, saying, "These two years have been packed with events in New York."
"I hear he's saved the planet twice from alien invasions and prevented a massive tsunami, among other crises. He may genuinely be too busy protecting people here."
Through the news, Gilgamesh knew that Charles Doyle was regarded as a hero—a superhero who had saved many from calamity.
Thena nodded, "Like us, he's dedicated to protecting this planet's people."
The Eternals had once fought Deviants to safeguard humanity, but with those threats eradicated, they had retreated into hiding to allow humanity to develop independently.
Just then, Cross, who had finished up at the Continental Hotel and was driving back to the Leaf base, caught sight of Thena on the street and froze.
"Fox?"