________________________________
______________
The chapter got you itching for more? Read ahead and get exclusive content before anyone else? Join me on Patr -e-on! Your support would mean the world to me.
( | [email protected]/FictionGoat | )
Read over 20+ chapters in advance.
. . . .
______________________________
______________
A lone figure stood balanced on the surface of a quiet lake, Kuro was bare-chested, dressed only in a pair of dark shorts. Heavy training weights clung tightly around his wrists and ankles, their weight dragging him down slightly with each movement but never enough to completely slow him down.
His fists shot out in a series of sharp, controlled jabs. Each strike followed the last like clockwork, his core holding steady as the water beneath his feet barely rippled. Without warning, he kicked off the surface, flipping backward into a brief handstand before rolling fluidly back onto his feet.
Then, with a quick pivot, he spun on his right foot, twisting mid-air. His left leg cut downward in a wide roundhouse kick, slicing through the air with force. The moment he landed, a soft splash rolled out around him, tiny ripples expanding in smooth circles before settling again.
Kuro slowed his pace, taking a deep breath as he wiped the sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand. He stared down at his open palms, the skin slightly calloused from weeks of nonstop training.
'It's been a few weeks since the B-rank mission...' he thought, his brows tightening. 'And if I'm keeping track right, then...canon starts in about eight months. And I don't think I'm ready for that, at least not yet.'
He clenched his hands into fists.
'Stat-wise... I'm sitting around the level of a high-tier genin. Not terrible, but not enough. Not when Naruto before he even graduated, managed to take down a Chūnin, easily mind you...and Minato defeating three Jonin at twelve...That alone says everything about the scale I need to hit.'
He shifted his stance, then drove his fist forward in a clean, weighted jab that cut through the air.
'Genin... Chūnin... they're all canon fodder in the Naruto world. That's what I am right now, a worthless fucking fodder. And if I want to live through what's coming, I need to get way stronger than this.'
That was exactly why he started using weights in his training. Sure, he could keep pumping SP into his stats, but the daily quests only gave him three points a day. And it's not like he could grind dungeons either since his loot box hadn't dropped a key in days, maybe longer.
For the past few weeks, Kuro had been doing the usual Genin Corp missions, mostly C-rank and the occasional D-rank. Ever since his last B-rank job, there hadn't been another one handed out. The Genin Corp just didn't receive them often, and apparently, none were available right now. To make things worse, his system quests had dropped to a flat zero.
So, with nothing pushing him forward, he figured he might as well fall back on the basics..training. If the system wasn't going to help, then he'd grind it out the natural way. It wasn't the fastest method, but it paid off. On a good day, he could get about half a stat point in whichever area he focused on the most.
For strength and endurance, he trained with weighted gear and ran through a full set of taijutsu drills. When it came to agility, he'd run laps around the training field until his legs started to cramp and burn. As for his sense and intelligence stats, he stuck to chakra control exercises and receptively cast Jutsu's to drain his CP.
But he wasn't just blindly working out either. He'd built a routine that stacked everything into one efficient loop. A full-body training cycle that hit every major stat in one go.
And that routine was by expending and controlling his chakra by walking on water, It trained both his sense and intelligence stats. At the same time, he wore leg and arm weights while practicing his taijutsu forms to improve his strength and health. And by doing all of that exhausting training at once, he ended up boosting his agility too.
Kuro let out a small sigh, before jumping off the water's surface and landing back onto the solid ground. "Status screen."
━─━─━─≪◈ STATS ◈≫─━─━─━
[NAME] ➤ Kuroshin Kagemura
[AGE] ➤ 13
[LEVEL] ➤ 24
◇───INFO───◇
[JOB] ➤NONE
[TITLES] ➤ Courage Of The Weak...
[HP] ➤ 983/983
[CP]➤ 3900/3900 ( HIGH-GENIN)
[FATIGUE] ➤ 10
[AVAILABLE ABILITY POINTS: 24 ]...
◇───STATS───◇
[STRENGTH] ➤ 54
[AGILITY] ➤ 61
[SENSE] ➤ 52.5
[HEALTH] ➤ 52.5
[INTELLIGENCE] ➤ 53
◇───SKILLS───◇
[BASIC TAIJUTSU TECHNIQUES] ➤ Lv.16 (PASSIVE.) [Basic Melee attacks inflicted on an opponent is increased by 38%. ]
[BASIC SHURIKENJUTSU TECHNIQUES]Lv.14 (Passive) [When throwing small concealed weapons, damage inflicted is increased by 34%.]
[WIND AFFINITY] ➤ Lv.7 (PASSIVE.) [Whenever a Wind Style jutsu is used, its power is increased by 70%.]
[BASIC KUNAI TECHNIQUES]Lv.18 (PASSIVE) [Basic kunai attacks inflicted on an oponent are increased by 46%.]
[EXOSKELETON] Lv.1 (ACTIVE) [Forms an invisible layer of armor around the user's entire body, reducing all incoming damage by 14%.]
◇───JUTSU'S───◇
[TRANSFORMATION JUTSU] ➤ Lv.13
[BASIC CLONE JUTSU]➤ Lv.15
[SUBSTITUTION JUTSU] ➤ Lv.13
[VACUUM BLADE JUTSU] ➤ Lv.8
[GALE PALM JUTSU] ➤ Lv.10
[GREAT FIREBALL JUTSU] ➤ Lv.2
[HIDING IN THE MIST JUTSU] ➤ Lv.3
━─━─━─━─≪◆≫─━─━─━─━
Kuro let out a low groan as he slumped under the shade of a tree, the grass cool beneath him and the sun barely peeking through the leaves above."Ugh… fuck," he muttered, dragging a hand down his face. "I need to get stronger, way faster…" His eyes drifted over to his status screen, brows furrowed. "I know Boruto was trash… but why couldn't I have transmigrated into that timeline? Why this one—right before everything goes to hell?"
But there was no backing out now. He was here, stuck in this world, and if he wanted to make it through to the end, he'd have to grind every damn day. It wasn't like quitting was even an option. All the effort he'd put in would mean nothing, and with guys like Pain and Orochimaru creeping in the shadows, he'd be dead the moment they showed up.
His stats weren't bad. Actually, they were looking solid—mid-fifties across the board. But somehow, it still wasn't enough to make him feel better. He let out another sigh and leaned further into the tree trunk behind him, the bark scraping against his back, but he didn't care. At least the shade was nice.
Kuro sighed once more, before leaning back fully, both hands folding behind his head.
"Store…" he muttered.
_______________________
[STORE] Lv.1
[RYO: $188,000]
_____________
[ALL]
[EQUIPMENTS]
[CONSUMABLES]
[SCROLLS]
[WEAPONS]
. . . .
_________________________
'The only other way I know to get stronger is through the store...' Kuro thought, eyes narrowing at the endless list of overpriced junk. 'But everything's way too expensive to even bother with right now. Not that I can't afford some of it... it's just not worth the price they're asking.'
He shook his head, a quiet scoff leaving his lips as he swiped across the screen.
His finger hovered for a second before tapping into the scrolls tab. The menu shifted with a soft flicker, loading dozens of jutsu scrolls.
. . . .
- ALL AVAILABLE SCROLLS -
( COST: 78,000 RYO) - [BASIC TAIJUTSU SCROLL] - Gives a random D-rank taijutsu technique.
( COST: 128,000 RYO) - [BASIC FUINJUTSU SCROLL] - Gives a random D-rank fuinjutsu technique.
( COST: 123,000 RYO) - [BASIC KENJUTSU SCROLL] - Gives a random D-rank kenjutsu technique.
_________________________
Kuro stared at the numbers blinking back at him on the screen. "78 thousand ryo? That's more than my rent for two months, just for a D-rank taijutsu technique." He ran a hand through his hair. "And I'm not even looking at the fuinjutsu or kenjutsu scrolls, since they're entirely off the table of options." The zeros blurred in his mind, making his head throb. "And the worst part? I checked the Shinobi Archives. It's even more expensive there than in the store."
He let out a long sigh, the kind that carried exhaustion and frustration all at once. With No clear path forward and no shortcut to get stronger. It felt like he'd hit rock bottom, and the creeping thought of death was no longer far off, it hovered in the back of his mind constantly.
"Although..." he muttered, a mix of regret and resignation in his voice. "I said I wouldn't do it, not even in my right mind, but maybe the only option left is the Tower of Madness dungeon." He paused, weighing the risks. "I can at least check it out. If it gets too rough, I've got a teleportation stone to bail out. At least then, I won't die...." He swallowed hard, running through every possible outcome.
Kuro hated jumping into things without a plan, especially when his life was on the line. But right now, he was stuck. Waiting for another dungeon key or a B-rank mission felt like waiting for a miracle.
He didn't know if it'd be another month before another B-rank mission or dungeon key came through, or maybe even three. And the truth was... he didn't have that kind of time.
Up until now the system has never threw him into anything he couldn't handle. Every challenge, every reward, it all scaled to his level. So why would it suddenly give him a dungeon that was impossible to clear? That wouldn't make sense. If anything, it might not be as bad as the rank made it seem.
Kuro sat with the thought for a while, letting the wind brush through his hair as he weighed every outcome. Then, after a long breath, he finally made his choice.
He unclipped the ankle and wrist weights and stored them back in his inventory. He scrolled through his gear, selected a fresh set of clothes and his shinobi equipment, and in a flash of cool blue light, it wrapped neatly around him.
Kuro then reached for his headband, sliding it across his forehead and tying it off with a firm knot behind his head.The fabric was a little worn from use, but it was still good to use, plus all he cared about was the stat boosts.
Next he grabbed the Hollow Cloak and his Reduvia Dagger. He then picked up his gauntlets next, sliding his hands into them and flexing his fingers. They locked into place with a faint click, fitting snug like a second layer of skin. What made them even better was that they weren't visible to anyone else, same with the cloak. Only he could see them, thanks to the system. It saved him from looking like a bum walking down the street.
Next, he reached for the hollow toothed necklace, the one he earned from clearing that E-rank dungeon. It was a plain leather cord necklace with bones attached to it, but it boosted his sense and intelligence by five points each, so he didn't care about the design. He slipped it over his head and let it rest against his chest.
And finally, he reached into his inventory and pulled out the dungeon key. He stared at it for a moment longer, then closed his fingers around it.
'Please, don't make me die...'
_______________________
[ NOTICE]
_____________
Do you wish to open the Dungeon Key?
[Y/N]
_________________________
Kuro took in a slow breath, his thumb hovering just above the icon. 'Alright… let's do this. Worst case, I die. Again.'
He let out a chuckle through, shaking his head slightly. The thought wasn't exactly comforting, but it wasn't terrifying either. He had already died once so there wasn't much left to fear after that.
"Whatever," he muttered, mostly to himself.
With that, he pressed down on the YES icon.
- - - -
____________
- - - -
As the faint ripple of the vortex twisted behind him, Kuro stepped forward, his sandals sinking slightly into the soft, moss-covered ground. The moment his foot landed, the swirling crack in space behind him closed with a low hum, like air being sucked into itself.
He straightened his posture, as he looked around the area.
As he looked around he saw towering trees that stretched high above him, with thick trunks wrapped in layers of moss and vines, their leaves woven so tightly overhead they almost swallowed the sky. Only thin beams of sunlight managed to sneak through, striping the forest floor with patches of light.
Kuro reached down, brushing his fingertips against the dirt. "Is this… a dungeon?" Kuro muttered under his breath, taking a cautious step forward.
It didn't look like any dungeon he'd ever been in before. Every dungeon up until now had always been in some dark, damp, underground cavern or a maze of some sorts.
_______________________
[ NOTICE!]
_____________
[You've Enter The SSS-RANK TOWER OF MADNESS DUNGEON.]
FLOOR ONE -- B-RANK DUNGEON
[1/100]
__________________________
Kuro raised a brow. 'So there's more than one floor in this place...?' he thought, folding his arms across his chest. 'Ah... now the name "Tower" makes sense. Each floor must ramp up in difficulty the higher you go. That's probably the whole gimmick here.'
He let out a quiet breath, the tension in his shoulders easing a little now.
Still, this floor was labeled as B-rank in difficulty, and that alone was enough to keep him on edge. Kuro glanced around again, wondering which way he should go. 'What should I do?,' he thought, rolling his wrists loose.
_______________________
[ OBJECTIVE GIVEN]
_____________
➤ KILL ALL ORCS
[0/ 350]
➤ KILL THE CHIEF ORC
[0/ 1]
Clear all objectives to move to the next floor...
__________________________
He tilted his head slightly. "Fairly simple," he muttered, tapping the bottom of the screen with his finger until it faded away. 'But where the hell am I supposed to find them?' he mused, rubbing the back of his head as he looked around at the tall trees surrounding him.
Kuro sighed. "Guess I'll just look around until I find something."
SNAP!
A sharp crack echoed out from his left.
It wasn't loud by any normal standard, but Kuro's head whipped toward the noise immediately, the hair on his skin standing up. His high Sense stat didn't just let him see better, it made him hear things better, it was like his very own spider senses. Even the shift in the wind he could feel.
He crouched slightly, narrowing his gaze toward the source of the sound.
And that's when he saw them.
Just beyond the tree line, several paces out, a group of figures emerged through the thick brush, five of them in total. Each one had to be at least eight feet high, with broad chests and thick, tree-trunk arms. Their skin was a deep green, muscles packed tight beneath layers of fur-pelt armor that looked stitched together with rough, handmade thread. They were covered in white stripes of war paint drawn crudely across their shoulders and faces.
Each orc held a massive iron axe, rusted around the edges but heavy enough that the weight alone could split a person in two.
Kuro didn't move.
He watched them from behind a low cluster of ferns, keeping his breath shallow, measuring. They hadn't seen him yet. But they were close...
Then suddenly, the orc at the rear of the group stopped.
He froze mid-step, as his nose flared once, then twice, as he lifted his head and sniffed at the air like a hunting hound catching the scent of blood.
His yellowed eyes locked forward, and his thick neck slowly turned until it landed squarely in Kuro's direction. He didn't blink and just stared at him for a second until suddenly, his face twisted into a wild, guttural grin.
"FOOOOOOD!" he bellowed, his voice ripping through the trees like thunder.
The shout snapped the other orcs to Kuro's direction. All four turned with animal-like quickness despite their size, their eyes narrowed into slits as they followed his line of sight. And just like that, Kuro's cover was gone.
"Ah... fuck," Kuro muttered under his breath.
. . . . .
_________________________________
________________________________________________________
Leave a review and comment!
Read over 20+ chapters in advance, on P@treon.